National Day of Prayer
Thomas Paine once said, “these are the times that try men’s souls”.
America is in crisis, inside and out. Protestors are threatening our peace from within, rioting if they don’t get what they want. College age adults, trained in our schools, want limits on free speech. They want to decide what is acceptable and what is not. The PC police have frightened most Americans from speaking their own minds. Outside of our borders we face new threats of terrorism on our shores. Millions of people unhappy with their lot in life have been illegally streaming into our country in order to attain free benefits from our government: education, medical care, welfare, housing without having to work for it. Our own politicians are enabling them in order to gain votes in any election. O yes, they are not citizens, but they can get drivers licenses and they will vote.
Within our country we have seen the corruption of government in every sector, leaders who set up rules for the citizens which they themselves refuse to be a part of. Just look at the degradation in our country due to a loss of proper values and morals. Have your read about North Carolina’s new bathroom laws to protect our families and children, while our own Federal Justice Department is trying to overturn such laws as civil rights violations. What about the rights of descent American’s who don’t want a few people’s perversions flaunted in their face while they try and use public bathroom? Don’t they have rights as well? We have a secular elite who want to remove our foundational freedoms in order to bolster their own power in government. They are systematically tearing down and undermining the great foundations of our country. What ever happened to the “will of the people”?
If there’s ever been a time in our countries history in which we ought to drop to our knees and begin to pray earnestly for our nation, this is it.
We have gone so far off course that it seems impossible to get back to what America used to be, what America needs to be for our sake as well as for the sake of the world. Abraham Lincoln once said, “I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.” We have always had the sense that we could do anything and fix anything, but as I look today we have gone too far. It is going to take a miracle of Biblical proportions to save America for future generations.
In the book “7 Men: And the Secret of Their Greatness,” by Eric Metaxas,
He recounts a story of George Washington’s commitment to prayer during the Revolution. His nephew, George Lewis, told a Washington biographer that “he had accidentally witnessed [the general’s] private devotions in his library both morning and evening: that on these occasions he had seen him in a kneeling position with a Bible open before him and that he believed such to have been his daily practice.”
Would that every Christian in America had that kind of commitment to prayer. It was a miracle that we won the revolutionary war, it was a miracle that gave us success at Midway that opened the door for victory in WW2. Throughout our history the God fearing praying Christians of America have touched the heart of God and kept our country afloat. We must get back to this kind of passionate prayer.
At Chuck Colson’s center they have given us specific focus on how Christ’s church—the people of God—can make a difference in our culture and around the world. We should not hesitate to join them and millions of others throughout our country.
And here’s what we will pray:
- We will praise the Lord that His sovereign goodness is as true today as ever. We will remember that this world ultimately belongs to God,
who created all things and Who, in Christ, is restoring all things.
- We will repent of our sin, and thank God for His promised forgiveness.
We will remind ourselves that all have sinned, and that we are welcomed
by God through repentance. Nehemiah began his work in the world with repentance. So will we.
- We will pray for our current government leaders to fight evil and stand up for truth. We will remember that there is no place where God is not at work.
- We will pray that truth and justice will prevail over “political correctness” and “tolerance,” both in our own lives and in our culture. We will remember that right and wrong do not change according to cultural fashions, nor does legality alter morality.
- We will pray for the upcoming election season, that God would show us mercy and not give us what we deserve. We will remember that God ultimately orchestrates human history and uses whom He will to accomplish His purposes.
- We will pray that God unites His people, using them to bring restoration in this broken culture. We’ll remember that those who have been reconciled to God have been put on mission as agents of reconciliation.
Friends, as we pray, we must remember what is true about God, about the Church, and about the world. History demonstrates that God will not tolerate legally approved immorality & a country that spurns His Word & His Ways. But history also shows us that God will hear our prayers.
Coffee anyone?
The host offered his guests coffee. He went to the kitchen where he had already prepared the coffee. He picked out a number of different cups and mugs, as he had a good collection. Some were porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain-looking, some expensive, and some exquisite. He brought it into the room with sugar and cream telling them to help themselves to the coffee.
After everyone had chosen a cup, and began to drink their coffee, the host remarked to the group. “If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for us to want only the best for ourselves, that is the source of our problems and stress.
“Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases, it’s just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup. But, subconsciously, we go for the best cups…and then we began eyeing each other’s cups.
“Now consider this: Life is the coffee, and the jobs, money and, the politics, our position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not define nor change the quality of life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us.
God brews the coffee, not the cups. Let’s enjoy our coffee.”
When a family suffers a devastating fire in their home a number of things transpire. There is the immediate shock followed by the sense of loss when you start to realize all that was destroyed. The task of sorting through the rubble, is often a very painful task. People often have to move out of the house right away due to health issues or safety problems. That change in itself can be very demoralizing.
At some point you begin to focus on what is really important in life.
It always comes down to loved ones and relationships. You realize that your life was not the house of the things in it. Job, in the Old Testament, experienced this in a major way that. God forbid we will ever have to experience such a nightmare.
The house the clothes, the possessions, were just the cups that hold our lives. God is most concerned about His beloved children.
The cups they come and go. Sometimes in life the cups are beautiful and precious. At other times they are downright disappointments.
But through it all, it is the “coffee” that is important, what God is brewing in our lives.
Do you love me?
I drew attention to the scene where Tevye is asking his wife Golde if she loves him. They had been married the traditional way, by a matchmaker.
They never saw each other until their wedding day. His parents had told Tevye that they would grow to love each other. He hadn’t thought about that much until it was time for his daughters to be wed. They had each fallen in love and did not want to be married to someone chosen by the village matchmaker. They were breaking tradition because of the love in their hearts for someone else. Tevye gives in to their request, but now he is wondering, does his wife love him.
Tevye : “Golde, Do you love me?
Golde responds: “Do I love you? With our daughters getting married,and this trouble in the town you’re upset, you’re worn out. Go inside, go lie down! Maybe it’s indigestion.”
Tevye persists with his question: “Do you love me?”
Golde responds to his persistence: “Do I love you? For twenty-five years I’ve washed your clothes, cooked your meals, cleaned your house, given you children, milked the cow, after twenty-five years, why talk about love right now?”
Tevye wants an answer, “Do you love me?”
Golde, speaking to herself: “Do I love him? For twenty-five years I’ve lived with him, fought with him, starved with him, twenty-five years my bed is his. If that’s not love, what is?”
Yes, it is nice to know. We all need to be loved & to give love in return. Jesus summarizes the whole of the law of the Old Testament with 2 great commands in
Mark 12:28-31
28 …“what commandment is the foremost of all?”
29 Jesus answered, “The foremost is,
‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD;
30 AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART,
AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND,
AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’
31 “The second is this,
‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’
There is no other commandment greater than these.”
I have a good handle on what it means to love others. Not that it is all that easy. Some are easier to love than others. That is not so much a judgment on them as it is me. My love needs to do a lot of growing here.
After the resurrection Jesus appears to the disciples on the shore of Galilee (John 21:15-17) where Jesus asks Peter three times in a row, “Do you love Me?”
Each time John responds in the affirmative, & each time Jesus tells him to “take care of Jesus’ sheep”. I take this to mean that our love for Jesus is shown to Jesus when we do what he wants us to do.
He says as much in John 14:15
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
And then in John 14:21
“He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”
In John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him,
“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
24 “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.”
And then Jesus closes out this section by saying in John 14:25
25 “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you.
26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”
Based on what Jesus has taught in these verses, then I can say with Golde when God asks me if I love Him, “Yes, I suppose I do.”
My answer does not come from my emotions, it comes from my actions, living my life in obedience. I gave up my dreams for my life & accepted God’s will for me to preach and teach His Word, and to tend His flock by feeding them. Although I must say I have struggled to bring them in from the field. Sheep are a stubborn lot, and many prefer to just stay out in the world for whatever reason. But for those who come I have tried my best to feed them not only the milk, but the meat of the Word of God. And I also believe that at Pathway we have done a good job in fulfilling His greatest commission by leading His sheep into the uttermost parts of the world in order to love people and share the life changing Gospel, the good news of salvation to all who would receive.
Not everyone has the same calling. Some are called to do other things than the things that I have done. It makes them no less or more important than me. We are all children of God, on equal footing, seeking to be faithful to serving God’s particular call upon our lives. The trick is in discerning what God’s will is. What is God calling you to do?
Have you been obedient to all that God has asked of you? I can’t say that I have. I know that I have messed up quite a bit. But I do keep trying. I need to lean a little more on the “teacher” “my Helper”, the Holy Spirit of God. (John 14:26)
I still struggle with the emotional part of this. Some followers of Jesus seem to have this incredible deep “feeling” of love for God. I wish I could experience that. Maybe it’s my personality. I’m just not an emotional kind of guy. I don’t have the answer. But I do know that I am hungering for more of Him.
The Rebirth of the Church in Uzbekistan
I shared a bit of history with you last week. It is important if you are going to understand the church & the culture of Uzbekistan. Back in the middle ages the church in Europe had become corrupt, immoral and heretical, much like many churches in the mainline denominations today in America. True Believers in God’s Word sought to reform the church bringing about the protestant reformation.
But while European Christianity struggled, the Nestorian Church in central Asia was blossoming. Indeed, this place of Uzbekistan and surrounding countries were the flower of Christianity in those years. It was a vibrant church, deep in faith & bringing enlightenment in the areas of medicine, education, astronomy, and business. The math they learned from India, was adopted by the Muslims and later became known as the Arabic numerals. It was India and the Nestorian Christians who advanced this.
Islamic leaders like Timur “the Great” (mentioned in my last blog) took all of this knowledge and wisdom from the Nestorians & then laid siege to them. Timur was one of the chief despots who was responsible for the complete destruction of Christianity in Central Asia (from India to Moscow & eastward into China). He was the “ISIS” of his day. Christianity was literally wiped from the annuls of history until 20th century archeology discovered the evidence of this great Christian movement.
Now fast forward to the late 1990’s when Korean missionaries came to this land and planted the seeds of Christianity after the collapse of the USSR. A new generation of Christians has emerged in Uzbekistan, discipled in the faith, nurtured by the spirit of God. Then the Atheistic government discovered what the Korean’s were doing & had all the missionaries deported. But it was too late. You can still see & experience the impact of Korea in the culture, (I ate in a Korean restaurant last night). But more importantly you see the fruits of their labors in a fledgling church.
Imagine the heavy hearts of these new believers as their leaders, their fathers & mothers in the faith, were taken from them, exported (not back to Korea) but to other countries in Central Asia were they continued their evangelism and church planting. This is one of the greatest missionary efforts of our age.
One might think that the church in Uzbekistan struggled after that,
but it did not. They rose to the challenge. They took the leadership reigns and organized themselves into a tremendous underground movement connected with other underground churches in the world. They meet in houses throughout the country, intentionally keeping each “church” small in order to avoid detection from the government. It is better to have hundreds of small house churches than to have larger churches that could easily be found and disbanded by the government.
The believers that I have met have all had skirmishes with the police, being arrested, imprisoned, beaten, or humiliated and released after some time. But God’s spirit has given them courage and they are not afraid.
The authorities realize they are not afraid and can’t figure out why.
As a result, arrests are fewer and the beatings have pretty much stopped. Indeed, many of the police are curious as to what makes these followers of Jesus so committed to their faith. But there is always that threat of arrest & the followers of quite aware of it. They are very cautious and take great measures to keep their schools of faith & training hidden. They continue to share their faith energetically, knowing that each time they might be compromised. They smile about it. “God is in charge”.
Therefore, it is not surprising to me that they never let me meet with one of the house churches. They kept me away, and I met with the leaders in their homes for training and encouragement. To be with them is an experience like I have never had before. We reclined at a low table with pillows and cushions. There is always great food, and hot tea or coffee.
It is so relaxing, not like a formal teaching setting with chairs and a lectern.
I would share, someone would translate and we would dialogue back and forth.
Their faith is genuine and their love for each other is so evident in all that they say and do. It is like a big loving family has gathered together for fellowship in the midst of learning. It was like the early church of Acts, reclining at a table. We were breaking bread in a small room with the joy of Christ in their faces & the love of Christ in their voices. I was touched and ministered to in a profound way. I came to share, but they gave me far more than I could ever impart to them.
They have the heart of Christ in their church. They have the passion for the great commission in their minds. They are reaching out to surrounding countries. They are strategizing and in a very organized way, they are bringing the Faith back to Uzbekistan after 500 years of silence.
It is power-filled. It is humbling to be with them and yet I felt like I was a part of their family.
Now it is on to Iraq. – Love and Blessings, Pastor Mike
Remember when…
Maybe that is why I am obsessed, (Maybe a little too strong a word – depending on who you’re talking to – if you talk to my family, it is spot on), obsessed with capturing the past so that I will remember the wonderful events of days gone by. I guess that is why I love decorating our Christmas tree to the music of the Messiah every year.
As a youth, I would buy a big calendar to put on my wall beside my desk in my bedroom. Each day I would write down what happened – just the high points & the things I did not want to forget. Later in college I would graduate to a journal, at first hand writt
en. I have boxes of stuff out in the garage, keep sakes that take me back in time. I have things that I have purchased from all of the world on my journeys, decorating my office at work and at home. Some things especially have deep meaning & I connect them to some important event that took place.
There is a flip side to this. During a very dark period of my life, that came and went for about 10 years (mostly dark) – I kept a very detailed journal of the events, my failings and my feelings. It was much easier to do since I had joined the computer age. So I wrote a lot. I was struggling with depression during those years. Finally I started to get well, thanks to therapy, my wife and some very loving people at Pathway.
But I wouldn’t let go of that dark past. I would occasionally go back and read about what I had gone through and how it had such a devastating effect on me. The worst part was not so much what had happened, but what I thought about those situations and how they affected feelings and my self-image.
For years I hung on to those writings – going back to visit occasionally. It was like going back to a garbage dump. It was smelly. It was awful. And it would drag me back down into the darkness. I couldn’t really break free. God had forgiven. I had forgiven. But there it was, always waiting for me to return & recapture the pain, the hurt and the evil darkness.
Finally I did what Jan (my wife) had kept telling me to do. (Sometimes we men don’t always listen right away to those who love us.) I deleted it all, and threw all of the hard copies into the shredder. I would never be able to go back now. It hurt when I did it. But now they were gone. It was like cleaning a wound, hurtful and yet the only way for it to heal up. Over time, those things began to leave my conscious memories. Then I began to experience the real healing that I so desperately needed from God.
There is a great spiritual lesson in all of this. There are things in life that God wants us to remember. He wants us to look back and count our blessings. He wants us to remember just how good and faithful and loving and forgiving and wonderful He really is. Hence, we need to remember His kindness for two basic reasons.
The first, so that we know where our blessings come from & can praise Him.
Second, so that we can heed his warnings, and not go “off-roading” from His plan. He wants us to keep our lives in His circle of love. The good memories keep us on track.
And then there is the matter of the brokenness of our lives, the results of the darkness. He wants to forgive them. We need to forgive others and ourselves. And then we need to bury those events in the graveyard, never to go back. Not even to lay flowers. There will come a time, when you are so healed, that you can share them with others to help them in their despair.
But this is always from the side of victory, not defeat. As a result we praise God all the more. 
In the coming “holidays” focus on the good memories and try to banish the hurt and pain of things forgiven. God has forgiven them, and buried them.
We need to do the same, and then move on in the Love, Joy and Peace, that comes when we remember all the great things God has done for us, in us and through us.
“The Problem of Pain”
C. S. Lewis on “the God We Think Will Satisfy” us, found in his book The Problem of Pain
:
“What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like doing, “What does it matter so long as they are contented?” We want, in fact, not so much a Father in Heaven as a grandfather in heaven—a senile benevolence who, as they say, “liked to see young people enjoying themselves,” and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, “a good time was had by all.”
That sounds pretty good doesn’t it? Why didn’t God create the world that way? If you have had any experience in this world at all, you know that that is not the way things operate. And if you have been paying attention, you will realize that the world is not that way because of evil. There is a dark force in the world that that somehow plagues us. You know it is true, because, just like me, you’ve had to do battle with it. Some people have a better track record than others, at least on the surface it seems that way.
But in the secret places of our hearts and lives, we find that this darkness always has a way of winning the day. That is it did, until Jesus came to in order to deliver us from that very evil.
I didn’t get a chance to finish my sermon yesterday (I know, so what’s new?) So I thought I would wrap it up with my conclusion that I never reached.
The most important verses in Titus 3 are 4 through 7.
Here is Titus 3:4-7 in the New American Standard Version.
4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,
5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy,
by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs
according to the hope of eternal life.
Notice in Vs. 4, how He came after us. As I said yesterday, we may not always be faithful to Him, but He is always faithful to us. It is just a part of His nature, His Holiness and Righteousness. It is just the way God is, He loves you and me, the crowning point of His creation. He will go to any length in order to enjoy our company for all eternity. Even if it means sacrificing His Son on our behalf.
Then beginning in vs. 5 Paul gives us one of the best summations of the “Gospel” in 3 brief verses. In the Greek, it is just one long sentence describing how we are saved from the darkness, and enter into the light.
It is clear that there is nothing good enough in us to merit salvation, so God delivers it to us as a gift. Out of His own deep love for us, He pours out His mercy upon us.
It is described as a “washing“, a deep cleansing if you will, deep enough to penetrate to most darkened soul. And what does God use for His cleanser?
“Regeneration” & “Renewing” these two are mixed together in the most potent way by the Holy Spirit of God. And the Spirit pours it out generously over our lives. Remember in Psalm 23 where David says, “Thou annointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over”. That is what the Father is doing to us. Pouring His cleansing power generously over our lives so that we will have His power in full strength, not only to be saved from past sins, but to be protected from any future darkness that might try to creep back into our lives.
Jesus Christ made this possible when He took it upon Himself to take the punishment for our evil. Hence forth, He is our Savior, the one who pulled us out of the pit of Hell itself. Notice in these verses, the Father, Son & Holy Spirit all play a part in our cleansing that saves us from the darkness.
As a result we stand, not condemned, but justified before God Himself.
That means we have been vindicated and now find ourselves acceptable in His sight. And not just acceptable, but part of His Forever Family.
And what is the result of all this? We become “Heirs” to His Kingdom and His Glory. The darkness, death, and the devil himself, no longer have control over us. In Christ, with the Armor of God, we have the power over him. His desire is to take us home to be with Him for all eternity. Jesus told His followers that He is building a place for them. Can you even begin to imagine that, our Holy Father, building a new Heaven and a brand new pristine world, that He wants to share with us for all eternity.
It doesn’t get any better than that folks.
John Wesley’s comments on verses 5–7 are concise and penetrating.
“In this important passage the apostle presents us with
a delightful view of our redemption. Herein we have,
(1) The cause of it; not our works or righteousness, but ‘the kindness and love of God our Savior.’
(2) The effects; which are,
(a) Justification; ‘being justified,’ pardoned and accepted
(b) Sanctification, expressed by the laver of regeneration,
Meditate on those verses and Wesley’s analysis. It is profound! It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a nutshell, the Readers Digest version, the Cliff Notes if you will.
Sunday, I shared with you that we were all a part of the “League of the Guilty”. God is in the business of changing that in our lives. He indeed is Re-making us in ways that we never dreamed. This coming Sunday I want to take you into that dream. I want you to Re-think your world view!
Come Sunday, and dare to Re-think, to catch a glimpse of God’s dream for you and the ones you love.
Veritas pro Christo et ecclesia,
