Who's at the Door?

I stumbled across a writng today from Mark Ashton in Cambridge, England and a story he shared shed a new light on a universal situation. Here is an excerpt of a sermon he shared in Feb. of 2000:

There was a Baptist minister once who went to the house of a poor and elderly lady in order to give her the money to pay for her rent. It had been granted to her from the church’s Poor Relief Fund. He knocked repeatedly at her door but he got no answer, and eventually he had to leave again. He discovered later that she had been in the house all the time. And when she’d heard that knock on the door she had refused to answer because she had been certain it was the rent man coming to demand the rent and who might even evict her from the house.
And when you and I hear, as it were, the knock of God on the door of our hearts, we think He has come to demand a moral payment, to ask how good I’ve been – and there’s a huge moral debt that I know I have to pay. And we feign deafness to that knock: I don’t want to face God, He’ll interfere with my life! He will condemn so much of it. I don’t want anything to do with Him. We pretend therefore that He isn’t there, and that that isn’t a knock. I remember it so vividly from my own life, that sort of a knock at the door of my heart was exactly how I felt when as an undergraduate student I first faced the demands of God on my life. But He does not come to demand a moral payment. He comes not to demand the payment, but to provide the payment: He comes to say, “It is finished. I’ve dealt with Mark Ashton’s sins once and for all. And Mark Ashton can now be a son of God as he was always meant to be.” And that is how He comes to you today. That’s what these seven verses of the New Testament are saying to you and to me at this moment. (Gal. 4:1-7)
I’m going to say no more about them now, but I want to invite you, if it would be appropriate (and I may just be talking to one person here at this moment) when the service ends I’m going to be sitting down over in that bottom left hand corner for a few minutes. And if you would like to come, I would like to try to explain to you how you can respond to God if you sense He’s knocking at the door of your life at the moment, and your instinct is to pretend He’s not there because you think He’s come to make moral demands of you. I want to share with you how very simply you can respond and, as it were, open the door and invite Him in into a real relationship – maybe for the first time in your life.

Have you heard the knocking? Are you afraid to answer the door? He has already made the payment, you just need to answer.

Eyes Wide Open

I have loved many aspects of my new position, but the best is the time I spend before starting the day in regular personal Bible study. I have done a lot of different approaches to Bible study, but I have a very simple procedure at this time. I have been reading with legal pad and pencil in hand. I read a little and then try to re-state on the notebook what I read. I sometimes expound upon the passage if I have had additional thoughts, but doing this type of study has helped me to dig as much understanding as I can from the books I have read. I have been through 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, and am in Galatians now. I believe that God has led me to these books because they show a lot of the struggles Paul had in ministry and how he reacted to them. People did not accept everything he said as "gospel truth." (that's kind of funny now that I have written it) He was persecuted by non-Christians, but also by the churches that he was ministering to and teaching. Through these hardships, God revealed to us through Paul, many truths about our faith and how to handle hardships. I believe that if we will do the things we are told to do, God will lead us to what he wants to tell us. As a new minister, these lessons are exactly what I need to study and God led me right to them. I also read a blog from a friend of mine that has time and time again been the ideal message I needed at the time. I can count three friends who shared with me things I needed to hear this week to address an area of concern that I was praying about. God brought them to me. If anyone wants to know how God speaks to and guides me, it is by the Holy Spirit on the inside, and if we keep our eyes wide open and focused on Him, he leads us through his word and through fellow believers on the outside.

Well...... You've got trouble my friend.....

Let's face it.... we all have weakness in our life. It is part of our make-up. There are things that we cannot do. There are things that we dare not do for fear of falling into temptation and away from God. There are personality traits that we wish we had and those that we do have and wish we could get rid of. There are physical limitations that keep us from easily pursuing life's daily events. There are addictions, injuries, allergies, family situations, enemies, and more that require us to overcome. Why?
There is probably a different answer for each situation. Some have asked why God, who loves us, would allow us to have these troubles. I believe that without these troubles and things to overcome, we would not realize our need for God. God sent Jesus to earth so that we would be spiritually saved for an eternity with Him. In the short 75 years on earth, we need to reach out to God and build a relationship with him. I don't know if many of us would reach out to him if we already had a perfect existence. Troubles remind us that this is not heaven and that we need to know God in order to get there. Troubles draw spirits together. Troubles draw us to the power of God.
The apostle Paul says in 2 Cor. 12: 7-10 that he has been given a "thorn" in his flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment him. Although he pleaded with God for it to be taken away, God said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
Thereafter, Paul said he delights in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties because when he is weak, then he is in God's strength.

Meet the Author

I had a new experience today. I went to the Children's Literature Festival with my daughter and members from her class. My wife and daughters are avid readers and my daughter's teacher has truly "inspired" the class this year to learn about several authors and to read their books. My daughter was approaching "rock-star" worship over one author and we planned to hear a talk by the author at the festival. My daughter made a shirt with the author's name and woke up 3 hours early to get ready to leave. She had saved her money to buy the author's latest book and hoped to be able to have it autographed. I began to wonder what kind of writer could inspire such a following. As we loaded the school bus at 6am, I noticed 3 other home-made "fan club" shirts and listened to elementary students discuss authors and books as though they were talking about sports teams and statistics or songs by the latest pop star. Needless to say, I was impressed!
My daughter was giddy as we entered the room and the author was casually talking to event coordinators as cameras flashed and kids pointed to the stage. He gave a very enjoyable talk, inspiring each of them to pursue their own dreams in writing and held their attention for nearly an hour before sending them off to meet the next author. Despite the fact that he was not greeting people individually, my daughter and a few others got to shake hands and quickly speak to him (where he actually discussed an email that my daughter had sent to him.) Once again, I was overwhelmed and I got a picture of the interchange between them and we purchased a book from the bookstore that he had signed. A great day for my daughter and class.
I started contemplating what had made this event such a success. Although the authors were good and the books were good, I have never seen kids respond so strongly to literature. They were expecting exciting things to happen before they got there. I realized that the main thing that made this experience unique was the expectation they had. The teacher had shared her passion for reading and writing books with the children on a personal level. She had exposed the kids to the literature by walking through several books with them in class, sharing insights and personal reactions along the way, and by giving them a set of goals in literature to achieve in order to attend the trip. In that way, those who went to the festival had a solid understanding and appreciation for what was going to happen that day, as well as a group of friends to share the experience.
I began to relate the experience to our Bible study efforts. The material (the Bible) is the best, the author is first rate (God.) The stories are captivating and share experiences that we all can relate to. The drama is "real life" and the implications for our lives are eternal. Why, then, do we not see a similar reaction in our Bible study groups. I wonder if we need to make sure we have the same approach. A teacher who will share a personal passion, insights, and reaction to the literature. A set of goals to achieve in our study so that we are prepared for continued growth, and a set of friends to share the experience. After our quarterly Sunday School teachers' meeting last night, this experience spoke to me as a roadmap to a more exciting study time together. We should approach this time of preparation (life) as we discover everything we can before the day comes when we get the opportunity to .... Meet the Author!

Mechanic's Gospel

I’m sure you have all had one of those weird dreams where you wake up and say "Where did that come from?" Last night I had a dream that put me in a mechanic’s shop (those who know me realize how weird that is.) In the middle of the dream, a mechanic came up to me and asked me about God. I started to share the gospel with him, but found myself trying to relate the good news to him using mechanic’s frame of reference. It started of pretty well, but of course I woke up and spent about an hour trying to come up with the rest of the message in my head at 2:00 in the morning. So I am going to try it here. Bear with me…..
When God created the world, he created everything in standard measurement (holy) and saw that it was good, just like him. God is perfect and God is love. Perfect love has free will and God made man from desire to love them. Man had the standard measurement also and also free will. Man (Adam) chose not to honor God by living according to his standard measure, but used his free will and changed his measurement to metric (sin.) Once he did this, he realized that he did not fit in God’s holy standard measurement world. God was forced to put man into a metric (sinful) world because of his choice. God could not interact with man as perfectly as before. Man’s choice separated him from God, because their natures did not match anymore. Standard (Holy) and Metric (Sinful) do not work together. Metric men and women multiplied across the earth until it was well populated with metric people, yet God desired to have a relationship with them.
One day, God revealed himself to a man who strived to live by the (Holy) standard measurements even though he was a metric man and could never achieve the measurements. Abraham showed his desire to live by God’s standards so closely, that he was willing to give up his most precious possession, his son, in an act of love. When God saw the man’s willingness to love Him above all else, God in His love reached out to Him and made a promise. God’s love and power was able to overcome the difference in their natures, but only through a supreme act of love, a blood sacrifice,… the giving of the most precious thing in the metric earth.… life. Abraham and his descendants were able to relate to God through this promise, but they had to offer animal sacrifices of the best of their flock to make up for the difference in their natures. A continuous renewing of the ultimate sacrifice which demonstrated love for God. Free will choice of selfishness had torn them apart, a free will choice of love had brought them together. Through this covenant or promise, God continued to reveal his Holy nature to those who chose to live according to His standard measure and lovingly sacrifice to make up for the difference in their natures.
Still, there were many things God could not reveal to man because man’s heart did not fully understand God’s heart. God wanted to restore the fellowship they had in the beginning. Man needed a total sacrifice to bridge the gap between them. Man needed a perfectly Holy sacrifice. Man did not possess the Holy standard and therefore could not give a totally Holy sacrifice in a sinful metric world. Man was condemned to separation from God. Having revealed all of this to man through prophets, God set in motion a plan to provide the sacrifice that man could not provide. God sent Jesus to earth. Jesus was fully Holy standard yet could also exist in the metric world, although he was not born into the metric inheritance of sin and its consequences.
Jesus was sinless and was therefore not condemned to require a blood sacrifice. His holy standard meant that if he made the sacrifice anyway, it would be the ultimate act of love… giving everything to someone else when there was no requirement to do so. This perfect sacrifice and act of perfect love would bridge the gap between the two natures.
When Jesus made that sacrifice, a new promise or covenant was set in place between God and man. By giving in love our life to Jesus, our lives fall under the holy sacrifice given in a sinful world. God has promised to apply that sacrifice to our lives, so that when we leave this sinful metric world, we will be able to be re-united with Him in his Holy standard world. We will be re-forged with the holy standard measurement in our heavenly bodies and fit in with God’s world in order to perfectly relate to Him.
As we continue to live in this world of sinful measurements, in our hearts, the Holy Spirit, reveals the holy standards to us and we strive as Abraham did to draw close to God and learn his ways until the day that we are re-united in love with Him.

Ambassador's Charge

Ambassador
(a diplomat of the highest rank; accredited as representative from one country to another.)-"Webster's Dictionary"


I have been doing personal Bible study in the book of 2 Corinthians with a new understanding of the apostle, Paul. These letter to the church at Corinth seem to be in response to a lot of complaints that the church has about him. We don't have a copy of the complaints from the church, but by the many issues he addresses, we can figure out that they are not sure what to make of Paul and Timothy's ministry. They seem to question everything including their motives of ministry. Paul's feeling are hurt by this and he tries to explain in this letter that they are not in ministry for self-promotion or prideful reasons, but that they are trying to do what the Lord has for them to do.
When the world looks at Christians, we are sometimes accused of being hypocritical, or acting "Holier than thou." Hopefully we are not, but from the world's point of view, someone striving to live a Godly life may come across that way. Paul explains that any success in living a Godly life is an honor to God, not the person living it. We are no longer living our own lives, but serving as ambassadors for Christ.
What is the work of an ambassador for Christ? Here is my paraphrase of 2 Corinthians 5:18-21. (All this is from God, He reconciled us to Himself by what Christ paid on the cross. He gave us the ministry responsibility of spreading the word and bringing others to be reconciled to Him. The message is that because of the payment for sins by Jesus, God is not holding us accountable for our sin. Therefore, we are ambassadors as though God were speaking to people through us. We carry the message for Him.)
We are a diplomat of the highest rank, accredited as a representative from God to the people of the world. The salvation given to you through Christ is your letter and credentials authorizing you to spread the gospel. Proclaim the words of the King with His authority.

Run Away! Don't Look Back!

There are a lot of directions and ideas that God is exposing me to lately that have not been a part of my life before. It seems that I have come across a lot of people lately that have dealt with or are dealing with substance addictions. Growing up, my first response, thankfully, was always to avoid such situations at all costs. I have never had a desire or temptation to use alcohol or other drugs in my own life. (Like everyone, I have other areas that demand my personal discipline to avoid.) I am happy that recently I have come into contact with several people who have walked through that valley and come out the other side with their eyes focused on the Lord.
In speaking with them, I have realized that "addiction" in itself is another way to say "an irresistible temptation." It is something that we know we should avoid, but is so desirable to us that being around it is so enticing that it results in us giving in to it.
How can we say that there is such a thing as an irresistible temptation? Can't we pray that the temptation will be taken away and that God will deliver us from it? I believe that the answer is "yes." I have spoken to many people who attest to that, but they also point out something that we often overlook. The successful ones seem to be the ones who realize that when they ask God to deliver them from an addiction, they are putting that tempting area away as a sacrifice of honor to God. It is giving up something that gives them earthly pleasure in order to honor God. That level of committment is what God honors.
So many times, people bring back an addictive situation and talk themselves into believing that it is a test to see if the temptation is really gone. It is not a test, it is another temptation and it is revoking the dedication to God that replaced the addiction. In other words, it is giving the Lord that part of your life as a sacrifice and then taking it back. Flee the evil desires of youth... it says in 2 Tim 2:22. It doesn't say see how close you can be to them and still not participate. Flee... Run... Move away.... Build a wall... Get Away... Replace the addictions with righteous things. Spiritual addictions... The rest of that verse says... but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
I believe that there are times that God completely removes an addiction and the person does not have to worry about being around the addictive substance any more, but it seems that most times He maintains that sacrificial covenant of the recovering addict and uses it as a way to keep the person involved with Him on a daily basis. We become reliant on Him and at that point, He can expose us to a deeper relationship that we otherwise would probably not have embraced.
I hope that in the areas of struggle and temptation, we can give up our feeble efforts to resist it with our own strength and make a sacrifice of that part of our lives to God, burning down the bridges behind us, fleeing with all of our might and developing new habits that create barriers between ourselves and our areas of temptation.