the end of day two of my fast

Isaiah 53:1-6 NLT

        Who has believed our message
           and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
        He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
           and like a root out of dry ground.
        He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
           nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
        He was despised and rejected by men,
           a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
        Like one from whom men hide their faces
           he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
        Surely he took up our infirmities
           and carried our sorrows,
        yet we considered him stricken by God,
           smitten by him, and afflicted.
        But he was pierced for our transgressions,
           he was crushed for our iniquities;
        the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
           and by his wounds we are healed.
        We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
           each of us has turned to his own way;
        and the LORD has laid on him
           the iniquity of us all.

It is the end of day two of my fast. I am thinking about the last week my Lord spent on this earth. He went through a lot just in order to bring me back to God.

That is, after all, why he came. God is so good that we cannot touch him. We are, after all, human and essentially evil. Jesus can touch God. He is pure.

But because he was human, he can touch us. He knows our problems.

Hebrews 4 says So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.

He was like we are, yet he did not sin. That means that he went through the same problems we do, but didn’t succumb to them.

Because of that, he is perfect. So he can touch God, who is also perfect. And he can touch us, who are human.

He can bring us into the throne room of God.

That was why he came. He didn’t come to teach us a better way, or to give us wise old sayings. He came to bring us back to God.

He was the perfect sacrifice. He died even though he had not sinned and then put death under his feet.

He gives us the ability, vicariously, to die without sin and to put death under our feet through his sacrifice.

Father God, I thank you for Jesus and for his perfect sacrifice and for his bringing us back to you. I praise you. Amen.

following jesus is harder than you think

A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, “If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:25-27)

Being a Christian seems easy until you start really looking at what is involved. And that is death to all you were before.

Jesus was not a pantywaist leader. He was a guy who was willing to die for what he believed. He was willing to endure scorn, harassment eve a violent and prolonged death for the sake of God.

What about you?

It is easy to go to an air-conditioned church and sit on comfortable chairs or pews and sing some songs with people who think the way you do. That is a piece of cake.

But what about when people get angry at you for going against what they want?

The Christians in the Middle East have the toughest time in the world, I believe. Or at least, the physically toughest time. In many of the Muslim countries, it is against the law to become a Christian. That means a person really thinks about it before he converts to Jesus. It is an action not lightly taken.

He recognizes that things could easily go bad for him, that even neighbors who had been friends could turn against him. That he and his family could be killed for their faith.

That makes a guy think.

The crowd following Jesus was following him because he fed them and he had interesting things to see. He did miracles, he argued with the religious leaders, he was always exciting.

And just following him around required no real commitment. They could always leave if things got bad.

So Jesus turns around and say that if you follow him, you have to hate everyone else by comparison. Even your own life.

That didn’t mean that you have to hate people. It just means that those around you would say, Well, I guess you must hate us the way you are taking on with that Jesus guy.

Your answer, No, I do not hate you. I just love God more.

A life lived half-heartedly is a life that is wasted. It has to be all or nothing. You cannot follow him from a distance.

And, again, as I have said before, you do not carry your cross around as punishment. You carry your cross around as death. No one was ever punished with a cross, beaten with a cross, had a cross tied to them.

When they took their cross, they went quickly to their death.

To be in Jesus means that you have to die to everything else. No halfsies in him.

That is hard.

daily java

Daily Java:

Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you. (Matthew 7:6 NLT)

Someone once said to not open a brothel with a prayer. It is also said you never argue the Bible with a drunk. Some things are worthless.

You have to recognize when it is appropriate to do something and when it is not.

Some people will never respond to the gospel and it becomes apparent soon. It is not that you abandon them. It is that you shift your way of dealing with them.

A guy makes it plain that he will ridicule everything you say to him about God. Anything you say, he turns into something foolish. So what do you do? you change and you begin recognizing that open verbal evangelism will not do anything. All you do is hold yourself and the gospel you hold dear up to ridicule.

Now there is nothing to keep you from living ads you should in front of them. But there are people that it is just not good to preach to.

Case in point: Matthew 13:53-58

When Jesus had finished telling these stories and illustrations, he left that part of the country. He returned to Nazareth, his hometown. When he taught there in the synagogue, everyone was amazed and said, “Where does he get this wisdom and the power to do miracles?” Then they scoffed, “He’s just the carpenter’s son, and we know Mary, his mother, and his brothers—James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. All his sisters live right here among us. Where did he learn all these things?” And they were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his own family.” And so he did only a few miracles there because of their unbelief.

Jesus came to them and tried to tell them the things God had told him, but they would not listen. In fact, they were offended – that last refuge of a wienie. So what did he do? He left. In fact, his ability to perform miracles was severely hampered.

Jesus could have stayed and tried to reason with them but they would not allow it. He knew he would be wasting the short amount of time God has given him.

Another case. I knew a guy in high school who made fun of everything I said, especially if it was about church. I finally quit telling him anything and quite frankly, had nothing to do with him beyond that which was absolutely necessary.

However, it was several years later that someone told me that he recognized what I said and because I had not gotten ugly and retaliated, it made him realize that what I was saying was real and accepted the Lord.

It was worthless at the time, but later it bore fruit.

Another example. The other day I saw an article on CNN that the US Army, the fighting forces of our country, burned a bunch of Bibles that were sent to give to the Afghans. They were afraid of the reaction of the Muslims so they did the most stupid thing they could do. They ran and hid, figuratively speaking.

It would be foolishness to send any Bibles to the army.

I am not going to let the cat wear my wife’s diamond earrings. I am not going to let the dog play with my good shoes. I am not going to give my guitar to someone who will just throw it away or sell it immediately.

I will treat that which is good and holy with respect or I do not deserve it.

day two of my fast: why i am fasting

Isaiah 53:1-6 NLT

        Who has believed our message
           and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
        He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
           and like a root out of dry ground.
        He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
           nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
        He was despised and rejected by men,
           a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
        Like one from whom men hide their faces
           he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
        Surely he took up our infirmities
           and carried our sorrows,
        yet we considered him stricken by God,
           smitten by him, and afflicted.
        But he was pierced for our transgressions,
           he was crushed for our iniquities;
        the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
           and by his wounds we are healed.
        We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
           each of us has turned to his own way;
        and the LORD has laid on him
           the iniquity of us all.

It is day two of my fast. Someone asked me what I was fasting toward. The best answer I can give them is that I am fasting toward to resurrection.

The last week of Jesus’ life was hard. He went through a lot. My own puny little fast is my attempt to share in his sufferings this week.

People do not understand that, and I accept the fact that they don’t. But it is something I feel I must do.

And it has been hard. I guess I lost my reserve during the 21 day fast I ended two months ago. Even though it has been two months, it feels like a short time. The hunger has come back more quickly than before.

I suppose that a fast is so abnormal that it stays with you. I still remember strongly the 30 day fast I undertook in 1997. In fact, it is hard to believe that it has been fourteen years since it happened. 

When it comes down to it, it is not natural to deny yourself the basic needs of humanity. You can live without sex, without clothes, without shelter even. But to live long, you must have food and water. You can go a while without these, but sooner or later, if you do not eat or drink, you will die.

But, again, and I have said this during the last fast, there comes a time when you want to hear the voice of God more than you want to eat. It is almost as if his word cannot penetrate through the big block of food I eat.

There are questions I have, basic questions about my life and my ministry, that I need to have answered. This fast is my ask, my seek, my knock.

Matthew 7:6-8 (NLT) says Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
I have done a lot of asking and seeking and knocking in the past couple of years. And I have not had a lot of answers. I need to hear from God.

And I may keep fasting until I do. fasting is a very biblical way of coming before God. Holy men of old did it again and again. If they did, I can.

Yes, it can be injurious in some ways to your body. However, Jesus went into the desert and fasted forty days at the beginning of his ministry. Moses fasted, others fasted and all were pleasing to God.

Therefore fasting is good before God. And I will.

Father God, I ask you for strength in this fast to continue. I also ask for answers to my questions, for verification for my ministry. I praise you. Amen.

end of day one of my week long fast

Isaiah 53:1-6 NLT

    Who has believed our message
       and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
    He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
       and like a root out of dry ground.
    He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
       nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
    He was despised and rejected by men,
       a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
    Like one from whom men hide their faces
       he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
    Surely he took up our infirmities
       and carried our sorrows,
    yet we considered him stricken by God,
       smitten by him, and afflicted.
    But he was pierced for our transgressions,
       he was crushed for our iniquities;
    the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
       and by his wounds we are healed.
    We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
       each of us has turned to his own way;
    and the LORD has laid on him
       the iniquity of us all.

It is the end of the first day of my week long fast toward Resurrection Sunday. The day at church was disappointing. There were not many there today and the tone was muted.

I put a lot of store in days like today. I suppose that is because I came from a church that eschewed them so strongly. They were, in all but actual words, forbidden.

When I came out of the Church of Christ, I decided that I would celebrate them full-bore. There is no reason not to.

However, not everybody shares my enthusiasm.

And I have to admit that many of the things I celebrate – such as Holy Week and all of the attendant stuff – have almost been unknown to Pentecostals until recently.

So I waved my palm branch today and talked about Jesus and how today he was celebrated and in just a week he was killed. And all by the same group of people.

It was because he made them mad. He didn’t do what they wanted and he didn’t act like they wanted a Messiah to act.

He loved them and they knew it, but he just didn’t fill the role the way they wanted him to.

I know how that feels. I have never really fit into the Pentecostal world. I am too other, for lack of a better word. I thought it would be different in the Foursquare Church but so far, it hasn’t.

But I persevere. As did Jesus. Not that I am like him in that regard. I am actually quite a failure.

Of course, I suppose that you could call him a failure, too, if measured by worldly standards. He never had a church of more than a couple hundred, never had a fixed location, never cared about the offering, gave everything away, was always on the outs with the denominational leadership.

Of course, he had the backing of God in all this.

I hope I do too. I have always thought of myself as a fool for Christ. Here lately, I have been afraid that maybe I am just a free-lance fool, who happens to be working for Christ right now.

Father God, I ask you for guidance. Tell me your will. show me your church in the way that you see it. Give me a renewed heart for your work. I praise you. Amen.

theological word of the day: molinism

I am drinking very strong Gevalia coffee right now. A mixture of caf and decaf French roast. I was just reading my Theological Word of the Day on My Yahoo. The word for today is Molinism

According to the article, it is:

Named after Luis de Molina, a 16th century Jesuit theologian, Molinism is a proposed reconciliation of the problems introduced in the tension between human freedom and divine sovereignty. Molinism seeks to retain both a true libertarian freedom without sacrificing divine providence or sovereignty by introducing the idea of “middle knowledge.” In this proposal God knows not only all actual situations, but all possible situations (middle knowledge). These possible situations are known as “possible worlds.” We live in the actual world, but there are countless other possibilities of how things could have turned out. God chose the possible world that allowed for libertarian freedom where people freely chose that which God ordained to occur. Therefore, libertarian freedom and sovereignty are reconciled. Those who object to Molinism do so on the basis that middle knowledge has no metaphysical grounding and because such a philosophical solution is far too extensive. Also, many would argue that the introduction of libertarian freedom is an impossibility since libertarian freedom lacks the grounds for the choices it proposes to preserve.

The Bible says that God knows all. If God knows all, and has a direction we are foreordained to go, that is predestination. If we have free will, it means that we are free to go in the direction we choose. If we have free will, predestination would not be feasible.

How is it we can reconcile our free will with God’s foreknowledge? Does God necessarily know which direction we are going to live our lives? Is there no chance of reversal of direction?

If there is no chance of reversal of direction, what is the use of prayer? If prayer moves God to something different, to what we are praying for, then there is a chance that we can change our direction from what was foreordained.

Does God necessarily know where we are going to go?

Now I do not believe in Process Theology. That says that God does not know what is going to happen and just kind of goes with the flow. If Process Theology were real, God would not be God. So there would be no point in worshiping him as such.

I believe that God is all knowing, omniscient. But, at the same time, his mind can be changed. We see that throughout the Bible. Moses was a master at changing God’s mind. Time and again, God would decide to destroy the Israelites. But Moses would plead with him and even, sometimes, point out how the nations would laugh at the Israelites’ God leaving them.

God would relent and things would not go as he wanted them to go.

Jesus even says that we can talk to God. In Luke 18:1-7, he talks about a woman who is constantly petitioning a judge to avenge her. She does it so much and so constantly that he finally does it to get her off his back. Jesus likens the judge to God. If we ask God enough, will it happen? If not, what was the point of the parable?

If that was possible then, and if God is the same, then it is possible today. If it is possible today, then we can change the outcome of things. There would be “possible worlds” like Molinism says.

I believe that we do have libertarian freedom. If we don’t, we do not truly have freedom of choice and free will.

I may be wrong. I have been before. But it seems that a God who gives us choices, gives us more than just the choices he determines for us.

day one of my week long fast: palm sunday

Isaiah 53:1-6 NLT

Who has believed our message
   and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
   and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
   nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
   a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
   he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities
   and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
   smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
   he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
   and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
   each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
   the iniquity of us all.

It is Holy Week, the week preceding the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is simultaneously good and bad. It is good because by the fact that Jesus took our sins upon himself, we do not have to have them upon ourselves. It is bad because he had to die.

Back in Genesis 3, right after the fall of mankind, God told Adam and Eve that things were going to be different, that they were going to be living in a completely altered world than the one they had lived in before. It would be a world of sin and the consequences of sin.

But before he told them anything, he told the serpent, the devil, satan, that one of these days one would come that would change that again.

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. (Genesis 3:15)

A friction that had never before existed would not only exist, but also dominate. Sin would rule, Or so it would seem. Then one day someone would come, who wold crush the head of sin.

The sad thing about it all, though, is that although sin would indeed be crushed, the heel of the crusher would be bruised.

Jesus would come. He would take away the sins of the world and make humanity once again able to, as Hebrews 4 says, boldly approach the throne of grace. When God sees us in the new era, he would no longer see our sins. We would be able to come before him knowing that we were clean and pure.

But – and there is the big problem – but Jesus, the bringer of grace and freedom, would have to die.

All sin and because of the entrance of that sin that all succumb to, all die. The devil says, because of sin, you die. However, Jesus was sinless (1 Peter 2:22). And yet he died anyway.

The devil says, okay, now you are dead and you are in my territory. Jesus, through the power of God (Romans 1:4) to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead.

Jesus had already told his disciples this same thing. He said, in Matthew 16:18, that his church would stand and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Even though Jesus had died, it did not mean that death had power over him or over his church. He came back to life and in so doing , broke the hold satan had over humanity.

Today is Palm Sunday. Today we begin that holy week and we will walk with Jesus on that week.

I begin a week long fast today. I want to participate in some way in that suffering he went through. My puny little fast will not stand  up to his magnificent sacrifice. I know that. But if in some way, some little way, I can be a part of it, I will.

Father God, I ask for power through your Son and through his Word. Give me strength, and show me your will for this church. I praise you. Amen.

daily java

Daily Java:

When Jesus noticed that all who had come to the dinner were trying to sit in the seats of honor near the head of the table, he gave them this advice: “When you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the seat of honor. What if someone who is more distinguished than you has also been invited? The host will come and say, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then you will be embarrassed, and you will have to take whatever seat is left at the foot of the table! Instead, take the lowest place at the foot of the table. Then when your host sees you, he will come and say, ‘Friend, we have a better place for you!’ Then you will be honored in front of all the other guests. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 14:7-11)

Ninth grade. I can still remember it. I took Mary Beckheusen, an eighth grade girl, to the church Christmas banquet. I even bought a black suit from Sears to wear because it was semi-formal. Mary wore a semi-formal dress in gold, I believe. We had jumbo shrimp in the Holiday Inn banquet room. This is how the rich people live, I thought at the time, going to banquets, being fancy.

When we walked in, I was clueless as to where to sit. I was after all, a ninth grader. So we picked a place and sat down.

Someone came up after a few minutes and told us we couldn’t sit there. That was the head table. So we moved. It was rather embarrassing.

I have never forgotten that. While it was not a major humiliation, I have still remembered it throughout the ensuing forty-five plus years. And I have to admit, I have never sat at the head table again unless someone asks me to.

For one thing, I recognize what a head table is now. I didn’t then.

But there is a point to all this. And Jesus makes it here. Don’t grab the best seats when you walk in.

There are some people who just seem to crave the attention of being at the front. They will take the most visible seats right off. And then they will get huffy when someone points out that those seats are reserved. How dare anyone have a chair better than mine.

I have gotten used to being in front, with people looking at me, listening to me, the sound of my voice amplified. That doesn’t bother me. But when I come to the point that I have to be there, that I can “serve” nowhere else, I have crossed over into arrogance.

If you are that great, others will tell you. If you deserve a high place, others will give it to you. If you need to sit up front, someone will tell you.

And if you don’t they will tell you that, too.

daily java

Daily Java:

When David and his men saw the ruins and realized what had happened to their families, they wept until they could weep no more. David’s two wives, Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal from Carmel, were among those captured. David was now in great danger because all his men were very bitter about losing their sons and daughters, and they began to talk of stoning him. But David found strength in the Lord his God. (1 Samuel 30:3-6)

David and his men were on the run from King Saul, who wanted to kill him. They had been out of town and had just returned in time to find out that their camp had been raided.

His men are mad. It wasn’t David’s fault but they feel the need to blame someone and David was in charge. So that made him their target.

It is easy to blame someone for something. It really doesn’t matter whether or not it was their fault or if they could have even done anything to stop it. Sometimes people feel the need to blame someone.

A few years ago there was an military accident. I don’t remember all the particulars, but, needless to say, the Air Force began casting about for someone to blame. They finally settled on a colonel who oddly enough had the same last name as I do. That is why I remember it so well.

It was finally decided that it was all his fault and they reprimanded him with a court martial and other stuff.

It was so obviously a put-up job. They had a problem, they needed a scapegoat and the man got to be the scapegoat. Even though he could not have done much to cause or stop the things that happened, it was all his fault. They could say they found the root of the problem and it would never happen again.

Same here with David. He could not have stopped it. If they had been there, they could have fought. But the guys who were mad at David had willingly followed David to where he went. So it was their fault, too.

They were just mad and wanted something or someone upon whom to vent their anger. It really didn’t matter if he was at fault or not. As far as they were concerned, it was all his fault and they were ready to kill him.

Many a pastor has been blamed for things that were not in his control simply because he was the pastor. And he and his family have been hurt as a result. The church has also been hurt, if for no other reason than that they allowed their emotions to hurt someone.

The next time something happens, look a little more closely and check things out before  you blame someone for something. This Air Force pilot had his life ruined in order to be officially at blame. And David could have been dead. If he had died, Jesus would not have come. It was, after all, David’s line the Messiah came through.

Be careful.

daily java

Daily Java:

One Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, he saw a woman who had been crippled by an evil spirit. She had been bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness!” Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised God! But the leader in charge of the synagogue was indignant that Jesus had healed her on the Sabbath day. “There are six days of the week for working,” he said to the crowd. “Come on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath.” But the Lord replied, “You hypocrites! Each of you works on the Sabbath day! Don’t you untie your ox or your donkey from its stall on the Sabbath and lead it out for water? This dear woman, a daughter of Abraham, has been held in bondage by Satan for eighteen years. Isn’t it right that she be released, even on the Sabbath?” This shamed his enemies, but all the people rejoiced at the wonderful things he did (Luke 13:10-17)

The woman cured! She had an evil spirit for eighteen years and had been bent over double. Jesus, with a comment, heals her. She stands upright for the first time in eighteen years! It is exciting!

But then the bureaucrats come in. Yeah, yeah, the healing is good. But people, there are six days in the week to be healed. This one is the Sabbath and is a holy day. So from now on, if you people want to be healed, you need to come on one of the officially authorized days during office hours please.

Jesus does what everybody wants to do to a bureaucrat. He lambasts them.

That is rank hypocrisy, he says. You feed  your animals on the Sabbath, don’t you? And water them. This woman had been tied up for eighteen years and you people, for sure, haven’t been able to do anything about it. And now you gripe when I do it because I didn’t do it your way.

It is like the guy who is mad at the preacher because, not of what he did, but how he did it. He doesn’t preach out of the right translation, he doesn’t sing the right songs, he doesn’t preach acceptable doctrine (the stuff I believe), he doesn’t wear a tie, he doesn’t stand behind the pulpit.

The church is growing, but the music is too loud, the people are disorderly, I don’t know anybody, they aren’t dressed right.

The church is feeding people that need it, but the kitchen is always messy, they come at all hours, we can't get anything else done.

It is a big youth group bringing many kids to Jesus, but these kids look weird, they are loud, they do not show the proper respect.

Some people will never be happy about anything, it doesn’t matter how good it is. And they will do their level best to tear it up, even though it is good and doing good things.

That sense of griping, officiousness, bureaucracy stifles and kills any good work. It is just plain hard to keep any momentum going when that is allowed to rule.

That is one reason we  are having so much trouble in our country today. Common sense has been eliminated and bureaucrats rule.

When that is knocked down, when someone “speaks truth to power” in a real way (not in a partisan or political way), people are happy.

They loved it when Jesus shoved these bureaucrats’ words back down their throats. To complain about, not the thing being done, but the way they are being done and using that as a tool to get their own way. The audacity.

Many a church has been torn down by such people. Good things happen until someone gets mad because things are being done in a way that doesn’t suit them. The problem is they were not consulted nor in charge.

So rather than realizing that good is being done, they will tear it all down.

They tried with Jesus and even thought they had won when they killed him. they hadn’t, of course, but there are the bodies of good men and women all over who have tried to do things against the grain. It is a shame.