In Jesus Christ everyone of God’s promises is a “YES”.  For this reason is is through Him that we say the Amen, to the glory of God.  II  Corinthians 1:20

    Often when children ask their parents if they can do something, they will plead with them, often remarking, “say yes mom” ” say yes dad”  please please, just say yes.  The parent would often try their very best to respond with a positive because they knew their child put so much of their heart in the pleading.  But sometimes they had to say no.

     As adults we also ask others to do things.  We request things of people at work, at home, and in church.  We too can finish the request by saying, now you promise you will do this right?  Why?  Because we know that often the best intentions are met with neglect.   It is very easy for us to transfer our human behavior to God, and to think that He is not always willing to do what He says.

   But God is more eager to keep His promises then we are.  It is true that sometimes God’s timing is different than ours.  And at other times God is waiting for us to have faith, or to be more obedient.  James says that the prayers, of a righteous or obedient person are what pleases God.   The Scripture in I Corinthians, says that all the promises God makes to us are yest in Jesus Christ.  In other words, because of what He has done on the cross, in dying for our sin, we are able to receive every blessing we need.

      When we read ” My God shall supply all your needs”  Phil 4:19,  or when Jesus promised in John 14:27 the “Peace that the world cannot give” or when Paul writes in Romans 8:39  ”that there is nothing that can seperate us from the love of God” These promises are yes to us through Christ.  As you pray today ask the Lord to bless you and guide you, and thank Him that it is through Christ that He says yes.    JDL

    I was in the capital city of Tallin in Estonia during my last ministry trip there. As Urmas Rahuvarm my host pastor and I walked the streets we noticed that young adult representatives of RC Cola were handing out free samples.  They were in a number of locations all over the city.  The company obviously believed in the product enough to invite everyone to try it.  We each took a can.  RC Cola was a favorite of mine when I was a child.

    I was reminded of the fact that we as believers should have similar confidence in the gospel so that we want to share it with everyone.  Estonia desperately needs the Good News, because barely 1 % of the population goes to church.  Not only in Estonia but right here in Michigan many persons need to receive the free gift of God’s salvation. 

  The gospel writer said, that God our Father sends us out into the “highways and byways” to invite everyone to fill the Father’s house.  Who are you inviting to the Father’s house?  Who are you seeking to share the Good News with.  Are you as confident as the students handing out RC Cola?  Pray for God to send someone across your path that you might share God’s love with them. As you do it, invite them to worship.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if God’s house was full.  JDL 

      We also feel at times as if we are very distant from God.  Often like Israel, we have not obeyed as we should.  Sometimes circumstances have occurred where life has beaten us up.  But God longs to welcome us home.  Just as parents delight in having their children home on holidays like Thanksgving and Christmas, so God desires to welcome us into His presence.  

    If you are experiencing a time when God does not feel so near, and you do not feel connected know that God is waiting patiently to welcome you.  Like the story of the Prodigal Son, the Father sees us from afar, and He stand with open arms to receive us.  He loves us and will always welcome us home.  Take a moment today and ask God to bring you closer, and to show you that you belong to Him.  You will find great peace and contentment. JDL

You are deflated, and you give up.  Not a likely scenerio perhaps, because everyone knows it is very difficult to see a dignitary like that.  The only way you could ever see the President is if you were one of his best friends, then you might catch him. But did you ever stop and think that God is a greater dignitary then all the leaders of the world, yet we have direct access to Him.  Why?  Because God accepts each of us as His special friends.

This happens because Jesus Christ died on the cross for us.  The bible says we have confidence to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Christ.  We can now approach God every day, day and night.   Take a moment to talk to the one in charge of the universe.  He will help you with what you need.  He will have wisdom for your choices today.  JDL

Sunday, September 05, 2010

UMC of Swartz Creek, J.D. Landis

Mark 9: 1-8

Who Are You Listening To?

How many of you have gone on a trip this summer, on a vacation, or just a day or two traveling and you come back with a new perspective?  Sometimes we have to get out of our normal routine, to do something with our friends or family that just sort of breaks us loose from the humdrum of life. I have a friend who took his family white water rafting last summer.   It would not be for everyone and it was pretty scary for mother.  They stayed in a cabin in the mountains and it really did something wonderful for their family.  They had all sorts of pictures of being together on the raft, and that was all they could talk about for months. They will never forget that time.  Jesus was going to take the disciples away for awhile, and He was going to give them an adventurous experience.  They were going to know Him better and to see things much differently.

I.  We Need to Come Aside From the Hectic Pace of Life.

Things had been pretty intense for Jesus and the disciples.  They had been doing ministry fast and furiously.  Feeding thousands on the mountainside, crossing a lake in a storm,  traveling to cities they had never been to, ministering and praying for others. Through it all Jesus was trying to teach something to them, but they were not always getting it.  We don’t often get it either.  We often miss what God is trying to say to us.  We are held prisoner by what someone once called the Tyranny of the Urgent.  We must do this, we must do that.  We have to pick up that item for our work, we need to call some people, a car needs a repair, and the house needs cleaning and we have lists to check off.

Jesus decided that His disciples needed a break from what seemed so urgent.  They were going to do something out of the ordinary and He was also going to draw closer to them and show them who He was. Jesus was going to take the disciples up into a very high mountain.  The mountain itself was beautiful, but up there they were going to have the biggest spiritual high you could imagine.  John Denver wrote, almost heaven West Virginia, Blue Ridge Mountain, Shenandoah Valley, and those mountains are beautiful.  But on this mountain heaven was going to come down, and they were going to see some people that no-one else had ever seen at least not for 2,000 years.

Now we are not sure which mountain this was, but some think it was Jebel Jermak in upper Galilee, which rises 4,000 feet overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.  If it was Jebel Jermak it would have been a wonderful walk and a really great view of the Mediterranean. There is a mountain in Maine that overlooks Camden Harbor and it is the most breathtaking mountain view I have ever seen.  You look out at the Atlantic, down the mountain ridge and then over to Camden Harbor with amazing sailboats.  This may have been a little like the view on this mountain.

As they walked up the mountain they got to talk.  I am sure they talked about the scenery.  Jesus loved His father’s world. He said consider the lilies of the field, there is nothing as beautiful as they are.  Perhaps part way up they sat on a rock and rested.  Jesus may have said, lead me to the rock that is higher then I.  They may have looked up and seen an eagle.  As the eagle soared so effortlessly in the air, He may have said, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings like eagles.

As they walked up the mountain, they must have wondered what is in store for us today?  By now they knew Jesus was pretty amazing.  People had said He was like Elijah, like Moses or Abraham and David.  Anything could happen.  There could be a storm, a miracle, or a voice from heaven.  We might ask the same thing, what does the Son of God have in store for us today?  What wonderful amazing thing does He want to do?  When they get to the top of the mountain, there was probably a meal together.  As they looked out over the sea, he probably also taught them.  Then as usual it was time for prayer.  They may have sung a song.  Jesus was always singing songs with them in the garden prayer places.  This was going to be an overnight. They probably had a bed roll.  It would be cooler there on top of the mountain.  How would you like to do an overnight retreat with Jesus?

Somewhere in the evening the disciples begin to fall asleep.  They were always falling asleep.  When you think about it the disciples were pretty ordinary.  It is hard to believe that Peter the mouthy one, that James and John who were filled with pride were going to change the whole world.  But Peter became the rock of the church, James became a pillar in the Jerusalem church and John became the senior statesmen living to be 100 or so.  But how does this happen?

God is going to pour something into them that will give them the strength and the faith.  God wants to pour something into you and I that will allow us to be used mightily for the kingdom too. We need to believe that if God is going to do something in us, that He will give us what we need to accomplish that purpose, and it will not be just our own ability.  God loves to take ordinary people to do extraordinary things.  So don’t be discouraged if a lot of people look at you as ordinary, you let them know that you serve an extraordinary God.  The only obstacle is when we try and do it ourselves without God.  Tonight they are going to see how very incredible Jesus is.  Like them we also need to see how great our Savior is if we are going to experience great things through our faith.

II. We Need To See Who Jesus Is

So the disciples are sleeping. Peter may have been snoring. They just about miss what God has for them.  That is so much like us.  God has great things to show us and to give us, but we just can’t seem to take it all in.  We don’t have the heart for it, the time for it, or the energy, but I am telling you God has so much more for you than you have received.  There have been times when I left off prayer and meditation and I know I missed what God wanted.  God wants to transform your faith more then you ever dreamed.

You think that God is not giving you what you need, but God is saying you can’t get what you need, because you don’t let me give you what I have for you.  You don’t give enough of your heart to me, only just so much.  When you give more and more to me, I am going to give more and more to you.  You are still holding on to habits, on to fears, on to doubts, on to pride on to lust on to greed, and when you let go and let me come to you and fill you will be amazed at how incredible it can be.

Merrill Womack was flying his small piper cub airplane, but the engine shut down, and he crashed in the woods in Minnesota.  He was so glad to have survived, but then the plane caught fire, and he was trapped inside unable to get out. When they finally got there to drive him to the hospital his body was severely burned, and his head was like a giant marshmallow.  He was in great pain, but as he rode He called with all his heart out to God, and Merrill said GOD’s presence was so strong that His supernatural peace and strength overshadowed the pain.  It was months before he was able to leave the hospital and countless surgeries till he looked somewhat human.  But God met Merrill in the fire, and now he sings songs that are used in churches, hospitals, and funeral homes because they bring such comfort. Everyone of you here have heard him at funeral homes and found comfort, because of what he found in Jesus Christ.

Now the amazing thing in this story is that not only are the disciples going to receive something from God but Jesus is also.  There is a mystery here, but it appears that Jesus Christ also needed the encouragement that God wanted to give Him.  Jesus was having a hard time holding the popular opinion off.  He may have been wrestling with the Father, saying God I cannot hold them back much longer, they want to take me by force and make me a king.  Elijah and Moses may have been sent to give Him encouragement that the time was soon when He would complete the work on the cross.  This was the message, because when Jesus was walking down they talked about the kingdom coming.

This encouragement was desperately needed.  We know that is true, because Jesus told the disciples in the garden that He needed them to stay awake with him to support Him. We know He got so weak in the dessert that angels had to come and heal him.  Jesus is getting closer to the cross, and He needs some heavenly messengers to give Him some support.  It may be that he needed to cling to this moment, this mountain top experience while he went through the valley of hell.  Just as Jesus needed Moses and Elijah to come to encourage Him, you and I need to have partners with us in our prayers to encourage us.  Sometimes we just cannot do it alone.  We feel like our faith just can’t get off the ground, but the support of someone else will break it loose.  Find a partner in prayer this week, and let them support you and encourage you.

So it is not wrong to feel weak.  Anyone of us can burn out.  If Jesus needed help how much more do you and I?  I was reading the book by Tyrone Gordon who spoke to our men this spring in Fenton.  He was a powerful speaker, but he told in his book that ministry things wore him out so much that he had a nervous breakdown.  He just started crying in his office and they got some friends who took him away for a few weeks.  But God poured strength into him to lead a church to grow to 8,000.  God has strength to pour into you and I, if we will allow Him.

Now look with me at what happens.  As Jesus prays he begins to change.  He begins to shine brightly, His clothes start to get white and His face is just beaming.  You know we talk about prayer changes things, but prayer also changes you.  When we really enter into deep communion God changes our attitude, and our perspective.  When this happens others will see us more full of joy, peace and love. Jesus has entered into the mighty presence of God, no even more then that, heaven has come down and glory has filled the place.  Now the light is not just like a light bulb, not just like a million candle power spotlight but like the sun.  Because Jesus is God…He shines like God.

As the light shone all the darkness is now gone.  For the disciples it must have been like the night had ended and the sun began to rise.  Most of us wake when the sun rises, and it has that affect on the disciples.  Peter, James and John see those rays and think why it must be morning but it is not the sun, but it is their Lord, and he is talking with two people.  “Who in the world got up here on the mountain in the middle of the night”?  So they start to listen in.  “My goodness these brothers are pretty advanced in the faith”.  They really know about God.  As they listen more, they think why they have to be prophets, but what are they talking about?  “Man alive Peter, he talks like he is Moses”.  “And this other one He is just as mighty and they are shining too, my word we are seeing Moses and Elijah”.  They pinch one another…they rub their faces.

As they listen they hear a discussion about Christ’s journey to the cross.  Moses and Elijah had a message from heaven for Christ.  They were ministering to Him like the angels did before.  Heaven has come down to Christ and to the disciples on the mountain and heaven can come to us as we enter God’s presence.  Picture an invisible zipper being pulled down revealing Christ walking in our midst, and angels around us.  I have talked to people who said they saw the figure of an angel at the altar during worship.  Like those on the mountain we can be transformed too.  We can see things that we have never seen before.  We can have a breakthrough in our lives, finding peace, joy and love.  Peter was so happy he wanted to build little wilderness booths, like lean-to’s.  But it even gets better.  Next a cloud surrounds them and they actually hear God speak from heaven.  God says…this is my beloved son, hear Him.  Above all else we are to…

III. Hear This Greatest Messenger

The disciples were totally amazed by the presence of Moses and Elijah, but the message of the Holy Spirit was Jesus my Son is even more powerful in Word and deed then they are.  So you must listen to Him above all.  Seeing the great lawgiver, Moses, the one everyone talked about was almost like seeing God to them.  And then to see Elijah the great prophet, it was what everyone dreamed of, but God said this carpenter from Nazareth is even more powerful then they are.

I have seen people wowed by a dramatic speaker, but the speaker did not have the depth of truth of some other less glamorous speakers.  The world is often caught up in the drama and excitement of many showy stars, nationally known preachers and political speakers, but it does not necessarily mean they are speaking the truth, especially the truth of God.   We were at a wedding, and the speaker was not as engaging as some, but my wife and I said, man that guy gave some of the best instruction on marriage we have ever heard.  But as we listened to others, because he was not so interactive they did not receive it as we did.

The religious experts were saying Jesus was a quack.  They were saying we have Moses and the prophets, you are not as great as them.  But God spoke from heaven and said, this is my son, hear him.  God will confirm what we hear from Him, in what happens.  God was going to confirm the Word in His Son no matter what anyone said.  Jesus words lasted, others faded.  Are you hearing from Jesus or just your favorite pet ideas?  Are you doing what He told you or just what is the latest new idea?

The only way they could see the plan more clearly was to get closer to Jesus. When we do our pathway and surroundings grow lighter.   What happened on that mountain was much bigger then any worry or fear the disciples had.  When we get closer to Christ, and see His light shining like the sun, the anxieties of life will fade away.  As the song says, turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full into His glorious face, and the things of life will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.  What is eating you up right now?  Say Lord I want to see you, I want to know you, I want your light for my path.  Change me transform me, and take what I cannot accomplish and give me peace for what I fear.

Folks being with God transforms and hearing from God transforms you.  There are so many voices in this world.  The voice of secular wisdom, the ideas of friends and family, even the voice of other well intentioned Christians which can be wrong.  These little voices bounce around in our head.  But we need to listen to Christ above all else. Get into his Word, get into prayer and get with others to share.  Talk a walk this afternoon and enjoy nature and talk to God about what you need.  You can have a mountaintop experience.  Listen to Him.  Let the other things fall away.  He will surround you with His cloud of peace and joy.

   Key Verse:  “Blessed be the name of God from age to age, for wisdom and power are his.” Daniel 2:20

   Our scripture selection for today has a very special place in my heart.  It is the text to my first published composition, “Prayer of Daniel”.  I remember studying the text and then trying to echo the meaning of the words in the music.  When the text read “He changes times and seasons,” I changed the time signature in every measure, from four counts per measure to three, to two and back again.  When the text read “He reveals deep and hidden things,” I made sure that the word “deep” was one of the lowest notes in that part of the melody and sung first by the bass part only.  Deep indeed!  And when the text read “He knows what is in the darkness,” I painted with dark, minor chords to contrast with the bright major chords on “Light dwells with him.”  In the back of my mind I could see the night-lights that my children wanted in their rooms, because, of course, they did not know what was in the darkness and that made things scary.
   The story of Daniel has always been a favorite of mine.  I especially like this episode in which King Nebuchadnezzar demanded an interpretation of his disturbing dream.  When the royal magicians could not tell him the dream, he threatened them with execution.  What was Daniel’s first response to the threat?  He and his friends had a prayer meeting.  And when the dream and its interpretation was revealed, they had another prayer meeting, recorded for us in today’s reading.  Only then did Daniel take his message to the king.  And Daniel was diligent about giving the God of his Hebrew ancestors all the credit.  In verses 27,  28a and 30 Daniel says, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or diviners can show to the king the mystery that the king is asking, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has disclosed to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen at the end of days. . . . But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me because of any wisdom that I have more than any other living being, but in order that the interpretation may be known to the king and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind.”
   What an admirable combination of faith, humility, obedience and courage.  Oh, that we would all “Dare to Be a Daniel”!
       
Richard Moreland

   Key Verse:  “But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5
 
   If you’ve been following the devotions on this web site all week, you may be saying to yourself, “I think I’ve heard that last phrase somewhere before.”  Well, you’re right.  The same idea is expressed in I Peter 2:24.  In fact, Peter may be intentionally quoting Isaiah to give weight to the point he is making.  “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”  This theme, called “Substitutionary Atonement” by theologians, runs throughout the Bible.
   But why do we need a substitute to suffer in our place?  Couldn’t God just say “I forgive you” and let it go at that?  Isn’t God omni-whadayacallit?  Omnipotent.  All powerful.  God can do anything God chooses to do.”  But if God chose to forgive unpunished sins, then God would no longer be just.
   Think of it this way.  If I deliberately injure you, break your arm, say, you need for justice to be done.  You shouldn’t have to bear the expense of medical care for something that was done to you maliciously and you should be compensated for the pain I have caused you.  If the case goes to court can the judge say, “Rich, I forgive you for breaking this person’s arm; you’re free to go?”  The judge is not the injured party.  What right does he have to forgive me for injuring you?  That may be mercy, but that can never claim to be justice. 
   God’s perfection includes both mercy and justice.  But that means for every act of mercy, there must be a corresponding act of justice.  You still have a painful, debilitating injury that must be paid for.  If the judge chooses to be merciful to me, then someone else, not you, has to pay for it.  In the Kingdom of God that “someone else” is Jesus Christ.
   Thank you, Jesus, for making it possible for God to be merciful to me and, at the same time, just to those I have offended.  What a miracle!
    
Richard Moreland

   Key Verse:  “The Lord is with me as a mighty, awesome one.” Jeremiah 20:11 (NKJV)
 
   Our reading for today expresses Jeremiah’s inner conflict.  God has overpowered him and entrusted him with a message, but the message brings the prophet into conflict with the society and culture to which he has been sent.  He would stifle the offending message if he could, but when he does, his bones feel like they are spontaneously combusting and he can’t hold it in.  This same God who has exposed Jeremiah to such scorn and derision is also the prophet’s powerful defender and brings retribution upon those who mock and reject the message.  It is hard to tell from this passage whether Jeremiah views God’s power as working for him or against him!
   Whether directed at us or on our behalf, God’s power is, indeed, awesome.  The Psalms frequently celebrate this power at work parting the Red Sea and delivering the Israelites from slavery.  Other passages relate God’s power acting in judgment through the flood, the fall of Jericho, or the victory of the Hebrews in battle after battle.  It seems that humanity has constructed so many strongholds of evil that God’s power is shown more often tearing down evil than building up good.
   But we forget the mighty “building up” that God accomplished even before human beings came on the scene.  Imagine the power of Yahweh’s  arm as God flung billions of stars, our own sun among them, against the blackness of nothing with such force that the universe is still expanding today!  There was enough “building up” in that one act to balance all the “tearing down” that has been necessary in the eons since.
   As we discussed yesterday, we cannot escape from the presence of God and we cannot resist God’s power.  It remains for us to surrender ourselves as channels through which that power can flow unhindered.  If we are with God in obedience, then we can truly say “The Lord is with me as a mighty, awesome one.”
         
Richard Moreland