Category: Ministry

O Little Town of Bethlehem

12/11/2019

The Small Town

“But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.” Micah 5:2

God’s choosing of Bethlehem Ephrathah to become a place of esteem and renown was uniquely tied to the blessing bestowed on Naomi and Ruth (Ruth 4:11). It was foreshadowed in David and fulfilled in Jesus, God’s Anointed King, when he was born in Bethlehem.

I’ve often wondered, however, if God doesn’t delight in choosing “small places” from which to bring people who will trust him in simple faith, who will worship him with simple song, as David did, while going about the normal routine of life. And then He calls them and equips them for His chosen task. And when they finally look back on where they have come from and what God has done, with David they stand amazed and say, “Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?”
(II Chron. 17:16)

Unlikely Place. Unlikely Servants.

I don’t have conclusive evidence that “the small town” produces more servants of God than those called from the city. However, it is interesting that Jesus grew up in Nazareth of Galilee and that his accent would have stereotyped him to the elite of Jerusalem as coming from the “less educated” part of the country. Jesus Himself saw the irony that those who were educated in the Scriptures and worked daily in the Temple were totally ignorant of His identity and purpose in coming. He said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. Matthew 11:25, 26 Sophistication and deep intellectual parsing of words and phrases from the Old Testament not only were not prerequisites to God-pleasing faith, it appears that they were often stumbling blocks to it.

When Paul shared the historical message of Jesus, he found the same response. He wrote: “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong.” (I Corinthians 1:26-27) Given that Paul himself received a top education in Jerusalem from the top rabbi of his day, he must have been surprised that “just explaining the facts” to his educated friends didn’t lift the veil of blindness from their eyes, while common folks who responded in simple trust were given spiritual sight.

Kind of amazing that out of that hole-in-the-wall place, Bethlehem, God brought His Savior-King to have the name that is above every name.

How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still,
The dear Christ enters in.

Three Times!

11/4/2019

"This happened THREE TIMES, and immediately the object was taken up into the sky." Acts 10:16

God was doing something BIG.
A major shift was about to happen--His Spirit was about to be poured out on a believing Gentile named Cornelius, and Peter was the means through which it would happen. The problem was that for a Law-abiding Jewish believer like Peter, it was forbidden to go eat with a Gentile. (Acts 10:28)

To get the point across to Peter that believing Gentiles were not to be considered "unclean" if God had cleansed them through faith in Jesus, THREE TIMES God sends a vision of unclean animals that descend in a sheet, and Peter is commanded: "Arise, kill and eat!" Interestingly, in the vision, Peter knows who the command is coming from. He replies, "By no means, Lord..." Just then the Gentile men knock on his door and ask him to come to their Gentile master's house. Peter finally understands the meaning of the message....and realizes that he must obey God even when it goes against his natural inclination and upbringing.

This wasn't the first time Peter had rebuked the Lord. Just after proclaiming in confidence that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, Jesus tells His disciples that He will be beaten and crucified and rise again. Peter proclaims loudly: "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to you!"
(Matthew 16:22)

Peter had an idea what the Messiah plan should look like--and it didn't include crucifixion. He had no idea that God's plan was for salvation for Jews and Gentiles, and that it could only happen through Jesus' death on the cross.

Again we find Peter countering Jesus when it is announced that all the disciples will fall away and leave Jesus alone to be crucified. Peter proclaims loudly: "Even though all fall away from You, I will never fall away!" (Matthew 26:33) Jesus tells him, "Before a rooster crows, you will deny me THREE TIMES."
There it is again...it wasn't until the third time that Peter realized how fully he had failed his Lord.

After the resurrection when Jesus met with Peter in Galilee, He asked him THREE TIMES: "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" And THREE TIMES He told him what his new job was going to be..."Tend my lambs. Shepherd my sheep. Tend my sheep."

So...what is the significance of the THREE TIMES?
Peter didn't have any idea of his own weakness nor of the bigger plan of God. Again and again he was rebuking THE LORD JESUS and telling Him how things should go. And over and over it took Peter three times before the Message sunk in to him.

How many times does God send a Scripture, a truth, or an exhortation from a believer to speak something that we are just not comprehending because His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts?
Patiently He repeats what we are to do until we realize that God is working out His bigger picture according to His wisdom in ways we cannot comprehend.

Samson's Weakness

10/4/2019

Judges 14:1, “Samson went down to Timnah and SAW A WOMAN in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines.” And Judges 16:20 is another summary theme: “And Samson awoke from his sleep and said, ‘I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.’ But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.”

These two verses highlight the two major themes developed in Samson's life:

Samson was living by what his eyes saw, even when it was forbidden by God.
Samson thought that there were no consequences for breaking his vow to God.

Most people who have heard of Samson know about “Samson and Delilah,” but there are actually three women in the story of Samson: all of them are Philistines and all of them appeal to his eyes and desires.
At least five times Samson broke his Nazirite vow, but only on the last time do we see the complete collapse of his life.

When you put the two threads together, what we see is that
Samson was a man set apart for God’s purposes, who instead was living for his own pleasures,
And thinking there were no consequences for doing so.

Choosing a Traitor

9/12/2019

Luke 6:12-16
It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.
And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles: Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew; and Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Jesus relied on His Father.

The Scriptures often record Jesus' times of slipping away alone to pray to His Father. On this occasion, the critical selection of twelve men to establish God's kingdom on earth was at hand. The selection wasn't based on their personality or request, but by the choosing and purposes of the Father.

The Traitor was not a Mistake.

The amazing thing is that Judas Iscariot was chosen after a night of prayer.
He was not a mistake that somehow got into the group unnoticed. From the outside, he looked just like the rest of the disciples. His covetous, unbelieving heart was unknown to the other apostles, but it was not unknown to God. From the beginning, Jesus knew that "not all of them were clean" (John 13:11) and that one of them would betray him. He knew that one of them was a "plant from Satan." (Matt. 13:38) From the very beginning, the choosing of a traitor was to fulfill the words given to the prophets made about Messiah. (Luke 22:22) The choosing of the Traitor was eventually going to lead Jesus to the Cross: the purpose for which He had come. (John 12:27)

When I am praying for wisdom about a situation, I often have in mind that there is going to be a "good outcome"...that all will "turn out well."

I don't often consider that a Judas Iscariot might be as much a part of the answer as a Peter and James and John--or that the long-range answer to my prayer is the way of the Cross.

Jesus did good to His enemies.

Immediately after choosing the Twelve Apostles, including the Traitor, Judas--
Jesus gives the Sermon on the Mount. His words take on a new understanding when seen in light of Judas: "Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." This wasn't pious advice delivered at a Temple teaching. It was the daily example of how Jesus treated a close friend who was going to sell Him to His enemies to be crucified for 30 pieces of silver.

Level Ground

9/11/2019

In Luke 5 Jesus tells Peter to let down his nets for a great catch of fish. Peter grudgingly does what Jesus has asked, and then realizes: "I am a sinful man!" He wants Jesus to depart from him, but instead, Jesus tells him not to be afraid and that he would be a "fisher of men."
What was Peter's response then?
In verse 11 they LEFT EVERYTHING AND FOLLOWED JESUS.

Immediately following that account, we discover that Jesus cleans an unclean leper, and forgives the sins of a paralyzed man. Then, seemingly random, He notices a tax collector (dubbed a "sinner" by the Pharisees) and says, "Follow Me." What was Levi's response? He LEFT EVERYTHING AND FOLLOWED JESUS.

Jesus then answers the grumbling of those who objected to the type of people who were coming to follow Him: "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."

Whether it was an overconfident fisherman, an unclean leper, a helpless paralytic, or a despised tax collector--the ground was level for all of them: a sinner in need of a Savior.

The Pharisees were welcomed to come to Jesus as well, but the stumbling block for them was the first step: admitting that they were "common sinners" in need of a Savior just like everybody else.

Not only was the ground level when coming to Jesus, the cost of following Jesus was the same as well.

Whether leaving a fishing business or a lucrative taxing business: both Peter and Levi "left everything" in order to follow Jesus.

Worms with a Purpose.

9/1/2019

The Provision.

When the Israelites were in the desert and had NO food, they complained to God, and He miraculously kept them alive by sending a new supply of manna each morning. And He gave very specific instructions:

"This is what the Lord has commanded, ‘Gather of it every man as much as he should eat.." The sons of Israel did so...he who had gathered much had no excess, and he who had gathered little had no lack; every man gathered as much as he should eat.
Moses said to them, “Let no man leave any of it until morning.”
(Exodus 16:15-21 NASB)

The provision was From God. It was Daily. It was ENOUGH.
The manna would melt away with the heat of the day, so that each night it looked like there was nothing for the next day.

Each night they had to believe God would provide all they needed for the next day.

The Leftovers.

"Some left part of it until morning." What could be wrong with leftover manna?!
By leaving some until morning, they were putting their security in the provision of God rather than in God Himself as their Provider.

The Worms.

"And it bred worms and became foul."
What is amazing is that manna had not existed on earth before God provided it for His people, and when they reached the produce of Canaan, the manna stopped. So, not only was the manna provided, but the worms for the "leftover" manna were also provided!
(And evidently, these were Sabbath-keeping worms, because they didn't eat Sabbath-stored manna!)

The worms were purposefully sent to teach the Israelites not to trust in their own clever scheme to meet their needs apart from dependence on God.

Jesus reminds His disciples in Matthew 6:19-20 not to "store up treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy..." but to store up treasures in heaven. A few verses later, He commands us:
"Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?'...for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
So DO NOT WORRY ABOUT TOMORROW, for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

And each day has enough manna for that day from the Provider that lovingly sends worms to the things we've hoarded, to keep us from trusting His provision instead of Himself.

Twelve men walk to Egypt. All of them die. One walks back.

8/23/2019

Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here.” Genesis 50:25

Twelve men walk to Egypt.

I can't imagine what was going through Joseph's mind when he was walking down the dusty road to Egypt, bound as a slave to be sold at the market. The only thing "objective" he had to hold on to was that somehow what was happening to him at that moment was connected to two dreams God had given him that he would be the Ruler over his brothers...the brothers that were exulting in their triumph over him and the profit they had made from his sale.
I can't imagine what the brothers were thinking as they took their sheep back to report to their father, but I am certain they did not envision that one day they would be traveling the same dusty road to Egypt, begging the vice-Pharaoh for food! After all...they didn't believe Joseph's dreams!

Yet by the end of Genesis, the exact fulfillment of the dreams has happened in reality!
All twelve men have walked that road to Egypt and their families are there with them.

All of them die.

Jacob, their father, dies in Egypt. He knows that Egypt is not his home, not his "final resting place." Because of the promise God had made to Abraham and Isaac and his descendants, Jacob makes his sons promise to bury him in Canaan. (Genesis 50:5) After the burial, the twelve sons of Jacob once again walk down the dusty road to Egypt, where their families and possessions are waiting for them.
Time passes, and they die...in Egypt. For eleven of them, it is their final resting place. But one of them knows he will return to the land of Canaan to "claim" his inheritance.

One walks back.

Joseph had seen the faith Jacob had in the promises of God and in hanging on to his inheritance. Jacob was residing in Egypt at the end of his life, but he had not assimilated into Egypt.
Joseph had seen the fulfillment of the God-given dreams, worked out through the lowest valleys of distress. God's faithfulness had been proved through the darkest nights of his own life in Egypt.
The very last verse of Genesis ends with his solid faith in God's continued faithful care...no matter what low valleys or dark nights the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren would go through.

Joseph knew the outcome. The inheritance promised to Abraham was a sure thing. His death would not keep him from getting there, because it was dependent on God's faithful care to bring it about.

In Exodus 13:19, almost 400 years after Joseph tells his brothers to take him back to Canaan, the footnote is given: "Moses took the bones of Joseph with him."
The Joseph who had waited...lifeless...helpless...now was "walking" out of Egypt! (with a little bit of assistance from Moses!) But then Moses dies before getting into the land...and there is Joseph, still in his boney, helpless, dead condition.

One of Joseph's great-grand-descendants, Joshua, comes into the land and receives his portion.
The final footnote is attached in Joshua 24:29-32: "Now they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem."

Maybe the faith Joshua displayed when he spied out the land and knew with certainty that "God will give it to us!" was a direct result of Joseph's faith that had been carried down for the generations before it got to him.

What about the eleven brothers who hadn't believed Joseph's dreams? Evidently their bones stayed in Egypt. And their unbelief was also passed down for hundreds of years to their descendants so that when it came time to go into the land, ten leaders said to the rest of the family: "God can't do this."

May I be living for the promises of God that will only be realized after my death, certain that God's faithful care will bring them about! May I not look at the situation in front of me and think for a second that it is a picture of reality, without viewing it in light of the end of the story that God has already revealed.

No Matter How You Say It.

8/18/2019

"I don't know what to say."

In Exodus 4:12 Moses has been giving his excuses to God about why the idea of sending him back to Egypt to deliver the Israelites from slavery is not going to work. His main objection centers around his INABILITY to speak...to say the right words in such a way that both Pharaoh and the Israelites would listen to him.
God's response is repeated: "I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say.”

Moses didn't have to figure out what words to use. God was going to give him the exact script to deliver. Moses' job was just to repeat what God said.

"They won't believe."

God has told him in Exodus 3:18 that "the people will listen," but that Pharaoh won't let them go "except under compulsion." Having nothing to go on but his prior failed experience (plus 40 years of thinking of the failure!), Moses requests some sort of sign that the people will believe his words, and that Pharaoh will let the people go. Even after the signs, Moses comes back to "I've never been eloquent."

Hard hearts won't respond to words or signs.

As the story plays out, it becomes apparent that Moses' ability or inability at saying "the right thing"...or saying it in "the right way" had no bearing at all on persuading Pharaoh. Why not? Because his words merely uncovered the hard stubborn rebellion that Pharaoh harbored against God. The "unresponsiveness" of Pharaoh was a fight he was in with God...not Moses.
The message was very simple: "God says, 'Let My people go that they may worship Me."

The message was very simple. It did not need an eloquent speaker, it needed an obedient repeater.

Moses never "persuaded" Pharaoh by his words to release the Israelite slaves. When viewing the task from his imagination in the desert, he was consumed by his inability. But the thing that he saw as essential for God's plan to work was a non-factor, because the goal was not to win Pharaoh to a reasoned understanding of God's plan, but was to showcase the glory of God in redeeming the Israelites out of their helpless slavery.

How easy it is to think that there is "something more" than the simple Word of God that will persuade a proud and stubborn heart. To imagine that if only I had "the right words" a "more winsome personality" or "said it in just the right way" it would produce some amazing result in the heart of someone who has rejected God.

The truth is that if someone has a stubborn heart toward God, they will not respond to His simple and clear words, no matter how those words are said. 

What is our response to be? Not to trust in a new method or change the message to be "more appealing" but to continue obediently speaking the simple words of God with clarity, knowing that God is working out His own purposes. Paul provided an example in II Cor. 5:20 when he said, "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."

"Your Work Doesn't Matter" (The Enemy's Lie)

7/27/2019

Nehemiah's Work.

Each time I read about Nehemiah re-building the walls of Jerusalem, the details of Sanballat and Tobiah's opposition, ridicule, and even hatred of God's plan stands out in glaring contrast to the events God was moving forward all around them. They were continually trying to stop the work favorable to Jerusalem. Nevertheless, Nehemiah and the Jews poured themselves into the work-- believing that God would give them success (2:20).

The Enemy's Discouraging Lie.

Then came the taunting voices.
Nehemiah 4:1-3: "'What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble--burned as they are?' Tobiah...said,'What they are building--if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones.'"

What was the intention of the Enemy's words? To make them believe that what they were doing would make no difference; that it was inadequate; that to continue to work would be foolish.

The People's Weariness.

At first, the enemy's words fell on deaf ears, because 4:6 says, "We rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart." But then the amount of work they had put into the wall looked so small compared with what still needed to be done. "The people in Judah said, 'The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is SO MUCH rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.'"
Their Enemy's words had sunk in: "It's too big. You will never accomplish it. Your work doesn't matter."

Then, the Enemy moved in with words of fear--ten times they circulated rumors that wherever the Jews went, they would be attacked. The initial verbal assault, "It isn't possible" turned into, "It isn't safe."
Nehemiah 6:9 sums it up: "They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, 'Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.'"

Every accusation and false reasoning had one goal: for the people to STOP doing God's work.

Strong Hands.

"But I prayed, 'Now strengthen my hands.'“
The people had grown weary of carrying away enormous loads of rubble while picking up bricks, hauling them to the building site and laying them into place, all the while being on guard every minute against possible physical attack by their enemies. Their physical hands needed strength to continue, but their hearts needed strength to keep on with the work God had put before them.

For those who are discouraged and hearing the Enemy's lie that their labor in the Lord "doesn't matter" the book of Hebrews reminds us:
God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized. Hebrews 6:10-11.

"Come!"

7/23/2019

How can a person tell when a thought is God’s Voice or when it is Satan’s lies?

One key indicator is that Satan’s lies are bent on attacking my value and destroying my desire to come to God.
Phrases like, “You’ve messed up again, God won’t want to see you!” and “You are such a failure as a Christian!” may sound like rational thoughts when considering the evidence, but they are in direct opposition to the truth that God’s voice always invites me to come to Him, regardless of where I am.
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18)

If attacking my value does not keep me away from God, Satan will use the more subtle tactic of deceiving me about my true condition and need for God's changing grace.
Thoughts like, “I’m doing so well, praying and reading God’s Word.” “Everything is going well, I must be doing something right!” can mask pride and give a false security that equally destroys a desire to come to God. A person without an inner thirst will not come to God. A longing, a desire for the inner empty to be filled, a dissatisfaction with plastic facades and empty motions--that place of neediness and thirst for righteousness is exactly what delights the Father:
"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost." (Isaiah 55:1)

Jesus made it very specific that the thirsty one, the needy one, the distressed one crying out, is crying out to Him--and the one who comes to Him will be satisfied, not just one time, but continually. The invitation is open.
“Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’”
(John 7:37-38)

You know what the scary part was? The people who studied the Scriptures were the ones who wouldn’t come to Jesus. The reason? Although the motions made it look like they were seeking God, they weren’t thirsty. They didn’t feel a driving need that made them want to be changed. Their knowledge of Scripture kept them insulated from seeing or feeling their true condition—that they were not filled with compassion and love for others, they were concerned only for their own wellbeing.
“You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”
(John 5:39)

Whether we hear the lies that we have messed up too much and God doesn't want us to come, or we are subtly deceived with feeling no need to come, the invitation remains the same to the end:
“Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.” (Revelation 22:17)

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