LifeLink Devotions

Monday, June 5, 2023

Isaiah 13:2  Raise a banner on a bare hilltop, shout to them; beckon to them to enter the gates of the nobles.

The first time it happened was 23 years ago. It had taken 32 years of trying to see it for the first time. During that time, I had tried over 4,000 times to do it and had never accomplished it. What a moment it was when I was successful for the first time.

Then it happened again after 1200 attempts. I thought my odds were improving. But it’s been 15 years and still no third hole-in-one. But I will keep trying. I am that persistent about things that I love.

I remember the thrill of the last one as I watched that little white ball plopped into the hole. I shouted – loudly. People from adjoining holes shouted with me and raised their arms in a gesture of success and admiration. My son who was with me shouted. We high-fived. Two men from the next tee box came running over and peaked into the hole to verify what had happened. They wanted to be witnesses of a very special moment for any golfer. They may have also wanted the free beverages I would have to buy in the clubhouse.

I can’t remember how long Josh and I stood on that tee box yelling and jumping and raising our arms, but it was a long time. I will never forget that moment.

The next morning, however, I felt guilty. No, I didn’t lie or cheat. I felt guilty because of the public display of emotion that I showed over a single golf shot and what that says about my life. I felt guilty about the passionate pursuit of a “one” that seems to be more significant than the passionate pursuit of the “One.” I wondered if I stood cheering the golf shot with my arms raised longer than I had cheered my Lord and Savior with arms raised in church yesterday. I wondered if my enthusiasm for the things of God is still more evident than my excitement over a game of golf.

Then I came to this point of puzzlement – have I pursued the one lost soul with the Gospel of Christ as persistently as I have pursued the “one” on a scorecard? Think about this for a moment. How many attempts have you made in the last 15 years to lead someone to faith in Jesus Christ? When did you stop trying? When did the body of Christ lose the enthusiasm of salvation and the persistence to witness no matter how long it takes to win even one? Why is worship in church so casual and non-expressive? Where are the shouts that attract people from adjoining properties? Where are the people running to be witnesses of what is happening? What has happened to us?

My friends, don’t pass this over as just creative writing or a good illustration. This is a serious matter. Every day God does incredible things in us and all around us. Where is the cheering? When I stood on the tee box, I didn’t stop to think for one minute how much attention I was drawing to myself. I didn’t care for an instant what other people were going to think of me. I exploded with enthusiasm over accomplishing something I was pursuing.

So why is it that in church we are so reserved in our worship of the King who saved us from eternal death and gave us the free, fully-paid-for gift of eternal life? Why is it that we so rarely celebrate the victory of seeing one person come to Christ for salvation? Why have we stopped carrying our spiritual golf clubs out into the world’s courses of life to pursue the elusive “one”?

I think it must have something to do with what we really love.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Friday, June 2, 2023

Isaiah 13:2  Raise a banner on a bare hilltop, shout to them; beckon to them to enter the gates of the nobles.

Thirteen years ago my wife and I visited the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Minnesota Science Museum. I also had the privilege to visit the Dead Sea site and museum in Israel on a later trip. As we entered the general display areas in Minnesota, we were immediately overwhelmed with the spiritual darkness that exists there. We commented to each other about the tragedy of a scientific community that denies the existence of their Creator, and how the influence of such a place is affecting the next generation of students that come for a visit. Every display in some way renounces God and promotes evolution. They have even created a display that promotes the use of stem cells from aborted babies.

It was no surprise that the Dead Sea Scrolls display would be primarily treated from a secular humanistic perspective. Don’t get me wrong, the display was very educational and as you will see in a moment very moving, but my heart is heavy because the wonder and awe of this discovery is being packaged in a merely scientific and cultural wrapping. Granted there is much we can learn about the culture of Jesus’ day from these writings, but the primary focus should be on the spiritual truth they contain about the nature and work of God.

As Denise and I proceeded through the exhibit, we were moved by the history of God’s people. We were challenged by the political conflict between the Pharisees and the Sadducees of Jesus’ day that was discovered in the writings of the Scrolls. They fought over control of the Temple. The winner would be able to impose their standards of obedience and righteousness on the people. The Sadducees were much more demanding and wanted the Law of God in written form. The Pharisees wanted only an oral tradition of the law so that it could be changed easily to meet the lenient demands of a fickle culture. That is why Jesus said the Pharisees were like white-washed tombs, with the appearance of sacred holiness on the outside but filled with death and corruption on the inside.

Finally, the time came to enter the last room where five actual fragments of the scrolls were on display in sealed cases. As we stood outside the entrance and listened to the voice in our headsets introduce what we were about to see, my eyes filled with tears. They were bittersweet tears. The first tears were tears of joy, as I realized I was about to see what the Scribes of Jesus’ day had written to preserve the integrity of the Holy Scriptures. Then tears of pain came, as my heart broke for all the people who would not realize what they were seeing and would only see a scientific discovery with no spiritual value.

The first display of Scroll fragments was from the book of Leviticus, and explained the consequence of offering a child as a sacrifice to the false god Molech. I was overwhelmed with the awesomeness of God’s holiness, and wondered how many parents today are offering their children to the false God of humanistic thought and hedonistic pursuits.

Then was a display of fragments from the book of Genesis, where Jacob, now named Israel, meets Joseph’s sons Manasseh and Ephraim for the first time and chooses to bless them. I was reminded that no matter what happens in our culture, God is in control and His covenant cannot be broken. It is a covenant that has now been sealed in the blood of Jesus and guaranteed by His resurrection from the dead. I rejoiced in my heart that no scientist or professor can stop the plan of Almighty God, no matter how strong their arguments or loud their voices.

But then I realized that my voice has not been loud enough. I was convicted that the voices of millions like me around the world are not loud enough. We have been silenced by unjustified fear of what is weaker. Greater is He that is in us than He that is in the world! So it is time to raise the banner of Jesus Christ. It is time to proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ. It is time to once again let the world know that truth shall prevail – the truth that Jesus is Lord! Let your voice be heard and let your life back up what you say.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Thursday, June 1, 2023

God promised that the day is coming when He will establish His King and Kingdom on the earth. His people, who have been scattered all over the earth for generations, will be reclaimed and reunited in Israel and become a great nation again under the reign of Jesus Christ.  All enemies will be cut off. All competition for recognition and prestige will end. Israel will become the most powerful and dominant nation of the world. God will make the way easy for them to return to the Promised Land. It will be the time of God fulfilling His covenant to Abraham as a testimony to His faithfulness.

In Isaiah 12 we have songs of praise that the people will sing when the promise has been fulfilled.

Isaiah 12:2  “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.”

The people will proudly and boldly proclaim the marvelous works of Almighty God to save them and bring them into the Promised Land permanently. The whole earth will be overwhelmed with the greatness of God.

That’s the historical and prophetic picture of what happens in God’s chosen people Israel. But there is a bigger picture for us today. Notice the spiritual applications to our lives today:

• People are living in the bondage of sin, held captive by its deceptive influence on the fleshly desires we all have to seek acceptance and recognition. They are scattered all over the earth seeking fulfillment in a myriad of ways, all of which drive them deeper into sin and further from their true homeland in Christ.
• Jesus has raised up a banner for all the world to see, so that people can be reclaimed and reunited in God’s true family. That banner is the cross, where Jesus died to pay for the sin of the world and reconcile people to God. Jesus declared that truth in John 3:14 when He said, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” Then in John 12 Jesus said, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” 
• God has made the way easy to come home. He has prepared every path of your life with crossroads that lead to Him. You may have ignored them or been so focused on the path of self-fulfillment that you didn’t see them, but they have been there. If you will open your eyes and look you will see the path of God leading you to the cross where your life can begin.
• Once you come to the cross, the joy of salvation will so fill your heart that you will burst forth in words of praise so that others will be able to hear about God’s greatness. No longer will your heart be filled with complaints or criticism. No longer will resentment and bitterness rule your thought life. There will be no more grudges harbored in a heart of unforgiveness because you will have experienced ultimate forgiveness from the Lord and will be ready to do the same for others no matter what they have done.

Everyone reading this today can relate to one point on this path. Maybe you are the one who is still living on your own path, rejecting every crossroad that would lead you to Jesus so you can fulfill your own desires. I have news for you – God never gives up designing crossroads in your life to draw you to Jesus. You will come across one even today.

Maybe you are the one who has started toward Jesus, but the desires and influence of the world are distracting you. Don’t stop moving to the point of repentance and surrender to Jesus. Consider how unfulfilling and literally deadly the pursuits of the world have been. Now consider what you are missing by not having the fullness of Jesus Christ the Lord living in you by the power of the Holy Spirit. Choose life, not death.

Many of you have already met Jesus at the cross. Why has the singing stopped? Why has the proclamation of the greatness of God been replaced with the pursuits of personal well-being in the world? Why are we living like we don’t believe the truth of these words from Isaiah?

“Surely God is my salvation: I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”

It is time for the followers of Jesus to stand up and do what Isaiah says we will do when the day of salvation comes.

“Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”

Pastor John