THE MOST PRECIOUS PROMISE OF JESUS

"...behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20).

I truly treasure the promises of Jesus. The apostle Peter spoke of the promises this way,
"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature..." (2 Peter 1:3-4)

Don't you love what Peter says. "Great and precious promises"? Our God is a promise maker and a promise keeper. When Jesus rose from the grave and right before He ascended into heaven, He made a most precious promise. No promise of Jesus has meant more to me this promise "Behold, I am with you always to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). The promise had been given precisely in the context of the Great Commission: "Go and make disciples of all nations . . . and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19-20). More than any other promise, this one has brought Jesus close and real to me in all my trials. How I praise and thank Jesus for it, and rejoice in it!

Without the abiding consciousness of the promise,the presence, and the power of Jesus, nothing else in all the world could have preserved me from despair and giving up.

Jesus, with all authority over every enemy and every disease and every calamity and every futility, promises to be with you. So that we can face the worst threats and say with the apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 4:16-17, "Everyone deserted me, but the Lord stood by me and gave me strength." Who speaks this to us? The risen Jesus who has all authority in heaven and on earth and says  I am with you.

Jesus says in  Hebrews 13:5, "Be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never fail you, and never forsake you.'"

How long will He be with you? Specifically, to the end of the age: "Behold I am with you always to the end of the age." As long as the world lasts, Jesus will be with us in this world.

John Paton, the great missionary to the South Pacific wrote about what this promise meant to him.
More than any other promise, this one brought Jesus close and real to John Paton in all his dangers. After a measles epidemic that killed thousands on the islands, and for which the missionaries were blamed, he wrote: "During the crisis, I felt generally calm, and firm of soul, standing erect and with my whole weight on the promise, 'Lo! I am with you always.' Precious promise! How often I adore Jesus for it, and rejoice in it! Blessed be his name."

The power this promise had to make Christ real to Paton in hours of crisis was unlike any other Scripture or prayer:

Without that abiding consciousness of the presence and power of my dear Lord and Savior, nothing else in all the world could have preserved me from losing my reason and perishing miserably. In his words, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world," became to me so real that it would not have startled me to behold Him, as Stephen did, gazing down upon the scene. I felt His supporting power. . . . It is the sober truth, and it comes back to me sweetly after 20 years, that I had my nearest and dearest glimpses of the face and smiles of my blessed Lord in those dread moments when musket, club, or spear was being leveled at my life. Oh the bliss of living and enduring, as seeing "Him who is invisible

“I am with you” means that Jesus can help you right now! Jesus knows and is watching you. He is not just any person, He is the risen Savior, the Son of the living God and creator and sustainer of the universe and your life! In fact, He is watching over you to protect you.

What if you face a different struggle today? What if you feel overwhelmed with loneliness and fear, inconsolable grief and sorrow, feelings of abandonment and betrayal? Let's not get religious here. Christan's feel and experience all of these things don't they? Listen again to the sweet, kind, empathetic, compassionate, merciful voice of Jesus: “Behold I am with you always.” 

When I really hear that, and take it to heart, I know That I am not alone. I am safe. I am secure. I am loved. I am comforted. I am helped. I will not be abandoned. I will not be rejected. I have a friend. I have help. I have someone who knows me and understands me, yet loves me anyway fully and completely. He will never reject me or forsake me.

"BEHOLD I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS"

Let these precious words be on the forefront of your thoughts, your meditations, your drive to work, as you lay in bed, where the battle rages, and in your loneliness, fears, anxieties, pain, and sorrows. Let these words begin filling your soul with comfort, assurance, peace, faith, and joy.

Try this week to get alone with Him in a quiet place and come into his presence and begin to release to Him all of your past sins, all of your present burdens and temptations, and all your fears and anxieties and worries about your future. Then begin allowing His word to fill your mind, your heart, and you soul with the comforting words BEHOLD I AM WITH YOU WITH ALWAYS. Don't rush, allow the reality of His presence fill you with a sense and awareness of His presence with at this moment. Listen to Jesus kind and loving voice breath assurance, faith, and hope like rivers of living water:

BEHOLD I AM WITH YOU RIGHT NOW. I AM HERE FOR YOU. I WILL HELP YOU. I LOVE YOU.

Pastor Bill

FROM DULLNESS TO SIGHT:THE LORD IS IN THIS PLACE!

"Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.But he was also afraid and said, " what an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven.!" Genesis 28:16-17

So often in my life I feel like Jacob. I look out at nature and see nothing. I read my bible and the account of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples and I find myself dull to the familiar story I have read numerous times and see nothing. In short, I find myself blind to stupendous realities. Blind because I didn't know how to see. Blind because I was too busy and hurried. Blind because my mind was caught up in myself. Blind because of living in the world I call "someday". Have you ever lived in the world of "someday"? To live in "someday" is to be so busy trying to get to where you want to be that you forget where you are and what is being offered by the kind grace of God at this present moment. Living for someday has often caused me to miss a lot of "today's".

How much have I missed because I have been so blind? Have much have I missed because I was just too busy to look? In my case it has been both. I am not alone. Jacob said, "Surely the Lord was in this place and I did not see" (Genesis 49:16).
T.S. Elliot wrote,

"Earth is crammed with heaven and every bush is the dwelling place of God,
but only those who see take off their shoes,
the rest just sit around and pluck blackberries."



Have you ever passed a bush plucking raspberries and thinking raspberries were all that was there? How many times have we failed to see the heavenly blaze in earthly bushes we brush by on our way to somewhere else?

John Piper spoke of being around Clyde Kilby who he described in this way: “When he spoke of a tree he saw on the way to class in the morning, you wondered why you had been so blind all of your life…I sat there and for the first time I saw things. I felt. I was drawn into the bright day of wakefulness out of my self-preoccupied, adolescent slumbers”.

Oh to see things! Oh to be awake! Oh to be alive to God and life! Jacob said when he became aware of the presence of God, "what an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven.!" (Genesis 28:17). That moment, that place, was none other than a gate into heaven. For Jacob, everywhere was gates and windows and he did not even know it. It's the same with me. Everywhere if I would listen, look, notice, think, contemplate, and see, there is beauty and wonder to see, savor, and experience.
We miss so much every moment don't we? Oh how we waste and lose so many precious moments in this short life while just sitting around plucking the blackberries of boredom, distraction, familiarity, ingratitude, self preoccupation, and spiritual dullness. Oh to see and live!

Are you alive, amazed, and astonished at God, His creation, His Word, and life? James 1:17 tells us, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." God offers us one of the greatest gifts—amazement at what we see.

There is no time, no place, no moment, no event, that God is not there and is not speaking something for me to hear and showing me something for me to see. Our lives are full of stupendous realities aren't they? But these moments will go unnoticed if we do not take the time to stop, look, and listen. C.S. Lewis wrote,

"To see what is in thee moments we first have to stop, and then we must look and go on looking until we see exactly what is there."

In Psalm 19:1-6, David writes of what he sees when he looks at nature,

The heavens declare the glory of God,and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech,and night to night reveals knowledge.There is no speech, nor are there words,whose voice is not heard.Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun,which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.Its rising is from the end of the heavens,and its circuit to the end of them,and there is nothing hidden from its heat."
David tells us that every day God is speaking through the ordinary things of His creation (That is , if you can ever call creation ordinary!)."Day unto day pours forth speech, and night unto night declares knowledge." The observation here very simply is that knowledge of God can in one sense come through nature, day and night. At night, the night sky speaks. In the day, the day sky speaks. Or to be precise, speech pours forth. Nature does not whisper—it shouts, and it shouts continually.

Living a simple and quiet life in West Maui has given me much time to see beauty in God's creation. Whenever you see water falls, mountain peaks, granite walls, and awesome sunsets, they are but a representation, a picture, a reflection of the beauty, the glory of God. The Lord has ordained in His great plans and purposes ways to express His beauty and makes His glory known. David celebrates the fact that as he looks up in the sky, that nature is one way by which God's glory would be made known.
Oh how I pray that you would become alive to wonder! To look at the sunrise and with say with an amazed smile, “God did it again!” I want to see what is there in the world—things which if we did not have them, we would pay a million dollars to have, but having them, ignore. I want to be convicted of my callous inattention and inability to enjoy God’s daily gifts. I want God to awaken my dazed soul so that the realities of life and of God and heaven and hell are seen and felt. I want to God to effect my eyes in such a way that life and this extraordinary world is a precious gift.

Most of all, I want God to awaken me to the reality of the glory of Christ in His Word. Owen Strachen and Doug Sweeny in their wonderful new book Jonathan Edwards on Beauty (Which I most heartily recommend!) say,

"God exists as the resplendent one, but did not content Himself with mere self-appreciation of His beauty. Instead, He set in motion an arc of glory that began with Himself, moved to creation, continued with the incarnation of Christ, moved next to the church, the bride of Christ, and is consumated in heaven,Where the Holy Trinity dwells."
What I see in Jesus Christ and in the universe because of Him, through the lens of Scripture, is more breathtaking than anything I have ever seen in Maui or on this earth. (And that is not hyperbole)!

All study of Jesus Christ in scripture should not lead to a dead end dogma but should speed us down a one way street to worship, joy, and deep gratitude.To see Jesus Christ in the scripture (for example in feeding 5000 people), after you catch your breath, is described this way by John Piper,

...the refreshment that you get from this high, clear, Christ-entranced air does not take out of the valleys of suffering, pain, and sorrow in this world, but fits you to spend your life there for the sake of love with invincible and worshipful joy.
What steps can we take to help us fruitfully meditate on the glory of Christ until we see? One essential biblical answer is pray: Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things (Psalm 119:18). Or as Paul prays: Enlighten the eyes of our hearts (Ephesians 1:18). Understand that unless God does the decisive work of revealing (Matthew 16:17), none of our work of meditating will succeed in seeing and savoring

My prayer for you and me is that God will give us fresh, new eyes to see him, others, and His world with childlike awe and wonder for what is right in front of our eyes. May we stop picking blackberries and take off our shoes because every moment is truly sacred and we stand on holy ground.

The great poet George Herbert prayed this way,

Teach me, my God and King,
In all things Thee to see,
And what I do in anything,
To do it as for Thee.

Oh Christian look up at the sky, look at nature and beauty all around you, open up the scripture and see the self-authenticating beauty of Jesus Christ. Until our hearts are freed from the blinding effects of sin,spiritual darkness, and self centered narcissism it is our duty to "Set our minds on things above, not on things of this earth" (Colossians 3:1)
If you would do this and look and reflect and enjoy the beauty of God you will experience what Jonathan Edwards so profoundly asserts:

“The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean."
Learning to see,
Pastor Bill

THE SECRET OF POWERFUL PRAYER: THANKSGIVING

'He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously."  Daniel 6:10

One of my favorite men in all the bible is Daniel. God said to Daniel 3 times “You are greatly loved”.

• “At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved” (Daniel 9:23)
• “O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you” (Daniel 10:11)
• “And he said, ‘O man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage” (Daniel 10:19).

Greatly loved by God and in that experience of Gods love Daniel is special to me because of the fact that he prayed to his God who greatly loved him. He prayed 3 times a day. It is the attitude that he had in prayer that moves and inspires me. "'He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previosly." Do you see this? Three times a day. Daniel prayed with thanksgiving for all that God was towards him: lover, giver, provider, protector, deliverer, sustainer, savior, ruler.

Daniel was a world changer, mover, and shaker who in his prayers was dripping with thanksgiving. Gratitude ushered Daniel into heart of God's love, the place where all the power to change the world, you, and me resides.

For prayer to be really prayer, to have real power, to change anything , must first be speaking thanks.
Paul teaches us to do what Daniel did, "do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" (Philippians 4:6). "I tell you to pray for all people, asking God for what they need and being thankful to him" (1 Timothy 2:1 NCV)

Oh how God wants us to cling to his love, care, and goodness. Prayer with thanksgiving brings our focus and thinking and affections and attention solely to His goodness and mercy that "shall pursue us all the days of our life" (Psalm 23:6). It is thinking about His goodness that causes us to have a default prayer posture to be thanking God supremely for His goodness.

The goodness of His nature
The goodness of His grace
The goodness of His love
The goodness of His mercy
The goodness of His kindness
The goodness of His purposes
The goodness of His generosity
The goodness of His provisions
The goodness of His friendship and fellowship
The goodness of His salvation

When I let my mind begin to think about His goodness and I begin thanking Him for His goodness I please Him the most and live the most joyfully in my heart.

Daniel was a man of prayer because he was a man who saw Gods goodness and was a man of thanks.
THE ONLY WAY TO BE A MAN OR WOMAN OF PRAYER IS TO BE A MAN OR WOMAN OF THANKS.

Could it be that what shut lions mouths and speak powerfully to kings and nations is everyday thanksgiving prayer.

Pastor Bill