“Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and bothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.” Mark 10:38
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The persecution began and no one paid any attention to it. Certainly, there were the self-righteous complaints about fairness and rights and “how-dare-you’s” in the letters to the newspaper editors, but the truth is that it was so petty that the few who did take it seriously overplayed their hand.

It first was noticed during the Christmas season. A public school would no longer call it “Christmas holiday” and instead change the name to “holiday break” or “winter break.” An individual would complain about a manger scene in the city park, claiming separation of church and state. No one paid much attention.

Then the doctrine of “fairness” came into play. Everything had to be “fair” so if a manger is put up then witchcraft deserved a spot as well. If witchcraft, then gay marriage. If gay marriage, then Islam and so on and so forth. It was all about “fairness” and, after all, who could argue about being fair?

But it was all a ruse. Two decades ago, it was only long discussions about Christmas but today it is lawsuits and labels of racism levied against people of faith, all happening in the bastion of Christianity, the United States of America. Persecution has now eclipsed rational thought and the moral majority has become the whipping post in the last watershed of Christianity.

No one has been told to deny their faith or die yet, but make no mistake about it, the times and seasons have changed in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Monsignor Charles Pope has written candidly and sharply about persecution for several years now. His five stages of persecution are noteworthy. Originating with Johnette Benkovic of Women of Grace, the five stages are prophetic and clear.

• Stage One… Stereotyping the targeted group
  To stereotype means to oversimplify a group of people. The Pentecostals were stereotyped as being “Bible thumpers,” fanatics, and uneducated simpletons in the early part of the 20th century. This judgement was made with few facts and limited contact but has lasted through the decades. This stereotypical label has now become wide and broad and includes all Christian denominations including Catholics, Protestants and Pentecostals. Doctrinal issues might separate Christians but we are now aligned in the ridicule, deriding language and hatred from the societies where we live and serve.      
•  Stage Two…Accusations of crimes and misconduct
  Stereotyping leads to accusation and verbal distain turns to organized plans to curtail. Words become action. Ridicule becomes lawsuits. Distain becomes demands to change. No matter how ridiculous and farfetched, the accusations proceed to legal action. Instead of being known for the tremendous light and salt to the world, Christians are described as homophobic, bigoted, racist, hateful, hypocritical and evil. Instead of being known for the serving, giving and sacrificial work throughout the ages, all is stripped away except the excesses and wrongs, mostly from a myopic view of history.  Look no further than Barack Obama as he compared the medieval crusaders to modern day ISIS at the 2015 National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. Linking events in the second century to the church today is to link the crimes of yesterday to the church today. Though the accusations were quickly dismissed as “misunderstood” there is no misunderstanding the intent to vilify and accuse people of faith as being not fit for modern society.
• Stage Three… Minimize the role and effect of the group in society     Hitler began his campaign to eliminate the Jewish race in 1919. For over ten years, the strategy was to minimize the important place in German society held by the Jewish population. Fifteen years later, the first official boycott of all Jewish shops and offices took place. From April 1, 1933 until May 8,1945 the German policy was to exclude Jews from German society and make life so intolerable that they would leave Germany. In other words, exterminate.Gradually, the attacks became more organized and led to the establishment of a network of over 20,000 concentration and extermination camps that brutalized and murdered over 11 million people… six million Jews, two-thirds of all Jews living in Europe, 1.1 million children.
• Now it is happening in the 21st century. Because of the successful stereotyping, false accusations and minimizing of Christianity it is now common and accepted that biblically established lifestyles and family values must not continue in the world. In April of this year, Hillary Clinton said concerning abortion rights, “Deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed… and not just in far away countries but right here in the United States.”In other words, the religious beliefs that life begins at conception, that every unborn child is a fully formed soul, that it takes a mother and a father to raise a child, that marriage is sacred and is the foundation of culture and society since time began “has to be changed.”That means that the 12 million baby girls aborted in India in the past 30 years and the 54 million children aborted in the United States is only a beginning because the “cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases” must change. And all it will take is getting Christianity out of the way.It is too familiar with the two decades Hitler took to minimize the church in Germany before the Holocaust. Johnette Benkovic concludes, “Do not even think of mentioning Jesus or of publicly thanking him in your valedictory address; you could very well have a judge forbid you to do so under penalty of law. You may thank Madonna the singer, but not the Madonna. The LGBT club is welcome to set up shop and pass out rainbow-colored condoms at the local high school, but Christians had better hit the road; no Bibles or pamphlets had better see the light of day anywhere in the school building … separation of Church and State, you know…”The enemy of the church is a common enemy who attacks on multiple fronts and designs his assault to inflict the most damage against the church of Jesus Christ. The localities are different as well as the culture but the result is the same. He intends to strip the church of her power, anointing and unity in order to inflict the greatest deception, disunity and destruction possible, no matter which side of the world we live on.
• Stage Four… Criminalizing Christianity
• Yes, even in the land of the free and the home of the brave. What has taken place in India, China and in Europe is now being staged in the U.S. Recently, the religious rights of Americans has been attacked by the government through the legal system that demands the church change biblical values and submit to godless mandates concerning same sex marriage and abortion. The values of Muslims, atheist, Buddhist or Hindus are not being challenged mind you, only biblical values of Christians.

A small business owner in Oregon was found to have “discriminated” against a lesbian couple because they refused to make a cake for their wedding ceremony. Citing their Christian belief, the owners declined to participate in the ceremony and were picketed, sued and had death threats made against their children. As a result, they have been threatened with over $100,000 in fines leveled against them and lost their business. According to the Oregon Bureau of Labor, they found “substantial evidence” that the bakery had discriminated against the lesbians.

“Everybody is entitled to their own beliefs, but that doesn’t mean that folks have the right to discriminate,” Brad Avakian, the Bureau representative said. “The goal is never to shut down a business. The goal is to rehabilitate.”

Really? Rehabilitate? That means changing our biblical point of view. Changing our faith, religion, lifestyle, churches and eternal destiny. Any takers?

Stage Five… The active persecution of the targeted group
There are two topics being discussed among many Christian ministers in the U.S. One is preparation of our churches when we refuse to be “rehabilitated.” The second is preparation for civil disobedience when we are sued, fined or arrested for not submitting to godless laws and mandates. Already, we are accused of “hate crimes” when we preach biblical doctrine against homosexual behavior. In India, China, Canada and parts of Europe, clergy has been arrested and charged for preaching against the same and more.

Even though the U.S. has long provided for free speech, the erosion of ethics has begun a landslide of cultural animosity towards the church. That is called persecution and when the last stronghold wall of biblical values has been scaled the end cannot be far away. “Do you not know how to discern the signs of the times?” Jesus said. We better know by now.

The signs of the times says that persecution is now upon us throughout the Christian world and that can only mean one thing. The time is short. The labors are few and the fields, white with harvest, are awaiting a church ready for the task. Stage one through four are in place in the west, stage five is rampant throughout India, Africa, China and Europe. Now is the time to join our hands and hearts together for the greatest ingathering in history, promised by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Five Biblical Responses to the Signs of the Times
These are unprecedented times that we are living in. Every generation since Jesus rose from the dead expected, anticipated and planned for the soon return of the Lord. So what makes these times different?

Never before in history has the whole world been linked in communication. The preaching of the gospel is literally taking place 24 hours, seven days a week through the internet and social media. Because of the breakthroughs in communication in the past two decades, the availability of biblical truth has never been more available. Never. Not in the entire history of the world.

Since the great attack in the Garden of Gethsemane, the church has not experienced an assault so extensive against the cause of Christ. With the turning of the tide in the United States, the world wide assault is now in play laying the groundwork for the prophesied last days to escalate.

The great deception against the saints has begun as churches, denominations and all generations now living are acquiescing to godless doctrines concerning sexuality and identity which are the foundational building stones of society. The identity of mankind hearkens back to the Garden of Eden when man was created in the image of God. To suggest that man can somehow change God’s created order is to assume that we are now gods unto ourselves and nothing less. Can a man hold fire to his breast and not be burned? The answer is always the same.

What Should Our Response Be?

1. 1 Timothy 4:16… “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.” In other words, spend less time casting stones at the lost and the church and more time growing in the love and compassion of Jesus. Make sure your “doctrine” is correct by using it as a tool to seek and save the lost and love the brethren.
2. Matthew 24:12…Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. The love of God is both practical and observable. Real evangelism takes place when the church is in unity.
   
3. Titus 2:11-12… For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present age. Preach a message of grace and not legalism. When people respond to the grace of God, they want to change their behavior. When people are told to change because of rules, regulations and laws the response is condemnation and legalistic works oriented religion. Grace is still the only message of the cross. It is the only pure and undefiled religion.
   
4. John 17:20-22… I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. Our unity matters! True evangelism takes place when the church becomes one. Period. It is what Jesus prayed and what Jesus still intends. Stop fighting and get along because Jesus said so.
   
5. Matthew 5:11-12… “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” The single most important difference between the believer and the world is that our hope does not reside in this world but in the eternity to come. Our hope brings joy in all circumstances. Remember Paul and Silas… bloody, chained, broken and condemned yet singing praises in the dark of the night. Why? Because their hope was not rooted to this world but to the hope that lies ahead. As persecution increases, rejoice! Our Redeemer draws nigh.

When Will the End Come?
Every generation has asked that question and the answer is simple… we do not know. Like a volcano preparing to erupt, the world looks as if the top is about to blow in a prophetic explosion of judgement and end time events, but no one knows the hour or day except the Father. But there is no argument as what our biblical response is to be. We are to live our lives as if today is the final day of our journey. And that means to be about the work of the Father. Persecution is the most encouraging sign of the eminent return of Jesus that the bible presents. Our call is to live holy lives, preach the word, seek and save the lost and love Jesus’ church as He loves us.

And when we see Him face to face, all tears will be wiped away, all sorrows will be a distant memory, and eternity will stretch out forever. For those who persevere to the end, He waits with the crown of righteousness and the words we long to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Now enter into the joy of the Lord!”

Blessed are those who persevere under trial, because when they have stood the test, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. James 1:12

Maranatha, come quickly, Lord Jesus!

“The fullness of time” is never a mystery to the God who loves and cares for my soul.

 

The days were completed… She gave birth to her firstborn son.  Luke 2

It has always been a mystery why Joseph took off on a donkey only days before she was due. To be honest, no one knows how long Mary was pregnant.  Is it possible that she was only 7 or 8 months pregnant and the baby came early and unannounced?  That would mean that Jesus would have been premature in the calendar of man.

What we have based the completion of a full pregnancy on is the previous statement, “when the days were completed.”  Our limited view of time dictates the meaning to be our days, our schedules, our timelines, yet that is not the same as God’s.  He had planned the coming of Messiah from the day of the Fall.  He had marked off on His eternal calendar the millenniums, centuries, years and hours until the final click of the second hand struck and a new dawn chimed.  The lonely night of mankind’s soul was broken by the dawn of redemption and nothing could have prepared the weary and terrified couple for what their simple obedience would bring. God came, a tiny Innocent in the hands of fumbling humanity laid in the midst of the squaller of sin.

There are three common circumstances that surround lives at Christmas.

• There are those who will be encompassed with all the gladness and joy for which the season is intended.  Families will meet under beautiful trees stuffed with presents under their boughs.  They will eat and laugh, watch kids reacquaint with cousins and grandparents, laugh at old movies and timeless music and get “just what I wanted” over and over again.  This is what we all hope for and what I wish for everyone I know.
• There are those who will wish for more.  More people, or just one special someone, to celebrate the season with.  More of the tidings of joy or the realization of peace on earth and especially in the home.  There are those who will yearn for the past years and look forward to the next year when Christmas cheer will be more than a phone call or a Skype’d “I miss you” from far away.
• There are those who are truly alone.  Though family might be in the same room, there is little joy and the kind of tension that can only be created when the brokenness of life invades like a marauding hoard.  Or those who suffer the consequences of choices that were made and cannot be changed.  Or those who the good life seems to have passed by, the gripping loneliness never as acute as at Christmas when people are supposed to be with people.

I write this within our own peculiar circumstances.  We are, once again, in a hospital room unplanned and unwanted but none the less necessary.  Setbacks and sickness have combined to interrupt plans and schedules.  And I find myself with the same choice as many who read these few words I write.

And there is a choice.  Do I pine away with regrets for what could have been or rejoice that this Season is to celebrate the Savior who came to be with us and never leave us?  “Diverse temptations,” Paul said, “trials of many kinds,”  all of which are intended to supplant our self-sufficiency with the sufficiency of the Christ Child, the Hope of Glory.

Old Zechariah said it best when his tongue was finally released at the birth of his son, John the Baptist.  He said that the Messiah was coming, “To grant that we might serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all of our days.”  It was the original Christmas present from Heaven to you and me… serving Him without fear.  Knowing holiness and righteousness all of our days no matter what strange difficulties or crushing loneliness we might walk in.  Knowing that no matter what the circumstances, “the fullness of time” is never a mystery to the God who loves and cares for my soul.  Though my calendar dictates that it is time for different circumstances Jesus enters my world and declares the message of hope and the promise of the New Covenant in the diverseness of this life.

So I say to you, Merry Christmas, friend.  The Savior was born so that these days of trial as well as these days of joy might be spent with Him and without fear.  May you experience His favor and mercy throughout this season and new year.

“Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy
for there is born to you this day a Savior, who is Christ the Lord!”
Luke 2:10-11

 

“See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands.”  Isaiah 49:16

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"Special Treasure,” written in Malayalam, the language of Kerala.

The name has a lovely tone to it.  Nakusa is the name given to thousands of little baby girls every year in north India.  Beneath the rhythm of the six letters though is a meaning that poisons the life path of the innocent.  The name means “unwanted” in Marathi, the language of Maharashtra.  It is given to the little infant girl in the believe that it will insure that the next baby will be a boy.

Often times, it is not the choice of the mother or father.  Tradition, family pressures and superstition play more a part than the lack of love of the parents, particularly the mother who often grieves over the same neglectful abuse done to a daughter that was visited on her.  Along with the stigma to the child is the oft times regret of what the parents did to the child through the name, especially when the promised boy child does not arrive.  There is enough guilt to go around for all when an innocent child is labeled Nakusa – “Unwanted.”

Would it be too simplistic to draw a parallel to so many other unwanted’s today?
Every day in America…

• 40,000 children are physically attacked at school.
• 70% of pornography winds up in the hands of children.
• 3,288 children run away.
• 2,989 children see their parents divorce.
• 1,849 children are abused or neglected and five die each day.

The list of the abuses never lessens and is always increasing.  In other words, the name Nakusa becomes more common everyday.  You know one of these children.  Very likely, you have felt the sting of Nakusa yourself.  Would it surprise you that God’s name for you is very different?

….the Lord your God has chosen you to be His own special treasure.  Deuteronomy 7:6
….Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said, ‘You are children of the living God.’ Hosea 1:10
….Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!  1 John 3:1

I was a small boy when I learned to pray.  In fact, I do not remember a time in life when I did not have an almost daily awareness of God.   I thought of God as being very big, very old, very kind and very distant.  I knew God to be real just like I knew Him to be separated from me.  I could pray to Him but there was never a knowing of this Old Giant who sat at the top of what seemed like a mountain of white steps leading to His throne.  In my mind, I was at the bottom of those steps always looking up.

A day came when the God that I knew to be real also became needed.  I had created a chasm, a gulf that grew between the bottom of those steps and my life until there was nothing left but fear.  Without knowing God, there was little left but fearing Him to the point of trying my best to distance myself and make peace with Him at the same confusing time.

The fear grew and grew until one day I was offered a solution.  If I would stop trying to run and instead plea for mercy undeserved, Jesus would appeal to His Father on my behalf.  I was told that Jesus’ life was given to bridge the divide between a holy God and the mess I had made of my life.  As genuine as God had seemed to a little five year old who prayed, “now I lay me down to sleep” the realization of God at that moment changed my pain into healing, every sin into forgiveness, and my fear into the safety of His loving hands.

How do I know there is a God who loves you the same way?  I cannot deny someone that I actually know.  God cannot be a fantasy if He rescued me, changed me and loved me everyday since.  And you can also know how deeply and completely God loves you if you come to that throne on the terms of the One who sits on it.  It is as simple and profound as life can get.

“See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands”… The eternal God is your refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms.  Isaiah 49:32, Deut. 33:27

So here I am, no longer Nakusa, Unwanted, but inscribed on the palm of the hand that created the world. “Inscribed” means indelibly etched and every time He catches a glimpse of that hand, He thinks of me.  I do not understand it but neither do I have to because I have come to know His love that has set me free. His bible is filled with the promises that the One who loves me will never leave me and never again leave me alone.

You can know that acceptance as well. It will mean more than a name change because it is a life change.  Jesus stands ready to take you to the throne and what you will find is the overwhelming love found in the palm of His loving hands.

Unwanted will be in the past, Nakusa no more.

But Manasseh did not take possession….  Israel did not drive them out completely…
Zebulun, Asher and Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants…
“Therefore, I will not drive them out before you; but they will become as thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.”  Judges 1:27-2:3

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This could be the last generation... are they worth a Godly legacy?

They had had a pretty good run.  After crossing the Jordan and living the good life as conquerors the generation of Joshua began to hand the reigns over to the next generation.  In other words, they began to die.

The result is the end of the book of Joshua and the beginning of the book of Judges which follows the conquering of Canaan with government and order.  The problem was that instead of driving out the enemy they made friends with them.
Yahweh’s  instructions had been abundantly clear.

• Make no covenant with them…
• Show no favor to them…
• Do not intermarry with them…
• Tear down their altars…
• Smash their sacred pillars…
• Burn their graven images with fire…

Why?  Because God knew that the sin of the land would swallow them if they did not.  They were not chosen for their sober-minded discipline or because they were better than everyone else after all. God had simply chosen to love them, redeem them and call them His own out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth (See Deuteronomy 7:1-11).  Why God chooses any of us remains the defining mystery of His love, but He does.  And it is unconditional, unwavering and unrelenting.

They wasted their moment. They squandered their season and chose to make water-downed deals instead of obeying God.  The results were frightening but before I go there, allow me to simplify and apply.

Every generation has a privilege and a responsibility to the next generation.  If we obey God and do not waste the moment we have to complete our mission, the seed of obedience grows into the fruit of a godly endowment, one of the greatest legacies a person can receive. If we disobey God and waste the time given then the seeds of those choices will hinder the work of God in the next generation.  Instead of moving ahead in the Kingdom mission, the next generation will first have to overcome the fleshly thorns and thistles of the past.

I know a church that thirty years ago was a great blessing to the Body of Christ. In fact, God used that church in my generation as a launching pad for revival and training that scattered ministry all over the world.  Thousands of young people were discipled and trained, myself included, and the gospel was spread in that season of blessing all over the world.

Yet there was a sin in the leadership of the church.  Without giving details, it was a common failure that was never dealt with which soon spread through the church.  And now?  The magnificent campus that welcomed thousands of young people is now home to a homosexual church.  The ministry that was so powerfully used by God in such an explosion of grace has little left but regrets of what could have been.

• They made covenants instead of war…
• They looked away from sin instead of dealing with it…
• They were fascinated by the attraction of worldly trinkets…
• They allowed altars to remain instead of destroying them…
• They ignored the idols in their midst…
• They did not allow the fire of holiness near to their hearts.

What today could be a watershed of revival history instead is a shell of former glory.

It is the same wastefulness that happened to Joshua’s generation, so much so that the bible records the sobering legacy of half-hearted commitment in Judges 2:10…

‘There arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.”

Half-hearted commitments result in half-baked lives, useless to feed the gospel to a new generation hungry for the true God.

Every generation has a time-line it is living out until the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed.  What legacy will this generation leave for the next?  What report will be given before the throne of God on that Day?

• We have squandered the wealth that God has given.
• We have made a mockery of marriage and the unborn.
• We have neglected our children to worship at the altar of Mammon.
• We have substituted holiness for the gospel of me-ism.

And yet it is not too late to change.  It is never to late to change.  Our children and grandchildren are being handed a legacy and it is our right and responsibility to fashion and form it to our choosing.   But, mind you, it will take battle and not appeasement, victories and not truces, single focused choices and not convenient concessions to turn the tide.

The tragedy of the next generation beyond Joshua was that they knew the religion but did not desire a heart relationship with God.  It is frighteningly similar to a generation that claims today that they do not believe in God yet are “very spiritual” in their lives.  Translation?  They live to serve themselves.  Like the generation that arose that “knew not the Lord”, today a generation has arisen that only desires to know the god of self.

Appeasement never conquers evil so don’t look the other way.   It’s not to late to hand the next generation a model of holiness and today’s church is the only one that can do it.  After all, this next generation could certainly be the last. That alone is reason enough to give them our best.
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I am writing this while in India teaching church planters and evangelists who will lead the greatest revival in the history of this country.  Pray for them, won’t you?

The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you… Go and rescue Israel!”  Gideon replied, “How can I?  I am the least in my entire family!”  Judges 6:14-15

“Our story is usually always about us in the beginning – our desires, our needs, our crisis.  This often leads us to a bigger story as a  result of trying to reconcile our smaller story…. Most of us settle for our smaller story.”

Os Hillman, Change Agent

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Early in my Christian walk I was told that God would do great things through a life dedicated to Him.  It seemed too good to be true to a young man who had failed so miserably at the most mundane tasks in life.  I was so worn out doing things my way that I had little choice though.  Low and behold… life got better when I submitted to the Good Book.

Soon enough I experienced another reality and it was this; even though life was better, it was still not filled with the promises I heard others claim as theirs.  I was constantly having to decide if it was my lack of faith, my ongoing propensity towards sin or whether I was being duped by well-meaning but ill-informed teachers.  What I learned was that it was not any of those things.

Look at a life in the Bible that you admire, a person whose life you desire to emulate.  Every one of those stories will follow an outline of the following…

• A call
• An answer
• A crisis
• A failure
• A demonstration of grace that prevails

This is the cycle that propels a believer through the concentric order of God-ordained events.  What happens after a demonstration of grace though is particularly critical to growing beyond a self-focused Christianity.  This is the shift from self-focus to a Kingdom focus.  No one can decide when or how it will come, but a crisis will produce a failure that will ultimately usher in the the overwhelming grace that corrects the axis of a life bent towards God.

This is not a one time event that finally produces nirvana grace, mind you.  Instead, if I am willing, my life is peeled like an onion over and over to fresh levels of transparent humility.  That is the Kingdom way.

My own story has never struck me as eventful or marked by the miraculous.  In fact, my early adulthood had more failure and struggle than what I would consider success or grace.  Having given up a career path and a college education to attend Bible School, Jan and I started our adventure with little support and naive faith.  A little home church that closed, numerous blue collar jobs and a new baby finally drove me to conclude that God had obviously not called me to ministry, a fact in my eyes that was obvious by the lack of success and the abundance of failure.

As Os Hillman commented, life was about me – my desires, my needs, my crisis – the bigger story would only take shape after the oblivious pursuit of self was curtailed.   I had been taught that if you lived according to right principle then the owed dividends would be obvious blessings, but the reality was that I struggled more than those who simply pursued life on their own terms. It made no sense.

I was standing in our little back yard in Schertz, Texas, crying and complaining.  The tears were real because life was genuinely difficult.  The complaining was the final cry of a failed path that recognized I had no where left to turn and no more strength to keep trying.

The current crisis that rose above all the other setbacks was that I was changing jobs again.  I had been driving a yogurt truck (that’s right… a yogurt truck) when a pickup pulled in front of me and I almost killed the driver.  It was not my fault but I had come too close to killing someone and I was unwilling to take that chance again.

I  had heard God’s call years before.  I answered His call with diligence and determination.  A cycle of crisis and failure continued to erode my confidence in myself and abilities.  It was at that lowest point that I received a demonstration of God’s abundant grace.  These words from the book of Jeremiah erupted in my heart as clear as if I had spoken them out loud.

Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name.” But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not. Jeremiah 20:9

It was my moment of supreme commitment.  Rushing into my already wounded soul was the salt of biblical truth.  God had already made His choice.  The question was would I allow my life – my circumstance, my pride, my failure – to become bigger than myself?  Yes, I heard Him say, I was called.  Now would I follow?… not based on blessings or success but because there was a bigger story to live out than my own.

Are you being called the same way?  Not with the same words or the same experience, but through the path of crisis, failure, divine grace and a new decision to trust His Word.  “Not many wise,” Paul said, “not many mighty, not many noble.  God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong… that no man should boast before God.”

Don’t settle for the smaller life, friend.  Only the crucible  produces the finest gold.

"The school of suffering graduates rare scholars."

The newbies fill the waiting room today.  They are talking across the room to one another not realizing that their energized voices do little to mask the fear they now are living in.  The stories they tell are new to them but sound so very old to me.  Each story plays the same basic cords, just arranged a little different.  Most of the stories include God somewhere.

Jan is in triage… blood draw, “how are you feeling?”, pulse and temperature, “any problems?”  Nothing much has changed in the routine of the medical mundane.  I’ve tuned out. Been there and got the T-shirt, as they say.  Instead, I’ve plugged in my earphones and listen to music while I write.

“Emmanuel, the beginning and the end.
King of Kings, healer and friend,
Jesus, you have saved us all.
To our knees we fall, you have saved us all.”

It has now been a year and a half since the transplant.  Slowly, Jan is healing.  The setbacks now remind us of how far we have come, not how far we have to go.    After 20 years of a slow but deliberate slide, she will be free to dream and plan.  Jeremiah quoted God, “I will give you a future and a hope.” Yes, He has.  It has been so costly, so achingly slow, draining to the place where we have realized just how little is needed to thrive… not just stay alive, mind you, but thrive in the goodness and mercy of God.

The Stem Cell Transplant

After all of the years being with her at every crisis I could not go through this valley of death with her.  The night before brought on my overflow of tears as well as the memory of the well worn paths that had brought us here.  Life was going to change, no doubt.  We just didn’t know how, had no idea whether it would be an end or a beginning.  The paths we had traveled were now behind us.  New territory was ahead and it would be either both or one of us that would now trek forward.

A week of chemo that could kill was followed by a tiny bag of funny colored liquid that they hung on her IV pole and dripped into her.  That was it.  No fanfare, just a big medical yawn.  Hard to believe that a little sandwich size baggy of stem cells was all the life needed to heal her of what had been killing her all of these years.

The chemo would stay active for months, releasing the poison continually while the new stem cells worked hard to combat it’s effect. It would be months before hospital rooms would not be her mainstay.  Thousands of hours, countless hospital staff, hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Every part of dying save the last breath was greeted with well honed faith.  Every assault against her person met with joy and trust.

An old preacher of the early 20th century wrote,

“To do and suffer God’s will is still the highest form of faith, the most sublime Christian achievement.  To have the bright aspirations of a young life forever blasted; to bear a daily burden never congenial and to see no relief; to be fettered by some incurable physical disability – to be able to say in such a school of discipline, ‘The cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?’- this is faith at its highest and spiritual success at the crowning point.  Great faith is exhibited not so much in ability to do as to suffer.”  Dr. Charles Parkhurst

Yes, I know.  To be sick in today’s church is equal to not having faith. To be sick in today’s church means that Job’s friends line up with their reasoning and spiritual incantations to condemn instead of comfort.  But to those who have unreasonably suffered and not wavered in faith, the heart of God is shown.
Paul said it best,

“… that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death…”

There is no deep understanding of pain unless one has experienced the loneliness of a cross.  Once that has been accomplished, the first response to another is compassion and nothing else.

I have a friend who is preparing to meet the Lord.  Certainly, a Christian prepares to see Jesus from the first day forward but then there is that day when dying becomes a reality.  Don is without a doubt one of the people who has given so much to so many.  His ability to lead others in worship has touched millions, yet the real joy was in being with Don and Marian with a few friends and laughing together.  The piano was literally an extension of his enormous love of Jesus and His church.  His heart for worship could never be ignored.  When he leads, you are compelled to follow him to Jesus’ throne.

Even with modern medicine he has suffered a lot.  And we, his friends both distant and close, want him to know this… Don, you have done well.  Thank you for making us less afraid by watching you.  Thank you for teaching us how to rejoice in sorrow.  Thank you for being faithful to Jesus and to us.

“The school of suffering graduates rare scholars.”  For some like Jan and I, we now walk a path of victory on this earth.  For Don, he prepares to see the face of Jesus and to hear His voice say, “Well done.” And in all these things I am reminded over and over that the goal in life is so very simple that it can be captured in two simple words…  finish well.

For most, that means to live out the mundane with a heart overflowing with the eternal.  For others, live grateful for the extension of life that has been granted.  For some, look to the finish line that is promised over the final hill… and smile.  The race has been run, friend.  Your reward draws near.

When the brook runs dry, faith becomes real.

It came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.  1 Kings 17:7

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It is hot and dry in Texas. The reports are that this is the hottest it has ever been and still the heat keeps coming.  The talk is all about rain.  The ponds and stock tanks are long past dry.  The aquifer is disappearing by the day and the news is all about how far we have to go before we run out of it all.  But since that first mist recorded in Genesis that covered the earth, God alone will control the weather.  It is the finger of God that directs the clouds and the rain.  In our world of smart phones, IPads and computer “clouds” that we control, it will remain the one thing out of our control.

Elijah was a prophet of God, one of God’s other “fingers” that He used to set His plans in motion.  At God’s command, he told the wicked king Ahab that a drought would begin that would go on for years.  He was then sent to a little brook that slowly but surely went the way of every other bit of water in Israel until finally…

the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

When the brook dries up faith becomes real.  When the promise is complete, when the end of the task is at hand, when the final breath of the vision exhales and the air grows still, what you do next says more about faith than all of the blustery moralizing that proceeded.

The bible tells the stories of people whose brooks have dried up. It also  describes both the failed and faithful responses that followed.  The stories are not white washed but are a record of the lives of people like you and me who act like you and me.  Take Abraham and Sarah.  The story begins with a promise from God unlike any before or since.  “You shall have a son,” God says, “and your descendants will be more than anyone will be able to count.”  But they do not wait on God.  Hagar, a slave brought out of Egypt during Abraham’s previous lapse of faith, becomes his second wife and births Ishmael.  Since that time, Hagar’s name has been linked to the flesh… do you know anyone who named their beautiful baby girl after her?

But Hagar was just a pawn of the faithlessness of two people who knew God yet went about rearranging His rough stone altar of trust and obedience.  The uncut stones of that altar were replaced with the new and improved hand hewed stones of a better idea.  Their idea seemed to fit better than God’s unmeasured plan for the future.  Thank God he is faithful even in our failings.

My story is no different.  I can always see how things can “work out” to my betterment, yet it is seldom God’s way that it produces.  Instead, putting all plans aside and patiently waiting reveals the secret steps of a faithful God that can be followed to His promised blessing.  Such a simple lesson…

God goes before me and I am to follow.

F.B. Meyers wrote,

“God often does extricate us, because His mercy endureth forever; but if we had only waited first to see the unfolding of His plans, we should never have found ourselves landed in such an inextricable labyrinth; and we should never have been compelled to retrace our steps with so many tears of shame.  Wait, patiently wait!”

Has the brook of God’s favor dried up before you?  Are you drinking what seems like the last cup of God’s goodness before the unrelenting heat bears down on your dreams?    Even God’s miraculous provision runs dry.  Sooner or later, we all face a stone that covers the grave of our greatest hope.  And when it does,

“Wait, patiently wait!”

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth… so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth.  It will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. For you will go out with joy And be led forth with peace ; The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up, And instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up, And it will be a memorial to the Lord, for an everlasting sign which will not be cut off.”  Isaiah 55:10-13

The writers of the Constitution were very aware that God had ordained and ordered the amazing document that had been written.  Here are some of their thoughts concerning the founding of our nation and the God who ordered their steps.

James Madison

“The great objects which presented themselves [to the Constitutional Convention] . . . formed a task more difficult than can be well conceived by those who were not concerned in the execution of it . . . it is impossible to consider the degree of concord which ultimately prevailed as less than a miracle.”

Benjamin Rush

“Doctor Rush then proceeded to consider the origin of the proposed [Constitution], and fairly deduced it [was] from heaven, asserting that he as much believed the hand of God was employed in this work as that God had divided the Red Sea to give a passage to the children of Israel, or had culminated the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai.”

Charles Pinckney

“When the general convention met, no citizen of the United States could expect less from it than I did, so many jarring interests and prejudices to reconcile! The variety of pressing dangers at our doors, even during the war, were barely sufficient to force us to act in concert and necessarily give way at times to each other. But when the great work was done and published, I was not only most agreeably disappointed, but struck with amazement. Nothing less than that superintending hand of Providence that so miraculously carried us through the war. . . could have brought it about.”

James Madison:

“The happy union of these states is a wonder; their Constitution is a miracle; their example the hope of liberty throughout the world. Woe to the ambition that would meditate the destruction of either!”

Benjamin Franklin summarized those which he felt were the “fundamental points in all sound religion.”

“Here is my creed: I believe in one God, the Creator of the universe. That he governs it by his providence. That he ought to be worshiped. That the most acceptable service we render to him is in doing good to his other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound religion.”

The “Fundamental Points” to Be Taught in Schools

There exists a Creator who made all things, and mankind should recognize and worship Him.

The Creator has revealed a moral code of behavior for happy living and distinguishes right from wrong.

The Creator holds mankind responsible for the way they treat each other.

All mankind live beyond this life.

In the next life mankind are judged for their conduct in this one.

These are the beliefs which the Founders sometimes referred to as the “religion of America,” and they felt these fundamentals were so important in providing “good government and the happiness of mankind” that they wanted them taught in the public schools along with morality and knowledge.

President George Washington in his Farewell Address:

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports . . . And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. . . Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail to the exclusion of religious principal. It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government.”

May God bless America, may He gracious on us and reveal His glory once again.

The new band of brothers

“Love covers…”  1Peter 4:8

The bottom of the pan comes alive when the chopped onions and spices meet the hot oil but quickly settles into the perfect temperature that is the beginning of great food.  After a few minutes the bottle of wine and raspberry chipotle jelly is added halting all forward processes.

Now you stir.  And stir.  For the next 45 minutes.  The thin and pungent soup slowly begins to change into a sauce, thickening and losing it’s singular scent as the ingredients become symphonic.  A little further and it is the consistency of a paste which is applied to the little bacon-wrapped bits of meat smoking on the grill.  Now you know the secret of my dove and quail wraps that blend the very best of God’s green earth together as one.

The key to all of this is the commitment to stir.  Blending together does not quiet get it done.  You have to cook it down all the way until there is no outstanding scent left as the stock is reduced by two thirds. It becomes thick enough to stick in the heat of the fire, holding the spices and sauce to the meat until it all becomes part and parcel to one another.  And another Texas summer feast is now in session.

Oh, yeah.  I’m hungry.

If you take all of the ingredients of Kingdom living and add to it the heat of life, the fine wine of fellowship and the patience of years that reduces it all so it will stick, then you will you understand the complexity of biblical love.  It is simply not simple.  It is complex, unique and… may I use the word again?… symphonic.  It is also the true and biblical picture of the glory of God.  Unity is the outcome of God’s glory which Jesus petitioned the Father for on our behalf the night before He went to the cross.

I’ve been thinking about God’s glory that produces unity lately.  In the midst of the humdrum of another hot summer in Texas, I’ve realized that our church is coming together in a way that I’ve never experienced.  Examples…

• Over 10% of those committed to FFC are headed out the door to national and foreign fields of service this summer.  That means that over 45 individuals have or will take the Kingdom of God beyond their own comfort zone.
• Over $75,000 has been raised individually and corporately to take the Kingdom from inside the building to the uttermost parts.  Though this is a modest amount for larger churches, it is a high water mark for us.
• Partnerships with two church planting missions has expanded our ability to go.  Both IGO and E3 are noted indigenous church planting missions whose model includes partnering with local churches to see the Kingdom come.

And though the battles against our unity are at times wearisome and unrelenting, the glory of unity is being realized in the release of ministry from our doors.  Let me say it plainly;

• The glory of God results in unity.
• Unity results in cooperation of work.
• The work of the church is the sending of the Gospel of God’s love.
• No greater love is expressed than when we love this world the way Jesus did.

The battle in the western church today has become a battle of unity and commitment… unity that submits and commitment that sticks.  Those two attributes are so lacking in churches that pastors no longer expect or preach the pair as necessary for the maturity of the saints.  It is easier to feed the fast food of fancy programs than to mix the raw ingredients of life with the biblical promises of God that produce the true glory of the Lord.

Yes, that’s right. Though we would like for it to be about dogma, doctrine and dramatic displays of revival, Jesus’ last prayer for us was that “the love wherewith Thou didst love Me may be in them, and I in them.” It is the “love that covers” that is lacking, because we have misused the glory of God to our own best advantages.

What does that kind of love look like?  Here’s a short list to chew on during these hot days of summer.

• Costly forgiveness.

• Intentionally living out the scriptures.

• Constant attention to the wells of fellowship.

And stir and stir some more.  There is no substitute for the dogged desire to see the Kingdom come.

There is a feast that is scheduled in the future after all of this here is over and done.
Isaiah saw a vision of it and recorded these words,

The Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet of refined, aged wine and choice pieces of marrow.  And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the veil which is stretched over all nations.  He will swallow up death for all time and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces and will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth.  It will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us.  This is the Lord for whom we have waited, let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”  Isaiah 25:6-9

Maranatha!  Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Wisdom comes in many packages.  At times, the wisdom and understanding that we need arrives in well defined and attractive packages. When I think of “Jesus the Good Shepherd” for example, I can easily reflect on the wonderful imagery of our Savior as He carries the lamb safely in His arms.

Wisdom can come from seeing the opposite.  In this case, the clearest understanding of a good shepherd happened on a trip to the Ivory Coast when I saw the result of no shepherd at all.

Long eared, brown, white, big, little... just goats.

Driving along a highway in the coastal city of Abidjan in West Africa, we came to a congested intersection and turned east along the bay.  Mind you, this a major city of over 3 million people and the sight I saw seemed so out of place it made me laugh. Stretching down the side of the road were hundreds of goats.  Long eared, brown, white, big, little… goats were everywhere.  There were no pens, just goats.  No flock, just a big gang of dumb goats.  Instead of good shepherds, there were men who were sacked out under the shade of beach umbrellas while the goats stood there eating, drinking and just sort of fellowshipping with each other.

I couldn’t help but laugh.  It struck me as so funny to see these goats just hanging out  on the side of a major road.  Being American, I had to take a picture and when I did, things began to make sense to me.  The reason they just stood there?  Each one had a little string that tied one front leg to the other.  Like a hobbled horse, these goats were effectively contained and made content with food and fellowship.

But behind the goats, just far enough back and too high for them to see over was a sight that was all the more sobering.  A rock wall about three feet tall ran the length of the goat patch and on the other side were the butchers.

Now I understood.  These hobbled goats, content with food and like-minded company, stood only a few feet away from their demise.  Every now and again, a customer would pick out a fat goat that would be thrown over the wall and returned in minutes packaged and ready for the fire.  The scene had changed.  It wasn’t a funny sight after all.  It was a scene of death.
Hebrews 12 says,

Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…

Have you ever had a sin that easily entangles you?  Mind you, it doesn’t have to be much, just some inconsistency that hobbles your journey.  Around you might be plenty of examples of others who are hobbled yet seem content to eat, drink and fellowship with you.  After all, those who are hobbled love company.  The problem is that you never know when the butcher will have at you.  You’ll never know when that little sin will spell your demise.

Here’s a valuable lesson to learn.  If you are not moving forward in Christ, standing still is as good as going backwards.  If you can’t run the race, standing around is just one step away from being thrown over the wall.  None of us are immune (read “too spiritual, too mature”) from the trickery of Satan.

Is there something in your life that ties your feet together and keeps you from running?  The enemy of your soul is quite content to let you feed and fellowship as long as he knows you can’t run off.  In the end, his intention is to make you ready for the fire.

So do something about the sin.  Don’t listen to the dumb goat next to you who tells you to ignore the sin and just keep eating, drinking and fellowshipping.  Wise up.  A true shepherd is an expert at untangling feet.  A true shepherd leads the flock to good pastures while protecting them from harm.  Find someone whose life is spiritually in shape and can lead the way the Good Shepherd instructs.

One last thing.  It took an outsider to notice the goats.  The pastor who lived in the city didn’t “see” anything unusual about the goats that day.  It was such a common sight that he didn’t even know what to call the place (we settled on “the Goat Patch” by the way.)  Often times, we reject those criticisms that are outside our sphere of influence.  But don’t be too hasty.  To the discerning, stinging words can deliver a soul from death.

Jesus described His calling as that of a good Shepherd.  He made sure that His title was distinguished from all others by the word good.  The attributes of a worthy shepherd are just the opposite of those that I saw that day.  Are you a shepherd called to lead and protect the sheep?  Learn the lesson of the Goat Patch.  God’s people are always in need of those who, by example, lead and protect the sheep.  Sometimes you are the only thing between the flock and disaster.