What's Important to God

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)  Oh yes, we all know it by heart to the point that we have almost lost the realization of the power and fullness of meaning to the believer's life and worship.  It almost becomes something we say without thinking.  However, in reality it is the key to what is important and what really matters to the God of Creation whom we worship. 

This 25-word text is a precious pearl of truth.  The truth is we could search all of the important libraries of the earth through every book of every language and we would never find any 25-word text that could begin to compare to John 3:16.  No other text has the power to impact the human race as this one.  

So, what is the gem of truth found in this passage.  Each person matters to God.  "God so loved the world."  The whole intent of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is wrapped up in the truth of this short passage.  We see in others and even have experienced in our own hearts the great sense of loneliness and lostness; the thought that plagues every heart that nobody really cares about me.  Echoing throughout our heart are the words, "I don't really matter to anyone.  Nobody cares about me."  But we come to discover in the sent one, that this is Satan's lie.  Found in this nugget of truth is the fact that God cares about every individual no matter the circumstance of life.  

This is the simple wonderful truth we have to live by, to worship with, and to share faithfully to everyone in every place possible . . . "as we go".  

Too many have swept quickly over this verse thinking that God loves the human race.  And, He does. But it becomes much more personal.  He loves and cares about you.  There is nothing in your life, in your worship, in your going that does not matter completely to Him.  You mattered so much that He gave His only begotten Son!  Now, take that to worship! When we grasp that truth fully, our worship will never be the same again.  mjm

Trust and Obey

That old hymn has much to say even though we sometimes sing it without thinking through the full meaning of it. It is kind of like two wings of a bird. "Trust" and "obey" are the two wings of the Christian as we seek to rise in Him!  They absolutely go together.  We obey because we trust.  We trust so that we are able to obey.  If we try to obey without walking in faith, we get nowhere.  If we try to faith something apart from obedience, it will end in nothingness.  It is two sides of a coin.

Even though trust is on one side of the coin and obey on the other, we as believers and the church as a whole have tried to split them apart. We tend to make it all about believing.  Believe God wholly and then move to obedience and Jesus will become your all in all. There are no shortcuts to God's presence. Moses had to spend 40 years on the backside of the desert before he experienced the burning bush. It is all in God's timing. Only He can direct us into the path leading us into the manifest presence of God.  This path has nothing to do with convenience or shortcuts. Our great High Priest did not take a shortcut but followed the path all the way to the cross. He went the full distance to become our Mediator and High Priest and now sits on the right hand of the Father.  

He is the only guide to usher us into the presence of Holy God. The enemy works overtime trying to come between God and us. But we who have found Christ in all His fullness of the God-head have found the perfect Guide. When we follow Him with all that we are we can find the kind of rest and peace that only comes in God's presence.  The following sums it all up:

That I Might Know Him

by Max I. Reich (1863 - 1945

That I might know Him! Let this be life's aim,

Still to explore the wealth stored in His Name.

With heaven-bought intelligence to trace

The glories that light up His sinless face:

that I might know His power day by day,

Protecting, guiding in the upward way:

That I might know His Presence, calm and pure,

Changeless midst changes, and midst losses sure:

To dwell with Him, in spirit, day and night;

To walk with Him by faith, if not by sight;

To work with Him, as He shall plan, not I:

To cleave to Him, and let the world go by:

To live on earth a life of selfless love;

to set the mind and heart on things above:

Till I shall see Him without vision dim,

And know Him as I know I'm known of Him.

First Day of Retirement

First day of retirement I had to keep telling myself - "This is the day the Lord hath made, rejoice and be glad in it.  First my administrative assistant, Cheryl found things that I had not taken care of that we needed to take care of.  There were some loose ends I had missed.  I am really going to miss her.

I am baby-sitting three of my grand children, Kade, Lily, and Grey for the next couple of weeks with Fran in Zimbabwe and Mary Michele, Rylee, and Kyle in South Africa.  I don't know if you should pray for me or the grand children. I took them to Urban Air yesterday morning with Gillian.  They had a ball and Gillian, our adopted daughter from China took pictures of this American oddity. 

Then prepared beds to give to the refugee ministry to make room for two new bunk beds for grandchildren.  My grandson, Kade and I then launched forth in putting together a bunk bed for about a two hours of quality time together.  I let him read the instructions and study the pictures and he really enjoyed doing it together.  During this time Lily was making cup cakes with Gillian in the kitchen and Grey was on his kindle.  

Middle of the afternoon I was looking up something on my computer and a virus hit it for the first time ever and I ended up with the blue screen of death.  So, my computer was down for about six hours being worked on by an apple technician.  Now its clean with extra protection and working beautifully.  

Finally, only a half of retirement and I received a call from a church wanting me to start immediately leading their traditional service.  I wasn't really ready for that and it did not seem to be a good fit, plus I want a little time before jumping into something new.

So, that was the major events of my first day of retirement ending with baths and bed for three wonderful grandchildren as Nana is busy packing for Zimbabwe.  mjm

The Road to Missions

There is a great need in our world for the gospel.  That goes without being said.  More than a third of the population of the world is unreached with the gospel.  The only possible way they will be reached is if Godly believers respond to God's call on their lives to go both as long term and short term missionaries.  And then of course the church must support those who are in the field.  We know Jesus' command.  We know the need.  Therefore out of both, we know that missions is mandatory.  

But is the key to missions just about knowing the command and the great need of people?  The only way we will be fruitful in reaching the world is helping our people to become God-worshippers. It takes great human effort to convince people of the need and even the command.  But if people become authentic God-worshippers with their hearts turned fully to God, then participation in God's mission and even supporting missions comes very naturally.  It is as overflow of the love, adoration, and worship of our "worthy of worship" God.

If we are to see the mission of God flourish it will happen only in seeing that the road to fulfilling the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20) of our Lord is through the living out of the Great Commandment (Mark 12:30-31).  Mission emphasis would not be needed if we were truly worshipping.  Worship and Missions go hand in hand.  "Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all peoples. For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised . . . splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. . . ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering and come into His courts! . . . Worship the Lord in the splendor of Holiness; . . . say among the nations, 'The Lord reigns!'" The glory of the Lord is the road to missions!  Hallelujah! mjm

Two Sides of Praying for Worship

In Luke 10:19 Jesus says, "I give you the authority and power . . . over all the power of the enemy." There is no one who has manifested and exhibited more love and compassion than Jesus.  He very patiently ministered with all-consuming love to crowds of sick and tormented people.  He worked to the point of exhaustion to relieve human need . . . but there is another side.

We see Him furious with religious bigotry that would rather see a man remain deformed than violate religious tradition.  His hand brandished a whip as He rejected religious commercialism in the house of God Almighty.  

So when we see both sides of Jesus, we get a glimpse of both sides of prayer.  It is to see the need for compassion and weeping with those who weep.  And it is to enter into unabashed warfare when we see satan, the adversary with his program and plan to violate territory that is rightfully Christ's.

When we pray for worship, we need to be aware of both sides, also.  There are people in every worship service who come with hurt and defeat.   And satan cannot abide the praises of the people of God.  We literally do spiritual warfare when we join hearts in unified praise.  So when we approach worship and praying for worship, we need to sense both sides.  

Persistent prayer is invading the impossible for the glory of God!  mjm

Freedom and Worship

Freedom is a biblical theme that finds expression both in the spiritual and social realms of our lives through salvation in Jesus Christ.  When we look at both the Old and New Testaments we find that freedom is a very complex and multifaceted concept.  The Bible addresses political freedom, freedom from the institution of slavery, freedom from oaths and obligations, freedom from guilt and punishment, freedom from sinful and destructive habits.  In Christ some of these overlap, but these basic categories of freedom enlighten us about the freedom we have in Christ.

Paul teaches us that we have a new freedom in Christ.  It is the freedom from sin.  It doesn't mean we are sinless, but Paul shows us that we not only have freedom from the penalty of sin, but freedom from the power of sin over us.  The Spirit empowers us to resist habitual disobedience.  

Freedom is not the ability to do whatever one desires.  Otherwise we would become slaves to our own passions.  Rather the Bible clearly states that freedom is the ability to deny one's self, to deny one's desires in the interest of pleasing and glorifying God in our obedience to Him and our worship of Him.

We must not take our freedom to worship Him as we see fit for granted.  I have been in worship where believers were dragged from the church and beaten on a Sunday morning because they were not attending a political rally down the street.  In fact I was preaching when it was taking place, not knowing if they would try to stop me; I just kept preaching.  In America we are free from those kinds of things and yet we take for granted opportunities to worship Him.  May we glory in the One Who gives us those kinds of freedoms to bring glory and honor to His name!  mjm

The Lord and Beethoven

First, the Lord's word says in I Corinthians 14:15 " . . . I will sing with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind (understanding) also."  Notice that the word "spirit" here is not the Holy Spirit, but our spirit.  This is referring to our emotion and all that makes up our spirit.  In other places in scripture we find the Holy Spirit involved in singing.  So, we sing with all that we are with understanding of what we are singing.  When we do this the result is singing with passion.  God made us to feel deeply and gives us the ability to understand His ways and His glory. 

Now you are probably thinking, "What does any of this have to do with Beethoven?"  Well, Beethoven was quoted as saying, "To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is inexcusable."  I would add to his quote . . . "To sing or play a wrong note is insignificant; to sing or play without passion is inexcusable."  

Because of the great God we serve and in whom we minister, we should be so full of praise and thanksgiving that our singing and playing of praise should always be full of great passion of heart. I have always said that if I can't do it with whole-hearted passion, I won't do it at all.  Our worship is always to be whole-hearted.  How can we not do it with passion?  I've actually been made fun of and misunderstood at times as a worship leader because of the passion within me.  But one apology I will never make is singing, worshipping, and serving Him with whole-hearted passion. Blessings on you as you do the same.  mjm