Shelter

Plain and simple. This song speaks to me. I pray it speaks to you as well... I pray you find shelter under the shadow of the Almighty.

Afterthought

Do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."" (James 4:5-6 NAS95S)

Observation: God is jealous for my heart. His longing is to indwell me. To fill me. To consume me. The question is, do I desire His Spirit as much as He longs to give it to me? In Luke, Christ said:

""So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. "For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. "Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? "Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"" (Luke 11:9-13 NAS95S)

This challenge of Jesus... To ask for the Spirit... is the same thought expressed here in James. James says it this way:

"You have not because You ask not" (James 4:2).

And this invitation to ask comes in the context of lust. Lust is what happens when we desire without asking. Lust is what happens when we seek to make it happen, rather than looking to our Father to make it happen. Lust is about making personal provision, rather than seeking God's divine provision. Lust is what James describes in these verses:

"Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." (James 4:13-14 NAS95S)

O that we understood our frailty! That we comprehended our incompetence, and realized our utter helplessness. Maybe then we might ask. Maybe then we might says as James invites us:

""If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that."" (James 4:15 NAS95S)

Application: It is so easy to live life ahead of God. So easy to say... "Let's have a quick prayer," or "God is good, God is great, thank your for that food we ate!" In other words prayer is an afterthought... seeking God's will is an afterthought.

Prayer: O Lord Jesus I don't want Your will and the infilling of Your Spirit to be an afterthought anymore. Like what I read in Tim Gillespie's blog the other day, I want to be covered, and cloaked, and filled with Your presence:

I think there is a danger of Jesus becoming the given of the Christian experience.

We are all here in church, so it would seem that we have all assented to the fact that Jesus is the center of all of what we do. However, without the continued connection to the person of Jesus, not just the idea of Jesus, all of this is for naught.

Perhaps it is not enough for Jesus to be at the center of what we do. Perhaps the idea of a Christo-Centric community is the wrong model to use. I suggest that we use new language. I suggest that rather than having a Christo-Centric idea of community and church that we have a Christo-Present understanding of the our lives as Christian.

What is the difference? Let's use a couple of different metaphors. The first being a football huddle. In a huddle all the players are looking in to the quarterback to give them instructions. At the end of the huddle they "break" and go to do their respective jobs. The anchoring point is the knowledge that they have of what they were told. While not a bad way to live, I think there is another metaphor that speaks to Christo-Presence in a bit more powerful way. I like the metaphor of the mist in the forest. To have a Christo-Present community is to live in the midst (or mist, if you will) of the presence of Christ that permeates everything. We see the world thru the mist (Presence) of Christ. All of our relationships, our purposes, and our decisions are affected by this presence. All of our efforts are subject to the worldview that Christ gives us as we look through and into His presence to one another, the world around us, and to the Kingdom of God. (TimothyGillespie).

O Jesus make me damp with the mist of Your presence. Drench me in the downpour of Your Spirit. Teach me to pray... "If the Lord wills..."

The JOB

This short film is a humorous illustration of the following parable from Matthew 20:1-16:

^1-2 "God's kingdom is like an estate manager who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. They agreed on a wage of a dollar a day, and went to work. ^3-5"Later, about nine o'clock, the manager saw some other men hanging around the town square unemployed. He told them to go to work in his vineyard and he would pay them a fair wage. They went.

^5-6"He did the same thing at noon, and again at three o'clock. At five o'clock he went back and found still others standing around. He said, 'Why are you standing around all day doing nothing?'

⁷"They said, 'Because no one hired us.'

"He told them to go to work in his vineyard.

⁸"When the day's work was over, the owner of the vineyard instructed his foreman, 'Call the workers in and pay them their wages. Start with the last hired and go on to the first.'

^9-12"Those hired at five o'clock came up and were each given a dollar. When those who were hired first saw that, they assumed they would get far more. But they got the same, each of them one dollar. Taking the dollar, they groused angrily to the manager, 'These last workers put in only one easy hour, and you just made them equal to us, who slaved all day under a scorching sun.'

^13-15"He replied to the one speaking for the rest, 'Friend, I haven't been unfair. We agreed on the wage of a dollar, didn't we? So take it and go. I decided to give to the one who came last the same as you. Can't I do what I want with my own money? Are you going to get stingy because I am generous?'

¹⁶"Here it is again, the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first."

Justified by His Knowledge

By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. "  (Isaiah 53:11 NAS95S).

Observation:  Christ's sacrifice gives credibility to His intercessory prayers in our behalf.  The word declares that "By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify many."  This wasn't simply a head knowledge, it was a heart knowledge.  This wasn't a book knowledge, but a knowledge that comes through brokenness; a knowledge born out of experience; a knowledge that bore our griefs and carried our sorrows; a knowledge that knows what it means to be crushed and knows what is means to be chastened.  Yes Jesus justifies us through the His living knowledge of condemnation and forsakenness.  He knows spite, He knows affliction, He knows mockery.  Through this knowledge He justifies us.  He cries out:  "Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing."  He knows and forgives.  We knew not and crucified.  Through His experiencing the knowledge of our ignorant rage, He forgave us.  Glory to God.

So, when our Lord intercedes for us, when He please His blood for the lost, He isn't just praying from pity, He is praying from a point of experience.  He is praying as a Nazarene.  A Nazarene who was despised by the world.  For this is what many scholars believe it mean to be referred to as a Nazarene:  One who is despised.   Just as one of his disciples declared before meeting Jesus:  "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth."

Ahh, but this is the beauty and holiness of Jesus, of Emmanuel, God with us.  He enters the places and people where the world asks, "Can any good thing come out of them?," and manifests His goodness and grace.  There is no heart too dark, no life too helpless, and no situation to hopeless, that the one who intercedes for us cannot bless and bring into the light of day.  The is no one too far gone that He cannot plead His sacrifice as an atonement for their sin.

Application:  I need Jesus today.  No my brother, nor my sister, but me.  It's me, It's me, It's me O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.  I need the intercessory prayers of my Savior.  I need the credibility of His shed blood applied to my broken and sinful heart, mind, and soul.  

Prayer:  Lord Jesus pray over me today.  Let Your knowledge, Your suffering, and Your sacrifice be my justification.  Put me right with You and right with the Father.  Dwell in me.  Pray in and through me.  Pray for me.  Be my Savior.  Be my Changer.  Be my all in all.  You alone are worthy Lord Jesus.  You alone are righteous.  You alone are my life.  I surrender to You now.

Thy Will Be Done

"My Father, You have all of eternity in which to work Thy will, but I have only today to walk with You.   Please draw me near in a close walk in which Thy will is done in me."

From the Desk of Pastor John Graham

The Perfect Bridegroom

by Karen Fettig

 

This is June the "Wedding Month!"  When we talk about weddings most people get excited. (Except maybe some father-in- law's to be.)  There is something special about weddings.  The hustle and bustle of preparation and then the big day and we either get to walk down the isle ourselves or watch someone we care about walk that heart pounding walk.  All in all it is a tradition that has been handed down to us from the creator at the beginning of man and woman. 

 

Think about it: Adam and Eve never even courted. God created them "right" for each other!  All I can say is sparks few, and pulses rose when their eyes met!  They didn't say I do, they said "It's done! Wow!"

 

Unfortunately sin then enters in and many marriages become hell on earth for many people. Marriage is not sacred to some but an expendable commodity; here today gone tomorrow.

 

The Bible talks about a Bridegroom who is the perfect mate.  He (the bridegroom) though loves and seeks after a very imperfect, cheatin' bride…you and me.

 

The attributes of this Bridegroom are: (Ladies you are going to relate to this! But you guys are also the bride too!) He is a warrior; the captain of the Lords Army! (Joshua 5:14) Always fighting valiantly for us even onto death! 

 

He is not just a warrior but the King! (Isaiah 33:17)  Not of just this puny planet but of every created thing! Wow! He is strong and mighty but He likes to hold hands! (Isaiah 41:10, 13)

 

He courts our hearts. He left heaven and the worship of all the angels to pursue the love of humans. He went out of His way to find out how we think, what makes us tick so to speak! He gave us his groomsman the Holy Spirit to be with each of us 24/7, in His absence.

 

He provides us with all of our needs: such as food, air and water.  Think about the senses of the intricate body He created for us, with the ability to see, smell, touch, taste and hear! We are created wonderfully! He provides everything including our finances. (Philippians 4:19)

 

He is not a control freak but allows us the freedom to make decisions, but always lovingly, influencing us to make the right one.

 

He has gone to build us a mortgage free house and a mansion no less! (John 14:2)

 

He paid our bill with his own life. As sinners our reward is death. (Romans 6:23) He loves us "brides" enough to say: "I will pay the bill with my own life, so that all who desire may live with me forever."  That gift is ours free; all we have to do is say: "Yes" when He asks us to marry Him!

 

Will you say yes today to the one who loves you with an everlasting love? He is coming soon for His brides! ( Matthew 25:10) Will you be His bride?

 

 

FYI Here are some interesting tidbits on weddings:

 

Statistics on Weddings in the United States

• 2.3 million couples wed every year in the US. That breaks down to nearly 6,200 weddings a day

• the average age of a bride in the US is 25.3

• average age of a groom is 26.9

• average number of guests invited to a wedding is 178

• one-third of those getting married each year have been married before

The money behind the marriage

• $72 billion per year is spent on weddings

• the average wedding budget is $20,000

• $1,016 is the average cost of wedding rings for the bride and groom

• traditionally, the father of the bride would pay for everything. Today, however, the bride and groom themselves pay for the wedding about 30 percent of the time; the bride's parents pay about 17 percent of the time. As for the rest of the time, costs are covered by different sources -- the bride and groom and one or both sets of parents, according to surveys by Bride's magazine.

• $19 billion per year is spent on wedding gift registries

• $8 billion per year is spent on honeymoons

• the average honeymoon budget is $3,657

• over  91 percent of all to-be-weds register for gifts. The couple receives gifts from an average of 200 guests

• most wedding guests spend between $70 and $100 on a gift

Timing of weddings

• June is the most popular month for weddings, then August, followed by September and October

here's a monthly breakdown:
January 4.7%
February 7.0%
March 6.1%
April 7.4%
May 9.8%
June 10.8%
July 9.7%
August 10.2%
September 9.6%
October 9.4%
November 7.4%
December 7.8%
 

Where do weddings take place?

• 80 percent of weddings are performed in churches or synagogues

Honeymoons

• 99 percent of newlyweds take a honeymoon

• the average couple will spend three times more on their honeymoon than a regular vacation
• 40 percent of honeymooners will travel within the United States, about 60 percent will travel to a foreign country
• honeymoons usually last 7 to 9 days
• the most popular destinations are Las Vegas, Hawaii, the Caribbean, and
Jamaica
• 35 percent of brides and grooms have a valid passport

Other Interesting Info

• the top wedding city in the world is Istanbul, Turkey with 166,000 for the year
• Las Vegas, Nevada is in second place with 114,000 weddings.