Connecting Points

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Today’s Topic:  God Is With Us

Today’s Text:  Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered! Listen, all you distant lands. Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us. (Isaiah 8:9-10)

Over and over in the Bible parents are commanded by God to give their children specific names. I’m not sure how I would feel about that. What would you do if you had no choice in the naming of your children?

I know of one case where the father of the baby has been given full naming rights. Mom is worried. Dad is having fun with it. It will be interesting to see how it turns out.

In the Bible, names carried great significance. They were used to define physical traits, to proclaim a child’s purpose, to teach character, and to announce God’s plans to man. Names were much more than a popularity or pronounce-ability issue. They even transcended family heritage and honor, as was illustrated in the story of John the Baptist, whose father was criticized by the family for not choosing a name that would honor someone in the family.

When the prophet Isaiah was about to be a father, God gave him a name for his son. Are you ready for this? The name was Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. It means quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil. God was using the birth of Isaiah’s son to proclaim to the people of Israel what He was about to do to the enemies of Jerusalem.

It’s been a while since we last dove into Isaiah, so here’s a quick refresher. Think fast because it’s going to be fast. King Ahaz of Jerusalem was scared because the kings of Syria and Israel (the Northern Kingdom) were about to invade. Isaiah announced the word of the Lord to Ahaz and told him to stand in his faith. God gave him a sign of a baby born to a virgin. The baby’s name was to be Immanuel, or God with us.

Later, when little Quick to Plunder was born, God revealed his plan to Isaiah. Syria and Jerusalem would be overrun by the Assyrians and destroyed. Then Assyria would attempt to invade Judah. They would conquer most of it but would not be able to overthrow Jerusalem. Twice in the details of the plan God reminded Isaiah of the fact the He was with them. Twice He used the name Immanuel. (See Isaiah 8:6-10)

Things looked bleak for King Ahaz. Two former allies were no enemies. A third and more powerful enemy was on the horizon with troops fully prepared for battle. He was scared. But in it all God had one thing He wanted Ahaz to remember and trust – God is with us! Ahaz needed to remember that God had chosen His people and set them apart for His purpose and His glory. He needed to know that if God is for us, who can be against us!

We need that reminder as well. We need to read and reread Romans 8 until we really believe it and trust it. We need to put every detail of our lives into the context of those promises. We must stop thinking in the flesh and reacting to our circumstances. We must live in the truth that God is with us.

My challenge to you today is this – read Romans 8 as many times as you can, and let the truths sink in. Here are my personal bullet points. Let the Holy Spirit give you your own.

• I am not condemned, but set free from the penalty of sin.
• I now live according to the Spirit of God and not according to the flesh.
• Living in the Spirit of God brings peace.
• Living in the Spirit brings victory over sin
• Living in the Spirit brings fellowship with God and the assurance of my relationship with Jesus.
• The glory of being with Jesus someday overshadows any suffering of today.
• God knows my heart and my mind and knows exactly what I need to be fulfilled in Him.
• Therefore, I can trust that everything God does in my life is ultimately for my good and for His glory because I love Him and have surrendered to His purpose.
• He chose me, He called me, He justified me, and he glorified me…present tense…He glorified me!
• How can I respond in any other way than to say, If God is for me, who can be against me!
• He will give me all I need to live for Him.
• No person has the power over my life to hurt me with their words because God has justified me.
• No one can condemn me because Jesus constantly intercedes for me to the Father based on His sacrifice on the cross for me.
• No person nor any event can ever separate me from God because He is with me and His love is unquenchable and unconquerable.

AMEN! 

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Today’s Topic:  Compassion

Today’s Text:  So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. (Luke 15:20)

Yesterday I told you there were two things that God had spoken to me while I was on vacation. They are both very closely related. It is obvious that God is preparing me…and you…for something He wants us to do. He wants us to get on with the work He has assigned to us. He wants us to be better witnesses of His saving grace to others. Here’s how He had prepared me to really hear yesterday’s point.

My wife and I were involved in a deep spiritual conversation with three other families we were visiting on our trip. Tough questions were being asked and answered. One couple in particular is being worked on mightily by the Holy Spirit in regards to a total transformation of priorities and possible pursuit of ministry. Their passion to know the truth and to stand on it and stand up for it against all error is obvious. I could see so much of myself in them as they spoke of the deception of so many teachings that have invaded the modern church.

As we talked, I noticed how easy it was to let pride in what we know to be true dominate and determine our attitudes towards those who do not believe as we do. We found ourselves speaking harshly about them as we judged the condition of their hearts by the church they attended or the things they say they believed. We had consciously delegated everyone who didn’t understand the truth of the Gospel into the category of Pharisee and therefore felt justified to speak against them.

That’s when the Holy Spirit addressed me with two thoughts. First, He pointed out to me that when Jesus came to earth He came to a culture that was completely dominated by a false belief system. They had knowledge of God, but denied the truth and saving power of the coming Messiah.

Yet Jesus had compassion on them and ministered to them. (When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Matthew 9:36)

He sought to save them. (The Son of Man has come to seek and to save those who are lost. Luke 19:10)

He didn’t condemn them. (For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:17)

Sure, He confronted the spiritual leaders who were leading them astray because of their own pride. But Jesus never put the average church-goer into the category of Pharisee.

After the Holy Spirit revealed that truth to me, and as I was sharing it with the group, words came out of my mouth that I had not previously contemplated. They were under the direct supervision of the Holy Spirit. After I said them there was a stunned look on the faces of those listening, and there was total silence. Someone finally spoke, and they asked, “Can you repeat that?” I was afraid I couldn’t, but the Holy Spirit gave it to me again.

Now obviously the context of that meeting is different from this article, and the context of your life is different from theirs. But the truth of this statement transcends all of that. Open your heart to receive what the Lord has delivered. Be prepared to be convicted. Be prepared to be enabled to witness about Jesus better. Make a commitment right now that you are going to let God change your heart if it needs to be.

Here’s what the Lord said through me – The hurt we have in our hearts over their condition must always be greater than the pride we take in our position. 

Compassion over condemnation…ALWAYS!

Humility over pride…ALWAYS!

Now, with that  in mind, read the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15 and see how the father reflects this truth in his actions towards his son when he returns home.

Then, with a humble heart, ask the Holy Spirit to transform your heart so that the hurt you have for the rotting sinner will lead you to harvest them for Jesus because they are ripe, rather than letting your heart continue to condemn others because they don’t measure up to what you know to be true.

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Today’s Topic:  Vacation Memories

Today’s Text:  Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.   Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.  (John 4:35-36)

What a summer! So much to do and so little time. The more the family grows the more places there are to go. I praise God for the privilege of vacations and for the incredible staff I have, which allows me to relax and be stress free while I’m gone. They are truly a gift from God.

I’m glad God never takes vacations. In fact, it’s in those times of relaxation when I’m on vacation that He does His best work on me. He spoke to me on two specific occasions while we were gone, and I hope you don’t mind if I tell you about them today and tomorrow. They are actually a prelude to the worship service on Sunday.

One of the highlights of our trip was a return to a former church where I was the pastor from 1979 to 1987. It’s in Clear Lake, South Dakota. It was their 125^th anniversary. We had been there for the 100^th as well when we served there. While we had been in South Dakota, we had become friends with a pastor named Dave. He was a church planter. His father had been pastor of the Clear Lake church in the 60’s while he was in high school. Then, during a time of church renewal, Dave would drive to Clear Lake to preach and lead the church every couple of weeks as they sought to revitalize their ministry.

As Dave and I sat outside after the service last Sunday at lunch and talked, he told me a story that deeply impacted me. Let me set the stage for what he said.

During the worship service that morning there was a slide presentation of ministry memories from the last three years of the church. Several of the slides were of people who had made a confession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior as they were being baptized by immersion in a local lake. One of the men was my age. Tears formed in my eyes and ran down my face as I saw the harvest of souls continuing to be brought in by the faithful people of this church and the consistent preaching of the truth.

As Dave and I talked I shared with him the joy I was experiencing at seeing the long-term fruit of the ministry God gave us while we were there. It just so happened that the man whose picture we had seen being baptized was sitting right next to Dave and Dave told me his story.

When Dave was in high school he went to school with this man – we will call him Fred. Dave and Fred were not friends. In fact, no matter what Dave did, he couldn’t seem to get along with Fred. It was a small school, and this really bothered Dave – not just from a personal perspective but from a spiritual one as well. He didn’t know what to do, so he went to talk to his dad – you know, the pastor of the church.

Dave asked his dad why there was this constant conflict between him and Fred. Dave’s dad responded with one simple statement – “Maybe it’s because you’re the one who is supposed to lead him to Jesus for salvation.” Dave ignored that advice at the time, and things never got better as long as they were there. Sometime later, while still the pastor of the church, Dave’s dad died, and they moved away from Clear Lake.

Over 30 years later Dave was asked to go back to that church and start a revitalization program with them to restore their ministry effectiveness in their community. When he got back to the town, God reminded Dave of what his father had told him about Fred. Dave decided to do something about it, and did a search for Fred. Sure enough, Fred still lived in town. Dave called him and went over to his house. Within 30 minutes Dave was on his knees with Fred as Fred repented of his sin and prayed to receive Christ’s forgiveness and eternal salvation.

Then Dave said this – “He was so ripe he was rotten.” Bam! That hit me like a baseball bat to the side of the head. How often do I think that people are so rotten with sin that they are not ripe for salvation, when just the opposite is true?

I hope you will connect with this – stop looking at people as rotten and start seeing them as ripe, ready to be harvested for Jesus. Then become a worker in the harvest field.

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Friday, July 09, 2010

Today’s Topic:  God Doesn’t Play Hide and Seek

Today’s Text:  “Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.” (Isaiah 7:11)

I love playing hide and seek with my grandchildren. But the game is different depending upon how old they are. The older ones are starting to understand how to really play. They are learning to stay quiet while they hide. But the younger ones don’t get it yet, so when they hide and I finish counting, they almost immediately start making sounds to lead me to them. It’s so easy to find them because they give me signs as to where they are.

God never plays hide and seek. He wants to be found. He wants to reveal Himself to those who love Him. He wants to show us who He is and what He can do. He provides us with countless signs marking the path leading to faith. He knows that faith requires a knowable object of faith, and He is knowable and makes Himself known.

What a relief! God wants us to know Him. Granted, some of His ways are beyond knowing. His thoughts are not our thoughts. He is infinite in His knowledge and wisdom, and we are not. But His nature and character can be known, and that is the primary object of our faith. We are not to demand signs that reveal what God can do, for that would be misplaced faith. We may ask for signs that reveal God’s presence for that is faith in who He is.

When God initiated the opportunity for King Ahaz to ask for a sign, it was to be a sign that demonstrated the presence of God. When Ahaz refused to ask, thinking He would be testing God, God initiated the delivery of a sign anyway – because He wants us to know Him and experience His presence. The sign was a baby named Immanuel, meaning “God with us.” God wants us to know His presence.

When we stand firm in our faith that is founded on the presence of God, we will see the demonstration of the power of God. Faith in the power without the presence is no faith at all. That’s why Jesus refused to give the Pharisees a sign when they asked for one. Their faith would have been misplaced. God wants us to know Him for who He is not for what He can do. His activity always emanates from His nature and character. To know Him is to experience His activity. He is the object of our faith.

The ministry of Jesus to His disciples was to get them to know Him so they could trust Him. When He left, He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell them so they could know Him on a deeper and more meaningful way. Their faith grew not because of the powerful gifts of the Holy Spirit but because of the revelation of the nature and character of Jesus to them through the Holy Spirit.

Faith that is placed in what an object can do is shallow faith. Faith placed in the object itself reveals an understanding of the nature of the object and therefore trusts the activity of the object. For example, the first time a father asks his son to jump off the counter into his arms, the child trusts the father to catch him. His trust is not based on the past experience of a catch – they’ve never done it before. The trust of the child is based solely on the character of the father that the son has learned through the knowledge of who he is. He knows the father’s love. He understands the father’s heart. He will experience the father’s power.

God will gladly provide us with all the signs we need to have that kind of faith. He will reveal his presence to us. We just need to ask Him. We’ve been asking for the wrong signs – signs of miraculous power to increase our faith. We’ve been disappointed because we just don’t seem to get an answer. We think God is playing hide and seek. He’s not. We just need to ask Him to reveal Himself for who He is. He wants us to know that first.

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Thursday, July 08, 2010

Today’s Topic:  Who’s Really In Control?

Today’s Text:  “Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says:…If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.” (Isaiah 7:7a, 9b)

Fear came upon them and shook them like the trees of the forest being shaken by strong winds. Their country was ruled by a powerful warrior with a great heritage passed on from his father. Yet they were scared. Their rivals, from whom they had broken away years before, were now alliance with another country and they were on the warpath headed right for them. The enemies were trying to force them into an alliance of three to battle against a larger enemy that ruled the region. They wanted nothing to do with it, but felt like there was no other option. Either way would probably result in their destruction.

This was the situation Isaiah was asked by the Lord to address with King Ahaz of Judah, a descendant of King David. Ephraim, which was the Northern Kingdom also called Israel, had allied itself with Aram, which is Syria. They wanted Judah to join them in a massive war with Assyria. God sent Isaiah to Ahaz to convince him not to enter such an alliance. This scared Ahaz and the people of Judah because they thought for sure that Ephraim and Aram would wipe them out for their non-compliance.

I’ve been in many situations where I felt like I had no options and was being forced to see only one outcome. I’m sure you have also. It’s scary. But I’ve learned something very significant. It took many years of wondering why I was being shaken by the circumstances of life, but I think I have it figured out. After many attempts to stand in my own abilities and wisdom which always resulted in falling on my face, I think I discovered the answer. The fear we feel is generated from the same source as the fear the people of Judah felt – misplaced faith. We fall into fear when our faith is placed in man’s reason and abilities. Faith in God conquers ALL fear.

To come to that conclusion I had to first conquer the greatest fear of all – becoming completely humble before the Lord. I was in denial about how much confidence I had placed in my own wisdom and abilities. I think we all are in such a state of denial. It’s scary to think about letting go completely of every ounce of control of our lives and surrendering it to someone else, even if that someone is God Almighty. We believe very strongly in ourselves – more than we dare to admit. The fear we feel when something goes wrong proves it. Admit it. It’s true.

Once we reach the point of confession of our pride, we will be able to see and trust the incredible power of our Lord. That’s the message Isaiah was delivering to King Ahaz in chapter 7. While the people of Judah were looking at the invasion through human eyes of fear, God wanted them to see it through His eyes of Sovereignty. God is in control of ALL things. He is more powerful than anything He controls. He has more wisdom than any opponent. He is absolutely Sovereign!

King Ahaz and the people of Judah weren’t looking at life that way. They were looking at it from the human perspective. They believed in themselves more than they believed in their God. Belief in self always ends in fear, because we know who we are. We know our limitations and weaknesses. Fear will always be the result when life throws something at us we know we cannot handle. But belief in God knows no fear, because God has no limitations or weaknesses. There is nothing He cannot handle. Fear cannot exist where faith in God abounds.

So Isaiah tells King Ahaz how God sees the situation. The two humanly irresistible armies are nothing more than two smoldering stubs of firewood in the eyes of the Lord (verse 4). It is not possible for them to overthrow Judah (verse 7), and the reason is simple – both of these nations are being completely ruled by man, while Judah has the Lord Almighty as its King (verses 8-9). If the people of Judah will stand firm in their faith in God, they will not fall or fail.

So, please connect with this – if we are in control of our lives; if we are seeing life through our eyes of human wisdom and evaluating circumstances based on our strength and resources, we are shaking in fear because our faith is misplaced. But if we are seeing life through the eyes of our Sovereign King, and have surrendered ALL control to Him, we will stand in true faith and not be shaken by fear. It really is that black and white.

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Today’s Topic:  Spiritual Negligence

Today’s Text:  “Go and tell this people: “‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” (Isaiah 6:9-10)

Imagine how you would feel if suddenly every connection you had with people using the internet was gone. You were completely off line. That’s how I have felt for the last 13 days as my schedule has not permitted me to sit in my office in the early morning and share with you what God is teaching me through the study of His Word. I have felt totally disconnected.

When I look at the rest of the summer, there are going to be several more extended periods of disconnect, one starting next week. But what a blessing it will be to see family and friends on a trip back to the home state of my wife. My constant and fervent prayer is that your commitment to Jesus Christ will keep you in a consistent state of devotional study. I know you are not dependent upon me for your spiritual health – I don’t want that at all. You have the Holy Spirit to teach you. Keep studying the Bible on your own. Don’t let the summer schedule of vacations, recreation, and pleasure get pushed up into a higher priority position than your intimacy with Jesus.

When the pursuit of God is moved from the top spot on our priority list, we choose to start down a very slippery slope from which recovery is difficult. Many times things have to get pretty tough for us before we wake up to the reality of our situation. All along the slope God’s hand is being extended to slow our slide and pull us back up to the top. But the blindness to God created by the intense light of our pride to pursue our own goals keeps us from seeing His hand. When that happens, we are in danger of sliding all the way to the bottom.

A great lesson can be learned from the historical context of Isaiah’s call to prophetic ministry. The nation of Israel is in trouble. They have succumbed to materialism, hedonism, and humanism. The first five chapters explain their position on the slippery slope of self-indulgence that they chose for themselves by failing to pursue a consistent relationship with God.

Then God call Isaiah to be His messenger, and He gives him the message to speak. We would like to think that at this point God is going to intervene and rescue them from their slide. His messenger must have words of hope, right? Wrong! God says that the consequences of their choice to jump on this slide will have to be fully realized. The will take it all the way to the bottom.

Is God being cruel? No. God is acknowledging man’s free will. God did not force them to make their choice to reject Him. God did not lead them to set Him aside for a time so they could experience what the world has to offer. God did not give them permission to change their priorities. But God did allow them to make their own choices.

When we make choices that hurt us, we tend to believe that God is our first aid kit. We quickly run back into the prayer closet where the kit is stored and take out a few bandages and some anti-bacterial ointment. After a quick application, we put the kit back in the closet and get right back to our lives again, hoping nothing else will hurt us. That’s what the nation of Israel was doing, and that’s what many of us are doing. We run to church on the Sunday’s when we happen to be available and hope that what we hear will carry us through all of the worldly pursuits of summer until we can get back to a normal routine in the fall. All the things we want to do while the weather is nice have suddenly taken on a higher priority than our relationship with Jesus our Savior and Lord. And then we wonder why we are so busy, so stressed, and so unfulfilled by what we thought was going to be all the stuff of summer that would make life meaningful.

We are on the slippery slope of materialism, hedonism, and humanism. And just like God told the people of Israel through Isaiah, He tells us today that our slide will carry us farther than we wanted to go. Our ears will hear these words but we won’t really understand them because we really don’t want to change. Our eyes will see the trouble coming but we will ignore it because we think the benefits of the pleasure will be worth the price we pay. Our hearts will become more hardened to the truth because our pride says we can make this work and have both worlds. Only when we have reached rock bottom will we finally surrender.

That was the message to Israel. That is God’s message to us today. I don’t know where you are on the slope, but if you are on it at all you are in danger. Reach out today and grab the hand of God and let Him stop your slide. Get back to pursuing God no matter how many plans you still have for summer fun. The fun of summer is not worth the recovery period from spiritual negligence.

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Friday, June 25, 2010

Today’s Topic:  Directions, Decisions, and Details

Today’s Text:  Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”  (Isaiah 6:8)

Details. We want details. We make decisions based on details. The more details we have, the better our chances of avoiding error, or so we think. We rarely accept any direction without details. Direction, decisions, and details – how are they supposed to line up?

Have you ever heard the phrase, the devil is in the details? Well, for all you detail-oriented people, here’s a little history lesson. The Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996) says The Devil is in the details is a variant of another proverb that is much older. It refers to a catch or problem hidden in the details that was not previously seen or anticipated, and that may have changed the original decision if it had been known in advance. In other words, the devil is responsible for withholding information to make us fail. In response, we want more details so we can be sure to make the right decision.

But to be historically accurate, the original proverb from which the devil reference evolved is this – God is in the details. In fact, the original proverb is more than 140 years older than its derivation. It was first attributed to a German architect named Gustave Flaubert (1821-80). History tells us that those who lived by this motto believed that whatever one does should be done thoroughly with close attention to the details because that’s how God is honored.

But let me share one more idea I have on the subject of details – my variation on the theme. God is in control of the details. Our tendency is to demand details before we make decisions when God is the one giving the directions. I believe the devil is in that. Isaiah heard the directions, made the decision, and then got the details. We would be wise to follow such an example of faith.

Recently I visited with a friend who has been struggling in his job for several years. He has been very discouraged. His age was one factor that kept him going because there was a certain measure of fear of what he would be able to do to be a provider for his wife if he quit. But things were not going well at work. He and his wife had a discussion about it and agreed that God was giving them the direction to quit and that he would provide for them. So, in the middle of the week, they made a decision with no details. The following Monday he would resign, giving his two week notice.

God is in control of the details. Two days later, on Friday, he was called into the supervisor’s office and told that his position with company was being eliminated. He was escorted back to his desk to gather his lunchbox and then escorted out of the building. There would be no need to resign on Monday. He had been let go. But in doing so, this 23-year veteran of this company was granted a severance package. He would be paid in full for the next two weeks, even though he would not be permitted back into the building to work. He would then receive a nice severance package of pay for an extended period of time. At the conclusion of that severance package, he will be eligible for unemployment compensation. None of these things would have been his if he would have resigned. All of these things allow him the time to receive the details from God of what’s next.

God is in control of the details. When God gives directions, we must make decisions, trusting that He is in control of the details. Directions…Decisions…Details. If that order ever gets messed up, so do we.

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Today’s Topic:  Preparation for Service

Today’s Text:  “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” (Isaiah 6:5-7)

God is calling you. I’m not sure to what yet, and maybe you aren’t either. He hasn’t told you what it is. But the fact that He has brought you into His presence means that He is preparing you to respond to a call to serve Him. He has brought you into His presence to remove all obstacles in the path of acceptance. We may think there are several closed doors in front of us, but God wants to open them all so we can walk the path He has prepared.

The fact that we are in God’s presence opens the first door – the door of humility. Isaiah is overwhelmed with the perfection of God. He is cowering in fear of his own unworthiness to be there. If we are to hear the call of God clearly, pride must be destroyed. Self must be crucified. Our desires, goals, and dreams must melt under the spectacle of God’s sovereignty. We must be willing to set aside anything and everything that is important to our flesh for the sake of experiencing the fullness of the Spirit.

The second door that must be opened is the confession of sin. It starts with the recognition of its horror. Every sin – not just the big ones – but every little sin that stands opposed to the holy, non-contradictory nature of God must be seen for what it is: absolute corruption.

Once the horror of sin is recognized, we must confess that we are presently smothered by it and responsible for its presence in our lives. We stand in our very nature opposed to God. People can’t help us, for they are all in the same condition. Woe to us. We are ruined by our sin.

It is in this position – face down before the throne of God with nothing but His justified judgment of sin on our minds – that God meets us at our point of need. This is the third door that God opens for us. When we reach the point of realization that we are incapable of providing a way of escape from the deserved punishment of our sin that God reveals to us the way He has provided. He has atoned for our sin. He will remove our guilt. He will make us whole.

The word atonement is significant. It simply means satisfaction for a wrong. Our sin is wrong. It’s always wrong. It’s never even slightly right. There is nothing in us that qualifies us to satisfy the wrong of sin in the holiness of God. But God can, and He did. It is symbolized for us in the life of Isaiah with the burning coal from the altar of heaven. The fulfillment of the symbol is found in the death of Christ when He presented Himself on the altar of heaven during the darkness that followed His crucifixion. (Read Hebrews chapters 9 and 10 for a complete picture of this.) In Christ God atoned for the sin of man. The sacrifice Jesus made on the cross has been eternally recognized by God as the sufficient, once-for-all sacrifice for our sin.

Some of you readers may have never reached this point in your “religious” life. You have been trusting the wrong thing. You have been hoping that God will somehow choose to recognize your self-produced goodness. That cannot happen. I cannot emphasize that enough. It is not in your power to save yourself. Only God can provide the satisfaction for your wrong by offering His sinless Son as a substitute for your death. Put your faith in Him today.

Others of you have been to the cross, but your lives are a mess because you cannot hear the call of God to service because your heart is blocked up by sin and self. You too need to humbly come back into the throne room and let God restore you to a life of faith in Him.

The fourth door is opened when we stand and accept God’s spectacular gift of forgiveness and believe that because of Christ we are now worthy to serve the King, the LORD Almighty. It is at this point that we will hear His call to service, just as Isaiah did. But notice this very significant observation – God’s call was one to service with no details of what that service would be. God wants your willing heart before He gives you details of what you will be doing. If Isaiah had known up front the message that He would be speaking, he may have refused the call. But with His heart overwhelmed with the vision of God’s holiness and the grace of God’s forgiveness, he was ready to say yes to anything God asked.

And he did.

Will you?

You will if you go through all four doors.

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Today’s Topic:  Clean Lips

Today’s Text:  I saw the Lord, seated on a throne, high and exalted… (Isaiah 6:1)

I am easily captivated by the splendor of nature. I am tempted at times to just pull the car over to the side of the road, get out, and walk through the woods. It actually happened last night. My wife and I were blessed to have two of our grandchildren sleep over at our house. After supper we decided to take them out for ice cream.

Mmmmmmmmm…ice cream…

Okay, I’m back, after a few moments of remembering the pleasure of hand-scooped Olson’s ice cream in Chippewa Falls.

Anyway, on the way to the ice cream parlor, we decided to drive through Irvine Park and show it to my dad, whom we had invited along on the excursion. At one point I was so enthralled with the view of the waterfall and the woods that I wanted to just run into them and get lost in their beauty for the rest of the day. I have paused for extended periods of time at scenic outlooks overlooking what appears to most to be nothing but hills and valleys of farmland. I have stood in silent awe at the edge of Lake of the Clouds in Upper Michigan. I have taken far longer than anyone else in my family to soak up the spectacle of a simple lighthouse on the shores of Lake Superior. I become absorbed quickly in a moment of magnificence in the mountains. I am easily captivated by the splendor of nature.

That’s why it may take several days to get through this passage of Scripture in Isaiah, but we must linger for a time at this spot of incredible beauty. Isaiah has been given a vision of God on His throne in Heaven. How can we pass by it quickly? So forget all of your plans for a few moments and get away to a quiet place where you can absorb the splendor of the King. I am not going verse by verse, but impression by impression, and I am impressed with one thing today as I contemplate what I see.

I am impressed with the contrast between what Isaiah hears from the angelic beings and what he knows to be true about his own communication habits. In the presence of God Almighty there is constant praise and worship. They declare His holiness – which means, if you remember my definition from previous writings, to be without contradiction. To be holy means to be perfectly complete and perfectly pure. There is nothing in God that contradicts itself. Every aspect of His character and His nature are in perfect agreement. How long would it take us to absorb all the splendor of that? And when these angelic beings spoke the words of praise and worship, the doorposts and thresholds of heaven shook. The power of praise is demonstrated.

It is at this point that Isaiah cries out in despair, “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”  

My first impression of this passage is this – Isaiah knew that his everyday communication with God and with people did not possess the power of praise. His speech had become tainted by a critical spirit rather than empowered by a vision of God’s holiness.

It is so very significant that the book of Isaiah does not begin with his vision of God on the throne, but rather with his perspective on society. Even though the words he spoke to the people of his day in those first five chapters were the words the Lord gave him to speak, he now recognizes that he had allowed his heart to become critical and judgmental of the people to whom he was presenting the word of the Lord. He saw himself as unclean. His lips needed to be touched with the holiness of God.

My friends, spend some time at this spectacular scenic overlook. Your words have power – power to hurt or power to help. Your words can destroy a person’s spirit or they can develop a person’s spiritual relationship. They have power to shake the doorposts of a person’s life bringing fear or faith. It all depends on whether or not you have been in the presence of the Holy One and have yourself determined to live your life without contradiction.

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Monday, June 21, 2010

Today’s Topic:  It’s a God Thing

Today’s Text:  I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. (Isaiah 6:1)

It happened again. I don’t know why it surprises me so much when it does. By now it should be the expectation by which I live. The fact that it isn’t proves how much of my life is directed by my choices rather than by the leading of the Holy Spirit. Let me set the stage for what happened.

Last week I was with a friend. We spent several days together just relaxing, playing golf, and talking. We joked quite a bit about some of the pet phrases we have adopted into our spiritual vocabulary. The one that we laughed about the most is this – “That was a God thing.” At the very root of our laughter was the realization that because God is sovereign, everything is a God thing. Yet we tend to give credit to God only when the thing that happens has an immediate benefit for us.

Which one of you would shout out at the top of your lungs from the emergency room of the hospital where you lie writhing in agony from an accident, “This is a God thing?” But it is. We must understand this – God is in sovereign control of every circumstance of life, and is using even the consequences of our sin as an instrument of shaping our spiritual life into the image of His Son Jesus.

But that is not the deep water I want to dive into today. The fact that we say “That was a God thing” only at times of personal benefit proves that we are attempting to be in control of our own lives most of the time. And because of that, we miss out on so many opportunities to see God do incredible things in and through us. We miss hearing so many whispers of the Holy Spirit because our pride is shouting so loudly.

Back to the story of last week. My friend Paul and I were on our way to the golf course early in the morning. We decided to stop at McDonald’s on the way and pick up coffee and a breakfast sandwich. Between my house and the golf course there were two McDonald’s at which I could have stopped. As I pulled out of the garage my spirit clearly heard the Holy Spirit speak. It was one of those times when I am made aware of the incredible processing power of the human mind created by the very same God who was now taking control of it. In a flash I was directed to turn right and head for the McDonald’s by the mall, taking the back roads from my house. I quickly processed travel time, tee time, directions, and ease of access both to the drive-through and back onto the highway to the golf course. I compared it to the other option. All of this was taking place in a split second of time as the car approached the end of the driveway.

Then, in my mind, I heard it again. Go right. I obeyed.  

When we pulled up to the window of the drive-through to pick up our food, I looked inside the restaurant and saw an old friend. It was a man who used to attend our church. I hadn’t seen him in over a year. I waved to him to come to the door at the end of the drive-through so I could say hi. He did. We pulled up to the door and talked for a moment. I had heard several weeks ago that he had gotten a new motorcycle, and there it was in the parking lot. He told me how much he liked it, and then invited me to call him and bring my motorcycle over and go riding with him some day.

As we drove away from the McDonald’s, I looked at Paul, and almost simultaneously we said, “That was a God thing.” We laughed, and all the way to the golf course talked about how many times the Holy Spirit tries to direct our steps that way every day and we miss it because we are so focused on what we want to do. The shouts of our pride drown out the whispers of the Holy Spirit so that the recognition of God’s activity in our lives is so infrequent it surprises us when it happens.

My goal is to stop shouting and start listening, so I can see the Lord seated on the throne of my life, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filling the temple of my life with His presence and glory. When that happens, everything becomes a God thing.

Pastor John