Daily Devotions - Entries written by Phil Nelson

2 Kings 7:1-3 (NIV)
¹ Elisha said, "Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria."
² The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, "Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?" "You will see it with your own eyes," answered Elisha, "but you will not eat any of it!"

So the situation looked real bad. The news media were all in agreement that things would never get better. Everyone allowed the media to convince them that they spoke the truth so no one believed that anything good could actually happen anymore.

Enter one man of God, named Elisha. Listen carefully to this media person sent from Heaven to give the correct news for all to hear. "Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria."

Now Elisha was speaking something that was completely contrary to what the modern news media and intellectual elites were saying in his day. (Not much has changed in 3000 years huh?) His word was the economy was going to turn around so fast that it would make your head spin. What Elisha predicted was equal to some one being interviewed on our national media today and predicting that gasoline will sell for less than ten cents a gallon beginning at noon tomorrow.

Now consider what the news media pundits would say bout such predictions. I am sure the reports would go something like this, "Some crazy preacher that dresses poorly has gone off his rocker yet again. He is predicting that gas will be selling for ten cents a gallon by noon tomorrow. Katie, what do you think about this?

"I think he is crazy and should be locked up. His fanciful predictions do not help us in this situation. We do not need someone to come in to tell us that God desires to bless us, what we really need is someone to tell us how bad things are and how they will never be good again. What we need is the truth, not some crazy preacher telling us some fancy fairytale."

Ok let me get you back to reality before you go thinking I have lost my marbles too. To be sure we are in difficult times. The economy is not looking very good and our politicians do not look like they will be our deliverance, even after this election. Surprise surprise!.

So what can we glean from this text for our lives during this time of year when churches are calling on us to give more money and make more commitments to missions than ever before? Surely those who ask for such things are somewhat like that crazy half baked prophet, Elisha.

Not so fast. What is our reality. Is it what we see with our eyes or is it what we believe about God without seeing? I hope you chose the second answer. So just how does this all help me live in this present situation? Trust me this story has much to say to all of us who will keep on reading. But since I have already taken up a lot of your time today you will have to come back tomorrow to see what message there might be in this text for you, or you could just keep on reading II Kings 7 and see if you can discover it on your own.

See you tomorrow,

Acts 21:10-14 (NIV)
¹⁰ After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. ¹¹ Coming over to us, he took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, "The Holy Spirit says, 'In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.'"
¹² When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.¹³ Then Paul answered, "Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."
¹⁴ When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, "The Lord's will be done."

Paul was on his way back to Jerusalem to bring an offering to the poor in the Jewish church. This offering had been collected from all the Gentile churches on his last missionary trip. He was obeying God in going to Jerusalem. In this text we find him among the church in Tyre. He had been staying at Philip's house along with Philip's four daughters who were prophetesses. He had enjoyed almost a week of leisurely fellowship and spent much time with the disciples there in worship.

In the midst of this great time God sends a prophet to remind Paul of the hardships that await him in Jerusalem. The church at Tyre hears the hardships and they immediately began to try to persuade him not to go. The language in fact indicates that they pleaded with him on several occasions during the week.

I wonder what their arguments must have sounded like. Let us use our redeemed imagination for a moment and see. "Paul, you have suffered so much already, surely God would not want you to suffer any more. God must have sent Agabus to you to say you have suffered enough."

Perhaps another chimed in and said something like, "Paul if you die in Jerusalem all those who have trusted in Christ through your life will probably lose heart and walk away from the faith. They need you to teach them still. Surely God would want you to stay alive so they could learn more from you about Christ."

Maybe another voice spoke up in the fray and said, "Paul you are getting along in years and you have paid your dues, it is time for someone else to take the reigns and it is time for you to retire and take it easy. After all God does want us to enjoy ourselves while we are alive, right?"

All of these voices sound so right. The logic is sensible and practical. After all things are weighed on the scales of human wisdom it makes sense for Paul to stay in Tyre and not go to Jerusalem, but there is one thing that has not been considered, what does the voice of the Lord say?

O how often the voice of the Lord runs counter to our own thinking and wisdom. Now listen to Paul as he responds to the words of his brothers and sisters in Tyre. "Why are you weeping and breaking my heart. I am ready not only to be bound in Jerusalem but also to die for the name of the Lord Jesus."

So it is even today that what God often asks us to do is opposed by those who are in the Church. We must be on our guard from the voices that would seek to encourage us to take the easier road. Let us follow our Lord as he bids us to take our stand with him no matter what!

Seeking to Follow His Voice Alone,

Titus 1:1-4 (NIV)
¹ Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness-- ² a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time,
³ and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior, ⁴ To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

Over the past several weeks I have been taking two days a week to be on campus sharing Christ with students at SIU. I have had several students work with me during these days in engaging college students with the gospel. We have had many very good conversations with students. In our conversations we found students who were brought to an awareness of their danger in the approaching judgment to come. Most recognized that they were headed for judgment, but at the same time, they were unmoved by such knowledge, they simply had too may other things to concern themselves with for the moment.

I have found myself asking the question more and more as the semester progresses, "What do we need to do in order to bring them to repentance?" I have read up on more evangelistic methods and programs that might help move them towards repentance but have been concerned that this would only produce a repentance founded on some human instrument instead of God's work.

This morning as I was reading in Titus the answer was right in front of me. It came in this manner, "at his appointed season he brought his word to light . . ." True repentance comes only through the work of the Holy Spirit in God's time, not ours.

But then I had another question, "If this is true, then what must be our ministry posture until God grants repentance?" The answer came immediately in the rest of the text. "He brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior."

So what is to be our posture and ministry method during the times when we do not see any repentance or move toward God in our culture? Precisely this, we are to keep preaching the Word of God no matter what, whether we see conversions or not, because as we preach the Word we are laying the ground work for God to move when he decides to bring awakening to our nation again. It is through the Word of God that God brings light to all men about their spiritual need for Christ. So for the time being we will preach the Word, even though it is out of season and we see little true conversions. We do not do this in a state of hopelessness, on the contrary, we do this in the state of utter confidence that as the Word of God is preached and as people are brought into the direct proximity of God's truth we are laying the ground work for real conversions when God deems it best to bring them alive.

If we say to ourselves that we are not having any real success in preaching and stop, then we will short circuit the work of God when he desires to send awakening because the culture will not have the Word of God sown into their culture and they will lack the power of the Gospel that will bring them to repentance. Let us not be weary in sowing the seed of God's Word for this is the means by which men and women are made alive in God's appointed time. In due time we will reap if we faint not.

Preaching the Word, setting the stage for God's appointed season,

2 Timothy 4:8 (NIV)
⁸ Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

(This is rather lengthy but I think it is worth your time to read. Taken from my sermon from this past Sunday)

My daughter Rebekah has always loved to dance. Several years ago when I travelled to speak in different conferences and churches I would often take one of my children with me. On several of those trips Rebekah would accompany me and she would choreograph a dance routine that would illustrate my talk. It was great fun and most of those who attended said that the dance was the best part of my talk.

She was made to dance and she took ballet classes for almost ten years. Then the dreadful day came when her dance instructor told her that she would never be on pointe due to her bone structure and the position of her hips. Her advice to her was that she should probably take up something else because she would never be able to go on pointe.

When my Rebekah heard those words her world caved in because she had one serious problem with the instructor, she was made to dance and she knew it deep in her heart that she had to dance. But the evidence weighed in against her and some dance instructor, who claimed to be an expert in her field, told her it would never happen.

I remember the disappointment, my wife remembers it even more than I do. The next several years Rebekah was forced to face a reality that dance would just not be something she could do. On many days Rebekah would question why she should even go on because she was made to dance, but the experts told her it was not possible.

During the next several years she would watch a dance routine on television or see some ballet poster and her heart would just sink. Her dream was never to be realized and all the evidence from the experts said so. But even with all the expert opinions she couldn't help but dance. She faced it as good as any young girl, who only wanted to dance all her life, could. She busied herself with other things to hide the pain inside. She took nineteen hours in college each semester, worked three jobs filling her schedule with as much activity as she could hoping to find something that would take the pain away and the longing to dance with it.

After we moved to Carbondale, Rebekah, now to be known as Becki, met up with her first dance instructor, Susan Barnes. Susan had a place for her in her dance classes. So Becki began to dance again, all the while knowing she would never be on pointe. She took up hip hop, classical, modern, jazz. She made the dance team at her high school and they went to state and won fifth place. This should have been sufficient but it wasn't because she was made to dance but she was told she would never make the final jump to being on pointe.

She took up kick boxing, as a way to train herself physically and found a Christian Martial arts instructor that helped her gain much needed strength in her legs and back. Now fast forward to just a few weeks ago when she made the local dance company and her teacher said to her that she should consider going on pointe.

This was too much to hope for but she allowed herself to think it was possible. The appointment was made and this past Friday my wife, Melanie, Becki and I drove three hours to St. Louis to the Dance Bag Dance shop. It was here we would meet two very gifted Ballet instructors that had fifty years of instruction and dance between them. They worked for ninety minutes trying to fit Becki with the correct pointe shoes. I did not know that were over 1700 possibilities for arranging the fit for a person on pointe.

At first there was much difficulty trying to make everything fit. There was a tense moment when the instructor, shoe fitter person hesitated and said, "Well . . ." Then she paused and there was what seemed like an eternity of waiting. We were all thinking that the next words would be, "I am sorry you just are not made to be on pointe."

As a father, I was sitting close by and I could see it in my Becki's eyes. Her world was about to be crashed in on again. After what seemed like a thousand years we heard the words from this most excellent shoe fitter, dance instructor ever. "Releve" which in ballet language means to go up on your toes on pointe. I watched as my daughter, who was told for years she would never do this, pushed up on her toes and did it so flawlessly that the instructor said with great confidence, "You are going to be great on pointe, I do not know what that other instructor was thinking."

The shoes were a perfect fit. My wife cried, Becki smiled and I will not admit to anything from my life at that moment.

She as going to dance and she is going to be on pointe in the Nutcracker this coming Christmas on the biggest stage in southern Illinois.

Do you see the picture here? Let's go back to our text for a moment. Paul was nearing the end of his life and he says for all to hear, there is a crown of righteousness laid up for me and not for me only but for all those who love his appearing.

For those of us who have trusted in Christ we find another law at work within us that seems to drag us down the longer we live in this body. Our struggle with sin is intense, but our longing to live a life of purity before God is more intense. We long to live lives that are pleasing to God but at the same time we keep hearing the voice of our enemy saying, "You will never be righteous, you will never win in this battle over sin. Just give up and quit so you don't have to fight any longer."

All the evidence seems to point out that the voice of our enemy is right. But there is something that is going on inside of us that is far more powerful, there is the growing longing to dance, to live lives perfectly pleasing to God. We constantly face ridicule and scorn from the world and voices of condemnation from the enemy but we do not give up.

All the while Becki could not dance she did not even know it, but all the exercises she went through and all the other things that she did only served to position her so that she would be strong enough to dance when the time came.

You see, even though we have all the evidence that is against us everyone has forgotten one voice in the midst, this is none other than the son of God as he speaks and says, "One day, for all those who long to live lives pleasing to God, the Lord Himself will come for them and call them to come in for a fitting. But it will not be for pointe shoes, it will be for a fitting of everlasting righteousness that will be given to them. From this moment on we will be able to dance and fully rejoice in our absolute righteousness before God never to sin again.

Now we will struggle and hear the voices of our enemy telling us we will never be what we want to be. Now we wage war against the flesh and the world and the devil but then we will rise never to fight again only to dance and fly and soar.

O church, are you tired of sinning against the God that you love? Is the war growing too hard for you? Then I ask you to look up, He is coming for you and will soon complete that which he began in you.

I think I am about to dance, how about you?

Genesis 11:1-4 (NIV)
¹ Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.
² As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
³ They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.
⁴ Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."

It happens at the end of every semester, after every graduation, at every job fair, during every political campaign season, people work over time trying to make a name for themselves. Resumes are dressed up, new clothes are purchased, imperfections are covered over, personal contacts are made so some one can make a good impression, make themselves look good and hopefully stand out among the field of those looking for work, to get elected. chosen, etc.

Now I am not bashing all of this, but it seems to be that perhaps we have this whole thing backwards. We work really hard at making a name for ourselves and often times it causes us to embellish the truth, use deceptive words, make false promises which all leads to confusion and a disintegration of our real identity.

Those at the tower of Babel thought it most wise to concern themselves with their own reputation instead of God's. Take a look around at the result of such self oriented lifestyles, confusion has reigned ever since. Nations cannot understand each other, husbands and wives cannot seem to connect too often and even best friends misunderstand each other. Oftentimes lasting friendships are lost over the use of words where something else was meant, but confusion reigned instead of communication.

Instead of thinking of how they could make God's name famous those at the tower of Babel were focused only on self. I want you to take a real good look at what happened at the tower of Babel. When self ruled the day families were split apart, lives were shattered, confusion became the rule of the day. There was much division.

So is there an answer for this division brought about by the tower of Babel? The Scriptures give us the answer very clearly in Matthew 6:33 "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

If we will make the kingdom of God our first concern and seek to make much of God we will regain the joy lost at Babel. We will find joy where confusion reigned, we will find harmony where there once was only discord.

Just a thought for today, "Why not ask God to help you make much of Him and see what might happen along the way today."

Now go out and say a good word for Jesus

Seeking to Make Much of Him,

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NIV)
¹³ Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.
¹⁴ We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
¹⁵ According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
¹⁸ Therefore encourage each other with these words.

Yesterday I received a phone call from a member of a church I pastored years ago. When I answered the phone this is the conversation I became part of, "Pastor Phil, this is . . . . The reason I am calling is because I have been diagnosed with inoperable cancer and I have been on hospice since April. I am in so much pain that I just want to go home. Would you pray for me that God will give me grace to endure?"

We talked for a few moments and shared memories of what God has done in our lives. As the conversation was ending I asked this person if they had any unfinished business, any relationships that needed to be mended, any thing left undone. The reply was, "I have met with all of my family and those that I needed to make things right. Pastor Phil I am ready to go."

I then asked, "How do you want me to pray?" The answer was quick in coming, "Pray that Jesus will come for me soon. I just want to be with him now more than ever."

Before I prayed I read the scripture in I Thessalonians 4:13-18. After I finished I prayed that the Lord would come to take this saint home soon. We said a few more words of encouragement and then hung up the phone.

I have been privileged to be with several saints who passed from this life into eternity and each time I am reminded of the confidence we have in Christ as we face life's end. Are you having a hard time facing the difficulties of life then read this passage more and remember it often? Paul tells us that this is a way to find encouragement in the hard times.

Let us spend our days here preparing for the time when Jesus will come for us. Let us live as to be ready when he comes for us.

Acts 12:1-18  (NIV)
¹ It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them.
² He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.
³ When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
⁴ After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.
⁵ So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
⁶ The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance.
⁷ Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists.
⁸ Then the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him.
⁹ Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision.
¹⁰ They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.
¹¹ Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating."
¹² When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying.
¹³ Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door.
¹⁴ When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, "Peter is at the door!"
¹⁵ "You're out of your mind," they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, "It must be his angel."
¹⁶ But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.
¹⁷ Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. "Tell James and the brothers about this," he said, and then he left for another place.
¹⁸ In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter.

When is the last time you had a dream come true? I am not talking about a nightmare, I am talking about a real dream, a dream that goes beyond your wildest imaginations? Perhaps this is too much to even attempt to believe so you have given up on dreaming for the best. Our text today finds one of the apostles in a very dark place, chained between two Roman guards behind two locked doors each guarded by two more Roman guards.

Herod had witnessed how his arrest and public execution of James had led to an increase in popularity among the Jews so he had Peter arrested and thrown in jail with every intention to have Peter executed after Passover was over. So we find our friend in jail with no hope of ever being set free.

It has now been several days since his arrest and it was now the evening before his execution. What shape do we find Peter in this evening before his execution? Was he busy pacing back and forth in his cell overcome with worry, was he shaking an angry fist at God, was he even arguing with his captors? Nothing of the sort.

What is amazing is is we find Peter in this predicament, he is sound asleep. In fact he is sleeping so soundly that the angel has to strike him on his side to wake him up. He quickly gets dressed and follows the angel out of the prison. The angel leads him through the streets of Jerusalem until Peter finally wakes up. The Scripture says all the time that Peter only thought he was dreaming of being set free, he did not think this was real.

When Peter arrives at the door of the house where the church was gathered praying for Peter, even the church has a hard time believing that Peter was set free from Herod's prison, it was more than they could have ever thought to ask for but it was true nonetheless.

Do you see any parallel to your experience? Do you find yourself in some place of deep despair, or some hopeless circumstance, are you unable to pray that you might be set free? If this is your state you have great reason to rejoice for God wants to do amazing things for you far beyond your ability to even dream of them. Some day in the future, it may be even today, you may feel like you are trapped hopelessly behind some prison of fear or doubt and then, without you even trying to conjure up such thoughts ,the God who saved you by his own sovereign will, will break through your dungeon and lead you out so you might praise him even more.

O and think of this church, when God sends his son to bring us home it will all be greater than anything we have ever dreamed of and it will take a lot of time to get used to what God has done on our behalf. It will seem like a dream but one day soon it will be a reality greater than any other reality you have ever been part of. You will be more alive than ever. So rest in this truth, even when you are in a prison of your own making the God who saves is working even now to bring you out of your dark dungeon.

Now unto him who is able to do exceedingly abundant above all that we ask or think let us rest in his promise of his soon coming deliverance,

Hebrews 4:9-11 (NIV)
⁹ There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; ¹⁰ for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. ¹¹ Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.

It happened a few days ago in my oldest daughter's home. She is now the mother of two children, Josiah, age almost two and Elianna, almost three months. Megan, the mom, was writing out her "To Do" list and her son Josiah was writing out his as well. After Megan finished the list she asked her son, Josiah if she had left out anything.

Josiah, in the wisdom that could have only come from the grandfather, said, "Play, mommy. Play." Being the good mother that she is, she quickly tossed aside her to do list and played.

Since today is Labor day I thought I would take some time out from the regular devotionals and just say the same thing to you. Put aside your "to do" list and go out and play. That's right you heard this preacher correctly, Go out and play, celebrate God's goodness, leap and dance and shout aloud for the joy of the Lord. If you cannot dance then take up lessons. If you cannot leap then spin around in your wheel chair. If you cannot sing for joy a good hearty shout will suffice. However you do it rejoice in his rest that he has provided for us. We no longer have to work for his affection, Jesus our Lord has already accomplished it all, so play.

I know this is hard because we all live in a work oriented world where we are measured by how much we produce, but just for today why not let the truth of the gospel settle in your heart and cause you to see that God commands you to rest and to celebrate. So go ahead and head for the fair, go for a walk in the woods, order out ice cream and enjoy the taste of a nice cold blizzard at Dairy Queen.

See you at the fair with my ice cream cone on the Ferris wheel.

Acts 11:1-3 (NIV)
¹ The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. ² So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him ³ and said, "You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them."

It has been seven years at least since Jesus ascended into heaven and the church and her leaders are still in Jerusalem with only one exception, the Apostle Peter. You remember the great commission given to the church in Matthew 28:19-20 was to reach the ends of the earth and include every ethnic group and language under the sun.

If this is the case why are the leaders still in Jerusalem? Comfort and known surroundings can keep the church from being what she is supposed to be. I think it may have been something like this in Jerusalem. So God did what he had to get the church outside of her walls. We call it persecution, but God calls it his sending strategy. (Check out Acts 8:1-4)

In our text today we find Peter, the apostle, sharing his mission experience with the elders from Jerusalem. The elders had heard that an entire household family of gentiles had come to faith in Christ so they had to find out what was happening. When they arrived they had some fairly sharp words for Peter.

"You went to the house of the uncircumcised and ate with them?" This was most offensive to the elders. How could anyone go beyond the Jewish nation? Wasn't the gospel for the Jews only?"

The leaders of the early church actually thought they were protecting the gospel when, in fact, they were serving as a destructive poison to the gospel. The gospel is meant to be shared and proclaimed to a lost a dying world. When the gospel is contained behind the walls of the church it ceases to be the gospel.

When those who belong to Christ go beyond their comfort zones and follow Christ to the unreached peoples of the world it then is free to do what it was meant to do, convert the lost and demonstrate God's glory to his children.

May you go about your work today with this in mind, God has given you his gospel to share and it is his plan that you speak of Christ as you go about your daily routines. Let us open our eyes to those right around us who need to hear a word from God today.

May the Lord make you bold enough to share His truth with those you see today

2 Timothy 2:19 (NIV)
¹⁹ Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness."

    The world we live in today is a world that is running at break neck speed away from God. There are false teachings that seek to undermine the Word of God; there are powerful sinful temptations that would seek to destroy those who belong to God. If one was to take full account of all the ways that the Church of God can be destroyed or those who are the elect could be deceived you might think that the Church of God and the truth of God have no chance. This conclusion would be correct if that is all you considered, but once again we are not left alone in the world, we have the promises of God to bring us great assurance in this fallen world

Hear the promises of God once again before you begin your day. "Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his." God knows those who are His and he will protect them to the very end. So rest assured that God will not let one of his children fall away. There may be those who fall away but they cannot be His Children for he has promised that he will never, never, never leave them or forsake them.

Consider these following promises as you begin your day today.

2 Timothy 1:12 (NIV)
¹² That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (NIV)
²³ May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
²⁴ The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.

Philippians 1:6 (NIV)
⁶ being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 1:20-22 (NIV)
²⁰ For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God.
²¹ Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us,
²² set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

John 10:25-30 (NIV)
²⁵ Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me,
²⁶ but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.
²⁷ My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.
³⁰ I and the Father are one."

    So we can rest in the promises of God that He will keep to the end those who are his. We do not have to fear false teaching or the temptations of sin for God is faithful and he has promised to keep us to the very end so let us rejoice and be glad in the security we have in Christ and may we display this confidence before a world that has no such foundation to live on.

Standing on the Promises of God my Savior,

Revelation 7:9-10 (NIV)
⁹ After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.
¹⁰ And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."

    I am in my office as I write this and I am surrounded by about thirty books written by godly men and women that I have read over the past few months. They all seem to be speaking to me about what to do with my life. Some say one thing and some say another. After reading and thinking through these books my mind is swimming with all the ideas and thoughts that these books have challenged me with.

    So much to do and so many things I need to be responsible for. My mind begins to spin and then another voice enters the arena of my mind telling me there is no way I can accomplish any of these things. I start to think of one thing and something else enters and cries for my attention.

My office definitely needs to be straightened up, my computer files need to be reorganized. I bought a book, "Organization for Dummies" and tried to follow the suggestions but then in the middle of my organization life continued to happen. So I asked myself the question that is the title of this article. "With so much to do where do you start?"

Once again I found that the Scripture, when approached with a great need and seeking to find God's will, will provide very clear direction. God does not want any of his children in the dark about where to go or what to do.

    I decided that I would take a look at the end of the story to see where we will all end up one day so I turned to Revelation and began to read. It was all made clear when I came to Revelation 7:9-10. The God who has called me and you to himself is about gathering a group of people from every tribe, language, nation and people and he is calling, no commanding, all of his children to be involved in reaching around the world with the gospel of His Son.

Once again it became clear where I was to focus my attention and time. My focus has to be on the nations for the glory of Christ, anything less is not enough. So where to begin in this endeavor of reaching the nations with the gospel of Christ? Once again the Scriptures provided me with the very clear direction.

    The church is first and foremost to be a house of prayer for all nations. If I am to be obedient to God I must develop some way to make intercession for the nations of the world my priority according to I Timothy 2:1-5.

    After reading one of my many books I did some quick calculating and discovered that if I just prayed for two nations every day I would pray for every nation of the world three times a year. What would happen if I led my family and my church to pray around the world three times a year? What could God do with a group of people who were committed enough to pray around the globe like this?

    Then I did some more research and discovered that there is a prayer guide that is updated for every nation at www.operationworld.org . Using this resource alone you can pray around the world systematically.

    As you look at Revelation 7:9-10 you understand that God is about reaching every tribe and tongue and nation and people He has commanded his people to be people of prayer for the nations and if you obey this command you will become part of God's great missionary agenda and when you stand at the end of time you will stand next to some you have prayed into the kingdom. What a great day that will be when you stand next to those you have prayed for over the years.

    I wonder, when you stand before these multitudes, what the record of your time spent in intercession for them will be? Let us give up our time so we may become invested in things eternal. Would you join me as we pray for our brothers and sisters around the world who have yet to come into the family?

    Father you have rescued us by your grace and mercy. Let us hold up the nations and the peoples who have yet to come to you. May you find us faithful in this primary calling as we cry out for the peoples and nations yet to come.

Will you join me in this greatest endeavor?

Acts 8:4-8 (NIV)
⁴ Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
⁵ Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there.
⁶ When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said.
⁷ With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed.
⁸ So there was great joy in that city.

Acts 8:26 (NIV)
²⁶ Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road--the desert road--that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza."

    Ten volunteer missionaries murdered in northern Afghanistan, one young life committed to reaching the remote tribes in China dies before he reaches the mission field, another young missionary killed just after reaching the field; financial resources redirected in ways that do not make sense to our modern minds.

    What do all of these have in common? It seems so often that God does not consider which the most prudent way to invest his resources is. Large amounts of money spent to reach the unreached where the missionaries would spend their lives and hardly see any progress in the gospel in their cultures when the funds could have been spent in other areas where the results were far more impressive.

    Think of it, if we redirected our money and resources where the response to the gospel was the greatest we could have great stories to tell and probably have more people give to our cause, because after all everyone wants to invest in a "winner" right.

    Well it seems that God does not do things by our financial planning schemes so often. He directs Jeremiah to spend his life preaching to the nation of Judah and he has only one convert to show for his whole life of ministry. Isaiah begins his ministry when the temple is full and at the end of his ministry the temple is empty. I wonder how he wrote his monthly reports to his board.

Now in our text today Philip is preaching in Samaria and having tremendous results. People are being saved and miracles are being performed and whole cities are being led to the place their faith in Christ. Does it not make sense to stay where the harvest is the greatest? It would seem so but not in the economy of God.

    Right in the midst of this great revival God directs Philip to go out to the desert and stand on a lonely road and wait until he gets further direction. I wonder what the revival planning team thought about his idea to stop the revival and go out to the desert and stand on the shoulder of this lonely road and wait.

    I want you to consider what happens when Philip responded to God's direction to do something that, on the surface, looked like a waste of resources and time. He gets to share the gospel with one of the most influential people in the entire country of Ethiopia. Some historians say that this eunuch went back to Ethiopia and started a church that has been in existence to this very day from the first century.

    Think of it, what seemed like a waste of resources has been producing lasting results for over twenty centuries. I wonder what would happen if we started to view everything with God's perspective. Perhaps giving up a lucrative career and heading to a remote country with the gospel might then be considered a wise investment, or maybe giving your resources to better support the work of the gospel in unreached nations.

    This past week we have seen once again God's use of his resources. He gave up the lives of ten of his servants who have spent their lives caring for the unreached with their medical skills and now the Church has lost ten of her servants who it seemed could have been deployed elsewhere so they would still be alive. O but let us not think as the world does, let us think as our God does.

These ten lives have not been lost, they have not been taken, and they have been wisely invested and used as the Father had designed them to be used. Their lives were not taken, for they had already been given to the purposes of God. So let us follow their example and give our lives for the sake of the gospel and let us follow wherever our God may lead us no matter how foolish it may seem to those in the world.

    Perhaps as we follow our God to do the things that seem most foolish in the eyes of the world will be when the world will see the beauty of the gospel, just a thought.

Investing in the foolishness of the Gospel for the glory of Christ,

An Earthquake Becomes a means of Evangelism

Acts 16:25-30 (NIV)

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!" 29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

Paul and Silas had been brutally beaten and thrown in a dark cell. With backs with open flesh wounds from the beatings, Paul and Silas were praising God. About midnight the ground shook and the shackles fell off of all the prisoners and the doors of all the cells were opened. Certainly this was a time when the ground gave way but we see Paul and Silas not the least bit concerned about anything.

What made the difference between this event and Peter walking on the water? Paul and Silas were in the middle of worship when the earthquake hit so their eyes were fixed on Jesus so they could not worry. This is what true worship is to accomplish, it fixes our eyes on Christ. With our eyes fixed on Christ the worries of this world cannot hold our attention.

See how completely free Paul and Silas were. They were prisoners and now they had their opportunity to go free but they chose to stay in the prison. But the most amazing thing is so did the other prisoners. Given the opportunity to escape no one did. Why?

Where there is true worship of Christ true freedom is found. The prisoners had found true freedom from listening to Paul and Silas worship. How could they escape the place where they found freedom?

So it is with us today. If we will fix our eyes on Christ the freedom we will have will make any situation on this earth pleasant. And as others observe us as we go about our day in worship they will want to know what they need to do to have the same focus. So next time the earth begins to shake you might want to sing a few stanzas of "On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand." And see what happens.

Standing on the Rock Looking at Christ,

Waiting not Worrying!

Psalms 46:1-3 (NIV)

1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah

I wonder how I would have fared if I was in Iceland when the mountain blew up? How would I have dealt with the falling ash, the black clouds of smoke and the visible blackness of the dark that rained down on those in Iceland?

How would you have fared if the ground on which you were standing suddenly gave way and you found yourself being hurled into the sea? I am sure you would have just sung out with great confidence "On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand."

Come now and admit it, your faith is not as solid as you make it out to be. If a sudden wind picks up, your heart begins to beat faster. You find your commitment to prayer is not what it should be and if the truth were known you struggle internally more than any one would ever guess.

What is it about knowing God that we have missed? The psalmist writes and we love to read the words but do we really ever approach this sort of confidence that this psalm indicates?

So what does this text have to offer us in our fear ridden and trouble infested life? Just this truth, "God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble." The next time the ground under your feet begins to buckle, or the winds begin to blow across your life with growing ferocity remember God is present and he is present not to convict and condemn but to help.

Try this on for size today as you go about your life, try talking to God all throughout your day and not just as you begin or end your day. Tomorrow we will examine one day in the life of one who followed Christ and found great deliverance in the midst of his world crashing down around him. Until tomorrow look upward and see your God standing ready ever present to help you when you call out to him.

Walking with God moment by moment, when I remember,

How Can we Go?

Acts 1:4-9 (NIV)

4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

6 So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"

7 He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

There are many who make lots of money writing books about end time events. Everyone seems or be interested in watching the prophetic signs unfold but it seems there are not many who are eagerly sharing their faith.

The disciples were all eagerly anticipating that this was the time when the Realized reign and rule of their Messiah would commence. They thought all their waiting was about or be over. They were wrong.

There was still much work to be done and many more to be gathered in before the end. They were given explicit commands to witness of Jesus. How will this tiny band of believers carry this life changing universe altering message, they did not possess the means by which to accomplish the task.

Jesus knew this so he had already made provisions for them. Wait for the Holy Spirit, when he comes, you will have all that you need. So it is the same for us today, we must wait for the holy Spirit and seek to be filled with his presence daily. How will we know when we are filled with the Spirit? When we find in us a compelling to share Christ with those that we see.

There will be a growing love for the things of God and growing concern for the lost around us. May you seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit's presence as you go about your work today. Be mindful of His presence in your life and ask Him to show himself or others as you work and live. You just might be surprised at what happens.

Come Holy Spirit and Fill Your Church,

Faith To Believe

Matthew 28:16-17 (NIV)

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.

Once again we see that evidence alone is not enough to convince anyone of Jesus. Why is this the case? How often have you heard, "If just had enough evidence I would believe!" Those who say or think such things have not yet understood how deeply depraved the human heart is.

Give the evidence of his resurrection there were those that ascension morning that beheld him risen from the dead and ascending into the heavens but they still would not or could not believe. Why?

There can be only one answer to this most perplexing question, It takes more than evidence to believe, it takes faith which is itself a gift from God. Unless God gives you faith to believe you cannot. Faith is not something you conjure up and then pull some trigger or lever and get God or do what you want him to. Faith is rather the Word of God speaking to you and through the hearing of the Word of God faith springs up into action and you find yourself trusting in Christ.

So some may ask, "How then can I be saved? The answer is the same through the ages, by hearing the Word of God preached and read and meditating on it with this prayer on your lips, "God grant me faith to believe, God awaken my dead heart and grant me life so that I might know you and love you as I was made to."

All who come to God through Christ will never be turned away, so come close and hear His Word and cry out to Him that he would grant you faith to believe. O what joy there awaits those who make the Lord the cry of their hearts.

"Lord we believe, help our unbelief!"

Grant us Faith to trust in You today O Christ,

Pastor Phil

Deliverance from Monotony

John 21:5-14 He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?" "No," they answered.

6 He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.

8 The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.

9 When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

10 Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught."

11 Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn.

12 Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord.

13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.

14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

In the midst of your dull routine comes the voice of your Lord, "Friend, are things going as you want them to/" Do you have any fish? How is life now that the resurrection is an established fact??

Perhaps you would answer like the disciples, "Lord we are running on empty, nothing seems to make much sense now. We know the truth about you but, pardon our honesty, it just seems that it has not made any difference yet."

In response to their honest answer comes the command, "Throw your nets on the other side of the boat and you will find some." The disciples did not know at that time it was the Lord who gave them this command but they were willing to do anything so they obeyed. At once their nets were overflowing. They had so many fish they could not land them all. Their nets almost broke under the weight of the fish.

One of the disciples has his eyes opened and he knows who is on the shore. "It is the Lord." As soon as Peter hears this he forgets all manner of decorum and jumps into the sea and runs to shore to see Jesus. (I think this time he ran across the top of the water) Something tremendous is afoot here and there are great things about to happen to these disciples who are bored with life, even after the resurrection.

I know you want to know just what is going to happen but, you will have to wait for another day. Until then keep your eyes on Jesus and watch with him in his Word.

Watching and Waiting and Expecting God to do Great things,

Pastor Phil

So how does it feel to have the best possible information about Jesus? Can you even believe these words of John in this text today? He writes to us and says in effect, "I have made a careful study of all the miracles that Jesus did, I have been led by the Spirit of God to select only a few of the many thousands of miracles that Jesus did while he was here.

The Spirit of God has hand picked these that I have written about to give you the best possible opportunity to believe."

John even tells us at the end of his book, "Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." (John 21:25)

What great privilege to live in this day and have this information about Jesus at our disposal. There is another side to this truth that we must not forget, with this privilege comes a great responsibility. If we have the best of all possible information about Jesus then we are held accountable to this. What have we done with the information that we possess? How have we developed our faith in light of such information? Are we confident and courageous in our faith like the martyrs of old? Do we possess a stand that will weather all storms?

Let these thoughts penetrate your mind today. You of all peoples in history are most blessed with such precious information about the Lord Jesus; do not waste such an opportunity. Drink deeply from the Truth today. If the truth does not awaken your heart towards Christ then beg God to do a new work in your heart. You are living in the best of all possible times and the best of all possible places in history. What a great day to be alive!

Declaring from the housetops that Jesus is Lord,

It was a little later after the women had come to the tomb and after they had seen the empty tomb and ran back to the disciples to tell them the tomb was empty. Mary Magadalene remained at the tomb after the other women and the Peter and John had left. She was left alone in the garden cemetery.

It was now just before dawn and it was still just a little hazy on the horizon. Her hopes had gone with the crucifixion but she was hoping to at least come to pay her respects one more time. Now she is left alone with no one and the tomb is now empty. Mary knows someone has taken his body, perhaps some unruly youth vandalizing cemetery plots for late night fun.

She decides to take one more look inside the tomb and this time instead of there being one angel there were now two. A small conversation ensues but nothing changes in Mary's heart, she is only more downcast. Now stop and think of this for a moment, here Mary is, having been exorcised from seven demons and put in her right mind by Jesus, she should have had enough knowledge of him to trust him.

Mary has the evidence of the empty tomb and now she has not one but two angels that are speaking with her and she still does not get it. She turns to leave the garden tomb and as she does she meets Jesus. She does not recognize it is him, she thinks he is the gardener and she immediately asks him where he has taken the body of the Lord.

Here Jesus is risen from the dead and standing right in front of one of his most faithful followers and she cannot see him for who he is. But notice now what it is that unveils Mary's eyes so she can see Jesus? It is not another miracle, no healing, and no walking on water just this, "Mary!"

Once she hears her name she knows who it is and she runs and falls at his feet in worship. What was the clincher for her? When he called her name. What will be the clincher for you? When he calls your name. Have you heard him calling you? Run quickly and bow in worship, history is about to draw the final curtain.

Glad He called my name,

Why such confusion about what is truth in this passage. The evidence is right in front of them and they still do not believe. We have three of Jesus most faithful followers and when they see the evidence of the empty tomb they all miss it completely. If these who were there present at the empty tomb could not get it right what hope do we have of ever getting it right?

Mary Magadalene sees the stone rolled away, she sees the empty tomb and thinks some one has come and stolen his body. Peter hears of the women's testimony of seeing the tomb empty so he and John set off on a race as to who will get to the tomb first. Peter gets there first and looks inside the tomb and confirms that the body is not there, but he does not go inside. John arrives a few seconds later and goes into the tomb and sees the burial cloth lying neatly wrapped up by itself and then the Scripture says he believes

But what is it that John believes? He believes that some one has come and stolen the body of the Lord. He does not believe in the resurrection yet. We know this from the editorial comment in verse 9. "They still did not understand from the Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead."

Do you see the key to all knowledge of God in our day? Our knowledge of God cannot rest on physical signs and wonders, the disciples had all this when they were on the earth and it did not help them. What was it that they needed? They needed to take a completely fresh look at the Scriptures and see them as being Christo Centric, they all pointed to Christ in some way or fashion. And it will only be through God anointed teaching that the scales will fall off their eyes.

So if you want to know Jesus and meet him and see him as he really is then you must behold him in the Scriptures and not with your physical eyes. They had the physical evidence to see Christ but they missed it completely because they did not understand the scriptures.

If your heart is turned toward Christ you will have a growing desire to learn and study the Holy Scriptures for this is the means by which God reveals himself to his people.

Happy Reading,

Behold the futility of the world as it seeks to silence the Christ of God. "Let us set a watch to prevent his disciples from stealing his body."

Do you see how completely ridiculous this action was? How often is it that a guard is placed at the tomb of dead person? Did the wise thinkers of the world not see the folly of their own actions?

Let's think about the outcome of their actions. If the disciples did come and steal his body away how could they ever hope to propagate such truths of the resurrection if they knew it was false? Everyone knows that you cannot hold to something you know to be false when threatened with persecution.

The leaders were in reality only covering their bases. If the resurrection never happened there would be nothing to worry about. But if the resurrection did happen they had already planned how they would explain the empty tomb to the media outlets.

I think Pilate knew something more than the leaders knew. Hear his response to those who ask for a guard to be posted at the tomb. "Take a guard and make it as secure as you know how!"

Pilate was thinking to himself, "I met this man named Jesus and he is more than a man. There is something different about him. If you think you can contain him in the grave go ahead and give it your best shot. Make the grave as secure as you know how. I personally think you are fighting a losing battle but go ahead and try if you must."

Pilate saw Jesus to be innocent, the religious rulers only saw him to be in the way. My prayer for you today as we think about our Lord is that you too will see him to be the innocent perfect lamb of God slain for your sins. May you see all your sin laid upon Christ. May you find rest in his death that provided for you a way to be made right with the Father.

May today be a true Sabbath of rest for you as you reflect on the truth that Christ died for your sins. You no longer have to work you can now enter into his rest. All because of the cross.

Reveling in the Cross of Christ,

Romans 8:22-23 (NIV)
²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

It happened in our garage late Monday night. We had seen many indications that the time was drawing close for an event that had never happened in the Nelson household ever. There was great anticipation. We had seen several signs indicating that the day was very close. There had been growing concern taken to create a safe, warm place. The mother had been staying very close to her sleeping place now. She was noticeably growing very large.

Then late last night we heard some moans coming from the garage. I woke up early on Tuesday to discover that Chloe, our daughter Rebekah's cat, had given birth to five kittens.

The birth of these kittens did not surprise us, because we had seen the numerous signs that birth was close at hand. There was great rejoicing in our home on Tuesday morning for new life had happened in our garage.

We were not caught unaware about the birth of these kittens, there were many sings indicating that the time was soon. So it is with the return of our Lord. We have been given many signs so we would be prepared.

The time was drawing near to when our Lord would be crucified for our sins. There was much to tell us before he left. He spent this time in the last week preparing us for his departure. He wanted to make sure his disciples knew that his departure would not be permanent.

He was going to purchase our redemption on the cross and then he would return to heaven where he would commence preparing a place for us. When that place was complete he would return to take us to himself where we would forever be with him.

The Scriptures speak of the world groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Our Lord did not leave us without signs that would indicate the time of his return. There are many indications that the time is fast drawing close. Our Lord may very well be at the door ready to step across the threshold of eternity and enter once again into history and take us home.

Let's consider some of the signs he gave us so we will not be caught unaware. The first sign of our Lord's return is the number of deceivers increasing as we draw near to his return. To be sure there have always been deceivers in our world but since the turn of the 1800's we have noted a distinct increase in false versions of Christianity. New cults and false versions of True Biblical Christianity spring up almost daily.

The next sign is that wars among nations and ethnic groups will increase. There will be ethnic cleansing wars unlike anything we have seen in centuries past. We have certainly seen this in our day. There is hardly a nation existing today that is not in some form of battle or war against some other nation.

There will be earthquakes in various places. A growing number of earthquakes and a growing number of sever earthquakes are occurring almost weekly on the globe. Accompanied by these earthquakes we have also seen the rise of famines in many places.

There will be a growing animosity toward Biblical Christianity. You have only to read the morning newspaper to see this is true. So how does all this indicate the nearness of the return of the Lord? Let's consider how we know that the birth of a baby is drawing near. There will be labor pains experienced throughout the pregnancy but as the time draws near for the birth the labor pains will increase in intensity and they will come at intervals that are closer and closer together.

When you see these signs all occurring together and in great frequency and intensity it is time to get your affairs in order. The world is groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. O church the time is fast drawing near when we will be going home.

I find it extremely interesting to see how many prophetic signs our Lord fulfilled in his last week on earth that indicated that he was the true Messiah. I see a very close parallel in our day as we see in the morning newspaper how many signs of his return are being printed for every one to see. This is his way of making sure that all of his elect will see the signs and come to faith. Let us labor to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. It may be today that he comes for us, let us be found watching and waiting.

With my head held high looking for the day of our redemption,

An Improper Response To Truth

 Mark 12:1-12 (NIV)

1 He then began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey.

2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.

3 But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

4 Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully.

5 He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.

6 "He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, 'They will respect my son.'

7 "But the tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'

8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

9 "What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.

10 Haven't you read this scripture: "'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone;

11 the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"

12 Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away.

The message had found its lodging place, it was convicting and it penetrated to the dividing of soul and spirit. It had exposed the true condition of the hearts of the religious leaders. They did not care about the Messiah, they only cared about how their religion could promote their own agenda. They had used religion to get what they wanted and now Christ had come and exposed them as blind guides.

The truth hurt, it stung them deeply, it exposed them but it did not expose them to the crowds it only exposed them to themselves. They saw the Law laid against their sinful hearts and now they had a choice to make, would they give up their false religion and turn to Christ or would they continue in their own self deceived worship and seek to do away with the Messiah?

So often it is this way with us. When the preacher delivers the message the truth of the Word lands squarely on us and we know we are exposed. We must understand this though, the exposure does not reveal to all present our sin, the Word only convicts us of what we need to do, most of the others present do not see the Word as it lands on us they hear it as it convicts them. Now the question comes to all of us, what will we do with the Word of God as it convicts us?

Here are our options; we can turn from our sin and confess our need for forgiveness and cleansing, or we can be like the Pharisees and make plans to do away with the Lord. The Pharisees made plans to kill him, to rid themselves of his influence in their lives. Have you done the same, just in different ways?

Perhaps you have found yourself avoiding the reading of Scripture, or filling your life with all sorts of other things so the Word can have no place in you. Certainly we are not like the Pharisees, we would never think of crucifying our Lord, we are far too committed to him to do such a thing.

There is a little phrase at the end of the text I want to direct your attention to, "But they were afraid of the crowd so they left him and went away." They could stand it no longer the word had convicted them of their hypocrisy and they were going to kill him right then and there but the crowds were too much in favor of him. They had only one other option at this time, "they left him and went away."

Perhaps you have seen it in your own life, the Word of God has convicted you of your sin and it is just too hard to deal with so you begin to find fault in the church; things are not what you desired them to be, others in the body do not pay as much attention to you as you think they should, the worship leader does not sing the songs that you like, the preacher preaches too hard or too long, any number of complaints enter your mind and soon you find yourself not frequenting the place of worship as much, other things begin to crowd in on Sunday to steal your time from focusing in the truth of the Word of God.

Without knowing it, it has happened, slowly, imperceptibly over time you drift away so you hardly hear much of the Word any more. Without knowing it you have left the Lord and gone away. Do you need to repent? Do you need to return to the Lord and the hearing of his Word? Take a moment right now and confess your need to hear his voice as it speaks to you from the Word of God.

Let us by faith receive the Word of God that is able to save our souls and let us come together regularly and so much more as the Day of our going home to be with the Lord draws near.

Turning my heart once again to hear His Word,

So begins the walk to the cross and the empty tomb. But we must see something about this story that most miss. How often have you heard someone say, "If I could have just been there to see it all I would believe?"

This is where few understand the depth of the depravity in the human heart. Think of the committee that got together to plot how to kill Jesus and Lazarus. How do you plan to kill someone who had already come back from the dead? How do you plan to kill someone who has already demonstrated the power over death? If you were smart would you not have admitted that this is certainly a futile endeavor?

Perhaps you the disciples would have certainly understood the plan for they had been with Jesus for three years and witnessed all the miracles. No, they did not understand any of it either. Every event that would transpire in this week would just be more confusion to them.

Only one woman gets the picture and that is Mary, the sister to Lazarus. No one else understood. Why so much confusion with so many clear miracles in front of their eyes? This is where we must hear the Word of God as it speaks to our fallen condition. "The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to them."

Even with all the miracles no one can believe without the Spirit of God breathing life into them. Dramas, musicals, preaching are all futile without the Spirit of God to quicken a person to life.

In this text above we see that Jesus specifically fulfills a prophetic passage of Scripture from Zechariah. When he came riding into Jerusalem on a colt of a donkey it was his exclamation mark that he truly was the Messiah King who had come for the Jewish nation. They had read the Scriptures they knew them but they missed the message.

Let us labor to walk by the Spirit this week so that we will not miss the message. Let us give ourselves to significant meditation on these vents in the last week of our Lord's life so that we will be like Mary and not like all the others.

O God help us to see with your eyes the truth of the Word about our Savior.

Holy Spirit come and breathe your life in me so that I may see as Mary saw,

Jesus sent his disciples ahead so they could prepare for his stay in a small Samaritan village. He had passed this way once before when he met a woman at the well and she was truly converted. In fact the whole town came out to see him when she was converted, but this had been some time ago and now he was on his way back to Jerusalem to die, but no one understood that, not even his disciples.

A good Jewish teacher was staying the night in a Samaritan village but they refused to welcome him. Why the cold shoulder, why the brush off? The Scriptures indicate the reason was that he was heading back to Jerusalem. Why would this be a bad thing that would cause them to reject him?

I wonder if he told them on that visit why he was going back to Jerusalem? Perhaps his talk about his approaching death was confusing to them. He had claimed to be the Messiah and God in the flesh but now he was talking about dying for their sins. Certainly this was some of the conversation. His talk might have gone something like this, "I am going to Jerusalem and there I will be betrayed into the hands of sinful men who will put me to death on a cross. The reason I am doing this is because you have so grieved the heart of God by your sinful life that his righteous justice requires a payment for your sin. I am your payment."

How could they even begin to comprehend such statements. No one had ever talked about dying for the sins of the world before. There was no model of this from any other religious source. Perhaps this is why they rejected him, because he said he was going to Jerusalem to die for them. How dare he say such things about their depravity. How could it be that they were so evil that it would take the very God of the universe to atone for such heinous crimes? This certainly could not be the case. But it was.

So we must examine our hearts to see if we too are like the Samaritans who rejected Christ because he was headed for Jerusalem. Are we in need of such redemption? If we do not see our hopeless state before God then we will only follow the path of the Samaritan village and refuse him a place.

But I have greater confidence in you than this. If you are reading these prayer missiles then you must have seen your own sin and come to embrace the truth about yourself. Do you see it yet? Can you behold him going toward Jerusalem for you. Watch him in the days ahead as he heads toward the cross without flinching that you might be redeemed. O what a glorious path he walked for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God. Hallelujah what a Savior!

Walking the Road to Calvary with Christ,

"But deliver us from the evil one."

There are many in our day that see evil as a force like the dark side of Star Wars. It is impersonal and only a force. The Scriptures tell us quite a different story. The evil that has ruined this world and that has caused such cataclysmic distortion of all that God is, is not some impersonal force but a very personal evil being who has set his whole existence against the person and work of our God.

He will stop at nothing in leading astray those whom God has created. He will do his level best to get us sidetracked with all sorts of distractions and allurements. He knows what he has lost and he jealousy desires that no one else ever approach the pleasure he had in the presence of God.

The evil one places his best in front of us, pleasures of this world, fame, fortune, power. All of this he hopes to get us distracted from the true everlasting joy and pleasure that could be ours if we walk with God.

O there are heights of joy and pleasure this world knows nothing of and yes, even the evil one does not understand the true joys that are ours in Christ Jesus. He was only an angel in heaven, he did not possess the knowledge of the joy of redemption. The angels may enjoy being in the presence of God but they know nothing of the gospel. Peter even tells us that the angels desire to look into such things but they cannot.

It remains for us to see and be captivated by the joys of the gospel message to us. How is it that we are kept from the evil one in our daily life? I believe it has everything to do with how often we tell ourselves the gospel. Let me give it a try and you read these words and tell them to yourself often today and see what might happen as you do.

"I am justified by Christ alone. My sins were put to the Lord Jesus' account; his righteousness has been put to my account. I am far worse than I think I am, but so is everybody else. I have an impeccable, unimpeachable righteousness imputed to my account and I can never come into condemnation.

All this is because of Christ and it was all freely given to me for while I was yet a sinner Christ died for me. I am free from the wrath of God forever and I am secure in Christ forever for it is He who is holding me. Hallelujah what a Savior!"

I would love to hear from those of you who preach this gospel to yourself. Send me an e-mail and let me know how this helps you in your daily walk with God.

Thanking God for his indescribable gift,

Matthew 6:9-13 (NIV)
⁹ "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
¹⁰ your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us today our daily bread.
¹² Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'

"Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors." A while back someone asked me if I thought forgiveness was conditional or unconditional and my response caused them to recoil somewhat.

I told them that forgiveness was not unconditional but conditional. I know that may sound quite unlike what you may have heard growing up in the church, but let us consider this passage along with some others.

What happens if someone lives their whole life and dies without Christ? Are their sins forgiven? No, they are still in their sins. Listen to the Apostle's preaching in Acts when Peter was asked what was necessary to be saved. Hear his response, Acts 2:38 (NIV)
³⁸ Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Listen to another place in Acts where Peter again was responding to how people can be made right with God. Acts 3:19-20 ^"Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, ²⁰ and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you--even Jesus."

Listen to the words of our Lord as he instructed his disciples about repentance in Luke 13:1-5 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. ² Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? ³ I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. ⁴ Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them--do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? ⁵ I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."

Unless you repent you will perish, unless you forgive you will not be forgiven. Ok, so if we do not repent we will not be rescued. If we do not forgive we will not be forgiven. I thought that salvation was a gift of God, so how does this all work together? How can it all make sense?

Lamentations 5:21 reads "Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may be restored!" Without God working in us to turn our hearts to him we will never be turned, but if God is at work in us turning us to himself here is how we will know. Are we concerned about our sinful condition before God? Are we desirous of being made right in his sight? Do we long to see his Kingdom restored on the earth? Are we growing more and more homesick for the time when we will be able to worship God without hindrance? Do we have the posture of forgiveness towards those who mistreat us and abuse us? Are we ready at a moment's notice to offer forgiveness when someone who has taken advantage of us asks for our forgiveness?

These are all indications that God is at work in your life and you can take great confidence that if these things are in you then you are in Christ. If you are repentant, if you live a life of forgiveness, if you have any such indications in your life then take heart and be encouraged the God of creation is at work in you creating you for himself. It is his doing and you can rest in his working in your life.

If the desire of your heart is to forgive others who have offended you then you have reason to rejoice. If the forgiving spirit is not within you then you have reason to be concerned.

The posture of those whom God is calling to himself is a lifestyle of forgiveness because they have been forgiven of a greater sin than any that was committed against them..

Let us labor to live a life of forgiveness,

For today we will focus our thoughts on the coming of God's kingdom. Our Lord instructed us to pray for the coming of the kingdom of God but while he was here in the flesh he told his followers to repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.

How are we to pray for something that is at hand but not yet here? Are you confused yet? On the surface it seems as if these two statements are at odds with each other. This can never be the case with the Scriptures. Our job is to see how these two statements can be in agreement with each other as we consider the whole counsel of Scripture.

The verb used to describe how we are to pray for the kingdom of God to come is in the imperative mood. We are to pray in such a way that we earnestly desire to see the full realization of the kingdom of God on this earth. It should consume us as we pray for the reign of our Lord to be fully realized in this world.

When we walk through the streets of our cities and see the moral and spiritual pollution we should find our selves crying out to God for the return of his Son. When we look in the mirror of our own lives we should cry out for the return of our Sovereign Lord. When we see the nations that have yet to have access to the Gospel of Christ we should cry out for the return of our Lord.

This is not a defeatist mentality this is an offensive prayer that longs to see the overthrow of all that is false and wicked and to see the full realization of all that is divine and pure and holy.

In many ways you can read this verse in this manner, "Our Father who art in heaven we will not be satisfied until your kingdom is among us so we will continue to pray for the appearing of your kingdom and we will not stop until it is our present possession"

Let our prayers be filled with pleas for the return of our Savior for we cannot live without him. We have a growing homesickness that grows in our prayer as we look forward with growing anticipation of his return when we shall be without sin forever. Let us give ourselves to such praying..

God Bring your Kingdom among us and do it today,

So what do you do when you get alone with God in the secret place? Do you go through a long list of asking for things you need? Do you read a lot from the Bible, or other prayer books? How do you organize your time? Does God care how you spend this time with Him? Has he given any instructions?

God is the best on this subject. He has not left us to fend for ourselves in this arena. Listen carefully to his directions here. When you get to your secret place just sit before him in silence for a few moments. You do not need to bring a large list of things to ask Him for He already knows what you need. Just learn to enjoy being in his presence. Rest in his sovereign care for you.

If you do not feel like praying, just be there. I suggest you plan at least fifteen minutes of being with the Father every day at first. Your prayer might go something like this, "Father I am here because I want to know you and enjoy your presence. I want to love to be with you more than anything. Would you please direct me as I spend each day apart with you. Direct my heart to grow in love towards you.

You may want to take a notebook with you and write down what you want to talk to God about. After you have your list then take a few moments to pray and offer your questions up to God and ask him to help you discover Him as you set about to find he answers.

Take a moment to confess your need of Him in your life today and ask his directions as you walk together.

God help us, we are barely crawling and we want to walk and perhaps someday we can even run with you,

Are you facing hard times in your family or job? Feeling stretched in every possible direction? Want to throw in the towel and quit? Take heart you are not alone. This thing called life is not all the positive talkers say it is. But also you must remember that living in this fallen world will not be your experience forever.

In this world you will have tribulation, our Lord promised as much in John 16:33 so this should not surprise you. The word for tribulation here means wine press. This life will bring you to the point of utter exhaustion often. You will find waves of despair that will sweep over you and you will find yourself on the brink of a bottomless pit often but you must not let these feelings mislead you.

This is not as it will be forever; it is only while you are in this flesh. The psalmist speaks of another day when the Lord will indeed give what is good. Everything that will add to your enjoyment of life will soon be yours for all eternity. It will come when you are least expecting it.

So are you to live with this state of constant despair while you are in this body? Not always. C. S. Lewis spoke of it in such words when he wrote that this life is not the mountain top that we desire. Often this life is the deep valley but ever so often our God breaks through the despair and gives us a brief glimpse of heaven. We find ourselves on top of the world thinking that we will never fail again to believe in God and to walk with him. We are so convinced of this that we deceive ourselves into thinking this life is going to be great with one thrill ride after another.

When we come down from the mountain we all too soon discover that is not the case. The ones we love do not see things the way we do and we are once again plunged into another battle with our sinful flesh and the cursed world in which we live. We begin to question ourselves, thinking we must have sinned somewhere for this to get as bad as it is.

This possibly could be the case but I suggest another possibility to consider, you live in a fallen world and what you are now experiencing is what the Lord said was tribulation. As you walk with God through the valley he develops within you a growing desire to be with him. The things of the world begin to lose their appeal and you find yourself beginning to live more in tune with Him and less in tune with the world.

What can you say to yourself in these times? Exactly what the psalmist did, "The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest." It does not matter how you feel or what you think presently, God is working for your good and his glory and he guarantees it with his word.

True revival happens when God's people lose their attraction for the things of this world and find their true enjoyment in God alone. O to be so caught up to be with the Lord would change our view of everything.

Lord, rend the heavens and come down and dwell in our midst while we wait eagerly for your return.

Praying and Longing for His return,

Psalms 85:7-8 (NIV)
⁷ Show us your unfailing love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.
⁸ I will listen to what God the Lord will say; he promises peace to his people, his saints-- but let them not return to folly.

Do you hear these words? Show us your unfailing love. To have a love that will not fail is not to be found on this earth, it is from another place outside of time and space. If we would get a glimpse of God we could see that he has a love for us that is unfailing. Too often we cannot see it due to all the stuff we hide behind.

Some one said one day that they had tried but they just could not see God any more. The wise sage answered back, "No wonder you have too much stuff to see through." Perhaps we cannot see Him as he is because we too have too much stuff in the way cluttering up our view.

The psalmist says that we need not only to see God's unfailing love but we need to be able to hear his voice. I have learned how hard it is to hear his voice today. I have been reading books on church growth and just finished with three of them and they all say something different. Do this and this will happen. Another book says no don't do that or this might happen.

It seems every time I go off and read something other than the Scripture I just end up filling my mind with stuff that clutters my view and my hearing. So let's see if the Psalmist can unclutter our view and unclog our ears. What is it that God wants us to see and hear?

God desires that we see his unfailing love and find his salvation. The view from Mount Calvary is far better than you could imagine. God also desires to speak his word to us. The sound of his voice is like that of the most peaceful sound you could imagine. He speaks peace to his people. God longs for his people to find peace, real lasting peace that unclogs the ears so you can hear the sounds of creation again but this time without the clutter of the noise of other gods.

And what will be the result if we see and hear Him in our lives? We will not desire to return to the things of this world that are filled with vanity and emptiness. Let us hear your voice once again O God.

Unstopping my ears and taking off my blinders once more,

How often have we heard the preachers say that you must turn from your sin and trust in Christ but the Psalmist here reveals something about the nature of man that we often refuse to see. The nature of man is such that he will not turn and he cannot turn to God. The things of this world are far too attractive and alluring to him.

How often have you tried to turn from your sin and found yourself powerless to do exactly what you desire? How many people have attempted to turn from their sins by themselves and end up in utter despair for the power of the sinful flesh is far too much.

Many have cast aside their pursuit of God for just this reason, they have tried and it did not take.

But now consider the words of the Psalmist for us today. Note his prayer is not that he would turn for he cannot, but that God would turn him. O what marvelous grace there is in these words for us. God knows the power of sin in our flesh, his son suffered its effects in his body on the cross for us.

To face the power of sin and defeat it thoroughly takes nothing less than the very Son of God. No wonder we are so often defeated when we seek to repent of ourselves. But now let us take these words of the psalmist to heart and run to throne of Grace and cast ourselves on his mercy and plead that He, not us, would turn us from our sins.

O, if God will turn us from our sins then his great displeasure towards us would cease. If we would but see that it is all of God if we are to be turned from our sins. As long as we attempt to turn by ourselves we will always face the unending anger of God for all that we do has the stench of sin attached to it but if God does the turning then he will find a great sweet fragrance of his Son covering us and cease from his fierce anger towards our sinful flesh.

O child of God there is hope in this very verse, let us cry out to God that he would turn us from our sins. Stop for a moment and breathe this prayer, "God my sin is far too powerful for me. I am far too deceived by it to see my utter hopelessness apart from you. Turn my heart and my soul to you so that I may see you in your beauty and find in you the longing of my soul's affection."

Turn me O God and I shall be turned,

Isaiah 62:1 (NIV)

1 For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem's sake I will not remain quiet, till her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch.

Psalms 132:1-5 (NIV)

1 O Lord, remember David and all the hardships he endured.

2 He swore an oath to the Lord and made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:

3 "I will not enter my house or go to my bed--

4 I will allow no sleep to my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids,

5 till I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob."

Are you finding that your spiritual life is dull? Do you look at each day as just more of the same? Are you overwhelmed by the bad news that pours out of our nation's capitol? Do you find that your passion for Christ is a brief flicker instead of a blazing torch? Have you found yourself compromising with sin in ways you never thought you would? Have you gone months without leading anyone to Christ?

If you have answered yes to just one of these questions then you are in great need of revival in your personal life. If you desire to find the refreshing life giving joy that God offers then let me invite you to join with me and many others for the next forty four days as we prepare for God's visitation in our midst on Resurrection Sunday on April 4th.

For the next forty four days I will be taking these Prayer missiles to lead us together on a journey of seeking the glory of God for revival and awakening in our midst. I have never led a charge like this in my life, and for that I must repent before you and those I have led. To call myself a minister of the gospel and not take the lead in teaching about and challenging God's people to seek the face of God for awakening in our day is a gross neglect of my office that I was called to over thirty five years ago.

I ask for your forgiveness and for your prayers that God would teach me and lead me to be able to go the distance in this endeavor of seeking to lead the people of God towards the enjoyment in God more than ever before. We are at a crossroads at Lakeland and at many of the churches that I am familiar with. Unless the Lord brings his people revival the glory of God will be diminished in our land.

Current statistics indicate that in less than fifteen years the message of the God that we love will be a distant memory in most of our towns in our land. I cannot sit by idly and let that happen on my watch. It is time for us to grow desperate in our prayers and in our passion for the Lord to send his Spirit on his church and on this land.

I know you have heard others make the claim that America is past the point of hope. Some great Bible teachers in our land have already cast the future as bleak and hopeless because of our national sins and Church sins. I do not believe this to be true yet. There is a growing hunger for God to visit us growing among many of our brothers and sisters in our land. There are small movements of intercession that are beginning to rise up among us and God is visiting them in fresh ways.

I long to be part of what God is doing and long for his glory to be evident in our land again. I know far too many who are yet in their sins and care nothing of our savior and this just cannot be ok with me or the Church. Let us grow to be like Isaiah and King David, let us give our selves no rest, let us do what we must, let us keep awake in the night crying out for God to move in our midst once again.

I long to see and be part of a great move of God in our land before the end. There are many who are approaching their last years and have mentioned in my hearing that they just do not know what to do. It is time church to rise up and take our place and set the standard high that we will not let up or give up until God shows up.

Let us be like David and say along with him, "I will not enter my house or go to my bed--

4 I will allow no sleep to my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids,

5 till I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob."

I long for the glory of God to be seen and experienced among God's people. I long for the lost to see the glory of our Savior and I long to see countless men and women running to Christ to escape the wrath to come. I long to see in the church the great savoring of our Savior. I long to see sin defeated in the lives of our people so they can truly say along with Peter "Taste and see that the Lord is Good."

Will you join me in this great endeavor as we seek together to cry out after God and seek his face, not for us but for the lost still to come home?

Here is what I would ask of you. Would you pray for me and others as we lead out in this great challenge to seek God for revival? Would you decide today to commit to God to do whatever He may ask of you in the coming weeks so that He would be glorified in our midst? Let us take the step of faith together and set our hearts like flint to seek after the face of God for the sake of the lost and for the sake of the glory of Christ in our land.

Crying out for Awakening in our midst,

Ezekiel 37:9-10 (NIV)

9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.'" 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet--a vast army.

Good morning, I hope you have had your desire for God growing stronger each day as we pursue our Lord in this very rich text. We left off yesterday with the understanding that we can have all the appearance of godliness but not possess any power in us. We may deceive others but we cannot deceive ourselves or our God.

We do not need just the from of religion we need God himself, otherwise we are just walking zombies. I have never found zombie Christians to be very good at attracting the lost.

What is God's direction to Ezekiel now? He has Ezekiel prophesy to the wind or breath. This is the type of having him pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit. We see here a picture of true conversion. A person is dead in their sins and transgressions and they are completely without hope of ever being made alive in themselves.

Then God sends a prophet who speaks the Word of God to them and this Word enters their soul and sparks something divine at work. Bone gathers with bone and tendons on bones and then skin covers the bones but still there is no life. They now have the equipment necessary for life but lack the life giving power to live. So the prophet is told to command the wind or the breath to come and enter these dead lifeless skeletons.

What happens as the breath enters these dead lifeless skeletons? They come to life a vast army. This is the picture of creation of Adam is it not. God formed man from the dust of the earth and he had the form of life but no life power until God breathed into him his Spirit and then Adam became a living being.

Do you see it now. You can have the form of godliness, you can have all the things that make for life but still be without the power to live. There is only one thing lacking and that is the power of the Spirit of God in your life.

O for the power of the Spirit of God in our life and in our church. Without the Spirit of God in our Church and life we will only be a standing army of lifeless soldiers. Let us pray that the Lord will send his Spirit on us that we may be the army of the Lord that he intends.

Tomorrow we will see the affects of an army filled with His Spirit. Hope to see you then.

Waiting for the Filling of His Spirit in our Midst,

Ezekiel 37:1-3 (NIV)

1 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.

3 He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" I said, "O Sovereign Lord, you alone know."

What a bleak picture Ezekiel is given in this vision. To be set down in the midst of a dry dead lifeless valley of skeletons. Not the best first impression anyone would want to make. Then comes the question, "Son of man can these bones live?"

How would you answer such a question in such a circumstance? Perhaps you would bring in the CSI group and ask for their opinion. After the scene was thoroughly investigated the response of the CSI team would be, "Yes, they are very dead. Fact is they have been dead for years. There is no way they are ever coming back to life, I would bet my job on it."

Sounds quite final doesn't it? After all the evidence is in we have to reach the conclusion that these bones are very, very, very dead and very, very, very lifeless. As we observe Ezekiel his response stuns our highly scientific ears, "Lord, you know."

Come on Ezekiel you are hedging your bets way too much. Just come out and say it, 'Yes, Lord these bones are dead. There is no hope in this valley.'

Oh but this is not what he does. He responds, "Lord you know." What a great way to think of any situation. God you know and we will trust you to do what you need to do here.

Are you facing any difficult situation presently? Then take Ezekiel's response and make it yours. God you know. Just what will God do when you trust him with the results? Well you will have to wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a new day and God will do a new thing just watch and wait.

With Eyes Wide Open,

Searching for The Bride

Psalms 68:5-6 (NIV)

5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.

6 God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.

We have just returned from our annual outreach in New Orleans with No Greater Love. I have been going to Mardi Gras to do street ministry since 1980. I have missed a few times in those years but not many.

Every year lends itself to unveiling new insights into the character of God. This year was no different. On our first night on the street in Mobile Alabama I encountered one young girl named Brianna. She was a beautiful seventeen year old who was accompanied by a young man. They stopped to talk with me while I was distributing tracts and I engaged them in conversation.

As our conversation continued it was evident that Brianna was very interested in considering Christ but her boyfriend had not the slightest bit of interest. I continued to talk with Brianna and soon she indicated to me that she had never attended any church for long.

As I began to share with her about Christ she was noticeably moved. It was apparent that God was speaking to her about her need for Christ and she admitted as much but there was something she just could not get over.

After several more minutes of conversation it was clear that she knew she needed to trust Christ but when it came time for her to turn from her sins and place her faith in Christ she just could not do it.

After some time I asked her about her relationship with her father to which she replied, "My father does not live with me." I then began to hear the story of how she had been mistreated and abused by her father. It became all too clear to me why she was having trouble trusting in God. How could she, the only picture of a father she had seen was that of her father who had abused her and left her. Why should she trust any other person who is revealed as Father.

I shared with Brianna that the God hat we serve is not like her earthly father. It was all too much for her to believe at that moment so I offered to pray with her that God would help her to trust him. As she turned to leave I saw that she really was interested in knowing God but she had chosen at least for this night to stay with a boyfriend who openly did not care for her much.

I wept over the fact that there were other girls like Brianna who would never know the love of Christ because they had been damaged by their earthly Father's sinful behavior. As she left I heard the Lord saying, "I have called the church to go on a rescue mission to find all those that God has called and invite them to the wedding feast at the end of history.

The picture came into my mind of a prophet walking through the streets of the city crying out to all who will hear, "Brianna, there is a God who loves you and desire to bring you into his family, you don't have to stay outside in the cold forever."

Let us pray that we can cooperate with the Spirit as we issue the invitation to that great wedding feast at he end of the age.

What will distinguish those who belong to Christ from those who do not?  In this text before us we find our answer.  How we love our enemies is a litmus test of true conversion.  Do we desire to see our enemies converted?  Do we spend time praying for those who actively seek to persecute us?  Have we ever gone out of our way to help someone who is not part of the family of God?

Does your prayer list have on it the president of Iran and his conversion?  Do you pray for those in our government who have actively sought to pass legislation against he gospel?  Do you know who they are and have you prayed for them often?  Do you speak in respect of those who have positions of authority who do not hold to the Christian faith?

Do the people around you hear you speaking up to defend their positions of authority?

Do your acts of love include those who cannot ever pay you back?  Do your acts of love include those who actively seek to destroy your faith?  Now do you see the power of the Gospel.  It can change a heart that thinks only of self and turn it to love those who will love the in return.

Hear again the words of Christ, Our Lord, “Be ye perfect even as your Father in Heaven is perfect.”  Is this something we can attain to in our own power? Not on your life.  We must be filled with the Spirit of God and allow him to love others through us.  As we do this there will be great joy in us for we will have the very presence of God flowing through us to love those not like us.  Then we will find the blessing of God.  Let us press on to obey in this way.

Praying for my Enemies that they may see Christ and turn to Him,

O what a goal to have in our intercession over the noon hour.  God may you shine your face upon us and be gracious to us.  Let us see the light of your smile shining down upon us that we might be saved and find our greatest joy in you.

Then there is the dramatic pause, Selah.  Some commentators say that this word was a direction for the conductor to have the orchestra stop and look up at the conductor.  They think it is only a pause, but I think it is much more than that.  Think of the church as the orchestra and the conductor as God himself.  He is directing us to play the great melody of redemption so others can hear.

Sometimes as we play we may get carried away with our own melody and need to be brought back into harmony with the rest so the director has this notation to pause here and look again at the conductor.  Do you see him again?  Yes his face is shining upon us but we have been just a little out of step with the rest so we need to refocus our eyes on the conductor, the Lord Our God.

Can you see Him now on his throne high and lifted up?  Do you see that there is none like him in heaven or on earth?  There is no other hope for anyone lost in sin.  He alone is God, He alone is good. Fix your attention on him and then play as you have your eyes fixed on him.

What will be the result of playing with your eyes fixed upon Christ? The peoples of the earth will hear the praise sounding forth from the unified orchestra and become envious of such a great sound and long to join in the praise of our great God.  The worship will become contagious and others from all the nations will join in the growing swelling chorus of praise that will build in a crescendo that will find its consummation in the return of Christ as he is ushered in on the songs of praise of the church and the nations gathered for worship.

Now take great care to notice the end result of such worship, then the land will yield its produce.  The dead lifeless field will spring into new life.  Clear fresh flowing streams will bubble up from the long since dried up wells in the deserts.  When once the praise of the church infects the nations of the earth and they come to join in chorus then we will find our greatest delights to be in God and we will see the promise of the Word fulfilled.

Church, this is not a time for depression or despair for the Lord is raising up a choir who will learn to sing the songs of Zion loudly for all to hear.  May we join with the choir and sing the songs of Zion as we live and work.

Joining the Choir,

What happens if you decide to obey God and follow His commands?  You leave the place of slavery and bondage and head out to the desert wasteland.  Hey, I thought if you trusted in God you would go from bandage to blessing overnight, what is up with this desert wasteland stuff?

It is here in the wasteland that you discover the power of God to keep you.  It is here that you discover that the shoes on your feet and the clothes on your back are all you really need to survive.  You do not need a house or food or clothing or even shoes to walk across hot desert sands if you obey God. 

Walking in obedience to God will test you and you  will discover just how sufficient God is to keep you alive.  Once you leave your bondage and discover God in your wasteland you will not be led astray thinking that it is up to you to keep the faith. Walking with God in the wasteland prepares you for the blessings of God in the Promised Land.  If you cannot trust him in the wasteland you will not be able to trust him in the Promised Land.

If you find yourself in the desert presently take a moment and thank  God for the desert time and look for ways to trust God so that when the times of prosperity come you will not wander away from the faith.  We follow a God who provides just as well in the desert as in the promised land.

Trusting God no matter what address I have,

Every morning and every evening the people of Israel were to go to bed hearing these words spoken over them, “The Lord bless you and keep you . . .”  May the Lord do whatever is necessary to bless you and keep you from harm all of your days.

There was never to be a day that went by that the nation of Israel did not hear these words.  If they heard these words what would be the only conclusion they could reach about God?  He was for them and not against them.

So what happened that caused the nation of Israel to drift from this truth?  The priests stopped speaking the word of God over the people.  They gradually grew to neglect the Word of God and spent their time in going after other things. 

Let this be a warning to all of us, if we leave off the Word of God from our hearing we too will drift away from the blessings that God desires to give us.  May you greet this day with these words from God and may you lay your head on your pillow at night with these words watching over you.

God really is for you so it is best to trust him.

The Lord bless you and keep you in his ways,

It has been 25 years since Abraham left everything to follow God on a promise of having children and growing into a great nation.  Now Abraham had just done the unthinkable, he had obeyed God and offered up Isaac his only son.  Many thought he was crazy to obey this command but he did anyway.  As a result of his obedience Abraham discovered something about God that up until that time no one had understood.  God was not one who took human life as a sacrifice; he was the God who provided the sacrificial lamb for himself, there would be no taking of a human life, God provided a way out.

What happened to Abraham as a result of his obedience to God’s promise?  Read the words carefully, “In blessing I will bless you.” God’s blessing on Abraham was multiplied. 

May we learn to trust in the goodness of God as we follow him today.  For Abraham every step he took away from the land he came from he went deeper and deeper into the great storehouse of God’s grace and provision.  Let us take what steps we need to today to obey God’s Word trusting that as we do we will find more pleasure in our walking with Christ.

²⁸ This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
²⁹ I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom."
³⁰ When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Did Jesus ever fast?  This is a rather good question since we encourage you to fast.  If Jesus never fasted in the Scripture then we would be amiss to expect that of our members.  But once again as always the Scriptures answer this question for us.  In Matthew 4 when he was in the wilderness for forty days, he fasted.  He did not go into the wilderness specifically to fast but he became so caught up in being with his Father that he completely forgot about food or drink.

When faced with the temptation of the devil he made quick mincemeat of him because of his love for his Father that had empowered him to defeat the enemy.

But there is one more fast that most who read the Bible never see.  There is the fast that he began when he ascended into heaven.  Take a close look at verse 29.  Jesus has given up on drinking wine until he comes for his church.  He is even now p[raying and fasting for us as he intercedes for us.  Yes fasting is something the Lord is doing even now as he waits for the consummation of the kingdom of God.

He also gave us this commandment in the gospels, “When the bridegroom is taken away from the bride she will fast.  Do you find yourself so in love with Christ that you long for his return even more than yesterday.  It is not that you want an easy out but you find your heart beating so for him that you can hardly wait to see him when he breaks through the clouds to come for you.

Let us draw close to Christ through prayer and fasting so we may be ready when he comes for us.  May our hearts grow with anticipation of his return each day that he delays.

May it be today,

have their reward.
¹⁷ But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
¹⁸ That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

“O no it is time to pray again.  Aw do we have to Dad?  You know the prayer meeting is so boring, can’t we just skip it and play some games or watch television?” 

Why is it that the prayer time of the church is the least attended function?  I think it is precisely because the people of God have found no joy in the presence of God so they fill their lives with other things that can stimulate their nerve endings more.

Listen carefully to the Words of our Lord. He was saying that when you pray let your face light up, let your heart skip a few beats, let there be joy and gladness when the time draws near for the hour of prayer. Go about your observance of this time with great expectation that God will show up and respond to your prayers.

How soon until you are going to be alone with God?  Is your heart beginning to skip a few beats as the time draws near to be with your Father in Heaven.  He has great things to show you and great things to invite you to join him in.  Does it seem like you cannot wait to be with God in the secret place again.  Do the minutes seem to drag on and on until finally you get to be with him again?  And once with him does it seem like the time just flies by and before you know it the time is over and you have to leave.  Do you long for the time to be longer?  Do you savor every moment you spend in communion with God?

Perhaps we all have some work to do in this area.

God, How I long to long to want You,

their reward.
⁶ But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

A life lived in the secret place is a life worth living.  If there is no secret place there will be no holiness.  Without retreating from the world regularly to reconnect with your Father you will not be able to have much influence for God in your marketplace.

Notice the emphasis in this passage is on the things that are done in secret.  A question for you to consider today is, “How much of your walk with Christ is hidden away in the secret place?  Do you long to spend time before your Lord in your prayer room?  Do you find your joy growing as you draw near to the time when you will be with just him in prayer and sweet communion?

Some one said it well years ago, “A Christian can only advance on his knees.”  It was true then and it is even truer now.  Do you have a place where you go regularly to be alone with God and to seek his face?  If not find one now.  Do you know what to do when you get alone with your Father in Heaven?  If you don’t ask him to show you and he will.  Let me encourage you to give yourself to prayer in your secret place more and more as the days grow darker in our culture.

Longing to be in the Secret place with God,

Do you have some besetting sin?  Are you plagued with constant fear over some area in your life?  Is there one certain thing that just seems to eat your spiritual lunch every time it comes up?  Have you sought counsel to defeat it but not found help?  Have you tried to think positive thoughts only to have the problem grow worse?

How can you find deliverance from such things in your life? How many times have you heard some one say, “There are no easy answers?”  Probably more than you care to count.  After hearing the spiritual leaders say to you “There are no easy answers, what have you done? 

Some have given up and stopped following Christ for it was too hard.  Others have relegated themselves to follow Christ but only at a distance because they could never find any real lasting victory over what plagued them the most about their walk with Christ.

Is there  an answer to what plagues us as we seek to follow Christ in this distorted and sin cursed world?  Yes , there is and the answer is “This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”  Until you are desperate enough to stop all other activities and set your heart and mind to seek after God there may be no deliverance.  Through prayer and fasting we say to God, “I want you more than anything in this world and I will go without anything in the world to have you.”

To quote a great spiritual leader in days of old, “In the old days we sought God through prayer and fasting and we had revival.  Nowadays we just pray fast and wonder why God never shows up.”

Let us put aside the things of the world every now and then to fix our full attention on this glorious God that has called us his own.

Choosing to enjoy the best feast in his presence,

A trumpet is an instrument of warning and coming judgment.  You can almost sense Joel’s urgency.  He sees the coming judgment heading Judah’s way and he speaks to warn the people in the hopes that they would give themselves to true repentance and prayer and fasting so they could avoid this judgment.  He cries out and seeks to warn all he can but history records that no one listened, they went on their own way thinking they were safe because after all they were God’s chosen people.

Joel spoke with such urgency he even told those who were preparing to walk down the wedding isle to stop their march and seek after the Lord.  Those who were nursing at the breast were to be pulled away from their mothers and both nursing child and mother were called to stop all other activity and give themselves to prayer for the judgment was imminent.

The priests were called to stop all their activity and weep and wail before the porch and the altar.  They were supposed to take seriously the state of the nation and it would lead them to weep and to mourn but they were too busy performing their religious rituals to stop and listen and as a result the nation was carried away into captivity and judgment.

What activity can you give up this next week so you can spend time in crying out to God?  How can you arrange your schedule so you can cry out to him for the sake of the lost around you and for the sake of the church who has grown powerless to affect any change in this culture?  I plead with you to heed the warning of Joel and give yourselves to prayer and fasting and weeping and mourning for our land.  Who knows perhaps God will use our prayers to turn back a nation once again.

Let us pray and fast and weep and mourn that God might restore to us his Presence.  May the watching world no longer say, “Where Is your God!”  May God visit his people once again so the world may know him.

Blowing the trumpet and sounding the alarm,