pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Monthly Archives: January 2016


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Experience God

Reds, oranges, and yellows slowly fill the sky as the sun begins to break forth over the horizon.  At the end of the day, the occasional purple or blue may mix with the reds, oranges, and yellows as God says ‘good night’ and brings rest to the earth.  The beauty, power, and majesty we find in sunrises and sunsets is spoken in every language in every place on earth.  “Their voice goes out into all the earth”, declares the psalmist.

As a Youth growing up in Connecticut, I can remember going out early to a rural turkey farm early on Easter morning.  We would arrive when it was still dark.  It was always cold.  As we waited in only the calm sounds of nature, one could sense God was near.  Slowly the sun would creep up and begin to warm our silent faces, simply watching God’s handiwork unfold.  Once the sun was risen, we would join in song, prayer, and the Word for our Easter sunrise service.  The sunrise was always like God’s welcoming presence coming amongst us.

We were very intentional about awaiting God’s entrance and His presence on those mornings.  Sometimes life can just become so busy that opportunities like this are gobbled up.  We can work and work and work and become so consumed that we miss the beauty of God’s voice calling out to us as it echoes through nature.  We miss those still moments where God is trying to consume us with His power and beauty and majesty so that He can refresh and renew our spirits and our souls.  It is a shame we so often miss it.

“The heavens declare the glory of God” reminds the psalmist.  May we more often make the time to experience the things of God.  Let it begin today.

Scripture reference: Psalm 19: 1-6


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A Living Expression

Ezra and the Levites not only read the Word of God to the people, but they also explain the meaning.  In doing so, the people can do more than simply hear the Word read; they can gain an understanding of them and apply them to their lives.  In today’s passage, they were reading from the law.  Through the priests’ explanations, the people came to see that they were falling short and they mourned.

At times we too read the Bible or hear a sermon or read a devotional book and we experience conviction or motivation.  Maybe the passage is about loving our neighbor and we realize we have been less than loving to a coworker.  Maybe the message is about forgiveness and it leads us to reconcile with a friend.  Maybe the devotional for the day speaks of an act of generosity and we are inspired to clean out the closets so that we can donate some warm clothing to the local mission.  God’s Word is active and living.  When we spend time in the Word, reading or hearing it, it has to affect how we live our life as it builds our love for God.  Through the Word, we also come to know God’s love for us.

Ezra does not leave the people mourning though.  Instead he reminds them of the holiness of their gathering and of their ability to live out the Word.  He helps them to see that when they are together, it is a time of blessing.  The blessing is both from the time spent with God and from the time spent with each other as both build up their strength.  As he sends them out to the feast to celebrate, he reminds them to continue to care for one another and to be in community.  If a brother or sister is lacking, he reminds the people to provide for them so that they too can celebrate God’s presence and strength in their lives and in the community.

We too are called to hear and then doers of the Word.  May our lives each day be a living expression of all that God places upon our hearts and then calls us to do as we continue on our journey of faith.

Scripture reference: Nehemiah 8: 8-10


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Our Worship

What kind of worship do you think God likes best?  Yes, I did ask that.  I think God most likes the worship that brings all the glory and honor to Him.  That may happen in a lot of different styles and settings and experiences.

Ezra read from the scriptures and the people listened attentively.  They raised their hands up toward heaven, seeking to connect to God.  They bowed their heads low, seeking to demonstrate their obedience and submission to God, to His holy Word.  In prayer they laid low to the ground.  All of these gestures were done to bring honor and glory to God alone and to indicate the conditions of their hearts – hearts fully committed to God.  But this is not the only way on can worship God.  David danced in the streets as he worshiped God.  Jesus went alone up on the mountain to worship God.

In our churches, our worship can vary greatly too.  It amazes me how many ways we can worship God and bring our praises to glorify God.  Musically it can be a stirring organ or a rocking praise band or a beautiful piano gently playing a song.  Vocally it can be a moving choir or a single voice lifted beautifully in praise or it can be a whole congregation raising the roof.  Prayer can be vocal with hands lifted high or it can be kneeling at the rail with head bowed low in reverent silence.  The Word can be read together or it may just be the liturgist.  The variances in tone, gesture, inflection, pace, and so on can be great even within one sermon.

God desires our worship to reflect the condition of our heart.  Does our individual worship on a Sunday in church reveal a faith fully committed to God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength?  Does our worship fill us so completely full of God that we have to go through the week ahead pouring Him out to all we meet?  This is the worship God desires.

Scripture reference: Nehemiah 8: 5-6


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Will We?

After their capitol city Jerusalem was destroyed, many of the people of Israel spent a long period living in exile.  Finally the king of Persia begins to allow some to return to start rebuilding their holy city.  The Israelites had been helpful and useful to the king, so this was a way he could thank them.  Miraculously, the small group rebuilds all of the city wall in just 52 days.  They know from this amazing feat, accomplished in the midst of unfriendly peoples all around them, that God was at work in and around them.  So they gather to worship and to hear the Word of God read.

Each week lots of folks will gather on Sunday morning to hear the Word of God, to offer Him praise, and to celebrate God’s presence in their lives.  God is a steady and active part of the lives of regular church goers.  Sunday morning is the time when they are renewed and encouraged and built up so that they can face the world in the week ahead.  Their time each Sunday morning in church allows them to live each day with God’s presence.

For lots of other folks, this feeling of a need to connect with God is generated only through an exceptional blessing or through a trying circumstance or event.  For the first group, something really amazing happens and they can sense God’s hand or presence in that blessing.  They show up on a Sunday and offer theirs thanks to God.  For the second group, it is a tragedy or trial that brings them to the point of feeling they need to connect to God.  They come desperate and seeking, sensing that only God can make a difference for them.

Funny thing though, God is equally happy to have all three in the house.  Each and every one is seen as a beloved child of God.  To God, on that day, it does not matter if one is there every Sunday or if it has been a while or if it is the first time.  On that day, they are there in the house of God.  And God is happy.

The challenge in the church is, first, to be equally happy.  The second challenge is to regularly feed to every Sunday worshiper while also meeting the special occasion worshiper where they are at and ministering to them right there.  All people need to see the relevance of God in their lives and to feel that their time is well-invested to keep showing up at church.  Together, the body of Christ has the gifts and talents to accomplish all of this.  Together the church can be relevant, can be worthy of people’s time, and can meet and minister to each person right where they are at in life and on their journey of faith.  But our question is: will we?

Scripture reference: Nehemiah 8: 1-3


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Thank You

The psalmist writes, “Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens”.  The writer goes on to speak of God’s faithfulness reaching to the skies and of His righteousness being like the mighty mountains.  Lastly God’s justice is paralleled to the ocean.  How vast and wide and high and deep is God’s love, faithfulness, righteousness, and justice!  Verses like these remind us of who God is and cause us to give praise and thanksgiving.

Yet almost as often as there are grains of sand on the beach, I can forget all that the psalmist writes of.  In an instant I can forget all about this omnipotent and omnipresent God and rely only on myself.  On the one hand this amazes me and on the other hand I know I have been there over and over and over again.  But no matter how many times I seem to try to do it on my own and fail, He is always there.  With that love that reaches to the heavens, God always waits for my return.  Through a faithfulness equally as big, God never gives up on me.

It is humbling to think of such things.  All I have to do is rely on God.  To know I fail reminds me of my total dependence on God.  To be humbled is to remember my place in the large order of things.  Thank you God for your immeasurable love, faithfulness, righteousness, and justice.  Thank you God.

Scripture reference: Psalm 36: 5-10


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Shining the Light

Isaiah begins the passage today by declaring that he will not be silent.  Instead he will continue to speak until “righteousness shines out like the dawn”.  Each morning as the sun rises at dawn, the light slowly creeps forth and it lights up everything.  All is illuminated.  Isaiah claims his role to continue to speak out so that all will know salvation.

Jesus again spoke out to proclaim this same message of salvation for all people.  Everywhere He went and to all He spoke with, Jesus exemplified this same righteousness shining out like the dawn.  To all He ministered to Jesus was love and kindness and mercy.  He offered an alternative to the things people were struggling with.  Jesus offered a new way to live, a way that gave freedom from sin and death.  His focus on God’s kingdom also lifted our eyes off of all these earthly trappings.

Jesus called us too to be the light that is always shining out into the world.  He called us to be the same righteousness that brings light to all around it.  And He does not want us to ever be silent until all come to know the light.  Here is where the struggle begins.  There is so much that can distract us and cause our light to not always be shining out.

Do we remember when we first fell in love with God?  Do we remember how it consumed us?  For some that passion slowly dies away as it is not fed on a regular, steady basis.  For some life grows to be so busy as we allow work, sports, and other activities, pursuits, interests, and responsibilities to take up our time, energy, or both.  God must be our first priority.  If He is not, we must stop the whirlwind and place God back at the center.  Carving out time with God every day has to be the starting point.  Time in prayer and the study of His Word will allow that light to shine out into all we do.  When we center our lives on Jesus, then His light in us will be like the dawn, shining out to bring light to all.  May Jesus be our all in all we do this day and every day.

Scripture reference: Isaiah 62: 1-5


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The Journey

God’s promises to Zion are promises to us too.  In the broad sense, Zion is the place where God and mankind connect.  People of all walks of life, from a wide variety of circumstances and situations, and from all over the world come and connect to God.  Each of us are such people.  We are drawn by the promises of freedom from sin and death, of abundant life in the here and now, and of eternal life in the time to come.  God’s promises bring love, hope, joy, and peace.

In order to live in and enjoy all of God’s promises, we must go on and be on a journey.  Our journey begins with another’s faith.  We come to know God through our parents or through a friend as we see faith in them.  Our desire to “have” what they have leads us into our own personal relationship as we choose to declare Jesus our Lord and Savior.  Through our own servanthood and discipleship we begin to live into God’s promises.  We see the world from a new perspective.  As we continue to walk in this new relationship we experience the constant renewal of our mind and heart as we grow closer and closer to Him.

We cannot stop walking though.  Some do.  Some say they have accepted Christ and act as if that is the end point.  It is not.  Our journey of faith continues until the day we die.  Every day we are  called to know Him more and to fall deeper and deeper in love with Him.  Our role also expands.  We add witness to servant and disciple.  It is the “go” part of the great commission.  We all need to become His light and love in the world so that others might see our life in Christ and say as we once said: I want some of that.  May our light and love draw others to His light and love.

Scripture reference: Isaiah 62: 1-5


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For the Common Good

“For the Common good” is why we are given gifts.  It is part of the concept of being one big family or of being one body with many parts, each working together.  Our varied and unique gifts are meant to unite us as we come to learn what we each can offer to the whole.

In life we each face situations.  Sometimes we can maneuver through them on our own.  In other cases, we are a little more pressed and the gifts and skills God has given us are not quite enough.  In these times we need to call on others whose gifts will help with our situation.  There are two byproducts of this system God designed: as individuals we experience humility as we rely on others.  As part of the body we come to value and appreciate others for their role in the larger community of faith.

For us to play a role in this system, we must know what our gifts are.  The list in today’s reading includes teaching, discernment, healing, prophesying, and speaking in and interpreting tongues.  In Romans 12 is another list and in Galatians 5 we find a list of the fruits of the Spirit, which can also be seen as gifts we possess and can share with others.

For some of us, our gifts are revealed through our passions.  For example, one drawn to working with young people discovers their gift for teaching.  Often we “do” what we are gifted at or with.  For others, it takes effort and sometimes trial and error to find their gifts.  And, uniquely, for some their gifts are totally different than what they do for a living.

Whatever the case, we are each called to use our gifts for the common good.  May God’s Spirit work in us to reveal our gifts if we do not know them.  If we do, may God provide opportunities for us to exercise our gifts today, for the common good and for God’s glory.

Scripture reference: 1 Corinthians 12: 1-11


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His Gifts, His Call

Paul writes to the Corinthians concerning the many gifts that the Holy Spirit has blessed them with.  In today’s passage Pauli stressing that all gifts are equally given and that all are to be used for the same purpose: to do the will of God in the world.  He also emphasizes the idea that we each are uniquely gifts to do our own special work for the kingdom of God.  Lastly, Paul points out the fact that our gifts are given to be used.

It is often said that where our passions meet God’s desires for our world is the place our gifts are best used.  Where our gift as a teacher or healer or encourager or interpreter of tongues fills a need in someone’s life or in a ministry is just the place God calls us to use the gift that the Spirit gave us.

We mus be careful to be aware of, to recognize, and to give the glory to God for the gifts we have.  Our gift is like all else we have in life – a gift from God.  It is something that God placed within each of us through the Holy Spirit.  Our thankful response should be to use our gift for God.  We must recognize that God intended our gifts to be used for the good of all of God’s children, for all of the people in our lives, not just for some.  Each of our gifts is intended to make the world a better place.  And in the end, all must point back to God.  It is He who gave the gift and it is really God who is at work accomplishing all that results from us using the gift.  To God be all the glory.

Sometimes the call to put our gift to work can be a scary thing.  It may involve giving up a career or maybe moving to a new place.  It may involve doing something in your community that is a bit uncomfortable.  We must remember that He who calls is really the only one in control anyway.  He will be with us in the response as well as in the call.  May we be ever faithful to the One who calls.

Scripture reference: 1 Corinthians 12: 1-11


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Each Opportunity

While at the wedding at Cana, Jesus experiences something we all experience – a request to help someone.  In this case Jesus must have known the wedding party as He and the disciples were invited to the party.  As I reflect on who I struggle most with when asked for assistance, it is with the stranger that I most often struggle.  In this story from the book of John, Jesus teaches us both what we are to do and what we are not to do.

The first thing Jesus did was to be open to the needs of others.  When His mother asked, He could have ignored her or dismissed the request.  Much like when the Spirit prompts us, do we pay attention or do we act like we did not hear or feel anything?

The second thing Jesus did was to decide what the greatest need was.  This can be hard to weigh or evaluate correctly.  At times people in need of assistance have a root need that is much deeper than the asked for need.  But we are called to be in relationship with and to walk alongside people in need.  Warning: to be in relationship and to walk alongside another is a much deeper commitment.  But it is only when we do this that we can begin to understand and address these deeper needs.

The third thing Jesus teaches us is something not to do: He did not judge the situation or the person.  This is often where I struggle most.  It is usually in the immediate need requests that I struggle with this the most.  When I have entered into a helping relationship with another, I learn that they are much like me and it is easier not to judge them.  But in the immediate request from a person I encounter on the street who is asking for $5 for food, for example, it is harder to not judge the validity or worthiness of the request.  In God’s view, we are to help if we can, no questions asked.

The last thing Jesus teaches us is to respond and act to the best of our ability.  He didn’t just make wine, He made good wine.  We too are called to be honest, genuine, and fully invested.  Each of our relationships and encounters should receive our best efforts.  Jesus offered no less.

May each opportunity to come alongside another be done with all the love, compassion, and ability that God has placed within us.  Lord, may it begin with me.

Scripture reference: John 2: 1-11