LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

I love babies. God knows that’s how he designed me, and He has granted me an incredible blessing by placing me as the Pastor of a local church filled with young families having children.

When I visit them in the hospital to meet the baby for the first time, the conversation invariably turns to their physical features and their appearance.

“Ooooh! He looks just like his dad.”

“His hair is darker than the other kids’.”

 “His eyes are so blue already.”

“His hands are so big!”

And on and on it went. Everyone wants to share their thoughts on why the baby is so perfect and so unique.

Someday, maybe very soon, we will hear such talk from the ends of the earth as people unite to sing the praises of Jesus Christ when He comes to the earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Isaiah 24:16  From the ends of the earth we hear singing: “Glory to the Righteous One.”

After pronouncing man’s judgment, Isaiah announces one final victory against man’s pride and the political system he created to perpetuate it. In Isaiah 24 the Lord Jesus Christ destroys anything and everyone that stood opposed to Him and sets up His Kingdom on earth. (see verse 23 – for the LORD Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem.) As the people of the earth are brought to submission, suddenly a song breaks out from the ends of the earth. Jesus is being given honor and glory for His victory.

What a day that will be – the birth of the political Kingdom of God on earth in fulfillment of the spiritual kingdom that began when Jesus was on earth the first time. The glory of the True King will be seen in all the earth. Peace will arrive in the Prince of Peace. The Name of Jesus will be exalted throughout the earth. I can hear it now…

“He’s so powerful!”

 “He’s so righteous!”

 “He’s so just!”

“He’s so faithful!”

Let’s hear it straight from God’s Word…

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!”

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”

“Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,   for true and just are his judgments.”

“Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages.   Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

“To the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”

“Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”

Let the singing begin!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Monday, October 21, 2019

Nine years ago, while we were in our old church building, we had two burglaries within a month. Each time a laptop computer was stolen from our sound booth. In the second robbery a video projector was also stolen, as well as a small amount of cash from the lockbox used to collect money from people who buy DVD’s of the worship service. We believed that someone was sneaking into the church while other people were there with the doors unlocked and then hid until they left.  After one event at the church, we found a back door that is normally never used unlocked from the inside. Someone must have snuck in, unlocked the door, and then left hoping to come back later and gain easy entrance.

After the first robbery, I sent out an email and asked people to pray for protection for our church. In response, I received an email prayer from a former member of our church who moved away several years ago. Her prayer reminded me that for the most part I, and maybe you, pray very weakly. Some of us maybe even pray only weekly. We rarely stand in the presence of Almighty God and proclaim His majesty and power and declare His promises. We repeat a request, but we do so without the authority of Scripture and with very little understanding of what it means to pray “in the Name of Jesus.”

We have an incredible privilege as God’s children to come boldly into His presence because of the finished work of Christ on the cross and the application of His blood to our lives. Yet we come to Him weakly, or weekly, with fear and trembling, wondering if He is really listening and if He really cares about our needs. We come to Him asking the wrong things when we could be declaring all the right things about who He is and what He is capable of doing. We come expressing our ideas rather than expounding His Word.

I wonder how many people have really been praying for our church, or do they just think about it? I know for me it is easy to justify thinking as praying, but the Scriptures declare that we are to pray in the Spirit, removing ourselves from all distractions and focusing completely and totally on God. How many of us do that for more than a few seconds at a time?

I want you to read the prayer that this faithful saint and prayer warrior sent to me. Compare it to how you pray. I am not asking you to copy her, but I am asking you to consider how you pray, and do you pray with this kind of Scriptural authority? If not, let’s start learning together to pray with them authority we have been granted by God through our Savior Jesus Christ.

Dear Father in Heaven, 

Thank you for the testimony of Calvary Baptist Church. Even here in Excelsior I hear of their good works in Your Name. The evidence is that Satan is working so hard to discourage and defeat them. But greater are You who is in us than he that is in the world!

I pray Your protection around not only the building but around Your Church and Your Under-Shepherd there. I know sometimes he may feel like he is in this battle alone, but You have promised that You will never leave him nor forsake him. Father, he calls upon You daily and You will in no wise cast him aside. Place him in Your strong tower and uphold him with Your strong arm. Lead him beside still waters and refresh his spirit.

Father, I stand beside this local body of believers and agree with them that You shall have the victory, the glory, and the honor over this and all other devices that Satan may bring, knowing that as he does so, he only proves that Calvary Baptist Church is doing a good work for You.

In the Blessed assurance of eternal life, that God, who cannot lie, gave before the beginning of the world and in Your Son’s Name, I pray.

Amen so be it!

2 Thessalonians 3:1-3  Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you.   And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith.   But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Friday, October 18, 2019

Ten years ago, while we owned our previous church building, we decided to increase our usable space by renting space and moving our administrative offices out of the church. God directed us to a wonderful landlord who gave us an incredible deal on an office complex that not only served as our administrative hub but also as our youth center.

There were decisions to be made when we moved into the building, not the least of which was who would get which office. The welcome area was sufficient for the office administrator, and there was one small office that was perfect for the part-time staff. But which of the two large offices would the two pastors get?

As Pastor Dennis and I surveyed the two rooms, there was discussion about the pros and cons of each. The larger office had two windows on the front corner of the building. But it was located down a narrow hall right across from the restrooms. The smaller office was on the other side of the wall from the restrooms and had only one window. It was located right off the coffee break area and next to the youth center. Decisions, decisions.

As we looked at the offices, I regretfully remember my pride filtering to the top of the logic column. I am the Lead Pastor. I deserve the best office. Which one is the nicest? Which one matches my status? I fought those urges to make a decision based on those criteria. In my heart I wanted what was best for everyone so they could serve effectively for the Lord. But how would we decide?

At that time, a businessman from our church came to me and said that his company had some desks and chairs to donate and wondered if we could use them. I said yes. He had the desks and chairs delivered to the new location while the decorating team from the church freshened up the place with new paint and decorations.

When we saw the desks for the first time, we began to evaluate how they would fit into the offices. The desk designs actually made the decision about offices for us. The desk I needed for the work I do would only fit in one office. That would be mine. Pastor Dennis would get the other office with his new desk. He got the office with the view. I got the office with the sounds of the bathroom through the wall. The decorating team recognized the problem and had sound panels built. They even let me pick out the fabric. The walls were soon covered with camouflage and deer.

We see an application point as we compare the story I just told with the one in Isaiah 22.

Isaiah 22:15-16  This is what the Lord, the LORD Almighty, says: “Go, say to this steward, to Shebna, who is in charge of the palace: What are you doing here and who gave you permission to cut out a grave for yourself here, hewing your grave on the height and chiseling your resting place in the rock?

Shebna, an Egyptian, had been appointed the chief steward of the palace under the reign of King Hezekiah. He had high ambitions. He decided to make a name for himself and promote himself. He decided that his position in the King’s palace was worthy of special recognition – historical recognition. So he had a tomb built for himself in the palace of the King. He wanted to be remembered and figured the best way to do that was to be buried with royalty. He was all about enhancing his own position.

What a contrast to the story of Joseph in Genesis, who as a Jew served in the palace of the Egyptian King, yet never sought to enhance his own position. He even went to prison to maintain his integrity. But not Shebna. He was all about self-exhaltation. God saw his attempts at honoring himself and declared that it would end in humiliation. It did. A short time later he was demoted to a secretary and replaced by Eliakim who served humbly as a follower of God.

We are all tempted to promote self. We all desire to enhance our position in the eyes of people. We all struggle with pride that drives us to make decisions based on the benefits it will bring to us and the enhancement of our image. But we must fight those desires and be humble before God, considering others better than ourselves.

Jesus said, “If any one of you wants to be first in the Kingdom of God, he must first become the servant of all.” After all, if we truly believe that our position in Christ has been fully established, then what else is there to enhance?

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, October 17,2019

I try to avoid it. I have found other ways to meet my need for information without turning to it. I’m talking about the national television news media. I made the mistake of watching a little of it this morning and now I regret it. It made me angry because there is no honor any more, and there certainly is no moral compass.

Day after day we are bombarded with news that is intentionally slanted to promote man’s agenda over God’s authority. Then, on top of it, our intelligence is attacked by the preposterous political infighting dominates social media. I am once again so very thankful that God is in control no matter how much man thinks he is.

Praise be to Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you with great joy and without fault before His glorious presence – to the only God our Savior be glory and majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! AMEN! (Jude 24-25)

As I read the book of Isaiah, I am tempted to feel the way I do about the media. Here we are in the twenty-second chapter already and the news has been consistently gloom and doom. We read chapter after chapter of man’s rebellion against God and His coming judgment of their sin. But with careful reading there are great truths to be discovered that can help us in our daily lives. Let me share one with you from today’s passage.

Isaiah 22:13  But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! “Let us eat and drink,” you say, “for tomorrow we die!”

This chapter is a prophecy about the fall of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians. It would take place in 586 B.C., some 125 years after Isaiah wrote it. I want you to notice these points about what is written:

• Isaiah is heartbroken over the sin of the people and the knowledge that God has every right and intention to discipline them. In verse four he writes, Therefore I said, “Turn away from me; let me weep bitterly. Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people.”

My first response to the tragedy of sin in people’s lives must be one of grief rather than anger. When we respond with anger at another person’s sin, we are essentially judging them to our own prideful advantage. Think about that carefully. There is a place for anger against sin, but not until we have sufficiently wept over their Christ-less condition that has caused it.

• In Isaiah, the people who are sinning are doing everything they can to defend their situation so they can continue in it. Here’s how the siege of Jerusalem is described:
  • The Babylonians have surrounded them.
  • Their choicest valleys are filled with chariots of the enemy.
  • The cavalry is at the gates of the city.
  • The defenses of the city have been destroyed.
  • There are breaches in the walls.

The response of the people is interesting. They are destroying anything and everything they had built in the city to reinforce the walls. They are doing everything they can to protect the lifestyle they love. But that is not the response God wanted from them. He did not ask them to defend the city. It was futile for them to attempt it because He had brought it upon them as a consequence of their sin. There was only one way they could avoid the punishment – repent. God’s message to them was clear. The Lord, the LORD Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth. But they only wanted to protect the little world they had built for their own enjoyment.

I think we can all relate to this. We do everything we can to defend our positions so we can enjoy our lifestyles. We attack anyone who speaks out against what we are doing. We truly are living in the last days when the messengers of truth from Jesus Christ will be persecuted as people defend their ungodly positions.

• But the people do not repent. Instead they plan one final party to satisfy the desires of their flesh. But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! “Let us eat and drink,” you say, “for tomorrow we die!”  They had a chance to turn from their wicked ways and surrender to God in brokenness and humility. Instead they chose to pursue their passions one last time. When they do, they seal their fate. God says, “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for.” How sad. There is a point in man’s rejection of God when God declares them to be eternally rejected by Him. They have refused to surrender to the call of the Holy Spirit for forgiveness, and for this they cannot be forgiven.

My friends, let us make sure we are not defending any positions in our lives that are not of God. Let us be holy and blameless before Him at His appearing, which I believe is coming soon.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

I want to continue the thoughts we started yesterday based on God’s command to Isaiah to endure  public humiliation for three years.

Isaiah 20:3 Then the LORD said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush…

Recently I asked several people this question – “What would be the most humiliating thing that could happen to you?” I answered my own question first and told them about the occasional dream I have of forgetting to get dressed before going onto the platform of our church to preach. That loosened them up so they would share.

One person said they would be humiliated by losing control of their finances and having to file bankruptcy. Another said they would not want to be accused of a sexual sin and have it made public. Another responded with a fear of developing Tourette’s Syndrome. One person said they didn’t want to experience the humiliation of a public reprimand by their boss at work. Everyone I asked had a fear of some form of humiliation.

Those fears are motivated by a need to protect the perception of other people’s opinion of us. The need for acceptance and approval goes much deeper than we realize, and we may be in denial about how many of our behaviors and activities are the product of those two needs.

As I thought about this yesterday and last night, I realized that we probably have far greater faith in our own ability to accomplish acceptance and approval than we do in God’s ability to keep us safe in the palm of His hand. We place far more emphasis on the avoidance of present pain than we do on the ultimate elimination of pain in God’s eternal glory. We focus intently on trying to make life comfortable when God has told us that the sufferings of today are not worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed in us when Jesus appears.

What do we not believe about that? Do we doubt that when we are in His presence His glory will sufficiently remove all memories of past sufferings? Do we not understand that God is telling us that we must suffer in this life as His followers? Can we trust God’s promise that we will experience the fullness of His power in our lives if we are willing to suffer as Jesus did? I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. (Philippians 3:10)

The odds of me forgetting to get dressed on a Sunday morning are slim. (When you are done rejoicing, read on.) But the reality is that there are days when I forget – no, I choose intentionally for the purpose of self-preservation – to not get dressed in the clothing of righteousness. There are far too many steps taken in life without the protection of the armor of God. To avoid shame directed at us by people, we choose to be ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Think about the simple activities of your life. How many of them are controlled by your need for immediate gratification? How many are chosen because they produce an immediate response of acceptance from others? How many of those same choices and activities are a direct denial of the faith you claim to have in Jesus?

Ponder that today, and then choose to do whatever Jesus asks you to do, no matter how publicly demeaning it is. You know your life is a light of God’s glory. Don’t put on shade over His light by choosing to let your own light shine.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

I had just finished playing an 8^th grade basketball game. The rest of the members of the team and I were sitting in the bleachers watching the 9^th grade game. The cheerleaders for our grade came and sat with us. I was so nervous. I had my eye on one of them, and I was terrified when she came and sat down beside me. I had never been that close to someone that cute. I was being prepared for the day I would eventually meet the most beautiful of all women and marry her.

As we sat in the bleachers, doing the typical 8^th grade flirting, the conversation turned to knee pads. Back in those days, it was cool to wear one knee pad when you played basketball. It was a symbol of your aggressiveness and your ability to play through pain. Well, I had injured both knees. I had a bone chip right below the knee cap on one, and the other one was bruised from a collision. I needed them both, but I was the only one who wore two.

Before I go on, I want you to get a visual image of what I looked like back then. I’d send a picture if I had one. I’m sure my wife will think it’s funny to find one and post it to her Facebook page. In 8^th grade I was the same height I am now – 5’ 11”. But I only weighed 125 pounds. I was so very skinny. I ate more than I do now and I never gained weight.  My most prominent feature was my proboscis (nose). I was nicknamed “Trumpet” in college. I was strong, but didn’t look it, and to an 8^th grade boy, appearance equaled value. As a result, I was very insecure.

So here we are, all my basketball buddies and the cheerleaders, sitting in the stands, when during the conversation about kneepads the girl I liked turned to me and said, “So John, why do you wear two kneepads? Is it because your legs are so weak?”

Total humiliation.

I got up and left the gym, and I don’t think I ever talked to that girl again.

I’m sure you have a story or two of humiliation in your past as well. It’s not fun. We would never choose it intentionally…or would we?

Isaiah 20:2  –at that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, “Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.” And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.

Isaiah did. He so completely trusted the Word of the Lord and the heart of his God that he publicly humiliated himself for three years so that the message of God could be delivered. That’s amazing.

So much of our time and energy is spent on creating good public image. Public policy doesn’t recommend humiliation as the foundation of exaltation.  But God does. We want others to see us, when God wants others to see Him in us. Jesus said, “If anyone wants to be exalted, they must first be completely humbled.” It’s how God works.

The problem is we think so highly of ourselves that we would never consider hurting ourselves. But we have been deceived into focusing on the temporary hurt rather than the long-term benefit. Humiliation may hurt other people’s opinions of us, but it brings out the richness of God’s opinion of us.  Don’t we realize that while we work so hard to enhance our exterior to maintain our earthly relationships, we are hurting the one relationship that really matters – the one with God?

I don’t know how I would respond if God asked me to do something as humiliating as He asked of Isaiah. The fact that I don’t know means it will probably happen, because it’s obvious that God still must humble me. How about you? Are you ready to trust God completely and not worry about what man says?

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Monday, October 14, 2019

Someday. We use that term in a variety of ways. Someday I’m gonna get around to that. Someday it will turn around for me. Someday they will get what they have coming to them. Someday I’ll be able to retire. I’m sure there are literally hundreds of other applications of the word someday. But there is a someday coming that will be like no other day. It will be SOME day!

Attention is drawn to that someday over 100 times in the Old Testament. Generally it is referred to as that day. And what a day it will be! It will be a literal day of redemption for the world and its political powers. It is a day for which we patiently wait.

Isaiah 19:19  In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the LORD at its border.

According to Isaiah 19, there are six specific things God will do in that day:

• There is a day coming when all the sins of the nations will be judged and punished, and it will be a terrifying day. (Isaiah 19:16)
• In that day the culture will be influenced by the people of God, rather than the culture attempting to eliminate the influence of God’s people. (19:18)
• When Jesus comes in that day, the nations of the world will be politically and socially centered on Him. Anyone who enters at the border will have their attention drawn to the Lord, and anyone who lives there will be under the authority of the Lord. (19:19)
• In that day there will be far more than just political allegiance to the Lord: there will be worship. The people will not be captives in their own land, nor will they be forced to follow an unwelcome conqueror. They will be in love with the Lord who set them free from the tyranny of sin. They will worship Him. (19:21)
• In that day the Lord will bring reconciliation between enemies. Nations and people will be brought together in the love of God and will worship the One True Living God, Jesus Christ. They will cooperate politically and socially, and there will be an end to all war. (19:23)
• There will no longer be any aggression towards God’s chosen. All of Israel’s enemies will surrender to the power and authority of Jesus Christ and He will unite them as one. He will call those who are not Jews His people. He will reveal how He has been working in and through His enemies to fulfill His handiwork. He will affirm Israel as the people of promise and bring all the nations into His inheritance. (19:24-25)

Someday! Let that day come soon! But for today, may the Holy Spirit accomplish His work in my heart.

• May I confess and repent of my sin.
• May I begin to influence my culture and resist its influence on me.
• May I focus all my political opinions and choices on Jesus Christ.
• May my life be a living sacrifice to Christ as my spiritual act of worship (Rom. 12:1).
• May I be the minister of reconciliation between people.
• May I recognize and join the handiwork of God in the world as He brings about redemption and peace.

Pastor John

LIFELINK DEVOTIONAL

Friday, October 11, 2019

John 3:3  In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

Let me begin with a statement of praise – God is in control no matter how bad it looks.

Please bear with me as this will be long, but well worth your investment of time and understanding.

One of the things in our culture that looks bad to me is people’s free use of the word Christian to describe themselves. I would not in any way assume the right or insight to be able to know the true condition of their heart. But there are some facts about being a follower of Christ that are taught clearly in Scripture, and we can use those truths to determine the reality of a person’s statements.

First, no one can claim qualification for entrance into eternal life with God the Father unless they have come through Jesus Christ.

John 14:6 – Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Christianity is not one of the ways to heaven, it is the only way. Any reference to revering other religions as equal options is ultimately authored by Satan himself.

Second, it is imperative to know who Jesus is. What value is faith in anything or anyone that is not worthy of faith? Secular culture has minimized Jesus to someone only slightly higher than man. He is eternally God Almighty, equal in every way with the Father. Yet through His incarnation, Jesus became God in the flesh, dwelling on earth as both God and man in their absolute fullness at once. The person who claims to be a Christian and yet denies that Jesus is the One and Only God-Man is not speaking under the influence of the Spirit of God and is under the control of Satan. First John 4:2-3 says,

This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,   but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

Third, anyone who uses the word Christian to define their “religious” affiliation must be able to speak clearly and truthfully about the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross. They must be able to clearly, and I might add boldly without fear of personal or political ramifications, proclaim these truths and state their unconditional belief in them:

• All people are guilty of sin before God and by nature are deserving of death from the moment of their conception.
  • Psalm 51:5  Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
  • Romans 3:23  All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
  • Romans 6:23  The wages of sin is death…
• Jesus Christ, who knew no sin and was never guilty of sin, became our sin for us and died on the cross to pay God’s judgment of death on our behalf.
  • 2 Corinthians 5:21  God made him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
  • Hebrews 9:26 – But now Christ has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 
• Jesus rose from the dead to conquer death forever for all who believe on Him.
  • 1 Corinthians 15:19-22  If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.   But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.   For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.   For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
  • 2 Corinthians 4:13-14  It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak,   because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 
• All who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord will be transformed and no longer live according to the principles of this world.
  • Romans 10:9 – If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
  • 2 Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 
  • Colossians 2:8-10  See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
  • Colossians 3:1-3  Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 

Only if all these things are true in one’s life can they be called a Christian. Please do not be deceived by the improper use of the term “Christian” by so many today. Make sure you know what they believe and that their life and life’s choices reflect the truth of God’s Word.

Pastor John

LIFELINK DEVOTIONAL

Thursday, October 10, 2019

For the first time in many years we did not have a garden this summer. I removed all the old, rotting boards that surrounded it and spread out the dirt to create a new water flow  pattern in my back yard. Two factors that determined this outcome were the need to keep water from flowing towards my house, and the disappointing harvest from the previous year. Other than the best tomato plant ever, the beans were a bust, the peas were pathetic, and the zucchini were literally squashed. I had the biggest zucchini plants ever and they bloomed profusely, but only one out of every twenty blooms produced a fruit.

As I reflected on what went wrong, I was stumped. I prepared the soil properly. It was very fertile, made from compost. Maybe it was too fertile and is just producing top growth – I don’t know. I planted in the right places. There was plenty of rain. What went wrong?  I came to the conclusion that the tress in my yard had grown sufficiently to be blocking the sun for too many hours of the day. The garden had to go.

During the evaluation process, I remember asking myself a question. How can we seemingly do everything right and still not get blessed with a bountiful harvest?

That question applies to more than just gardens. It teaches us an eternal principle that God wants us to know. Here it is – Our plans and preparations are meaningless and unproductive unless God is our priority.

Isaiah 17:10-11  You have forgotten God your Savior; you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress. Therefore, though you set out the finest plants and plant imported vines,  though on the day you set them out, you make them grow, and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud, yet the harvest will be as nothing in the day of disease and incurable pain.

Unless we are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ and building our lives on the Solid Rock, everything we do will ultimately fail and be destroyed. It doesn’t matter how technologically advanced we become. It doesn’t help that we do all the scientific research to increase productivity. It makes absolutely no difference that we have all the administrative and organizational skills to plan for every possible contingency. If our lives aren’t centered on Jesus Christ, and if our hope and strength aren’t in Him alone, all we are doing is feeding futility.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is in the book of Hosea. It says,

Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.

So get out your spiritual roto-tiller (some of us might need roto-rooters), dig up the hard ground of your heart, and plant the seeds of his productive priorities. When you do, the harvest is guaranteed.

Pastor John

LIFELINK DEVOTIONAL

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

I have a hard time imagining life back in the days of the early church. There’s no way we can really relate to what it must have been like almost 2,000 years ago. At least from a lifestyle argument this is true. But it is not true from a faith or philosophical view. The same beliefs that exist today in people’s hearts and minds were prominent back then. People’s thinking has not changed. Culture may have changed, and technology has certainly changed, but the heart of man has not.

Around the year 90 A.D., when the apostle John was exiled to the Island of Patmos, Greek philosophers abounded throughout the Roman Empire. They attempted to do what philosophers and scientists attempt to do today – explain life without recognizing the existence of God. One such philosopher was named Epictetus.

To Epictetus, all external events are determined by fate, and are thus beyond our control, so we should accept whatever happens calmly and dispassionately. As individuals, however, we are responsible for our own actions, which we must examine and control through rigorous self-discipline. Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power.

This philosophy is not much different than the humanistic philosophy of today. Man has not changed his thinking. Under the power of sin, man still thinks he can control his actions so that they produce good. People still believe that through self-discipline and self-affirmation they can produce their own happiness. How wrong they are!

Epictetus was convinced that attitude and perspective were the keys to managing the problems of life. He wrote, “It isn’t your problems that are bothering you. It is the way you are looking at them.” He was partially right. His problem was that he taught that we needed to look at our problems through the eyes of fate and human ability, rather than through the eyes of God and His Sovereign control of all things.

That’s what God was trying to tell the people of the world through the mouth of Isaiah the prophet. Chapter after chapter come warnings to nations and people about the consequences of not looking at life through from God’s perspective. In chapter 17, the people of Damascus are told about what will happen to all their hard work that has been done only by looking to man’s ability – it will be obliterated. When it is, then they will finally turn their eyes back to the Lord.

Isaiah 17:7-8  In that day men will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel. They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands, and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles and the incense altars their fingers have made.

Look carefully at these verses. In the past, the people of Damascus had their eyes wrongly focused on three things – religion (the altars), work, and pleasure (Asherah poles, representing the sexual focus of their culture under the false worship of the goddess Asherah). Everything they did in life was motivated by the pursuit of one of these things. They sought to find some kind of peace through a religious experience; they sought to find some kind of worth through the work they accomplished; and they sought to find an escape from the troubles of life through pleasure.

Man has not changed. We still look to these three things to fulfill the deepest longings of our hearts. It is only after we suffer the consequences of looking to these things four our value, that we finally turn and look to our Maker who knows how to satisfy our every need from the inside out.

So what are you looking at? Is it the things of the earth, or the things of God? But even looking at the things of God is not sufficient. Look to God Himself. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, and look full in His wonderful face; and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.

Pastor John