August 5, 2011

"One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it." Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." Job 1:6-8

I was never real good in math, but math is nice and tidy, very predictable. When you add one and one you always get two. Always. When you subtract 5 from 10 you get 5. Always. That is nice That is comfortable. That is so unlike life.

But somehow we take a mathematical approach to live. We think that if we do this good thing and combine it with that good thing we will get a good result. Maybe. Maybe not.

That is a huge part of the problem with suffering. It doesn't always add up. In the Bible some of the men who suffered the most lived the best. So here's the math: righteous living + faithful obedience = severe suffering. God's math is strange!

There weren't many who were more moral that Job. He was so righteous that God bragged on him to the Devil! Of all the people I want to impress, God is THE ONE! So what did Job's stellar resume get him? Deep sorrow and suffering. How does that add up?

David had a heart like God's. When God chose him to be King his life was constantly threatened by Saul the reigning king. He spent years running from Saul even though David was totally blameless. Several times he could have killed Saul and ended the period of exile, but he chose to honor Saul because Saul still occupied the throne. David suffered and suffered longer than he needed to because his heart was right and he chose to wait on God. How does that add up?

And then, of course, there was Jesus. He was sinless and remained sinless for one reason. So He could become sin for us and suffer our judgment. The very Son of God died a horrifying excruciating shameful death for one reason - He was the only One holy enough to do it! There is no worse suffering than death on a cross. God's best took our worst. How does that add up?

This brings us back to the problem that has no mathematical solution, a holy all powerful loving God Who could prevent all suffering doesn't. No one has ever been able to balance that equation. That has caused many to abandon faith or to choose not to believe.

 

What do you do when life doesn't add up?

What are you to believe when God subtracts from your comfort rather than adding to it?

Will you factor in God's goodness and love when the math doesn't seem to work?

Can you trust your problem to be His solution?

August 4, 2011

"LORD, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief. Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you. The enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground; he makes me dwell in the darkness like those long dead. So my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed. I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done. I spread out my hands to you; I thirst for you like a parched land. Answer me quickly, LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me or I will be like those who go down to the pit. Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, or I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life. Rescue me from my enemies, LORD, or I hide myself in you. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground. For your name’s sake, LORD, preserve my life; in your righteousness, bring me out of trouble. In your unfailing love, silence my enemies; destroy all my foes, for I am your servant."  Psalm 143

Do you pray just to get an answer?

Would you still pray if you didn't get prayers answered?

Why do you pray?

Have you ever thought about it?

You don't get everything you ask from your spouse but you don't stop talking to them, do you? You have no hope for a continuing relationship if you stop communicating.

Someone has said there are two primary reasons for prayer. One reason for prayer is to know the will of God and the second is for grace to do His will. 

The Psalms are filled with passionate prayers. One of those is found in our text, the 143rd Psalm. If you want to have a passionate spiritual relationship with God you must understand prayer. And if you believe that the main reason for prayer is what you can get out of Him, you are missing the better half of prayer. Prayer is also about what God wants to put into you!

Prayer connects you with God allowing you to communicate with Him. Communicating with God bings contentment. Communicating with God means you learn to listen to Him. Listening to God helps you get to know Him and learn to love Him. Connecting and communicating are extremely important to your spiritual health and growth.

Prayer allows you to confess your sins to God and that brings you peace. Peace is evidence that God has heard your confession and lifted your guilt.

When you pray you can contemplate His Word and His works, and His wonders. Meditating on God stretches your mind, expands your spirit, and encourages your heart. Contemplating how much He loves you and how powerful He is and how imperfect and needy you are.

Praying develops conviction within you. As you connect and communicate with God and when you spend regular time contemplating His goodness He will become increasingly more real to you and your faith will strengthen and grow.

Character will develop within you - His Character - as you devote time to praying His Spirit will begin shaping your Spirit. Your thinking will begin to be shaped by His Spirit as you commune with Him and contemplate His word.

So, you see, there are plenty of good reasons to pray to God beyond getting answers to your prayers. We have mentioned five or six of those.There are more reasons but these are certainly good enough!

Prayer is a powerful tool. It can be hard work but it is incredibly worthwhile. Even if you never got what you really wanted and requested from God, you discover all the joys of living in an intimate spiritual relationship with the eternal God of the universe! Worry less about what you can get out of prayer and rejoice about what it can put into you!

August 3, 2011

How long will the enemy mock you, O God? Will the foe revile your name forever? Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the folds of your garment and destroy them!" Psalms 74:10-11

There are a number of reasons why the Psalms are among the most revered and beloved of the Sacred Writings. Chief among those is the fact that they are so honest. The Psalmist struggled with the same emotions, frustrations and doubts as we do. But, unlike us sometimes, he was honest about them.

In my reading recently I was in Psalms 74-76. Psalm 74 captured me today because in it he is struggling with the silence of God. He was not seeing God work as He had worked in former days. Knowing that God could come against their enemies and God could defend their cause, he couldn't understand why God was not moving.

There was no problem recounting the many deeds and exploits of God in times past. He lists them and longingly wishes to see God manifest His power and glory again.

Have you ever been there? Is that where you find yourself now?

What do we do when we don't see God move? How are we to behave? What are we to believe?

First, I would state this confidently, God is always doing more than what we know in ways that we do not see. He is a powerful, holy God Who cannot be denied. He cannot be idle. Situations and circumstances change whenever He shows up. As Charles Spurgeon once said, "When I can't see God's hand, I can trust His heart." Be sure that God is working even when you are seeing visible evidence.

Second, I have found that when God is not obviously working FOR you, He is certainly working IN. In the final analysis, which really matters most? Is it more important for God to change your circumstances or is it more important that He changes you?

Third, what develops faith better, seeing God work wonders or believing in Him when you don't see Him working? The Children of Israel saw God move regularly on their behalf but did they develop great faith? Faith is the "substance of things hoped for the evidence of things NOT SEEN."

Finally, would you rather know God's hand or would you rather know His heart? In Psalm 103:7 there is an interesting statement, "He made His ways known to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel." Would you rather know what God can do, or would you rather know Who God is?

Don't let your faith be defined by what you see and feel, let it be shaped by what you know - of God, His Word, His nature, and His amazing grace!

August 2, 2011

The great Zig Ziglar said, " A hypocrite is one who gripes and complains about all the sex, nudity and violence on his VCR."

While the technology may be a bit outdated, the point is not.

James tells us that "a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways."

A hypocrite is a person who says one thing but does another. It harms the faith and damages local churches. The Early Church was not exempt from this destructive behavior and God dealt with it severely. Here's the story:

"Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet. Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God." When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?" "Yes," she said, "that is the price." Peter said to her, "How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also." At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events." Acts 5:1-11

Well, that's one way to solve the hypocrisy problem. But I fear that if God killed all the hypocrites who populate the Church of Jesus Christ, we wouldn't have many Christians left.

In yesterday's post I made the point that Cain and Abel both wanted to please God but only Abel did it on God's terms while Cain tried to please God on his own terms. In short, he was disobedient.

The story of Aninas and Sapphira shows us another ugly facet of hypocrisy, trying to impress men with how spiritual you are.

As the Church in Jerusalem was exploding with growth, the needs were incredible. So, these committed, Spirit-filled believers were selling off their possessions and giving the proceeds to the Apostles to distribute to those in need. They gave willingly and they gave as they saw fit. There was no pressure or force place upon them. THAT is true faith!

Enter Ananias, who with his wife, sold a piece of property and decided to give a portion of the profit to the Church and tuck part of it away for themselves. There was nothing wrong with that. They could have kept the whole amount or they could have given the whole amount. These were free-will gifts.

Their hypocrisy developed when they decided to misrepresent their gift. When they brought it to the Apostles they claimed that they were giving the entire amount of their sale. Why would they do that?

Only one reason. They wanted to look more generous than they were. They wanted the Apostles to praise them and shine the spotlight on them. They wanted the other believers to admire them. Not good.

In their desire for praise and attention, they succumbed to the temptation of being man-pleasers rather than God-pleasers.

It is always bad to lie. Lying to the Holy Spirit can be fatal. Ananias and Sapphira are living (er - dying) proof of that. While hypocrisy will not kill you on the spot, as it did them, it certainly kills your spirit, kills your witness and damages the health of your church. It is highly destructive.

Being respected and admired by men is a strong desire in the human spirit. Often it is even stronger than the desire to please God. That is the double-mindedness that James refers to that leads to unstable behavior.

Will you take a moment and ask God to search your spirit to see if your desire to please man is stronger than it should be? Will you commit to being single-minded in your pursuit of God?

August 1, 2011

"How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." Matthew 7:4-5

One of the biggest objections given to justify non-involvement in church is, "There are too many hypocrites in church."

Unfortunately, that may be true.

I read about a preacher who when he invited a man to church was given this excuse, "Preacher, I would come to church but there are too many hypocrites there already."

The preacher was undaunted, replying, "Well, you could come and sit in church with a few hypocrites or you could go to hell with all of them."

However, the same people would sit at FedEx Field watching the Redskins even though there are hypocrites at the game. Or they crown into Lane Stadium or Scott Stadium to cheer for their teams without concern for how many hypocrites might be seated with them.

They don't hesitate to take money when it is given to them despite the fact that there are millions of phony bills in circulation.

This week I will be dealing with this issue of hypocrisy. Sunday I will be preaching about it. It is deadly, It is prevalent, and it hard to overcome.

Jesus hated hypocrisy when He was here. He confronted it wherever he saw and ruthlessly condemned it.

In His Sermon on the Mount, from which these verses are taken, Jesus identified the two most damaging aspects of hypocrisy - condemning sin in others while condoning it in ourselves. Jesus hated those attitudes. They are doubly destructive.

Jesus also gives us some insight into how to deal with hypocrisy in our lives, deal with the sin in our lives. "Take the two-by-four out of your eye before you get concerned over the splinter in your brother's eye."

The hardest hypocrite to live with is yourself. If you really are bothered by hypocrites and if you really want to be something about it, start with yourself. Ask God to reveal it in you and remove it from you. Stop worrying about "those hypocrites" and eliminate "this one". The hypocrisy that bothers me the most is that which dwells in me.

 

The root word derivative for "hypocrite" comes from the Greek word for an actor. A hypocrite is one who is acting a part that is not really who he is. With a real God Who has real transformng power, why would you settle for "faking it"?

July 31, 2011

"When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”  The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Restore our fortunes, LORD, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy,carrying sheaves with them."   Psalm 126

America has long been the land of dreamers for at least two big reasons:

a. Freedom allows us

b. Profit motivates us.

When it comes to chasing a dream and profiting from it, few have done it better than this guy.

All of us have benefited from his dreams as well!

Dreams have two main purposes:

1) To Escape Reality

2) To Shape Reality

Most of us start off life with a dream of making a good life for ourselves and making a positive difference with our lives:

We want: A Good Education At A Good College - Get A Dream Job With A Great Salary – Marry The Most Attractive Human Being Possible And Be Deliriously Happy – Have 2.5 Of The Smartest Best Looking Kids In the World – Live In The Best House In The Best Neighborhood With The Biggest Luxury Vehicle We Can Afford Out Front – And, In 30 Or 40 Years Retire Fabulously Wealthy And Become A Care-Free Beach Bum.

Maybe a few are able to shape a reality that fits that dream, but most don’t. For many their job becomes a hassle or their marriage becomes a nightmare or their kids become delinquents and they are looking for ways to escape reality.

Most of us spend life dwelling between the dreams trying to keep the dream alive so we can survive the nightmare. We spend part of our time trying to shape the world and the rest of our time trying to escape it.

For the context of our Psalm we must remember that the dream of the great King David and his son, King Solomon had brought such joy and prosperity to God’s people as they turned the nation back to God and then building the glorious Temple. However, when God’s people turned away from Him and rejected Him the dream came crashing down as the Babylonians destroyed the Temple, burned Jerusalem and took them into a nightmare 70-year captivity.

THEN SUDDENLY, when it looked like God had abandoned them and the dream was over – here’s what happened – TURN TO II CHRONICLES 36:15-23

Most Old Testament Scholars believe that was the event that inspired the writing of our next Psalm in the Summer In the Psalms Series – Psalm 126, follow me to that Scripture.

Doesn’t it seem that we spend the majority of our lives dwelling between the last big thing God did for us and the next big thing we need Him to do. Since that is true for most of us – shouldn’t we learn how to live there? Wouldn’t you love to know how to keep the dream alive during those nightmare times of your life? Wouldn't you like to keep believing you can shape the world in a postive way?

LEARN FROM THE PSALM:

I. REALIZE – You Can Live In Freedom, V. 1

It had been 70 years since they had seen a move of God. Their dream was dying and their hope was gone.

HAD THEY FORGOTTEN ABOUT JOSEPH?

HAD THEY FORGOTTEN ABOUT DANIEL?

These great men were both in captivity but they chose to live in freedom. They never forgot that God was in control of their lives and their circumstances. They never gave up on the dream He had placed in their hearts!

God shaped them in their nightmare experiences so that when their dreams came true they could shape their world. And after they had been faithful God delivered them in miraculous ways!

And once again – GOD DELIVERED HIS PEOPLE BY TAKING THEIR CAPTORS CAPTIVE!

Should we only serve God when things are easy and our dreams are coming true? Should we doubt Him when life gets hard?

HAS A CAREER SETBACK TAKEN YOU CAPTIVE AND MADE YOUR JOB SITUATION A NIGHTMARE?

HAS YOUR DREAM MARRIAGE BECOME A NIGHTMARE?

HAVE YOU BEEN TAKEN CAPTIVE BY A TROUBLED TEEN?

HAS ILLNESS OR DISEASE STOLEN YOUR DREAM?

MAYBE YOUR HOUSE IS SO FAR UNDER WATER THAT IT HAS TURNED INTO A FINANIAL NIGHTMARE.

PERHAPS A FINANCIAL SETBACK OR THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY HAS TURNED YOUR DREAM RETIREMENT PLAN INTO A NIGHTMARE.

You see God moving and doing miracles in other places and over bigger situations than yours, but it isn’t happening for you. You are hanging on by the only fingernail you haven’t chewed off in your anxiety.

What do you do? How can you keep life from taking you captive and crushing your dream like a coke can?

REALIZE:

1) If you belong to God, He is in control of you and your captivity! (Ro. 8:28)

2) If you belong to God, He has taken your captor captive – you are free!

JUST BECAUSE YOU DON’T SEE GOD WORKING DOESN’T MEAN YOUR DREAM IS DEAD! LET THE SAME GOD WHO WAS IN CONTROL OF YOUR DREAM TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR NIGHTMARE! HE MAY NEED TO TAKE THE DREAM TO SHAPE YOU SO YOU CAN SHAPE YOUR WORLD.

WHEN YOU REALIZE HE IS IN CONTROL YOU REALIZE YOU CANNOT BE A CAPTIVE!

II. REJOICE – You Can Live In Fullness, Vv. 2-4

There are those times when God seems to be making dreams come true all around you but you are stuck in a bad dream – what do you do during those times?

REJOICE!

1) In His Fullness

The Psalmist knew that joy was to be found in WHO God IS not just in what He does. For Him joy was a FACT not a feeling! It was the fact of what God had done for them. It was the fact of Who He was! It was the fact of what He had promised to do!

YOU CAN ALWAYS REJOICE IN HIS PRESENCE

YOU CAN ALWAYS REJOICE IN HIS PARDON

YOU CAN ALWAYS REJOICE IN HIS PURPOSE

YOU CAN ALWAYS REJOICE IN HIS POWER

YOU CAN ALWAYS REJOICE IN HIS PROMISES

YOU CAN ALWAYS REJOICE IN HIS PRAISES

“You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” Psa. 16:11

“The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.” Psa. 19:8

“The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.” Psalm 28:7

2) In The Dreams of Others

 

This is not the normal or natural thing to do… but we are not here to compete, we are here to complete!

Any great thing done for any child of God makes the world sit up and notice! That is worth rejoicing over!

At FredWes, one of the things that makes us a little different from some churches is that we are not here to convince you or sell you on jumping in to help my dream come true, we are here to help you discover your dream that God has birthed in your heart and help develop it and nurture it and find a place for it to be expressed so it can help shape the church and help our church shape the world.

III. RISK – You Can Live In Fruitfulness, Vv. 5-6

The signifcance of the "sowing in tears" is that a farmed had to take a large portion of his stored grain which  also represented his food supply and plant it in the ground. What if there was a drought and he lost the grain? His family would be at risk for food. What if the crop was attacked by locusts or stoled by mauraders such as the Midianites. When that seed was sown there was an even chance that it wouldn't return a yield. So, it was with tears of anxiety that he sowed his seed.

What is a farmer’s dream as he plants his seed?

Dreams are like seeds – they have to be planted and allowed to die….

The farmer puts his seed to risk because he hopes in the harvest.

The harvest comes when we sow our dreams into His! HIS DREAM IS HEALTHY LOCAL CHURCHES WHO DREAM OF BEING USED BY GOD TO SHAPE THEIR WORLD!

In the final analysis it isn’t about your dream or my dream it is about HIS dream and He is dreaming of a HARVEST! The harvest IS HIS DREAM!

THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT GOD’S DREAM FOR THESE PEOPLE DID COME TRUE – and we are beneficiaries of that and every generation since who learn how to dwell between the dreams and learned to live in FREEDOM AND IN FULLNESS AND IN FRUITFULNESS through the good times and the bad!

So, how are you going to spend your life?

Are you going to dream up ways to escape the world and waste your life in fantasy land?

Or are you going to sow your dream into a local church with other dreamers who want to be used to shape the world!

July 30, 2011

"When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed."  Psalm 126:1


 Most of us start off life with a dream of making a good life and making a difference with our life.

GOOD EDUCATION AT GOOD COLLEGE

GET A GREAT JOB WITH A GOOD INCOME

MARRY THE BEST LOOKING HUMAN BEING POSSIBLE AND BE DELIRIOUSLY HAPPY HAVE THE SMARTEST BEST LOOKING KIDS POSSIBLE - LIVE IN THE BEST HOUSE IN THE NICEST NEIGHBORHOOD WITH A LUXURY CAR PARKED OUT FRONT

IN 30 OR 40 YEARS RETIRE FABULOUSLY RICH AND BECOME A CARE-FREE BEACH BUM

A few are able to shape their reality into that dream. Most don’t. Their job becomes a nightmare or their marriage turns into a nightmare and before they know it they are looking for a way to escape reality.

Dreams have two main purposes: 1) To escape reality (Disney World) or:  2) To shape reality.

For most of us life is spend dwelling between the dreams trying desperately to keep the dream alive so we can survive the nightmare.

The dream of King David and King Solomon had brought such joy and prosperity to God’s people as they turned the nation back to God and then built the Temple. But when God’s people turned away Him and rejected Him the dream came crushing down when the Babylonians took them into 70 nightmare captivity. During those long years held captive in a foreign land, they struggled to keep the dream alive.

And suddenly, the dream was revived in a way that seemed like – a dream!

So, when you are dwelling between the dreams and your life has become a nightmare – when it has taken you captive – when it has been a long time since you have seen God move in your behalf – is there a way to keep the dream alive?

Learn from this Psalm:

REALIZE - You Can Live In Freedom, V. 1


While they were longing for the freedom to return to Jerusalem so they could worship God, God sent the Persian army to take their captors captive! They could be as free as they would allow themselves to be!

Did they forget how Joseph found freedom even as a slave in Egypt?

Did they forget how Daniel maintained his freedom even when held in captivity or thrown into alions den!

They were in captivity but they chose to live in freedom. They realized that God was in control and no one could put them in spiritual or mental bondage.

Has a career setback taken you captive and your dream job is a nightmare?


Has your dream marriage become a nightmare….?


Has a financial setback turned your dream retirement plan into a nightmare?


Have you been taken captive by a troubled teen?


Maybe your dream house is so far under water that it has turned into a financial nightmare?

You see God moving and doing miracles in other places and over bigger situations than yours, but it is not happening for you. You are hanging on by the only fingernail that you haven’t chewed off in anxiety.

What do you do? How do you keep life from taking you captive and crushing your dream like a coke can?

REALIZE:


1) If you belong to God, He is in control of you and your captivity (Ro. 8:28)

God had allowed the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem and capture them because of their sin and disobedience. And in time, He took their captors captive and set them free!

2) If you belong to God, He has taken your captor captive – you are free!

JUST BECAUSE YOU DON’T SEE GOD WORKING DOESN’T MEAN YOUR DREAM IS DEAD! LET THE SAME GOD WHO WAS IN CONTROL OF YOUR DREAM TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR NIGHTMARE! HE MAY NEED TO TAKE THE DREAM TO SHAPE YOUR WORLD SO YOU CAN SHAPE THE WORLD!

REALIZE HE IS CONTROL AND IF HE IS IN CONTROL, HOW CAN YOU BE A CAPTIVE?