Yes, Angels, Really

Have you ever wondered, as I have, why the Bible never blushes when it mentions angels? I mean, compared to today, people in Scripture seemed to encounter angels all the time. Just think about the incidents reported only in the book of Acts as Dr. Luke chronicled the growth of the young church.

Acts 1:11 Two men dressed in white, traditionally presumed to be angels, speak to the apostles after Jesus’ ascension.

Acts 5:19 An angel brings the apostles out of jail during the night.

Acts 7:30 Stephen testifies that an angel directed Moses.

Acts 8:26 An angel tells Philip to go to the old, deserted Gaza Road.

Acts 10:3 An angel instructs to the Romans centurion, Cornelius, to send for Peter.

Acts 12:6-18 An angel delivers Peter from jail and certain execution.

Acts 23:9 The Pharisees clearly assume angels speak to humans and guide them.

Acts 27:23 An angel comforts Paul.

Apparently, first-century believers assumed the existence and activity of angels. In fact, according to Hebrews 13:2, in the exercise of brotherly love and hospitality some believers actually “welcomed angels as guests without knowing it.” Why, then, do we not hear more about angels today? Why when we do hear people report about angelic encounters today are we prone to be dubious? Have all the angels died? Have they simply sworn of visits to our planet?

Who says angels no longer walk among us? Just because we don’t read about them in the paper or see news reports on TV, does that necessarily mean angels are not around? Maybe the reason newspapers and such don’t report angelic visitation is simply because those information outlets have a predisposition that does not expect, anticipate, or even allow for angels to show up in our lives.

Who wrote the Bible, after all? “All Scripture is inspired by God” (2 Timothy 3:16). Ultimately, the Bible is God’s Word, His record transmitted by God, the product of the Holy Spirit working through men (2 peter 1:20-21). That is to say, the Bible is an eyewitness report from God’s perspective. Now, since the Bible is God’s Word, I believe there is nothing incidental or coincidental therein. In other words, God has edited Scripture so that every thing in the Word is “profitable … so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

The reason the Bible so matter-of-factly mentions angels is because the Bible represents reality from God’s lofty, clear, and accurate point of view. God wants us to know that angels did and still do interact with people. To be sure, the appearance of angels to men was not exactly commonplace. That’s probably why angels often have to introduce themselves by saying “Fear not.” The fact remains, however, that God includes reports of their appearances and activity in His Word, the Word He has given us so that we might see life the way He sees life and adjust our lives to that view.

Consider Elisha’s servant. Back in 2 Kings 6, Israel is at war with Aram. Now Elisha would send word from God to the king of Israel and repeatedly frustrate the king of Aram. So, the king of Aram decided to take out Elisha. When the Aramean army showed up at Elisha’s place in Dothan, his servant was understandably shaken. “Oh, my master, what are we to do?” he asked. In response, Elisha declared, “Don’t be afraid, for those who are with us outnumber those who are with them.” Then he prayed, “Lord, please open his eyes and let him see.” When Elisha’s servant looked up, he saw the mountains covered with angels in chariots of fire!

Elisha’s servant got a glimpse of reality from God’s perspective. I think we could certainly use a dose of that today in our church and in our nation. In God’s view, angels are all around us. Now, if that is true, then in God’s view everything is under control – not simply because of the proliferation of angels but because the presence of angels substantiates every other promise and statement of Heaven’s-eye reality.

If our newspapers and television stations could report from God’s perspective, I have a strong sense that we would be receiving some startling revelations about God’s activity around the world in places and ways we never imagined. Oh, that we could see as Elisha saw and as he prayed for his servant to see! How differently would we live if we were accustomed to the presence of heavenly messengers (“angel” is a transliteration of the Greek “angelos” meaning messenger).

Finally, I wonder: is God concerned about our current economic state? The outcome of our elections? The price of crude oil? I suggest His concern with these matters is only to the degree that He might use them for the good of those who love Him, the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

What then should be our concern? What then should be our confidence? God is on the throne and active in the affairs of men. And God’s activity is ever and always to strengthen the hearts of those people wholly devoted to Him (2 Chronicles 16:9).

Trusting Our Treasure

In the past few weeks I have lost over 40 percent of my retirement. Ouch! And the financial news today sounds terribly familiar – “second verse; same as the first; a little bit louder; a little bit worse.”

As I watch my annuity shrivel before my eyes, a chorus of concerns assail me. Thankfully, I still have some time to recoup these losses before retirement begins to be a reality on my horizon. Should I make a dramatic change in my portfolio or stay the course? Conventional wisdom convinces me to be patient and keep my confidence in the bigger picture.

Bigger picture? Is the bigger picture really only as far down the road as I can see? Do I really believe my retirement plans frame the bigger picture? When all is said and done here, isn’t the bigger picture actually far greater than the span of years I struggle for oxygen in these shadowlands? Indeed, Jesus Christ says:

Don't collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don't break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:19-21).

Three questions leap from Jesus’ assertion to challenge me:

1. Do I trust my treasures to the good will of moths, rust, and thieves?

Understand: money and stuff do matter. I do not believe God intends for us to forsake the world and live in caves. Jesus calls His disciples to be “in the world, but not of the world” (John 17:15-19). I am convinced He created us with appetites and capacities for pleasure and enjoyment and fulfillment.

The stuff we cherish, that which we hold dear in this world – money, stuff, significance, relationships, etc. – are actually gifts from God. They are hints, suggestions, foretastes of the glorious gratification we will enjoy in Heaven. The chief reason He created us with these facilities is that we would ultimately find all our satisfaction in Him.

It is not wrong to enjoy things in this life. We must be careful, however, not to confuse the gifts with the Giver, to crave the streams more than the Source, to settle for temporary delight over eternal joy. Moreover, we must be careful not to trust these treasures to failed systems (“where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal”).

We have precious friends here in this church who treasure money and homes and family in the right way. For the most part, they have treasured these valuables by trusting them to God. In recent months, however, they have seen money disappear, houses and property devalued, and loved ones depart, die, or deeply disappoint them (another more painful form of death). I am so proud of how these dear brothers and sisters in Christ have responded to their pain and loss. Through terrible tears and trials that have trusted God with their hearts and all they hold dear. They grieve and carry on with life-giving hope, with steadfast confidence in our Father’s love and power and purpose.

2. How do I trust my treasures to Heaven’s Trustee?

I love the words of our Lord Jesus: “Don't be afraid, little flock, because your Father delights to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). God says, “Don’t be afraid. Stop worrying. Stop fretting.” He invites us to rest safe and sound in these timeless truths:

He is our Shepherd. Our Good Shepherd feeds, leads, and protects us. He lays down His life for us (John 10:11)!
He is our Father. We are not merely His livestock. We are His children! What a love (1 John 3:1)!
He is the King – the kingdom is His to give. He has power and authority to do what He says He will do!
He gives us the kingdom. We do not have to earn it. He is generous and free with His provision and protection.
He delights to give us the kingdom. God thoroughly enjoys caring for us. He finds pleasure in this!

3. Where is my heart? What is the state of my heart, of my affections, of my satisfaction?

Hear Jesus again:

What I'm trying to do here is get you to relax, not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way He works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how He works. Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Don't be afraid of missing out. You're my dearest friends! The Father wants to give you the very kingdom itself.

Be generous. Give to the poor. Get yourselves a bank that can't go bankrupt, a bank in heaven far from bankrobbers, safe from embezzlers, a bank you can bank on. It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being” (Luke 12:29-34, The Message).

Friend, if we would have peace in the storms today, we must trust, invest, even dare to risk our eternal capital, in the One Who is Faithful and True. His city streets are paved with gold – that so treasured by earthlings is like common asphalt in heaven! Now, that’s the place I want most to be. In fact, that’s where Christ-followers already reign (Ephesians 2:4-10)!

“Hallelujah! Thine the glory! Hallelujah! Amen! Hallelujah! Thine the glory! Revive us again!”

A Word from Our Sponsor (Actually Five Words)

“And now, a word from our sponsor …”

That phrase always takes me back to safer, happier, blach-and-white days. I remember safer television programming. I remember sitting on the floor with my dad watching Gunsmoke or Wagon Train, when a strong, confident voice would chime in: “And now, a word from our sponsor …”

“Daddy, what’s a sponsor?”

“The sponsor underwrites the program we are watching.”

“Who’s Borox? Did they write this show?”

“No, the underwriter, or sponsor, pays for this show to be on TV. Because they pay for the airtime, the sponsor reserves the right to promote their products during commercial breaks.”

Well, I don’t want to try to make this introductory metaphor “walk on all fours.” I simply want to draw our attention this morning to the One Who sponsors us. He stands before God as our Advocate and refutes the accusations of our adversary. He sponsors us before Holy God. He has paid the bill so that we can enjoy “heir” time with God as our Father in Heaven. And from time to time, He reserves the right to promote Himself and the products a relationship with Him offers to anyone who will receive His sponsorship.

“And now, a word from our sponsor …”

I have come to a place where I value “a word from our sponsor.” In fact, some days I am desperate to hear from Him, to be reminded of His love and power and presence. I am so glad that out Sponsor is not only heard in Heaven before Father’s throne, but He also continues to speak on earth, He continues to promote the benefits He has made available to all who believe and receive Him.

Recently, I found a powerful instance in Scripture when our Sponsor presented just such a word. In Acts 18, I found another powerful picture from Scripture of a heroic leader gripped by real despair who found great hope from God and His Word. The apostle Paul, arguably the greatest figure in the New Testament after Jesus Christ (and perhaps John the Baptist), came to a surprising crossroads in his walk with Jesus in Acts 18. In Acts 18:9, Jesus Himself comes to Paul and speaks to him.

Then the Lord said to Paul in a night vision, “Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent. For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city” (Acts 18:9-10).

We need to appreciate Paul’s condition here to get the full impact of Jesus’ word to him. Essentially, Paul is in some sort of fearful state. The literal translation of the phrase “Don’t be afraid” is “Stop fearing.” So, apparently, Paul is distressed. Why was Paul anxious?

Paul is in Corinth – a city so immoral that the people in that day had coined a term based Corinth’s reputation. To “corinthianize” meant to be sexually immoral. Paul is surrounded by immorality in Corinth. What Paul witnessed in Corinth surely informed his descriptions of perverted humanity in Romans 1:18-32.

Paul is also alone. He comes to Corinth alone having been in Athens alone as well. In Athens, Paul had continued to deliver the truth about the Truth only to be ridiculed by the intellectual elites there as a pseudo-intellectual “seed-picker,” a “hayseed,” a “hick.” The Athenians wanted their ears tickled; they did not want their loves challenged or changed. They wanted to debate truth; they did not want to answer to Truth.

Paul is probably wounded and weary. On this second missionary adventure he has been stripped, beaten with rods, and shackled in stocks Philippi (Acts 16). He has been threatened and forced to leave the company both of his comrades and of new churches started in Thessalonica and Berea (Acts 17:1-15). He is mocked in Athens (Acts 17:16-33). And he has just been forced to leave the synagogue in Corinth (Acts 18:6), rejected by his own people … again.

Acts 18:7-8 indicate the ministry begins to flourish at this time in Corinth. A prominent householder trusts Christ and opens his home to be the church’s meeting place. Even the leader of the Jewish synagogue and his family come to their Messiah, Lord Jesus. But Paul knows this is about the time trouble starts for him. Usually, at this point persecution mounts, something unpleasant happens to him, and he has to leave town.

Now against this backdrop, God has been caring for Paul all along. In fact, if he were paying attention, Paul could already have heard God comfort him with two remarkable realities. First, when Paul comes to this strange, immoral, pagan city alone, God has already arranged for him a place to stay with a godly couple – a Jewish man named Aquila and his noble Roman wife, Priscilla (Acts 18:1-4). Before, or perhaps just as Paul was setting out with Silas on this second missionary journey, the Emperor had expelled the Jews from Rome (AD 49). God used this to bring Aquila and Priscilla to Corinth in time to get established and be ready to receive Paul (AD 50).

So, God was saying, “Paul, I make ‘all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose’ (Romans 8:28). In fact, Paul, I was making plans for you here in Corinth long before you turned to come to Corinth.”

Then, in Acts 18:5, Silas and Timothy finally catch up to Paul in Corinth. Their arrival surely blessed Paul, but the news they brought about the young believers and churches in Macedonia thrilled his soul. At this point in time, Paul writes his first letter to the church in Thessalonica from a heart warmed by the good report Silas and Timothy brought (you must read 1 Thessalonians 3:1-10). Once again, God was speaking to His servant.

God was saying, “Paul, I make ‘all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose’ (Romans 8:28). In fact, Paul, I have continued to work in the lives of my people even in your absence. Not only have I gone before you where you have not yet been, Paul, but I also go behind where you have already been and see to the fulfillment of My Word in their lives.”

By this time, the fearsome foursome have brought their considerable weight to bear upon the apostle’s heart. Fatigue, frustration, failure, and fear have made it difficult for Paul to recognize God’s activity and provision. So, Jesus Himself – the same Jesus Who appeared to Paul and knocked him off his high horse into the dirt on the road to Damascus to set him on Heaven’s highway some 17 years earlier (Acts 9) – this very Lord Jesus appears to Paul again to pull him up out of the dust of despair and get him back in the saddle again.

God had demonstrated His commitment to make “all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). He had shown Paul that this work includes God working where we have not yet been to prepare the way for us. He had also proven this work includes God working where we have already been to secure the integrity of His promise in the lives of those we have left behind. Now, God declares that this work includes His presence in our present!

“Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent. For I am with you, …”

Here are five wonderful words from our Sponsor in this text (Actually an outline of a sermon from Acts 18:1-17):

1. Stop being afraid.
2. Continue to Speak and do not be silent.
3. Trust Jesus to be present in your future, past, and present.
4. Throw off restraint in His service.
5. Find His people yet unfound (lost) in your proximity.
   

Rules for Intersections: A Thought about This Political Season

When I was a little boy learning to cross the street, I received some timeless guidance: Stop. Look both ways. Proceed with caution.

Later, when I was learning to drive, we applied those same three simple rules to intersections: Stop. Look both ways. Proceed with caution.

Today, three extraordinarily busy intersections require the same sage advice. The three crossroads are the intersections of Republican Road and Democratic Drive, Wall Street and Main Street, and Church Street and State Street. The same wise counsel would serve us well at these junctions: Stop. Look both ways. Proceed with caution.

The presidential and vice-presidential debates leave me wondering who is telling the truth? Their presentations abound with obscenely large numbers, gratuitous claims of impressive track records, and nearly scandalous accusations of their opponents’ same records. Republican Road and Democratic Drive is a perilous intersection, to say the least.

Recent financial news highlights the dangers resident at the corner of Wall Street and Main Street. Seems the “greed” light has been on for all roads leading to this juncture. The resulting collision has been particularly disastrous for folks who failed to wear their seatbelts even while they “pushed the pedal to the metal.” We have not seen the full measure of the pileup on our financial highways yet.

One of the most confusing intersections has been where Church Street meets State Street. Most of the time, these roads appear to be on parallel courses, widely separated, and we assume they never meet. In fact, societal engineers have been working for decades to redirect one or both of these roads as if they could somehow eliminate any connection between the two.

What if Church and State Streets are actually partners, corridors that may even share the same pavement from time to time? What if our failure to navigate and direct our people with better sense and cooperation along these foundational paths is the culprit that has produced the violent congestion at these other intersections?

Over the years, I have learned that safe passage through busy intersections often requires aids and guides. Children learn to cross the street at the corner under the direction of a monitor or, even better, with their hands in Mom or Dad’s hands. Traffic flows more safely and freely when facilitated by volume-appropriate directors – Yield or Stop signs, stoplights, or a police officer directing traffic.

Here’s the best direction I can find for crossing the intersections we face today: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 33:12).

How To Help My Son

My youngest son is not excited about going back to school. I suppose this is common for kids this time of year. Earlier bed times and morning risings, homework, and the like would certainly make the return to school less popular. Still, many kids are a little eager to be back with their friends again. That’s the rub for my son.

My son says he does not have any friends at school. He confides to us that most kids make fun of him or pick on him, and the few kids he calls friends often use bad language that makes him feel uncomfortable. For him, school is a lonely world where he feels isolated and awkward.

Honestly, I don’t get it. Here’s a boy who loves God, prays and reads the Bible on his own every morning, honors his parents, earns good grades, dreams of serving God and country, hugs every member of the family every night before he goes to bed, and will test for his black-belt in Tae Kwon Do within the year? What’s not to love?

People can be cruel, to be sure, but that’s seed for another discussion. How can we help our son now? Here are seven steps we continue to take to that end this school year. We will …

1. … love him unconditionally. He will know he is valuable and cherished. Let that love be the level place where he finds courage, confidence, and competence.

2. … pray for him without ceasing.

3. … pray with him about the problem and for the kids who give him a rough time.

4. … learn God’s Word, will, and ways alongside our son. God knows a thing or two about love and purpose in the face of undeserved rejection.

5. … listen to him and not pass off his hurt as illegitimate or childish. But even in pain we can find great gain.

6. … encourage him to keep the main things the main things and celebrate with him the markers that indicate he is growing and becoming an even more remarkable person.

7. … train him to live respectfully, productively, even joyfully counter to any culture that de-values truth and honor. We will help him be heroic – a winsome and courageous light in the darkness, and a helpful servant-leader to his peers.

Pastor Rob

My Great Risk

Who are your heroes, and why? My dad liked John Wayne. I favor the same archetype in James Bond or Clint Eastwood. My sons look up to Jack Bauer or Chuck Norris. (Okay, I have to admit their heroes are cooler than mine).

What do these heroes have in common? What about them makes us want to be like them? I think it is their apparent self-sufficiency, their independence. We men especially seem to value rugged individualism. Life with my wife and daughters has trained me not to presume expertise about what women value and why. To us men, however, heroic manhood is embodied by these autonomous, iconic figures who do not need anybody or anything but their own wit and grit.

What if we’re wrong? What if the truly manly man is not only desperately dependent but also painfully aware of his insufficiencies? Enter one of the most magnificent models of manhood ever to cast his shadow on the earth. Enter David – son of Jesse, King of Israel, a man after God’s own heart. As a teenager he killed a bear and a lion … and a giant warrior named Goliath with a sling and stones. He knew what it meant to live in barren wilderness and to lead a large company of battle-tested patriots in victorious campaigns – victory being defined by the annihilation of his enemies by his own hands. Somehow, I think David could more than hold his own against the likes of John Wayne. (The Duke’s real name was Morris, after all! Talk about a cover up! What was he trying to hide?)

What makes David most heroic, though, is not his self-sufficiency, his expertise in warfare, or his leadership skills. Here is a man who not only felt the same fatigue, frustration, fear, and failure we experience, but he succumbed to the doubt, despair, and depression these anti-masculine realities produce in us all. He bares his soul for all to see in many of the songs (yes, songs) he composed. Psalm 42 is perhaps the most prolific portrait of his absolute dependence upon God.

Are you weary, as I am, of trying to be Braveheart or Bond or Bauer? Then take some time – real time away from activity and business – and sit down with David and God and Psalm 42. Learn from a real-life hero that real men fail and flail and cry and cry out to God. Real men, genuine leaders of men – including pastors – know they are flawed and insufficient in themselves ever to amount to much of real worth. They know they are most successful when they do not attempt to pretend otherwise, but “wholly lean in Jesus’ name.”

I am going to risk some stuff today with this article. I am going to risk my reputation. I am going to risk your opinion of pastors and of me as your pastor. In fact, I am going to risk the safe ground for a higher ground, a more adventurous and more fulfilling ground, to be sure, but also a less-charted and more dangerous ground.

As I take this risk, I am aware that some people may not appreciate my transparency. Some people may find in what you are about to read confirmation of their suspicions about me – “He’s not all that smart or effective or …” whatever. Some folks may feel threatened. This is my risk – not yours … yet. Of course, some people already know what I am about to say is true and will be glad I am finally beginning to come around.

Three reasons I am willing to take this risk:

1. I believe the risk is part of the cure. Only the broken can be healed.

2. I believe some of you may need to take similar risks. In fact, every one of us must hazard this risk if we ever hope to find the joy and purpose and satisfaction for which we were created to find in God and God alone.

3. I believe God is somehow pleased and honored when I risk these things in order to gain Him. In other words, like Paul, I count these things I risk as not even remotely comparable to the value of finding my complete satisfaction in God. And, remember, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”

Okay, here’s the risk. Here’s my confession: I have fallen into depression and felt almost totally immobilized by it. Like David, “I am deeply depressed” (Psalm 42:6, HCSB). (Gasp). How can a Christ-follower, and a professional at that, claim truly to trust God yet be depressed?

In their helpful resource, The Minister’s Little Devotional Book, HB London and Stan Toler observed: “Depression is usually a symptom of another problem. … Fatigue, frustration, fear, and failure can quickly move God’s ministers from the highs of Mount Carmel to the lows of a broom tree” (1 Kings 18:1-19:5). That’s me in spades this summer. I am fatigued. I am frustrated. I am afraid. And I feel very much like a failure.

What are you to do with this risk on my part? Well, pray with me and for me. Please, do not pity me (Yuck!). Perhaps learn with me how God can use depression in believers’ lives. Consider depression as one of the “all things” God “works together for our good” (Romans 8:28). Although our enemy surely meant it for evil, Father allows it for our benefit. Here’s one such benefit: When we are depressed, we are wondrously near that place of absolute abandonment and sweetest surrender. We have come to the end of ourselves and are most receptive, desperately so, to find our hope and satisfaction in Christ alone.

Finally, also like David, in my depression I will put my hope in God, “for I will still praise Him, my Savior and my God” (Psalm 42:5, 11). I will sing again and be joyful again and shout thankfully again, because He is faithful! Hallelujah!

Pastor Rob

Happy Is the Nation

For many Americans, July 4 is a holiday of remembrance. We think on our nation’s history and the bravery of the Second Continental Congress who approved a Resolution of Independence on July 2 proposed by Richard Lee of Virginia. That same assembly then passed the adoption of the Declaration of Independence two days later on July 4. Eventually, 56 men would affix their signatures to that document. One of the signers, William Ellery of Rhode Island, took a position during the signing from which he could watch the face of each delegate as he signed his name to the Declaration of Independence.

I was determined to see how they all looked as they signed what might be their death warrant. I placed myself beside the secretary, Charles Thomson, and eyed each closely as he affixed his name to the document. Undaunted resolution was displayed in every countenance.

Similarly, Benjamin Franklin is oft-credited to have quipped: “We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall hang separately.” So, many of us remember Independence Day with respect to their “undaunted resolution” as a day to honor heroes, to remember our history, and to remind one another to continue to cherish and to keep secure certain self-evident, God-given, “unalienable rights” such as “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Of course, 232 years later we recognize that Independence Day now means a number of other things to our citizens. The date signals a longer weekend for excursions like picnics, fireworks, and barbeques. For a startling number of younger residents, “Independence Day” is a 1996 sci-fi blockbuster with some sort of enigmatic reference to July 4. How quickly and subtly our memories can be trained to forget or regard lightly the freedoms we enjoy because of the courage and sacrifice of our founders!

In 1905, George Santayana wrote:

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

When we fail not only to remember our heritage but also to remind our children of our history, we surrender our future to the worst enemies of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Those enemies include the neglect and ignorance of truth and enslavement to self-indulgence. When we forget the lessons forged by lives that produced “undaunted resolution” in the face of certain struggle, perhaps even to the point of death, we lose the firm grounding, the confident convictions that yielded that resolve. Courageous men and women of conviction typically found such solid footing on the principles and propositions of God’s Word, and so may we.

For instance, the Bible declares: “Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 33:12). We would do well today not only to reflect the character of our nation’s forefathers, but also to learn and govern our own lives on the same truths that molded that character. “Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord.” If we would continue to pursue happiness, to enjoy liberty, and to cherish life, then we should understand the only true Source for these aims is God.

“Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord.” What does this really mean, anyway? Consider the verse in context. I suggest you take time to read and ponder Psalm 33. But for the moment, focus on these three verses, Psalm 33:10-12.

¹⁰ The Lord frustrates the counsel of the nations;
He thwarts the plans of the peoples.
¹¹ The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
the plans of His heart from generation to generation.
¹² Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord –
the people He has chosen to be His own possession!

Why would God frustrate the counsel of the nations or thwart the plans of the peoples? Well, have you taken a close look at the current counsel of the nations or plans of the peoples? God allows nations to confer and people to make plans because He wants humanity to make good choices. The wisest choices always begin with a choice to know the only plans and purposes guaranteed to prevail and to secure the kind of satisfying joy for which we were all fashioned in the first place. John Piper writes:

The point of these verses is that both men and God take counsel, and both plan. But in the end it is not the counsel and plans of men that are established, but of God's. It is all-important to realize that God plans the world and He plans churches and He plans lives – and His plans succeed. His plans take precedence over our plans. Our plans have significance and durability to the degree that God plans for our plans to be significant and durable. God is the all-important reality in planning from beginning to end. God's will is for that to be known, to be explicit, to be admired and enjoyed (John Piper, “The Counsel of the Lord Stands Forever,” June 12, 1994).

What is the measure of your resolve? As another July 4 weekend concludes, I urge you to renew your personal Declaration of Dependence (not a typo). Declare with me a total dependence upon the Lord God, Whose purposes prevail and are always right and true and powerful and joyful. I will find my “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” as His possession.

Pastor Rob

My Ever-ready Declaration

As a pastor, mine is frequently the privilege to share with people the Hallmark moments of their lives: weddings and marriages and efforts to avert divorce, births and deaths and all the celebrations and crises in the living middle, joys and breakthroughs and triumphs, and, yes, sorrows and breakups and tragedies. People simply need a God-presence when life happens. People want to know God is near and He cares.

The truth is every significant life event exposes us. From our baby girl’s first breath to our Daddy’s last, both the planned affairs and the unexpected happenings remind us of our own mortality. Only the willfully blind miss this. We are, each of us, either ready or not. Whatever the moment, we are either among the prepared few or the unprepared masses.

Some life passages cast the illusion we can prepare fully for any contingency they may present. We should, of course, avail ourselves to resources that help us get ready for the life events on our horizons. Bear in mind, though, that no class or seminar has yet been designed that can completely prepare an expectant mother – or father – for childbirth. Moreover, every life at some point will experience at least one train wreck. How can we be ready for those unforeseen catastrophes that shake us to the core of our being?

Good, truthful information is an invaluable asset to maximize any of the moments of our lives, but information alone does not make us ready. We cannot prepare specifically for every eventuality a life lived may produce. I maintain, however, that we can yet make ourselves so ready that we are indeed ready for anything. This kind of readiness exceeds the bounds of information. This kind of readiness requires an intimacy with the Infinite.

Because I have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, I am ready for anything. I know He loves me – His plans are always good. I know He is all-knowing – He ways are right. I know He is all-powerful – His purposes will prevail. And, friend, my ever-ready declaration can be yours as well: “Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am” (Philippians 4:12-13, The Message). Are you ready or not?

Ready or Not

“Ready or not, here I come!” So begins another expedition of Hide-and-Seek. We adults may not play that game much anymore – unless we need some time to ourselves and we volunteer to count if the kids go hide real well and not come out until we find them. Then we count, they hide, and we sit down in a comfortable chair and declare: “Ready or not, here I come!” Maybe the kiddos will stay hidden for a few minutes, and we can catch a nap. (I won’t tell if you won’t).

From childhood, I believe we are conditioned to expect something wonderful by the phrase: “Ready or not, here I come!” perhaps a parent called out “Ready or not, here I come!” just before the swooped us up and tickled us. Or we heard it from our best hiding place and hunkered down with anticipation. “Ready or not, here I come!” The game is afoot. We hushed and tried to breathe as noiselessly as possible. Our little hearts raced and our minds began to churn: “Will they find me?” Then, like nervous birds in the field, we usually took flight and abandoned our secure secret place to race for home base.

I thought about that call this week as we finished the final unit of our study in Experiencing God. I wondered and prayed:

Dear God, if these seven realities are true – and I believe they are – then what we are learning here is revolutionary. You are on the move right now. Do we notice? Do we care to notice? Whether or not we pay attention to You and Your activity, You continue to fulfill Your prevailing purposes and to pursue Your excellent intentions. Whether we are ready or not, You come and You go! O God, make us ready to respond to You!

Lord, You call out: “Ready or not, here I come!” But why are we playing Hide-and-Seek with You? This is one time when we must quickly come out of hiding and run into the light where You are (1 John 1:7). We hear the Holy Spirit cry: “Ready or not, here I come!” We need to understand this is Your invitation for us to seek You, to come to You, to join You, to obey You, and to find in You all that truly satisfies our thirsts for joy and adventure and home and rest and wholeness and healing and hope.

Beloved, my question for you today is this: “Are you ready or not?” My burden for this church is the same: “Are we ready or not?” Truly, “the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to show Himself strong for those whose hearts are completely His” (2 Chronicles 16:9). Does His gaze on us find us “ready or not?”

Are we “ready or not” to … Well, for those of you who stayed the course and stayed with the Experiencing God study and process, are you “ready or not” to give yourself wholeheartedly to whatever God has shown you. Are you “ready or not” to do what you have seen Him doing and heard Him saying? Are you “ready or not” to press through opposition and “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7) convinced that “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6)?

In the Experiencing God group that meets in our home, one of our members recently shared a personal dilemma. I secured this person’s permission to tell you what they said. (Before you read further, you need to know two things. First, this person is a long-time, faithful member of this church, and they love this church very much. Second, what they said is applicable not only to our church but to the vast majority of churches in America today). Their devotion to God and His church here prompted them to share along these lines:

A number of us started this study of Experiencing God once before, but we did not finish the course. This time, I am honestly experiencing God do a fresh, new work in my heart. I love it! But I read in the Bible and in our workbook about how God is at work, how He uses churches smaller than ours to touch the world, and I am embarrassed to tell you that I don’t think God can do that here.

In our church, we just have a history of seeking and following God up to a point. We trust God until it gets to the crisis of belief. Then we sort of lose heart. I am sorry, but I just don’t feel our church can join God in what He is doing like this study teaches.

As I listened, I observed many in our group nodding in agreement. Most of our group are also faithful, long-time followers of Christ here and love this church. I also sensed the Spirit’s confirmation of what they shared. When they finished, God directed me to respond this way:

You are exactly right. “our church” cannot do these things. But what we must remember is that Jesus specifically promises to build and bless His church. We cannot do God’s work, but we must let Him do His work through us.

We must be vigilant and diligent to remain God-centered and not fall into man-centered thinking. Speaking to His disciples indirectly but clearly about His mission and our activity with Him, Jesus says, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). Are we “ready or not” to believe this, to live as is this is true?

Abraham was old, and so was his wife. But he believed God when He told him: “Is anything impossible for the Lord? At the appointed time I will come back to you, and in about a year she will have a son” (Genesis :1814). A year later, guess who had a baby on their knee. Job declared: “I know that You can do anything and no plan of Yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2). And the prophet asserts: “Ah, Lord God ! You Yourself made the heavens and earth [out of nothing, I would remind you] by Your great power and with Your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!” (Jeremiah 32: 17).

Beloved, His people, His church, are ready – ready for anything. Are we “ready or not?” Ready or not, here He comes!

Pastor Rob

God in Our Fathers

“When a man becomes a father, he is given the greatest opportunity to express what God is like.” So reads the inscription my wife wrote in a Bible she gave me on the occasion of my ordination as a minister of the Gospel, June 21, 1987. The real message my wife was sending, however, must be seen in the context of our lives.

Sure, a Bible makes a great gift for a young pastor. Her note on the inside cover, however, was a reminder to her husband, and a new father (our first of five children was eight months old at the time) that God would not want me to miss the most pliable clay I would ever have the honor to handle, to shape, and to mold for His glory – my own children. I could easily give eight nights a week to church-related activity, and perhaps over a long career influence a handful of people to follow Jesus. I would never find anyone, however, who would be as receptive and responsive as my own children.

The truth is, perhaps no other relationship defines or shapes our views about God more than our relationship with our dads. How we saw Dad when we were children is very much the way we tend to see God as adults. If Dad laughed and hugged us a lot, we half-expect God to bound into the room and sweep us up in His majestic arms. If Dad spent time with us and seemed genuinely interested in our lives, we are not surprised that Almighty God is keen on us and wants us to be with Him.

On the other hand, if Dad seemed distant, aloof, or too busy for us as kids, then we have a hard time grasping the Creator King’s passion for a personal, intimate relationship with us. If we perceived Dad as stern or hard to please, then we unconsciously tend to think God is angry, judgmental, or difficult – an Idea we may someday gradually come to appreciate but never really embrace. We approach God according to ideas about Him and about ourselves that were introduced and refined by how we related to Dad, for better or for worse.

I once wrote in my journal: “When I think that my children’s perspectives of God are colored by their relationship with me, I tremble.” Now in my twenty-first year of fatherhood I add: “O God, help me continue to be and become the kind of daddy whose children are drawn to You and joyfully anticipate their daily dance with God our Father for eternity.”

His Church, His Mission, His Glory

God’s strategy to bring Good News to the ends of the earth is through His people, His disciples, the family and fellowship of His redeemed, His church. The church, the body of Jesus Christ, is His Plan A. He has no Plan B. At this point, we discover the essence of what it means to be a Christ follower joined with other believers in the entity called church.

When many people, including church people, think of church, they think of the buildings where religious people meet. They envision steeples and sanctuaries. But this is not the hope of the world. God’s Plan A is not some sort of real estate venture to raise buildings around the world.

Some people think of church as “organized religion,” and wish not to be bothered by what they perceive to be an archaic expression of religion. So, they miss a non-negotiable key to God’s coming to man: His intention to build His church (Matthew 16: 18). They think church is boring or not relevant to their lives. Instead of submitting to some contrived or coerced system to serve a sovereign deity, they opt for finding god in their own way independent of “organized religion.”

That’s the critical error almost everybody makes about church. They think church is optional, some sort of elective. They reason: “I can find God and connect to Him (or Her) when and where and how I choose, if even I choose to do so. Church is not essential to my happiness or fulfillment.” But church is essential to the fulfillment of God’s purposes.

Churched people select a church and determine the degree of their involvement in that church based upon their personal preferences. We rationalize: “I decided to be a part of this church because it meets my needs. When it stops meeting my needs or stops doing things the way I think they should be done, then I may simply pick another church.”

One critical flaw is common to all of these misconceptions about church. We tend to define church apart from a fundamental reality – the church is God’s idea. Whatever we find attractive or repulsive about various brands of church matters very little when compared to this. Man did not create Christ’s church, God did. The issue is not what we get out of church. The bottom line with which we should concern ourselves is what does God expect to get out of church.

Here are just three principal outcomes God surely expects to get out of church, including First Baptist Church. First, God expects to receive glory from His church. He expects His church to manifest the truth about Him to the world. Second, God desires love from His church. He wants His people to enjoy relationship and maintain fellowship with Him. Third, God intends His church to be on His mission with Him. Everything God’s Word says about His church stresses this truth. This week in Experiencing God clarified for me that God expects His church to be on mission with Him for His glory.

Day 1: “God can impact the world through one church if it adjusts itself to God’s activity” (page 226).

Day 2: “Everything a church has belongs to the Kingdom” (page 231).

Day 3: “Biblical principles of God’s working with His people do not change” (page 234).

Day 4: “Koinonia [the experience of God’s presence and the basic element of salvation and eternal life] is possible only if a church is made up of individuals who are willing to submit to the lordship of Christ in the body of Christ” (page 242).

Day 5: “Each individual [church member] needs to experience the Lord’s presence at work in his or her life” (page 244).

One of our own, Larry Long, reflected these truths in a testimony letter he submitted to Dr. Bobby Gilstrap relating his experience on our recent missions trip to Indiana, Crossover Indy. I asked Larry for permission to share this with you.

On this mission trip, God showed me that He is in control. No matter how many months of prep time, how organized, and how prepared we thought we were, (and we actually were), God once again showed us that He is in charge of timetables, circumstances, and especially the WEATHER. I saw how God through His willing servants, (Brother Bobby Gilstrap, Brother Jim – the pastor of Hope Community Church, the church people from Hope, our FBC mission group, and other mission groups that came in last minute), was able to turn what could have been another cancelled block party into by all accounts a very successful one. Now Hope Community Church has at least 90 new un-churched prospects and – praise God! – another 5 people are now saved.

I am very thankful and happy I was able to be part of this year’s mission trip. I had a great time of fellowship and just had fun being around our mission group from Michigan. Thanks to Brother Bobby for being the best Director of Missions I know and for caring so much about the Father’s work.

One last thing, I was privileged to see how God can and does work in a local church. Hope Community Church was an older struggling church, but through the faithfulness of their pastor, Brother Jim, and, of course, the congregation, in just a few short years God has turned that church around. They have baptized over 80 people this year alone. The Sunday we were with them, they baptized another 2 and commissioned the first group of people from their church to do foreign mission work.

I just hope and pray that our church here in South Lyon and our other Michigan Baptist churches would soon see this kind of “God-sized” kingdom expansion occur here in our home churches.

Amen, brother! Help us see, Lord. May the Lord indeed accomplish His purposes through us to the praise of His glorious grace! And may we each be ever ready, constant, and glad to move our membership from our church to His church!

Pastor Rob

A Son Remembers

I did something last week I had never done before. I visited the grave of my father. I had not been to the site since we buried his body five years ago. I had not avoided going to my father’s grave. I simply had not been back in my old hometown in five years. But it was the week before Father’s Day, I was only an hour away, and I had several hours available, so I found myself standing over the military marker that identified the resting place of my dad’s earthly body.

I have long regarded my dad’s death as that moment when he “graduated to glory.” In a real, genuine sense, his graduation has been for me a source of inspiration and hope. My confidence in Jesus Christ and His word convince me that Dad is in a real place of profound joy and wonder and peace. I long to be there myself. So, while I miss conversation with Dad, I would have told you I was “over” my dad’s death. The emotions that swept over me as I stood over his marker surprised me.

As I stood there, a solitary figure surrounded by thousands of gravestones, gazing down upon the ground under which Dad’s body lay, I began to weep and pray.

I thanked God that because of what Jesus Christ has done on the cross, I can call God my “Father in heaven.”

I thanked Him that my dad had also trusted Jesus and was even now enjoying the magnificent fruit of God’s choice to save him and his choice to receive Christ. I thanked God that all that was beneath my feet was en empty shell, that my dad was bigger and stronger and more full of life right now than he had ever been here.

I thanked God that He had worked in my dad, had given him the very desire to be more like Jesus in word and deed (Philippians 2:13). I thanked God that though Dad stumbled often, he stumbled forward enough to instill in me a desire to know God as well.

And then, I thanked God that Dad was part of that “large cloud of witnesses surrounding us” (Hebrews 12:1), so Dad could hear me say, “Daddy, I love you. I miss you. I am eager to see you, to hug your neck, to kiss your forehead, and to worship Jesus with you.”

A Body like His

I have a friend named Russell whom I greatly admire. When you are around Russell, and I sincerely hope you enjoy that privilege someday, several facets of this man’s character will quickly be evident. For instance, you will not talk with him long before you discern that Russell is a lover. First, and foremost, he loves His Savior and God, Jesus Christ. He loves his wife and best friend, Kelly. He loves his three beautiful daughters, Erin, Cora, and Leah. Russell loves to rock for the Rock of our salvation and to lead other people to worship the King with him (he plays the bass guitar very well). Just a few minutes of conversation with Russell will confirm my claim that he is indeed a lover.

These are all noteworthy distinctives about my friend, and many more fine and fascinating features have knit my heart to his. For example, he is also honest, generous, and faithful. All of these attributes, however, would require a fair amount of observation, conversation, and perhaps even intuition on your part. I daresay, however, that your first glimpse of my friend will more than likely produce a single common first thought.

When you meet Russell, before a single word is exchanged, those of us who can see cannot help but notice the obvious. Russell is one powerfully-built, muscular specimen of a man. Give him blue tights and a cape and you half expect him “to leap tall buildings in a single bound!” His nature is not to pose or flex for a camera. That’s just not who he is. But he has clearly put the time in at the gym (By the way, he built his own home gym!).

Russell was not born with the powerful physique he has today. He did not wake up one morning as a teenager to discover he had grown muscular overnight. No, what you see when you meet Russell today is the product of over twenty years of sweat and strain. He would point out that some years, or parts of some years, he was more dedicated than at other times. Still, his appearance is ample evidence that he has been more often than not consistent and disciplined in his exercise.

The same can honestly be said of any of us, whether we be fit or fat. When I look in the mirror, or simply take a gander towards my feet and find the view interrupted by my beltline, I am reminded that I did not get in this shape overnight. The condition of my body is primarily the direct result of my diet and exercise for the past number of weeks, months, and years. If I want to be slim, I am at least six to eight weeks of restraint and self-control away from that goal. Sadly, it does not take that long to be … less slim.

I have discovered that the road to wellness is a path taken one day at a time, one step at a time, one meal at a time. If I will achieve ultimate victory in my fitness war, then I must engage in countless daily battles and skirmishes. I must learn to celebrate daily victories and to learn from the frequent defeats, as well. I must battle through occasional lethargy and disenchantment with the process. Some weeks I will see sudden positive results. Some weeks I will experience a plateau or even a backward step or two. But the name of the game is faithful application of truth over time.

When I look in the mirror, I wonder if other people see more clearly than I do the evidence of my choices. A renowned pianist once said something like this: “If I do not practice today, I will notice. If I do not practice this week, my teacher will notice. If I do not practice this month, my audience will notice.” So, we really cannot hide our choices or their fruit.

The same principle applies to our spiritual fitness as well. I do not intend to discount the sudden transformation available to anyone the moment they trust Jesus – whether for salvation or strength or steadfastness. Still, as a rule, to know Jesus more intimately requires the faithful exercise day in and day out of certain disciplines.

This reality surfaced again this week at the Southern Baptist Convention as I observed and listened to men whom I have come to regard as spiritual giants. Current leaders in our denomination like Mohler, Land, Hunt, and Page – powerful voices from generations past like Rogers, Allison, Draper, and Vines – dynamic leaders and pastors today like Andy Stanley, James MacDonald, Brad Powell – men in our state like Jimmy Jones, Larry Allen, Bob Carpenter, and Nick Ruffer – all these leaders strike me as men of spiritual muscle. The development of their spiritual muscles so that, to the Father’s glory, they display a Christ-like physique, is the culmination of years of spiritual discipline and diet.

We may wonder what our life suggests about our daily walk with Jesus. Is there enough evidence to convict us of spending time with our Lord in prayer and in His Word? What does our conduct say about the faith choices we have made over the last few weeks, months, or years? Have we trained enough by obedience to be ready today to lift greater faith weights?

Our physical body and appearance testify to the choices we have made over time concerning diet and exercise and the degree of consistency we have applied to those choices. Similarly, the constancy and character of our walk with Jesus over the years will be manifest and apparent to all by the measure of Christlikeness in our conduct today. We can take the analogy one step further. The consistent nurture of our relationship with God and His people, including the strenuous exercise of faith in Him, makes our spiritual physique as evident as my friend Russell’s physical build.

This week in Experiencing God, we learned more about how Jesus’ church should function as His body. How much like Christ our Head are we as a church, as a local expression of His body? What does our calendar of activities say about our priorities? What do our priorities say about our devotion to God’s Word, our attention to the leadership of the Spirit, our familiarity with His purposes and His ways, and our confidence in His Person and power? When people see our church in action, do they see a powerful, muscular, body of Christ or a malnourished, underdeveloped society of religionists? Selah.

Pastor Rob