Pastor Goforth

Turning 50

December 22nd, 2014

Well I will warn you up front that this could be rambling, but I’m allowed, cause:

I’m turning 50.

50. When my Grandfathers were 50 I thought that was OLD. When my Dad was 50 I thought, it wasn’t all that old. Now that I am 50, I think, this isn’t really very old.

How did I get to be 50? I still see myself in my mid 20s. People look at me and usually think I’m in my late 30s or 40 tops. I’ve always looked young, yet my parents used to tell me that they thought I was born old. I was always trying to be a grown up. I got married at 20. If I could talk to my 20 year old self, I think I might tell him to slow down a little, not try too hard, be patient, take your time, don’t try to be old too soon. Yet the truth is that all the things I did along the way, all the things that have happened to me have brought me to where I am now. So, maybe I would tell my 20 year old self, “go for it, follow the Lord’s voice and trust him with the Future.” That’s really what I’ve tried to do all of my life.

I think of a lot of famous people who accomplished more and changed the world before they were 50. JFK had served in WW II, and been elected President, changing the world before his mid 40s. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had moved the world and set us all to dreaming before his life was taken at 39. Mozart had changed the world of music before his mid 30s. Mark Zuckerberg had changed the world before his mid 20s. Oh the list is long. Athletes, Musicians, Politicians, Preachers changing the world before they were 50.

But what about world changers after 50? Ray Kroc didn’t buy McDonalds and change the world until he was in his 50s. Colonel Sanders didn’t start KFC until in his 60s. Roget was in his 70s when he created the Thesaurus. Moses was in his 80s when he heard God’s call. Joshua and Caleb were in their 80s when their opportunity came.

So, here I am 50.

Famous? Not hardly. I’ve been a few places and done a few things, rubbed a few shoulders, yet I’m not changing the world, not in a noteworthy wikipedia sort of way. I’ve preached a lot of sermons, sung a lot of songs, loved a lot of people, and raised a family. I have loved one woman for 30 years. I’ve tried to bring some light to lives, and brighten a few days. I trusted Christ as my Savior 45 years ago. I surrendered to God’s call to preach 39 years ago. I preached my first sermon 37 years ago. I preached my first Revival and wrote my first song 33 years ago. I have no idea how many sermons I’ve preached or songs I’ve sung. There is no way I can know how many people I’ve sung and shared the gospel with. I’ve been the Senior Pastor of 3 congregations. I’ve visited beautiful places. Preached in many countries. Visited many more. I’ve been able to step foot on four continents and now find myself serving as Pastor to a church in Germany, a church full of heroes, mostly young, serving in the cause of freedom. As an average person I’m above average in a few things. But in the things I’m above the average person, I’m just average. Does that even make sense? 🙂

Bottom Line I guess for me, if anyone is still reading this; I’m Jim Goforth. I am Lisa’s husband. I have kept my commitment to be her husband and care for her the best I can for almost 30 years now. She is my best friend and greatest supporter. I will love her my whole life, until I have no breath in my lungs. I don’t know what Eternity will be like. Jesus leads us to believe that this relationship may be different in Heaven, but if I can I’ll love her for Eternity. I am Dad, to Andrew James and Bryan Jameson. They have my name in theirs. They have my imprint on their countenance but also on their conscience, on their minds, even on their sports affections. I have done my best to raise them to be fine men. They are that. They are fine men. They are impacting the world. They love people and they love Jesus. I am James L Goforth Jr. I am Jim and Virginia Goforth’s Son and Tom’s brother. I am Grandson to Carl and Frances Goforth as well as Lester and Helen Patterson. I have tried to follow the legacy of what they left behind. My parents and grandparents taught me to love people, to love Jesus and that’s what I’ve tried to do. I’m an uncle a few times over. Perhaps one day I’ll be a Granddad, and I’ll be a good one. I’m Pastor Jim or Pastor Goforth to an ever changing congregation. I have been a friend to the friendly and often to the unfriendly.

All BEFORE I was 50.

I don’t have to have a Jimmy Stewart moment from my favorite Christmas movie to know I have had a wonderful life. And the reality is that I guess the world would be different in some way if I hadn’t been here.

So, I have tomorrow, maybe, and if I do, I’ll try to keep doing all of these things. If I get 10,000 more tomorrows, what is that about 25 years? (I just checked 27.4) If I get 10,000 tomorrows, I’ll be trying to do what I’ve done up until now. I guess it will just slow down a little and it will ache a little more but I’ll keep doing it. And if I get 10,000 tomorrows, I hope to have nearly 10,000 more because I’ll just be hitting my stride and maybe I’ll finally look old enough that people will think I know what I’m talking about. I plan to live to be 100 if the Lord delays his coming. I plan to play golf in the morning and preach and sing in the evening. But I’ll have to be somewhere south if I’m going to do that on December the 23rd 2064. 2064? WOW that’s 50 years from now. I hope to close that day out like I’ll close this day out, giving Lisa a kiss and hopefully we will still be able to recognize each other. If we don’t then I’ll happily reintroduce myself to her and take it slow.

I just want to be a man
who Worships his Lord,
who Loves his Wife,
who Leads his Sons,
who Shepherds his church,
and along the way
Enjoys this Life that God
has given him in every way

I’m Turning 50
Who Is God?

November 25th, 2014

Who Is God?
That is the question I have ringing in my head through this week’s incidents that boil to the top of a pot that has been recognized again since the August killing of Michael Brown. I say “recognized” because the pot is there, has been there, it just gets pushed aside, buried on the back and comes to the top every so often but is never really dealt with.
I lived and ministered in Ferguson for 11 years. We raised our sons there. I love North St. Louis County. I learned a lot in Ferguson, Missouri. This isn’t something new for St. Louis. It is a place of great division. It is a place of silent separation. It is a place where history said one man wasn’t a man because his skin was a different color and the Supreme Court made a judgment that he had no rights.
Who is God?
It is a city where people were turned back running from race riots and killings in Illinois because Missouri didn’t want to deal with the problem.
Who is God?

Who is God?
Where is God from?
Did God create us or did we create God?

So, shots rang out again months ago.
What happened? We aren’t completely sure, if we are honest.
We are told that a shop may have been burglarized
We are told that an authority told someone to stop
We are told that hands were raised
We are told that we want justice
Who is God?

Is Education god? then all else will bow to my pursuit of degrees

If money is god, then I will seek to acquire it at all costs. Interesting that when money is god it doesn’t matter what it costs someone else as long as I appease the god of acquisition of wealth in my own life. So if my workers live below the poverty level while I am a billionaire then so be it. If I can acquire wealth legally or illegally and if other lives are destroyed along the way, it matters not to my self-indulgent god. If I am a multi-billionaire discount shop owner, if money were not my god, how far would say 1 billion redistributed among my work force go for them? A long way. How much would it really hurt me? Nothing … unless wealth is my god, then it demands all
Who is God?
Is Justice god?
If so, then I will determine how I define that word and everything else I believe, do, say, will bow down to what I believe this god would have me do. If I believe rioting satisfies the god of justice, then a sacrificial riot I will offer. If I believe the god of justice demands the sacrifice of a burned down business, then I will do it. If I believe justice demands disregard of human decency I will do it. If I believe justice demands lethal force instead a non-lethal wound then I will do it.
Who is God?

If Activism is god, then be active make speeches, stir the pot, worry not if the pot boils over because activism is god. Sacrifice to god.

Who is God?
Where does God come from?
If WE created god, then we can decide what has value. If we created god, if man is not the product of God, then man has no more value than any other being. If we created god, then man, horse, ape, and house fly all have the same value and somewhere along the way we will work harder to protect the creature hiding in the thicket than the infant hiding in the womb. If we created god.
If we created god, then there is no such thing as authority.

I watched a young man on TV this week playing a fun but ultimately silly game. Standing before him was a man in a striped shirt. That man represents every rule of the game. That man represents authority. That man represents all that must be respected. That man stood with his hand outstretched in the universal symbol for STOP. Stop in the name of the law, stop in the name of love, stop in the name of decency, stop please. But no, that quarterback, wanted to do what he wanted to do. He didn’t care that authority stood in front of him. He didn’t care that rules stood in front of him. He didn’t care that there has always been a zone around the official that we dare not enter or touch and if even accidentally we cross into that space, we immediately apologize and beg forgiveness … No the quarterback cared only for his plan, only for his desire, and so he put his hands on authority, he put his weight behind his selfish desire to fulfill his own purpose and pushed authority out of the way. Not once, but twice, he pushed until authority gave way … and on the field seven other officials did nothing. On the sideline a coach did nothing. In the campus office, they did nothing, in the conference office they did nothing. There was a day when every person in the stands would have called the penalty. Every flag on the field would have been thrown. There was a day when the coach would have pulled his own player and sat him down on the bench for disrespect of the rules. The player, by the rules, should have been penalized, ejected, and thus suspended for the next game, but no one did anything.
Yes, it is JUST A GAME … but who is god? Money, Players, Coaches … SELF?
YES YES YES YES
Does a game really matter? NO … but it IS that hand that is up …
We are hearing a lot about “Stop My Hands are Up”
But if a hand up to stop doesn’t mean anything from the man in the authority uniform, then the hand up of surrender doesn’t mean anything either. At the root of the problem is that no one respects authority any longer, each does what he thinks right in his own eyes.
Who is God?
If we created god, then he is no god at all. If we created god, then we can create our own definition of reality
But if God is the Creator of man, if God had a plan and created this world and created man as the highest order of his creation, then everything changes
Where did God come from?
Is He from time or from Eternity?
John 1:1-3, 12, 14 (speaking of Jesus) – “in the beginning was the WORD and the WORD was with God and the WORD was God. He was in the beginning with God. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that was made
12 – To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God –
14 The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father full of Grace and Truth”

Jesus is Eternally God, Creator of all, who became flesh and dwelt among us that we might become the children of God
If HE is God and we are not then we cannot take vengeance into our hands because we aren’t God … Scripture says “Vengeance is mine says the Lord”
Vengeance is not our prerogative nor our possession.
The reason that vengeance belongs to GOD is because He is the ONLY ONE who is HOLY enough, JUST enough, WISE enough, and LOVES enough to administer it. When we take vengeance into our sin-stained hands we never get it right.

If we wonder why “hands up” no longer mean anything, look to that silly game this past weekend. That young man has seen hands held up in his face for the last two years and they meant nothing to him, not a girl’s hands saying “no”, a merchant’s hand saying “pay”, common decency’s hand saying “don’t say that outloud”, nor an official’s hand saying “wait” … and so he did this weekend what he has done, what has made him a winning football player, he shoved that hand out of the way.
So we live in a world that shoves everything out of the way except what we want, and that is true on both sides of the equation, and so we see an officer not respect hands up either and another life is wasted in the pursuit of a life with no God, a life with no restraint
So while hands of authority are being shoved aside,
While hands of surrender are being ignored,
God’s hand out too is ignored.
God’s invitation is ignored.
God’s hand is not just a hand up saying “no”
His hand is a hand held out that says “come”
“Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest”
“Come to me all who are thirsty and I will give you living water”
“Come to me all who are hungry and you will be filled”

Who is God? He is Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Second person of a Triune God
Jesus is God, whether we accept it, reject it, ignore it, or embrace it, God He will be
He is God
God Help Us
God Help Us
I Know Child

November 9th, 2014

Suffering?

I know child,

I know you’re suffering the frailty of humanity. I know you were born in the suffering of sin. I know you are suffering in loneliness, longing for me; I know child,
I know.

Healing will come, health will renew.

But for now you are suffering ,
I know.

Your suffering may be self-inflicted. Your suffering may be the human condition. Your suffering may be human injustice. Your suffering may be so that one may believe.

No matter,
I know child,
I know.

Whether you suffer in silence,
Whether you suffer alone,
When you suffer in the light of persecution and a martyr’s blade;

I know child,
I know.

Look to the manger and see the glory of the universe’s king suffering alone the indignity of poverty and humanity.
Look to the hills of Galilee and see him suffering rejection and disbelief of a message too hard for some and misdirected for others.
Look to Pilate’s courtyard and see him suffering the lashes of an angry establishment.
Look to a hill called Calvary, and see him suffer the greatest pain as mercy is provided and grace paved the way;

“Where are you Father?”; “Why am I alone?”; “Why have you forsaken me?”;

I know child,
I know

In the darkness and silence of the tomb,
Hear him say “I know child, I know”.
In the fear of the upper room, disciples hiding frightened and ashamed

I know, child,
I know

Oh but a light dawns
The earth shakes
The stone rolls
And the Father says

I know, child
I know

Whatever you face,
Looking back at the sun setting on a Resurrection yesterday
I see the glowing light of a dawn in the east …
I hear the faint rustling of a trumpeter preparing his mouthpiece, taking his stand, as God says

I know child, I know!
Today you suffer no more!

Hallelujah, I know!
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 …