May 31, 2012

"May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. May the nations be glad and sing for joy,  for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us. God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him."   Psalm 67:1-6

One of the interesting things about the Holy Land is you've got the Jordan River going right down and on either end you have large bodies of water. On one end you have the Sea of Galilee. On the other end you have the Dead Sea. And you can't imagine two bodies of water that are more different than one another. The Sea of Galilee is the place that we always think about the fishermen with their nets. From all the stories in the New Testament, a place of abundance where people can earn their living by catching the fish there. They provide for their families and provide for others, because of the life that's in Lake Galilee. But, you go to the other end of the Jordan River and you find the Dead Sea. A place that has so much salt content in it that large life, life that we would consider useful and part of our abundance, just doesn't even exist. It's dead in that regard. They both receive the same water. They both receive the same abundance, but the key difference is, Lake Galilee receives, but it also has an outlet and the water flows through it. But in the Dead Sea there is no outlet and so the water just accumulates, year after year, century after century, getting more and more salty and less and less hospitable to life. I think that is a good image for us to ponder about our lives.

Which are you like, Lake Galilee or are you like the Dead Sea? God is pouring all this abundance into your life. How much of it leaks out? How much of it is passed on? Because one of the things that you can't escape is that a basic rule of life is that you have His life in you and as you receive abundantly and as you pass that abundance on in some measure to others that life is the blessings of that life is shared by other.

So when God looks at your life, what does he see? Does he see something that's full of life, where his blessing to you pass on through and become blessings in the lives of others or is there something stopping it up and making it become more and more inhospitable to the life of the Spirit? You are blessed to be a blessing. So as you focus on this what worship means and as you thank God, will you recommit yourself to being a channel, a channel of good things to the incredible variety of people that God has put around you? Because even as you share this life with others, you receive it more abundantly in your own life.

That is the central truth of this great Psalm! It elevates the role of worship in your life and the life of your church. Worship done right will change your world!

May 30, 2012

"Our God, be kind and bless us! Be pleased and smile. Then everyone on earth will learn to follow you, and all nations will see your power to save us." Psalm 67:1-2

I got into a conversation with a neighbor yesterday and we began talking about church experiences. He said he had become discouraged over his church because of a division over worship styles that nearly split the church.

This morning I was in a meeting with fellow Wesleyan pastors. The topic of "worship wars" came up and every one of them indicated they were experiencing some stress in their church over some aspect of music and worship.

What a shame that so many Christians in so many churches allow their personal preferences of music styles and types of songs to become the focus of worship rather than the God they are supposed to worship.

How sad that the very thing that is supposed to unite believers so often incites division among them. Worship that is supposed to make us contagious instead makes us contentious. Rather than the way we worship showing unbelievers a testimony, they look at the church and see acrimony.

God doesn't care about music styles or worship styles. He has blessed Gregorian chants, for Pete's sake! What God DOES care about is your life-style. What is going on in your mind when you come to worship? What is in your heart? What attitude do you demonstrate then you do come to worship? Do you come to be a blessing to others or do you come to get blessed by familiar people and familiar tunes and familiar words that have lost their significance long ago?

When you come to worship you should come seeking an encounter with God. When you come to worship you should come to celebrate your salvation. You should come alreadly worshipping because of your walk with the Lord during the week. You should come to celebrate the blessings and joys of your salvation.

Will you examine your attitudes in regard to worship? Can God use you to make the worship contagious rather than contentious? Ask God to reveal any motives in you  that are not pleasing to Him. Search your heart to make sure you come to bless God and celebrate His blessings rather coming to be blessed.

May 29, 2012

"Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days." Genesis 7:22-24

I want to share one more thought regarding the account of Noah and the flood. This is really important to affirm the truth that God can be expected to keep His promises.

Genesis refers to Noah as a righeous man. That is why God chose him to save his family and therefore, the human race. The next 100 years would prove if Noah was, indeed, righteous. Would he believe Gos and do all God commanded for as long as it would take to complete his salvation from the flood.

You know the story. Noah proved his righteousness and did everything EXACTLY the way God required! As a result, God did everything exactly as He had promised!

Noah and the flood proved beyond any doubt that God can be expected to keep His word. He WILL keep His promises if you will honor the covenant.

But, there is another side of God keeping His promises. Just as He did what He promised for Noah, God also did for those who were unrighteous and refused to respond to Noah's repreated pleas for them to repent of their sin and turn from evil.

While Noah was completing the ark there was a season of mercy for sinners to repent, but once the ark was completed and fully loaded the judgment came. God shut the door of the ark He also opened the skies and the fountains of the deep. Those who did not repent did not survive.

Take note of this lesson! God keeps His promises! He WILL reward obedience and He WILL also judge sin!

Don't deceive yourself. No sin will go unjudged. If you choose not to turn from sin and receive the righteousness of Christ through faith - well - in the words of Bill Cosby, "How long can you tred water?"

May 28, 2012

^"May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us—so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations."  Psalm 67:1-2

Is it proper for me to ask God to bless me? Is that selfish? Is it conceited?

In I Chronicles 4:10, a man named Jabez prayed this prayer requesting God's blessing, ^"Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request."

Jabez boldly asked for God's blessing and he received it.

We have a God Who is exceedingly gracious and kind! He delights in blessing His people!

The Psalmist mentions several ways He wants to bless you!

He will bless you with His grace! Grace is His undeserved kindness and goodness to you. When you deserved judgment for your sins, God sent Jesus to take your guilt and suffer the penalty so you could receive mercy rathr than judgment.

Have you asked Him for his mercy? Have you received His grace?

Also, God wants to bless you with His favor.

What does that mean?

Essentially, it means you become one of His favorites! He picks you out of the crowd because you have chosen Him to be your Lord. He directs His attention and His protection and His pleasure in your direction!

God's greatest blessing is His salvation - saving you from your sin and selfishness - delivering your eternal soul from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. When you receive His salvation you come into possession of His greatest blessing, for when you have His salvation you have His grace and His favor!

May 27, 2012

^"Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:  I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.  It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud;  and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.  The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”  And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.” Genesis 9:11-17

Promises are simple to make hard to keep and easy to break.

Broken promises can break hearts and shatter trust. No doubt you have suffered a broken heart as result of a broken promise. Or, perhaps you have hurt someone else by not keeping a promise.

Most promises are not broken because they are forgotten but because someone promised more than he could deliver.

God made a century long promise to Noah that if he would build an ark to the exact specifications that he was given, God would save his family from the impending judgment via the flood. A Noah promised he would do it. He kept his promise and God kept His.

Let me tell you why this story matters so much. The Christian life is a life of faith and faith is built upon your expectations of God. Your expectations of God grow out of the experiences you have with God. When we you inexperienced in your walk you can learn from the experiences that others had with God - people like Moses and the disciples and Joshua and Noah. One thing you learn from them is they believed the promises of God and God kept His promises.

When the flood was over and Noah's family was delivered from the flood God had kept His promise and Noah had done his part, God put a rainbow in the remnants of the storm. The rainbow was a visible symbol of a promise kept and the seal of a new promise made. Never again would God destroy the earth in this manner.

Think a moment about what a rainbow is. Rainbows appear as you look back in the direction the storm came from. It is the result of the sun shining through the clouds in the aftermath of the storm. It is the promise that the storm is over and the sun is coming out and you will be safe. As you remember that you begin to understand what a perfect reminder the rainbow is! God's rainbow reminds you that this storm is over and His Son is coming and you are safe!

The Christian life is lived in promise-land until you get to THE Promised Land and the rainbow is the reminder you can trust His promises in life's storm and between the storms. So, if you are in the storm right now, remember the rainbow. God does!

So you can trust the promises of God, you can know what to expect from Him and you can be sure what He expects from you. God gave His rainbow as a reminder that He keeps His promises. That reminder is primarily for you to remember since God always remembers His promises. I guess you could say that the rainbow reminds you that He remembers to remember His promises. God will never forget His promise nor can He ever make a promise that He is not able to keep. So, His promises are as good as gold! The gold at the end of the rainbow?

May 26, 2012

^"And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried." Genesis 8:14

The best thing about a storm is when it is over!

Just about one year and one week after they shut the door on the ark, Noah and his family stepped out onto firm dry ground. What a wild ride it had been!

On everyone of those days Noah claimed and clung to the promises of God. Those promises that had been made to him assured him of the outcome but didn't guarantee the outcome unless he kept the covenant God had established hith him. Those promises strengthened him for a century as he built the ark. And, God's promises supported him in the storm. Now we see that those same promises steered his way through the storm.

How does that happen? How does a promise steer me through a storm?

Let me give you some examples. We will look at these promises and see what guidance they give.

Proverbs 1:33 - "But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, and will be secure, without fear of evil.”

What guidance would that promise give you? What clear direction would you follow?

Isaiah 40:30-31 - "Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

What guidance would you gain from this promise?

Here is one more - Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." 

Give these promises a look and see how they can help you steer your life!

Matthew 11:28-29       

Romans 8:28           

Romans 10:9

I Corinthians 10:13

Philippians 4:19          

2 Timothy 3:16          

2 Peter 1:4

I John 1:8-9                     

Revelation 3:20

God's promises tell you what He will do in response to what He wants you to do. If you want His result you must meet His requirement. Learn from Noah who found strength and support from what God had promised and steered his course accordingly!

May 25, 2012

^"Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth."  Genesis 7:17

What can you expect from a God Who can do anything, anytime, to anyone when ever He wants to?

From the perspective of Noah, you can expect God to keep His promises!

And, indeed, He did! And trusting in God's promise strengthened Noah before the storm. But that is not all! Noah also found that trusting God's promise also supported him IN the storm!

Can you get your mind around what Noah did? He spent 120 years preparing for an catastrophic event that would be caused by a meterological phenomenon never seen before! That's faith! That is believing God!

Noah expected that the same promise that strengthened him while he prepared for the storm would also support him IN the storm!

What do you trust during your storms? What supports you?

This stirring story of Noah reminds us that life is stormy! As you read this you are either in a storm, coming out of a storm or headed to the next one! When those storms come you will either sink or swim! That's the way it is! Where will you look for support?

There are so many great lessons to learn from this story, but one that I want to focus on is this: when you expect God to support you in the storm He will use the flood that would have destroyed you will lift you up!

Faith floats! When you claim the promises of God and live by them every day, faith will keep you afloat! When you base your decisions on the promises of God, faith will keep you afloat!

God's promises will lift you above your doubts! His promises will lift you above your despair! His promises are based in His character and guaranteed by His power so you can hope in them like Noah did.

Don't be fearful in the storm! Don't sink and don't get swamped. Cling to His promises and they will support you!

I promise!