To Obey

Tonight, I think I ignored God's voice.

On my way home from choir rehearsal, I had to wait at a stop light for two fire engines, an ambulance, and a few seconds later, two police cars to pass. They turned toward my house and I was wondering where they were headed. I very quickly knew. As I topped a hill, still a couple of miles from home, I saw the fire engines blocking the right lane of traffic and the access to a side street. Driving by, I saw the emergency workers all hovered around a person on the pavement. There was a car stopped in the middle of the intersection and a bicycle laying a little bit to the side. My assumption is that the car hit the bike. I immediately thanked the Lord that He kept me from being in the accident and began to pray for those involved. I turned toward home and as I prayed for the situation began to wonder if I should go back to the scene and attempt to minister in some way. It was late. I was tired. Suzanne and the boys were already at home getting ready for bed. I did the whole mental argument thing all the way home. "God, surely You don't want me to go back there...What could I do?...They probably wouldn't let me talk to anyone anyway...God, you know I need to get home..." and it just went on and on in my head. I think, deep down I knew God was speaking, but I just didn't obey. Why? Honestly, it just didn't make sense. It really felt a little crazy.

I don't know for sure what God wanted me to do at that accident scene tonight. But I know I want to obey Him next time. At choir tonight, I spoke about hearing and obeying The Good Shepherd's voice (John 10) and on the way home, I heard and disobeyed that very voice.

Lord, forgive my trusting my reason more than Your voice. Give me a sensitive heart to hear You and a willing heart to fully obey You. In Jesus Name, Amen.

~Jon

Love

I came across a great definition of love in a book called, "Family Driven Faith," by Voddie Baucham.

"Love is an act of the will accompanied by emotion that leads to action on behalf of its object." (pg 57)

I love this definition because it flies in the face of the idea that we fall in and out of love, or that we can just choose to love and feel nothing, or that we can feel love and not act. Jesus said that the world would know that we follow Him because of our love. (John 13:35) When you use Voddie's definition for love, here, you realize how radical Jesus' command is and how we have not fulfilled this well in our day. The church tends to get off on so many tangents, but continually misses the point.

Mark Dever addresses this in his book, Twelve Challenges Churches Face, as well.

"As a church, we want to pray to have a culture of humble, self-giving, encouraging love. We want to have leaders who are pronounced in laying aside selfish considerations for the good of others. We want to follow Paul's example in inconveniencing ourselves to make the gospel known to others. We want to go to places we otherwise wouldn't go. We want to learn things we wouldn't learn, and meet people we otherwise might not meet. This is why we do small-group Bible studies with people, and get to know folks at restaurants, and strike up conversations on airplanes, and have talks at Starbucks.

Sunday mornings are not particularly the time to be seeker sensitive. Sundays are the time to gather as a family, a body, though visitors are certainly welcome. But our lives should be seeker sensitive, not wanting to give unnecessary offense, desiring to be winsome in our lives and witness and testimony....Brothers and sisters, arrange your life to share the gospel, and enjoy the freedom that comes to you as you watch others being freed from the penalty of their sins and reconciled to God." (pg 91-92)

As I read this, my prayer is let us BE the Church, not just DO church.

~Jon

Pride

I have been slowly studying through the book of 1 Corinthians. At the end of the first chapter is this very direct command.

"Let the one who boasts, boast in the LORD." (1 Corinthians 1:31b)

The link below is to a message on pride with this verse as it's text. It is insightful and convicting.

God, remove pride from Your people, I pray. In Jesus Name, Amen.

~Jon

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByScripture/19/625_Let_Him_Who_Boasts_Boast_in_the_Lord/

Psalm 36: Prayer Guide For Tough Times

I recently encountered this Psalm in the midst of a difficult season and the Lord let me see a pattern in this ancient prayer song that is a good one for us to use, as well.

Psalm 36 (English Standard Version)

How Precious Is Your Steadfast Love
To the choirmaster. Of David, the servant of the LORD.

1Transgression speaks to the wicked
deep in his heart; there is no fear of God
before his eyes.
2 For he flatters himself in his own eyes
that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
3The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit;
he has ceased to act wisely and do good.
4He plots trouble while on his bed;
he sets himself in a way that is not good;
he does not reject evil.

David, in no way ignores evil, here. He begins His quiet time, if you will, by recognizing the evil that he sees with his eyes. But watch where he looks next...

5Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
6Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
your judgments are like the great deep;
man and beast you save, O LORD.

He consciously looks up! He begins to declare who God is and what His heart is. This is praise.

7How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
9For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light do we see light.

Once David begins to form a picture of God in his minds eye, his reaction begins to turn from praise to thanksgiving. As we read this thanksgiving, we realize just how much joy there is in living under the authority and protection of our great God.

10Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
and your righteousness to the upright of heart!
11Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
12There the evildoers lie fallen;
they are thrust down, unable to rise.

It is here that David begins to intercede. He started out with his own viewpoint in full view, but when He began to focus on God, his viewpoint changed. How many times have we prayed and never left the complaints of verses 1-4? It is no wonder that our prayers are not full of power. If they are only our opinions spoken to God, how do we expect that we will see them answered? Notice that the intercession found here at the conclusion is not devoid of the reality of evil that was in full focus at the beginning...it is just in the right context, now.

Oh God, give us a clear revelation of who You are so we will know how to respond with Your heart in the midst of tough times. Let us always remember to cling to Your promises with all the strength afforded to us by Your grace.

Praying Through,
~Jon

Why...

I have been in 1 Corinthians for the last month or so and I received a book I had ordered on it yesterday called Twelve Challenges Churches Face, by Mark Dever. I read the preface and a couple of pages in the first chapter this morning and already am greatly encouraged. This paragraph is from the preface.

"In this letter, 1 Corinthians, Paul astonishes the pastor (at least, he did me). When he was facing the most normal of problems (division in the church, worldliness, selfishness, and others) he reached for deeply theological responses. Paul called the Corinthian congregation to be not divided but united, not worldly but holy, not selfish but loving. That's not the surprising part. The surprising part is how he argued this with them. He called them to forsake divisions, because God is one. He called them to forsake sin, because God is holy. He called them to forsake selfishness, because God is loving. In all of this, the governing presupposition is not that the church should operate by a rule book of spiritual manners and etiquette, but that the church is a living reflection of the living God. There is one God. He is holy and has given himself in love. His church, therefore, should reflect his own character; we should be united and holy and loving or else we lie about him! That is a powerful thought." --Twelve Challenges Churches Face, by Mark Dever, page 10

This is huge! I recently heard a message that said that in most evangelical churches, we have mastered the "how-to's," but have no clue about the "whys." I am excited to get further into this book because I think it is going to deal with the latter. During this season of trials that seems to be raging in many churches, don't forget that Jesus, the head of the Church, is King! We can't see all of our stuff from His viewpoint just yet, but we can say with Paul, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." --Romans 8:18 (ESV)

Fighting to Focus On Him,
~Jon

Martin Luther On The Priesthood Of Every Christian

"All Christians are truly of the 'spiritual estate,' and there is among them no difference at all but that of office...To make it still clearer. If a little group of pious Christian laymen were taken captive and set down in a wilderness, and had among them no priest consecrated by a bishop, and if there in the wilderness they were to agree in choosing one of themselves, married or unmarried, and were to charge him with the office of baptizing, saying mass, absolving and preaching, such a man would be as truly a priest as though all bishops and popes had consecrated him....There is really no difference between laymen and priests, princes and bishops, 'spirituals' and 'temporals,' as they call them, except that of office and work...A cobbler, a smith, a farmer, each has the work and office of his trade, and yet they are all alike consecrated priests and bishops, and everyone by means of his own work or office must benefit and serve every other, that in this way many kinds of work may be done for the bodily and spiritual welfare of the community, even as all the members of the body serve one another."

--Martin Luther, "An Open Letter To The Christian Nobility," in Three Treatises (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1960), 14-17

Send Revival, Lord!

My friend Richard called me a few days ago and with a brokenness in his voice, said, "Jon, have you watched the video I emailed you, yet?" I had not, and he strongly entreated me to check it out with, what I discerned was an "overwhelmed by God" kind of passion. This morning, I sat down for the 26 minutes required to view it, and was blown away. These are words from men of God from the past that, as they are combined, carry a Holy Spirit one-two punch that knocks us on our self-centered, faithless, fleshly, religious butts! Take the time to watch it, but do so at your own risk...there's no telling what God might do in your life. ~Jon


http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=738d155fc78d7243e303