Effective July 2009, the “What’s the Word” articles are now being published on David’s blog at:
www.davidyarborough.com

Stop by, read the article, and say hello!

I am sure many people in our nation are asking these types of questions. In light of a troubled economy, a record number of foreclosures, people losing jobs, and people losing money, I know that I have wondered what on earth God was doing. I don’t want to talk about what God is doing globally in the world today though. I want to talk about what God is doing in you. What is he doing in your life, in your relationships, and in your circumstances? Think about this questions particularly in light of your adversity, struggles, and trials.

The apostle James said, “Consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2). There is a good chance that many of you are facing trials right at this moment. James said there are trials of many kinds. Trials are kind of like lifesavers. They come in many different colors and flavors – relationship issues, business struggles, financial pressures, health problems, emotional issues, etc.

You may have a hard time swallowing this, but according to the Bible, trials are not an elective course we get to take in life. Trials are a part of the core curriculum of life. James didn’t say “if” you face trials but “when.”

So how do you face your trials and challenges? When you are facing adversity, what is the attitude you choose to arm yourself with? Do you see your struggles, trials, and suffering as an opposition to your happiness or an opportunity for your holiness? Is God more concerned about your comfort or your character? The way you answer those questions will greatly determine your outlook when you face challenges in life. And the way you choose to answer those questions may also determine the outcome of God’s activity in your life, and your witness to others who watch you go through your trials.

One of the best known verses is Romans 8:28 – “And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). This scripture does not promise that everything is good, nor does it says that nothing bad will ever happen to Christians. The promise of God is that in all things, God can work for good. There is no situation, no matter how tough, that God cannot bring good out of it. The Bible is full of men and women who proved this truth. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, and then thrown into prison in Egypt. In the end, God used all of his trials to raise him up to become a great leader that would save his own family during a time of famine (Genesis 50:20). He knew what his brothers had meant for evil, that God meant for good. Our God is so big that He can even take the painful, sinful actions of others and somehow turn them for our good if we will trust Him.

The greatest example of this is the cross. God took the murder of his innocent Son and has used it to continually bring grace and forgiveness to a broken world. Two thousand years ago, the cross was nothing more than a cruel and shameful instrument of execution. Today it is perhaps the greatest sign of hope the world has ever known. That is definitely a picture of God working things for good. We serve a great God. Just remember, when things don’t go the way they should, God always make them turn for good. And that’s the Word.

We certainly each have the right to decide our individual belief system. No one can choose that for us, nor should they. The question still remains though: is there a way that we can really know what is true? Is there an objective standard? How can we truly know if there is a divine design for human life?

Over the last couple of weeks, I have written about the power of the Bible. The Bible is a very unique book that many believe is the inspired revelation of God. Scripture itself speaks about its own inspiration. In Psalm 19, the writer speaks of God’s Word as a life giving word that can revive dead hearts, and as a light that can bring guidance to our lives.

The Psalmist also speaks of the enduring nature of God’s Word: “The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous”( Psalm 19:9).

God’s Word endures forever. This means his word will take its stand forever. God has always been right in the past, and He will remain so in the future. God’s Word is not the latest fad. You will not find it on the shelf at your bookstore in the newest list of self-help books. It is certainly not the latest cultural trend, as so many people become more humanistic instead of Christ centered. Scripture will not be the most popular book for those who say we need to be more enlightened because we are now living in the 21st century.

According to God, all of those things are just fads that will one day pass away. So many of society’s values are built upon sinking sand, because they are not built upon the eternal wisdom of Almighty God. God’s ordinances are “sure.” This means that his word is firm, faithful, and reliable. God’s Word is not only sure, but altogether righteous. This communicates the idea of a straight path, or straight way. It is not crooked. God’s Word will not lead you astray.

The point is clear – God’s Word is the ultimate foundation for your life. The holy book of scripture is calling to you, seeking to offer a firm foundation for you to build your life upon.

What are you building your life upon? Where do you draw your truth from? In the sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke of a man who built his house upon the sand, and another who built his house upon the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against both houses. The house on the rock did not fail because it had a firm foundation. The house on the sand fell with a great crash because its foundation was weak.

Jesus is very clear in his message. The man who built on the sand is like the person who hears his word but does not put it into practice. This is a life that is not built upon truth, therefore the foundation is weak. This lifestyle will ultimately collapse and fail. The man who built on the rock is like the person who hears God’s Word and lives it out. The storms will come, and the winds will blow, but this person’s life will stand the test of time. According to Jesus, there is no foundation to build your life upon other than word of God. So how is your foundation? Is it sure? Is it enduring? Is it built upon the rock? And that’s the Word.

Follow Pastor David on Twitter!

One of the promises of scripture is that God’s word will give wisdom and light to those who are spiritually blind.  The psalmist said, “The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple… the commands of the Lord are radiant giving light to the eyes” (Psalm 19:7,8).

The truly wise person is one who makes decisions in light of reality and in light of truth.  God’s Word reveals to us the ultimate reality of God and His Kingdom. And yet think about the world in which we live.  So much of this world acts as if God didn’t even exist, as if there is no ultimate truth.

I have often thought about much of the entertainment that we watch.  Most all of it ignores spiritual issues and any talk of the true and Living God.  Everything in TV land or Hollywood is seen from a humanistic world view.  You rarely see a story line where someone truly is looking to God for help or guidance.  Even in tough times, it is all up to the hero to figure out how to save the day – by himself without any help from God.

It may work in the movies to leave God out of the picture, but I have seen too many people in real life make one self destructive decision after another because they would not submit to God.  I have found myself at times making so many self centered and shortsighted decisions.  If heaven wasn’t real, and if this life was all there is to it, then maybe living life our way makes sense.  If we live as if this world is all there is to it, then we are living in the dark; therefore, we will view things such as self sacrifice, giving, forgiving others, staying committed in marriage, putting others first, developing true character, etc. as unimportant.  Perhaps these and other Christian teachings will be seen as prohibitive, strange and undesirable.

I warn you though.  The world’s way is not working.  If it did, then I would say go for it.  Just chase all this world has to offer.  Live it up, drink it up and sex it up.  It will not work though.  I have seen too many marriages implode, people end up in addiction, people cheating others out of money, and people mis-prioritizing their families in the pursuit of wealth.  It just leads to bondage, destrucion, and ultimately deep spiritual darkness – cut off from God and others.

What can lead us out of the darkness?  The Word of God.  “Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).  God’s Word gives us wisdom.  Gods’ Word gives light to our eyes.  It is amazing how blind we can be, but we don’t often realize it until we expose ourselves to the light of God’s Word.  Then we begin to see our errors, our bondage, and our darkness.
There is a story of a South Sea island native who proudly displayed his Bible to a G.I. during WW II.  He had received it as a present from a missionary some time before. The soldier said, “Oh, we’ve outgrown that sort of thing.” The native smiled back and said, “Well, it’s a good thing we haven’t, because if it weren’t for this book helping to open our eyes, you would be our evening meal.”

Maybe you are living like a savage and don’t even know it.  Could you be blind, living in spiritual darkness?  Wisdom is a life that makes sense in light of reality and in light of eternity.  And that wisdom and light shines from God’s Word.  And that’s the Word.

(Follow Pastor David Yarborough on Twitter)

Throughout the Old Testament, the scriptures are referred to as the law of the Lord, the commands of the Lord, the precepts of the Lord, the statutes of the Lord, etc.  All of these phrases are just different ways of referring to scripture, but the phrase that is consistent is “of the Lord.”  The Old Testament people of Israel believed that God had spoken to them, and continued speaking to them through His Word.  The New Testament confirmed this teaching.  The apostle Paul said,  “All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.”  (2 Timothy 3:16)  This means that scripture was inspired of God, and not by man.  I agree.  There is certainly no way that man could have come up with the Bible on his own inspiration.

The apostle Peter described the inspiration of scripture as men who spoke from God, carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20,21).  What we believe about scripture is incredibly important.  Most everyone acknowledges the Bible is a unique piece of literature.  The real question, however, is do we believe the scriptures are the inspired, infallible Word of God?

I love this quote from author and pastor John Piper: “We are a people of the Book. We know God through the Book. We meet Christ in the Book. We see the cross in the Book. Our faith and love are kindled by the glorious truths of the Book. We have tasted the divine majesty of the Word and are persuaded that the Book is God’s inspired and infallible written revelation.”

Many Christians have discovered that the Bible is a life-changing book.  Spiritual growth and change of any real depth will not take place apart from God’s Word.  We must hear from God through His Word if our lives are truly going to be transformed.  The great evangelist D. L. Moody said that the scriptures were not given “for our information but for our transformation.”

In Psalm 19, King David declared that “the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.”  He was speaking of the power of God’s Word to bring life to our cold, dead hearts.  God’s Word can revive our soul.  It literally helps revive the heart, and bring it back to life.

As you read this column, your heart is in one of two places.  First, your heart might be dead, absent of any true spiritual life with God.  Secondly, your heart may be spiritually alive but it is in jeopardy of becoming dull and hard.  Proverbs 4 cautions us to guard our hearts with all diligence.  It would be one thing if every day with Jesus just naturally got better and better without any problems or struggles.  Life is not like that though.  Life is a battle.  There are days when our hearts and disposition are as sour as a lemon.  Some days we just have no strength.  If every day got better, we would have no need to be revived.  As humans though, we need revival.  We need our hearts to be softened again, to be awakened and stirred to fresh passion for God again.

God’s Word has life giving power for the dead heart, and life sustaining  power for the heart that God has awakened.  Our life with God begins with His Word, and we must stay alive by His Word.  You cannot and will not maintain a dynamic, spiritual apart from the Word of God.

Do you want to hear God speak?  Do you need to hear God speak?  Get into His Word consistently, and let your soul be revived.  And that’s the Word.

Last week, we said that one of the great hindrances to true spiritual growth is a lack of understanding about who God is. There is another huge hindrance to spiritual growth that I often see in many Christians. The problem is self righteousness. The self righteous person basically feels they are good enough, or they are just not that bad of a person. The root of self righteousness is based upon one’s own ability, performance and effort to please God by keeping his law and commandments. Self righteousness is falsely rooted in the idea that you can behave good enough for God or that you can earn God’s favor through human effort. Our culture is full of people who think they live a pretty good life and that they are fine, more than good enough for God.

If a person thinks they are good enough for God though, then they really don’t need God. They will find no need for his grace either. God will be a nice little addition to their life, but there will be no sense of real need. And if you do not know your need for God and His grace, then growth and change will be hard to come by. The moment you think you can grow on your own, then you are no longer depending upon God for true change in your life.

If I can be honest with you, I think most of our churches are filled with self righteous people. Most of us church people think we are pretty good, especially when we compare ourselves to others. We look at the 10 commandments and think, “I haven’t murdered anyone or robbed a bank lately.” Jesus took it deeper though. He said if you hold hatred or bitterness in your heart against another, then you are a murderer. I know that is tough stuff, but that is what Jesus said. Jesus wants to make sure that we remain humble. Jesus did not die for us because we were good people.

The Apostle Paul said, “… no one will be declared righteous in (God’s) sight by observing the law; rather through the law we became conscious of sin” (Romans 3:20). Paul was telling us that we could never become righteous before God by obeying all the law. The reason is because no one will obey it perfectly. We will continually fail. Paul’s point is that the law is there to actually help us become aware of our sin. How would you know that it is wrong to be jealous if God never said, “Thou shall not be jealous?” If God did not give us his commandments, we would think we are fine. The commandments not only show us what a righteous life should look like, but they also show us how far we fall short. God’s commandments are meant to keep us from becoming self-righteous. The law is meant to make us see our need for Jesus, and for our grace.

The whole point of God’s Word, and especially of the law and commandments is to help drive you to Jesus. Do you want to change? Do you want to grow? Then realize that you are not as good as you think you are, and let that drive you closer to Jesus. You will find that his love and grace are sufficient for your life. And that’s the Word.

It is only God who makes things grow. I remember when I first began to understand that God was truly the source of spiritual life. It wasn’t based on how good I was. It wasn’t based on my performance. True growth and change were only possible as God was at work in my life. The Holy Spirit was the true change agent, and the more I was open to Him, the more my life would be transformed from the inside out.

One of the greatest obstacles to growth and change in our lives is a wrong view of God. If you do not understand God’s character and nature, growth will be very hard for you. If God is the true source of change, but you do not really understand His nature or you are unsure about where you stand in your relationship with him, then you will not expect much change to happen. If I do not believe this God can change me and wants to, then how I can cooperate with his work in my life.

We must shift our view from a God of law to a God of grace. This means we need to move our understanding from a God who is out to get us, to a God who is out to help us. As a Christian, is God for you? Or is He against you? The way you answer reveals your understanding of God. As Christian, God is not against you – even if you are in sin. He will convict you, or maybe even break you, but it is always for your good. He loves you.

If you view God as nothing more than a God of law, then you mainly think of God as a God of rules. You probably think his favorite word is NO! And you most likely think God is ticked off at you if you fail and make mistakes.

Scripture tells us that Jesus “was pierced for our transgressions… the punishment that brought us peace was upon him.” (Isaiah 53:5) Does that sound like a God who it ticked off with you? No, Jesus took God’s wrath against our sin upon Himself so we could be forgiven. When we turn our lives over to Jesus, we meet a God of grace. God’s grace doesn’t just mean that we are forgiven. God’s grace includes God’s power that enables us to grow and change. It is God’s grace that allows God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Grace means we have been given God’s favor in our lives. Grace means we have God’s power available to us. Grace means that our God is for us. Grace means that we can grow and change with God’s help. Only God can make things grow. And our God wants to help us grow, as we love Him, seek Him, and trust Him. Thank God for grace. And that’s the Word.

If marriage is compared to a flame, it is a flame that must be tended to often if it is going to continually burn.  I heard Rob Bell, a gifted communicator, refer to marriage as a flame that is made up of three smaller flames.  Each of these flames must be combined together for the marriage flame to really burn strong.

The first flame is the flame of friendship.  I spoke about the importance of this several weeks ago in this article.  A husband and wife were meant to be companions for each other.  They should truly become best friends.  People who just have physical attraction as the basis of their relationship will easily become bored with each other.  They will eventually want to move on to someone else in the future.  Best friends do not get bored with each other.  Best friends do not feel the need to move on.

In the Old Testament, a newly married man was not allowed to go off to war.  He was called to stay at home with his wife.  Even the best of generals would not have looked down on him.  Do you think this was because the Lord thought it was so important for the new young couple to take time to get to know one another?  Friendship creates intimacy between a man and a woman.

The second flame is the flame of  lasting commitment.  God’s love for us is unconditional love. God is committed for the long haul.  He will not back out, or give up on us – even on our worst days.  God is not looking for an out.

It is this type of commitment that God wants us to build our marriages upon.  Just as God says, “I will never leave you.  I will never forsake you,” we are called to the same love and commitment.

In the Song of Solomon (a great biblical romance story), the woman says to her man: “Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.”  (Song of Songs 8:6)  A seal was a sign of ownership.  When she said, “place me as a seal over your heart,” she was telling him that she wanted his heart to belong to her.  She didn’t want any other woman in his heart, or on his arm.  She didn’t want to share him.  When she described love being stronger than death and as unyielding as the grave, she was speaking about the permanence of the marriage commitment.  It is a pledging of two lives together, for better for worse.  Sometimes in marriage, the only flame burning is the flame of commitment.  You must keep that flame burning though in order to make it through the tough times.

The last flame God wants us to nurture is the flame of romance.  This is an important aspect of marriage, and healthy marriages keep this flame alive.  The flame of romance will never sustain a marriage by itself. And yet, it should continually burn on in a marriage.  Romance brings warmth to a marriage.  I heard it said that Satan will do everything he can to get a couple into bed with each before marriage, and do everything to keep them out after marriage.  The flame of romance and passion should be a continual source of love for a couple.

Three flames creating one bigger FLAME!  As we nurture the flame of friendship, the flame of commitment, and the flame of romance, the flame of marriage can and will burn stronger and brighter through time.  So don’t flame out in your marriage.  And that’s the Word.

I do not know if that sounds exciting to you or not, but it was absolutely awesome.  The Spirit of God was there.  God smiled on our time together.  It has been a while since I have experienced such an awesome sense of the Lord’s presence.  I could have literally stayed all night and prayed and praised with this group.

We gathered together from many denominations and churches – Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Charismatics, Pentecostals and more.  We gathered together as black and white.  We gathered together as one – one people under one God.  We gathered as a people at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ.  Our love for Jesus and desire for his blessing upon our lives and nation was greater than any of our differences.  There was a sweet spirit of unity in Philadelphia Overcomers Church tonight.

I really believe that it pleases God when His people can cross denominational and racial lines to praise Him together.  Jesus even prayed that we would be one:  “I pray also for those who believe in me … that all of them may be one… May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you loved me” (John 17:20, 23).  If Jesus prayed for our unity, it must be very important to the Lord.  Our unity as Christians can also be a real witness to the world.  When our love and devotion to Jesus is greater than our differences, it makes our voice for Christ seem louder.

Psalm 133 also speaks of the power of unity among God’s people: “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity.  It is like the precious oil poured on the head, running down the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down upon the collar of his robe.  It as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion.  For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore” (Psalm 133:1-3).

This psalm provides some unique insight into the power of unity as believers in Christ.  It describes the power of unity as the precious oil poured on the head of Aaron the priest, and running down his beard and upon his robes.  The oil here refers to the anointing oil that would poured over and upon the Old Testament priest as a symbol of their complete consecration and devotion to the Lord.  Oil in the Bible is often symbolic of the Holy Spirit and His work in the lives of God’s people.  The passage seems to describe how the unity of God’s people brings about the power and anointing of God’s Spirit.  When the body of Christ gathers together as one, the presence of God’s Spirit is real and powerful.

The psalm also describes our unity as the dew of Hermon.  The dew of Hermon was very thick and profuse, and it ensured that Mount Zion was well watered.  This meant that Mount Zion would be very rich and fertile.  The last description given is that the Lord would command his blessing and life on the place where his people are gathered in unity.

I hope you are following along with me.  What all this means is that God loves unity a whole lot.  When God finds his people gathering together as one, God promises to send His Spirit.  God declares that His blessing will be there, and it will be a rich and fruitful place.  That is what I think we experienced tonight at Philadelphia Overcomer’s Church.  We gathered as one, and God smiled.  God blessed.  God poured out His Spirit, and we left full – full of His love, His power, and His grace.  And that’s the Word.

According to scripture, God calls the man to be the head of his wife. This means that he is called to be a servant leader in his home. Some women may struggle with the idea of the man being called the head of the women, but deep down I believe most women want a strong man they can trust their life with. I believe most women don’t feel as secure when they are the ones having to lead the family morally, spiritually, financially, and in the area of discipline with the kids. A woman doesn’t want Conan pushing her around the house, but she doesn’t want a piece of milk toast either. There are a lot of men who are very passive when it comes to responsibility around their home. They can build a business, develop business networks, lower a golf score, kill an 8-point buck with a bow, but they may check out at home. They don’t lead. They don’t initiate. Most women want a man who will value them, and that they can trust enough to follow. A man is also called to love his wife as Christ loved the church. Christ’s love was active. It was much more than an emotion. He demonstrated his love by giving his life. The love we have for our wives should be active.

Men, do you know what your wife’s love language is? In other words, what is that you can do that really lets her know you love her? If you don’t know, ask her. She can tell you what makes her feel loved. She can tell you what it is that you can do to communicate your love. My wife likes quality time and acts of service. That means the best way I can tell her I love her is to wash the dishes and plan a date to spend time with just her. The bottom line is that your wife wants to know that she is loved and valued. So guys, how are you doing? Not sure? Go ask your wife.

Women, do you know what a man wants in a wife? He wants a wife who will show him honor and respect. This makes a man feel that he is good, that he has what it takes. If you look at the major marriage passages in the New Testament, God never tells a woman to love her husband. Instead God focuses on the word respect. It has been said that every woman wants to be loved, and that every man wants to be admired. This must be why God calls a woman to respect her husband.

According to some research, most women can distinguish between love and respect. This means they can love their husband, but not respect him. For a man, this does not compute. If he doesn’t feel his wife respects him, then he doesn’t feel loved. Men can’t separate the two. A wife is actually loving her husband as Christ calls her to when she shows him honor and respect.

Our God is a God who calls husbands to love their wives when they are unlovable; and wives are called to respect their husbands even when they are un-respectable. So God’s plan for a solid marriage is “Love and Respect.” When a couple can give these to one another, they begin to meet the deepest needs of each other’s heart. Sound good to you? Well go try it. And that’s the Word.

Women aren’t the only who bring some fears into a marriage. Deep down, a man’s core fear has to do with feeling powerless and out of control. Men deeply fear the loss of power and respect of those who surround them. Men are doers by nature. They want to feel that they are good at something. They want to be successful. Due to their manly wiring (and a lot of pride), men have a hard time admitting that they are not good at something. When men sense a lack of respect, it becomes hard for them. A man’s fear button tends to get pushed in those moments, and he may respond in unhealthy ways. A man gets his fear button pushed when he feels someone has disrespected him or “challenged his manhood.” Have you ever heard a woman say that someone has challenged her “woman-hood?” No. It’s a guy thing. This is why men have a hard time hearing criticism from their wives at time. It is because they are feeling that they are not respected; therefore they are not a real man.

Men you may not be willing to admit it, but there is a lot of truth in this. If you can realize this about yourself, you can diffuse a lot of battles. It is often and immaturity and fear that causes men to get defensive and combative. You can choose another way of reacting though. Women, it helps if you know this about men. They don’t need to be handled with kid gloves, but they do need to feel they have what it takes in your eyes. They need to know they are not a failure.

So you know what every good marriage needs: a healthy dose of love and respect. In scripture, God calls a man to love his wife. This means a man’s job is to make sure she feels valued, loved, and connected. She needs the security of your complete love. A woman is called by God to respect her husband. A woman is supposed to honor her husband, and truly make him feel that he has what it takes. Love and Respect. These are two keys to a great marriage. Come back next week for more about love and respect. And that’s the Word.

Genesis 2:18 says, “The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’” Man needed a companion to walk with him. He was made for a relationship. Yes the aspect of partnership is here, but the bigger idea represented is companionship. A man and a woman should seek to enter into their marriage as best friends. Building upon a solid companionship with one another will lead to greater intimacy in their marriage. And greater intimacy will lead to more trust, more respect and more love. I have heard people say they could never marry someone because they are too good of friends. If there was absolutely no physical attraction there, then I understand. If there is some physical attraction though, there is no better foundation to build upon than that of a true friendship.

Passion in a marriage will ebb and flow. As powerful as sexual attraction is (and yes it is powerful), there is a whole lot more time spent together outside of the bed than in it. And even most of the time in the bed is spent sleeping. So you better be able to talk to one another. You better develop some common interests.

I met my wife in college. She immediately fascinated me. She was fun to hang around. We could really talk with each. We enjoyed each other’s company. We both had a love for God. It took me a while though to realize that she was the one. Finally, a woman told me that you don’t get married because you think you could live with someone, but because you can’t live without them. I don’t know if that is the best advice, but it made sense for me. Amber was the one woman that I didn’t want to live without. I had dated some very nice girls, but Amber was different. I wanted her to be a part of my life forever. I wanted her friendship. I wanted her companionship.

Many marriages that struggle do so for a variety of reason. I am willing to bet though that it is often not as much about your sex life, or the fact that you have fallen out of love. The truth is often that you are no longer best friends (or maybe you never were). You have drifted apart, because you have not been intentional in nurturing the flame of friendship.

So, are you still single? Let me give you some advice: Marry someone who you think can become your best friend for life. Are you married? Don’t underestimate the power of friendship. Grow together. Nurture one another. Have fun together. Love deeply together. Grow old together. There is no more important human relationship than that between a husband and wife. And that’s the Word.

Fear is something that strikes at all of us.  It is one of the most powerful human emotions.  Fear is the first negative emotion that is expressed in scripture.  After Adam and Eve sinned and rebelled against God, they hid from him.  Adam said to the Lord, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid” (Genesis 3:10).  Man’s heart became filled with fear.  He was now afraid of God.  He was afraid of the future.  He felt as if he was now on his own and somehow had to survive in a dangerous world.  That can be scary.  Know what I mean?  Sure you do.  I am convinced that fear is truly rooted in our separation from God.  Sin has left us disconnected from Him.  Even as Christians, there are times we still feel disconnected from our Father.  We feel that we can’t trust Him.  We feel all alone and vulnerable.  There are times that fear takes us hostage.

What is that you are afraid of?  Some of us are afraid of death.  We might be afraid of a bad diagnosis from the doctor.  Many of us have been fearful of the financial future.  The economy has exposed our insecurities, and we face the future with a lot of anxiety.  Some of us are afraid of people.  We are scared of rejection and fearful of failure.

So what do we do?  What does Easter say to our fears? Jesus stepped out of the tomb and proclaimed, “Do not be afraid.”  I think he was seeking to bring peace to his disciples who were fearful of the future.  They felt they had disappointed God, and perhaps no longer felt secure in their relationship with Him.  They had developed an unhealthy fear of God.  He wanted to calm their fearful hearts.

The death and resurrection of Jesus has the power to remove our unhealthy fear of God and assure us of the power of God’s love for us.  Many people fear God’s true commitment to them.  They feel that God is one day going to give them what they fear they deserve.  God’s love is too good to believe in their opinion, and eventually they are going to be punished.  Scriptures says, “(Jesus) was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him” (Isaiah 53:5).  The truth is that God has already dished out what you and I deserve.  He poured out our punishment onto Jesus.  We do not have to fear that God is going to one day give us what we think we deserve.  It has already been dealt with.  Jesus absorbed God’s wrath. We no longer need to be afraid of God’s intention towards us.  When we receive Christ, we can fully receive the love of God.  It is ours.  His love has been purchased for us.

Jesus has also conquered death on our behalf through his resurrection.  The apostle Paul declared, “Where O Death is your victory?  Where O Death is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).  As Christians, we will still die physically, but it no longer has power over us.  We have no need to be afraid of death, afraid of the future.  If death no longer has power over us, then we should truly be free to live.  A Risen Savior offers His life, His hope, His peace, His presence.  What does Easter say to our fears?  It says everything.  It says, “Do not be afraid.”  And that’s the Word.

I am often surprised at how Christians really don’t have very high standards for the people they would choose to date.  And yet this is so important because you never know who you will find yourself falling in love with.  There are 6 billion people on the face of the planet.  Do you think there is a possibility that you could find yourself attracted to more than one of them.  You could feel chemistry with many different people, but that doesn’t mean that they would all be a good complement for you.

One of the ways that you sort through the 6 billion people on the face of the planet is by eliminating as many of them as possible by developing a set of standards.  For a lot of singles, eliminating the right one might be just as important as finding the right one.  You may find yourself with a sizzling hot attraction for someone but they could be all wrong for you.

The first standard for any follower of Christ is this: Is the other person a Christian?  The apostle Paul said, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 6:14).  A yoke was a piece of wood that would harness two oxen together for the purpose of directing their energy and power in the same direction.  The yoke would keep the oxen pulling in the same direction.  If they weren’t of equal strength, however, they would begin to pull against one another.  Eventually one ox would pull the other one in the wrong direction.

As a Christian, if you get into dating relationships where you are unequally yoked, they will most likely drag you off course from your faith, your values and your morals.  I bet some of you know this from experience. Perhaps you met a guy (or a girl) and in the end you found yourself making compromises you never would have imagined.  You may have lowered your standards sexually, financially, or in some other area of your integrity.

Too many people get in wrong relationships because they have not set a clear set of standards.  We all want God’s results for our relationships don’t we?  It is unreasonable to ignore God’s standards and still expect God’s outcome in our relationships.

Too often we set our standards for dating based upon physical appearance, social status, intellectual ability and financial means.  If they look good, have the goods, and make us feel good, then we are ready to go.
God’s standards for our relationships start with character  and qualities.  The key to finding the right mate is to identify the character and qualities you will hold as your standard, and then evaluate any potential partner according to those standards.  A woman can be beautiful but she might have poor character.  A man might be a business success but could courtesy and respect.  Your primary concern should not be with how he or she looks, but what kind of person he or she really is.  So, what are your standards?  Do you have any?  Before you get a date, get a standard.  And that’s the Word.

I wonder if any of you have ever had a dating relationship end with a bunch of heartache, tears, and disappointment.  Perhaps you tried to figure out how life was going to go on without the other person.  And then realized something…  You put so much energy and focus into your dating relationship, and so much of your self worth was wrapped up in the other individual. All of sudden you woke and realized how much of your life had been on hold because of that relationship.  Your career, your interests, your friendships and your relationship with God had all taken a backseat to Mr. (or Ms.) Right – and now you have discovered that the person was Mr. (or Ms.) Wrong.

One of the biggest dangers that any single person needs to be aware of as a potential dater is the temptation to make another person the center of our life.  The First commandment of dating is this:  Thou shalt get a life! Your own life.

The most important element you will ever bring into a real relationship is a real life with a sense of purpose, identity, and healthy self-esteem.  You do not want to bring a needy, desperate, clingy life into a dating relationship.  You are not ready to date if that is where you are.

In the book of Genesis, God created man and then put him in the garden to work it and take care of it.  Man had God first in his life.  Then man was given a life purpose.  He wasn’t just sitting around waiting for love to come along.  Eventually the Lord said,  “It is not good for man to be alone.  I will make a helper suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18).

God is the one who said it is not good for the man to be alone.  God had a plan to bring a relationship into man’s life.  He was preparing a bride for him.  God didn’t give man a helper because he was an emotional basket case and didn’t know what to do with himself on Friday nights.  God was making a suitable helper for man, a complement to what was already good.  A “helper” or partner from God is not meant to fix what is broken or fill what is empty in our lives.

A true potential partner is meant to be a companion to complement and strengthen that which is already good.  God made relationships to be two parts that work harmoniously together.  Please read this next phrase carefully: A relationship with the opposite sex is not meant to be a band-aid for a bleeding heart.  Human relationships were never meant to give us the life we have finally been looking for.  We are supposed to bring our own life into our relationship, and ultimately into our marriage.

God said, “It is not good for man to be alone.”  So many have instead turned it into the thought: “I can’t stand to be alone.”  And they buy the lie that they are insignificant if they are not in a dating relationship.  They always have to have a man (or a woman) in order to feel good about themselves.  People with real lives don’t always need to be in a relationship with someone else to feel good about themselves.  I want to warn you from setting all of your hopes for fulfillment in a dating relationship. Finding the right partner is awesome, but you do not want to put so much pressure on a relationship that you are liable to suck the life out of the other person.  So, do you need to get a life?  And that’s the Word.

You think that Jonah being swallowed by a great fish and spit back on dry land is the miracle of the Bible.  The real miracle is that Nineveh turned to the living God.  In our day, this would be like hearing that Howard Stern is now a Christian talk show host talking about sexual purity. This would be like the hardest person you know turning their life to Jesus.

The Ninevites put on sackcloth and they fasted.  These were postures of repentance and humility.  It was a physical way of saying, “God we are sorry.  We have been going in the wrong direction and we need you.”  Sackcloth was a really itchy, uncomfortable material made out of goat’s hair. It must have been made of goat’s hair as a symbol to represent how “baaaaad” they had been.  Okay, that was a bad joke.  The horrible material was a picture though of how uncomfortable they were in their sin.  They couldn’t bear it any longer.

The king of Nineveh lead the way:  “When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes and covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.”  He stepped off his place of royalty and removed his royal robes because he understood his absolute spiritual poverty.  He realized his royal robes could not cover up his true spiritual poverty. So he rose from his throne.  The throne represents the seat of the one who is in charge.  This was a highly symbolic move.  It was a way of saying, “I am no longer in charge.  I surrender to you.”  The King was surrendering his right to rule and acknowledging God’s right to rule instead.

The King called a complete fast – no eating or drinking.  Not only did the people fast, but the animals fasted as well.  Do you know how loud a heard of cattle would get if they had not been fed or given drink all day?  The King wanted his people to feel the hunger and pain of their condition before God.  He knew they were spiritually depraved, and he was starved for God’s grace and intervention.  He knew they needed to get in touch with their true spiritual poverty before God.

I get this king.  He was taking responsibility as a leader and aching for his own personal condition and that of his people.  There are times I feel it in my own heart.  I look at my own life and the lives of other Christians at times and see how far we can really be from God.  We go to church, sing the songs, and listen to the sermons, but do our lives really bear the fruit of  Christ.  I see that many Christians party like the world, compromise their views on sex and morality, live materialistic lives, and indulge in all kinds of inappropriate entertainment.  At times I become pained in my heart.  Are we really becoming true followers of Jesus?  Do we care about others?  Do we love Jesus more than ourselves?  Or are we way too comfortable in our sin?  Maybe it is time to get up off the throne and let God have his way.  And that’s the Word.

Well, that is pretty much what God was asking Jonah to do by calling him to go to Nineveh. They were a violent people who were greatly feared.  I am sure if I were Jonah, I would have been thinking, “What can I preach to these guys and not lose my life in the process?”  How about “3 Keys to a better life?”  Or “Don’t be naughty, be nice” or something like that.  You know the old sermon routine – start off with a joke, give ‘em three points, and end with a poem and a prayer.  Wow!  Don’t you just love a good sermon?

Jonah didn’t preach a message like that.  He may have been nervous and fearful, but God gave him a message and he delivered it.  Jonah proclaimed, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned” (Jonah 3:4).  Jonah’s words were few, but they were very direct.  His message was even offensive.  He confronted the people of Nineveh and their disobedience head on: “Forty more days and you will be overturned.  The word overturned is a unique word in the Hebrew language of the Old Testament.  It can mean “overturned” as in destroyed, or “overturned” as in changed.  It has a double meaning.

The Ninevites would have understood his meaning.  Jonah was telling them that God would judge them and destroy them if they did not turn from their sin.  They were headed for judgment.  And yet, God in his grace offered a chance for them to turn.  There was an opportunity to change

Jonah was basically saying, “God is giving you people 40 more days. If you keep running from God and resisting his voice, you will be overturned and judged.  But if you decide to repent and turn, God will forgive you and overturn your lives with change.”

Forty more days!  Did you notice that God gave them a limited time offer? They were not promised forever.  God was giving them a limited time offer.  They had to make a decision to respond to God’s grace.

We don’t have forever either.  You don’t have the promise of tomorrow.  There is no promise you will make it to next week.  You are not guaranteed another year.  We often assume that we have plenty of more time.  So we put God off, and we put God off.  And all the while our time is ticking away.  We could run out of time before we ever turn our lives over to God.

It is not a very wise thing to keep putting God off.  Don’t assume that you have plenty of time.  God is a God of great mercy and grace.  He is a God of second chances, but one day your time will run out.  When your time is out, the only question that will matter at that point is “have you surrendered your life to Jesus Christ?”

Most of us are nowhere near as wicked as the Ninevites, and yet our sin is real nonetheless.  We need forgiveness, and God has provided it through his son Jesus.  We have a window of time to respond.  While we are living, God has given us a limited time offer to say yes to Him, and to His Son Jesus.  So what is it going to be?  And that’s the Word.

The word “Go” literally means “arise and go” or “get up and go.”  It implies an imperative need to quickly obey.  God is telling Jonah, “Don’t delay.  Get up and do it now.  Don’t wait another minute.”

Have you ever heard a command from God that you intended to obey, but you waited?  Perhaps you delayed a little bit and reasoned you would get around to it later.  So you waited and waited and waited.  In the end you never obeyed God.  If Jonah had waited too long, he might have eventually backed out again.  He might have let the urgency to obey slowly fade away.

How many times have you let this happen in your life?  God spoke to you clearly about an issue and you didn’t follow through.  You were going to obey, but you waited.  Perhaps God spoke to you in church on Sunday morning, or listening to Christian radio, talking to a friend, or reading your Bible.  Wherever it was, God convicted you and laid something on your heart.  You were committed to following through and obeying God.  You told yourself that you were going to end an unhealthy, ungodly relationship.  You told yourself and God that you were going to share your faith with a friend.  Maybe you promised God that you going to begin to tithe, or give some money to meet a need.  Maybe you told yourself you were finally going to forgive someone who had hurt you, or find some help to overcome your addiction.

There are numerous things that God might have laid on our heart.  You knew it was him.  Your heart was beating.  Your mind was clear.  You knew what you need to do.  You just just needed to “get up and go,” but instead you waited.  You stared making excuses, and putting it off.  Maybe you rationalized that it wasn’t that big of a deal.  And so you never followed through.  You know what God calls that -  disobedience.

Perhaps, God is calling you to “Get up and go” today.  Go and obey. Do it.  Walk in obedience to God.  Don’t put it off anymore.  If it is within your power and ability, don’t the let the sun go down another day without obeying the Lord.

I remember several years ago when I was in seminary, I felt I had been dishonest on an assignment I had turned in for one of my classes.  It wasn’t a real big thing, but it was a compromise in my integrity.  I made a bunch of excuses in my head, but I knew when I turned it in that I had not fully been honest.  I went home for Christmas break, but guess what I couldn’t quit thinking about it?  It was really hard for me to fully enjoy my self. I kept trying to blow it off, but I couldn’t.  I knew what I had to do.  When I got back to campus, I had to “get up and go” to my professor and make it right. He was very gracious and understanding.  Even though in his mind, my indiscretion was fairly minute, he was glad I came to clear my conscience.  I left his office that day feeling as though a load of bricks was off of my shoulder.  I was free.  I was right with God.

Is it time for you to get up and go?  God gives second chances, but we must respond in obedience.  So just do it.  Now.  Don’t wait any more.  Get up and go obey.  And that’s the word.

Once Jonah is back on dry land, we are confronted with the words of Jonah 3: “Then the Word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time” (Jonah 3:1). Did you see that? The word of the Lord came to Jonah “A SECOND TIME!” God’s word came to Jonah again. God gave Jonah another chance to obey. The guy who ran away from God was given a second chance. The guy who didn’t deserve to ever hear from God again, heard from God again. There are a lot of people who will never give you a second chance. They will never forgive you and will hold a grudge against you forever. Aren’t you glad that God is not like that? Some of you may think he is, but He is not. I know that God has come to me over and over giving me more and more chances when I have messed up.

Maybe you need God to come to you again and give you a second chance. Maybe you are a Christian and you have gotten off center. Perhaps you have been headed in the wrong direction and are filled with guilt and regret. Some of you have never surrendered your life to Christ, but He has spoken to your heart in the past. You have said no time and time again through the years. Guess what? God is coming to you again. The word of the Lord is coming to you again. God will give you another chance to say “Yes.” God will give you another chance to obey if you have disobeyed. He will not quit on you. He will not give up.

I look back in my life and realize how God kept coming to me at different stages in my life. In high school, there were moments God was speaking to me and yet I wasn’t ready to give my life to him. My senior year in high school, my brother died in a car accident. The Lord truly revealed himself to me, but I wasn’t ready to really say yes to Him. During my freshman year in college, God got my attention several times, but I still resisted him. Finally during my sophomore year at UGA, the word of God came to me again. Jesus reached out to me once more and I said yes. Oh, I praise God that I got a second chance. I am so grateful he didn’t quit on me and give up on me.

Do you need a second chance, a third chance, or more? Our God is the God of “another chance.” Jonah knows from experience, and so do I. You can be forgiven. You can have a fresh start with God. You can have a second chance by God’s grace. And that’s the Word.

Jonah is no longer running from God at this point.  He is running to God now.  Perhaps he remembers how the sailors on board the ship had been calling out to their idols and false gods who could not help them. So he declares that those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.  The word grace speaks of God’s mercy and pursuing love.  It is the undeserved favor of God.  When we turn our backs on God and chase idols, we are unable to receive the grace of God.  If you cling to the things of this world, and do what you want to do instead of what God wants, then you forfeit God’s grace.  God will not be active in that manner that he could be and should be.

Jonah declared that “with a song of thanksgiving, I will sacrifice to you (God).”  These are words of worship.  At the bottom of the ocean, Jonah felt he was in a living hell, but God delivered him.  Jonah’s mouth was now filled with thanks, and God turned this rebel into a true worshipper.  God responds to us with grace, so that we will respond to him with praise.

It is all about Him. He loves you and shows you grace, but in the end He wants you to become a worshipper of Him.  He is worthy of your praise.  He is a God who answers prayer.  He is a God who brings life from death.  He is a God who can lift us up when we are down.  He is a God who gives us what we don’t deserve (grace) instead of what we do deserve (judgment).  He is a God worthy of our praise.

We should not only praise Him with our words, but we should also worship Him with our obedience.  Jonah also said, “What I have vowed, I will make good.”  Jonah knew what he had to do.  He had to obey God and finally go to Nineveh.  He couldn’t just give lip service to God, and then not obey Him.  He had to make good to God what He had vowed.  He had to follow through and obey the Lord.  What is it that God has laid on your heart?  Maybe the Lord has laid it on your heart to be more generous and start tithing.  Maybe He is calling you take a step of faith, end an unhealthy relationship, reach out to a friend, etc. What is it that God is calling you to do?  Could it be that now is the time to make it good?

Finally, the last declaration of Jonah in the belly of the whale is this: “Salvation comes from the Lord.”  These are the words of a man who would have been lost forever if God had not stepped in to help.  He was helpless to save himself.  He was drowning, dying, and unable to do a thing but cry to God for mercy.  God heard his cry and saved Him.  Salvation comes from the Lord. Jonah couldn’t save himself and neither can you.  We are helpless to save ourselves.  Will you trust Christ and Christ alone to save you?  Salvation is from the Lord alone.  And that’s the Word.

As Jonah was sinking to the bottom, he cried out to the Lord.  Scripture records, “From the depth of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry” (Jonah 2:2).  Jonah literally felt like he was a dead man.  His life was flashing before his eyes, and he felt no hope.  The word grave can also be translated as “hell.”  He felt like he was in a living hell – separated from God and left for dead.  Have you ever felt that way?  Have you ever been in such a place of hopelessness?

Jonah also said of God, “You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me… I have said, ‘ I have been banished from your sight.’” (Jonah 2:3,4).  Jonah not only feels like he is dying in hell, but he feels it is a hell he can never return from.  The picture of the waves and currents swirling about him are a picture of Jonah being overwhelmed by his circumstances.  He had sunk so low that he felt God could no longer see him or save him.

It was from the depths of the grave that Jonah called for help and God listened to his cry.  In other words, he is saying, “at the place where I felt completely cut off from God with nothing to give, and nothing to contribute, I cried out to the Lord and he heard me.  At the place where I thought I was beyond help, I cried out to God and he saved me.

This may be an encouraging word for some of you.  Some of you may feel like you are in your own personal hell.  Perhaps you think God cannot help you or save you.  Maybe you feel like your marriage is in the grave, or you are living in the hell of addiction, or the depths of depression, or the pit of financial bondage.

Jonah cried to God from the depths of the grave.  And God heard his cry.  When he had no place to turn, He called upon God and the Lord answered him from the deepest and darkest place.  When Jonah needed God the most, but deserved it the least, God answered him.  He was there for Jonah, and He will be there for you.

Finally Jonah brought himself to look to the Lord again: “Yet I will look again toward your holy temple… but you brought my life up from the pit, O Lord my God.  When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you Lord and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.”

Jonah had gone as low as he could go.  Now as He calls on the Lord, he is headed back up.  It is God who brings him up out of the pit.  Jonah’s story tells us that no matter how low you go, that God can lift you up when you look up.  God can make a way there seems to be no way.  Are you tired of being down?  Look up.  Cry out, and let God lift you up.  And that’s the Word.

The Bible records: “From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.  He said, ‘In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me.  From the depths of the grave I called for help and you listened to my cry’” (Jonah 2:1,2).  Who you gonna call?  According to Jonah, there is only one person to call upon – the Lord.  One of the themes of the book of Jonah is that God answers the cries of our distress, and he is truly faithful to those who call upon Him.  This is a focal point of the book of Jonah.  The captain urged Jonah to “get up and call on your God” (Jonah 1:6).  The sailors “cried (called) to the Lord” (Jonah 1:14).  Later on in Nineveh, the king called the people to “urgently call upon God” (Jonah 3:8).

So, who you gonna call?  This word for call means to “call out, cry out, or cry for help.”  It is not a word used to talk about casual conversation.  It is not a nice little bed time prayer, and it is not the kind of prayer where you just give your shopping list to God.  This kind of prayer is a cry out to God because one sees how deeply he or she needs God’s help and intervention in his or her life.

When the storm hit the ship, the sailors were afraid and they each “cried out to his own god” (Jonah 1:5).  That was the only thing they knew to do.  They cried out to their idols and false gods, who could offer no help at all.  That was all they knew to do though.  They looked to idols for some sense of hope, some sense of comfort.  We too look to our idols in times of trouble.  The idols we serve however are not false gods per say.   Our idols are the things we run to for comfort other than God when we are fearful.  Some run to alcohol to comfort them, some to food, some to the shops.  Others seek to control and manipulate.

After their gods provided no relief, the sailors threw the cargo overboard and tried to row back to shore.  They could not overcome the sea, however, because it was so wild.  They did their best, but their best wasn’t enough.  What do you do when your best is not enough?  What do you do when you have lost hope?  What do you do when you feel like you are dying on the inside?  You call out.  You cry out to the Lord.  The sailors called out to the Lord.  In his distress, Jonah called to the Lord – and the Lord answered him.

Are you in need?  Are you in over your head?  Call upon the Lord.  Cry out to the Lord, and he will answer you.  And that’s the Word.

The scripture says, “Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up” (Jonah 1:4). It was a divine storm that God sent to get Jonah’s attention. After Jonah asked the sailors to throw him overboard into the sea (because he knew he was the problem), he felt he had hit them bottom when “…the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah” (Jonah 1:17).

Can you see God’s activity? He was in hot pursuit of Jonah. The Lord was reaching out to Jonah wanting to get his attention. Do you know that God will send a storm into your life if he needs to get your attention? Do you know that the Lord will let you hit the bottom if that is what it takes to get your attention? Jonah literally found himself at the bottom of the ocean. Jonah had to hit the bottom of the ocean, before he would look up again and call on the name of His God. Jonah was running, but God was chasing after him.

Perhaps Jonah thought God was just after him to punish him. When Jonah realized that he was the one who put all of the sailors on board the ship in danger, he asked them to throw him overboard. He had given up hope and thought he deserved only death and judgment. The main reason that Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh was that he did not feel they deserved an opportunity to discover God’s mercy and forgiveness. Now, Jonah himself feels that he doesn’t deserve a second chance either. He believed that God could never forgive him for running away. Jonah didn’t think grace was a possibility.

Maybe some of you have felt that way. Or maybe you feel that way now. Maybe you have run so far and so hard for so long that you feel you are drowning in a sea of guilt and regret.

God didn’t send the storm so that Jonah would sink. God didn’t allow Jonah to hit bottom so he could drown. God sent the storm so Jonah would turn around. God was trying to get Jonah’s attention.

The writer of Hebrews wrote, “… the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son” (Hebrews 12:6) and “God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness” (Hebrews 12:10).

These verses tell us that God allows some storms into our lives as an act of love. God must allow some discipline to get our attention. That is what God was doing with Jonah. And there are most likely times in our lives where God has had to do the same as well. I am not saying that every “storm” and trying circumstance is always God’s discipline, but some are. When things are out of control, sometimes the best thing to do is to check your heart and attitude. Ask the Lord, “Is this discipline? Are you seeking to get my attention?”

If so, know that it is because God absolutely loves you. He is not chasing you to “get you” – at least not to harm you. He chases you to get your attention, so ultimately he can get your heart. So you can run from God, but you can’t hide. And that’s the Word.

Jonah truly thought he could run away from God and get away with it. Instead, “the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship” (Jonah 1:4,5).

We see that Jonah’s rebellion to God was actually putting others in harms way. Where was Jonah? What do you think Jonah was doing as these sailors were crying for their lives up on deck in the storm?

“But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, ‘How can you sleep? Get up and call on your God. Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish” (Jonah 1:5,6).

Jonah’s disobedience was the real problem. He was the cause for all of this trouble the sailors found themselves in, but he was completely oblivious – asleep. There are times that we can be so full of denial as well, that we just don’t see it. We can’t see how our actions are hurting those around us.

The captain said to him, “How can you sleep?” It was as if he was calling Jonah to wake up and realize what was going on. Jonah was numb to the consequences of his actions. He was blind to the truth of his circumstances. He was the very problem and yet he was asleep while everyone else was suffering.

There is another irony of this story. The sailors on this boat were terrified, which tells you that it must have been a pretty rough storm. They all began to call on their gods, false gods who could offer no help at all. They were on deck calling out in vain to some false gods that don’t exist. Jonah, a true prophet of the living God, is not only the cause of the problem, but he is also asleep during the danger instead of calling out to his God like the pagan sailors.

The captain tells him, “Wake up and call on your God. Maybe he will take notice and we will not perish.” The captain became a prophet to the prophet. God was calling to Jonah through the captain: “How can you sleep? As a servant of the living God, how can you sleep on the job while there are men on deck calling out in vain to gods that cannot help?”

Jonah should have been awake to the reality of what was going on. Jonah should have been up and calling on his God, the true God. And yet Jonah was asleep. I think some of us may need to hear God calling out to us through the voice of the captain as well. How can you sleep? How can we sleep?

Have we fallen asleep in our faith, oblivious to the needs of those around us. Everywhere, there are people who are perishing, looking to false gods, chasing false dreams, and bowing down to the idols of this world. Without Christ, they are drowning in a sea of hopelessness.

I think apathy is one of the greatest problems of many Christians today. We think that we are fine with God, so we lose any sense of urgency. Our passion for God runs lows, and our compassion for others is minimal. We drift away from God, and end up spiritually asleep while the storms of life are raging about us.

Perhaps we need to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit calling to us, “Wake up. Call on your God.” Do not let your ears grow deaf. Do not let your heart get hard. Do not sleep in the light, while others perish in the dark. Wake up. And that’s the Word.

Jonah went down to Joppa and found a ship to board for Tarshish. The text says, “After paying the fare, he went aboard…” Jonah paid a price to board the ship, and he paid the price for his disobedience to God. There is always a price for our sin. The enemy doesn’t advertise that part when he tempts you to take one more drink, or to take that first step towards an affair, or to buy that luxury item you really can’t afford. No, his sales pitch never shares the fall out from disobedience to God and His Word. He never shows you how hard the recovery process can be for an addict. He never shows you what it looks like to find yourself separated from your children because of an affair. He never shows you what bankruptcy looks like.

Disobedience has a price. God certainly wants your best. Scripture assures us of that. The Lord is out to save you, not to get you. He is a loving father, but there are consequences when we do life our own way instead of his way. In the first chapter, we see God call Jonah to “Get up and go.” Later on, we see the captain of the ship urge Jonah to “Get up and call on your God” (v. 6). God is trying to call Jonah up. Jonah doesn’t go up though. He continually heads down.

Throughout the first chapter of Jonah, we keep seeing Jonah headed down. It is a visible picture of the effect disobedience has on our lives. First we see Jonah go down to Joppa (v. 3). Then he went down into the ship (v. 3). The Jonah went below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep (1:5). Eventually, the crew of the ship took Jonah and threw him down into water (1:15). Finally, Jonah cried out to God from the depths of the grave (Jonah 2:2).

God called Jonah east to Nineveh, but Jonah went west. God called Jonah up, and yet Jonah kept heading down. He eventually got so low that he found himself hopeless at the bottom of the ocean. He felt as if he were in the depths of the grave. The idea is that he felt completely separated from God, and he was sinking in his sin. That is what rebellion to God will do for you.

Jonah’s disobedience not only affected him, but also everyone else on the ship. God sent a storm that threatened the ship because of Jonah’s disobedience. The storm threatened everyone on the ship. They were all threatened because of Jonah’s sin. You never sin in isolation. Don’t kid yourself. You private rebellion will almost always end up affecting those you love the most. Just ask the man who is trapped in pornography and lost the trust of his wife. Just ask the husband who has discovered his wife’s unfaithfulness. Just ask the family who is dealing with an addictive member. Life has too many lessons of how someone’s sin not only took that person to the bottom, but also drug down the ones he loved the most. So don’t run from God. Run to Him. And that’s the Word.

Now Jonah was a prophet. You would think he would have no problem going into a city and telling a bunch of wicked people to “Turn or burn. Get right, or get left.” That’s all in a days work for an Old Testament prophet.

Jonah didn’t want to go though. His problem was with Nineveh. The Ninevites were a very cruel group of people. Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire. They attacked many cities and treated their captives very cruelly. They pillaged, plundered, raped and tortured the people they conquered.

You might think Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh because he was scared to death. In the story, however, we find out that Jonah didn’t want to go for other reasons. His problem was that he didn’t want Nineveh to have a chance to repent. He was afraid that if he preached about God’s impending judgment upon them that they would repent and turn to God. Then God would forgive them and show them grace. Jonah didn’t want to risk it. He wanted nothing but judgment for Nineveh. They were too cruel for God to forgive in his eyes. He thought Nineveh shouldn’t get a shot at grace, but only get judgment.

So Jonah “ran away from the Lord and headed to Tarshish” (Jonah 1:3). Basically Jonah said, I don’t like your way God. I don’t want to do what you want me to do. So he ran and went as far away from God’s will as possible. Tarshish was actually in the exact opposite direction of Nineveh. God said go west to Nineveh, and Jonah went due east to Tarshish.

There are times we run from God as well. God speaks into our lives and reveals his will to us. He tells us what we are to do. And maybe you think, “Okay God, I understand what you say to do. I understand what your word says on this matter, but I do not want to do it. “ We can relate to this in so many different ways. We all have a Tarshish that we tend to run to and run away from God.

Perhaps someone has wronged you and hurt you. And God says forgive. You think, “I know I should forgive, but I do not want to. They don’t deserve my forgiveness. I don’t feel like it.”

Or maybe the word of the Lord has come to you concerning your finances and giving. You know what God has called you to do. You say, “I don’t want to. I don’t feel like it. It doesn’t make sense. And I like my things more than I want to obey God.” So you run from the Lord.

Or maybe you are dating someone. You think he or she is so cute and smells so nice. You know what God has to say about waiting until marriage before you have sex. But you think, “I don’t want to wait. I love him/her. I don’t think I have should have to wait.”

There are so many different ways that we can tend to run from God and go the other direction. We will look at this more in the weeks to come. Answer this though: What is your Nineveh – the thing God has told you to do. And what is the Tarshish that you are tempted to run to. Are you running now? If so, maybe it is time to turn around. And that’s the Word.

There is a lot of apprehension going into 2009. Many are fearful and full of dread as they think about what lies ahead. These are hard times indeed, and everything that can be shaken is being shaken from a financial standpoint. It also seems to be shaking up a lot of people as well. Reports say that the economy is not only putting financial stress on many people, but it is also creating physical and emotional hardship for many. There are more reports of sleeplessness, headaches, depression, and marital discord. If you look at things from strictly a worldly standpoint, there is not a lot of immediate cause for peace and for hope.

And yet as Christians, we should be looking forward into the future with great faith and hope. It really doesn’t matter what comes upon our world, because our King has prevailed. His kingdom will come, and His will shall be done. As I have heard it said before, “You can read the end of the Book, and we win.”

As Christians, we should be looking to the future with great faith and hope. We must realize that it is not all about us. It is all about Him. These days and these times are incredible opportunities for God to show Himself to us and to many. Perhaps you are reading this and you have not really developed a relationship with Jesus Christ. God is calling out to you in the middle of these days. He is seeking to get your attention, and He wants you to know He is there. Jesus wants to become real to you. He wants you to find forgiveness in Him, peace in Him, hope in Him.

For those of us who are Christians, God is calling us to get our eyes off our circumstances. We must quit looking at our big ole fear, and look to our big ole God.
We must stop letting circumstances rob us of our peace and our joy. This is an opportunity for believers to truly let the light of Christ’s love shine through. We must believe our God and trust Him. We must have faith that God is who He says He is, and that He can do what He says He can do.

The apostle Paul said, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him” (2 Corinthians 2:14). The Lord will lead His people in triumph if they will believe Him. His triumph might be different than the outcome we had hoped for or planned for. God’s greatest triumph was the cross. That would not have been the outcome or the triumph we would have chosen, but it was what we most needed. Can we embrace this type of faith? Can we trust God like that?

I think if we can walk through this season in great faith, then 2009 will become one of the greatest seasons of our lives. The victory is sure, and by faith we can walk in it long before it is established. Fearful people are tormented even when things are going well. People of true faith are full of peace and joy even when things aren’t well. Which person will you be?

As you head into 2009, let your faith be in the Lord who leads us in triumphal procession. Don’t put your faith in an outcome. Put your faith in the Lord. Don’t set your heart on an answer to prayer. Set your heart on Him. Believe God. And that’s the Word.

As Americans, we often seem to be constantly looking for more and more. We often seem to be unsettled and restless. It is hard for us to find contentment.

Richard Swenson said contentment is hard to find because it is not like cutting down a tree – when it is done, it is done. No, contentment is more like “trying to pick up mercury with tweezers – it keeps squirting away.” Contentment is like the carrot suspended two feet in front of our face. We keep moving and it keeps staying ahead of us. We keep chasing it, and it keeps dodging us. Just when you seem to achieve everything you wanted, you discover that it was actually not enough. There must be more than this. Right?

The apostle Paul said, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (Phil. 4:12). It is interesting that Paul used the word secret – “the secret of being content.” I believe he used this word because contentment does not often come from the things we would expect. It is not found in the places where so many people seek for it. We think contentment comes from the quest for more – more possessions, more status, more power, and more fame. These are very well traveled roads. All the while, there is another trail with far less travelers. This road has the potential to lead us to inner peace and joy. There is a treasure at the end of this road called “godliness with contentment.”

The apostle Paul said, “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6). Godliness involves a commitment to love and please God above all else. Contentment is a state of willing acceptance whatever God allows to come our way. Contentment does not find its source in more. Its source is not found in circumstances. Contentment is not found in success. There is nothing wrong with enjoying success or being excited when things are well. Contentment, however, is a freedom that we can enjoy whether we have little or much, whether we are rich or poor. Contentment is not laziness. It does not involve a passive attitude that is not willing to work hard to better one’s circumstances.

Contentment comes when I realize that I really don’t need another thing. Contentment comes when I am satisfied with God the Giver, and I am grateful for what He has given. This type of God given contentment is rare, and yet it is God’s recommendation to us.

As we head into 2009, many are saying that things will only get worse on the economic front before they get better. I would like to encourage us to adopt a “theology of enough” this coming year. This means it is time for us to realize that we have enough, often more than enough. In order to embrace this theology, we must realize a few things: God is what we need, and possessions are what we use. We were made to love God and people, and use things. Instead we have fallen in love with things, and seek to use God and people for our own benefit. Sadly, this will never bring us to a place of contentment.

“There are only two ways to get enough,” said G.K. Chesterson. “One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.” Contentment realizes that most of the time, “less is more!” So enough already! And that’s the Word.

I just can’t believe that God the Father was caught off guard. If God went to all the trouble to have this young mother carry His Son in her womb, then surely he could have had enough foresight to make a hotel reservation in advance. Perhaps God had his reasons for the birth of His Son in a stable. I think there are some real lessons to be found in the birth of Christ.

In his birth, Jesus embraced poverty. While he could have been born in the finest of hotels or hospitals, he chose to be an outcast. He was not given a luxurious palace, instead his mother laid his head down in a manger. Jesus became poor for a reason – so that we could become rich. The Apostle Paul said, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 7:8-9). Jesus Christ stepped out of the riches of heaven and humbled himself to become a man. And as a man, he didn’t become a king, but he embraced human poverty to the fullest extent. In his poverty, Jesus was embracing the poverty of our human condition. He became poor, however, so that we might receive the riches of God’s mercy and grace. The person who comes to know and receive Jesus Christ is truly rich indeed.

In his birth, Jesus not only embraced poverty, but also humility. God allowed his son to be born in the most humble of circumstances. God found a stable full of animals to welcome and receive his Son into the world. God did announce the birth of his Son to some humble shepherds in a field, and some visiting Magi dropped in later. By and large however, the birth of Jesus was a rather quiet event. There was no great fanfare for the Son of God that night. God took that humble beginning though and did something that would change the world. God says he uses the humble things of the world to shame the wise (1 Corinthians 1:27). Jesus is attracted to humble things, humble places, and humble hearts. God says he rejects the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Do you know that Jesus is still born in stables? He looks for humble hearts that will acknowledge their need of forgiveness and receive Him. Is your life like a manger – a humble place for Jesus to rest His head?

Jesus’ birth also revealed how some people will treat Him. There will always be those who simply declare that they have no room for Jesus. They will reject Him and have no room in their lives for this King. Some will simply shut the door on His presence in their lives.

What about you? You may have gone to church for years, but your heart has had a “no vacancy” sign over it? Have you shut the door on Jesus and declared that you have no room for Him? Or maybe now you hear him knocking, calling you to open the door. Remember these words from that great Christmas hymn: “Joy to the World, the Lord has come. Let earth receive her king. Let every heart prepare him room…” Make room. Make room, and open your heart to Jesus. And that’s the Word.

On the very first Christmas, there was a man named Simeon who longed to see something as well. The book of Luke says, “He was waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon Him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (Luke 2:25-26).

Simeon was waiting for the consolation of Israel. This was a phrase used to speak of God’s promise to bring relief and deliverance to his people Israel. God had promised to send one that would end their oppression and bring them hope and comfort. Simeon saw his people in need of God’s help. Many were rebellious and separated from God. Simeon was looking for God’s help, God’s hope, and God’s forgiveness. He was a man of spiritual passion with a hunger for God.

Simeon wanted to see God – and he did in the face of the baby Jesus. Simeon was a priest in the temple when Jesus’ parents brought him to be dedicated to the Lord forty days after his birth. We are used to referring to Jesus as God’s Son, but there was no precedent during Simeon’s time for God to come in flesh as a baby. And yet he had eyes to see what God was doing even in the form of an infant. The passage makes clear that he was a man who was in tune with what God was doing. Simeon was moved by the Spirit to enter the temple as Mary and Joseph came in with their child. As Simeon took Jesus into his arms, he held the baby in his arms and praised God saying “your salvation has finally come.” Simeon had waited for many years, and now he was staring the salvation of God in the eyes. And the Savior of the world was in his arms, wearing a diaper.

Can you imagine how he felt? He had waited a long time for this moment. The Lord had actually promised Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And now He has come. Can you picture him taking the child, pulling him close, kissing his tender face, looking upon him in delight and thinking, “God is faithful. God has kept his promise. He has come.”

According to Simeon, Jesus was an absolute “must see.” Holding the Christ child in his arms, he proclaimed to God: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, your servant may now depart in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32).

Simeon could now depart in peace because he had met the Lord’s salvation face to face in the person of Jesus. This baby did not come to live. This baby came to die, and to give his life for the sins of the world. Jesus did not come so we could have warm fuzzy feelings at Christmas. He came on a rescue mission. He came because we couldn’t get to heaven without him.

Have your eyes seen the Lord’s salvation? Have you met Jesus Christ? Have you received his forgiveness? You cannot depart in peace without him. And that’s the Word.

I want to ask my question again though. Are you really ready for Christmas? I am not really thinking about the presents, cooking, etc. I am talking about your heart. One famous Christmas carol goes like this: “Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Let earth receive her king. Let every heart prepare him room…” This carol encourages us to make room in our hearts for Jesus the king. During the month of December, many churches celebrate what is known as Advent. Advent means “coming” or “arrival. This season right before Christmas is meant to be a time of preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ. It seems, however, that we spend a lot of time preparing for everything but Jesus. I am a pastor, and even I have a hard time keeping my focus with all of the other distractions of the season.

It seems like Jesus has always had a hard time finding room at Christmas. Remember that very first Christmas when Mary and Joseph came to Bethlehem for the census. Scripture records, “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn and wrapped him in a manger, because there was no room for him in the inn” (Luke 2:6,7). On the very first Christmas, nobody had room for Jesus. Everybody was busy, distracted and blind to what God was doing in Bethlehem. God was coming to earth in the form of a human, but so many were unprepared to receive him.

Over recent years, some politically correct groups have tried to totally drop Jesus out of Christmas. Some stores have instructed their employees to say, “Seasons Greeting” or “Happy Holidays” instead of Merry Christmas. There is a fight in some cities to put a nativity scene on any piece of public property. For most of us, however, it will not be the atheists and politically correct that strip Christ from our Christmas celebrations.

Our problem will often be the busyness of the season. I love Santa Claus, presents, parties, watching Christmas specials and all the other trappings that go with the holidays. You would think it would be easy to remember that all of this is nothing more than the sideshow, and that Jesus is the main attraction. And yet is seems that the birth of Jesus has become the sideshow, and all of the rest has become the main attraction. What if our kids walked away from Christmas with a message bigger than “be good for goodness sake” because Santa is checking his list twice? I want my kids to remember each Christmas to fall in love with a God who would send His own Son into the world to give his life. I want them to learn to be like the wise men and seek after Jesus with all of their heart. I want to remember these things for myself as well.

So here it is – Christmas season once again. It has been a hard year for many folks. The new year holds a lot of unknowns. Many of us need encouragement and hope. Go over to your Nativity scene and remember exactly what Christmas is all about. God drew near to us, to you. He is Emmanuel – God with us. Remember that no gift under the tree will ever compare to the gift of Christ. Take time to get ready. Make room in your heart for Him. If you miss Jesus, then you have really missed Christmas. And that’s the Word.

I thought a lot about people like you today? How are you? Are you one of the many who has watched your income shrivel up? Are you facing a foreclosure? Have you been laid off from your job? Are you nearing retirement only to see your 401 K suffering a TKO (boxing term for a technical knock out)?

I must admit that I have faced fears of my own as I think about the future. Here I am – a man of faith, a so called spiritual leader – but these times have tested my faith as well. I have found myself worrying about the future at times. Then I catch myself worrying, and think – Why?? Why do I worry so much God?

I have come to a realization through it all. I have trusted God for several years now. I have seen God provide for all of my needs in great ways. For some reason though, I have let the unsettled nature of our economy bother me. Something in me has felt so vulnerable watching our country struggle so badly. I have realized that it is because I have put more of my trust and security in the Almighty Dollar than I would like to admit. As Wall Street has shaken, and the banks have shaken, and the real estate market has shaken, and the automobile industry has shaken, I have let myself be shaken. And I imagine that I am not alone. I am sure there are many more of you out there who feel the same. There are a lot of “What ifs?” out there.

So today on Thanksgiving, I am seeking to remember to be thankful. And I really am. God has been so good and kind. I have much to be thankful for. I am seeking to do much more than be thankful though. I am seeking to be faith-filled also. I am trying to remember God’s promises as I face the future, as I help to lead others in facing the future.

So as we come towards the end of 2008 with all of its uncertainty, there is a scripture I want to share with you this Thanksgiving. In the book of Hebrews, the writer speaks of the things that can be shaken – the kingdoms of this world, the things of this world. Then there is a word for Christians – Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:28).

The scripture reminds us that everything in this world can be shaken. The kingdoms of this world can be shaken. We, however, have been given a kingdom that cannot be shaken – the kingdom of God. As Christians, we serve a God who can never be dethroned. He is never surprised. He is never worried about the future. Our God is bigger than the economy, bigger than the Almighty Dollar. He is a God who provided manna from heaven for the Israelites. He is a God who fed 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish. He is a God who shall show Himself faithful to all of who seek Him.

We are receiving a kingdom that can never be shaken. So be thankful. Worship! Praise Him. Have peace. Have faith. Do not let yourself be shaken. I am truly thankful to be a part of God’s unshakable kingdom. And that’s the Word.

Jesus’ temptation scene is found in the fourth chapter of Luke. Right before this scene, however, is the story of Jesus’ baptism. Jesus came to John the Baptist and asked John to baptize him. When Jesus came up out of the water, there was a voice from heaven. God the Father spoke and said, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). Here at his baptism, Jesus was announced and proclaimed as the Son of God. God spoke over His Son, and then confirmed the word by anointing Jesus with the Holy Spirit. This was the Father’s validation for His Son. He gave Jesus his full love and acceptance even before Jesus did one act of ministry. These words were meant to encourage, empower, and edify Jesus as God’s beloved Son.

This is really important to remember because Jesus went right from this place of love and validation and was thrown into the fire of temptation. He was led into the wilderness where he fasted for 40 days. At the end of that time, when he was hungry and tired, and Satan tempted him, it would have been easy to wonder where his Father was. Had God the Father forgotten him? Is he still loved?

Jesus heard the Father speak to Him. There was no need to doubt God’s love even in the midst of his struggles and temptation. Jesus’ baptism would have been a real spiritual high for Jesus. His heart would have been full of the Father’s love. The Spirit of God was alive in his heart. Immediately following this spiritual high, however, Jesus found himself in a battle for his very soul. It was a battle over his very identity.

When Satan came and tempted Jesus, he said to him, “If you are the Son of God…” He repeated this phrase three times during each of the temptations Jesus faced. God the Father had just said, “You are my son.” Now Satan had come to test that very word. It was as if he was saying to Jesus, “Okay, lets’ see some action. Prove that you are really God’s Son. Do something.”

It can be just like that for us. We can have a spiritually high moment. We feel like God speaks to us, and then we turn around and feel like we are losing it. All of a sudden we get filled with doubt, discouragement, and questions. Two days earlier we seemed so full of faith and peace. We knew what God said. We were confident, and then we turn around and face nothing but doubts: “Is that really true? Can I really trust God? Can I really believe God?” I have discovered that our greatest temptations often seem to come on the heels of some of our greatest victories. Right after the spiritual high is over, Satan seeks to bring us to a new low.

Has this ever happened to you? Watch out! Temptation is real, and the enemy’s schemes are deceptive. And yet God allows these tests to happen to see if we will be faithful to Him. God wants to know and to see if we will hold on and trust Him. Temptation becomes a true test of our belief in God. When we are tired, hungry, alone, and discouraged, will we still remember what God has said? Will we hold on to God’s Word even when we are face to face with temptation? And that’s the Word.

How should we respond? Does God offer any hope? Maybe you are stuck in fear. Perhaps you are mad at God at the moment. Let me offer some biblical wisdom.

First we must remember that God does not promise to keep Christians from all trials. He does promise to keep us as we go through our trials. Jesus said, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Sometimes Christians tend to think that they should have a free pass from any trouble. It is simply not true. There are times we will have difficulties. Our promise is that He is with us in the midst of our difficulty – even financial troubles. Don’t forget who you belong to as a Christian. You are a child of God, and He will watch over you.

Second, we must learn to be content. The Apostle Paul wrote about this in the book of Philippians: “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret to being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who give me strength” (Phil. 4:11 – 13).

For many of us, godly contentment might be the most valuable lesson we can learn. Perhaps we tend to put way too much stock in worldly comforts. True contentment never comes from how much you have, or how many toys you own. There are enough rich people that have been miserable through the years. What about you? Are you content? Will you be okay if you have to downsize? If not, then you may have a real spiritual problem. I remember being on a mission trip to India several years ago. All of our luggage was lost and I was there for 10 days with a Bible, toothbrush, some tic tacs, and the presence of God. I have never been so content in all of my life. It wasn’t because I had more. It was because I had been stripped of all my material comforts and discovered what was really important.

Third, it may be time for a budget. Do you know where you money is going? Are you really spending wisely? This is a very practical step to help you control your spending.

Lastly, don’t stop giving. Often times, a person’s giving level is the first thing to go when their income gets tighter. We let fear get a hold of us instead of faith, and we may hold back our tithes and our offerings. I think that is the worst mistake that a Christian can make. Some people think they cannot afford to tithe. If we truly believe God’s word and trust our Heavenly Father, the truth is that we cannot afford to not tithe. Giving is an act of our worship towards God. We honor him when we give for His sake. Our giving is also an act of our trust in Christ. As we truly give, we are inviting Jesus into our financial picture and declaring that He is the answer to all of our needs. Through our faithful giving, we are putting our faith into action. Giving says, God is my source. God is my Provider. Our giving to God releases God’s hand into this area of our lives. And many have discovered that you simply can’t out give God. God doesn’t want you walking in fear. Remember whose you are, and walk in faith. And that’s the Word.

Many people prayed fervently for God’s will and direction in this election. Some of you were convinced that John McCain needed to be the man in office and prayed to that affect. Others of you prayed for an Obama victory. I submit to you that the time for prayer has not ended. In many ways, the need for prayer has just begun. I encourage you to be faithful in your prayers for President-elect Barack Obama, his wife Michelle, and his two daughters. Ask God to speak to Obama’s heart and grant him true wisdom from above in all that he does. The apostle Paul said, “I urge then first of all that requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good and pleases God our Savior” (1 Timothy 2:2).

There is no doubt that our next President is walking into a very difficult situation. The American economy is still suffering. Our international relationships are strained on many fronts. The war in Iraq has no quick and easy solutions. Our new president will need a lot more than our cheers or our jeers. He will need our prayers. God has called us to pray for those who are in authority over us as leaders. The book of Proverbs says, “The King’s heart is in the hand of the Lord. He directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases” (Proverbs 22:1). We must truly seek God and believe that He can direct the heart of our leader.

Pray for the people that will surround our president as he transitions into office. Ask God to put wise and righteous counselors in Obama’s path. Please also seek God for greater unity in our nation, and greater unity within the church. As I read from Beth Moore (and agree), we should have zero tolerance for prejudice whether it is regarding party affiliation, color (whether Black, White, or Brown), economics, taxes and the like. It is not a sin for us to disagree with the president or a politician. It is a sin to be prejudice. It is a sin for us to curse our leader, when God has called us to lift him up in prayer.

This is an opportunity for many of us in the body of Jesus Christ to show forth his character. We should stand for what is right not from our feet, but from our knees. We must remember that ultimately God is in control of the nations. The Lord is still on the throne. We can trust God for His work to be done in America.

As Chuck Colson said, “This is no time for Christians to go into bunkers. This is a time to repent, to pray more. It is time for Christians to lead.” Let us lead in a way that will honor Jesus. Let us lead in a way that displays where our real trust ultimately rests. And that’s the Word.

She believed that if she could just touch the hem of his garment that she would be healed. She did touch Jesus that day, and He touched her as well. He touched her more deeply than she had ever imagined. The scripture records, “Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering” (Mark 5:29).

She reached out to Jesus in faith, and she was rewarded with a divine release of power from the Son of God into her life. Her blood had been flowing out for 12 years. Blood is symbolic of life in the scripture. It was as if her life was flowing away, ebbing out of her. And then his life flowed in.

The same power of Christ is still available today. The power of Jesus still flows from Calvary’s cross. The apostle Paul referred to Jesus as a life giving spirit. He gives life to those who truly look to him in faith, for those who reach to him in faith. You can go ahead and ask him to give you his life even now.

Jesus didn’t just heal this woman physically though. She was freed from her suffering in her body, but Jesus wanted to touch her soul as well. The woman had snuck up behind Jesus in an anonymous fashion. As his power flowed into her body, Jesus knew something was going on. He stopped in the crowd having “realized that power had gone out from him” (Mark 5:30). Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “Who touched me?”

The disciples thought it was a ridiculous question. The crowd was so big and everyone was crowding around Jesus. They were thinking, “Who hasn’t touched you?” Jesus asked the question again though, “Who touched me?”

It wasn’t just the tug of a hand Jesus had felt. It was the tug of a heart. It was the tug of faith that he sensed. He knew someone had reached out to him in faith. Jesus scanned the crowd looking for who it was. He wasn’t about to let this woman just get lost in the crowd.

This woman came up to Jesus from behind. Jesus wanted her to come face to face with him though. He wasn’t satisfied just to be this lady’s healer. He didn’t want her to remain nameless and faceless. He wanted this woman to know that he knew… her. He wanted to become her God, her King, Her savior, Her lover, Her Heavenly Father.

This story lets us know that God always wants to make Himself personal to us. Jesus wanted a real relationship with this woman. He didn’t want to be just a mystical force who can touch and heal. He wanted to be a personal God who was real, loving and personal. He is not satisfied until we come face to face with him.

She finally fell at his feet, grateful for his touch, fearful of his rejection. Jesus said, “Daughter, your faith has healed you.” This woman had not heard tender words from a man in more than 12 years. She had the words unclean written on her heart. Just like that though, Jesus wrote a new name on her heart. Not content to just touch her physical body, He spoke love and acceptance in to her heart. Now she was healed, really healed and she would never be the same again. And that’s the Word.

This woman wanted to get well. She wanted to be whole. She wasn’t going to give up hope that God had a better life for her. This is important because I meet people all the time who don’t want to get well. They are unwilling to change. They remain a victim for the rest of their lives holding onto their misery, bitterness, or pain. They aren’t willing to take any steps in order to get well.

This woman had heard about Jesus though (Mark 5:27). Perhaps she had heard about how Jesus had touched a group of lepers. They were considered unclean too, but Jesus healed them. Whatever she had heard about him, there was a little seed of faith in her heart. She was desperate to find out if Jesus could heal her. As an unclean woman in that day and time, she would not have dared to approach Jesus face to face. Apparently she decided she would try and sneak a touch from him. She wanted to do a “drive by touch” on Jesus.

The story says, “She came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.’” I love the fact that this woman decided to go after Jesus. She was going to press in and go after him. She was desperate to touch Jesus in hopes that he would somehow touch her. If her broken body and soul could somehow come in contact with the essence of this man Jesus, perhaps his very nature would change her.

She could have sat at home and played it safe. She could have thought, “Well if he is really God, then he can come find me. If God wants to heal me, then he knows where I am.” Some people are like that. They just sit there and wait for God to come to them – not this lady though. She went to touch Jesus. It was a great risk and a great step of faith. She risked the social embarrassment from those in the community. She risked rejection if anyone saw this “unclean” woman stepping beyond her allowed social boundaries. She could have been scolded by a Pharisee, or rejected again by the rest of the crowd.

What about you? Are you willing to go after Jesus no matter what someone else says or thinks? How desperate are you to get a hold of Jesus? Do you want to get well, or do you want to hang on to your bitterness, your anger, your fear? Are you waiting on God to pick you out of the crowd, or give you a holy zap? Or are you ready to press in to Him, and go after him?

This woman pressed in to Jesus, and she wasn’t disappointed. Regardless of the cost, regardless of the risk, she was desperate to touch Jesus. She did, and she would never be the same again. And that’s the Word.

I have always appreciated a couple of stories in Mark 5 that run together. The two stories are about a synagogue ruler named Jairus whose 12 year old daughter was ill (and died) and a woman who had been suffering an affliction for 12 years. The story of the woman is actually inserted right into the middle of Jairus’ story. She basically intrudes upon Jesus as he is going to help Jairus’ daughter.

There is an interesting contrast between this man Jairus and this woman. As I have said, Jairus was a synagogue ruler. We are told his name and what he does. The woman was merely an unknown person. Her name is not even mentioned. We are just told about her affliction. She had been “subject to bleeding for twelve years” (Mark 5:25). Basically, this woman was suffering from a continual menstrual flow that had not stopped.

As a synagogue ruler Jairus would have been an important and well-respected man in the community. Everyone would have known Jairus. He would have been a popular person due to his role as a spiritual leader. The woman was an unknown nobody, and even an outcast. According to the OT, a woman was considered to be unclean during her menstrual cycle. That meant she was not allowed to touch or be touched by others. She couldn’t go into the temple during this time. Basically she was cut off from God and from man. She was the unknown outcast living her life in obscurity.

Jairus would have been a man of means. He would have been well compensated for his role as a ruler of the synagogue. The woman was broke. She had spent all that she had on doctors.

Jairus had 12 years of happiness with his daughter come to an end when she died. The woman had 12 years of affliction and discomfort finally come to an end after Jesus healed her.

As you can see, these are two completely different people from opposite sides of the track. One was wealthy, prominent, and popular. The other was poor, obscure, and an outcast. And yet they both shared some things in common. They both had a great need. Jairus had a critically ill daughter slipping towards death. The woman had an issue of blood that the doctors could not help to heal. They were both desperate with nowhere else to turn. They both ended up turning to Jesus though.

It is very interesting at how both of them approached Jesus. Let me share these verses, and notice how each one of them comes before Christ: “Seeing Jesus, (Jairus) fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him…” (Mark 5:22). “Then the woman … came and fell at his feet, and trembling with fear, told him the whole truth (Mark 5:33).

That day, Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead, and He healed the woman from her affliction. Even though these two were quite different, they both found their answers at the feet of Jesus. Both Jairus and the woman fell at the feet of Jesus, and they both had life changing encounters with Him.

Do you know what they discovered? The highest place on earth is not Mt. Everest. The highest place on earth is at the feet of Jesus. There is no greater place to go. There is no higher place to climb to. Whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you face, I encourage you to fall at the feet of Jesus. And that’s the Word.

Scripture records, “When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, ‘Go away from me Lord; I am a sinful man!’” At this point, the boat wasn’t the only thing about to sink. Peter’s heart began to sink as well. The weight of the full nets and the weighted down boats seem symbolic of the weight of God’s presence in the boat with Peter. In the person of Jesus Christ, Peter came face to face with the weight of God’s holiness and power. And Peter seemed to feel the weight of his own sin pulling him down into the water.

I think Peter saw how shallow his existence had been. He truly understood he was unworthy to have this man Jesus in his boat, much less to have him in his life. Peter was a selfish, stubborn, prideful human who wanted life on his own terms.

“I am a sinful man,” Peter cried. He was thinking, “I am undone. I am sinking under the weight of all this.” He felt so unworthy that he bid Christ to go away. It seemed that the presence of Christ reminded him of everything that he should be, but everything that he was not. He became a broken man. He no longer called Jesus Master, instead he called Lord. It was a word that held much greater weight. It meant Master of all – God. Peter knew in his heart that he was not right with God.

When you really encounter Jesus, you will come in touch with your own sin. As Jesus calls you deeper, you will get a glimpse at how shallow your life may be. In those moments when you feel the weight of God’s holiness and your sin, part of you will want to run away from God. You too may ask him just to go away and leave you in your misery.

Jesus didn’t leave Peter though. As Peter cried out in sorrow for his sin, Jesus saw something in him. Jesus didn’t see a man worth drowning. He saw a man worth saving. In Peter’s humility, Jesus saw a man that he could actually use. Peter understood that he was nothing without Jesus. Peter’s sin became something that would cause him to run to Jesus instead of from Jesus.

So instead of hopping out of the boat, walking on water and leaving Peter, Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” It was an invitation to follow Jesus and to be used by Jesus.

Have you ever felt so unworthy that you just wanted Jesus to leave you alone? Don’t run from him. Run to him. You just may be in the perfect place for God to use you – humble, broken, and surrendered to Jesus. And that’s the Word.

For Peter to respond to Jesus’ call to launch out to the deep is very telling. Something must have been stirring in his heart because his natural inclination would have been to tell Jesus to go jump in a lake. Peter and the boys had been fishing all night long and caught absolutely nothing. In the Sea of Galilee, one would usually fish at night in the shallow waters. Jesus is asking Peter to go out into the deep water in the middle of the day. He is basically asking Jesus to do everything contrary to what Jesus had been trained to do.

This wasn’t just a hobby for Peter. He wasn’t just a weekend fishermen whose idea of the perfect bridal registry was the Bass Pro Shop. This was his career. This was his life. He was a trained fishermen on these waters from his earliest years. Jesus was basically asking Peter to hand over the keys to his business. He was asking Jesus to trust Him with his trade. Jesus wanted Peter to make this decision even though it seemed like the wrong advice. He wanted Peter to do what made no sense to his natural mind.

Simon (Peter) answered Jesus, “Master, we worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets” (Luke 5:5). We know Peter must have had some great respect for Jesus even though it was very early in their relationship, because Peter called him Master. The word can mean “leader, commander, and boss.” Basically, Peter is telling Jesus, “Jesus this doesn’t really make any sense at all. As a matter of fact, I think it is crazy. But I have so much respect for you that I will do it just because you say so. I will launch out to the deep and let down the nets for a catch.”

Was Peter disappointed for doing what Jesus said to do? If he had pulled up an empty net, I am sure he would have been frustrated. Imagine he had pulled up just a couple of fish, just enough for a fish nugget meal from Long John Silvers. Peter might have thanked him for dinner, but he still would have been disappointed.

The story says “When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.” This haul of fish was abundant and overflowing. It is a picture of supernatural fullness. Jesus surrendered what was his, and put it into the hands of Jesus. Jesus blessed him in a supernatural way. After a futile night of fishing that turned up nothing but empty nets, Jesus filled the nets of the seasoned fishermen to the point of overflow and abundance. It is a real picture of what we can do on our own versus what Jesus can truly do when we surrender what it is ours and put it into his hands.

Does it always make sense to do what Jesus calls us to do? No. Does it sometimes seem contrary to what we think we should do? Yes. He is the Master though. We must come to a place where we do what He says just because He says so. “Because you say so…” That is reason enough to obey Jesus. He said so! And that’s the Word.