Swept Away

"Be sure to fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things He has done for you. Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away." 1 Samuel 12:24-25

I have been reading about Samuel the prophet in recent days. I have come to three conclusions about us human types and rather than elaborate or give great detail and try to persuade you that these three things are not only valid, but profound and foundational to our walk, I am simply going to bullet point them and let them stand on their own. The Scripture I shared are Samuel’s last words to the people before Saul becomes King, which was not God’s perfect will, but God in His permissive will allowed it to happen.

His Eyes and Heart

"The Lord said to him, ‘I have heard the prayer and pled you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and heart will always be there.'" 1 Kings 9:3

God speaking to Solomon after he had achieved all he had desired to do. I want you to know today that the promise God makes to Solomon, He makes to you. Why? Because you who are believers, are now His temple. Therefore the truth in Principle applies to each of us personally. Let me list the blessings and promises of being His temple.

No God Like You

"O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth below, you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way."
1 Kings 8:23

This is Solomon’s first line in the prayer of dedication of the Temple that has just been finished. Said out loud, arms outstretched to God in front of the whole assembly of Israel. I would bet he had undivided attention and everyone quiet. This opening sentence is both beautiful and convicting. Beautiful because there is no God like our God. Right now, stretch your arms out towards Him and say it, because it’s true. God’s covenant is one of love, not judgment, not even primarily righteousness, but love. Even here in the Old Testament, under the law, a covenant of love. All God has done for us, motivated by love. From Him to us, always in love. Remember…… Love from God is not confused with approval or acceptance or codependence, it is pure, sincere and unconditional, but is from grace regardless of our wrong behaviors. We have to imitate this kind of love because it does not come naturally. He loves like this through us when we surrender to Him. Oh how I cherish His love. Then comes the conviction. We servants of His are expected to continue wholeheartedly in His way. Wait, there are expectations? I thought His love was unconditional. It is. If we really receive it we would try more and more to be wholeheartedly committed. His perfect love merits, deserves and desires our totally, wholehearted, faithful response. He gives us what we don’t deserve, (unmerited favor) so that we would give Him willful surrender. That is what brings Him glory. His glorification is my purpose.

The Joash Chest

"Jehoida the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid. He placed it beside the altar, on the right side as one enters the temple of the Lord. The priest who guarded the entrance put into the chest all the money that was brought to the temple of the Lord." 2 Kings 12:9

As I grew up in my home church through my teen years and also when I served as a youth pastor in my 20’s, two of those ministries had what they called the Joash chest. Though Jehoida the priest made the chest, it was Joash the King that ordered him to do so. The reason? Seems as though the temple had fallen into disrepair. Though we preach firmly that the church today is not the building, we still must maintain it and protect it and beautify it appropriately. The Joash chest made sure there were monies to hire craftsmen to make quality repairs and improvements. There were actually two problems this solved. A tendency to make cheap fix-it temporarily repairs and that monies got spent in other places instead of taking care of the temple. In both churches that did this, they were very serious about the dedicated monies and the quality of work. As was true for Joash and the priests also. Grace Harbor recently made some beautification improvements that were done very nicely. There are more needed. But these changes truly made a difference and so will the next ones. Here is the principle and commitment we should continue at Grace Harbor. 

God's Hope

"And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, Whom He Has given us." Romans 5:5

Life has its disappointments. Most of us are disappointed by others and really more often than we easily admit to ourselves. We are disappointed when our expectations are not met. Too often we have unreasonable and inappropriate expectations, of others and ourselves, of the family, the job, the church, and the community. As sure as we trust God and he is our hope we should also relinquish our expectations to Him. When I completely trust God and put my hope in Him my expectations adjust accordingly. That is why hoping in God doesn’t disappoint! He has planted into our hearts with love this unquenchable hope, but it is a spiritual thing, monitored and sustained by the Holy Spirit. So we must get connected to the Holy Spirit. He was installed in us at salvation, but our up keep of that divine connection has been rather random and somewhat inconsistent. So we must open our hearts and let Him pour in us again and again through His love that hope producing sense of Him being right there. We so need to be flooded and saturated with His presence and power in our hearts. We know He loves us, but we must receive this poured out love like a well or fountain and not in Dixie cups for survival. Fill us up to overflowing God so we don’t run dry and consequently dry out everyone else too. May you receive a flood of hope from these truths.

For His Spirit,

Pastor Fred

Swept Away

"Be sure to fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things He has done for you. Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away." 1 Samuel 12:24-25

I have been reading about Samuel the prophet in recent days. I have come to three conclusions about us human types and rather than elaborate or give great detail and try to persuade you that these three things are not only valid, but profound and foundational to our walk, I am simply going to bullet point them and let them stand on their own. The Scripture I shared are Samuel’s last words to the people before Saul becomes King, which was not God’s perfect will, but God in His permissive will allowed it to happen.

Save Me!

"Save me O God, for the waters have come up to my neck." Psalm 69:1

In Psalms, sometimes there is a note at the beginning that gives a couple of informative notes about the chapter. This one is written for the director of music which means it was to be used for worship. It also says David wrote it and that it could be sung to another tune David had written entitled, “Lilies”.

God's Children

"They brought the boy to Eli, and she said to him, ‘As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him. So Now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.’ And he worshiped the Lord there." 1 Samuel 1:25b-28

Let’s begin with a few notes. The Parents are Elkanah and Hannah, Eli is the priest and very young Samuel is the child. Hannah tells Eli basically, “Remember some years back when I prayed with you for a baby? This is him.” Then she dedicates him to the Lord, and to the service of the Lord. This reminds me of two things. One, how grateful my mother was that I survived a near death experience at age five. One of my earliest memories is seeing the pastor of Brown St. Baptist Church comforting my crying mother as I was wheeled away to emergency surgery. She has mentioned more than once what a gift I have been and how my life of service to the Lord makes sense. The other thing this reminds me of is how many recent births and pregnancies I know of from people who prayed so hard and God granted them what they prayed for. Through difficulty, waiting, doubt, hopelessness and faithfulness, patience, blessing and miracles, God has brought answers to years of prayers. I am currently praying for two couples who are infertile for God to bless them too. What an amazing blessing a baby is. Few experiences compare. We were infertile for ten years and then miraculously able to adopt. However they come, they are definitely from God. So we should dedicate them to the Lord. After all, they are not ours, they are His. We cannot have them or get them without Him. I pray that you will express your gratefulness to God for His children, however you got them and however long it took, or even if you are still waiting. We believers in particular need to remember that we are His children, each one of us. Hannah remembered her prayer and to follow through on her vow to dedicate Samuel. All glory to God for His children and the blessing of having them in our lives which all belong to Him.

I am one of His children,
Pastor Fred

Surely This Is Our God

"In that day they will say, ‘Surely this is our God; we trusted in Him and He saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in Him, Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation." Isaiah 25:9

The day that Isaiah is referring to is the day when God wipes away all fear and removes all disgrace. That happened on the cross. Death was conquered and sin was forgiven. Disgrace was replaced with grace. When we repent and trust in Him, we receive this gift of salvation. It should bring gladness and rejoicing. We do tend to dwell on the lesser things in this life. We are too consumed by worry, trouble, issues and drama; a veritable feeding frenzy on everything wrong, negative and discouraging. Hope has to work real hard to compete with hopelessness. Why is that? I think if we can invent, promote, and feed problems, then we can talk about and sell solutions outside of Christ and His word and salvation. See, those things are free, not a lot of need to be met when He meets all our needs. There is a commerce of trouble and problems and worry and fear. When we trust God, we aren’t as needy. The world needs to keep us needy and dependant. The world, in effect, creates problems to solve. So we find simple things like rejoicing, gladness, trusting God and salvation difficult to focus on and celebrate and even harder to promote. Let us often speak of His free gift that is the answer, instead of being played by a world that needs us to have problems. Surely this is what our God desires for us.

In Him,
Pastor Fred

His Great Mercy

"But in your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God." Nehemiah 9:31

Oh how grateful I am for His great mercy. This verse is shared by Nehemiah in one of his many reflective statements in response to the seemingly never-ending cycle of the human propensity when forgiven, shown grace, given mercy, restored and blessed to return to their old ways. Oh isn’t this the pattern we fall into. This is the story of human nature. Blessed, then distracted, then off course, then rebellious, avoidant, in denial, arrogant, defensive, making excuses, faking it, miserable, reflective, needy, in pain, isolated, conscientious, penitent, calling out to God, forgiven, shown mercy, loved, restored, grateful, blessed… and then it begins again. In the previous verse it says after His people were restored once again “as soon as they were at rest, they did what was evil in His sight.” You know of course at any point of our cyclical descent we can take that bridge of His great mercy and grace back to Him. But no, once we get fixed on heading to the bottom, we seem to be destined to find it again. He could in all righteousness let us crash and burn or self destruct, but His great mercy takes over and He does not turn His back or abandon us, even though we deserve it. Instead He is again gracious and forgiving. He spares us over and over again. All because He did not spare His perfect Son. He let Him take our consequences, thereby making grace possible. You would think we could learn easier and faster, and we can. But, too often we do not. We miss opportunities to turn it around. We take days, weeks, months and years instead of moments, minutes and hours. We suffer and spread our suffering around like a sickness. Such a shame that we take so long with our shame. Kinda selfish how long we play it out in our games of denial, avoidance, blame-letting, pride, control and self-indulgence. But God remains the same, ever ready to transform our hearts and give us every possibility to surrender to Him as soon as our prideful will is open to relent and repent. Indeed His mercy is great; He is a gracious and merciful God. For my part dear Lord, I am so sorry for how I compound my problems, spread my trouble and wait too long to seek you. My heart is not always as humble as it is now. Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me.

Join me in sincere contrition,
Pastor Fred

Let Him Go

"Jesus said to them, 'Take off the grave clothes and let him go.'" John 11:44b

As you may have already guessed, these are the words spoken by our Lord to the people who have just witnessed the resurrection from the dead of Lazarus. Poor Lazarus, now alive, very alive and still wrapped up in grave clothes, somewhat like a mummy. What an awkward position. Free but trapped. Clean, but stinky. Alive, but still looking dead. How many of us have been freed from our sin and are still entangled in our bondage? I am sure Lazarus wanted a bath, some regular clothes and to get out of that tomb. He needed some help though. So Jesus instructed his friends and family to help him. More awkwardness. Like “Eww!” and “Wow!” at the same time. I am sure the range of emotions and reactions was huge. But again, friends, how about a little help for those who have recently been set free. Kind of like getting out of prison and being told, “Here is $50 bucks, now stay out of trouble.” We need family and friends during transition times. We need help with the messy stuff. Otherwise, we still look dead or trapped or unchanged. Part of the problem is it is as difficult to accept help as it is to find it. Hence why so many are trapped in the cycle of marginal circumstances, such as “lovelessness”, “addiction”, mental illness and disenfranchisement. Transition is messy and complicated. Lazarus could have had a little post traumatic stress you know. Somewhere between ignoring people and enabling them there has got to be a way to mainstream people for their lives to change or be restored. Or, we could keep throwing unaccountable money at the problem or medicate or incarcerate everyone who needs a hand up more than a hand out. It is complicated. But Lazarus received his miracle, his family was there, he accepted help and got on with his life. I think there is more than one lesson here. With some teamwork we could probably free more people up and let them go.

In His Service,
Pastor Fred

Seeing the Kingdom

"In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God, unless he is born again." John 3:3

This reply is given to Nicodemus who has arranged a more private meeting with Jesus to ask some questions and to discuss the power Christ has to do miracles. Jesus is basically saying that seeing miracles does not mean you know God. Experiencing God’s power second-hand does not make you a believer. To know the King or see the kingdom, either the eternal one or the one of His work and power, is a matter of spiritual rebirth. You must totally redo your thinking, totally relinquish power, and fully surrender to the King. Then, you can really see the kingdom of God. Even then, no comparison to what we will one day see.

Betrothed to the Lord

"I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion, I will betroth you in faithfulness and you will acknowledge the Lord!" Hosea 2:19-20

God’s people from the beginning have been fickle. Though God has always been faithful, we have not. In these verses after a chapter or more of describing His people’s unfaithfulness, Hosea speaks o new commitment from God. God is always trying to get a fresh start with us. So here He uses marriage language to describe how He wants our relationship to be. He says He wants to commit to us forever. He says He wants the commitment to be founded in righteousness and justice. But not just that, but then something so personal and intimate, in love and in compassion. He desires mutuality in our relationship with Him. He wants us to love Him with our whole hearts and to return His faithfulness in response to His. He will actually teach us how to love by loving us righteously, fairly, with commitment, truth and compassion. Really a beautiful passage. He wants it to be the best it can be. His desire is that when we receive His covenant of faithful love than we will in turn acknowledge Him for who He is and sincerely return that love to Him. Because He is worthy of it. Because He first loves us. We really need to keep our vow of covenanted relationship to Him so much more faithfully. Since He is totally committed and faithful don’t you think we could be more responsive and more faithful?

Loving Him,
Pastor Fred

Up and Comings

"Your own conduct and actions have brought this upon you. This is your punishment. How bitter it is. How it pierces the heart." Jeremiah 4:18

When I read the indictments against nations and peoples in the Old Testament it is easy to say how “yeah, those guys had it coming”, or “What is their problem?” Instead, I try to read all indictments as a warning of the consequences of sin. Like my sin. Like your sin. The Bible is a continuous reminder of grace, of choices and ramifications of our selfishness, rebellion and disobedience, His forgiveness and our sin.

I Said

"I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:9-10

These words of Isaiah Spoken to comfort God’s people, comfort me today. We need to remember He Chose us and remind ourselves that we are not rejected. No matter how weak or wrong we are. His presence and perfect love overwhelms and casts out our fear. Therefore no need to be dismayed. Everything we can’t control and do not know can be relinquished to Him. There is only one true God, our God, the only God. And He is our God. How encouraging. Because He is our God He has promised out of His love and grace and mercy to help us and give us strength to overcome our weakness. Even if our weakness repeats itself or our dismay returns, He is with us and will see us through. He is our ever present help. His right hand of justice and righteousness and the truth. Consider it when you need help and never forget it. By His Grace,
Pastor Fred

Between the Lines

"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God. The creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom." Isaiah 40:28

This is Isaiah’s response to the complaint that somehow God didn’t know what was going on and that He disregarded His people. Imagine Isaiah’s sharp reply with me phrase by phrase and the possible messages behind the words.

We Should Not Stay In Darkness

"I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." John 12:45

Whenever I need encouragement quickly I turn to the words of Jesus. We know that all of God's Word is useful for teaching and is true, but there is just something about the things that the Lord Himself said. He indeed is the light of the world. The shadiness that is so prevalent is definitely due to a seemingly strategic avoidance of His light. There almost seems to be an undercurrent of effort to dim His light. We shy away from using His Name. We almost believe it is illegal to speak of Him. It is not by the way. We just don't. There is this competition between darkness and light. It is out there in general in the spiritual realm. It is also in the culture and it is the battle within every human being. Darkness cannot eradicate light. By its very nature light is more powerful than darkness. You know the old saying...."If everyone lit just one little candle." His light is the most powerful force and combined with His love it is unstoppable. His light shines in every believer. That is why when we allow darkness in, we feel so uncomfortable. Whenever we see darkness creeping, we long for the light.