Pastor Goforth

What Is Commitment?

October 14th, 2014

Ruth was married to an Israelite man, but she was from Moab. Elimelech and Naomi had two sons, Mahlon and Kilion. They had moved to Moab because of famine in Bethlehem. Elimelech died and Naomi was left with her two sons. They married women from Moab. Mahlon married Ruth and Kilion married Orpah.

Things got worse as both of Naomi’s sons died as well. 10 years they had lived in Moab before the young men died. Things got better in Judah and they prepared to return. But Naomi urged the young women to stay in Moab and find husbands. After urging, Orpah decided to go back home, but not Ruth. She said “don’t urge me to leave you, or turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me” (Ruth 1:16-17 NIV84)

WOW. And so Ruth goes to Bethlehem and it says “the whole city was stirred.” And eventually Ruth married a relative of theirs named Boaz. Together they had a son named Obed, and he had a son named Jesse, who bore a son named David, who tended sheep, wrote songs, killed lions, bears, and a Giant named Goliath. He became the King to whom all others were compared.

Why would Boaz take a chance on a convert from a pagan country? Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that his Grandmother was a pagan named Rahab, from Jericho who acted in faith and joined God’s people. So he knew this kind of commitment.

So, what is commitment as we see it here?

1. A Commitment to Follow requires a Commitment to Lead

when it comes to a relationship, there should be a lead. Ruth committed to follow Naomi, but ultimately to follow God. Your God will be My God. That led her to Boaz.

Certainly God is committed to lead us, he has given us his Word and has set the way for us. So, we must fix our eyes on Jesus the Author and Finisher and we commit to follow. When you bring this idea into a marriage there must be commitment to lead and a commitment to follow. God created us to work together to serve him. He created Adam first told him to care for his things and he brought him Eve as a helpomate to fulfill his purposes.

So then, Jesus said in John 6:38 I have come down from Heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. There is a SENDER and a FOLLOWER.

2. A Willingness to Act When Prompted and To Wait When Needed

Where you go I will go, where you stay, I will stay

People by nature tend to be Go-ers or Stay-ers. Trailblazers or Homesteaders. But we must be willing to be either. The military Community to which I minister has to be really good at both. Time to Go … Let’s go. Here we are … let’s make it home for as long as we are here. We learn to hold loosely to things that do not really matter. I can relate. I grew up that way. Go may be a word you love or one you loath. But commitment says “I will go”. Or perhaps “wait” is a word you dread. I get the image of an obedient dog told to “sit and wait”, while the treat is laying on the ground and he salivates, or the prey is across the yard and obediently she waits until the Master says “Ok!”

But whatever the command, stay or God, the Joy is in the Obedience not in the Command

3. The Commitment is A commitment To a Relationship Together

Your people will be my people

Following God, following a spouse, following a job, always leads us to new people. “but i don’t like these people” … but “these are my people”. “Lord, your people will be my people”

Your God will be my God
Embracing God, embracing Lordship, embracing his sovereignty, embracing his purposes

“God, you are my God, and I will seek you earnestly” (Ps 63:1)

“We are your people the sheep of your pastor” (Ps 79:13)

It is a WE not just a ME in this pasture.

Finally, it is a Commitment to

4. A Shared Passion

Where you die, I will die

Jesus died on a hill surrounded by mockers, who were the ones he died to save

Where you die I will die

I will serve the undeserving

I will pray for the unloving

I will finish what I started

Where you go, I will go
Where you stay, I will stay

Your God My God

Your People My People

Where you die

I will Die

That Is Commitment
Pleased to Reveal … So That …

October 14th, 2014

Galatians 1:15-16 (NIV84) When God … was pleased to reveal his Son so that I might preach

Oh how mysterious, marvelous, merciful, manifest, and majestic is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If we were going to create a religious, it would have been altogether different that the Gospel of Jesus. Look at all of the man made religous. They are either weird, lenient, or legalistic. But the gospel of Jesus is rigid, as is all truth, and yet it is free. If you can understand it, then you don’t understand it. So many theologians want to make the gospel cut and dry, but then it loses its marvelous nature. Two of the great mysteries of the gospel are seemingly contradictory. They Bible declares that God has known and called his own since before time began. God has predestined his people to be formed in the image of Christ. And yet we cannot get around the needed faith action of mankind individually called to respond to the wooing of God and say “yes Lord, I believe, I receive.” Jesus died for all mankind, and yet this is not experienced unless it is received. The gospel is a mystery. So, Paul is preaching to the Church in Galatia who is being assaulted by some who would take the gospel of Jesus and pervert it into something that man made up. This non-gospel they were preaching was not good news, it was full of legalism.

So here in Galatians 1:12 he says the gospel I preached is not something man made up” v13 says I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ

Wherever the gospel is preached faithfully, the revelation that comes is from Jesus Christ himself

v15 but when God, who set me apart from birth, and called me by his grace, was pleased

eudokeo = well pleased, consented, enjoy

Every time I preach, I do my best to be faithful to preach what God would have me, but I cannot move their soul. I cannot change their heart. So, I preach faithfully and I pray that God move on a heart, woo them, and they combine it with faith. It is not only that he decides to do it, but he knows the right time, the right place. But not only is it the time he is pleased with, but also it pleases him, it makes him smile. So Paul says when God smiled and revealed himself, v16 to reveal his son in me, so that I might preach him …

Paul understood that he was part of something bigger, something outside of himself. God revealed Christ TO him … SO THAT He could reveal Christ IN him.

Oh folks listen, we are here SO THAT Christ IN us may be revealed THROUGH us to a world in need. In every circumstance, in the simplest things … SO THAT

Planning an event, wiping a nose, sharing your faith SO THAT

Listening to a child quote a verse, struggling with an unruly 3rd grader, SO THAT

Extra work, patient with personalities, balancing an account, SO THAT

Misunderstood, smiling through it all, SO THAT

This was the life of the apostles, insulted, and persecuted, lied about, but still rejoicing, SO THAT

That was Paul, in prison, hungry, thirsty, shipwrecked, SO THAT

The martyrs of history, burned at the stake, drowned, in prison, boiled alive in oil, killed by villagers, rejected by governments, SO THAT

That was Jesus, despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, familiar with our sufferings, not esteemed, taking our infirmities, carrying our sorrows, smitten and afflicted, pierced, crushed, punished, SO THAT

So That we might be forgiven, at peace, righteous, pure, holy, blameless, without spot or wrinkle

Oswald Chambers (My Utmost for His Highest) of these verses says “If Jesus is to regenerate me, what is he up against? I have a heredity I had no say in; I am NOT holy nor likely to be; and if all Jesus Christ can do is tell me I must be holy, his teaching plants despair. But if Jesus is a regenerator, one who can put into me his own heredity of holiness, then I begin to see what he is driving at when he says that I have to be holy”

He puts it IN Me

Again Chambers says “The moral transaction on my part is agreement with God’s verdict on sin in the cross of Jesus Christ”

Oh The Mystery and Majesty of the Gospel
Do Not Lose Heart

October 14th, 2014

1 Corinthians 4:16 says Therefore we do not lose heart

Psalm 116 is a great song of the confidence that comes in the Lord. Verse 10 says I believed … therefore (or even when) I was greatly afflicted

Believed what? IN Psalm 116

v4 – O Lord Save me (I called on the name of the Lord)

v5 – The Lord is Gracious

v8 – you have delivered my soul from death

v9 – I will walk before the Lord in the Land of the Living

So then back to 1 Corinthians 4:14 Because we know that the one (The Holy Spirit) who raised the Lord Jesus … will also raise us. So v16 Therefore, we don’t lose heart

I lose heart when my heart is set on withering things. The grass withers, the flowers fade. The Carpet tatters, light fixtures burn out, paint peels, pianos go out of tune, and we lose heart if our heart is set on those things. Things like worship styles, service orders shouldn’t make us lose heart. When it comes to serving in the church, workers come and go, servants aren’t always there, but where is your heart? It is on the ONE who raise Jesus?

Oh but the God who said “Let there be …” he can recreate my circumstance.

I have a treasure in jars of clay … will I fret about the jar or joy in the treasure?

If my heart is set on things above … then if I am hard pressed (v9) … I’m fine … my jar may get cracked, but my treasure isn’t destroyed. I may be perplexed about today, but tomorrow is certain, so I am not in despair. I may be persecuted but I don’t care about their opinion if I am listening for Heaven’s “well done.” I am not abandoned though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of death, he is WITH me. I may be struck down, i might be killed for that matter, but I am not destroyed in this land of the dying, I am going to the Land of the Living.

Therefore, we do not lose heart though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day

v17 for light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all

v18 fix our eyes not on seen but unseen

I am not ignoring my problems, but I am also not focused on them either

I used to sing a song

Don’t lose heart, Don’t lose heart, God will take you to the other side, don’t lose heart
Casting Down Imaginations

October 14th, 2014

2 Corinthians 10:5 says “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ” (NIV84)
(KJV) “Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth against the knowledge of God …”

“Lord, help me see the high places in my life, things that seek to exalt themselves in my life as worthy of my worship and obedience, save you alone.”

Every time I say “but Lord …” I have exalted myself above the Sovereign Lord of all Creation. No other part of God’s creation says “But Lord”, none say “no, Lord.” Every part of creation just obeys, except man.
The BLUF (bottom line up front) is take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ … but how does that play out in actuality?
We live in a world that is at war with the holiness of God, a world led by a prince who would usurp Christ if given a chance and he seeks to lead us to do the same. We have a false perception that we have “rights” to do as we please, to make our own way. We say things like “it’s MY body”, or “I deserve this”, or “God wants me to be happy”, really? Who defines these things? Who is Lord? Since the carnal part of my nature remains, I must take active part in not allowing it to rule in my life.

I am no longer bound to carnality, but it will rule when I allow it. Paul says in verse 4 that “strongholds” rise up. The carnality gains footing in my life, a place to attack. So, we have to “cast down” or “demolish” those strongholds.

“demolish” = kathaireo = to take down, tear down, destroy, do away with.
That is action. I must not ignore these things. I must not say “well, that’s just the way I am.” or “We all have our faults.” No, I must see the strongholds being fortified, know that they are there and take action to tear them down.

Then Paul tells us the root of these stronghold
#1 – KJV calls “Imaginations” NIV “Arguments”
the word is loismos = false reasoning, conclusions, plans, life not reckoned as life
One of the roots of the strongholds of carnality in our life is logismos, false conclusions, reasoning that causes us to believe things that are not true

How do we come to “arguments” or “imaginations”?
1) not Knowing the Word of God
2) Not Believing the Word of God
3) Not believing it Applies to me

#2 “Pretensions” KJV “High Things”
the word is hypsoma = world above, arrogance –
We pretend that we are above the Word, we are above the command, we are above the revealed will and plan of God. I can play, I can pretend, that I am superman, but I cannot fly. I am not faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, nor am I able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, because I Am NOT Superman. It is arrogant for me to assume that position. In like manner, I cannot take the place of Christ to Rule and Be Worshiped.
“High places” were placed throughout Canaan in ancient days where people worshiped false gods. It goes back to Babel, when they tried to “reach” God. Why did they try to reach God? It was to try and “bring him down” but you can’t
High Places in our lives are
1) anything that pretends to be equal with God
2) anything that we worship (objects of affection)
3) things that cause us to take our gaze away from Christ

He is the only one given a name above every name, to whom every knee bows and tongue confesses.
When we say “I would do this for God, but my kids need …” That is Pretense, it is a High Place
When we say “I would worship him with my resources, but I want … I need …” that is Pretense, a High Place
Instead I should take those things to the Lord and say “God, what do you want me to do, and how do I need to prioritize my resources, my family, my schedule?”
How can we easily tell if something is a “High Place”?
1) Does it set itself against the Word of God?
2) Does it cause a conflict of obedience to the revelation of God in Christ Jesus, in his living word or written word?
Those things have then “set themselves up against the knowledge of God”. They are pretend sovereigns in our lives, they are falsely exalted idols in our lives. I cannot ignore them, I cannot pretend they do not exist. They will not go away. They will not leave me alone if I pretend they are not there … No … I must DEMOLISH or CAST them DOWN
Whey they found high places of idol worship in the Old Testament, they destroyed them …

So, How?

“Take Captive” … Lay your hands on offender. Speak to it, speak about it, admit it, that is what it means for a Christian to Confess our sins. YES, all of our sins are covered in the Cross of Christ, but in the daily living of our salvation, they are set up as strongholds. When we don’t admit the struggle and that it is sin we are missing the teaching of 1 John 1:9. 1 John 1:9 is John speaking to the CHURCH, to Christians. Count how many times he says “we”. Read 1 John 1:9 in context, “if WE confess our sins”. In other scripture he tells us to confess our sins to each other”? Why? It is so we don’t let them run loose, exalted in our lives.

We are not to let them be strongholds, no, we are to take hold of them. Them them to the word of God. Speak it. Does it sound contrary to the Word? Then make it obedient say “no” to pretenders. Say, “no” to false reasoning, and say “yes” to Christ.
Worship Him with Obedience
Worship the only wise God, our Sovereign Lord Jesus Christ

Take Captive Every Thought and Make it Obedient to Christ
The Farmer Smiles

October 1st, 2014

My title, “The Farmer Smiles” is about perspective and will make sense in a minute.
1 Corinthians 9:16 – “I am compelled to preach the gospel. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel”
KJV “necessity is laid upon me”
How serious was Paul about this necessity, this compulsion?
These words actually came as Paul defends himself against detractors who speak against the support he was receiving financially.
He says “don’t we have the right to food and drink, the right to take a wife along with us …” or are the rules different for Paul and Barnabas?
Soldiers are paid, he says, farmers eat of their crops. Even an Ox eats unmuzzled while he treads out the grain. But then he turns away from rights and says in v12 “we don’t use this right, on the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.”
v12 says “put up with anything
v15 says “I would rather die than
v16 “yet when I preach the gospel (good news)”

How do we fight off the attacks of the evil one through details? Tell the Good News. Oh satan sure attacks in the minutia doesn’t he? Sometimes the minutia isn’t so minute. Sometimes hunger pains and growling stomachs seek to drown out the sounds of praise and can soften the force of the gospel. But keep focusing on the “Gospel” – euangelizo = proclaim, preach, glad tidings
It is hard to give good news and complain at the same time isn’t it? Oh but it can happen
Several years ago, I had just finished accompanying our choir on the piano for their Christmas Musical. I play the piano, and am more than comfortable as a player and leader, but that style was outside my comfort zone. It was, for me, a hard piece of music that took a lot of extra practice. It was something i did because it was needed but I would rather not have done it. it even caused me more than a bit of panic and anxiety as I played. I got through it, and did well, and as we finished the last note on the big finale, a great sense of relief and “job well done” rushed over me. I felt good. That last note played, and this precious lady in the choir, standing at the end of the stage right next to the open piano lid, looked at me and smiled and exclaimed “That was Great!” But before I could even say “thank you,” her face changed to disapproving and she continued still on beat “Sure was Loud!” And she turned away. “That was great … sure was loud.”
I sat there stunned, I had just gotten a pat on the back and a smack in the face in the same sentence.
Sometimes it is that way in serving the Lord isn’t it?
So, Paul keeps his heart set on proclaiming the good news. What Good news? Church is growing? No, Jesus Saves. Worship was awesome? No, Jesus Saves. We met the budget? No Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves.
So when someone is complaining about the service being 10 minutes too long – Jesus Saves
When someone doesn’t like the carpet color – Jesus Saves
Someone is attacking you or your job – Jesus Saves
Someone seems to always be over your shoulder – Jesus Saves
Paul says “yet”“despite, in spite of, regardless of, there is a necessity laid on my shoulders”
epikeimai = press against, to be imposed; to be urgent
No matter, I can put up with anything because the Gospel has been pressed into my hands, forced to my mouth, placed urgently in my heart
The Gospel … of Jesus Christ and so

Woe to Me if I preach not the gospel
Let us not be distracted with unnecessary battles or pleasures, that we might miss the presentation of the gospel

v19 “I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible”

v22-23 “… i have become all things to all men, so that by all possible means, i might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that i may share in its blessing”

v24 “Run to get the prize” –

What prize? The prize of sharing in the joy of that soul that found Jesus.
The gospel is made up of so many components. Some receive face time, some get the praise, others are never seen. Whether it is a counter and sorter of money, or an AWANA Children’s Leader, a Nursery worker, a Sound Technician, a Door Greeter, a teacher, an encourager, someone who invites … It is all part of the gospel …

In this case, people are the prize for the presenter, The prize is the Gospel … So many different things come together, years, months, weeks, days, comments, love given, and somewhere the finish line is crossed and the prize attained.

The Gospel is planted, sprouts, watered, harvested, processed, turned into flour, sifted, prepared, baked, shipped, purchased, and Someone eats that bread and says “wow that is good” …

… And somewhere … the unknown Farmer Smiles …
When is the moment of salvation

October 1st, 2014

When Does Salvation Take Place?

I have always lead people to pray a prayer of salvation, but is that always when salvation takes place?

J. as a man I got to know in Belton, Texas in the middle 1980s. He told me that after years of fighting God and arguing with preachers and church people, he walked the aisle of the First Baptist Church and publicly “confessed Christ”. He signed the commitment card and was official. But he told me later that he wasn’t saved, he wasn’t in Christ.
You see, for years he had been the one that everyone prayed for in church. His wife and kids were in church and he made the occasional appearance but he wasn’t a follower of Christ. He didn’t embrace Christ as Lord. He was that guy who is in every church community in their radar.
J told me, as we talked one night 30 years ago, “Jim, I wasn’t truly ‘saved’, born again, not until I stepped into the Baptistry.” Wait, what? I’m a Southern Baptist, we believe in baptism, by immersion but it is a symbol of an inner reality. We do not believe that the act of baptism is slavific, or has saving efficacy. So, what did he mean? J went on to explain. He said that walking down the aisle wasn’t about surrender to and faith in Christ as Lord, but just about getting his wife and the church “off his back.” He thought that would be the end of it.
But then, of course, the pastor started coming over to talk about baptism and church membership. “Baptism, I walked the aisle, signed the card, prayed the prayer, leave me alone.” Some time went by, and he resisted not wanting to be baptized. He resisted because he wasn’t truly saved. He had done a work but not an act of faith. There was no surrender.
Finally J told me “when I truly ‘got saved’, when I was born again, was when stepped into the baptistry. It wasn’t the water. It wasn’t the aft of immersion. It was that at that moment he exercised faith and surrendered to God’s plan for salvation.
When the Israelites stood at the Jordan river before they entered Canaan, it was not a quiet river but a raging springtime river, perhaps a mile across. God told them he would stop the river. They believed he would but it still flowed until the priests at the front stepped into the river, then it was stopped far upstream and the walked across. So then the river of Judgment and separation between us and God is before the non-Christian. Christ had died for us, we know that we can be forgiven, reconciled to God, but until we truly surrender in faith and believe, receiving his Grace for ourselves, it isn’t ours.
Do I mean by this that baptism saves people? No.
Do I believe a simple prayer, words, even the right words save people? No.
But I do believe that it is an act of faith,understanding our sin, and surrendering to Jesus as Lord of our lives. That aft may require explanation, “what must I do to be saved?” Upon explanation they confess Christ and receive him by faith. Some may not come to that point until a later date as something else triggers it, like Mr. J Others may know and be resisting, yet the simple turn of the heart in a worship service, the act of stepping out is their moment of faith, before any prayer has ever been offered, or words said. Should we help them verbalize it in a prayer, definitely but, the simplicity of Romans 10 is still true though complex to in experience.
V8 – the word is near you, it is in your mouth and in your heart
V9 – that if you confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
V10 – for it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
V11- … Anyone who trusts in him will never be out to shame
V13 – everyone who calls on the name of The Lord will be saved
Oh what a beautiful mystery and complete certainty is the salvation Of man by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
So
V14 – how can they call on one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in one they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching?
V15 – and how can they preach unless they are sent?
Fertile Soil For Weariness

July 21st, 2014

Galatians 6:9(NIV84) “Let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up”

– “Do not become weary” or “grow weary” – The Greek word is enkakeo – it means to “lose enthusiasm; to be discouraged; to grow weary; to lose heart”

We all get there, we lose momentum, we lose enthusiasm. The word “become” or “grow” insinuates that this is not something we slip and fall into, or out of, but it grows, it develops over time. Sometimes it feels like it came out of nowhere, but it most likely has been something that started with a seed, a kernal, and then something else and something else, and then … here it is, weary.

There other day, “all of a sudden” I had a couple of muscles in my chest and back that were killing me. I thought “how in the world am I sore, I haven’t done anything”. But then as I thought back through it there were a couple of incidents that had contributed to the tweak in my back and chest. I didn’t realize it.

We have had some success, God has been moving, all seems normal and then all of a sudden, I’m just weary, feeling out of sorts, what’s going on?

I need to ask a few questions, where did the weariness come from?

1) Has someone planted it in me? Has someone spoken negativity into my life?

2) Did I plant it myself?

3) Did someone else plant it, but I nurtured it?

It’s a process, and I have to go back and identify what is going on and then realize that We wrestle not against flesh and blood. Satan is in this, he is working to discourage me and bring me down.

I have to recognize the areas that have been broken up to prepare for planting weariness and I need to not allow the soil to be prepared.

Philippians 4:8 (NIV84)

⁸ Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

I can’t dwell on the things that make me weary, let my enthusiasm wain.

I need to renew my strength … How does that happen?

Isaiah 40:31 (NIV84)

³¹ but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Those who hope / wait – the word comes from a root that means to twist or wind. It is like a thief “laying in wait” or a farmer “waiting” for the harvest. It means to “set your heart” to wind your intentions around The Lord. Those who so set their hopes on the Lord, who wind themselves around his will, his purposes, will renew their strength.

What are you wrapped around?

– “For at the proper time” – “time” – kairos = season, occasion – “proper” – idio = peculiar or one’s own … Where are we going? This means that our harvest is coming – but it is coming at a season, a time, that is unique, peculiar, my time. Like an idiosyncrasy is a quirk, so the proper time, is the season for ME. A season, unique to me is coming, if I will trust God for the proper time for renewal, success, recognition, rest – Wait for YOUR Time. Don’t be frustrated because someone else had their time, that’s theirs, wait for the Lord and your time.

– “we will reap a harvest” – REAP — I think we forget sometimes that harvesting means WORK too. There is work in the planting, and work to be done in the nurture, and there is work in the harvest, we have to REAP. Which reminds us too that it has to be the right season. If you reap during the summer, you won’t have anything good. So you have to know the season. if you don’t know ask, do the necessary, seasonal time.

But Harvest IS coming

Do you know the “Rules of the Harvest?”

1) you reap WHAT you sow 2) you reap LATER than you sow and 3) you reap MORE than you sow. Those are the 3 rules of the harvest I have always heard, but can I add one? 4) You reap WHEN you do the WORK of REAPING.

So, Paul says

– “Do not Give Up” – keep working, keep doing the last thing that God gave you to do. Work the Harvest when that time comes. The word “give up” is eklyo = to unloose – There it is AGAIN … we lose our strength, become weary, when we become LOOSENED from the Lord. Keep your hope set on the Lord. Wrap your mind, your intentions, you purposes around the Lord.

My boys often heard me quote Ecclesiastes 7:8 “the End of a matter is better than its beginning, patience better than pride” – Don’t unwind yourselves … stay focused on the end. Don’t just be a starter, be a finisher? How FIX YOUR EYES ON JESUS – the AUTHOR and FINISHER of our Faith …

Then verse 9 of Ecclesiastes 7 says “do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools” … when you unwind from the Lord, and sit down instead of keeping at the work, it’s amazing how anger creeps in, angry with circumstance, angry with the success of others, and it is Fertile Ground for Weariness and giving up …

So, Want to “Clear your lap?”

GET UP

Get Back to Work

Continue What he Last Told you

Reap when it is Time …
Where Will Our Sons Be?

July 17th, 2014

Here is a printing of my “Men of Faith” Prayer Breakfast Message from this week

Faith Baptist Church – Men’s Breakfast July 2014 Kaiserslautern, Germany

“Where Will Our Sons Be?”

Gentlemen, being a Father is the one of the greatest things we will ever do. As a Father, we have the opportunity to impact Tomorrow, and Impact Eternity.

There are many great men in scripture

Eli was the High Priest of Israel for 40 years, he served the Lord with distinction. He was the priest who raised Samuel. Who told Samuel how to listen to the voice of God and say “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening” … Eli had two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. While Eli accomplished great things for the Lord, his Sons were scandalous 1 Samuel 2:12 says Eli’s sons were wicked men; they had no regard for the Lord … You can read the rest of their deeds, but the problem was that … Eli, instead of aptly correcting them, he gave them duties in the Temple of the Lord … and in 1 Samuel 2:29-31

1 Samuel 2:29–31 (NIV84)

²⁹ Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel?’ ³⁰ “Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that your house and your father’s house would minister before me forever.’ But now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained. ³¹ The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your family line

He succeeded in ministry and failed as a Father

Gideon is another one of the great men of scripture, a warrior a man who learned to walk in obedience even when his faith was weak … but toward the end of his life, he allowed his worship to become divided and created an object of worship. We are told that he had 70 sons, that’s another story, but this man, who we talk about, even find in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11, didn’t lead his sons …

Judges 8 ends:

Judges 8:33–34 (NIV84)

³³ No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god and ³⁴ did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side.

But my mind has been thinking this last two weeks of a man in scripture that is a “bit part” in the story of the Gospel. If he is but a “bit part”, his sons are barely mentioned … so why is it important?

Jesus was arrested, charged, placed on trial, mocked, beaten, and spit upon. His beard was plucked out, finally the people cried for him to be Crucified and so they placed his cross on his back, and he walked the “way of suffering” toward the place of execution.

During this, the greatest event in History, a father, finds his way into the story. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all mention this father, but Mark tells us something the others do not.

Mark 15:21 (NIV84)

²¹ A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross.

A Father, Simon, from North Africa, was in Jerusalem, with his sons, Alexander and Rufus.

Where will our sons be?

Why would the gospels mention this man by name and why would they tell us WHICH Simon this was? Because he was a “certain man” that readers of the gospels would have heard of. It is clear that he became someone that they knew in the early church. There in the story of Jesus was a man carrying his cross, not a nameless man, but Simon, Simon from Cyrene. But while it is seemingly insignificant for these three gospels to mention Simon, why, even more obscure, would Mark mention his sons? For the same reason, because his readers knew these boys.

Stay with me …

Mark’s gospel was written particularly to the Romans. So, The Romans, reading this gospel, would have said, “we know Simon, and we know his sons, Alexander and Rufus …

Where will our sons be?

Simon didn’t do much else that we still know of today … but what we know of him tell us he got some things right in raising his sons … How do we know? … Well … there are many things that Alexander and Rufus probably did after that Friday morning in Jerusalem. But 20 plus years later … where do we find them?

Romans 16:13 (NIV84)

¹³ Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too.

Simon, did one great thing … He Led his Sons To Follow Jesus and so 20 years later … Rufus is “Chosen in the Lord” … or “A Choice Man”

Gentlemen, there are many wishes and dreams I have had for my sons the last 26 years as a father, but the most important was for them to be chosen by God, Choice men, found among the faithful and following God.

Is that what you want?

I have two sons who are very different, we have not always agreed. I haven’t always liked every choice they made, but along the way, even when struggling with difficulty, even when struggling with becoming … Praise the Lord they have still been found among the faithful.

I wrote my sons an email and asked them to speak to you and I want to share their answers … to these questions 1) as your Father, where have I led you 2) what did I teach you along the way that is most significant to you now 3) how did I do that 4) is there anything you want me to share with Fathers to encourage them in the important things?

AJ sent these answers

1)    My Father has led me to be a man who loves people, loves my community, and loves The Lord. No matter what community Dad was a part of, he loved them. That is something that has been a huge part of my life. Loving people no matter the situation.

2) and 3)    One of the most memorable “lessons” I ever got from my Dad was about Mercy and Grace. I remember coming home from school just knowing I had it coming. I deserved a grounding or punishment of some sort. My Dad sat me down and gave me a long thorough talk about Mercy and Grace. Explaining the difference between the two, giving examples from scripture, and relating it to my situation. Despite what I deserved, I got a gift. Not just any gift, I got a new baseball glove and a trip to the Arcade! That memory has been the most life-changing lesson I’ve ever had. Through that memory, I’ve learned that everyone deserves Grace and Mercy. People make mistakes. Loving them despite, is something my father has taught me.

4)   The Joy of Succeeding will go further than the Fear of Failing. It is far easier for a person to succeed if they know when they’re doing something right rather than only knowing when they’re doing something wrong. It’s in our human nature to want to fight for achievements. We want to succeed. We want to win. Whether thats a game, an award, or just acceptance. Punishments and redirecting are great ways to teach and learn, but if they’re not paired with praises of what they’re doing right, the redirects aren’t going to stick.

Bryan sent this

Hey Dad,

I apologize for the late response, i hope this is still beneficial.

           You have led me to take responsibility and ownership of my faith, my marriage and my daily actions. You taught me from a young age that my age does not determine my maturity and actions, but my character does. You taught me how to be a leader while still being under authority.

            You taught me these things 1st by living them out in your own life. Growing up, and even now, i witness the example of a dad who is fully devoted to Christ, his wife, and kids. It is clear in your actions towards mom, aj and me that you first understand your role as the leader of our household, but you also understand that you are held accountable by God for the way you lead us. This taught me that even when i am a leader of men, i am still under authority.
            Going beyond me simply seeing your example, you were actively involved in my development. You cared about the things i cared about (even if you actually didn’t), you encouraged me when i was down, praised me when i did right, and disciplined me then built me up when i was wrong. One of the most important things you taught me growing up was how to realize when i had done wrong, sincerely apologize, then walk in forgiveness.

            Above all else you saturated my life in the Gospel of Jesus Christ from the moment i was born. Each of the things mentioned above were a picture of the Gospel that had so radically changed your life. When you showed me leadership, love, kindness, and forgiveness, you were teaching me what it means to be Christ-like. That is want i am most thankful for as your son. I am thankful that you loved me enough to pour the love of Jesus into me.

“Is there anything you want me to share with the fathers…”

Everything i said above about my dad is 100% true but the description above makes it seems like my dad is perfect. He will be the first one to tell you that he is not. He did make mistakes in fathering my brother and me, but the key is that he told us when he did wrong, and asked for forgiveness. He was man enough to realize his own mistakes and ask his children for forgiveness. Show your children that they are not alone when they mess up in life. Show them that you will love them in spite of their shortcomings, and they will do the same for you.

I hope this is helpful and not too late!

Love you dad!

Bryan

Now, I know we’ve gone a long way … but what did this man Simon do, to lead them this way?

5 Things

1. Be Present In Worship

How many things do we miss because we aren’t there? Simon was THERE, There with his Sons, There to Worship the Lord

Simon would have been in Jerusalem to worship the Lord through the Passover. He would have traveled from Cyrene, modern Libya, North Africa – 800 Miles to Celebrate Passover. But God had more in mind when he moved his heart to make that journey to worship. One writer suggests that Simon was heading in to the Temple for the 9:00 prayers

It is amazing what happens “along the way to worship”

Wiersbe says of Simon “Before Christ He had Religion and Devotion, After he had Reality and Salvation”

Gentlemen are you present in worship? Sadly many Fathers SEND their families to Church … But Simon was Present … we know that more is CAUGHT than TAUGHT …

Then Secondly

2. Take Them With Us

Be Present in Worship, but be Present With Our sons. I know the nature of your work means you are gone, but when you are there be THERE. When you are gone, find a way to be there

I spent 8 years in Evangelism, but when I was home, I kept the boys home with me 2 of 5 days when “officing” in the house. When I traveled, I connected with them from wherever I was, I blessed them daily via phone, email, or whatever was available. I have had great opportunities to do things for and with the Lord. I have had great opportunities for worship, but I included the boys whenever I could.

We were planting a church in the south of Houston. I had my office in the house, myself and another man were praying one morning. As we prayed, I was praying for my neighbor, John, while I poured out my heart, I began to weep. Sitting at the dining room table, praying, when I finished, my head on the table, I opened my eyes, and there was my very young son, laying on the floor staring up at me, he asked “Daddy, why are you crying?” I replied “Because my heart breaks for John to know Jesus, son”. I hope my son learned something that day.

I performed concerts and spoke in churches, and I didn’t go alone, my boys went with me. October 31, 1994, we packed the car after the concert and AJ said, “Daddy tonight, when those kids gave their heart to Christ, I asked Jesus into my heart.”

AJ went with me to pray with more than one millions men in Washington DC with Promise Keepers. Bryan went with me to El Salvador on two trips, he accompanied me on hospital visits, they joined me for sharing in concerts and revivals as well as ministry in our church.

Simon, went to Jerusalem, a long trip, but he took his boys. That must have been some sort of trip, taking your boys to Jerusalem from North Africa. Look for Opportunities to bring your boys with you. Don’t just take them to YOUR stuff, go to their stuff too, engage them where they enjoy it too …

Thirdly

3. Get Face To Face / Eye to Eye with Jesus

Simon looked into the eyes of Jesus that day. He came to worship God through a centuries old pattern of the Passover. The Passover was celebrated with a spotless lamb, and the blood that stayed God’s judgment … But that day, he looked into the face of the LAST LAMB. Simon met Jesus, but that wasn’t the end. If Simon’s “chance encounter” with Jesus had ended there, we wouldn’t have ever known his name. But Simon met Jesus and kept meeting Jesus and led others, including his sons to do the same

Have you met Jesus Face to Face? When you look to Jesus, you will see yourself as you are, wicked and in need of a Savior, and you will see him as he is Loving and Full of Compassion, desiring a relationship with you.

Oh what that must have been like for Simon. I have no doubt that he recounted the look in the eyes of Jesus for the rest of his life.

Did you look to Jesus yesterday? Do you look to him every day?

Next

4. Take Up His Cross

That is what Simon is famous for, he took up the Cross of Christ

Is that extraordinary? Should it be? Jesus considers it an Expectation, a Normal Thing

Luke 9:23 If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me

It isn’t enough just to give your heart to him. To take up his cross one time … no Daily. Take it Up, And FOLLOW HIM …

Peter, Andrew, James, and John pulled up their boats, left their nets and followed Jesus. Matthew left his Tax Collectors Table. I am not saying you have to quit your job … but WOULD you if he asked? Would you STAY in your job for him, for a future? Have you left the ultimate influence of all to follow the way of Christ?

Luke 9:24 whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it 25 what good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very life?

Can I add, what good is it if we gain the whole world and lose Jesus, Gain the Whole World and lose our sons?

Lastly then

5. Tell The Story

I just have to believe that Simon was never the same again after that Friday in Jerusalem. I believe he spoke often of the face of Jesus, the privilege of service, the change in his life … but it wasn’t a one off event. It wasn’t the only thing that Jesus had done in his life. It wasn’t his only experience with Jesus, it wasn’t just nostalgia it was LIFE … and it changed his life?

How do we know?

Because there in Romans 16, Twenty years later, is Rufus, an important noted member of the Church in Rome, useful to the church, noted by Paul … there is Simon’s boy, Rufus

Jesus changed Simon’s life

Acts 13:1 (NIV84)

¹ In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.

Why do the gospels call him by name? Because the church knew him. This Simeon, is another way to render Simon. He referred to here as Simeon called “Niger”. Niger is latin for “black”. He is a man from Cyrene, he would have been a black man. Simeon is a colleague of Lucius who is from Cyrene … Barnabas and Saul (Paul). In Romans Paul says that Rufus’ mother was like a mother to him. Where was this relationship built? There, in Antioch where Simon, one time worshipper, who carried the cross of Christ, became a prophet/teacher …

And because he followed God to Worship, Because he took up the cross of Jesus, Because he brought his sons along … they were there in the Church

Oh that Friday there was a Simon (Peter) who promised to fight for Jesus, but ran away in the night denying him. But here is another Simon, thrust into service in the daylight

Will you serve him in the daylight? Will you lead your sons? Where will our sons be?

Gentlemen, Judges 2:10 says

Judges 2:10 (NIV84)

¹⁰ After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.

Where will our sons be?

If the generation that comes after us doesn’t know, that is Our Fault … I can’t change the whole generation, but the only way to touch tomorrow is to touch my children, your children

It is NOT easy

It IS Hard

But we CAN do it …

I share my story, not to point to me, but to say we can do it … they may not come back today or tomorrow, but don’t become weary in well doing for in due time you will reap the harvest

On Father’s Day, AJ put up a collage of pictures of me, with Lisa and the boys and this message:

This is my dad. He is a man among men. It’s a blessing to have a father who believed in me and loved me even when I wasn’t the biggest fan of him. I owe absolutely everything to him. Through him I inherited my love for people, my God, arcades, and Craigslist. Thanks Dad. 🙂

My boys Love Jesus, They Are In His Church, They Love People. Praise the Lord!

Where will our sons be?
The Frightening Prayer of a Disciple

July 1st, 2014

Are you Acquainted with Suffering? Are you Acquainted With Jesus?

Isaiah 53:10 says “He was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, and familiar (acquainted-KJV) with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised and we esteemed him not.” (NIV84)

This is such a precious and lovely verse. Chapter 53 of Isaiah contains some of the most beautifully written word pictures in scripture. Of course the Holy Spirit inspired all of scripture, but working with the personality of the writer, He communicates the words of the gospel. I would venture to say that perhaps this passage could only be compared with John 1:1-14 as the most beautiful in all of scripture.

When we talk of what Christ did for us, these words are beautiful, but if we dare challenge the modern Christian to be a disciple of this way, that idea won’t sell a whole lot of books. “Despised … Rejected … Sorrows … Suffering … Despised … without Esteem” – My Savior? Yes … Me? No Thank You.

But this is just the way of salvation, right? It isn’t the way of a disciple is it? Well don’t tell the Apostle Paul that. In Philippians 3:10 he says “I want to Know Christ …” . I am with you Paul, I want to know Christ too … But the Word, ginosko, means “to learn, to understand, to be familiar with” i.e. “to know by experience”. There is a physical tactile component to this. It doesn’t happen by accident. It happens by intentional action. So Paul says, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his suffering, becoming LIKE HIM in his death.”

Want to be a disciple? Take up his cross and follow him (Luke 9:23). Fellowship (koinonian) commune with him in suffering (passion) of Christ. This same word for “suffering” or passion is in Romans 8:18 when it says “our present sufferings are nothing compared to the glory that will be revealed.” Becoming “like him” (symmorphizo – similar in form) to his death.

We like Philippians 3:12, “press on to talk hold … forgetting what is behind … straining for what is ahead”. But Paul is talking about the previous image of being conformed to his death. And so he says “I’m not there yet, but I’m pressing forward to share in his suffering. Forgetting what is behind, forgetting accolades, forgetting accomplishments, forgetting station achieved, forgetting failures, I press onto fellowship with him in suffering. This doesn’t mean needless suffering, nor self-inflicted suffering, or self-serving suffering, but as Isaiah says “suffering that brings peace”.

Jesus was Despised (contemptible, thought lightly of), Rejected (made detestable), Sorrows (pain), Acquainted with (familiar, experience, recognize), Grief (sickness, suffering, disease, affliction), not Esteemed (think about value, considered)

Are we willing to be thought lightly of, made detestable, have pain, experience suffering and afflictions, to be under valued, not even thought of, in order to follow Christ? Well, how badly to you want to be a disciple?

Oswald Chambers in “My Utmost for His Highest”, (June 23) says “we are not acquainted with grief in the way in which our Lord was … We endure it, get through it, but we do not become intimate with it”

Yet, fellow traveler, it is, and has been the way of the disciple of Christ for every generation. The Apostles knew it, the Martyrs knew it in the Colosseum, St. John of the Cross knew “The Dark Night of the Soul”, Martin Luther knew the isolation of the Castle in Eisenach as he hid away from a death threat while translating the New Testament into German. Calvin, Wycliffe, Huss, all knew suffering. Isaac Watts penned the most poignant hymns in history because of a life of suffering and physical pain. Every Generation of Christian disciple has known. Missionaries like Jonathan Goforth (no relation) knew suffering, sickness, imprisonment. Lottie Moon also in China refused to eat giving her food to those she served with the gospel. Martin Luther King knew the Birmingham Jail, that he might have a dream.

Walking with Christ is to Fellowship with his Suffering, Conformed to his Death.

Do I want to be a disciple or just a scholar, a student? Oh there is nothing wrong with knowledge but head knowledge without experiential knowledge does not make a disciple. I disciple must follow in the footsteps, and the footprints of Jesus walked the via Dolorosa, the way of suffering.

“I want to know Christ” – The Frightening Prayer of a Disciple
Choosing Friends

June 16th, 2014

John 15:13,15 – “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends … I have called you friends”

Who is your friend? Think of a list of your 5 best friends. Would you lay down your life for them? Probably, in most cases, you would. My wife is my best friend, I certainly would lay my life down for her. I have friends that come to mind that would also be on that list and I would lay down my life for them as well. But I think this verse calls for more than just being willing to die but willing to live for them. They call, they need, we do, because they are friends.

Jesus is saying “we can define and measure love in many ways, but this is the greatest measure, would you lay down your life for them, that is love.” Jesus taught it, the Apostle John understood it. You read 1 John 3 and it says in verse 1, “how great is the love that the Father has lavished (given in extravagance) on us that we should be CALLED the children of God”. We were NOT the children of God, but we have been CALLED the children of God. But how does that happen? John 1:12 “to as many as received him, to those who eliev has give the right to be CALLED, to become, the children of God“ How is that provision made? Again in 1 John 3:16 it says “this is how we know what love is, Jesus Christ laid down his life for us …” We cannot just become the children of God without the laying down of the life of Christ for our sin on the cross. John also states in that letter “This is real love, not that we loved God but that God in Christ has loved us” (1 John 4:10) And what is the sum of the gospel, John 3 :16, “For God so loved that world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life”

Yes, the measure of love is a life given, for whom? Friends. “Ok, Pastor, I am with you … I can do that for my friends.” But what qualifies as a friend of God, here a friend of Christ?

Jesus said that the 2nd greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. And then he was asked “Who is my neighbor?” Then he proceeded to tell them a story about a man in need and concluded that the one in need in my path is my neighbor.

But who is my friend? who deserves my life laid down?

Jesus said in John 15:15, “I have CALLED you friends” The word “called” means “to call by a certain name, to clarify, to think to oneself.”

I did not deserve to be the recipient of his life laid down for me. But i remember Paul says “God demonstrated his love in this, while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”

We didn’t become friends, earn a right to be friends, and so he gave his life. NO, while we were still estranged from God, deep in sin, while we were his enemies, the embodiement of sin which God hates, Christ died for us to call us Friends. And so, because he chose to befriend me and lay down his life, i can receive that gesture, by faith and be more than just a friend, but also be called a Child of God.

WOAH … that is love! That Jesus called his enemies his friends and loved them

Doesn’t that give greater meaning to the sermon on the mount, when Jesus says “you have heard it said to ‘love your neighbor and hate your enemies’ but I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father”

God loved us while we were still enemies. Jesus befriended us when we weren’t friendly and brought us to God. So when we CHOOSE to call someone a friend and lay our lives down for them, we look like our Father, we show ourselves to be Children of God.

So, will you choose to call your enemy your friend today?

Will you choose to lay down your life for one who is not worthy, has not asked, is not friendly?

Then, you will show yourself a child of God

Jesus said, “I have called you friend, I have laid down my life”

Who will you choose as friend today?