How Long?

As followers of the Lamb of God I am convinced that we so often put on the fake smile. You know what I'm talking about, let me give you an example. Someone comes up to you and asks, "How are you doing?" We turn around and immediately answer Great. Meanwhile we shudder at our answer because we know it is nothing short of a lie. Why do we do that? I believe the majority of the time it is due to our pride. We just don't want people to know how imperfect our world can be at times.

I think that's one of the reasons why I love David so much. David was willing to say to others as well as to the Lord, I just don't understand. Lord, help me I am such a terrible mess. I really don't know what you are doing Father. Doubt me look at the following verses.


Psalms 13:1-2 ( ESV )

---

¹    How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?    How long will you hide your face from me?

---

²    How long must I take counsel in my soul    and have sorrow in my heart all the day?    How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?


Just like David, I have felt this way with the Lord at times as well and I also suspect you have as well. In just two short verses David ask the Lord four times. HOW LONG? In just these few short words the Psalmist King brings out the deepest of emotions. David brings out our greatest fears about our relationship with the Lord through our trials. Do these sound like familiar words to you? God have you forgotten me? Lord I just don't see you in the midst of all of this mess. When will the sadness ever end? Why is it that I feel like I am being constantly beaten up?

No, the majority of us I believe will put on our plastic smiles. We will quote Psalms 118:24 and say, "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Brothers and sisters I have found comfort in this verse like many of you. My only problem though is that the "day that the Lord has made" in this verses context is the day in which our Savior gave of His life for you and me. (Esp. v. 21-23)

He is my Father and I know that He does all things well and because I love Him, He will work out all things together for the good. I am so grateful to my Father that I can look at Him not with judgment but like a little child and say, I just don't understand. Father, my heart is breaking. Why Father? When I come to Him as a son He does not scream at me and shout, How dare you?

I know that we have to be careful here because I do not want to fall into the sin of how dare we question God. I am frightened at those and myself when we feel as though we have the right to look at God and say you messed up. (By the way an incredibly blasphemous thought.) We will and shall never be able to judge God.

Our attitude is the issue in our trials. He is allowing us to be refined so that we can show forth His image before the whole world. Like a child I come to Him in the midst of it all and say like the Psalmist. Father, I don't understand how long will this go on. The Father sees and knows the reasons why we have to go through it all. Like the young men of Daniel 3 He is there in the furnace with us and He will deliver us.

Before I close though we must look at how the Psalmist closes out the Psalm in verse 5.


Psalms 13:5 ( ESV )

---

⁵    But I have trusted in your steadfast love;    my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.


In the midst of my sorrow, in the midst of our trials this should gives us  hope. His Steadfast Love. Though my world may seem to be falling apart at times. Though it seems like the enemy is pounding against the gates. We have a Father that  how ever LONG the trial might be will never give up in His LOVE FOR ME. Though the road seems long His love will never change for us and He will be there in the midst of it all. For this reason in the midst of the HOW MUCH LONGER TIMES in our lives, He will be our salvation.

The Old Preacher

The old preacher slowly moved towards the pulpit. He closed his eyes and looked towards the heavens asking Jesus to give him the words to say. "Revival that is the topic I believe that the Lord would have me to talk about today. We seek for it, read about it, and for some of us we even pray for it."


"I know that God's Word makes it clear that we will never see it come to brothers who would rather complain or back bite one another. Rather it will come to the heart of one who seeks to love his brother."


"It will not be based on how loud or softly we sing our hymns towards Him. It will come to the one who not only sings the words but applies them to his heart and life. The one who can sing, I surrender all and mean it with his heart."


"It will come to the one who loves the Word more then he loves life itself. It will be his measuring rod, his companion, his constant source of strength. The Word alone is where His Savior will be revealed."


"To the one whom revival comes, it will be Jesus, that is his all in all. He will wake up to Him, work his day with Him and he will find rest in his sleep as he closes his day with Him. He will ask himself what is the most important thing in this world? My fame, my pride, my petty wants that seem so important to me? No his question will be is Jesus exalted in my life? Do I speak of Him constantly as my Savior, Lord and Friend? Is He truly the focus of my life and the one upon whom I truly depend?"


"He will not see himself as a separate entity from the church for which His Savior bled and died. The problem will not be how the church is failing but rather, as a part of it, what more can I do to prepare His bride?"


"His sin and holiness will grip him and bring him to his knees. He will not be able to escape how bright the piercing eyes of the Holy One can see even his most secret thoughts. At the same time he will stand in awe of the one who loved him while he was still His enemy. He will be more broken over the fact that such a God would love him and send his Son to die for him upon the cross. His heart will rejoice to realize that he has been made clean. What wondrous love is this will forever be his theme."


"Yes, before I pray that revival comes upon this church or upon its people. First of all, Dear Jesus, let revival fall upon me."


"What is that which is more important in all of this life? That Jesus be exalted. That He is hailed as the king of kings. This is my hearts' prayer that true revival will fall upon me, so that the name above all names maybe exalted in me."

Matthew 19:30

So I'm having my devotions earlier today and was looking at the last part of Matthew 19:30 and I 'm reading the following verse and it says,



Matthew 19:30 ( ESV )

---

³⁰But many who are first will be last, and the last first.


It's a familiar verse and one that we have heard a million times or more but it really stood out to me today.  I'm looking at the context and it hits me, this verse is in the book of Matthew. Yeah, thats right Matthew, this is the Gospel of the King and His Kingdom. The main emphasis of this book is to declare Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Yet, Jesus always seems to march to the beat of a different drum. The whole world was crazed with the idea of a king who comes with power and control. (Has anything really changed?) Jesus kingdom though is going to consist of those who have lives that are marked with a servant's heart. This was, and is His heart, even in the midst of talking about His kingdom.

What was even wilder to me though is  the flow of the next chapter.  Look at these verses that follow in chapter 20.

1. Matt. 20:16 So the last will be first, and the first last.

2. Matt. 20:17-19 Jesus will tell His disciples how he must be mocked, and flogged and crucified and "then" He will be raised on the third day. Our world would call these actions, "strange" even though He is the king of kings.

3. Matt. 20:20-28 The mother of the sons of Zebedee wants her boys to sit on the right hand of Jesus. (Her, and her boys, apparently like us, have not been listening very well.) Once again look what Jesus emphasizes in Matthew 20:26-28, " It shall not be among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be a slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."

4. Then in the same chapter he ends this by proving the point in verses 29-34. Two blind men cry out to the Lord to have mercy on them. The crowd looks down upon them and rebukes them. (They may have thought their blindness was due to some sin. Sounds like other passages in the Gospels when people  would claim handicaps as a judgment from God.) Yet, I love how Jesus looks at these who the crowd claimed as the out cast, notice these three things, that the King of Kings did.
 a. He says, " What do you want me to do for you?" (This is the Servant King of Phil. 2) b. He does this while STOOPING down to their level. (Which is also what He did for us in Phil. 2) c. He heals them. These ones whom the crowd would have never helped or given a moment's notice.

Talk about a rebuke of a chapter. I so often want my glory or my self to be exalted and I act like the sons of Zebedee. Forging ahead I forget that I am to be a servant to all men. I struggle to be first but what good is that even if I achieve it here on earth.The real question is what  good is that in heaven? (Once again according to the book of Phil. its like dung.)

Lord, my lifestyle needs to be one marked with that of a servant's heart. When the world sees that, then, they see the difference of your kingdom lived out before them.

My Sweet Immanuel

I had long lived in the darkness, in the land of the dead,

Living like a madman, with all this screaming in my head,

Bound by chains of sin and sorrow, forged by the flames of Hell,

Blinded by the darkness till He came, My sweet Immanuel.

And the only way you find peace is through the one with the nail scarred hands,

And all the treasures that you vainly seek are only found in one man,

And the darkness that we live in can be forgiven by the Lamb,

No longer blinded by the darkness My sweet Immanuel.

The serpent had clearly spoken and to my shame, I had given him my life,

All the promises that he made were all broken, every one in due time,

Acting like the Whore that I was, and like a drunkard with his wine,

I was blinded by the darkness till He came, My sweet Immanuel.

And the only way you find peace is through the one with the nail scarred hands,

And all the treasures that you vainly seek are only found in one man,

And the darkness that we live in can be forgiven by the Lamb,

No longer blinded by the darkness My sweet Immanuel.

I still can’t believe His Grace shown to this Child of Hell,

The chains that once had bound me, because of His blood no longer dwell,

The darkness has been vanquished and now I can clearly see,

No longer blinded by the darkness since He came, My sweet Immanuel.

And the only way you find peace is through the one with the nail scarred hands,

And all the treasures that you vainly seek are only found in one man,

And the darkness that we live in can be forgiven by the Lamb,

No longer blinded by the darkness, My sweet Immanuel,

Yes, I am no longer blinded by the darkness because of My sweet Immanuel. 

(ISAIAH 7:14)

Yes, I am no longer blinded by the darkness because of My sweet Immanuel.

The Name of Jesus

Something that I have told teens, young adults and older ones through the years is how it amazes me how that we can talk with the majority of people all day long about God. When I do this I am always reminded of how easy the conversation can be and how non-threating. Yet, the moment I start to use the name of Jesus, when I talk about the God man, note how quickly the conversation changes.

For the believer I sense an ease, or even a joy that seems to come at that moment. It's like introducing an old friend into the conversation. For the unbeliever though it's something entirely different. Often a change in conversation seems to be soon at hand. Nerves are sometimes set on edge. Sometimes the talk now changes to even anger.

God is one issue but Jesus that is an entirely different subject. I believe that Jesus is the God man that we read about in John 1:1 and John 1:14. He is not the Father but He is God by His very own words. That name though Jesus offends and I believe that the reason it offends is found in Philippians 2:9-11 "Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." When that name is used there will always be this truth, at this name every knee will one day bow. It does not matter whether saved or not.

No other name has or ever will bring more controversy, more passionate arguments and more emotions.This is the name that will divide families apart This is the name though that alone can bring peace and hope to a dying world.  This is the name that the angels will sing forth through out all of eternity. This is the name that I will forever be more then happy to speak of at all times. This is the name above all names and the name Jesus will always be the sweetest name I know.

The Joy Of Music

One of the greatest gifts that our Father has bestowed upon us is that of music. Good music will always flesh out a story for us and after all isn't that what our lives are. Stories. Each person represents a story played out before others and before our God. The joy, the tragedy, and the humor all of these things makeup the stories of our life. The most important part though of any story will be that of Redemption.

Usually once a year I take some time out to listen to Handel's Messiah. My emotions are swept up as I hear the words of scripture put to music. I hear the prophecies, the birth, the death, the resurrection and so many other events of the life of Christ. I am drained when I listen to it all and am reminded of this wonderful savior.

It doesn't stop there though. My heart grows closer to the Lord as I listen to the words of Rich Mullins, Keith Green and Steve Camp and I have to ask myself am I as close to Jesus as I need to be. The harmonies of music that still haunt me as I listen to the Cathedral Quartet, Selah, Phillips Craig and Dean, Mercy Me or the old gospel groups The Soul Stirrers and The Blind Boys of Alabama. I love voices that sound as though they have seen it all and came out better for it like Ashley Cleveland, Glenn Kaiser and Mac Powell from the Christian Rock Group Third Day.

Closing my eyes I love to hear harmonies flow without instruments like the groups of Acappella, many of Glad's recordings, the Issac's or even Take 6. I enjoy the pleasure of how music can bring such joy with groups like the Newsboys, Kutless, Thousand Foot Krutch, and Need to Breathe. The ones that very few people know but are more then worth the hearing like Joy Whitlock, Three Crosses, or Mark Heard. So many hues and colors in telling the story of all stories.

Now as I have grown older there are some of the non-Christian music artist that I love. There truly was a day when I believed that if it did not talk about Jesus it was worthless. Yet, the scriptures also talk to us about the issues of marriage, loneliness, money, friendships gained, and friendships lost. I am reminded though of how sometimes the unsaved world gets it. Though I would not agree with several of George Jones songs I am still reminded of the truth that he shares when he sings about, "how we are living and dying by the choices we make."

The group U2 and the album the Joshua Tree still has some of the most haunting lyrics of all time. We as believers and followers of the Lamb should take a listen. The soul of a man as Joe Coker or Ray Charles sings of loss and joy. The lonesome cries of a 29 year old boy from Alabama who seemed to never see the light that he sang about. Sometimes we need to hear their cries and their pleasure in this life that God has given to all men.

Though I love many of these groups and enjoy them. My greatest joy is to hear the songs about the one who loves me most. I want to sing forth His praises, He is my bridge over troubled waters, my shelter in a time of storm and because of this I will daily sing of My Redeemer.

Walter

I know that it is hard for some people to believe but there was a time when football just did not seem to appeal to me anymore. Maybe it was in my freshmen year of high school when coach sent me out to be the first one to run through the paper hoop. I was pumped and excited about the whole experience that was about to take place. Yet, it did not turn out the way that I thought it would. You see I was the smallest kid in the school at that time. Even more humiliating was to know that all the girls in my class were taller. So when I ran through the hoop I heard words that no FOOTBALL player would ever want to hear. I could hear many of them saying, Isn't he CUTE. Think about that, the words FOOTBALL and CUTE are never to be used in the same sentence. There is nothing cute about football. I finished the season and that was that. So for several years other then the Arkansas and Texas football with my Dad. I just didn't care what happened with football.

This went on for several years. Of course, when I got surrounded by the guys, I put on my best effort to sound like I cared ,but it was all for show. That was, until I begin to hear a name called WALTER and then everything changed. In those early years the Bears seemed to be constantly using him on every down. I began to watch him on TV and could not understand how a man could run like he did and even more incredible here was a running back who never backed down but blocked and hit better then most. It was because of his shear will that I began to follow the legendary Bears. I became fascinated how any man could play the game. Names and legends began to fill my mind. There was something awesome about men who would take a stand or fight for just one more yard of ground. What a game.

As I have gotten older my respect for good football has grown even more. It reminds me of the Christian walk and how it is so often faced with trials, bruises, war and hurt. Yet as a believer I have to get up and go at it everyday, face these issues and gain ground for the kingdom of God. I love to watch my Bears play and above all to watch them win. Even more though I want to play in this game of life and offer all I have got on this field of life to my Savior Jesus Christ.

Sermon Player -

Blessing

May your eyes see Jesus only,
     May your lips speak of him always,
         And may you run the race bravely,
           And let your light so shine.