I heard from a friend yesterday who told me he missed my blog and wondered if I had stopped writing it. I assured him I had not stopped permanently, but that since returning from the Philippines I have been overwhelmed with things that interfered with my writing time in the mornings. I also assured him that I was not falling away from the daily discipline of my devotional life.

I want to assure all of you of the same things. Between meetings with people and trips to see family, I have not been available to write. Next week will be no better as I already have every morning booked up. You see, even though writing is important to me, and ministers to many people, it’s the personal one-on-one contact with people that is most important. That is always God’s priority for me. Because of my extended time away in Davao City there has been a lot of personal ministry to accomplish. After Thanksgiving I intend to block out the early mornings again for writing these Connecting Points.

For today, consider this activity of God in my heart – Without exception,  Love always dictates conduct.

My heart has been torn apart by that truth. What I choose to do is always a result of what or whom I have chosen to love. If you spend any time at all considering the reality of that in your own life, you will be broken as I have been with the truth that we love self much more than we would ever admit publicly. And yet the public already knows because they see the choices we make that serve self. They see the contradictions between our statement of faith and our code of conduct. We have a serious love issue.

Jesus told us quite plainly that love always dictates conduct. When asked about the greatest commandment, He replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And the second is like it – Love you neighbor as yourself.”

The impetus behind obedience to every law of God is love for God. Nothing less. Nothing more. It sounds easy, but it’s not. Love for self constantly conflicts with love for God. Serving self severely stifles the sacrifice of self. Decisions are made every day, over and over, based on the single criteria of personal benefit – the love of self. Love always determines conduct.

For the last several weeks I have woken each day to that truth. As a result, I don’t like what I see in me much of the time. God is changing my heart. I am renewing my love for my wonderful Savior. It has been the one overwhelming blessing of my study of Isaiah 53 for the past 6 weeks. My deepest desire is to love Jesus more, and that is only possible if I first understand how much He loves me. This is what I know about His love:

He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed…because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

May every word of my mouth and every meditation of my heart be pleasing to the One I love, and let that One be Jesus.

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Today’s Topic: Snow?

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 53:11  After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

Yesterday morning (Wednesday) I rose from bed at 4:20 A.M. to prepare for a day of deer hunting. I was in the car on the way to my tree stand at 5:00. When I got to within six miles of the hunting land, it started to snow. It snowed hard, and it was wet. I put on all of my hunting clothes and started walking the 500 yards through the swamp and forest to my stand. The snow was so heavy that the flashlight did nothing but reflect back into my eyes, so I had to go by memory, which isn’t so good. Somewhere in the thicket I took a wrong turn and ended up looking for my stand for over 20 minutes. I didn’t really make any progress until I waited for a little of the natural light to appear. When I got there I was wet and sweaty; not a good combination when the plan is to spend several hours sitting still in a tree.

As the snow continued to fall everything became white. Deer hunters love the snow, and I’m no different. It makes the deer so much easier to see, and I saw deer. I didn’t shoot any of them, making the decision to let each one grow up a little more, but it was so great to see them and watch their movements as they related to each other during this breeding season. Up until this time I hadn’t seen a deer, but when everything was white I was able to see what I was pursuing.

As I sat in the tree for those five hours I pondered the truths that had been revealed to me:

• I thought about how long we wander around in the thickets of our circumstances looking for the tree from which we will have a better vantage point on life and be able to accomplish our goals. We think we know the way, but we constantly make the wrong turns and get lost.
• We get angry that we can’t find our way because the snow keeps blinding us with the reflection of our own light. We know we need the snow, but we are mad at it at the same time because it increases the awareness of our lost condition.
• When we return to the place where we made the wrong turn, God is there waiting to reveal His way to us, and when we take it, we cease to be lost. We get to use His light, not ours, and that brings us to life.
• When we let the snow cover everything in us and around us, we finally get to see what we’ve been looking for. The pursuit of our heart becomes obvious.

Simple thoughts, but I trust the Lord will use them to help you understand how great it is to know that our sins are forgiven, and through the blood of Jesus Christ we have been washed from all unrighteousness and are now whiter than snow.

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Today’s Topic: How Could He Do That?

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 53:7-8a  He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away.     

How could He do that? He was right; they were wrong. It was injustice to the max. He was falsely accused and unjustly abused. He was tortured without truth. Yet not once did He defend Himself, with words or with actions. How could He do that?

In my flesh, I can’t do what Jesus did. My first response to criticism is self-protection. My love for self motivates my response to threats against my value and worth. My pride protects what I believe are my rights. My words and my actions are defense mechanisms to justify my behavior. It appears that I would rather see others suffer from the expression of my pride than to experience any personal pain that might be caused by being humble. How foolish I am, for ultimately the pain I am seeking to avoid is magnified many times over by my pride.

In my spirit, under the influence of God’s Spirit, I have discovered how Jesus could do what He did. It is a simple answer, but oh so difficult to actually put into practice. The answer is found in Hebrews 12:2, which says, Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Jesus understood and accepted the higher purpose of what was happening. He did not have his heart focused on the immediate, but the eternal. That is how He could endure the opposition of sinful men and scorn the shame of the cross – He saw the joy and glory that was to come, and He chose it as His own.

I know that my fleshly response to criticism and correction is completely driven by my focus on the immediate need for approval and acceptance which I wrongly believe cannot be granted if I am found guilty. I know that my pride pushes me to protect my rights because I have given them far too much value in determining my worth. I know my love for self causes me to do anything I can to avoid pain in the present because my heart is fixed on happiness rather than joy. I know that this is all true of me, and would destroy me were it not for the grace of God in me.

But praise God my flesh does not control me. My eyes are fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith, who was oppressed and afflicted unjustly, and was led away by oppression and judgment to suffer the shame of the cross. How could He do it? Because He saw me in my sin, and His love for me overcame any obstacle to saving me. He was completely focused on the higher purpose.

That will be my goal today and every day – to stay focused on God’s higher purpose. No more living for the immediate. No more unbelief in the joy of eternity which is manifested in the avoidance of pain today. No more self-protection by resisting oppression. No more defense mechanisms against injustice. No more exaltation of my rights. There will only be the quiet response of Jesus that shows the world that my eyes are fixed on eternal joy for which I am completely qualified in Christ. And as the world observes a life so lived, may they ask, “How can he do that?”

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Monday, November 07, 2011

Today’s Topic: It’s All about the All

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 53:6  We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Many years ago, after a mission service, the preacher of the evening was hurrying away to catch a late train back to his home. He had just three minutes to get through the station when he heard a man calling out to him as he ran after him.

“Oh, sir,” he said breathlessly as he came up, “can you help me? I am very anxious about my salvation.”

“Well,” replied the preacher, “my train is just here, and it is the last one; but look up Isaiah 53:6. Go in at the first ‘all’ and go out at the last ‘all.’ Good night.”

The man stood staring after him until he had disappeared into the station and then he muttered, “Go in at the first ‘all’ and go out at the last ‘all.’ What does he mean?”

When he arrived home he took down his Bible and turning to Isaiah 53:6 read these words, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

“Go in at the first ‘all,’ ” he repeated. “ ‘All we like sheep have gone astray.’ I am to go in with that ‘all.’ Yes, I see. It means that I am one of those who have gone astray. I am one who has turned to my own way. I am one who is responsible for my own sin.I am one who deserves to be punished for my sin.”

“And go out with the last ‘all.’ ‘The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.’ I see. God has chosen to punish Jesus Christ for my sin. Yes, I am to go out free with those whose iniquity has been laid on Christ.”

At last he realized his individual lost condition and his individual redemption available through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

“O praise the One who paid my debt, and raised this life up from the dead!”

Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe; sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow!

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Thursday, November 03, 2011

Today’s Topic: The Exceeding Sinfulness of Sin

 Today’s Text:  Isaiah 53:5  But He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.

This is really hard. I’ve been away from this routine for so long that it is hard to get started again. Now don’t get me wrong, I have not stopped spending personal time with my wonderful Lord, but I have been away from the routine of sitting down every morning and writing a devotional thought on what I am learning from God. It’s hard to get started again.

The whole time I was on my trip to the Philippines I had a routine. I would arise at 5 to 5:30 AM as usual, and would turn on my laptop. I would first check to see if the second greatest gift God ever gave me was available on Skype, and if so we would chat for a while. How I praise God for that technology that allows our love to grow even when we are apart! Then I would open my Bible and spend time with the One who delivered to me the greatest gift I have ever received. How I praise God for that old fashioned but never obsolete technology of the Holy Spirit inspired Word of God. It allows our love to grow even though we are not physically face to face.

Typically I spent time in devotions preparing for the sermon(s) that I would be delivering that day. There were very few days when I was not preaching. But behind it all was a constant meditation on the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. Even now as I think about it and try to write about it I am so overwhelmed with emotion that I have tears forming in my eyes. I will never grow tired of diving into the depths of God’s grace.

But there can be no true understanding of God’s grace without a deep and heart-breaking recognition of our sin. I am currently reading a book written by an acquaintance from my distant past. His name is John Ensor, and he and I went to the same college together. He is the Executive Director of Global Initiatives for Heartbeat International – introducing and fostering pregnancy help ministries in countries with extremely high abortion rates. You can find out about his ministry at http://johnensor.org/.

The book is entitled The Great Work of the Gospel: How We Experience God’s Grace. In the introduction, as John reviews the story of King David’s sin, he takes us through David’s confession in Psalm 51.

¹ Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. ² Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. ³ For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night. ⁴ Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just. ⁵ For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. (New Living Translation)

Then he says this on pages 17-18:

Nathan’s probing…forced David to consider his life before God. This is the prerequisite work of grace. We must own up to our real guilt. David wept and fasted before the Lord. David discovered what the old preachers called “the exceeding sinfulness of sin” and acknowledged the justice of God’s judgment.

We would do well to change our attitude towards sin. We will never understand the depths of grace, which in turn will keep us from knowing the depths of God’s love, if we continue to love ourselves so much that we deny the horror of our sin before a holy God. We have adapted to a culture of cover-ups. We hide our sin. We underestimate its repulsiveness to God. We justify its presence in our lives because we think we need the immediate rewards. We choose to ignore the consequences, which far outweigh any of the perceived benefits.

With that in mind, go back and read today’s Scripture verse in Isaiah 53:5. Consider the cost of God’s judgment against sin. Consider the unworthiness of the Savior to be judged, but His willingness to suffer the wrath of God on our behalf. Consider carefully the consequences of sin, and the amazing grace that God showed to us because of His love for us. Nothing in us was worthy of that love, and until we come face to face with the desperateness of our condition, we will never truly know the grace of God nor will we be able live in the love of Jesus Christ.

Pastor John

If you are looking for updates on Pastor John’s trip to the Philippines, go here… http://pjphilippines.wordpress.com  There will be no new connecting points until he returns. Meanwhile, pray for him and pray for a great harvest of souls while he is there.

Connecting Points

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Today’s Topic: The Blame Game

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 53:4b  …yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him and afflicted.

We live in an “I win, you lose” world. Ever since the fall of man into sin in the Garden of Eden human nature has been corrupted with an exaggeration of self resulting in a minimizing of others. Even when things go wrong for us, we defend our own positions by blaming others for what went wrong.

Even secular business leaders understand this flaw in human nature. While they may not understand it’s cause, they know how to define its existence. Luke Iorio is the CEO of the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC). Recently, in a response to a blog about the blame game we play,  he said, “ Individuals caught up in the blame game…tend to put themselves first and give little credit to others…We want to look good, look smart, look competent and that can come at the sacrifice of taking responsibility.”  

Whether we consciously think about it or not, we all have determined our own criteria for measuring our personal value and worth. Some use the standard of financial success. Others choose professional status. Still others claim that job performance determines worth. Far too many choose to accept failure in all of the above areas and turn to other self-declared measures of human value, like sex, or they give up completely and get lost in a world of drugs and alcohol to minimize the pain of failure.

One thing is true of all of these people – when confronted with any failure, they immediately seek to protect whatever level of value they claim for themselves by transferring blame to someone else. If the project fails, then it was the project’s fault, but not mine. If the relationship fails, it must be something they did. If my position is threatened, it must be the fault of the people in charge for not truly understanding my worth and making a bad decision. Oh how quickly the blame game starts.

It was no different in Jesus’ day. The religious leaders were threatened by the truth Jesus proclaimed. Their comfort zones became uncomfortable. They had built their reputations using religion as an expression of pride through self-advancement and self-valuation, yet it was all declared unrighteous by the Son of God.

So what did they do? They sought to find fault with Him. They conspired to produce falsified testimony that would have Him declared a heretic and sentenced to death. They shifted the blame to the blameless in an attempt to justify His death. They even went so far as to say that His punishment was justly imposed by God because of His sin. All this in an attempt to solidify their own positions and worth. They played the blame game to perfection.

Unfortunately, the result of the blame game is always the same – self-destruction. Because God is righteous and just, the blame always settles on the guilty. Someday, somewhere, somehow, whether in this life or for certain in eternity, the truth will be revealed and the price will be paid – double the price for the original sin if responsibility for the sin has been transferred to another.

In this life, people who play the blame game hoping to benefit from it actually suffer from it. Nathanael Fast is an assistant professor of Management and Organization at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and he states in the Harvard Business Review that “playing the blame game never works. A deep set of research shows that people who blame others for their mistakes lose status, learn less, and perform worse relative to those who own up to their mistakes.”

But the bigger issue is what will happen before the throne of God when the truth about our lives is declared. We do not serve Jesus nor do we live like Jesus for the earthly benefits: we do so because we love Him and have found our value completely from Him. “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) We are healed from the blame game, because the blame has already been paid for.

So take responsibility for your actions; they do not determine your worth. Your worth and value were bought and paid for on the cross when Jesus died for your sins. Accept His forgiveness, and be healed.

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Monday, September 26, 2011

Today’s Topic: He Took Our Sins

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 53:4  Surely He took our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him and afflicted.

I want you to read a testimony that was shared by a young woman in our church yesterday. This is why Jesus died!

In my past, I viewed God’s salvation much differently than I do now.  Before, I saw this salvation as simply a nice thing to have.  It was like a person who owned a car, the car being their “salvation”.  A car makes a person’s life easier and more comfortable; people are capable of finding a taxi or walking or riding their bike to work/school, etc.  A car only makes all of that easier.  It’s not vital to the person’s existence, but it makes their life much easier.  This is the way that I viewed salvation.  Growing up, my parents did their best to make sure I went to church and that I had Christian friends so that I would be able to experience God’s love the way that they had.  I lived a nice life growing up under these standards, but I did not think that having God in my life was vital.  This is when I discovered that the world is a fun place to explore, and I indulged myself in fun things of the world.  I saw no harm in any of it, as I was still exceeding at school and work. 

Exactly when I thought I had my whole future under control is when everything seemed to fall apart.  I did not understand at the time that this was because I am not in control of my life; God has a very specific plan for me.  Part of his plan is that I surrender my whole self to Him.  This last year I tried to make God an addition to what I could already do for myself.  I was partaking in worldly pleasures to make myself “happy” and then I would occasionally go to church to “make God happy” as well. 

It wasn’t until that day in March that I realized God was knocking on the door of my heart asking me “do you want to get well?”  I realized it on this day because this is when I found out that I was pregnant.  When I found out, I didn’t know what I was supposed to do.  I had not factored this into my future that I had such control over before, and certainly this was not a situation I had ever pictured myself in before.  Not only was I shocked, being that I am single I hadn’t felt more alone in my whole life.  And so God knocked on the door of my heart again and asked me “do you want to get well?  If so, I have a gift for you!”

For the first time in my life, God revealed himself to me in a way he never had before.  He was reaching out to me, a meek sinner who had never given him the time of day before.   He showed me that even though I had sinned against him, He could turn it into something beautiful.  All I had to do was take one step towards him and he came running the rest of the way to me.  God took my sins that I was holding onto and showed me grace.  I realized that having the salvation of Jesus Christ is not a good addition to your life – it is vital to your existence.  My life means nothing without God as the center. 

Ever since I surrendered my future and my whole being to God, my relationship with Him has grown so much.  Every day I marvel at His grace that he has given to me.  He has never been so evident in my life before and I’m amazed at the blessings he has given to me.  I thank Him every day for this church and the meaningful relationships I am building.  And now, I’m carrying a lifetime reminder of His grace that made me well when everything was falling apart. 

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Friday, September 23, 2011

Today’s Topic: Rejected

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 53:3  He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

I really don’t like to think about it. I’d rather not be reminded of it. Every ounce of self-protection in me screams for pain like that to be avoided. My flesh tries to convince me that I will never allow it to happen again, and in far too many cases the flesh wins. But the Spirit of the Living God in me says it will happen, and in fact it must happen to experience the fullness of Christ’s resurrection power.

This pain is caused by one thing – rejection: being despised by people for what I do, what I say, or just for who I am. It’s horrible. I’ve experienced it and I hate it. I have had people hide their faces from me, and it cuts to the core of my being. Sometimes my actions and words demanded correction, but never did I expect the people who were supposed to be my brothers and sisters in Christ to treat me so hatefully. It’s one thing to be rejected because of an unrepentant heart, which may in some cases be justified by Scripture, but never should a person be despised just because we believe they have wronged us.

I’m not sure we understand how selfish it is to focus on how we have been wronged. It’s downright dysfunctional and sinful to focus on our hurts and then respond with hate towards the person who hurt us. Jesus is the proof of that. He came in love to save the sinful souls of mankind. They didn’t like what He said. They took His words as threats to their comfort zones. They despised Him and rejected Him. He suffered at their hands. He was hurt by them. Yet He never responded with hate. In fact, in the midst of the worst rejection anyone could ever experience, while hanging on the cross, He asked His Father to forgive them.

We have all been hurt. We have all been rejected. We may have even experienced the sorrow and pain of being considered dead to someone. Being despised is horrible. But allowing their treatment of us to overwhelm the Spirit of God in us so that we return the hurt will eventually cause more pain than the original rejection. When we suffer at the hands of men, we must focus on the fact that we are secure in the hand of God.

My friends, the day has arrived – the day Jesus promised would come – when at the hands of secular culture those who stand for the truth will be despised and rejected. We have three choices:

1. We can stop standing for the truth and compromise our lives with the world so the culture will accept us;
2. We can return hurt for hurt, and do harm to those who harm us;
3. We can consider ourselves blessed to suffer as Christ did, and return love to whomever rejects us.

Just think of the emotional energy we will conserve if we choose option #3. Imagine the physical stress that will be avoided by choosing option #3. But greater than both of those combined is the fact that by choosing option #3, we will be avoiding spiritual darkness in our lives and keeping our enemy the Devil from establishing a foothold in our lives.

I choose Option #3. No longer will I allow my love for self to dictate my response to people’s treatment of me. No longer will my response be one of vengeance. No longer will I model to others that I really love me most by even secretly wishing that something bad will happen to those who hurt me. NO…I will choose this day and every day to stand with my Savior, secure in His eternal acceptance of me, knowing that He will never reject me, and that I will experience more of His resurrection power every time I suffer as He did. May everyone who ever hurts me or rejects me see only the love of God in me.

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Today’s Topic: Humanly Unattractive

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 53:2  He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.

From the beginning of human existence on the earth when God created Adam and Eve, we have been attracted to people and things that we believe add value to our lives. It doesn’t matter what the environment is like or what the influence of culture or society is, we have been given the God-image-bearing right of choice, and we have a tendency to use it to serve ourselves. Just look at the historical record of what happened in the perfect environment of the Garden of Eden –

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. (Genesis 3:6)

Eve did what we all do; she took her eyes off of her perfect identity in Christ and began looking at what was humanly attractive.

In a nutshell, (wow, this turned out to be a big nutshell) here’s what the Lord is teaching me about this:

• I have a hard time not wanting God to simply make this life better.
• The reason for that is that I don’t really believe that my spiritual life is more important than my physical life.
• God promised to take care of me physically if I put my spiritual life ahead of everything else.
• I must not really trust Him all that much if I keep trying to provide for my physical needs ahead of my spiritual.
• God knew that we would all be in that same condition when He sent Jesus to be our Savior, so the human form Jesus took was totally unattractive to us, and the lifestyle He modeled and taught was unappealing to most.
• There was nothing about the appearance, personality, or leadership style of Jesus that made people instantly want what He had.
• When the people of Israel wanted their first King, they chose Saul because he was the most physically qualified and attractive, and look where that got them.
• The crowds that followed Jesus did so primarily because they thought He would bring them the physical and political benefits they wanted. They were, like us, focused on the immediate and not on the eternal.
• The ENTIRE focus of the ministry of Jesus was to provide spiritual restoration and deliverance from the bondage of the physical. That is the ultimate goal of redemption, and all of creation cries out for that day when we will be delivered from the physical – so why do we spend so much time trying to nurture and strengthen what God wants destroyed?
• If we are attracted to Jesus because of what we think He offers us in this life, then we are missing the point of salvation. There are far too many teachers and preachers who proclaim that God and Jesus are your tickets to human wealth and health, when from the very beginning of His introduction to us God says that Jesus would come with absolutely no human attraction and that His purpose would be completely spiritual. Any and all who come to Him for salvation must come on those terms.

I wonder what would be different about American Christian churches if we all understood this. I wonder how it will change our lives.

Pastor John