When sheep lay down to rest

Over the years, I've learned allot about sheep. Although I've never owned a sheep or belonged to a 4-H club raising sheep or even been around sheep except at a county fair or zoo, I've picked up a few traits of sheep that apply to my own life.

When sheep lay down, they rest and they sleep.  They don't lay down unless a number of things happen ... here's a short list to consider;

• When the shepherd is present, they feel protected, safe and can lay down.

• When there is no strife among the sheep, they can lay down.
• When the irritants of the day like flies and insects subside, they can lay down.
• When they are fed and watered, they can lay down.

David knew the way of the sheep. He watched them and cared for them.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures; 
He leads me beside quiet waters.


Psalm 23: 1-2

The Holiday Season

This time of year can be hectic. The holiday season has somehow been transformed from a day of thanks to Black Friday, from a morning of Joy and worship to a day of football and parades and tinsel, from a season of preparation to a season of frenzy.

Take the time to be refreshed and renewed this year. Simplify. Slow down. Pray more.

Give the gift of YOUR time to someone. Reach out to a hurting world.

When you are tired of the busyness and feel like you have no time, give your time to another.  It's counter intuitive but is is the the way God works.

Proverbs 11:25
"He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed."

What will you do with the next 61 days?

On November 1, there will be 61 days left in the year.

There is another 61 for you to consider … Isaiah 61.

The Year of the LORD's Favor

1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,

because the LORD has anointed me

to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim freedom for the captives

and release from darkness for the prisoners,

2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor

and the day of vengeance of our God,

to comfort all who mourn,

3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—

to bestow on them a crown of beauty

instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness

instead of mourning,

and a garment of praise

instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

a planting of the LORD

for the display of his splendor. 

During the next 61 days, live with that promise.
During the next 61 days, reach out to others with that heart.
For the next 61 days go into the world and heal the brokenhearted, preach the good news to the poor and proclaim freedom to the captives.
Go, in Jesus Name. Amen.

Jesus Saves

In downtown Los Angeles, on Hope Street, stood The Church of the Open Door. It stood there for seventy years until it was demolished in the late 80’s after some severe earthquake damage. R.A Torrey founded it. Louis T. Talbot and J. Vernon McGee were senior pastors there. It was in the heart of the city. Some even said it was the soul of the city. What I remember was the sign on the top of the building. In big, bold, red neon, the sign declared JESUS SAVES.

Over the years, big glass skyscrapers were built all around that church. At night, you could see the reflection of that sign from several vantage points due to the reflections of the many glass walls surrounding the church. It was simply amazing. In my early days as a new Christian, I would listen to J. Vernon McGee preach. I heard sound doctrine, solid gospel and honest conviction.

Last week I heard a message from another radio pastor who has gone on to be with the Lord. Adrian Rogers. He was saying something I had not heard anyone say before.

“Oh yes, Jesus saves”, he said. “It is what he does. He saves sinners like you and me”, he went on. I’ve heard that and know that. I’ve been saved by the blood of Jesus.

What was different was this … He said “many people declare that they have been saved by Jesus. The problem is they have not made Jesus the Lord of their life. Lord is WHO He is and saving is WHAT He does.

The question Pastor Rogers put plainly was this … Is Jesus Lord of your life? If not, why not? Is He Lord of your marriage and job and children and finances or is He recognized as simply the one who saved a wretch.

I’ve been chewing on that thought for a few days now. The conviction of the Spirit has been gnawing at my heart.

Thank you father for sending your Son to save a wretch like me. All I am and all I have are yours, Jesus. Forgive me for the things I have done and left undone without you being considered Lord of my life. Be the Lord of my Life each day and each moment and each breath. Thank you Jesus for who you are ... King of kings and Lord of lords. Amen and Amen.

God's Provision

This morning I was reading in Exodus again. This time I was in Chapter 16. It didn’t take long for the Israelites to go from the Song of Moses – praising God – to the grumbling hoard in the middle of nowhere.

They grumbled about bitter water and God provided sweet water. They grumbled about food and God provided heavenly nourishment. They grumbled about amount of water and God provided abundant water.

Amazing grace.

Think about it for a moment. How much manna per day? Two and a half million people were given an omer (roughly two quarts per person) of manna per day. That’s five million quarts or over 208 thousand bushels of food PER DAY. Talk about the abundant blessing of God’s provision and it wasn’t for a day or a week. It was for 12,500 days!

They even got tired of manna and grumbled about eating meat and God provided quail.

WOW.

Thank you Lord for your provision.

Help me Lord not to take your provision for granted.

Open my eyes to see your hand in everything you provide.

Soften my heart to not be hardened with feelings of entitlements but songs of praise.

Give me grace to do what you have called me to do this day with gratitude and thanksgiving.

In Jesus Name I pray.

Amen

The Song of Moses

Chaos to Peace
Bondage to Freedom
Many Idols to One God
A People to His People
Eminent Defeat to Ultimate Victory

Many say the familiar story in Exodus of the Hebrew people leaving Egypt, slavery and idolatry to the temporary promised land seems to be so long ago and so irrelevant to today. May I offer some relevance?

“They cried out”, it says in the text. Notice scripture records they didn’t even cry out to God … they just cried out. But God heard the cry of the people. Our God hears!

After the 10th plague, they left Egypt. The Egyptians gave them gold and silver and fine linen to GET OUT. How odd is that? The Hebrew’s were going into the wilderness. Where would they use the gold and fine linen out there?

They were led by a pillar of smoke and fire. They walked three days, leaving the tomb of bondage in Egypt and ending up at the Red Sea - the Sea of Reeds. Behind them was an army of destruction. Where they were was at the edge of the Abyss. On the other side was the wilderness of unknowns. Trapped!

On that third night, did they wonder if they made the right decision? Over two million people made the decision to follow Moses and leave their homes and security and things they knew. They had seen the finger of God work in the plagues. They stayed up all night “watching” the Angel of Death pass over their home and exact death on the households of Egypt. Here they were again … at night … watching. What would happen now?

At midnight, Moses stood up and walked to the edge of the sea. As instructed by God, he stretched out his staff over the sea. The East wind blew like never before. The sea rolled back. God provided a way. Only two minutes before, what looked like a trap and destruction, now became a path and a destination. The wind … the Ruach … blew and the abyss became dry land. Destruction by men became salvation by God.

In the middle of the night 2.5 million men, women and children along with all of their flocks and herds and possessions walked across the dry land in the middle of the Sea of Reeds. The wall of water was on both sides of the pathway. They were in “over their heads” now. There was no turning back. There was full commitment. Either God will save me or I will surely die!

The Egyptian army followed in hot pursuit. If this is a natural occurrence, then surely they would be able to follow the Hebrews through the sea. They had their own gods. Their god of Horace – the god of war – was providing a way. What happened to the Hebrews was they believed. What happened to the Egyptians was they assumed. The Hebrews were saved; the Egyptians were destroyed and lost.

At the break of dawn, after that third night on the edge of destruction, salvation came. The Hebrews were given a “new life”. They were taken out of the grave and resurrected. Laying on the shoreline of the sea was the rubble of the mighty chariots of Egypt and the dead corpses of horses and men. Standing on the shoreline was a people – God’s people – singing and dancing.

“I will sing unto the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously
The horse and rider thrown into the sea.
The Lord, my God, my strength, my song,
has now become my victory!”

Does this story have any relevance today? Are you battling with the slavery of addictions? Is the comfort of this culture baiting you with the idols of this culture? Is your life wandering about with no direction? Are you being chased by the chariots of your past? Do you feel like your back is against a wall and there is no escape? Are you just crying out?

Read Exodus chapters 12 thru 14 again. Read it slowly. Put yourself, your family, your job, your predicament into the story.

Then read Exodus 15.

Some scholars say that the beginning of the “kingdom of heaven on earth” happened when God chose a people and the people chose God. He “reigned” as their King. I believe God’s kingdom has no beginning and no end, but this certainly was a seminal event.

As a believer in Jesus Christ, there are two songs that we should practice and know by heart. One is the Song of Moses and the other is the Song of The Lamb. You see, we will be singing these for an eternity. Read Revelation 15:3 and then remember regardless of your apparent situation, our God reigns and we can sing and dance. To God be the glory forever and ever.

Gethsemane - The Oil Press

The Mount of Olives lies across the Yoshafat Valley and is about 260 feet higher elevation than the Temple Mount of Jerusalem. It was from this vantage point that David fled from Absalom and wept. It was from this place, Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem.

Just below the Mount of Olives is the place we westerners call “The Garden of Gethsemane”. More accurately it was the place where the olives were processed from the harvest. The olives were picked and gathered for fruit, lighting, lubricating oil, health care and anointing. The oil press in ancient days was stone. This stone press was called a gethsemane.

The process of extracting oil from the olive fruit was fairly simple. You put the olives into the basin of the Olive crusher. The Olive crusher had a mill stone that would have a beam that rolled the stone over the olives to “crush” them. Once crushed, the pulp would be put in baskets. These baskets would be placed under the Gat (a place for pressing) shemanim (oil). This Gatsemanim stone would then press down on the crushed olives and extract the oil.

Jesus went to the place where olives were harvested to be “crushed”. The weight of the world was the mill stone. The weight of the sins of the world pressed down on him just like the rock slab pressed down on the baskets of olives.
The Gospel of Luke states that the sweat of Jesus was “like drops of blood falling on the ground”.

Jesus took on the full weight of our sin – yours and mine. He was pressed down.

Somehow, that image of the Gethsemane experience of Jesus makes my burdens seem lite and my yoke easy.