THINKING ABOUT EASTER

       

With all that happened just before the crucifixion of Jesus and afterwards, the disciples and other followers experienced a wide range of emotions. As we look at these feelings they had let’s see how we can apply some principles to our life today. Our main test is  Luke 24:1-4 but we’ll be going throughout the whole chapter. It reads, “1 Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. 2 But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3 Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. 5 Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 "He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee...”

Confusion: Luke 24:1-4

     In the original Greek language the word perplexed means “to be left wanting, to be

embarrassed, to be in doubt, not to know which way to turn.” Imagine the thoughts they must have had swarming around in their minds. Could this really be?  What if it isn’t, where is his body? Thankfully, Jesus isn’t bothered by our questions. He doesn’t condemn us for having questions. He would rather us ask the questions than to ignore him.

Fear / Sadness: Luke 24:17 & Luke 24:5 –

     What were they afraid of? I think they wondered if they had been duped by Jesus. Was he really who he said he was? Did he fool us? They fear for their lives wondering if they would be arrested, even killed also because of their association with Jesus. Think about it,

Peter denied Jesus  You might say, “Well I would never deny the Lord. But have you ever had an opportunity to speak up for him and didn’t because you were afraid of being embarrassed?

Joy: Luke 24:30-32

     Think about this – right in the middle of their sadness Jesus was right there and they didn’t even know it… until He opened their eyes. Once we recognized that Jesus is revealing Himself to us and we acknowledge him, great joy comes into our lives. I don’t know about you, but before Jesus was in my life I had no joy, no hope... just negative thoughts and feeling down all the time. As believers joy should be a mark of our lives. That’s not to say we never have tough times but that we don’t have to allow the tough times to steal our joy.

Doubt: Luke 24:9-11 & 35-38

     Ever have someone tell you something and you’re like “yeah right…” And then later you found it to be so? I can only imagine the doubts that must have flooded their minds when things happened as they did. After hearing testimonies they wondered; “Is it true that he’s risen?” Just like us, they didn’t remember the promises he had given. How many times do we go through a trial and we forget about earlier trials that God brought us through? Doubt… we all experience it at times. 

Adoration: 47"and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48"And you are witnesses of these things. 49 "Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high." 50And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them.51 Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven.52 And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.” Luke 24:47,48 51-53 (Emphasis added)

     This is the heart of the Easter Story – WORSHIP – We’re to worship Jesus as King of Kings  & Lord of Lords…. He is risen indeed! According to verses 47 & 48, once we have received Jesus into our lives it gives a sense of mission. We’re now to be his witnesses telling other of the hope found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. And in our mission we’re to preach verse 47 – “repentance and remission of sins.”  You see my friend, one cannot experience the joy and worship of the Lord until they first have repented of their sin and surrendered their life to Jesus Christ. Does that mean life is problem free after salvation? Not at all! But, we now have the Lord to walk with us through those difficult times.

     I would like to close with a quote from a pastor (Tom Lovorn) that was used in a recent sermon I read. “ With hope, you can claim the Holy Spirit's guidance and power. And, with mission, you will have a reason for being where you are. You'll be purpose-driven to win your world for Jesus. Your whole image - the way you dress, talk, and walk; your attitude and outlook; your reaction to people and things – everything about you will be different. When people ask you, "What happened to you?" You can answer, "Easter happened, that's what!"

     Until next time, let’s rejoice that we have a risen Savior!

    

HUNGRY FOR MORE

          

  Some time ago I read the following in an e-mail – “When I look at myself, I see how desperately I need to change. When I look at the Church, I see how desperately we all need to change. And I'm so hungry for that change, I can hardly stand it. I do thank God for what He's done. I am grateful for it. But I can't be satisfied because we're still so far short of all He has for us.”

     There are times the Lord allows us to experience what I call times of “Divine Discontent.”  Author Tommy Tenney says it this way - It’s like having a “compulsive addiction for God that makes you tired of church games, man’s manipulations, and passionless worship services consisting of religious gymnastics & emotional hype designed to excite & stroke the flesh.”   And recently while reading a book by John Bevere I cam e across this statement: “We’ll hunger for what we feed on.”  That reminded me of a teaching I did some time ago & I want to share with you. I titled it Hungry for More of God. Once again I’ve used an acrostic, this time for the word HUNGER.  Let’s see how we can feed our hunger for God.

Hear His voice 

"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God."' Rev 2:7

     We must be willing to hear his voice. Then when we hear his voice we must obey what the Lord is saying to us. It’s not always easy. But being obedient will make your life easier. Believe me, I’ve been there.

Undistracted Worship – 2 Sam. 6:20-23,

     We must come to a point when nothing will distract us from our worship of God. Undistracted worship will lead you to have a passion for wanting to get close to God. When you are in his presence you will have thoughts like: “if I can just touch the hem of His garment” or

“If I could just see Him” or “If I could just get His attention…” You get to this point where it’s all you can do to maintain your composure & you think you’re going to burst. You don’t know whether to laugh or cry… That’s a good place to be in the Lord.  For some other examples of people who pressed through see Luke 19:1-6 and Mark 10:48-52.

Nevertheless

    But Simon answered and said to Him, "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net." Luke 5:5

We need to be determined that we are moving forward with the Lord regardless of what comes our way or what things look like in the natural.

Grasping for More

     My soul follows close behind You; your right hand upholds me. Psalm 63:8

Quoting author Tommy Tenney again - “A God chaser is a person whose hunger exceeds his reach... a person whose passion for God’s presence causes him to desire more.”  Too many of us put limits on God. It’s time to break out of our religious box… God is bigger than our box!

Exalt the Lord

     “You are my God, and I will praise You; you are my God, I will exalt You.”  Psalm 118:28

Take time to praise the Lord. Sing to him. Read from the Psalms – out loud. Let your whole life praise the Lord! Singer Chris Christian puts it this way: “Worship is more than just singing a song, it all that you say and everything that you do.” He is worthy of all our praise!

 Rearrange Priorities

     "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Matthew 6:33

This means that your relationship with God should hold more importance than anything else in your life.  Now, that doesn’t give you an excuse to be irresponsible. We all still have jobs to go to, families to take care of, etc.  This just means that if we will give God first place in our life he will take care of everything else.

     OK, let’s try to pull all of this together. Here’s one more quote from Tommy Tenney – “God is not going to pour out His Spirit where He doesn't find hunger.”  My friend, are you hungry for more? Cry out to God! He is waiting to hear your voice.  It’s time for us to crawl out of our safe boxes and trust God to be all HE IS!

God is a Consuming Fire

       Thinking about this led me to Hebrews 12:28,29  (ESV) “²⁸ Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, ²⁹ for our God is a consuming fire."

     Recently I found myself singing the words a song titled “Take Me In” by Dave Browning. “The words are: “Take me past the outer courts/And through the holy place/Past the brazen altar/Lord, I want to see Your face./Pass me by the crowds of people/And the priests who sing their praise/I hunger and thirst for Your righteousness/But it’s only found one place. So take me in to the Holy of Holies/Take me in by the blood of the Lamb/So take me in to the Holy of Holies/Take the coal, cleanse my lips, here I am”.

     Let’s look at how the fire of God can affect our lives.

The Fire of God Purifies - "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like launderer's soap.” Malachi 3:2

     It is only the Lord who can purify us. There is nothing we can do to make our self  “more clean” for God. The only thing that can cleanse us is the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Once we accept God’s gift of salvation the cleaning process begins. And it is just that, a process. While some things may change instantly, for most of us it is a process of growth and maturing in our relationship with the Lord.

The Fire of God Consumes - For our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:29

     The fire of God will consume us. The definition for the word consume here is “to do away with completely.”  In other words, the fire of God will remove everything from our life that is a hindrance to his life flowing through us. This happens when we spend time in the presence of God.  I’ve said it before, when we’re in the presence of God in a matter minutes He can radically change our lives.

The Fire of God Empowers - John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire”. Luke 3:16

Another scripture - Acts 1:8 -"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

     In the natural, wherever there is a fire you can see power. A fire is a powerful thing of destruction. When God’s presence is in our lives we will have power. When we allow the fire of God to consume us, and the Spirit of God to come upon us, we will be empowered to live godly lives, to fulfill his calling on our life and be a witness to others.

     Having said this there is one more point to consider. What will keep the fire of God burning in our lives? . We need just a spark to keep it going.  Let me explain that with a short acronym

Submission - humble ourselves under the authority of God’s Word daily. – James 4:10
Prayer - pray daily  - Ephesians 6:18
Approaching - seek God’s face in intimacy – Psalms 27:8
Repentance - turn from our sins – Acts 2:38
Kneeling – Worship Him! – Psalm 95:6

     If we will be diligent to do these things we can be assured that the fire of God will  burn out in our lives.  I would like to close with the chorus to a song titled “Refiner’s Fire”. Let it be a prayer for each of us as we walk through the process of becoming more like him. Remember, for gold to get it’s worth, it must be burned in the fire but the goldsmith.

Here’s the chorus: “My heart's one desire/is to be holy/set apart for You Lord/I choose to be holy/set apart for you my master/ready to do your will.”

     Until next time, let the fire of God burn!

Delayed, But Still Destined!

   

  Last night I heard one our pastors, Pastor Chu teach our Wed. night bible study that confirmed some things in my life. After the Bible Study when I got home I was led to watch the War Room movie again on DVD.  I think I need to watch it several more times before I get it like Ms. Clara!  Last year in Feb. the Lord led me on a new journey to follow Him more than I ever have in my 30+ years as a Christian.

     Yes, I was living for the Lord & loving Him but I wasn’t fighting spiritually like I once did. For 2 years I let the “stuff” of life distract me as I encountered several personal trials. I would find myself fighting the wrong battles or not fighting at all. It took everything in me to hold onto the vision, dream & calling that the Holy Spirit planted in me years ago. But since last Feb. the Lord has kept challenging me to press on and not give up. So I made a decision to no longer give in to man’s ideas & follow the Lord.

     As I continued on this journey it wasn’t easy as tough decisions had to be made, yet at the same time ministry opportunities were opening up and restoring the hope of the original calling. Then in Oct. the journey took a twist I never imagined. I had been praying and fasting and the Lord had really been stirring some things up inside of me. My husband was gone on a men’s retreat from a Thursday to Sunday. That Thursday I drove past a church sign that would have a great impact on my life. I was so drawn to this sign! I couldn’t get away from seeing it. The next day I drove to the sign & wrote the website address down and continued on with my errands.

     When I got home I sat down to look at the web site. I began to read about the vision of people being inspired to draw closer to God and see their bondages broken, encouragement to find freedom from the struggles of life, and salvation for all. As I read this web site I wept as the Holy Spirit overcame showing me the very vision within me was at this place.  The sign I saw was for IChurch.

     Two days later I visited IChurch.  By the end of the service I knew I was stepping into something supernatural that the Lord was setting up. There’s not enough space here to tell all the details but the bottom line is they were praying for God to send me to them at the same time I was praying for God to take me where-ever and do with me whatever He wanted. Oh my, I never dreamed of the whirlwind that was about to happen. Friends were even sending me e-mails saying; “God is about to bring a suddenly in your life”.  I wish I could share all the details in this blog but let me just say that after more prayer and fasting God moved us to commit to sharing in the vision at IChurch. God confirmed this with 2 Corinthians 16:9 (NLT) “There is a wide-open door for a great work here, although many oppose me.”

     Now let’s get back to where I started and share some more scripture. In the beginning of this blog I mentioned about Pastor Chu teaching our bible study. I am not going to give you the whole thing, but just highlight some scripture he shared. First he shared from Judges 11 about a man named Jephthah whom the Lord had called to be a warrior but he never fulfilled what the Lord had for him because he let people and trials take him away.

     The next scripture was Psalm 73:1-28.  In verses 1-20 David was bemoaning the blessing of the wicked around him and questioning God about his own trials, even questioning whether it was worth going on with God. Then in verses 21-28 David turns his trust back to the Lord having his vision and hope renewed. The Psalms are the most read book in the bible because so many of us relate to David. He was a man after God’s heart but like us he often struggled with who God called him to be but he wouldn’t give up and would always find the grace and mercy of the Lord available to him giving him victory after victory.

     The last scripture was a familiar one but stronger than ever as I heard it read. Phil. 3:12-14  ¹² Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. ¹³ Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, ¹⁴ I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

     In closing let me break this down for you a little since I feel this is right where I’m at in my life right now and a place we all need to find ourselves at some time.

I’m not perfect: I have made mistakes along the way & I still miss it at times. But I keep getting up. (v12)

I haven’t arrived (apprehended), but I am forgetting the past and pressing on. (v13)

Most importantly, I am pressing toward the call of God so that in the end I can hear “well done.” (v14)

      Friends, I challenge you. Do not give up on the calling, dream or vision God has planted in you. Yes there will be hurdles to jump along the way but it will be worth it to follow the Lord and know that we have been obedient to His calling. We will be able to say as the Apostle Paul said: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.”  2 Tim, 4:7 (NLT)