LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Isaiah 62:1 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch.

Remember yesterday’s challenge to Speak Up? With permission to share this, here’s what happened when I spoke up. It’s long, but it’s eternally worth the time you will spend to read it.

One Sunday after church, a young lady from our church came to give me a hug after the service. I had been praying for this teenager for a couple of years. Occasionally I would ask her about her readiness to make a commitment to Christ, and I would get a polite but cold response. The Holy Spirit directed me to ask her again.

As I looked in her eyes, I challenged her again to consider her commitment to Christ, and she said she would, and that she would contact me later in the week. Now I really started praying.

Her 16th birthday was during the week, and I sent her a note of congratulations. At 8:30 that night my phone buzzed. It was a text message from her. It read, “Hey Pastor John…I’ve been thinking about the baptism on Sunday n I wanna do it.” My heart leapt into my throat with excitement. I quickly texted her back and asked if I could call her, and she said yes.

At this point many pastors and even many parents would simply assume that the person is saved and ready for baptism, but that is completely wrong! Am I ever glad I didn’t do that.  I spoke up, and it resulted in an eternal salvation taking place. With absolutely no offense intended to this young lady, I have her permission to share the context of our conversation.

As we talked, I discovered something very significant – she didn’t really understand the Gospel. I have been aware of the false Gospel being promoted in churches all over the world for a long time and have been trying to warn people about it, but when someone in my own church is not understanding salvation even though the truth is preached, I realized the depth of the deception that is going on in our so called Christian community.

I asked her when she got saved, and she didn’t know what that meant. I asked her about her commitment to Christ, and she said she wanted to try harder to change her life. God was working on her heart, but she was putting everything into the context of her efforts to become fit for God. She didn’t understand repentance and trusting Christ’s efforts on her behalf. Just as many others are, she had been deceived into thinking that knowing about God and following God are our responsibility, and if we work at it hard enough, we will be successful and He will save us. HOW FALSE THIS IS! If you believe this, you are still lost. I’m only speaking up because I love you.

I took her back to the Garden of Eden and God’s original creation. I showed her how man sinned and rejected total intimacy with God and placed their trust in their own wisdom and understanding. With every new foundation of truth I asked her if she understood, and the Holy Spirit was opening her eyes and her heart as she said yes!

I asked her if there was anything in her of worth that she could offer to God as payment for her sin, and she said no. I proceeded to tell her that God so loves us that He wants to save us. So I asked her what God had given us so that our sins could be forgiven. She said “Baptism.” Ouch. My heart was pierced with the perversion of the Gospel again. I simply said, that wasn’t right, and I asked the question again. This time she said, “Communion.” The knife twisted again in my heart. How many people all over the world are being led directly to an eternity in Hell because they believe that an activity of man can bring them forgiveness? It breaks my heart to think of it.

When I told her again that her answer was incorrect, I could hear the nervousness in her voice. I reassured her that this was all necessary so she would really know the truth and be saved, and we continued. I began quoting John 3:16 to her –  For so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…and I stopped. She immediately finished quoting the verse for me. I asked her if it said that whoever is baptized shall have eternal life, and she of course said no. I did the same with communion, and she again said no. I emphasized the truth to her that whoever believes on Him – Jesus Christ and His work on the cross – shall have everlasting life. The light of truth was being turned on for her.

I said very simply to her that there were three things she needed to believe:

1. That she is a sinner and incapable of ever doing enough to earn her salvation from sin. (See Romans 3:23 and Titus 3:3-7)
2. That God sent Jesus to the earth to completely pay the price for our sin by becoming our sin and dying voluntarily on the cross, and that God proved His satisfaction with the sacrifice by raising Jesus from the dead and exalting Him to the right hand of God in Heaven, guaranteeing eternal life those who believe in Him. (Hebrews 10:11 – But when [Jesus] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.)
3. That all she needs to do is believe in her heart that Jesus died and was resurrected from the dead for her sins, and confess with her mouth that Jesus is Lord, she will be saved. (Romans 10:9-10) In that moment of belief and confession, your sins will be forgiven and you will be saved for all eternity.

I asked her if she was ready to do that and she said yes. YES!!! What a moment. We prayed and she confessed her need of forgiveness. She confessed that Jesus had died for her sins. She confessed she could do no works to earn salvation. She accepted God’s forgives and surrendered her life to Jesus Christ and asked Him to change her from the inside out. Hallelujah, it is finished! Her debt was paid by Jesus. She experienced another birthday on her birthday!

She was baptized on Sunday as a believer, not to earn anything, but to proclaim faith in Jesus Christ. She was baptized as an expression of her personal faith in Jesus Christ, not as a means of entering into faith. She was baptized because she already had sufficient grace for salvation, not to receive more grace.

That is the Gospel. Don’t be deceived any longer by teaching that focuses on our efforts. There is only one way, one truth, and one life. Jesus put forth all the effort needed to save you. And until I die, I will speak up about it.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Monday, February 10, 2020

I love it when someone asks me to speak at an event. I am a verbal person. Verbose maybe. Annoying sometimes. But I love to talk. The question is, why?

With sincere repentance in my heart I must admit that for much of my life the motivation for my communication was selfish. It is still a difficult struggle. I get to tell my stories. I get to watch people’s reactions and hear their responses.  When I talk, the attention is on me, and I like that. Come on; look deep into your heart. It may be true of you too.

But why is it that when words will benefit someone else, we find it difficult to speak them? It’s amazing how we speak when we should be silent and we are silent when we should speak. Personal benefit motivates our activity more than we dare to admit. Fear of rejection and fear of retribution cause us to go silent.

Isaiah was in a tough place. The nation to which he had been called as a prophet was rejecting the word of the Lord. He had two choices – shut up and stop telling the people what God wanted and thereby stay safe, or speak up and proclaim the truth no matter what the consequences. What would motivate any of us to do the latter?

Isaiah 62:1  For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch.

The answer is…LOVE! What we love the most determines our activity. Isaiah loved the people that God loved, because he loved God. For the people’s sake he could not keep silent. If it was for his own sake, he would have run away and never been heard from again. But he had determined in his heart that his love for God and for God’s Word would produce a love for people who needed God, and he could not remain silent. Regardless of the consequences, love always dictates action, and Isaiah had God’s love for people, so he acted on it.

Oh that we would do the same! We who love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength cannot remain silent when surrounded by so many people who need to see and experience the love of God.

Today, for their sake, I will not keep silent until righteousness is revealed in their lives and their salvation has been accomplished.

How about you?

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Friday, February 7, 2020

Isaiah 61:11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.

Eight years ago I was in Bayou DuLarge, Louisiana on a mission trip. At the time we had a sister church there that we were helping rebuild houses that had been destroyed by two hurricanes. When I returned from that trip, I was surprised that summer had already arrived in Wisconsin. While on the Bayou the temperatures were only 3-5 degrees warmer than here, but the humidity levels were a lot higher. I’m glad to have the warmth without the wetness.

As I looked out over the back yard at my house, I saw so much work that needed to be done. I knew it was far too early, but the open gate to my garden was inviting me to enter and begin preparing the soil for planting. As foolish as that would be, it was very tempting. I am amazed after all these years that I still get thrilled watching seeds that I’ve planted begin to germinate and grow, and that one day I will harvest a crop of delicious vegetables.

As I read through Isaiah 61 again this morning, my attention was drawn to the gardening metaphors.

• We will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor. Isn’t that exciting – we…you and me…are planted by the Lord so we can display His splendor to the world! How’s that going for you? Does the world see us despairing over the sufferings of life or displaying the splendor of the Lord? Do we bend, sway, and snap off at the storms of life, or do we stand tall and strong in the face of what life blows at us?
• For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations. This metaphor confused me. I understand the soil part of causing a seed to germinate, but since when does a garden cause seeds to grow? Seeds will grow outside of gardens as well, won’t they? Then it hit me – the Lord is the soil; He is the garden. We are the seeds. When we are planted in Him, in the soil that He has prepared, and when we remain in Him, within the boundaries of His garden, then we spring up as righteousness before all the nations and praise Him.

I like that. Life started in a Garden, where everything was good, and righteousness and praise continually sprung up. Even though that original physical garden is gone, destroyed by man’s sin, there is a spiritual garden in which each of us can be planted to spring up with righteousness and praise. I am reminded of the words of Psalm 1 –

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

I wonder if the reason we don’t spring up with righteousness and praise more often is that we are drawing our water from the wrong place. The water of the world will bring disease and death to any seed, but the water from the River of Life brings a harvest of spiritual prosperity.

God has prepared a garden for each of us in which we are to sprout up and spring up with the splendor of His grace. It is a well-watered garden, and in it we will flourish. The world has a garden also, but just beneath the soil that looks fertile is the blight of death. Enter the open gate of the garden of God, and spring up with life.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, February 6, 2020

Isaiah 61:10 I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

What an interesting word – delight. When heard, read, or spoken it immediately creates an emotional response. Yet at first glance it appears to be an oxymoron. To de-light means to make dark, yet the general use of the word means to brighten. So I looked up the etymology of the word.

I discovered delight is not the word light with the prefix de. The original word is French – delit – from the word delitier which means to please greatly. Until the sixteenth century it was spelled delite, so when you see it used that way in advertising it’s okay – let it go.

Okay, enough about the word. My love for words got the best of me and this is a word I love. Try it. Say it out loud right now. Look around. How many people are looking at you? They heard you say it and I bet there’s a smile on their face, right? They are either smiling because they think you are crazy, or they are smiling because the word you said affected them. I know it has affected you already. What you are feeling is delight.  It’s delightful, isn’t it?

I wonder what really gives us delight. What is it in our lives that instantly lifts our spirits and pleases us greatly? I take delight in a perfectly cooked steak. The beauty of a sunrise glistening on the water of a glassy lake as a screeching eagle soars overhead is even better. But the smile of a grandchild running to greet me with a hug is more delightful. There’s something deeply pleasing about the look on a child’s face as they smile back at me when their eyes meet mine. It is delightful when another person delights in us.

Delight is reciprocal. It’s contagious. It’s that way with people, and it’s most certainly that way with God. Did you know that God desires to delight in you? Our delight in Him always results in God delighting in us!

The Scripture is filled with motivation for us to delight in the Lord.

• We are to delight in His salvation – Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD and delight in his salvation. (Psalm 35:9)
• We are to delight in His Word – I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word. (Psalm 119:16)
• We are to delight in God’s commands – for I delight in your commands because I love them. (Psalm 119:47)
• We are to delight in the fear of the Lord – and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. (Isaiah 11:3)

And when we take delight in the Lord, He takes delight in us.

• For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation. (Psalm 149:4)

That reminds me of my favorite verse of delight in the Bible. It’s found in the book of Zephaniah, chapter three, verse seventeen.

“The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”

That’s delightful! Who dares let the snow or politics or financial crisis discourage them when the Lord Himself sings over us with delight because we have taken delight in Him. He has clothed us with garments of salvation and arrayed us in robes of righteousness. That’s delightful!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Here’s a question that is equally rhetorical and dumb. How many of us enjoy paying for the mistakes of others?

I remember an incident that illustrated this to me. I was talking to a friend who was having problems with his house. He had bought the house several years previously, but issues were showing up. The latest problem was that when the house was moved to its current location and the addition put on, the rafters in the roof were not framed properly. The roof was collapsing. The living room ceiling was falling in. Thousands of dollars of repairs were needed because of a builder’s mistake made without their knowledge when they bought it.

That stinks! Paying for repairs that aren’t our fault is painful. We rebel against it. We get really bummed about it. It ruins the whole day, or maybe even the whole weekend. Why should we have to pay for someone else’s mistake?

Suddenly the Lord spoke to my heart. Someone else paid for my mistakes once. My house had also been moved from its original location by a counterfeit carpenter and additional space for self was added on. The construction of that space looked good on the outside, but it was not done according to the original Designers specifications. But I continued to live in it and embrace it as my own. It was collapsing all around me and I didn’t even see it.

Then I realized that someone else had already paid for the repairs. His payment would ultimately drive the counterfeit carpenter out of business. Until then all houses that he had remodeled were made available to the Benefactor for complete restoration if the owner would allow it. I chose to have my house restored.

Isaiah 61:7 “Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs.”

The Benefactor replaced everything. The renovation began with a new Foundation, followed by the replacement of all the rotting parts with eternal ones that can never rust or rot. Every room I asked the Real Carpenter to restore was instantly invaded by His Co-Worker and completely transformed into a living space that reflected the nature and character of the Benefactor.

It is a joy to live in such a house. There’s no more shame from living in a collapsing house, but complete joy in knowing that my house has been replaced with one of eternal value. I will rejoice and give thanks to the Benefactor who paid the price for my sin – a price He did not owe but graciously paid – by sending His own Carpenter to do all the work. My house has been replaced, and my hope has been firmly placed in the One who did it for me.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Drunk driver kills father of four. Family home and possessions destroyed by fire. Babysitter accused of rape. Financial markets crash. Four students die in car crash. Government overthrown: everyone taken captive.

Headlines from world events. Heartbreak is our reality.

Grieving may be the most underestimated of the emotions. It may be the one we deny the most. Of course we grieve a little when we read headlines like the ones above. We would have to have awfully cold hearts to not feel some compassion for the people affected by these tragedies. But grief hurts, so in most cases we skip right over it and move on to thinking about something else – something more positive and uplifting. We deny that anything hurts us because we don’t want to appear weak. We certainly don’t want the circumstance to affect us so deeply that it causes any long-term depression. So we deny that it is there, and hope we never really have to deal with it.

There is a popular theory of grief, introduced by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her 1969 book entitled On Death and Dying, that proposes five stages to the grieving process.

1. Denial – “Everything’s fine…I’ll be all right…This can’t be happening to me.”
2. Anger – “It’s not fair…Why is this happening to me…Who’s fault is this?”
3. Bargaining – “I’ll do anything to change this.”
4. Depression – “Why bother…What’s the point…Why go on?”
5. Acceptance – “It’s really going to be okay.”

This is the secular view of the grieving process, and for a long time we may have believed it is the only process available. That’s just not the case. You see, there is a stage prior to the denial stage that has been omitted from the DABDA model. It is the stage of mourning. It is the very first thing that happens in all of us after a tragedy or loss.  Many of us pass through this stage quickly because it hurts the most. It is the stage of helplessness, and that is in direct contradiction to our humanistic thinking. We cannot be found helpless, so let’s skip that part and move into the self-help realm.

Yet it is in the stage of mourning that Jesus comes and offers healing. He offers the intimacy of His presence that ultimately moves us to restoration and skips all the in-between steps found in the human model. The crown of beauty is bestowed upon those who grieve, and gladness pours over the soul of the mourner. In the depths of despair the garment of praise is given.

Isaiah 61:3 “…and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.”

Look at this picture.There is a crocus growing out of the ashes of a fire. If the humanistic model is true, this could never happen. The anger and bargaining stages would have removed the burned log, tilled up the soil, put in some landscaping rocks, so that by our efforts we were prepared for what could grow. But nothing we do can match what God does to bring beauty from the ashes.

God will heal any grief. Jesus Christ mourned over the death of Lazarus, and with no denial, anger, bargaining, or depression, He simply resurrected him from the grave. Don’t let the world get into your head. Let God heal your heart. He who can grow crocuses out of ashes can bring joy to you in the darkest of days.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Monday, February 3, 2020

We are a culture of followers. We sit and wait for someone else to take the first step. We live in a consistent state of fear of stepping out into the unknown. We’ve put a considerable amount of emphasis on the failures we have seen others suffer, while minimizing the faith we can have in the power of God. This concerns me.

Several years ago I asked a missionary friend to give me his spontaneous response to this question: Why have we become a culture of followers rather than leaders? Here is his response:

We don’t have many leaders today because we are a generation who do not want to take risks, make waves, or stand out based on our beliefs. We are much more comfortable fitting in. Our level of importance is based on acceptance by those around us. To lead means to risk such mass acceptance. It is much more comfortable to follow like all the others and complain along the way.

He sees it too. We have put the emphasis on fitting in and earning acceptance and approval from those around us, rather than on the fact that the Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon us.

Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me.”

In one of my discipleship times with several men, we were studying the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. I raised these questions to the men.

• Why do we have such a hard time believing that God speaks to us through the Holy Spirit?
• Why do we doubt what we hear?
• Why do we not act like we believe He really spoke?

There were a variety of answers, but every one of them boiled down to this – we don’t have faith that the Holy Spirit is God, one of the three Persons of the Trinity. We have no trouble listening to a friend across a Starbucks table, but we doubt our True Friend living inside us when He speaks to our heart and mind. This is a serious problem, and it has created a church population of followers rather than leaders.

We have all, as followers of Christ, been given marching orders. We know what we have been commissioned to do. We know in our hearts how we have been equipped to serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Yet we wallow and wander aimlessly in the culture around us, not convinced that God really said that to us and certainly not trusting that He will provide for us and care for us if we do what He said.

My friends, the Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon us, and He has commanded us to go and bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim freedom in Christ for those captivated by sin, and proclaim the grace of God that is available to all.

What are we waiting for?

Take the lead.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Friday, January 31, 2020

It’s Friday, and our mood is typically up.

Come Monday morning we are frequently down.

Those are the bookends of an average roller coaster work week for most of us. Up and down emotionally, physically, and even spiritually. Some of us run that cycle several times a day as circumstances and people play games with our attitudes. How many of these bumps could be resolved if we would just recognize the truth that no person or event has any power over our attitudes? Attitudes are completely and exclusively our choice.

Here’s a blessing I received from the Lord recently. I awoke at 4:15 AM and did my very best to go back to sleep. I couldn’t. So I thought about things and prayed.

I thought about the message I had preached on Sunday, and how people still listen through filters. I prayed for them.

I thought about how busy I have been, and how I probably wouldn’t have time to go home until after the meetings I had that night. I prayed for strength and good time-management skills to get everything done.

I thought about the ministry vision God has given me, and how to bring others into that vision to accomplish Christ’s redemptive purpose. I prayed for wisdom and gentleness to lead people in paths of righteousness.

I thought about my emotional responses to the aforementioned items, and realized that I had allowed my attitudes to be adjusted by those circumstances and people, both up and down. The down part bothered me. I finally got out of bed.

When I went to the couch and sat down with my laptop, I opened my Bible program and went to Isaiah 60 and read the whole chapter again. When I got to verses 19 and 20 I stopped. God spoke truth into my mind and heart. He worked the truth deep into my soul and spirit.

Isaiah 60:19-20 “The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. ²⁰ Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end.”

God spoke clearly.

“When you trust me, there are no more ups and downs. Your life right now is like the rising and setting of the sun and the waning of the moon. Trust me, and the ups and downs will be replaced with the consistency of My eternal light. Stop looking to people or circumstances to validate or determine your feelings and attitudes. Let me be your glory.”

That’s what I need every day. I hope it helps you too.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, January 30, 2020

It appeared to be a dead end. Dead was the operative word in their minds. In front of them was a great body of water. According to their human wisdom it was not crossable. Behind them they could see the dust of thousands of chariots as the army of Egypt bore down on them. They cried out to their leader in anger and said, “What have you done to us?”  Standing still meant certain death at the hands of the warriors. Moving meant drowning. It seemed hopeless.

Does this describe your life right now – a dead end? Standing still doesn’t change anything. Moving ahead is way too scary. Maybe if we just close our eyes it will all go away.

Well, I have some interesting news for you – standing still does change things and moving ahead is worth the risk, so long as God has directed you to take such action. No matter how it appears on the surface, God is working on your behalf. If He says stand firm, then do it. In His time He will act. If He says move, don’t look back and don’t fear what’s ahead. He has already been there, done that, and has everything all worked out, so move with Him no matter how swiftly you must move.

The hardest part of moving after standing still is accelerating to God-speed in a short period of time. The only thing that makes it possible is that during the standstill, we remain active, preparing to move. All the groundwork for moving can be put in place so that when God’s time to act arrives, we are ready.

Standstills are never meant to be times of complacency. Want proof? What happens at a stoplight when you are driving? You check your phone, right? You quickly throw together a text to someone, or listen to a voicemail, or read an email. Standstills are times of productivity. So instead of complaining about not moving, be productive, and be prepared to move when the light turns green again.

Isaiah 60:22b  “I am the LORD; in its time I will do this swiftly.”

When God puts all the pieces into place, then move. Swiftly. Hang on tight. It’s going to be an awesome ride filled with opportunities to see God’s power and provision. It will require stepping out in faith and moving into uncharted territory. But God knows we are ready. No looking back. No looking around. With eyes straight ahead fixed firmly on where God is moving, we will follow, and we will follow at His speed.

So what happened to the people at the dead end? Here’s what it says about them in Exodus 14.

Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”

Stand firm on the promises of God. Move when God says move. Then we will all see the glory of God.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Do you remember this?

Gloom, despair, and agony on me;

Deep dark depression, excessive misery;

If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all;

Gloom, despair, and agony on me.

 Maybe if you watched it you would remember – https://youtu.be/ZAAKPJEq1Ew

Too many of us live this way. Darkness covers us like the dust cloud around Pig Pen in the Peanuts cartoon strip. Everywhere we go we find something wrong with what’s there. Every piece of news we read or hear pushes us deeper into the chasm of cynicism. Every day the darkness gets darker as the light gets dimmer because we have run out of batteries.

The natural response of our hearts to increasing darkness is to draw up closer to ourselves. We pull everything tighter to our chests and protect what little we think we have left. We quickly turn from a giving person to a tightwad when it starts to get dark. We do the same things with our lives that we do with our homes when the sun goes down – we lock the doors behind us, finish some inside tasks, turn off all the lights, and snuggle up with the false security of a blankie, hoping no one breaks in while we sleep.

We have become dependent upon the world. The proof is in our response to crisis.

• Do we respond by protecting ourselves from the darkness, or do we become brighter shiners of God’s light by walking in faith?
• Do we withdraw into the security of our homes and turn off the light of influence to our neighbors?
• Do we shut down the outreach ministries of our church and focus only on the increase of knowledge so we can survive the onslaught of culture’s rebellion against God, or do we fling the doors open wider than ever to rescue as many as possible before Jesus returns and sets it all straight?
• Do we hedge our personal and church funds for the predicted doom or by faith do we give more than ever to shine the light of the Gospel more brightly?

I think the reason the Hee Haw quartet is so funny is that we relate to it so well. In Isaiah 60, verses 1 and 2, the prophet wrote,  “darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples.” But he also wrote that “the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you.” He challenges us to “arise, shine, for your light has come.”

Then Isaiah gives us the promises of God for those who ignore the darkness and let the light of the glory of God shine in and through them. These promises, given to the nation of Israel for the day the Lord returns and redeems their land, are for people like you and me as well who let His light shine.

• You will be radiant – verse 5
• Your heart will throb and swell with joy – verse 5
• You will be blessed with prosperity – verses 5-7 (No, I am not teaching the false prosperity gospel, but rather affirming what the Lord said that whatever we sow we will reap.)
• God’s glory will fill the church – verse 7
• Your enemies will become your friends and serve you – verses 10-11
• Respect will return to you – verses 14-15
• Peace will come to you – verses 17-18
• Complete dependence upon God will be the norm – verses 19-20
• Righteousness and justice will rule your life – verse 21

All that can be ours if we choose to let the Light of God shine through us instead of succumbing to the darkness around us. No more gloom, despair, and agony on us. The glory of the Lord has come upon us. Arise, and let His light shine.

Pastor John