Pastor Goforth

Distance? Who Moved?

November 6th, 2013

The day was when all of our cars had bench seats, not bucket seats. When my wife and I started dating the “thing” was for the girl to sit in the middle, close to her boyfriend/husband, who was driving. So the story goes that an “experienced” couple was at a traffic light, each sitting next to their respective windows, when a young couple pulled up next to them, and the girl was sitting in the middle close to her man. The more “experienced” lady asked her longtime husband, “how come we don’t sit close like that anymore when we are driving?” Her husband gave a matter of fact reply, “well, I haven’t moved.” 🙂

If there was distance, it wasn’t the driver’s fault. So it is in our relationship with the Lord, if you look up and feel like “wait a minute, there’s some distance in my relationship with the Lord.” You can ask the Lord “what happened, why the distance?” To which he will reply, “I haven’t moved.”

James 4:8 says “Come near to God, and he will come near to you.”

Are we close to the Lord, or far away? The Greek word translated “Come near” is the word engizo = to come near(distance), come near(time). In Matthew 3:2 the word is used when John the Baptist begins preaching, his message was “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near” … He was “turn around, stop going that way, come THIS way because the Kingdom is right here and right now! It’s time to be near to God and he’s over here.”

Luke 12:28 also uses the word saying “lift up your head because your redemption is drawing nigh” Oh don’t be discouraged any longer, hope is here, and provision is almost made, look this way!

When God is calling us to draw near, we need to act. In observations on this verse, Oswald Chambers says “the paralysis of refusing to act leaves a man exactly where he was before. When once he acts, he is never the same” (My Utmost for His Highest – November 4)

So, what happens? How did the distance arise in our relationship? Well there could be a myriad of reasons, but perhaps we can group them into three groups, as suggested by James 4.

The FIRST is our Affections – James 4:4 calls them “adulterous people”. That’s a pretty strong word but we understand it, do we not? Sometimes our affections get divided, misplaced. Sometimes we give affection and attention from our heart to things/people in areas that we should be giving to the Lord. It’s not always bad things, but just we’ve let our heart get divided. We are seeking support, encouragement, advice, direction, illumination, from others instead of our God and King, Savior and Friend. James 4:4 further says that “a friend of the world is an enemy of God” and verse 5 says that The Spirit within us “envies intensely”. When there is distance in our relationship God is understandably Jealous.

There is a Second area that cause distance and that is Attitude – the word is PRIDE. It goes on to say there in James 4 that “God Opposes the Proud”. There is only room for ONE person in our relationship with God to be the greatest, head, leader, direction, and King. When we TAKE that roll, it unfortunately causes distance. God is not going to stay close, if we want to run the show. God will not share his glory with anyone. Jesus said “I am the vine, YOU are the branches”(john 15:5) … Not to say that he LEAVES us, but certainly he cannot relate in closeness to us when PRIDE causes us to think we can take his rightful place in our life. We would never SAY that we are God and King, but we can act that way sometimes can’t we?

The Third thing that causes distance then is Action – James 4:7 instructs us “submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee”. Distance comes when God is asking for obedience in an area and we will not submit, obey, and follow. And you can be sure that wherever God is asking for obedience, satan is working against us. When we are focused on fighting satan, we look up and find ourselves away from the Lord. That might sound strange, and you say “but I was fighting satan”. But God is asking for your attention. Submit to him and HE will take care of satan. Are we focused on obedience, or on disobedience?

SO THEN … Let’s flip it, how do I get back to the closeness in my fellowship with Christ? Again quoting Oswald Chambers he says “The moments when I TRULY LIVE are the moments when I act with my WHOLE WILL”(ibid)

Same three things – First Affections – What did Jesus tell the Ephesian church in Revelation 2? “You have left your first love“. He gave them the remedy, “repent and do the things you did first“. For a couple that has “fallen out of love” or for the child of God who has found distance, the instruction is the same, “turn around and do what you did when you were close”. If you don’t feel it, do it UNTIL you feel it. Love, Confess, Talk about, Brag on God. Worship him. Turn your back on inordinate friendship with the things of the World, set your affection on him

Second – Attitude – The Lord doesn’t love sacrifices, he loves a broken and contrite heart. It is in humility. Proverbs 15:33 says “The fear of the Lord teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor” Proverbs 22:4 says “Humility and the fear of the Lord bring wealth and honor and life.” And James 4:10 says “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” We should say “Lord, i need your grace, because i am weak and without the ability to be close, i am sinful, Lord you know how I am made, help me draw close”

Finally then, we draw close in Action – One other quote from Oswald Chambers. “Never allow a truth of God that is brought home to your soul pass without action on it” (Ibid). What will you do with this truth? James teaches again in 4:7 “submit to God, resist the devil”. That is the proper order … Turn your face to the Lord and say “YES Lord”… in every area. Turn your back on temptation and move toward obedience. ACT on the Obedience requested, so then when you resist the devil, it is basically a passive result of the active obedience and the Devil will FLEE. No confusion here on the translation. The word pheugo means to disappear quickly, become invisible. POOF … when we ACT in obedience, satan has no power.

When my Affection, Attitude, and Actions are FOR God, when they BURN for Christ, I look up and guess what? I am NEAR HIM and He is Near Me

Prayer: Oh Lord, search me and know me. See if my affections have waned, see if my attitude is prideful instead of humble. Lord search my actions to see that I am submitting to you in every area. Then lead me in the way everlasting from a loving, humble, obedient heart, draw me close. For the Glory of Jesus, Amen

Bless the Lord

Come Lord Jesus – Maranatha
That We Might Become …

October 8th, 2013

One of the most quoted verses about salvation is 2 Corinthians 5:17 “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away, behold new things have come” (NASB) … When we come to Christ, when we are IN Christ, we don’t “turn over a new leaf”. Jesus doesn’t reform us, rework us? No, we become a NEW Creation. YAY! I like New Things. But what does that mean? How could that even BE?

How can I become new and what is that anyway?

A few verses down, verse 21, clues us in to such a beautiful truth. “He made Him, who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”
God made Him, Jesus, who knew no, or had no sin to become sin FOR us, SO THAT … we in him might become the Righteousness of God

Think with me for a minute. Jesus Christ was eternally perfect, eternally in perfection and holiness. Eternally he was pure and worshiped in the splendor of holiness, never knowing the dirtiness of sin. He then was thrust into the dirtiness of our sinful world. Have you ever come into a really dirty place, I mean where you didn’t even want to touch anything? You ever gotten that feeling, where you just about freaked out at the dirt? How about Jesus Christ, from the Holiness of Heaven to the sinfulness of earth?
Jesus Christ knew no sin, and he came to us and became sin FOR us. He came into our sin soaked world, wow what a creepy crawly, holy germophobic experience that must have been. Yet he was still sinless walking purely in an impure world.

Then, on the cross, he became our atoning sacrifice, our propitiation. At that moment there on the cross, God turned his back, the sun stopped shining, the earth shook, Jesus Cried Out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” As God forsook Christ he was reaching out to us. Why? “SO THAT” … God always has a purpose. “So That” WE … who knew no righteousness, WE who only knew self-righteousness, we who have righteousness that is like filthy rags … We knew we were in a mess, and we try to clean it up, but have you tried to clean something with a stained or oily rag? Won’t work. So we who knew nothing but a swirly sin stained mess … needed something.

And so WE, though we knew no righteousness, … find that in the combination of the moment that he became sin for us and the moment that we receive it as our atoning sacrifice, we became something NEW, RIGHTEOUS. And not just any righteousness. Jesus Christ didn’t die on the cross to make me the best version of myself. No, In Christ, we become The Righteousness of God!

I can’t even wrap my feeble mind around that blessed truth. But IN Christ, I become like Christ, that I might, as 2 Peter 1:3-4 says we can participate in the divine nature.

Oh Blessed Grace … The Righteousness of God IN ME as I am IN Christ, and so, I am a NEW Thing, the past is gone, everything New. Christ in me, the Hope of Glory! Hallelujah!
Godward

September 16th, 2013

Where are your eyes?

Oswald Chambers begins the writing recorded for September 16 in “My Utmost for His Highest” with the statement: “the main idea in the region of religion is – your eyes upon God.”

Where will you look today? I wrote a praise song several years ago entitled “Look Up”

Look up! Don’t look down. Look up! don’t turn around. Look up! Don’t look here or there, God’s everywhere, Look up!

Isaiah 51:6 says “Lift up your eyes to the heavens (skies) look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail”

Stop for a moment right now, look up, down, and around. Look to the person near you, over you, ever pursuing you. All of that will fail, will fall, but our salvation, our righteousness will last forever, it will never fail.

Psalm 121:1,2 says “I lift my eyes toward the mountains, where will my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and Earth“ Then verse 4 says “Indeed … (He) … does not slumber or sleep”

I am choosing to “LOOK UP”. When I am in the Valley, surrounded by darkness, when the shadow of circling storms comes over me and I’m looking for help to come over the mountain tops … My help is in The Lord.

Psalm 123:1-2 says “I lift my eyes to you, O God, enthroned in heaven. We Keep looking to the Lord our God for his mercy just as servants keep their eyes on their master, as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal”

We often look to the Lord, but if he doesn’t respond as we want immediately, our gaze goes elsewhere. However, the act of worshipful faith comes as we keep on looking in expectation and confident hope. We look too often in the wrong direction. We want the help of man. We desire man’s approval and pleasure. All the while, things of this earth and people with their eyes on earthly things disappoint us.

Look Beyond!

Determine today, I Will Look. I will KEEP ON looking to the Lord. Faith is not faith if we can touch it, explain it, and understand it. Faith is the certainty of Hope until tactile reality shows up in my front yard.

Yet, sometimes I can’t see to look. David said, in Psalm 88:9, “My eyes are blinded by my tears. Each day i beg for your help, O Lord, I lift my hands to you for mercy.” There is a lot of truth for us to see there, not the least of which is that every earthly problem is ultimately our fault because of the scope of human sin. We started this wildfire so we are culpable. We have no right to ask God for anything. But we beg for his mercy, for him to give us grace we don’t deserve. We deserve death and every result of our sin, but we cry out for mercy.

When your eyes fill with tears so you can’t see, then lift up your hands, reach up to your loving daddy “Abba” Father.

When your arms are too tired, lift your voice and cry out to him

When your voice fails, be still and know that he is God, lift your heart.

Ultimately the point is to keep your whole being, eyes, hands, voice, Godward

Godward

Godward, what a beautiful one word vision of the foreseeable future. What a beautiful one word mission objective, that every intent, passion, thought, look, step, exertion, be ever

Godward

Where are your eyes? Godward?

Where are your hands? Godward?

Where is your heart? Godward?

Godward

Godward

Godward!
Take Captive Every Thought

September 9th, 2013

2 Corinthians 10:5b says “take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ”

“Captivity” seems like such a negative word and “Freedom” such a good word. Such a very “American” word is Freedom. We love that word.

But sometimes, when it comes to thoughts and actions, “freedom” at what cost and “captivity” for what purpose?

When we allow our thoughts to run in “freedom”, then danger is just down the road.

James taught us that Tempation is the conception place for sin. Temptation begins wtih a look, then a thought, then a possibility, then an action and eventually the result that James says is always death.

So it goes back to a thought by thought discipline. We need the discipline to take each thought and bring it under the discipleship of Jesus Christ. We need to take into captivity every thought, good or bad, and make it obedient to truth and to life. Do you have the vision to see the end potential for the thought that has entered your heart? This takes discipline, foresight, and a vision for the future.

When the idea springs into my thoughts, I have to ask “where does this lead?” “How will it affect me?” “How will this affect my personal, spiritual, and relational health?” I need to ask “How will this affect the advancement of the Kingdom? Does it have an impact on those with whom I serve in ministry?”

taking captive every thought gives me the opportunity to examine the thought, intent, motives, and be sure that it reflects Christ, his love, his character, and his eternal purposes.

When I take that thought captive and don’t let it simply run free, then 2 Corinthians 10:5a says that I demolish arguments, and pretension that sets up against the knowledge of God. Have you ever jumped into a defensive argument before your thought about it, only to realize that you are defending an undefensible position? Take Captive Every Thought

Have you ever deceived yourself into believing something that isn’t true and gone long down the path to destruction following a faulty assumption? Take Captive Every Thought

Relationships are too important to not take every thought captive

The Eternal work of the Kingom is too important to not take captive every thought.

The will of God is that all who are known by him be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, so take captive every thought and be sure that it will advance you in the image of Jesus. So when the thought comes, ask, “who does that thought make you look like? Jesus? Or the Enemy everything Holy?

Remember Jesus said that “the thief” comes to steal, kill, and destroy. He is out to destroy us and everythought that is not obedient to Christ will have the purpose of destruction. So, take into captivity everything thought, put it under God’s discipline and see if it has a thieving, deadly, destructive nature, and if so, then do not let it out of captivity.

Jesus continued, in John 10:10 that HE came to give us abundant life. So, when I take my thoughts, ideas, desires into captivity, the only ones I allow to run free are the ones that bring life, abundant life.

Be disciplined and take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.
This Is My Dream

August 28th, 2013

Dr. King had a dream. That dream inspired me growing up. I wrote a song on MLK Weekend in 2002

I had a dream, I woke by the sea, people all around me, far as the eye could see

I focused on the faces from ev’ry tribe and tongue, lifting up praises as one to the throne

And I cried “Father, what’s happened to the dream? Why don’t we have this freedom that I see?” It was Jefferson’s Declaration, Mr. Lincoln’s Proclamation, and Dr. King’s Enunciation of the Heart of the Savior of all when he prayed

“Father, let them be one, I am in you, they are in me, may they come to us in complete unity” he prayed

“Father, let them be one, that the world may believe that they can be free, may they understand, love is the key” This is my dream

That we shall overcome, we shall overcome, by the word of our testimony and the power of the blood, greater is he within me great is his love

There is a dream, there is a hope, that you’ll not be judged by the color of your skin, but by The Lord who lives within

I know what will be, up there by the sea, but why not now, why not today, why not you, why not me?

This is my dream

This Is My Dream (c) 2002 – Jim Goforth
Peace I Leave with You

August 28th, 2013

The night before Jesus was crucified he was giving important final words to his disciples. Granted, they didn’t understand what was about to happen, even though he had warned them of his coming death. These words were important final instructions as things were about to change for them. In the midst of whatever turmoil, trouble, and trials you are facing, Jesus says “PEACE, I leave with you, MY Peace, I give to you.” John 14:27. PEACE, MY PEACE … He adds “I do not give as the world gives” so “let not your hearts be troubled”.

What is our master saying to us? Is peace a concept? Think for a minute, how do YOU define peace? How do YOU give peace? Jesus says, I don’t give THAT way, so don’t LET your heart be troubled. What is Jesus giving us, in giving us peace? Could it be that it isn’t a WHAT … but a WHO? If you go back up one verse he says in verse 25, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name will teach you all things and will remind you of everything i have said to you. 27 Peace I lave you …” Now do you see it?

Peace, the peace that Jesus leaves, isn’t a what, it is a who. Peace is a PERSON. It is the 3rd Person of the Trinity, God, The Holy Spirit. We have him, if we have Christ. He gave him to us as a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession. (Eph 1:14) The moment a person gives themselves to Jesus Christ, receives his forgiveness and Grace, they HAVE Peace, in the person of the Holy Spirit.

So, if peace is not active then our focus is OFF the Person and the Reign of the Holy Spirit. We have to allow the Holy Spirit to Reign in us. Colossians 3:15-17 “Let the peace of Christ RULE in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful 16 let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts 17 whatever you do … do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him …” Do you see how it is? Peace is GIVEN to us in the person of the Holy Spirit. But we must LET him RULE in our hearts. He rules in our hearts as we respond to the WORD of God. Remember his job is to remind us of everything Jesus said. So we must KNOW the Word, we must MEDITATE on the WORD, MEMORIZE the word, and then LET it RULE in our hearts. Giving Thanks, because the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives means we HAVE a Future, we have an inheritance, so what can the world do to us REALLY?

When peace is absent, it is because something in our life is operating apart from Christ. “LET” means we have to surrender to the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Peace Absent = The Spirit is being Quenched in our hearts

Peace Present = Spirit Filled, Spirit Led

Allow the Word of God to run free in our hearts. Memorize, Meditate, Speak Scripture over your circumstance, then Stand on the Word until it becomes a present reality.

Faith is what you hold on to until Promise becomes Reality. If there is not peace in your life, there IS Peace In your Heart, HE is There. Look into His Face, Feel His Hand, Hear His Song

Zephaniah 3:17 The Lord your God is WITH you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in your, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing

Peace I Leave With You
“Saba” – Hebrew – To eat, drink one’s fill – Satisfied

August 27th, 2013

Yesterday I preached on “Contentment” – and someone came up and asked me about a word they had found in the Old Testament for Satisfaction that is transliterated “saba”. It means to be “satisfied”. In Psalm 17:15 David said he would be satisfied to simply have the Lord’s image every day. Pretty good place to start.

So as I looked today, for this member at some of the passages that use this word, I was reading Isaiah 58:1-11. You should read it. The word is found in Isaiah 58:11. God promises his people a satisfaction, a filling i.e. a “holy fullness” that cannot be filled by anything else.

So, while our salvation IS based on his Grace alone, though faith alone, there ARE many aspects of the Christian life that are naturally conditional. And in this passage, in verse 11 he does promise to satisfy our needs and to strengthen us. He promises we will flourish like a “well watered garden”, like a never-ending spring. It says we can rebuild upon our ruins, repair broken walls and have restoration.

But it is a conditional promise.

IF we stop oppression and pointing our finger at others, which is not talking about prophetic preaching, but about “malicious talk”. If we ONLY point at others to condemn them, instead of to incite them to repentance, then God can’t bless

IF we “spend ourselves” for the hungry and oppressed … that is certainly in resources but it is deeper than that. Spend yourself, not just a check but signing over our lives in giving and serving.

Conditional

THEN our LIGHT will Rise in the Darkness. Night will become LIKE Noonday.

When the Church of the Lord commits to “True Religion” as James 1:26-27 describes, a controlled tongue, a commitment to the helpless and hopeless, and a commitment to personal purity, … THEN … Light Shines in Darkness.

What is the point of religious expression? What is the point of worship? Do we worship for selfish reasons? Here in Isaiah 58 God says that his people are “fasting” but for what reason? Obviously it was for selfish reasons, because when God doesn’t respond to their prayers, they ask “why did we fast?” “haven’t you seen?” They complain that God doesn’t notice and their self-denial just results in them fussing and fighting. Worship isn’t about ME, or it isn’t worship!

The physical purpose of fasting is that the “resources saved” in the fast can be spent on the hungry and oppressed, and clothe the naked. When we deprive ourselves and lift up others THEN that Light SHINES.

The Spiritual Response then is that God sees, hears, and responds accordingly. The GLORY then of God, that is His Reputation, protects us, surrounds us on every side. And we find that We Call and He Will Answer. We Cry for help and He says “I am Here” …

Dear ones, every time God says “I Am Here” we will be Satisfied, if not as we want, always as we need. His Grace of Presence is always sufficient.

Worship Him and find Satisfaction