If you ever have the read the book of Job, you learn very quickly that life is not fair, no one is safe, and this world is very unpredictable. Try to control you life, strive for safety and security, and watch what can happen. Job, a righteous man, lived a life like we all do, he had it all and one day lost it all. Why good and righteous Job? When it happens to us we ask "why me"?
We all want control over our lives and frankly, we are able to maintain allot of control because of the times we live. We have access to doctors, education, entertainment, food, water, disposal, and transportation. We have good jobs, comfortable homes, and ordered lives and schedules. For most of us, business as usual is a good thing for us in order to maintain a sense of control and order.
That is, until like Job, we are interrupted by some loss. When something happens suddenly that causes us to lose something whether by cancer, failure, disappointment, unemployment, violence, injury, divorce, or death we lose any sense we had that we are in control.Suddenly, we realize how limited, finite, needy, and weak we really are. We have to face that reality square in the eye. our lives have been interrupted. Our expectations have been shattered. We resent the intrusion, the inconvenience, and the cessation of business as usual. We think, "This is not on my agenda for my life!" We cry out, "God, I have plans that you are interrupting." "Why?"
Most of us not only want our life to be under our control, we want life to be fair. So when bad things happen, we claim the right to receive what we deserve, which is justice. We demand to live in a world where good deeds are rewarded and bad deeds are punished, hard work succeeds and laziness fails, decency wins and meanness loses. In Hinduism it is called Karma. When life does not turn that way and we do not get what we feel we deserve, we feel that we have been cheated by God.
Now don't get me wrong, I do not believe that many of the tragic things that happen are us simply getting what we deserve. We are all sinners and most of you reading this are undoubtedly not worse than allot of people and perhaps even better than some people who have dream lives. But what I have come to see is that thinking that living in this life and suffering or prospering according to our merit is far too simplistic a view of life and even more so does not square with human experience.
I have known some wonderful people who have suffered unfathomable tragedies and losses. What did they do to deserve such loss? I have also known some pretty despicable people who have had a very good and prosperous life. What have they done to deserve such a blessing?
So I have come to conclusion that life is not fair nor can life be controlled. Good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. But it is allot more deeper than that. Though I cannot adequately explain how this works and why it works, there is something I am coming to see.
There are two worlds that we can live in. We can try to live in a world where everything is fair and just, where we get what we deserve; or we can live in God's world of grace, where we do not get what we deserve. Grace is only grace when we get what we don't deserve. The problem in living in a perfectly fair world is that it is not a perfectly fair world! Everything is not fair and just deserved; good things happen and bad things happen; but there is no grace in this world.
Think about it. In a world of grace we may expedience bad things that we don't deserve, but we also experience good things that we don't deserve. Before God, if we all desired His world to be like ours, where we received our just deserves, we would all be in a world of nothing but loss, punishment, wrath, and bad things happening to us. The beautiful thing is that when we live in God's world of grace, we never get what we deserve. So, we may suffer loss, but we also receive mercy. Life make get worse than we planned it to be, but life will also be exceeding abundantly above anything we thought it would be (Ephesians 3:20).I may receive the bad that I did not deserve from others, but I will get the good from God that I did not deserve as well. I may find undeserved pain and sorrow in this life but I will also experience undeserved grace and joy from God.
Not only that, but when we live in a world of grace, our eyes are opened to see the Father;s grace coming to us in so many wonderful ways. Look what it did for George Mueller. When he suffered the devastating loss of the death of his wife Mary of rheumatic fever in 1860, he preached her funeral message from Psalm 119:68, "Lord, You are good and do good". His three points were:
The Lord was good, and did good, in giving her to me.
The Lord was good and did good, in so long leaving her to me.
The Lord was good and did good, in taking her from me.
Do you see what grace can do to our perspectives in a world of suffering, tragedy, and loss?
We cannot live a lifetime and expect everything to be free from disappointment, loss, tragedy, and and suffering. In a world of merit and rewards and punishments we will get many things we do deserve and many things we don't deserve, but that is all we will ever get. But oh to live in a world of disappointment, loss, and tragedy with the world of God's amazing grace! Grace from the God of abundant grace that will give us so much more than we ever deserve or don't deserve:
Grace that will give us life where there is death
Strength where there is suffering
Healing in our brokenness
Joy in the midst of sorrow
Gain where there is great loss
Love where there is hate
Light where there is darkness
Companionship in the midst of loneliness
Mercy instead of justice.
I am learning to live in a new world, the world of grace. That is the world I want to live in for the rest of my life.
Pastor Bill
Monday, June 7, 2010
Monday, May 31, 2010
LESSONS ON GOD'S PURPOSES WHILE DOING YARDWORK
"My Father is working until now, and I am working."John 5:17
"We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28
"It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure," Philippians 2:13
The yard was driving me crazy. The front and back hedges were overgrown, the branches from some of my plants were hanging over the walkway. The grass was getting to high. The fallen leaves were all over the driveway and back yard. I knew how beautiful the yard could be. I pictured a well cut and even hedges, a neatly mowed lawn, clear walkways, clean patio, trimmed bushes, and a yard ready for the center fold of Better Homes and Gardens magazine.
So with this vision in my mind I planned out my strategy. I got out my lawn mower, electric hedge clippers, a rake, a broom, my edger, a blower, and my garden waste trash can. For the next three hours I worked out my plan and finished the project. The yard turned out exactly how I envisioned it except that Better Homes and Garden has not showed up to admire my yard.
Why am I writing this about my yard. Am I trying to bore you like people do on Facebook with their banal accounts of their every deed? The reason I wrote this is because God spoke to me in the middle of my own difficulties in my life with some tremendous lessons about who God is, how purposeful He is, how diligent He is to accomplish his purposes, and how He will accomplish His purposes for your life.
1. GOD IS PURPOSEFUL
Just as I had envisioned what I desired my yard to look like, God has designed a purpose for your life. Often times it does not seem or feel like it, but that does not change the fact that God has purpose for us. The appearance of my yard did not effect my purpose for it nor does the appearance of your life mean that God has no purpose for it. Remember what the Lord said to Jeremiah about His purpose? ""Before I formed you in the womb I knew you (literally "I loved you") ,and before you were born I consecrated you;I appointed you a prophet to the nations."" (Jeremiah 1:5).
God has plans for you that He made in eternity long before you were even born! "In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will" (Ephesians 1:5)
"We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28
"It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure," Philippians 2:13
The yard was driving me crazy. The front and back hedges were overgrown, the branches from some of my plants were hanging over the walkway. The grass was getting to high. The fallen leaves were all over the driveway and back yard. I knew how beautiful the yard could be. I pictured a well cut and even hedges, a neatly mowed lawn, clear walkways, clean patio, trimmed bushes, and a yard ready for the center fold of Better Homes and Gardens magazine.
So with this vision in my mind I planned out my strategy. I got out my lawn mower, electric hedge clippers, a rake, a broom, my edger, a blower, and my garden waste trash can. For the next three hours I worked out my plan and finished the project. The yard turned out exactly how I envisioned it except that Better Homes and Garden has not showed up to admire my yard.
Why am I writing this about my yard. Am I trying to bore you like people do on Facebook with their banal accounts of their every deed? The reason I wrote this is because God spoke to me in the middle of my own difficulties in my life with some tremendous lessons about who God is, how purposeful He is, how diligent He is to accomplish his purposes, and how He will accomplish His purposes for your life.
1. GOD IS PURPOSEFUL
Just as I had envisioned what I desired my yard to look like, God has designed a purpose for your life. Often times it does not seem or feel like it, but that does not change the fact that God has purpose for us. The appearance of my yard did not effect my purpose for it nor does the appearance of your life mean that God has no purpose for it. Remember what the Lord said to Jeremiah about His purpose? ""Before I formed you in the womb I knew you (literally "I loved you") ,and before you were born I consecrated you;I appointed you a prophet to the nations."" (Jeremiah 1:5).
God has plans for you that He made in eternity long before you were even born! "In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will" (Ephesians 1:5)
Let your mind reflect upon these truths about God's purpose for your life:
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. " (Jeremiah 29:11)
"I cry out to God Most High,to God who fulfills his purpose for me.He will send from heaven and save me;he will put to shame him who tramples on me." (Psalm 57:2-3)
"The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me" (Psalm 138:8) "For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers" (Acts 13:38)
2. GOD'S PLANS ARE NOT THWARTED BY YOUR PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES, YOUR SINS, AND YOUR FAILURES
When I looked at my yard and the state that it was in, it meant that I needed to work to get it in the state that I desired it t be. Oh how often we feel like our sins, failures, weakness, inability, roadblocks, obstacles, hindrances, genes, family influences, habits, bondage's, etc. mean that God cannot and will not be able to accomplish His plans. the fact is that all of these are part of the plan not a detour or interruption in the plans and purposes of your loving Father in heaven.
- "But he knows the way that I take;when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold...For he will complete what he appoints for me,and many such things are in his mind." (Job 23:10,14)
"When my spirit faints within me,you know my way!" (Psalm 142:3)
"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive" (Genesis 50:20)
No matter things look like know that God is in control and is thoroughly acquainted with you and your life. He is not daunted, discouraged, or defeated about you and your life. Therefore, rest, wait, surrender, and "commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him." (Psalm 37:4)
3. GOD IS WORKING RIGHT NOW IN YOUR LIFE NO MATTER WHAT IT LOOKS OR FEELS LIKE
If you looked at my yard when I was working, there was a point when it was a complete mess. There were branches lying in heaps everywhere, leaves all over the yard, dirt was everywhere, in short, it looked worse than when I started. but in reality progress towards my purpose was being made while I was working. So it is with God. Remember that Jesus said in John 15:1-2, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit". Have you ever thought that the Father might be pruning you for more fruit for His glory? Do you feel at the present that you have not progressed in your growth as a Christian? Do you feel that in the midst of your present difficulties that God has abandoned you? Perhaps you feel that you have made a mess of your life. Maybe you have lost a job, a friend or family member, a marriage, a dream, or a ministry. Remember what Jesus and Paul said:
"My Father is working until now, and I am working." (John 5:17)
"It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure," (Philippians 2:13)
No matter what you see or feel, remind yourself that God is working in your life at this present moment and that you are not alone.
4. GOD WILL FINISH THE WORK THAT HE BEGAN IN YOU!
"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 1:9)
There was a time when my yard was finally complete and there is a God appointed time when His work in you will be complete as well. My yard looks very beautiful after all of that work., Can you imagine what your life is going to look like after God finishes His work in you? "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son" (Romans 8:29).
So remember this week:
GOD HAS A PURPOSE AND PLAN FOR YOU
GOD'S PLANS ARE NOT THWARTED BY YOUR PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES, YOUR SINS, AND YOUR FAILURES
GOD IS WORKING RIGHT NOW IN YOUR LIFE NO MATTER WHAT IT LOOKS OR FEELS LIKE
GOD WILL FINISH THE WORK THAT HE BEGAN IN YOU
"Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!"For who has known the mind of the Lord,or who has been his counselor?""Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?"For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.". (Romans 11:33)
Pastor Bill
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
EXAMINING THE "WHAT" AND "WHY" OF YOUR HEART
Lat week I wrote about the freedom that comes in your life when you discover afresh the gospel truth that the Father loves you unconditionally because of Jesus Christ. Knowing and experiencing that love and the freedom that comes out of it enables us to face our pain and the dark, disturbing, unhealthy, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes that are aspects of who I am. I will apply this more next week after you read what I write this week.
When our world falls apart; when pain, crises, disappointments, loss, tragedy, or failure come our way God uses them all to get us to change. I wish it did not work that way in life, but that seems the way it is. One person said, "we change our behavior when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing."
Through pain, we develop a deep desire to change. I have certainly seen people change without pain, but it seems for most of us that distress brings us to be willing to take honest looks at what goes on inside of us. Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is more deceitful than all else and desperately sick; who can understand it." I think that it is very difficult for us to understand what goes on inside of us; the world of feelings, thoughts, desires, hopes, motivations, and hopes. It is very complex and takes God, his Spirit; his Word; and our willingness to look inside to be willing to face and allow a deep, long look inside.
I have found that it is easy to remain in a comfortable, safe, habit formed, controlled, ordered way of not really having to look inside. My life has been so full and busy for the past 33 years that it has been difficult to deal with things that were going on inside of me that really needed to change and life differently.
So I am learning to become aware of what I am feeling and doing. Learning to become aware is giving me the courage to do life differently and freeing me to operate in new, purer, godlier, healthier, ways of relating to the Father, Son, and holy Spirit and as a result, with others.
First, I am asking what am I feeling. Why did I feel sad after a conversation with someone? Why did I dread spending time with a certain person? Why did I avoid getting close with certain people?
I have had numerous feelings and thoughts inside but never grabbed hold of them nor knew how to bring them to Jesus. What do you do the mass of various emotions that complex emotional beings like us can feel like...Loneliness? Anger? Grief? Feelings of uselessness and worthlessness? Insecurity? Feeling like you don't fit in or measure up? Inappropriate immoral desires or feelings? Bitterness? Frustrations? Boredom? Disappointment? Sins that you have committed? Shame? Failure? Rejection? Loss? Disapproval? Discouragements? Failed relationships? People who won't forgive you? Being misunderstood and judged? A broken heart or dream? I could go on and on.
What do you do with those feelings? Do you repress them? Rationalize each one? Do you just ignore them? Do you know what you are feeling but aren't able to get to the root of "why" you are feeling what you are feeling? Are you willing and able to bring them to the Father for healing? I am not talking about narcissistic self-absorption but rather an honest examination of our emotions and feelings that radically impact every area of our relationships, ministry, and lives. the Proverb writer says, "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life"(Proverbs 4:23). Paul encourages us to do a work of self examination in 2 Corinthians 13:5, "Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves."
Once I begin to be aware of what I am doing, how I am feeling, and how it is impacting others; I am learning to ask myself the "why" question. This asks questions like... "Why I am feeling what I am feeling." "Why do I allow others to control me?" "Why do I feel like such a failure?" "Why does it matter that these people accept me?" "Why am I so lonely in church?" "Why do I battle these desires?" "Why do I feel that I don't fit in?" " Why am I angry at this person?" "Why do I keep procrastinating meeting with this person? " "Why do I want to succeed so badly?" "Why do I fear the future so much?" "Why does it matter what people think of me?" Do these questions seem difficult to you? Alien? Starnge? Scarey?
I have found it easy to tell God what I was feeling but I have found it difficult to beseech God to help me to understand the why of my feelings, motives, and desires. I have frequently asked God to accomplish my agendas and plans. But seldom really taken the time to really be still and listen to Him tell me about me. .
I am learning to be courageous in asking myself these kind of questions, especially when it is something I would label negative or inappropriate such as anger, shame, bitterness, boredom, grief, hate, anxiety, fear, or depression.
What freedom is to be found in being honest before the God who loves us in our feelings, emotions, hurts, and wounds and bringing them to His throne of grace. "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."(Hebrews 4:16) Here is the place where love, mercy, grace, healing, transformation, and freedom is poured out and released in our soul. Here I can be honest with God and myself.
This is the new way I am beginning to learn how to live. The adventure begins!
TO BE CONTINUED...
Pastor Bill
When our world falls apart; when pain, crises, disappointments, loss, tragedy, or failure come our way God uses them all to get us to change. I wish it did not work that way in life, but that seems the way it is. One person said, "we change our behavior when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing."
Through pain, we develop a deep desire to change. I have certainly seen people change without pain, but it seems for most of us that distress brings us to be willing to take honest looks at what goes on inside of us. Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is more deceitful than all else and desperately sick; who can understand it." I think that it is very difficult for us to understand what goes on inside of us; the world of feelings, thoughts, desires, hopes, motivations, and hopes. It is very complex and takes God, his Spirit; his Word; and our willingness to look inside to be willing to face and allow a deep, long look inside.
I have found that it is easy to remain in a comfortable, safe, habit formed, controlled, ordered way of not really having to look inside. My life has been so full and busy for the past 33 years that it has been difficult to deal with things that were going on inside of me that really needed to change and life differently.
So I am learning to become aware of what I am feeling and doing. Learning to become aware is giving me the courage to do life differently and freeing me to operate in new, purer, godlier, healthier, ways of relating to the Father, Son, and holy Spirit and as a result, with others.
First, I am asking what am I feeling. Why did I feel sad after a conversation with someone? Why did I dread spending time with a certain person? Why did I avoid getting close with certain people?
I have had numerous feelings and thoughts inside but never grabbed hold of them nor knew how to bring them to Jesus. What do you do the mass of various emotions that complex emotional beings like us can feel like...Loneliness? Anger? Grief? Feelings of uselessness and worthlessness? Insecurity? Feeling like you don't fit in or measure up? Inappropriate immoral desires or feelings? Bitterness? Frustrations? Boredom? Disappointment? Sins that you have committed? Shame? Failure? Rejection? Loss? Disapproval? Discouragements? Failed relationships? People who won't forgive you? Being misunderstood and judged? A broken heart or dream? I could go on and on.
What do you do with those feelings? Do you repress them? Rationalize each one? Do you just ignore them? Do you know what you are feeling but aren't able to get to the root of "why" you are feeling what you are feeling? Are you willing and able to bring them to the Father for healing? I am not talking about narcissistic self-absorption but rather an honest examination of our emotions and feelings that radically impact every area of our relationships, ministry, and lives. the Proverb writer says, "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life"(Proverbs 4:23). Paul encourages us to do a work of self examination in 2 Corinthians 13:5, "Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves."
Once I begin to be aware of what I am doing, how I am feeling, and how it is impacting others; I am learning to ask myself the "why" question. This asks questions like... "Why I am feeling what I am feeling." "Why do I allow others to control me?" "Why do I feel like such a failure?" "Why does it matter that these people accept me?" "Why am I so lonely in church?" "Why do I battle these desires?" "Why do I feel that I don't fit in?" " Why am I angry at this person?" "Why do I keep procrastinating meeting with this person? " "Why do I want to succeed so badly?" "Why do I fear the future so much?" "Why does it matter what people think of me?" Do these questions seem difficult to you? Alien? Starnge? Scarey?
I have found it easy to tell God what I was feeling but I have found it difficult to beseech God to help me to understand the why of my feelings, motives, and desires. I have frequently asked God to accomplish my agendas and plans. But seldom really taken the time to really be still and listen to Him tell me about me. .
I am learning to be courageous in asking myself these kind of questions, especially when it is something I would label negative or inappropriate such as anger, shame, bitterness, boredom, grief, hate, anxiety, fear, or depression.
What freedom is to be found in being honest before the God who loves us in our feelings, emotions, hurts, and wounds and bringing them to His throne of grace. "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."(Hebrews 4:16) Here is the place where love, mercy, grace, healing, transformation, and freedom is poured out and released in our soul. Here I can be honest with God and myself.
This is the new way I am beginning to learn how to live. The adventure begins!
TO BE CONTINUED...
Pastor Bill
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
YOU ARE UNCONDITIONALLY LOVED BY THE FATHER!
"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,"For your sake we are being killed all the day long;we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 8:31-39
Do you believe that the Father in heaven loves you? Do you have the assurance that there is nothing that you can do to change the love that He has for you? Will God still love you if you sin against Him? Will He love you if you fail? What if you do not perform to His standards? Do you feel that you have to work and perform to earn His love for you? Does you inner self feel as if you are in a futile quest to win His love no matter what you do? Do you feel that you have done things that can never be forgiven by Him? Do you feel at best that the Father in heaven tolerates you but does not really like you? Will He love you if you don't love him? Does God's love for you change when you don't feel or have the assurance that He loves you?
I must confess that these are very difficult questions to ask yourself, much less to answer in honesty and truthfulness. They are to painful and radical for Christians to be willing to face for several reasons. First, because theologically most Christians know that the Bible explicitly teaches us that God is a loving God and He loves us freely and unconditionally. I have found it easier to teach, say, and tell others that we believe these things than to really believe these things. Secondly, because it seems so inappropriate and painful to say to yourself, much less to others that you really do not believe or feel that God loves you. It is easier to just go on with your life. You will not do well in the Christian culture with those kind of beliefs. Thirdly, we can fill our lives with so much activity and busyness that we never take the time to ask these kind of questions. Finally, because we live in a world that does not love. The world tells us that to receive love it must be earned, achieved, performed for. We live in a very legalistic world. We learn this legalism modeled and demonstrated at home in our childhood, in our marriages with our spouses, at the workplace with our bosses or competing fellow workers, in our relationships, and sadly at times, in the body of Christ.
Think about the hidden but blatant ways we communicate or are told the way we will be loved in this legalistic world? "Perform for me and I will love you." "Fulfill my expectations and you will be loved." Do what I say and I will love you." "Fail and I will not love you." "I will love you if you do this." "I will love you when you do this." "Because of what you did, I will never love you."
Do you see this dear reader? Does this remind you of the way you have lived your life? Are you performing hoping to find and be loved by others? By God?
Do you today you feel like are you the performing worker? The performing spouse? The performing Christian? The performing son or daughter? It is a very lonely place to be? Will I ever be good enough? Should I work harder? Should I pretend I am someone I am not or others want me to be?
Stepping away from the ministry for a season I am seeing that I have often felt like the performing pastor. Would my church love me if I failed? What if I was weak? What if I sinned? What if they knew my weaknesses? What if I did not fulfill their expectations? Will they still love me? Will they stand with me? Will they stay with me? I have often times feared and felt others disapproval over me. It is a lonely place to live. If you always feel you have to perform you either try harder or give up. I have often felt that if I wasn't the hardest working, most available, busiest pastor I would not be pleasing to God and others. I think there is a deep longing in our soul to be loved for who they are not for what we do.
I had a wonderful epiphany in Romans 8 the other day. I have not been happy with my feelings of uselessness, dullness, directionless, no vision, no goals, little desire, no energy, brokenness, and empty, desperate prayers. It saddened me the sorry state that I was in. I felt that God was very disappointed with me in my relationship with Him, my spirituality, my life and all that it encompassed. With those feelings came a deep darkness and hopelessness that led to despair.. I sank to a place where I felt that if God was so very against me. At best He tolerated me, but was not to happy with me. Then I felt, if God does not love me. Then what do I have?
The apostle Paul wrote that "God is for us" and that "neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." It really struck me. At this very moment in my low state the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul is saying GOD IS FOR ME! Not only that, he says that NOTHING can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Think about that. NOTHING!!!! No dangers, problems, conflicts, failures, sins, guilt, regrets, mistakes, imperfections. NOTHING can separate me from the love of God! Being dull, burned out, scared, broken, doubting, questioning, disappointed, defeated, fearful, discouraged, worried, anxious, joyless, selfish, and prideful will not separate me from the love of God. Being an imperfect pastor, husband, parent, friend, and son of God will not separate me from the love of God!
This is the promise of God for me and for you dear Christian. It is the promise that can turn your sorrow to joy; your loneliness to communion; your timidity to boldness; you slavery to freedom; your hell to heaven; and your death to abundant living. It is the truth that will set you free and transform your life..
GOD LOVES YOU UNCONDITIONALLY AS HIS SON AND DAUGHTER.
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PERFORM TO EARN HIS LOVE.
HE LOVES YOU WHEN YOU ARE GOOD AND WHEN YOU ARE BAD.
HE IS NOT DISAPPOINTED WITH YOU.
HE LOVES YOU AND WANTS TO LOVE YOU.
So what I am learning to do is to let Him love me. To surrender and receive His love. To renounce all paradigms of performance and simply accept this reality; savor it, cherish it, and believe it.
For some of us, this is not an easy thing; especially f you have not really believed that He loves you. It is a wonderful thought to believe that God loves me in my weakness of faith, my fears about the future, the cluelessness i have about His will for my life, my sadness, misery, and brokenness. God loves me even when I am not nor am I able to love Him in return. Nothing will separate me from that love.It has begun in me a whole experience of living in the reality that even if nobody else loves me, I am not alone, for the Father loves me unconditionally, period, exclamation point! Nothing can and will ever change that reality. AMEN!
A Prayer
Father in Heaven; I humbly come before you as Your adopted Son, blood bought by your beloved Son Jesus Christ. I renounce all attempts to win Your love, earn Your love, and perform in order to receive Your love and others love. Help me by and through Your love and grace to receive Your unconditional love at this moment. May my life be an ongoing experience of letting go of anything that is not based upon the truth of Your unconditional love and receiving an ongoing touch and filling of Your love in my heart, soul, will, and mind. May the experience of Your unconditional love make me a person who lives, and loves others with Your unconditional love. May others be free in my presence to not feel that they have to perform to earn my love. May they simply know by being around me your love for them today and all the days of my life. In Jesus name AMEN!
Romans 8:31-39
Do you believe that the Father in heaven loves you? Do you have the assurance that there is nothing that you can do to change the love that He has for you? Will God still love you if you sin against Him? Will He love you if you fail? What if you do not perform to His standards? Do you feel that you have to work and perform to earn His love for you? Does you inner self feel as if you are in a futile quest to win His love no matter what you do? Do you feel that you have done things that can never be forgiven by Him? Do you feel at best that the Father in heaven tolerates you but does not really like you? Will He love you if you don't love him? Does God's love for you change when you don't feel or have the assurance that He loves you?
I must confess that these are very difficult questions to ask yourself, much less to answer in honesty and truthfulness. They are to painful and radical for Christians to be willing to face for several reasons. First, because theologically most Christians know that the Bible explicitly teaches us that God is a loving God and He loves us freely and unconditionally. I have found it easier to teach, say, and tell others that we believe these things than to really believe these things. Secondly, because it seems so inappropriate and painful to say to yourself, much less to others that you really do not believe or feel that God loves you. It is easier to just go on with your life. You will not do well in the Christian culture with those kind of beliefs. Thirdly, we can fill our lives with so much activity and busyness that we never take the time to ask these kind of questions. Finally, because we live in a world that does not love. The world tells us that to receive love it must be earned, achieved, performed for. We live in a very legalistic world. We learn this legalism modeled and demonstrated at home in our childhood, in our marriages with our spouses, at the workplace with our bosses or competing fellow workers, in our relationships, and sadly at times, in the body of Christ.
Think about the hidden but blatant ways we communicate or are told the way we will be loved in this legalistic world? "Perform for me and I will love you." "Fulfill my expectations and you will be loved." Do what I say and I will love you." "Fail and I will not love you." "I will love you if you do this." "I will love you when you do this." "Because of what you did, I will never love you."
Do you see this dear reader? Does this remind you of the way you have lived your life? Are you performing hoping to find and be loved by others? By God?
Do you today you feel like are you the performing worker? The performing spouse? The performing Christian? The performing son or daughter? It is a very lonely place to be? Will I ever be good enough? Should I work harder? Should I pretend I am someone I am not or others want me to be?
Stepping away from the ministry for a season I am seeing that I have often felt like the performing pastor. Would my church love me if I failed? What if I was weak? What if I sinned? What if they knew my weaknesses? What if I did not fulfill their expectations? Will they still love me? Will they stand with me? Will they stay with me? I have often times feared and felt others disapproval over me. It is a lonely place to live. If you always feel you have to perform you either try harder or give up. I have often felt that if I wasn't the hardest working, most available, busiest pastor I would not be pleasing to God and others. I think there is a deep longing in our soul to be loved for who they are not for what we do.
I had a wonderful epiphany in Romans 8 the other day. I have not been happy with my feelings of uselessness, dullness, directionless, no vision, no goals, little desire, no energy, brokenness, and empty, desperate prayers. It saddened me the sorry state that I was in. I felt that God was very disappointed with me in my relationship with Him, my spirituality, my life and all that it encompassed. With those feelings came a deep darkness and hopelessness that led to despair.. I sank to a place where I felt that if God was so very against me. At best He tolerated me, but was not to happy with me. Then I felt, if God does not love me. Then what do I have?
The apostle Paul wrote that "God is for us" and that "neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." It really struck me. At this very moment in my low state the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul is saying GOD IS FOR ME! Not only that, he says that NOTHING can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Think about that. NOTHING!!!! No dangers, problems, conflicts, failures, sins, guilt, regrets, mistakes, imperfections. NOTHING can separate me from the love of God! Being dull, burned out, scared, broken, doubting, questioning, disappointed, defeated, fearful, discouraged, worried, anxious, joyless, selfish, and prideful will not separate me from the love of God. Being an imperfect pastor, husband, parent, friend, and son of God will not separate me from the love of God!
This is the promise of God for me and for you dear Christian. It is the promise that can turn your sorrow to joy; your loneliness to communion; your timidity to boldness; you slavery to freedom; your hell to heaven; and your death to abundant living. It is the truth that will set you free and transform your life..
GOD LOVES YOU UNCONDITIONALLY AS HIS SON AND DAUGHTER.
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PERFORM TO EARN HIS LOVE.
HE LOVES YOU WHEN YOU ARE GOOD AND WHEN YOU ARE BAD.
HE IS NOT DISAPPOINTED WITH YOU.
HE LOVES YOU AND WANTS TO LOVE YOU.
So what I am learning to do is to let Him love me. To surrender and receive His love. To renounce all paradigms of performance and simply accept this reality; savor it, cherish it, and believe it.
For some of us, this is not an easy thing; especially f you have not really believed that He loves you. It is a wonderful thought to believe that God loves me in my weakness of faith, my fears about the future, the cluelessness i have about His will for my life, my sadness, misery, and brokenness. God loves me even when I am not nor am I able to love Him in return. Nothing will separate me from that love.It has begun in me a whole experience of living in the reality that even if nobody else loves me, I am not alone, for the Father loves me unconditionally, period, exclamation point! Nothing can and will ever change that reality. AMEN!
A Prayer
Father in Heaven; I humbly come before you as Your adopted Son, blood bought by your beloved Son Jesus Christ. I renounce all attempts to win Your love, earn Your love, and perform in order to receive Your love and others love. Help me by and through Your love and grace to receive Your unconditional love at this moment. May my life be an ongoing experience of letting go of anything that is not based upon the truth of Your unconditional love and receiving an ongoing touch and filling of Your love in my heart, soul, will, and mind. May the experience of Your unconditional love make me a person who lives, and loves others with Your unconditional love. May others be free in my presence to not feel that they have to perform to earn my love. May they simply know by being around me your love for them today and all the days of my life. In Jesus name AMEN!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
HE KNOWS MY WAY
"But he knows the way that I take;when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold." Job 23:10
"When my spirit faints within me,you know my way!" Psalm 142:3
"Commit your way to the LORD;trust in him, and he will act." Psalm 37:4
I have come to discover that there are a infinite number of things that I do not know about God, others, and myself. I can only know (and even then I'm not sure I really know and understand) the things that God chooses to reveal to me about Himself. I can only know what I see in others behavior or what they choose to tell me about themselves. But even then, you may not tell me the truth about yourself nor can I even begin to comprehend what goes on inside of you. Then, there is what I know about myself. I have discovered things that, until recently, I have never understood nor known about me. Trials have that tendency to cause us much inner reflection.
Oh how thankful I am for the knowledge that God has about all things! When we are going through trials, crises, disappointments, defeats, times of darkness, and catastrophe God knows. "But he knows the way that I take;when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold." (Job 23:10)
God knows the way that I take. That means whatever you are going through at this very moment. I may not have the slightest idea of what is going on, where I am going, why this is happening, or what is going to be the outcome. I may very well see and feel nothing but darkness and hopelessness. The way may seem crooked, tangled, and downward but "He knows".
"When my spirit faints within me,you know my way!" Psalm 142:3
"Commit your way to the LORD;trust in him, and he will act." Psalm 37:4
I have come to discover that there are a infinite number of things that I do not know about God, others, and myself. I can only know (and even then I'm not sure I really know and understand) the things that God chooses to reveal to me about Himself. I can only know what I see in others behavior or what they choose to tell me about themselves. But even then, you may not tell me the truth about yourself nor can I even begin to comprehend what goes on inside of you. Then, there is what I know about myself. I have discovered things that, until recently, I have never understood nor known about me. Trials have that tendency to cause us much inner reflection.
Oh how thankful I am for the knowledge that God has about all things! When we are going through trials, crises, disappointments, defeats, times of darkness, and catastrophe God knows. "But he knows the way that I take;when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold." (Job 23:10)
God knows the way that I take. That means whatever you are going through at this very moment. I may not have the slightest idea of what is going on, where I am going, why this is happening, or what is going to be the outcome. I may very well see and feel nothing but darkness and hopelessness. The way may seem crooked, tangled, and downward but "He knows".
Because God knows, God has somehow planned this in His sovereign governing over all of life. He is not surprised, puzzled, helpless, passive, or disconnected from "the way" you are on in life. He is an almighty, loving, purposeful, kind, compassionate, and merciful God. "The way" seems very dark to me, the furnace may be hot, the present may seem to much to bear. Nevertheless, even if I cannot trace His hand in my way, I can trust His heart and purpose. Job writes, "when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold" (Job 23:10). Isn't that why the confident Paul could so confidently boast in Romans 8:28, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose"?
When I feel that I am all alone and helpless in my life, God is nearest to me. "When my spirit faints within me, You know my way." (Psalm 142:3). "He knows my way". That means He is intimately acquainted with me and my present circumstance and experience. He "will never leave me or forsake me" (Hebrews 13:5). I am not left to myself to face or deal with this when I have no strength, ability, or motivation."So we can confidently say,'The Lord is my helper;I will not fear; what can man do to me?' "(Hebrews 13:4b).
Because God knows I can rest in His acting, powerful, guiding, strengthening, and personal hand over every second of my troubled life. that is why David gave this exhortation in Psalm 37:5-7, "Commit your way to the LORD;trust in him, and he will act.He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,and your justice as the noonday.Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him..." I am discovering that the worst place for my flesh, but the best place for my soul is to hand over my circumstance (what David calls "your way") over to the God who knows and works, and thus surrenders, trusts, and submits to His work in these circumstances.
Psalm 138:7 is a great promise for us when we are in "the way" of our lonely, difficult, seemingly hopeless days. "Though I walk in the midst of trouble,you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,and your right hand delivers me." Although His answer seems silent and we continue to walk in the midst of trouble; God says that this is the place where He will not leave or fail us, but instead, will preserve us and will work out His plans and purposes for our lives. "I cry out to God Most High,to God who fulfills his purpose for me....The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me" (Psalm 57:2;138:8).
The knowledge of God's knowledge helps me to agree with the poet George Herbert who wrote in his poem called The Bag:
Away, Despair! My gracious Lord doth hear:
Though winds and waves assault my keel,
He doth preserve it: he doth steer,
Ev'n when the boat seems most to reel:
Storms are the triumph of his art:
Well may he close his eyes, but not his heart."
Waiting in my way,
Pastor Bill
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
WHAT I HAVE LEARNED SINCE I STEPPED DOWN FROM MY CHURCH
- On April 30th I preached my last sermon and stepped down as pastor. This has been the most difficult time of my life but it has also been an amazing time of learning. I thought I would simply bullet some of the things that God is both teaching me and showing me.
Jesus Christ is my best friend and we should never forsake cultivating deep communion with Him so that when times of trial and testing come we know where to go for strength and comfort and help. - Do we really know and feel that Jesus loves us unconditionally?
- Who are you when everything is stripped and taken away? What defines you as a person?
- Faith is easy to talk about until you have to live by it.
- Worry, fear, and stress are very dangerous to your soul. I wonder ho many of us live our lives bound up in all we do by those things inside.
- Do not think that you can control your life or God. If you do, He will show you how out of control you really are.
- I think that the church has much to learn about grace, mercy, forgiveness, compassion, and love in action.In short, the church needs to know about its own sinfulness, the wonder of the cross, and the depth of the Father's love.
- We are all very broken, poor, and needy people, its just that most of us don't realize it.
- I am only a man. I am expendable. Christ can raise me or lower me according to His will.
- When all is said and done, Jesus is all we have.
- Whether we live or die, whether things go well or dreams collapse, the Lord is good!
- God is absolutely sovereign and does what He pleases.
Everything that we do for Christ is nothing but a grace and mercy.
I am and always will be a wretched sinner apart from Christ. - God is not concerned near as much about what I do as He is concerned for who I am.
- Most of us are more wounded and broken than we even begin to realize.
- There are many more reasons what we do than meets the eye.
- John Calvin said that it is harder to know ourselves than to know God. I Agree.
- The cross brings healing to our emotions as well as our sins.
- Some of us are way to religious and not enough loving, merciful, generous, and kind toward others.
- We are more products of our past than we realize.
- Be sure to take care of your soul above all things. If you don't, the time will surely come when you will find out that you did not and you will wish that you did.
- Beware of foolishness in how you think, make decisions, and how you live.
- Friendship is a sheltering tree.
- Fellowship with other believers is much more valuable to me than Sunday church services.
- We all need real friends who who stand with us, love us, forgive us, show mercy, forebear with us, and stay with us no matter what. That is the kind of friend that Jesus is!
- We also need friends who will speak the truth to us and love us anyway. We need to listen to our true friends because God speaks to us through them if we would listen.
- God speaks to us in many ways if we would just be open to divine providence.
- God gave us two ears and one mouth. I am convinced listening is much more important to God than speaking
- The best way to have real friendships is to be a friend to others.
- Do not work so much or seek to acquire things or money too much, because the day will come when you see what a waste it is if you have not invested in your soul, marriage, family, and friends.
- Do not waste your trials, valleys, brokenness, failings, and defeats.
- Look around every day and you will see arrows of love shot to you from the Father in heaven. God visits you every day with so many precious providence's if you would only open your eyes to see.
- When you begin living in the world of divine providence, no matter how bad things are, you can always find numerous reasons for gratitude to God. Something happens in your soul when you become a thankful person.
- I have been very lonely in this life, but I am learning that just as Jesus says in John 16:32, "I am not alone the Father is with me."
- When people are hurting we need to ask the Father to help us really have empathy and compassion. We need to ask the Lord what we can be for others. Most people don't need glib bible quoting, sermons, and pithy sayings, they just need someone to listen, weep, and pray with them.
- God knows what we can handle better than we do.
- Often times when we are overwhelmed in our trials we want relief,escape, and an end. We will tell Him that we cannot handle it. Jesus does not offer us those things until the appointed time is over but He does offer us Himself and His enabling and sustaining grace in order to face and endure them.
- It is one thing to ask God for some help, it is another thing to believe that if God does not help you, you will fail. Many Christians rely more on themselves and others than they know.
- Most of us have a very hard time being quiet and still before the Lord.
- Love is the most important thing in the life and legacy of a believer.
- I am a great sinner, Jesus is a wonderful savior, and on Him and His mercy and grace and kind arms I fall.
Pastor Bill
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
KEYS TO UNDERSTANDING AND GETTING THE MOST OUT OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION
“Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.” Revelation 1:3
I have been teaching Revelation form the past six months and cannot begin to tell you the joy I have gleaned from reading this book. I find it interesting that God offers a blessing to all who read, hear, and keep the book of Revelation. It seems to me that God wants us to understand this book. God chose the apostle John as the one through whom He would convey this book. In thinking about that fact, I conclude that God did not intend for something complex. The reason I say that is because John in his other writings is so simple, direct, and Christ centered. I do not believe that God would inspire such a man to give us a book that only a theological whiz kid could grasp its meaning..
The book of Revelation God beckons us to hear and to heed . When we read and hear the visions of Revelation we are meant be changed; scripture passing into our eyes, sparking our imagination, stirring our affections, and settling into our hearts. I want to help you to read the book of Revelation with new eyes; to allow this breathtaking, earth-scorching, imagination-stretching, sin-defeating, Christ-exalting, God-glorifying book change the way you think, act, and speak.
I think the best way to read Revelation is to focus more at the forest instead of the trees. So here is a simple guide to help you read this book with new eyes and to be blessed.
Revelation is a book meant to be read with your mind and heart. It is meant to be read, heard, and applied to the “now” of your daily life. It is best understood when seen for in light of its overall themes rather than getting bogged down in details. It is meant to be read with all of our senses what I call a “praying imagination”. Revelation was written not only to inform the church, but to impact believers’ emotions and encourage their spirits as well. We need to read the Book of Revelation with our hearts as well as our minds. As we read the visions of Revelation we are changed; scripture passing into our eyes, sparking our imagination, stirring our affections, and settling into our hearts.
Revelation is a book full of symbols. It is best understood by connecting its symbols with the usage of the symbols in the Old Testament. Seventy per cent of the symbols’ meaning are drawn from the original context of the Old Testament’s use of that symbol. We tend to think of symbols as meaning something less than real or true. John’s symbols are intended to convey deep theological meaning while simultaneously impacting our spirits and emotions. We tend to read a text “literally” as opposed to reading it “symbolically” as if a literal interpretation makes the text more true. In the Bible, symbols are understood to be just as “true” as other more historical or literary passages.
Revelation is not to be understood as a chronology of historical events in the future but a book looking at God, man, and the earth throughout history though different pictures and perspectives. I believe that we have been in the end times since Pentecost. John is speaking of the entire church age in the Book of Revelation is reinforced by several other important passages in the New Testament. For one thing, in the Pentecost sermon, Peter declares that the last days were already at hand just fifty days after Christ’s resurrection because of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 2:17; 3:24). The author of Hebrews likewise states that the coming of Christ means that Christians in the first century were already living in the last days (Hebrews 1:2). This means that the entire period of time between the first and second coming of Jesus Christ–“this present evil age,” as Paul puts it in Galatians 1:4–are also the “last days.”When Jesus Christ took on human flesh, lived a perfect life, died upon a cross, rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven, human history entered its final phase. While the duration of this period of time–the “last days”–is never revealed to us, it is certain that the last days began with the first coming of Jesus Christ and will end at his second coming (Hebrews 1:2; Matthew 13:39). Therefore, the only future events Revelation speaks of are the end of the age, the Return of Christ, the Rapture of those who are alive when He returns, the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, and the creation of the New Heaven and the New Earth. It sure simplifies everything when you look at it this way.
Revelation is full of symbols.Revelation is a book of symbols. And symbols mean things are not what they seem on the surface. Things are not what they seem. To see the underlying picture, the pattern that counts, we have to focus beyond mere surface details. For instance, Smyrna appears poor but in reality is rich (Rev 2:9). Sardis has a reputation for life but is dead (Rev 3:1). Laodicea thinks herself rich, but this church is destitute (Rev 3:17). The beast seems invincible, able to conquer and kill the saints, but their faithfulness even to death proves to be their victory (Rev 11:7; 13:7). What appears to the naked human eye to be weak, helpless, hunted, poor and defeated proves in the final run to be victorious in Christ, the Lamb Who was slain.
Revelation is a book about seeing and savoring Jesus Christ (“The revelation of Jesus Christ… I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.”Revelation 1:1,12-13) The word Revelation means “unveiling”.It is the unveiling of Jesus Christ. The Book of Revelation is certainly one of the most Christ-centered in the New Testament. It is important to understand at the very beginning that the Book of Revelation is not primarily about beasts, numbers, horses and horsemen, wars, trumpets, and plagues. It is a Him-book! It is a book about Him! It is first and foremost a book that reveals Jesus. It is the same thing every book of the Bible reveals. Everything in the Bible points to Jesus in one way or another. You can find Him on every page, in very chapter, and in every event. But, the book of Revelation, more so than any other book of the Bible, is a book about Him! It is a “revelation” or an “unveiling” of the Person, the Purposes, the Plans, the Power, and the Promotion of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the proper way to read the Book of Revelation is to look for Jesus!
Revelation teaches us that one of God’s main purposes in the book of Revelation is simply this–He wants to change us. He wants to change how we live, what we live for, how we treat our spouse and children and friends, how we order our goals, what we prioritize, the zeal with which we kill personal sin, the purity of the local church, our compassion towards the hurting, our counsel for fellow sinners, our love for the lost, our earnestness to obey, our diligence to pray, our disgust of our personal worldliness, our heartfelt earnest longing for the return of Christ. God wants us to be holy like His Son.
Revelation is a book about the absolute sovereignty of God over all of history. God is awesomely majestic, as well as sovereign in all our troubles. God controls and govern over all events and has purposes and plans. Revelation is first of all God-centered. God controls the course of history. God will bring his purposes to final, spectacular realization in the new heaven and the new earth. The Book of Revelation is meant to humble us by a vision of the absolute sovereignty of God over history: past, present, and future. There is nothing outside of God’s control. Every power, every evil-power is subject to the rule of God. Regardless of how bad things get, God cannot be defeated.
Revelation is a book about God’s plan for redemption through the blood of Jesus the Lamb seated on the throne. Jesus Christ is presented to us as the Lamb to symbolize his sacrificial death
Revelation is a book about the church and how God knows and sets apart His people throughout history. He loves, blesses, preserves, protects, uses,and chastens His church.
Revelation is a book about the relation between time and eternity. Interspersed throughout the book are moments when we are brought out of the dimension of time in one scene into the realm of eternity and then in another scene brought back into time. Sometimes we look ahead in time to the future, sometimes in time to the present, and sometimes we look back in time in terms of the past.
Revelation gives a radical contrast exists between the God’s kingdom (exemplified in the bride, the New Jerusalem) and the world’s values (exemplified in the prostitute, Babylon).
Revelation is a book about heaven and what goes on in eternity.
Revelation is a book about what happens when we die and what will happens when God restores all things forever. It is a book full of hope for the believer and full of dread for the unbeliever.
Revelation is a book about worship. Worship is the ultimate consummation of our joy in heaven at the person, presence, and work of God and His Son. The appropriate response to God on the part of his creatures is worship. Scenes of worship occur throughout the book (1:12-20; 4:1-5:14; 7:9-17; 8:3-5; 11:16-19; 12:10-12; 14:1-7; 15:2-8; 16:5-7; 19:1-10; 20:4-6; 21:1-22:5). By showing us the marvel of who God is and what he does, Revelation calls us to respond with awe, godly fear, praise, faith, and obedience. Thus all of Revelation promotes true worship of God.
Revelation is a book about the efficacy and importance of prayer. The saints pray “how long” and come quickly”. The saints on earth pray and God acts in history in response to the prayers of His people (Revelation 8:1-5).
Revelation is a book about the reality of evil in this world, spiritual warfare and the ultimate triumph of God over evil. Revelation goes underneath the surface in its analysis of history in order to show the spiritual forces at work. God and his agents war against Satan and his agents. Humanity is in the middle of this war. One’s allegiance is to God or to Satan. In the end of this war, God wins!
Revelation is a book about the glory God’s wrath and judgments in human history and consummating with His eternal judgments. Revelation points to the fact that God is sovereign and God is just. He meets out punishments on rebels. Regardless of how things appear in the short run, “sin does not go unpunished,” and God will judge.
Revelation is a book about the necessity of His people doing evangelism until Christ returns. John’s favorite words are “witness” and "testimony".
Revelation is a book about the triumph of the gospel. He will bring in His elect from every tribe, tongue, and nation and gathering them to be with Him forever.
Revelation is a book about the necessity of perseverance in suffering as a demonstration of the supreme worth of Jesus from God’s people as a witness to the nations until He returns. Proclaiming Christ invites suffering, persecution, and death. This is the normal state of committed believers in this age.
So try using these as interpretive filters when you read this book and get blessed!You will not necessarily understand every detail, neither do I. But it is not necessary to understand every detail in order to profit spiritually. The same is true of all Scripture. Scripture is inexhaustibly rich, so that we never plumb all its depths and mysteries.
Pastor Bill
How many of you have ever been discouraged in trying to read the book of Revelation? The mere mention of reading this book to many Christians produces feelings of intimidation. and frustration. Typically, the response i have heard goes like this: "I tried to read it but I could not begin to understand it." As a result, many Christians avoid this book like the plague. Still others treat this book as utterly irrelevant to their present lives with all of its strange symbols, numbers, and images. Others treat this book as some kind of crystal ball about the future that leads to lots of speculation but no real impact upon my relationship with Jesus Christ and my job, marriage, family, ministry, and life.
I have been teaching Revelation form the past six months and cannot begin to tell you the joy I have gleaned from reading this book. I find it interesting that God offers a blessing to all who read, hear, and keep the book of Revelation. It seems to me that God wants us to understand this book. God chose the apostle John as the one through whom He would convey this book. In thinking about that fact, I conclude that God did not intend for something complex. The reason I say that is because John in his other writings is so simple, direct, and Christ centered. I do not believe that God would inspire such a man to give us a book that only a theological whiz kid could grasp its meaning..
The book of Revelation God beckons us to hear and to heed . When we read and hear the visions of Revelation we are meant be changed; scripture passing into our eyes, sparking our imagination, stirring our affections, and settling into our hearts. I want to help you to read the book of Revelation with new eyes; to allow this breathtaking, earth-scorching, imagination-stretching, sin-defeating, Christ-exalting, God-glorifying book change the way you think, act, and speak.
I think the best way to read Revelation is to focus more at the forest instead of the trees. So here is a simple guide to help you read this book with new eyes and to be blessed.
Revelation is a book meant to be read with your mind and heart. It is meant to be read, heard, and applied to the “now” of your daily life. It is best understood when seen for in light of its overall themes rather than getting bogged down in details. It is meant to be read with all of our senses what I call a “praying imagination”. Revelation was written not only to inform the church, but to impact believers’ emotions and encourage their spirits as well. We need to read the Book of Revelation with our hearts as well as our minds. As we read the visions of Revelation we are changed; scripture passing into our eyes, sparking our imagination, stirring our affections, and settling into our hearts.
Revelation is a book full of symbols. It is best understood by connecting its symbols with the usage of the symbols in the Old Testament. Seventy per cent of the symbols’ meaning are drawn from the original context of the Old Testament’s use of that symbol. We tend to think of symbols as meaning something less than real or true. John’s symbols are intended to convey deep theological meaning while simultaneously impacting our spirits and emotions. We tend to read a text “literally” as opposed to reading it “symbolically” as if a literal interpretation makes the text more true. In the Bible, symbols are understood to be just as “true” as other more historical or literary passages.
Revelation is not to be understood as a chronology of historical events in the future but a book looking at God, man, and the earth throughout history though different pictures and perspectives. I believe that we have been in the end times since Pentecost. John is speaking of the entire church age in the Book of Revelation is reinforced by several other important passages in the New Testament. For one thing, in the Pentecost sermon, Peter declares that the last days were already at hand just fifty days after Christ’s resurrection because of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 2:17; 3:24). The author of Hebrews likewise states that the coming of Christ means that Christians in the first century were already living in the last days (Hebrews 1:2). This means that the entire period of time between the first and second coming of Jesus Christ–“this present evil age,” as Paul puts it in Galatians 1:4–are also the “last days.”When Jesus Christ took on human flesh, lived a perfect life, died upon a cross, rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven, human history entered its final phase. While the duration of this period of time–the “last days”–is never revealed to us, it is certain that the last days began with the first coming of Jesus Christ and will end at his second coming (Hebrews 1:2; Matthew 13:39). Therefore, the only future events Revelation speaks of are the end of the age, the Return of Christ, the Rapture of those who are alive when He returns, the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, and the creation of the New Heaven and the New Earth. It sure simplifies everything when you look at it this way.
Revelation is full of symbols.Revelation is a book of symbols. And symbols mean things are not what they seem on the surface. Things are not what they seem. To see the underlying picture, the pattern that counts, we have to focus beyond mere surface details. For instance, Smyrna appears poor but in reality is rich (Rev 2:9). Sardis has a reputation for life but is dead (Rev 3:1). Laodicea thinks herself rich, but this church is destitute (Rev 3:17). The beast seems invincible, able to conquer and kill the saints, but their faithfulness even to death proves to be their victory (Rev 11:7; 13:7). What appears to the naked human eye to be weak, helpless, hunted, poor and defeated proves in the final run to be victorious in Christ, the Lamb Who was slain.
Revelation is a book about seeing and savoring Jesus Christ (“The revelation of Jesus Christ… I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.”Revelation 1:1,12-13) The word Revelation means “unveiling”.It is the unveiling of Jesus Christ. The Book of Revelation is certainly one of the most Christ-centered in the New Testament. It is important to understand at the very beginning that the Book of Revelation is not primarily about beasts, numbers, horses and horsemen, wars, trumpets, and plagues. It is a Him-book! It is a book about Him! It is first and foremost a book that reveals Jesus. It is the same thing every book of the Bible reveals. Everything in the Bible points to Jesus in one way or another. You can find Him on every page, in very chapter, and in every event. But, the book of Revelation, more so than any other book of the Bible, is a book about Him! It is a “revelation” or an “unveiling” of the Person, the Purposes, the Plans, the Power, and the Promotion of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the proper way to read the Book of Revelation is to look for Jesus!
Revelation teaches us that one of God’s main purposes in the book of Revelation is simply this–He wants to change us. He wants to change how we live, what we live for, how we treat our spouse and children and friends, how we order our goals, what we prioritize, the zeal with which we kill personal sin, the purity of the local church, our compassion towards the hurting, our counsel for fellow sinners, our love for the lost, our earnestness to obey, our diligence to pray, our disgust of our personal worldliness, our heartfelt earnest longing for the return of Christ. God wants us to be holy like His Son.
Revelation is a book about the absolute sovereignty of God over all of history. God is awesomely majestic, as well as sovereign in all our troubles. God controls and govern over all events and has purposes and plans. Revelation is first of all God-centered. God controls the course of history. God will bring his purposes to final, spectacular realization in the new heaven and the new earth. The Book of Revelation is meant to humble us by a vision of the absolute sovereignty of God over history: past, present, and future. There is nothing outside of God’s control. Every power, every evil-power is subject to the rule of God. Regardless of how bad things get, God cannot be defeated.
Revelation is a book about God’s plan for redemption through the blood of Jesus the Lamb seated on the throne. Jesus Christ is presented to us as the Lamb to symbolize his sacrificial death
Revelation is a book about the church and how God knows and sets apart His people throughout history. He loves, blesses, preserves, protects, uses,and chastens His church.
Revelation is a book about the relation between time and eternity. Interspersed throughout the book are moments when we are brought out of the dimension of time in one scene into the realm of eternity and then in another scene brought back into time. Sometimes we look ahead in time to the future, sometimes in time to the present, and sometimes we look back in time in terms of the past.
Revelation gives a radical contrast exists between the God’s kingdom (exemplified in the bride, the New Jerusalem) and the world’s values (exemplified in the prostitute, Babylon).
Revelation is a book about heaven and what goes on in eternity.
Revelation is a book about what happens when we die and what will happens when God restores all things forever. It is a book full of hope for the believer and full of dread for the unbeliever.
Revelation is a book about worship. Worship is the ultimate consummation of our joy in heaven at the person, presence, and work of God and His Son. The appropriate response to God on the part of his creatures is worship. Scenes of worship occur throughout the book (1:12-20; 4:1-5:14; 7:9-17; 8:3-5; 11:16-19; 12:10-12; 14:1-7; 15:2-8; 16:5-7; 19:1-10; 20:4-6; 21:1-22:5). By showing us the marvel of who God is and what he does, Revelation calls us to respond with awe, godly fear, praise, faith, and obedience. Thus all of Revelation promotes true worship of God.
Revelation is a book about the efficacy and importance of prayer. The saints pray “how long” and come quickly”. The saints on earth pray and God acts in history in response to the prayers of His people (Revelation 8:1-5).
Revelation is a book about the reality of evil in this world, spiritual warfare and the ultimate triumph of God over evil. Revelation goes underneath the surface in its analysis of history in order to show the spiritual forces at work. God and his agents war against Satan and his agents. Humanity is in the middle of this war. One’s allegiance is to God or to Satan. In the end of this war, God wins!
Revelation is a book about the glory God’s wrath and judgments in human history and consummating with His eternal judgments. Revelation points to the fact that God is sovereign and God is just. He meets out punishments on rebels. Regardless of how things appear in the short run, “sin does not go unpunished,” and God will judge.
Revelation is a book about the necessity of His people doing evangelism until Christ returns. John’s favorite words are “witness” and "testimony".
Revelation is a book about the triumph of the gospel. He will bring in His elect from every tribe, tongue, and nation and gathering them to be with Him forever.
Revelation is a book about the necessity of perseverance in suffering as a demonstration of the supreme worth of Jesus from God’s people as a witness to the nations until He returns. Proclaiming Christ invites suffering, persecution, and death. This is the normal state of committed believers in this age.
So try using these as interpretive filters when you read this book and get blessed!You will not necessarily understand every detail, neither do I. But it is not necessary to understand every detail in order to profit spiritually. The same is true of all Scripture. Scripture is inexhaustibly rich, so that we never plumb all its depths and mysteries.
Pastor Bill
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