Last week I taught from John 8 and the story of the woman caught in adultery. I was so appalled at the crowds who were so harsh and condemning. It reminded me at the way I have been at times towards others. But I was also so deeply moved by the mercy, love, forgiveness, and , kindness of Jesus towards this poor, shamed, and guilty woman.
Sometimes God uses biographies to awaken me and call me to a higher way of being and living. One of my favorite Christians is the great 18th century English pastor John Newton. He once said, "All I know is that I am a great sinner and Jesus is a great savior". Do you believe that? What does belief in my utter depravity and corruption and God's sovereign grace and mercy purchased by the blood of Jesus have upon my life and how I live? What affect does believing that I am a great sinner and Jesus is a great savior mean to have upon the way I relate to others?
Oh let us learn from John Newton! Born in 1725 and died in 1807, he is best know as the hymn writer of the great hymn Amazing Grace. He pastored two churches; Olney, for 16 years, and London, for 27 years. He was a contemporary and friend of John Wesley, George Whitefield, William Wilberforce, Henry Martyn, and Charles Simeon in the 18th century.
In my opinion he was one of the greatest pastors in the history of the church. I can honestly say, next to Jesus and Paul, he is the man I most desire to be like. The reason that I feel this is because of what John Piper calls his habitual tenderness of spirit. In scripture we are told to "not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and endurance inherit the promises" ( Hebrews 6:12). "Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their life and imitate their faith" (Hebrews 13:7). John Newton was a leader exceedingly worthy for us to study and to imitate. He was a was a man who truly testified to the mercy of God towards him. He was throughout his life a man truly amazed by grace.
At the end of his life his last will and testament reads: I commit my soul to my gracious God and Savior, who mercifully spared and preserved me, when I was an apostate, a blasphemer, and an infidel, and delivered me from the state of misery on the coast of Africa into which my obstinate wickedness had plunged me; and who has been pleased to admit me (though most unworthy) to preach his glorious gospel. " Have you, like Newton, gotten over the sheer wonder of Jesus Christ's amazing triumphant grace? Newton reminds us that a believer who has been shown such grace and mercy should be characterized by a life of habitual tenderness. In writing to a friend he describes the believer's life: "He believes and feels his own weakness and unworthiness, and lives upon the grace and pardoning love of his Lord. This gives him a habitual tenderness and gentleness of spirit. "
Sometimes in my own life and in other Christians I have been appalled at the lack of tenderness and grace extended towards others. Oh how easily we forget don't we? I call it spiritual amnesia! One of the reasons that we fail to love God and others as we ought is because of spiritual amnesia. That is to say, we forget who God is and we forget who we are. The effect of knowing God's love and grace should be lavish love, generous kindness, and unlimited mercy towards others. Newton says, "Humble under a sense of much forgiveness to himself; he finds it easy to forgive others." Do you?
Another time Newton wrote,“Whoever has tasted of the love Christ, and has known, by his own experience, the need and the worth of redemption, is enabled, yes, he is constrained, to love his fellow creatures. He loves them at first sight.” He puts it in a picture: "A company of travellers fall into a pit: one of them gets a passenger to draw him out. Now he should not be angry with the rest for falling in; nor because they are not yet out, as he is. He did not pull himself out: instead, therefore, of reproaching them, he should shew them pity. . . . A man, truly illuminated, will no more despise others, then Bartimeus, after his own eyes were opened, would take a stick, and beat every blind man he met."
The default response of those who have been shown God's inimitable grace is to love and be merciful to all people. When Newton speaks to unbelievers he speaks like this: A well-wisher to your soul assures you, that whether you know these things or not, they are important realities. . . . Oh hear the warning voice! Flee from the wrath to come. Pray thee that the eyes of your mind may be opened, then you will see your danger, and gladly follow the shining light of the Word. "
Newton had a firm grip on doctrine but he also knew how important it was to live and feel and speak what he knew and believed. What we believe can be discredited by failing to live and speak in the spirit of what we believe. Therefore, he says, "The Scripture, which . . . teaches us what we are to say, is equally explicit as to the temper and Spirit in which we are to speak. Though I had knowledge of all mysteries, and the tongue of an angel to declare them, I could hope for little acceptance or usefulness, unless I was to speak 'in love."
John Newton had drunk deeply from the fountain of grace, the cross of Jesus Christ. Have you? He was filled with joy and overflowing for those who weren't. His own self description of how he lived is days says: "Two heaps of happiness and misery; now if I can take the smallest bit from one heap and add to the other, I carry a point. If, as I go home, a child has dropped a halfpenny, and if, by giving it another, I can wipe away its tears, I feel that I have done something. I should be glad to do greater things, but I will not neglect this" The cross of Jesus is the source of all love, mercy, and tenderness of spirit towards others. We all need to live our lives in very close proximity to the shadow of the blessed cross. For when we live beneath its shadow gratitude, amazement, and humility will be pervasive in our souls.
Listen to the amazement that Newton felt at the age of seventy-two: "such a wretch should not only be spared and pardoned, but reserved to the honour of preaching thy Gospel, which he had blasphemed and renounced . . . this is wonderful indeed! The more thou hast exalted me, the more I ought to abase myself."
He wrote his own epitaph:
JOHN NEWTON, Clerk,Once an Infidel and Libertine,A Servant of Slaves in Africa,Was,by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior JESUS CHRIST,Preserved, restored, pardoned,And appointed to preach the Faith He had long laboured to destroy,Near 16 years at Olney in Bucks;And [28] years in this church.
Glad-hearted, grateful lowliness and brokenness as a saved "wretch" was probably the most prominent root of Newton's habitual tenderness with people. The hymn we know as Amazing Grace was written to accompany a New Year's sermon based on 1 Chronicles 17:16, "Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me thus far?"
"Amazing grace! How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me,I once was lost, but now am found,Was blind but now I see." May amazement and habitual tenderness of spirit characterize your life as you see and savor the restoration and pardon that was blood bought and freely given to you by the undeserved grace of our great Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May we be able to say like Newton
"I am not what I ought to be — ah, how imperfect and deficient! I am not what I wish to be — I abhor what is evil, and I would cleave to what is good! I am not what I hope to be — soon, soon shall I put off mortality, and with mortality all sin and imperfection. Yet, though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be, I can truly say, I am not what I once was; a slave to sin and Satan; and I can heartily join with the apostle, and acknowledge, "By the grace of God I am what I am."
Awakened to love and mercy,
Pastor Bill
Friday, April 27, 2012
Saturday, April 21, 2012
THOUGHTS ON THE GLORY OF GOD AND THE LOGIC OF HELL
I just did a seminar called The Glory of God and the Logic of Hell. I thought I would share with you some thoughts and conclusions from that seminar as my blog this week. I pray that it would challenge you in a God diminishing, hell belittling world in which we live.
God bound by His own righteous character to preserve the worth of his glory; for the ultimate crime-sin, falling short of that glory; sentences with the ultimate justice, guilty; with the ultimate penalty, pouring out his wrath and sending guilty sinners to hell. A crime is wicked and blameworthy in direct proportion to the worth of the one assaulted. Think about this. There are no penalties for slapping mosquitoes. However if you kill dogs with the same disregard you can get into trouble. And you'll be in worse trouble if you do the same thing with horses. And when you assault or worse kill a human being your guilt increases in the same way that the worth of a person is greater than the worth of an animal. And so it is when you assault the glory of God.
Since God is infinitely greater, infinitely more valuable, than human beings, an assault on his worth is wicked and blameworthy beyond measure. And therefore it is just and right that God should condemn people to eternal condemnation. There is an immensity of horror for the sin of disbelieving God. It is the ultimate most horrendous evil that there is. Nothing can compare to it. Not even the hellish crimes of the Holocaust of the Jews, the killing fields of Cambodia, the genocide of Sudan, and the holocaust of abortion. The indigence we feel concerning those crimes is an indictment against the lack of indignation that we feel about the holocaust of sinners perishing in unbelief!
Jonathan Edwards said,
"The glory of God is the greatest good; it is that which is the chief end of creation; it is of greater importance than anything else. But this is one way wherein God will glorify Himself, as in the eternal destruction of ungodly men He will glorify His justice. Therein He will appear as a just governor of the world. The vindictive justice of God will appear strict, exact, awful, and terrible, and therefore glorious."
John Piper adds,
“God; bound by His own righteous character to preserve the worth of his glory; for the ultimate crime-sin, falling short of that glory; sentences with the ultimate justice, guilty; with the ultimate penalty, pouring out his wrath and sending guilty sinners to hell. “
Since God is infinitely greater, infinitely more valuable, than human beings, an assault on his worth is wicked and blameworthy beyond measure. And therefore it is just and right that God should condemn people to eternal condemnation.
Jonathan Edwards in his sermon The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners said,
"A Being of infinite greatness, majesty, and glory" God is therefore "infinitely honorable" and worthy of our absolute obedience. "Sin against God, being a violation of infinite obligations, must be a crime infinitely heinous, and deserving of infinite punishment."
God did not ordain the cross of Christ or create the lake of fire in order to communicate the insignificance of belittling his glory. The death of the Son of God and the damnation of unrepentant human beings are the loudest shouts under heaven that God is infinitely holy, and sin is infinitely offensive, and wrath is infinitely just, and grace is infinitely precious, and our brief life, and the life of every person in your church and in your community ,leads to everlasting joy or everlasting suffering
John Piper writes,
O how infinitely dreadful sin must be! How infinitely blameworthy it must be to treat the glory of God with contempt! How infinite must be the insult to God when we do not trust his promises! What infinite beauty and glory and purity and holiness God must have, that endless suffering is a just and fitting punishment for disobeying his word. Hell is an echo of the glory of God. The infinite horrors of hell are intended by God to be a vivid demonstration of the glory of God. And it is to fill us with wonder that the death of one man--the God-man, Jesus Christ--could bear the infinite penalty as a substitute for everyone who repents and trusts in him. And that God who says it is an abomination to punish the innocent and acquit the guilty could somehow be God and yet save and justify sinners like us (Proverbs 17:15). Think on that for awhile! Hell is an echo of the glory of God. It reveals the greatness of the glory that has been rejected and the greatness of Jesus' suffering because he bore that. The point of all these is that we are meant to shudder. We are meant to tremble and feel dread. We are meant to recoil from the reality. Not by denying it but by fleeing from it into the arms of Jesus, who died to save us from it.
A summary of why hell is logical to me:
If:
GOD IS INFINITE
GOD IS THE GOD OF INFINITE GREATNESS AND GLORY
GOD HAS INFINITE PURPOSES
GOD IS BOUND BY HIS INFINITE PURPOSES
GOD MAKES INFINITE OBLIGATIONS
GOD IS WORTHY OF INFINITE WORSHIP
GOD IS WORTHY OF ABSOLUTE OBEDIENCE TO HIS INFINITE OBLIGATIONS
Then:
SIN IS A VIOLATION OF INFINITE STANDARDS
SIN IS INFINITELY HEINOUS
SIN IS THE ULTIMATE CRIME AND OFFENSE AGAINST AN INFINITE GOD
SIN IS THE ULTIMATE GUILT
THEREFORE:
SIN IS DESERVING OF THE ULTIMATE JUSTICE
SIN IS DESERVING OF THE ULTIMATE SENTENCE OF GUILT
SIN IS DESERVING OF THE ULTIMATE PUNISHMENT
THE ULTIMATE PUNISHMENT IS INFINITE ETERNAL PUNISHMENT
Understanding this is crucial to our drive to appreciate the work of Christ and to preach His gospel. Robert Peterson sums up the matter when he says that the images of hell "shock our sensibilities. They present a fate involving utter ruin and loss (death and destruction), the eternal wrath of God (punishment), unspeakable sorrow and pain (crying and grinding of teeth), terrible suffering (fire), and rejection by God and exclusion from his blessed presence (darkness and separation)." Jesus died to save us from hell and bring us into the everlasting enjoyment of His glory. All we need to do is turn to Him in repentance and faith and He will give us eternal life.
John Piper writes:
O what a difference it makes when one believes in hell - with trembling and with tears. There is seriousness over all of life, and an urgency in all our endeavors, and a flavor of blood-earnestness that seasons everything and makes sin feel more sinful, and righteousness feel more righteous, and life feel more precious, and relationships feel more profound, and God appear more weighty.Hell, then, is an eternity before the righteous, ever-burning wrath of God, a suffering torment from which there is no escape and no relief.
Grateful and reverent about my rescue from hell,
Pastor Bill
God bound by His own righteous character to preserve the worth of his glory; for the ultimate crime-sin, falling short of that glory; sentences with the ultimate justice, guilty; with the ultimate penalty, pouring out his wrath and sending guilty sinners to hell. A crime is wicked and blameworthy in direct proportion to the worth of the one assaulted. Think about this. There are no penalties for slapping mosquitoes. However if you kill dogs with the same disregard you can get into trouble. And you'll be in worse trouble if you do the same thing with horses. And when you assault or worse kill a human being your guilt increases in the same way that the worth of a person is greater than the worth of an animal. And so it is when you assault the glory of God.
Since God is infinitely greater, infinitely more valuable, than human beings, an assault on his worth is wicked and blameworthy beyond measure. And therefore it is just and right that God should condemn people to eternal condemnation. There is an immensity of horror for the sin of disbelieving God. It is the ultimate most horrendous evil that there is. Nothing can compare to it. Not even the hellish crimes of the Holocaust of the Jews, the killing fields of Cambodia, the genocide of Sudan, and the holocaust of abortion. The indigence we feel concerning those crimes is an indictment against the lack of indignation that we feel about the holocaust of sinners perishing in unbelief!
Jonathan Edwards said,
"The glory of God is the greatest good; it is that which is the chief end of creation; it is of greater importance than anything else. But this is one way wherein God will glorify Himself, as in the eternal destruction of ungodly men He will glorify His justice. Therein He will appear as a just governor of the world. The vindictive justice of God will appear strict, exact, awful, and terrible, and therefore glorious."
John Piper adds,
“God; bound by His own righteous character to preserve the worth of his glory; for the ultimate crime-sin, falling short of that glory; sentences with the ultimate justice, guilty; with the ultimate penalty, pouring out his wrath and sending guilty sinners to hell. “
Since God is infinitely greater, infinitely more valuable, than human beings, an assault on his worth is wicked and blameworthy beyond measure. And therefore it is just and right that God should condemn people to eternal condemnation.
Jonathan Edwards in his sermon The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners said,
"A Being of infinite greatness, majesty, and glory" God is therefore "infinitely honorable" and worthy of our absolute obedience. "Sin against God, being a violation of infinite obligations, must be a crime infinitely heinous, and deserving of infinite punishment."
God did not ordain the cross of Christ or create the lake of fire in order to communicate the insignificance of belittling his glory. The death of the Son of God and the damnation of unrepentant human beings are the loudest shouts under heaven that God is infinitely holy, and sin is infinitely offensive, and wrath is infinitely just, and grace is infinitely precious, and our brief life, and the life of every person in your church and in your community ,leads to everlasting joy or everlasting suffering
John Piper writes,
O how infinitely dreadful sin must be! How infinitely blameworthy it must be to treat the glory of God with contempt! How infinite must be the insult to God when we do not trust his promises! What infinite beauty and glory and purity and holiness God must have, that endless suffering is a just and fitting punishment for disobeying his word. Hell is an echo of the glory of God. The infinite horrors of hell are intended by God to be a vivid demonstration of the glory of God. And it is to fill us with wonder that the death of one man--the God-man, Jesus Christ--could bear the infinite penalty as a substitute for everyone who repents and trusts in him. And that God who says it is an abomination to punish the innocent and acquit the guilty could somehow be God and yet save and justify sinners like us (Proverbs 17:15). Think on that for awhile! Hell is an echo of the glory of God. It reveals the greatness of the glory that has been rejected and the greatness of Jesus' suffering because he bore that. The point of all these is that we are meant to shudder. We are meant to tremble and feel dread. We are meant to recoil from the reality. Not by denying it but by fleeing from it into the arms of Jesus, who died to save us from it.
A summary of why hell is logical to me:
If:
GOD IS INFINITE
GOD IS THE GOD OF INFINITE GREATNESS AND GLORY
GOD HAS INFINITE PURPOSES
GOD IS BOUND BY HIS INFINITE PURPOSES
GOD MAKES INFINITE OBLIGATIONS
GOD IS WORTHY OF INFINITE WORSHIP
GOD IS WORTHY OF ABSOLUTE OBEDIENCE TO HIS INFINITE OBLIGATIONS
Then:
SIN IS A VIOLATION OF INFINITE STANDARDS
SIN IS INFINITELY HEINOUS
SIN IS THE ULTIMATE CRIME AND OFFENSE AGAINST AN INFINITE GOD
SIN IS THE ULTIMATE GUILT
THEREFORE:
SIN IS DESERVING OF THE ULTIMATE JUSTICE
SIN IS DESERVING OF THE ULTIMATE SENTENCE OF GUILT
SIN IS DESERVING OF THE ULTIMATE PUNISHMENT
THE ULTIMATE PUNISHMENT IS INFINITE ETERNAL PUNISHMENT
Understanding this is crucial to our drive to appreciate the work of Christ and to preach His gospel. Robert Peterson sums up the matter when he says that the images of hell "shock our sensibilities. They present a fate involving utter ruin and loss (death and destruction), the eternal wrath of God (punishment), unspeakable sorrow and pain (crying and grinding of teeth), terrible suffering (fire), and rejection by God and exclusion from his blessed presence (darkness and separation)." Jesus died to save us from hell and bring us into the everlasting enjoyment of His glory. All we need to do is turn to Him in repentance and faith and He will give us eternal life.
John Piper writes:
O what a difference it makes when one believes in hell - with trembling and with tears. There is seriousness over all of life, and an urgency in all our endeavors, and a flavor of blood-earnestness that seasons everything and makes sin feel more sinful, and righteousness feel more righteous, and life feel more precious, and relationships feel more profound, and God appear more weighty.Hell, then, is an eternity before the righteous, ever-burning wrath of God, a suffering torment from which there is no escape and no relief.
Grateful and reverent about my rescue from hell,
Pastor Bill
Saturday, April 14, 2012
A TESTIMONY TO 35 YEARS OF GOD'S FAITHFULNESS
"But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” (2 Timothy 4:17-18)
One day during January 1975 on an isolated tropical point in southern Mexico, called Punta de Mita, 30 miles north of Puerto Vallarta; a young 22 year old surfer was resting after surfing all morning with just his best friend in perfect tropical world class waves. He had only just recently in December become a Christian. Lying on a hammock, with only the sound of seagulls, pelicans, and the waves breaking, the peace, solitude, and quiet made for a good environment to read his bible, which he read every day for hours. So, he opened his bible and began to read as he did every day after surfing. Only this day was different, as C.S. Lewis put it, he was surprised by joy, in short, God ambushed him! God came to him in a voice in his head and told him to turn to Jeremiah 1.
Now understand that this young guy had never read Jeremiah 1, nor did he even know that there was a book in the bible named Jeremiah. So after fumbling through his bible trying to find this ancient book, he finally arrived. The passage went like this:
“Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth." But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a youth'; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD." Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant" (Jeremiah 1:4-10).
After reading the passage, the Lord said to the young man, “My son, you will be my Jeremiah. Just as I called Jeremiah, I have called you to be a pastor. I will do it” The young man laughed hysterically at this word yet strangely wept profusely at the same time and said, “Lord I am nothing but an uneducated, unemployed surf bum. I have problems in my life. I have lived a terrible life of sin. I am an uneducated, unemployed, loner, barely graduating from high school, a nobody. How can you use me? How can this possibly happen?” The Lord said to him, “The word that I gave to Jeremiah, I give to you. I will make you a pastor just as I made Jeremiah my prophet. You will be my Jeremiah. It will be my work and you will know that I alone have done this.”
After that the young surfer boy waited for two years before the word of the Lord began to be fulfilled in his life; not that he would not try before that to run ahead and make it happen. But every time he did, it was a complete and humiliating disaster. But the Lord, who called him, had his own ordained time for him and in 1977 the Lord fulfilled his calling and the young man of 24 years began a singles ministry and in February 1977 preached his first sermon.
That surfer boy that I am telling you about is me and I have never forgotten that moment when the Lord graced me and called me to the ministry. The Lord and His calling on my life has been my compass, my strength, my hope, the object of my faith, and the sustaining power that has kept me persevering these past thirty five years through ministry triumphs and defeats, through exaltation and humiliation, through joys and sorrows, through mountaintops and valleys, through moments of elation and disappointment, through people coming into my life and people leaving my life, through times of pleasure and times of pain, through seasons of popularity and rejection, through times of great laughter and times of great, deep, sorrow and tears, through friendship and estrangement, through fulfilled dreams and broken dreams, through successes and failures, through great surprises and disappointments, through great gains and great losses, through being promoted and being demoted, through chastening, breaking, trials, sanctification, growth, maturity, progress, regress, ups and downs.
It is a blessing to write today after thirty five years and say “the Lord has done it and it is marvelous in my eyes” (Psalm 118:23). Today I am a lot older, hopefully wiser, more mature, a bit more tired, but full of longing that God would fill me with fresh, Spirit-given passion to preach and finish my course with the most fruitful time that I have ever known. I know that it may be presumptuous to say that I hope and plan to preach and trumpet the vision of the beauty and supremacy and glory of God until I am an old man (I just turned 59). Only God knows if I will live that long.
I want to testify to the faithfulness of God in my life and I want to encourage you about His faithfulness to you as well. I love the testimony of the apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 4. Paul is in Rome and is about to become a martyr for the gospel. He will die in the persecution of Nero very soon after this letter is written. He knows this is coming. That's the meaning of verse 6: "For I am already on the point of being sacrificed; the time of my departure has come." Paul has already made one defense before the Roman court. He calls it his "first defense" in verse 16. "At my first defense no one took my part; all deserted me." He knows that another court appearance is coming and that it will probably mean the end of his life. That is the context in which we read verses 17-18 as he looks back on the first defense and forward to the dangers in front of him. “But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” I want to take this testimony as my own. Each part of it fills me with a sense of overwhelming gratitude to God and empowers me to hope for my future.
I. "The Lord stood by me. . ." All my life, Jesus Christ has been a very personal, precious, and a faithful friend to me. What Jesus says in John 15:13-15 has meant so much to me, "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you." The heart of my ministry has been rooted in the friendship of Jesus. The heart of my ministry is to know what the Master is doing, to know what the Master is like, and to make it known. That is why I tell people all the time that the most important thing in my life is to see Jesus for who He is and to savor Him for all He is worth. If I am to succeed in this ministry Jesus must be my friend; and Oh what a friend He has been to me! "There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother" (Proverbs 18:24); and his name is Jesus.
II. "...and gave me strength to proclaim the message fully . . ."
One of the greatest things I have learned in my life and experienced all of these years is that God never calls us to do things that HE CANNOT DO! He does not ask us to do things that He will not help us and enable us to do. He is faithful. He does supernatural and impossible things. He takes jars of clay like you and me and fills them with His power so that in all things we do He might get the glory. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7). Too many people say, "I'm so ordinary, so average and undistinguished. I can't do anything significant." 2 Corinthians 4:7 shows that this argument is wrong and why. God's concept of ministry is so different from the world's concept. The world stresses the container, not the glory of God in human weakness. God does the opposite.
If there is one thing that I have learned, it is that God's purpose to get the glory in all things determines how we do all things. God's purpose is to make sure that we see that the surpassing power belongs to him and not to us. How does he do it? He puts the treasure of his gifts and his gospel in clay pots like you and me. Your ordinariness is not a liability; it is an asset, if you really want God to get the glory. No one is too common, too weak, too shy, too inarticulate, too disabled to do what God wants you to do. I am living proof! I can say like Paul, “Most gladly will I brag about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me”(2 Corinthians 12:9).
I have experienced the Lord’s strength in so many other ways: In financial provision when God called me to serve full time with no salary; then called me with a wife and three kids to turn down a full time salary and give up my thriving ministry for a position as a youth pastor in a church that had no youth for 100 dollars a month; with the strength to be rejected by three churches and yet watch the demotions lead to His promotions; invariably leading to planting a church in 1987; in the most severe trials in the 90’s when I thought that the church wouldn’t make it, when I have been so discouraged, despondent, lonely, and defeated that I felt that I could not go on another day as a pastor, when I have been at wits end and didn’t know what to do but to cry out for help, in the day to day sustaining grace to plod along in obedience to what I know by faith; in Him coming over and over again in divine providence to guide and encourage me; in losing everything and wondering if I would ever be a pastor again; and in restoring me, providing for me, and calling me to plant another church at 59 years old. And oh how often He has strengthened me through the love and prayers and grace,mercy of men like Pastor Dick Reeve, Chuck Smith Jr., Dr. Walter Martin, Ed Piorek,and Professor Ronald Wright; through longtime loyal and faithful friends in ministry like Ken Fish, Paul Cessarini, and Jean White; through the writings of men like John Piper, Jonathan Edwards C.S Lewis, R.C Sproul, Sam Storms, Charles Swindill, and Augustine; through the lives of men like George Mueller, David Brainerd, Hudson Taylor, William Carey, John Newton, William Wilberforce, Adoniram Judson, John Paton, and the English Puritans; and through the unknown but known to God, prayers of the saints for me. I am so very grateful.
Oh how He has been there to strengthen and to be patient with me in my immaturity, pride, character flaws, glib and flippant speech, selfishness, impatience, false ambition, introversion, being a loner, battling depression and discouragement, and numerous other sins. I have learned that the faithfulness of God triumphs over the flaws of men. “The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24); “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6); “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:13). God’s grace has always triumphed over my guilty impotency. That is why I have not allowed my weaknesses and flaws to paralyze me The Lord stood by me. When I have failed and fallen and the enemy has said, God can’t use someone like me, I have been able to say like Micah 7:8 “Do not rejoice over me….Though I fall I will rise”. The Lord has been my advocate and has pleaded my case. He has helped me to stand in His righteousness, not my own, and to do the work that He has given me to do these past 35 years.
God has a great work to do for each one of you to do. Do it with all of your might-yes, even with all of your flaws and your sins. And in the obedience of this faith, magnify the glory of His amazing grace, and do not grow weary in doing good. The Lord stood by me. In every storm, in every dark season his hand has been on my shoulder to get me through them and to come out the other side with unshakable faith and joy. As the hymn writer said, “When all around my soul gives way, this is my hope and my stay. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” And now at the end of thirty five years as a pastor I love the faithfulness of the Lord more than ever. The Lord has stood by me. I have felt his hand on my shoulder without fail every week of these thirty years. God’s sovereign faithfulness has been the hope of my future, the energy of my service, the center of my doctrine, and the remedy for all my discouragements.
III. "So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil and save me for his heavenly kingdom."
Notice very carefully what this rescue means. "He will rescue me from every evil and save me for his heavenly kingdom." What evil would threaten to keep Paul out of God's heavenly kingdom? When Paul says that he was rescued from the lion's mouth and that he will be rescued from every evil work, he means he was saved from unbelief; he was saved from apostasy; he was saved from loving the world like Demas (2 Timothy 4:10); he was saved from cowardice; he was saved from throwing it all away for a few more years of freedom and comfort. Oh how God has kept me in the faith and in the ministry. This is the great preciousness of having the Lord standing by us. It means that the Lord will cause us to persevere to the end and save us for his heavenly kingdom.
It is no wonder why we must break forth with the apostle Paul at the end of verse 18 and say, "To him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen." Why? Because God caused Paul, and will cause you and me to persevere in the good fight of faith. Therefore: "To him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen." I thank God that Jesus, in his mercy, has stood by me and helped me for Thirty five years. The Lord stood by Paul, guiding him all is life and the Lord stood by me, and the Lord will stand by you! He will do that for you to as you offer yourself up to him for his use and his mission.
William Carey said, "Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God." In that order! First trust him. Trust his promise. He will stand with you. He will give you strength. Then . . . THEN . . . "attempt great things for God. My precious brothers and sisters, I urge you to be faithful to the work of Christ; to fulfill your gifts and calling; to witness with courage; and most of all—as the foundation for all—to BELIEVE THIS PROMISE: The Lord will stand by you, He will give you strength, He will rescue you from every evil and save you for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Grateful and expectant,
Pastor Bill
One day during January 1975 on an isolated tropical point in southern Mexico, called Punta de Mita, 30 miles north of Puerto Vallarta; a young 22 year old surfer was resting after surfing all morning with just his best friend in perfect tropical world class waves. He had only just recently in December become a Christian. Lying on a hammock, with only the sound of seagulls, pelicans, and the waves breaking, the peace, solitude, and quiet made for a good environment to read his bible, which he read every day for hours. So, he opened his bible and began to read as he did every day after surfing. Only this day was different, as C.S. Lewis put it, he was surprised by joy, in short, God ambushed him! God came to him in a voice in his head and told him to turn to Jeremiah 1.
Now understand that this young guy had never read Jeremiah 1, nor did he even know that there was a book in the bible named Jeremiah. So after fumbling through his bible trying to find this ancient book, he finally arrived. The passage went like this:
“Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth." But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a youth'; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD." Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant" (Jeremiah 1:4-10).
After reading the passage, the Lord said to the young man, “My son, you will be my Jeremiah. Just as I called Jeremiah, I have called you to be a pastor. I will do it” The young man laughed hysterically at this word yet strangely wept profusely at the same time and said, “Lord I am nothing but an uneducated, unemployed surf bum. I have problems in my life. I have lived a terrible life of sin. I am an uneducated, unemployed, loner, barely graduating from high school, a nobody. How can you use me? How can this possibly happen?” The Lord said to him, “The word that I gave to Jeremiah, I give to you. I will make you a pastor just as I made Jeremiah my prophet. You will be my Jeremiah. It will be my work and you will know that I alone have done this.”
After that the young surfer boy waited for two years before the word of the Lord began to be fulfilled in his life; not that he would not try before that to run ahead and make it happen. But every time he did, it was a complete and humiliating disaster. But the Lord, who called him, had his own ordained time for him and in 1977 the Lord fulfilled his calling and the young man of 24 years began a singles ministry and in February 1977 preached his first sermon.
That surfer boy that I am telling you about is me and I have never forgotten that moment when the Lord graced me and called me to the ministry. The Lord and His calling on my life has been my compass, my strength, my hope, the object of my faith, and the sustaining power that has kept me persevering these past thirty five years through ministry triumphs and defeats, through exaltation and humiliation, through joys and sorrows, through mountaintops and valleys, through moments of elation and disappointment, through people coming into my life and people leaving my life, through times of pleasure and times of pain, through seasons of popularity and rejection, through times of great laughter and times of great, deep, sorrow and tears, through friendship and estrangement, through fulfilled dreams and broken dreams, through successes and failures, through great surprises and disappointments, through great gains and great losses, through being promoted and being demoted, through chastening, breaking, trials, sanctification, growth, maturity, progress, regress, ups and downs.
It is a blessing to write today after thirty five years and say “the Lord has done it and it is marvelous in my eyes” (Psalm 118:23). Today I am a lot older, hopefully wiser, more mature, a bit more tired, but full of longing that God would fill me with fresh, Spirit-given passion to preach and finish my course with the most fruitful time that I have ever known. I know that it may be presumptuous to say that I hope and plan to preach and trumpet the vision of the beauty and supremacy and glory of God until I am an old man (I just turned 59). Only God knows if I will live that long.
I want to testify to the faithfulness of God in my life and I want to encourage you about His faithfulness to you as well. I love the testimony of the apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 4. Paul is in Rome and is about to become a martyr for the gospel. He will die in the persecution of Nero very soon after this letter is written. He knows this is coming. That's the meaning of verse 6: "For I am already on the point of being sacrificed; the time of my departure has come." Paul has already made one defense before the Roman court. He calls it his "first defense" in verse 16. "At my first defense no one took my part; all deserted me." He knows that another court appearance is coming and that it will probably mean the end of his life. That is the context in which we read verses 17-18 as he looks back on the first defense and forward to the dangers in front of him. “But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” I want to take this testimony as my own. Each part of it fills me with a sense of overwhelming gratitude to God and empowers me to hope for my future.
I. "The Lord stood by me. . ." All my life, Jesus Christ has been a very personal, precious, and a faithful friend to me. What Jesus says in John 15:13-15 has meant so much to me, "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you." The heart of my ministry has been rooted in the friendship of Jesus. The heart of my ministry is to know what the Master is doing, to know what the Master is like, and to make it known. That is why I tell people all the time that the most important thing in my life is to see Jesus for who He is and to savor Him for all He is worth. If I am to succeed in this ministry Jesus must be my friend; and Oh what a friend He has been to me! "There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother" (Proverbs 18:24); and his name is Jesus.
II. "...and gave me strength to proclaim the message fully . . ."
One of the greatest things I have learned in my life and experienced all of these years is that God never calls us to do things that HE CANNOT DO! He does not ask us to do things that He will not help us and enable us to do. He is faithful. He does supernatural and impossible things. He takes jars of clay like you and me and fills them with His power so that in all things we do He might get the glory. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7). Too many people say, "I'm so ordinary, so average and undistinguished. I can't do anything significant." 2 Corinthians 4:7 shows that this argument is wrong and why. God's concept of ministry is so different from the world's concept. The world stresses the container, not the glory of God in human weakness. God does the opposite.
If there is one thing that I have learned, it is that God's purpose to get the glory in all things determines how we do all things. God's purpose is to make sure that we see that the surpassing power belongs to him and not to us. How does he do it? He puts the treasure of his gifts and his gospel in clay pots like you and me. Your ordinariness is not a liability; it is an asset, if you really want God to get the glory. No one is too common, too weak, too shy, too inarticulate, too disabled to do what God wants you to do. I am living proof! I can say like Paul, “Most gladly will I brag about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me”(2 Corinthians 12:9).
I have experienced the Lord’s strength in so many other ways: In financial provision when God called me to serve full time with no salary; then called me with a wife and three kids to turn down a full time salary and give up my thriving ministry for a position as a youth pastor in a church that had no youth for 100 dollars a month; with the strength to be rejected by three churches and yet watch the demotions lead to His promotions; invariably leading to planting a church in 1987; in the most severe trials in the 90’s when I thought that the church wouldn’t make it, when I have been so discouraged, despondent, lonely, and defeated that I felt that I could not go on another day as a pastor, when I have been at wits end and didn’t know what to do but to cry out for help, in the day to day sustaining grace to plod along in obedience to what I know by faith; in Him coming over and over again in divine providence to guide and encourage me; in losing everything and wondering if I would ever be a pastor again; and in restoring me, providing for me, and calling me to plant another church at 59 years old. And oh how often He has strengthened me through the love and prayers and grace,mercy of men like Pastor Dick Reeve, Chuck Smith Jr., Dr. Walter Martin, Ed Piorek,and Professor Ronald Wright; through longtime loyal and faithful friends in ministry like Ken Fish, Paul Cessarini, and Jean White; through the writings of men like John Piper, Jonathan Edwards C.S Lewis, R.C Sproul, Sam Storms, Charles Swindill, and Augustine; through the lives of men like George Mueller, David Brainerd, Hudson Taylor, William Carey, John Newton, William Wilberforce, Adoniram Judson, John Paton, and the English Puritans; and through the unknown but known to God, prayers of the saints for me. I am so very grateful.
Oh how He has been there to strengthen and to be patient with me in my immaturity, pride, character flaws, glib and flippant speech, selfishness, impatience, false ambition, introversion, being a loner, battling depression and discouragement, and numerous other sins. I have learned that the faithfulness of God triumphs over the flaws of men. “The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24); “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6); “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:13). God’s grace has always triumphed over my guilty impotency. That is why I have not allowed my weaknesses and flaws to paralyze me The Lord stood by me. When I have failed and fallen and the enemy has said, God can’t use someone like me, I have been able to say like Micah 7:8 “Do not rejoice over me….Though I fall I will rise”. The Lord has been my advocate and has pleaded my case. He has helped me to stand in His righteousness, not my own, and to do the work that He has given me to do these past 35 years.
God has a great work to do for each one of you to do. Do it with all of your might-yes, even with all of your flaws and your sins. And in the obedience of this faith, magnify the glory of His amazing grace, and do not grow weary in doing good. The Lord stood by me. In every storm, in every dark season his hand has been on my shoulder to get me through them and to come out the other side with unshakable faith and joy. As the hymn writer said, “When all around my soul gives way, this is my hope and my stay. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” And now at the end of thirty five years as a pastor I love the faithfulness of the Lord more than ever. The Lord has stood by me. I have felt his hand on my shoulder without fail every week of these thirty years. God’s sovereign faithfulness has been the hope of my future, the energy of my service, the center of my doctrine, and the remedy for all my discouragements.
III. "So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil and save me for his heavenly kingdom."
Notice very carefully what this rescue means. "He will rescue me from every evil and save me for his heavenly kingdom." What evil would threaten to keep Paul out of God's heavenly kingdom? When Paul says that he was rescued from the lion's mouth and that he will be rescued from every evil work, he means he was saved from unbelief; he was saved from apostasy; he was saved from loving the world like Demas (2 Timothy 4:10); he was saved from cowardice; he was saved from throwing it all away for a few more years of freedom and comfort. Oh how God has kept me in the faith and in the ministry. This is the great preciousness of having the Lord standing by us. It means that the Lord will cause us to persevere to the end and save us for his heavenly kingdom.
It is no wonder why we must break forth with the apostle Paul at the end of verse 18 and say, "To him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen." Why? Because God caused Paul, and will cause you and me to persevere in the good fight of faith. Therefore: "To him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen." I thank God that Jesus, in his mercy, has stood by me and helped me for Thirty five years. The Lord stood by Paul, guiding him all is life and the Lord stood by me, and the Lord will stand by you! He will do that for you to as you offer yourself up to him for his use and his mission.
William Carey said, "Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God." In that order! First trust him. Trust his promise. He will stand with you. He will give you strength. Then . . . THEN . . . "attempt great things for God. My precious brothers and sisters, I urge you to be faithful to the work of Christ; to fulfill your gifts and calling; to witness with courage; and most of all—as the foundation for all—to BELIEVE THIS PROMISE: The Lord will stand by you, He will give you strength, He will rescue you from every evil and save you for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Grateful and expectant,
Pastor Bill
Friday, April 13, 2012
THOUGHTS AND A TESTIMONY ON MY 59th BIRTHDAY
Today I turned 59. I normally do not make much of my birthday. But today my heart is filled with so much thought and reflection so I thought I would post and perhaps it may bless or inspire you.
God has graced me with more years on this earth than several of my hero's: Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, George Whitefield, David Brainard, Robert Murray Mc'Cheynne, Henry Martyn, Jim Elliot, and William Borden. All of these men left such incredible legacies and such fruit emerged from their shorter lived life than mine.
I realize that I am not these men and that God had a unique and special purpose and calling upon them all. But the ripple effect of their life stirs me today to look at my life and be resolved to not waste what is left of it.
I ask myself, what has my life meant? What will it mean? What will I do with what is left of my life? these scriptures ring in my ears:
Psalm 90:12, " So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom"
Psalm 57;2, "I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me"
Psalm 138:8, "The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me"
Philippians 1:6, "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ"
I look at my life and am amazed that God has been so merciful to me a broken, deeply flawed, eccentric, quirky, and sinful man like me all of these years working through all this to fulfill His plans and purposes for my soul and my life. I have been showered with love, grace, kindness, and mercy from God and others all of my life. I have been graced and privileged to serve the Lord as a pastor for 35 years. I have a church again and people who love and accept me. I have parents who love me, I have four wonderful children, 3 grandchildren, and had a wonderful wife who stayed with me for almost 36 years. I have found love again and am doing so very much better than I deserve.
My life is a testimony to the truth that "we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." (2 Corinthians 4:7) and that "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth" (Romans 9:17) and that "For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God" (1 Corinthians 2:26-29)
My favorite writer and pastor, John Piper, once wrote "God ordains that we gaze on His glory, dimly mirrored in the ministry of his flawed servants. He intends for us to consider their lives and peer through the imperfections of their faith and behold the beauty of their God."
I can testify this day like John Newton that “I am not what I ought to be – ah, how imperfect and deficient I am! I am not what I wish to be. I abhor the evil in me, and I would cleave to that which is good. I am not what I hope to be; soon, soon, I will put off with mortality both sin and imperfection; but though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be, I can truly say I am not what I once was: a slave to sin and Satan. And so, therefore, I can heartily join with the Apostle Paul and say, ‘By the grace of God, I am what I am.’”
Therefore I am not discouraged by my weakness, sins, and flaws. I am not by my limitations and flaws. Instead this day of my birth, I , embrace the grace of God that triumphs over each and every flaw in my life. I see that God has, is, and will triumph over ever area of my flawed life. Why? Because I am convinced by my own experience thus far that "the faithfulness of God triumphs over the flaws of men!"
So what is my resolve and battle cry as I live the rest of my life?
"Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart" (2 Corinthians 4:1)
"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised" (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)
"But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24)
"it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:20-21)
"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus"" (Philippians 3:12-14)
" Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses" (1 Timothy 4;12)
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith"(Hebrews 12:1-2)
God has graced me with more years on this earth than several of my hero's: Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, George Whitefield, David Brainard, Robert Murray Mc'Cheynne, Henry Martyn, Jim Elliot, and William Borden. All of these men left such incredible legacies and such fruit emerged from their shorter lived life than mine.
I realize that I am not these men and that God had a unique and special purpose and calling upon them all. But the ripple effect of their life stirs me today to look at my life and be resolved to not waste what is left of it.
I ask myself, what has my life meant? What will it mean? What will I do with what is left of my life? these scriptures ring in my ears:
Psalm 90:12, " So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom"
Psalm 57;2, "I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me"
Psalm 138:8, "The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me"
Philippians 1:6, "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ"
I look at my life and am amazed that God has been so merciful to me a broken, deeply flawed, eccentric, quirky, and sinful man like me all of these years working through all this to fulfill His plans and purposes for my soul and my life. I have been showered with love, grace, kindness, and mercy from God and others all of my life. I have been graced and privileged to serve the Lord as a pastor for 35 years. I have a church again and people who love and accept me. I have parents who love me, I have four wonderful children, 3 grandchildren, and had a wonderful wife who stayed with me for almost 36 years. I have found love again and am doing so very much better than I deserve.
My life is a testimony to the truth that "we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." (2 Corinthians 4:7) and that "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth" (Romans 9:17) and that "For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God" (1 Corinthians 2:26-29)
My favorite writer and pastor, John Piper, once wrote "God ordains that we gaze on His glory, dimly mirrored in the ministry of his flawed servants. He intends for us to consider their lives and peer through the imperfections of their faith and behold the beauty of their God."
I can testify this day like John Newton that “I am not what I ought to be – ah, how imperfect and deficient I am! I am not what I wish to be. I abhor the evil in me, and I would cleave to that which is good. I am not what I hope to be; soon, soon, I will put off with mortality both sin and imperfection; but though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be, I can truly say I am not what I once was: a slave to sin and Satan. And so, therefore, I can heartily join with the Apostle Paul and say, ‘By the grace of God, I am what I am.’”
Therefore I am not discouraged by my weakness, sins, and flaws. I am not by my limitations and flaws. Instead this day of my birth, I , embrace the grace of God that triumphs over each and every flaw in my life. I see that God has, is, and will triumph over ever area of my flawed life. Why? Because I am convinced by my own experience thus far that "the faithfulness of God triumphs over the flaws of men!"
So what is my resolve and battle cry as I live the rest of my life?
"Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart" (2 Corinthians 4:1)
"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised" (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)
"But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24)
"it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:20-21)
"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus"" (Philippians 3:12-14)
" Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses" (1 Timothy 4;12)
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith"(Hebrews 12:1-2)
So today as I look ahead my longing is that on the day of my appointed death I will be able to say "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. "(2 Timothy 4:7-8) and to hear from my savior Jesus Christ, "Well done, my good and faithful servant"(Matthew 25:23).
I proclaim this day that: I WILL NOT WASTE MY LIFE!
"Only one life will soon be past, only what is done for Christ will last."
This day and all my remaining days I will live like Ruth whom as Boaz gazed upon he proclaimed "the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!” (Ruth 2:12).
ON GOD'S KIND ARMS I FALL :)
Humbled and so exceedingly thankful this birthday,
Pastor Bill
Thursday, April 5, 2012
IN HIS DISTRESSING DISGUISE
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-46)
If Jesus came to your house this morning and he was hungry, what would you do? If he was lonely, thirsty, sad, scared, worried, depressed, what would you do? Do you know what, he has come to you. I’ll prove it to you in a minute. I have been thinking about the heart of God and about Jesus and his love, compassion, and care. I want you to look at your hands for a minute. Look at the back of it, then look at the palm. Those hands you are touching sometimes reach out and offer friendship, extend gifts, doctor wounds, prepare meals, or fold in prayer. Other times those hands accuse, abuse, take away, demand, withhold, and wound. Oh what power is in our hands! Leave them to ourselves and they become weapons, leave them to the Lord and they become instruments of grace,mercy, and love, not just tools for God, but the very hands of God. Surrender hose hands to God and those five fingered appendages become the hands of Jesus.
That is what Jesus did. Our savior completely surrendered His hands to God for our sake. The apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8:9, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich."
Wherever Jesus went he extended the love, mercy, compassion, kindness, and grace of God to those who were in need. Read these accounts prayerfully and admirably:
Matthew 8:1-3, "When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy."
Luke 4:18, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed..."
Matthew 9:35-36, "And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd."
Mark 10:47-52, "When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called to the blind man, "Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you." Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked him. The blind man said, "Rabbi, I want to see." "Go," said Jesus, "your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road."
Jesus saw that people needed love! Care! Healing! Deliverance! Compassion! Kindness! GOD’S LOVE! Therefore that is what He gave. That is what he gives us!
Jesus has sent us into the world to be his hands as well John 20:21, Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." He has sent us out to people to do something beautiful for him. Jesus loves people and cares for them. He does it through you and I! John 14:12, 'I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." What was Jesus doing? Touching, giving, loving, healing, caring, and extending Himself for others. So we are sent to be his hands, his touch, his voice to a needy world. That is the power of the Holy Spirit!
Acts 1:8, 'But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
In the scripture I shared at the beginning of this blog (Matthew 25:31-46), Jesus says something radical about what He is doing in the world. God is the working God. What is He doing? He is working through you and me by bringing Jesus to us to love and serve. But, He is doing it in a very subtle way at times. That is why Mother Teresa called it his “distressing disguise.”
Are you ready to hear Jesus? Jesus tells us that every needy, poor, lonely, lost, hungry, thirsty, sad, broken, person that we help is like helping Jesus. YOU DID IT TO ME! YOU DID IT TO ME! Sometimes we are so self centered, so prejudiced, so myopic, so blind, that we miss Jesus on a regular basis. Jesus tells us that he comes to us every day through those who are in need.
In his distressing disguise, he wants us to realize, that when we take care of others, we really do it to Him. When Mother Teresa would minister to the poor in Calcutta sometimes it would be so very difficult for those who were with her. So she would fold their hands and look them in the eyes and say, “you did it to me.” She said, “God is love. The missionary (which is all of you) must be a missionary of love, must always be full of love in his soul, and must also spread it to the souls of others."
When you touch people you are touching His body. When you give food, it is the hunger of Jesus you are feeding. It is the naked Jesus you and I clothe. It is the homeless Christ we give shelter to. It is the sad Christ who needs encouragement. It is the lonely Christ who needs companionship. It is the unlovely, unworthy, untouchable, lowly, Jesus to whom we extend our time , money, ears, and hearts to.
Mother Teresa also said,
“Christ today is hungry in the poor and even in the rich, for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to call their own. Today, like before when Jesus comes amongst his own, his own don’t know Him or receive Him. He comes in the poor, he comes even in the rich, who are being suffocated by their own riches, in the loneliness of their hearts, and there is no one to love them and it is in that place that Jesus comes to you and me.”
Jesus is here in His “distressing disguise”. Oh reader, please open your eyes and look around you today! Do you see? Everyone all around you has needs. Everyone has pain. Everyone has weaknesses, struggles, painful wounds, and areas of brokenness. Would you open your heart to Jesus? Would you open your heart to the people you encounter? Would you receive the spirit of the Lord to love others? Would you let the hand of God touch you in order to touch others?
Michael Card said it well:
He is in the pain, He is in the need
He is in the poor, we are told to feed
Though He was rich, for us He became poor
How could He give so much, what was it for?
In His distressing disguise
He waits for us to surmise
That we rob our brothers by all that we own
And that's not the way He has shown
Every time a faithful servant serves
A brother that's in need
What happens at that moment is a miracle indeed
As they look to one another in an instant it is clear
Only Jesus is visible for they've both disappeared
He is in the hand that reaches out to give
He is in the touch that causes men to live
So speak with your life now as well as your tongue
Shelter the homeless, take care of the young
In His distressing disguise
He hopes that we'll realize
That when we take care of the poorest of them
We've really done it to Him
Look at those hands again. Look again at those around you. Jesus touched others. Will you? Know that what you do to them , you do to Jesus!
Pastor Bill
If Jesus came to your house this morning and he was hungry, what would you do? If he was lonely, thirsty, sad, scared, worried, depressed, what would you do? Do you know what, he has come to you. I’ll prove it to you in a minute. I have been thinking about the heart of God and about Jesus and his love, compassion, and care. I want you to look at your hands for a minute. Look at the back of it, then look at the palm. Those hands you are touching sometimes reach out and offer friendship, extend gifts, doctor wounds, prepare meals, or fold in prayer. Other times those hands accuse, abuse, take away, demand, withhold, and wound. Oh what power is in our hands! Leave them to ourselves and they become weapons, leave them to the Lord and they become instruments of grace,mercy, and love, not just tools for God, but the very hands of God. Surrender hose hands to God and those five fingered appendages become the hands of Jesus.
That is what Jesus did. Our savior completely surrendered His hands to God for our sake. The apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8:9, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich."
Wherever Jesus went he extended the love, mercy, compassion, kindness, and grace of God to those who were in need. Read these accounts prayerfully and admirably:
Matthew 8:1-3, "When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy."
Luke 4:18, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed..."
Matthew 9:35-36, "And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd."
Mark 10:47-52, "When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called to the blind man, "Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you." Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked him. The blind man said, "Rabbi, I want to see." "Go," said Jesus, "your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road."
Jesus saw that people needed love! Care! Healing! Deliverance! Compassion! Kindness! GOD’S LOVE! Therefore that is what He gave. That is what he gives us!
Jesus has sent us into the world to be his hands as well John 20:21, Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." He has sent us out to people to do something beautiful for him. Jesus loves people and cares for them. He does it through you and I! John 14:12, 'I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." What was Jesus doing? Touching, giving, loving, healing, caring, and extending Himself for others. So we are sent to be his hands, his touch, his voice to a needy world. That is the power of the Holy Spirit!
Acts 1:8, 'But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
In the scripture I shared at the beginning of this blog (Matthew 25:31-46), Jesus says something radical about what He is doing in the world. God is the working God. What is He doing? He is working through you and me by bringing Jesus to us to love and serve. But, He is doing it in a very subtle way at times. That is why Mother Teresa called it his “distressing disguise.”
Are you ready to hear Jesus? Jesus tells us that every needy, poor, lonely, lost, hungry, thirsty, sad, broken, person that we help is like helping Jesus. YOU DID IT TO ME! YOU DID IT TO ME! Sometimes we are so self centered, so prejudiced, so myopic, so blind, that we miss Jesus on a regular basis. Jesus tells us that he comes to us every day through those who are in need.
In his distressing disguise, he wants us to realize, that when we take care of others, we really do it to Him. When Mother Teresa would minister to the poor in Calcutta sometimes it would be so very difficult for those who were with her. So she would fold their hands and look them in the eyes and say, “you did it to me.” She said, “God is love. The missionary (which is all of you) must be a missionary of love, must always be full of love in his soul, and must also spread it to the souls of others."
When you touch people you are touching His body. When you give food, it is the hunger of Jesus you are feeding. It is the naked Jesus you and I clothe. It is the homeless Christ we give shelter to. It is the sad Christ who needs encouragement. It is the lonely Christ who needs companionship. It is the unlovely, unworthy, untouchable, lowly, Jesus to whom we extend our time , money, ears, and hearts to.
Mother Teresa also said,
“Christ today is hungry in the poor and even in the rich, for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to call their own. Today, like before when Jesus comes amongst his own, his own don’t know Him or receive Him. He comes in the poor, he comes even in the rich, who are being suffocated by their own riches, in the loneliness of their hearts, and there is no one to love them and it is in that place that Jesus comes to you and me.”
Jesus is here in His “distressing disguise”. Oh reader, please open your eyes and look around you today! Do you see? Everyone all around you has needs. Everyone has pain. Everyone has weaknesses, struggles, painful wounds, and areas of brokenness. Would you open your heart to Jesus? Would you open your heart to the people you encounter? Would you receive the spirit of the Lord to love others? Would you let the hand of God touch you in order to touch others?
Michael Card said it well:
He is in the pain, He is in the need
He is in the poor, we are told to feed
Though He was rich, for us He became poor
How could He give so much, what was it for?
In His distressing disguise
He waits for us to surmise
That we rob our brothers by all that we own
And that's not the way He has shown
Every time a faithful servant serves
A brother that's in need
What happens at that moment is a miracle indeed
As they look to one another in an instant it is clear
Only Jesus is visible for they've both disappeared
He is in the hand that reaches out to give
He is in the touch that causes men to live
So speak with your life now as well as your tongue
Shelter the homeless, take care of the young
In His distressing disguise
He hopes that we'll realize
That when we take care of the poorest of them
We've really done it to Him
Look at those hands again. Look again at those around you. Jesus touched others. Will you? Know that what you do to them , you do to Jesus!
Pastor Bill
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