By John Stallings
There are five types of people you’ll find in every area of life.
They are in business, education, & even the Church. Only one of these types ever really accomplishes anything, & it certainly isn’t the;
1. Talkers
Talkers gab & blab. They are always talking about what they are going to do but never do anything. These folk have the ability to get people excited. They have the gift of gab. The gift of yada-yada-yada. They can charm the birds down out of the trees with their chatter.
I have met these talkers as a pastor. They come into a church & know just exactly how to present themselves. They seem to know just what you want to hear. They will talk & as they talk they’ll use exaggerated hand motions to paint you a picture of what they will do & help you to do. The problem with these folk is they are all “talky- talky- talky & no walky- walky -walky.” They will get you all excited & leave you hanging.
Talkers usually end up bouncing from church to church because they know people will finally catch on to their yada-yada & stop listening.
I learned the hard way about talkers as a young pastor. In my first church I allowed a man I hardly knew & was new to the church to influence me to add another weekly prayer meeting, one he suggested should be an “all-nighter.” Being inexperienced I felt it would look “nonspiritual” if I declined & some of the faithful members agreed to try it. Can you imagine our surprise when we learned that this man who had the idea wasn’t going to be present at any of them; He was too busy? But he was certain still the all night prayer meetings were the answer for our church.
A little checking on my part revealed that this man had misrepresented his past & his life had been a series of one flop after another. Out of twenty years of a so called Christian life, he’d spent half of it in jail & the other half running from town to town presenting himself as something he most definitely wasn’t.
Don’t misunderstand; I’m not against all night prayer meetings but after that experience my question to an individual who suggests we add another night to an already crowded weekly schedule is- “where were you ten or twenty years ago when the people of the church were praying & interceding for the lost?” Usually the truth is they were out sowing wild oats & living like the devil while the people of the church had been faithfully serving God.
These folk are just talkers & nine times out of ten they won’t be around for more than a month anyway. But you can be sure they’ll be somewhere else giving their yada-yada to someone. The prophet Hosea calls these people “morning clouds” that appear for a little while & then poof, they are no longer visible.
Next we have the,
2. Dreamers.
I don’t want to be too hard on dreamers because people need their dreams. However, too many dreamers read books, go to seminars, take notes, write mission statements, write out goals & “pray about it” but they never carry through. They never cut a rut from a plan to a practice, from a list to a living ministry. Dreamers are always dreaming but never able to live out their dreams. When I was a kid I used to want to be a cowboy; to be exact, a singing cowboy. I spent many hours of my days dreaming about being like Gene or Roy.
There is one kind of dreaming that’s very powerful so long as a certain ingredient isn’t missing. Let me explain. I suppose my cowboy dreams were normal but at some point I had to lay those childlike dreams aside & dream for my real future.
When I was growing up, since my dad was a pastor we usually lived next to the church. Starting at about age fourteen, a few times a week I’d go over to the church, lock the door & get up behind the pulpit with my guitar & act like I was in an actual service. I’d open “the service” with prayer. Then I’d say, “Now I’d like to sing you a song I wrote.” Then I’d proceed to sing a song, but not one I wrote, because I hadn’t as yet written any songs. I was day-dreaming. Then I’d sing one or two more songs “I wrote.” I wanted to be a songwriter so bad I could taste it. When I finished with the music portion of the service, I’d open the Bible & start preaching to my imaginary audience. Well, I wouldn’t exactly preach, I’d read a little bit & then I’d holler. I’d read a little bit more & holler. It seemed to me that’s what my dad did as well as all the other preachers I’d heard; they’d read & holler. Then I’d close my imaginary service, slip out the side door & go home, hoping no one was the wiser.
If you came to one of my services today, over fifty years later, in all probability here’s what you’d see & hear; I’d get up & welcome the people & sing a song or two that I wrote. But these songs would be songs I actually did write, because now I have some songs of my own. Then I’d open my Bible & read a few scriptures, expound on them & there would be several spots that I’d raise my voice to emphasize a point. I do in reality what that teenager envisioned so long ago.
But if I’d never gotten out of the dreaming stage, if I’d never started getting up in front a real audience, all the practicing & all the secret dreaming wouldn’t have gotten me anywhere.
So I think I can say all my boyhood dreams came true. Dreaming is a powerful & necessary thing but dreaming alone isn’t enough. An individual must make the effort & be willing to work & do all necessary to bring those dreams into fruition. Then we have the,
3. Wishers.
These people wish things would change all by themselves but they won’t act to change them. They wish they had a better prayer life. They wish they knew the Bible better. They wish they could get to church more often. They wish they had a better devotional life, but never open their Bibles between visits to church. If all these people blew the dust off their Bibles at the same time, we’d all choke to death in a dust-storm. They wish the church had more money to reach out to the lost but they never give any. If wishes were horses beggars would ride.
I heard a story about a preacher who got up in his church & said, “This church is on its knees now, but I can see this church rising.” All the people said amen. Then he said, “This church is not only gonna rise, this crawling church is gonna walk.” Everyone said amen. Then he said “This church isn’t only gonna walk this church is gonna run.” You guessed it, everyone shouted amen. Then the preacher said, “Brothers & sisters, God has shown me that if we’ll all start being liberal with our tithes & offerings, this church someday very soon is gonna fly.” Then everything got real quiet & one man on the backseat said, “Let her crawl brother, let her crawl.” Next come the,
4. Dabblers.
Dabblers love the feeling of starting a new project but they never finish anything. Dabblers get bored easily. They shine one shoe & leave the other not shined. Dabblers often leave a wave of disappointment behind them. They dabble a little here & they dabble a little there but never bring anything to completion. There are far too many Christians who dabble at serving God.
God is a finisher. He finished creating the earth. Jesus hung on the cross & said “It is finished.” He didn’t as some supposed on that day say, “I am finished.” He said “It is finished.” He said the great plan of God that was established before the foundations of the earth were laid- was finished. Too many people have exchanged the word finished for the words, “I’m through.” I’m through with that church.” I’m through with this marriage.” “I’m through with school.” They are always getting through with things but never finishing them. One meaning of the word finish is- “bringing to perfection.”
When the carpenters are through with a house they bring in the finishers. The finishers put the Crown molding around the edges & corners of the rooms. They hang the doors & make sure they are well balanced & open & close smoothly. A house left “unfinished” would be a rather ugly house even though it had four walls & a roof. Many people in high society send their young women to “finishing school.” There they learn the finer points of being a lady so they can later be at ease & poised in the circles they’re expected to move in.
We can never be truly successful if all we do is dabble. To be successful at anything, we must put our all into it, for one thing is certain, we’ll only get out of an enterprise what we put in it. My mother wanted me to learn to play the piano & was willing to pay for me to learn but I can’t play the piano today because all I wanted to do was dabble & play chopsticks. I suspect I’m not alone in that.
The only accomplishers in this world are the;
5. DOERS.
Doers make things happen. Doers don’t just wish things would happen. They don’t dream & talk about it. Doers aren’t dabblers. They actually get things done. Doers are daring. They are movers & shakers. Doers build churches. Doers build businesses. Doers are the ones with the testimonies. No church, business or enterprise has ever gotten off the ground without a few doers. We will always have more than enough of the others but we must “Be doers of the Word not just hearers.”
Doers don’t go by their feelings. I read an article somewhere that said “80% of the world’s work is done by people who aren’t feeling well.” That didn’t really surprise me. Many people will sit & wait until the “mood” strikes them before they’ll move on a project. They have to have a certain feeling but the problem is the feeling seldom comes. As I read the article, I thought, you know, I’ll bet the man who wrote that it wasn’t feeling well when he wrote it. And it wouldn’t surprise me if some who read this article won’t be feeling all that great as they read it. As I think about it, I’m not feeling all that great as I’m writing it. But what do our feelings have to do with anything? Can we allow feelings to rule us when they can change overnight for no apparent reason? I’m sure you’ve learned by now that if you’re going to get anything done you must put your feelings on the back burner & go to work because feelings will fall in line as we move. It was William James who said, “We don’t feel our way to a different way of acting, we act our way to a different way of feeling.”
Heres how to shake off depression? Get up & start doing something. Now if you have some sort of clinical depression & are being treated for it, that’s between you & your doctor. However, I’ll bet he’ll tell you you’re better off doing than just sitting. If you wake up depressed, tell depression you’re going to work & you’ll take the depression with you. Chances are great that you’ll leave depression behind as soon as you start moving.
There is so much in the Bible about DOING! James tells us; ---“Draw nigh to God & He’ll draw nigh to you.” He also told us—“Faith without works is dead, being alone.” One of my favorite verses of scripture is Daniel 11:32….But the people that do know their God shall be strong & do exploits.”
If you want to do something special with your life, resolve with me to stand up on your feet & get moving!
As Todd Beamer said, one of the passengers on the ill-fated airliner that crashed in a Pennsylvania field, on 9/11/01, trying to take back the hi-jacked plane & thwarting the plans of the terrorists, "Let’s Roll!"
Let’s be "doers of the Word" & works of God.
Blessings,
John
Saturday, August 15, 2015
Monday, August 10, 2015
Great Balls Of Fire
By John Stallings
Two men stood on a hill overlooking the lush, fertile plain below.
One of the men was quite old, the other very young -but both were super- rich. It’s interesting that the young man was rich. That would have been quite unusual in that era.
It was obvious that these men & their flocks were taking up a lot of room & logistically speaking it was best that they split up.
Abraham, the uncle, told his nephew Lot, “you take the direction you want & I’ll take what’s left.” Pretty large of the older man wouldn’t you say? Since this is one of the oldest stories in the Bible we all know what happened. Lot made a bad choice. He immediately transitioned toward & acquired property close to the big city of Sodom.
Five cities, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zebolim & Bela [Zoar] dotted the plain of Jordan. In this fertile plain Lot chose to settle. Evidently Sodom & Gomorrah were the chief cities. Sodom was a beautiful place. The temperature was nice practically all year round. It was full of palm trees, olive orchids & flowers bloomed everywhere. Sodom sounds a lot like Palm Springs California to me.
The men of Sodom were mean, evil, wicked & nasty & that’s just their good traits. They were homosexuals. Since children were still being born, many of these rascals must have been bi-sexual. I read somewhere that a large percentage of young Hollywood actors/actresses are bi-sexual. Just a point of information.
The men of Sodom wanted wives to cook & clean for them, then at night they’d go chasing men while their wives went chasing women. What a sick place. Lot had two daughters that he took to live among these reprobates.
We don’t need to know much else than God’s destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah to realize that He especially despises homosexuality. Some people would put this sin in the same category as others but in truth, any place we look in the Bible- from cover to cover -where homosexuality is mentioned, it’s abjectly condemned. To say that homosexuality is an alternative form of sexuality is like saying that bulimia is an alternative form of eating & that drunkenness is an alternative form of drinking. Homosexuality is nothing less than a wholesale abandonment of God’s ways with respect to sexuality.
God loves the homosexual but He hates homosexuality. Did Lot know what a rotten town Sodom was? Of course he knew. But he reasoned; “all these sinners will buy my corn, oil, cattle & wool. And besides that I’ll be in a fertile mission field & I’ll be a light in a dark place.” Right. It’s obvious that Lot had no impact on Sodom but Sodom decimated his family & almost killed him.
The Bible says that “Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom.” He wanted to be facing the big city. However, it wasn’t long before Lot & family were living in Sodom. The next step was that Sodom finally moved into Lot & his family. We see here the progressive nature of sin. Satan is incredibly patient. Lot may have eventually been Sodom’s mayor. Lot’s wife especially liked the raucous lifestyle of the town.
One evening two men [angels] visited with Lot & Lot invited them to stay for a meal. As the evening wore on the angels unfolded to Lot God’s plans to destroy the city, admonishing he & his family to flee. To see how perverted they were, in Genesis 19, we read about the men of Sodom surrounding Lot’s house desiring to gang-rape the visiting angels inside the house. God struck the men blind so they failed in their attempt. A sickening aspect of the story is that Lot tried to appease the mob by offering his own daughters to them but this only roused them against him. The depravity of these men was so deep that both young & old, rich & poor participated in this grotesque riot.
HUGE FIRE BALLS FELL FROM HEAVEN ON SODOM
The next morning a small cloud appeared over the city of Sodom. The Angels continued to beg Lot & his family to leave. Lot didn’t want to go & his wife lingered even longer. She wanted to sort through her jewelry & the daughters wanted to pick out some clothes. The women folk dillydallied around & Lot argued with the angels.
But the lightening produced huge balls of sulfuric fire & poured torrents of blazing brimstone & scalding sulfur from the sky as the heaving earth belched oil & pitch from beneath. Fire came from heaven like hell was breaking loose & hurricane like wind swept the fire over the city & the plain.
Balls of fire fell on Lot’s wife as she stood there lingering & looking back & she was struck dead & became a pillar of salt.
UNUSUAL ADVICE FROM JESUS - “REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE”
In Luke 17:32 Jesus uttered one of the shortest verses in the Bible;-Remember Lot’s wife.
Certainly everything Jesus said should be remembered. As a matter of fact Jesus never said anything that wasn’t vitally important.
However, Jesus is clearly exhorting us to remember someone. Isn’t it interesting that Jesus never asked us to remember Abraham? Isn’t it interesting that He never asked us to remember Isaac, or Jacob, or Sarah, or Hannah or Ruth? Jesus could have told us to remember & ponder on the great flood of Noah’s day. He could have requested of us that we remember the rebellion of Adam & Eve our first parents. He could have asked us to remember ancient Israel & their deliverance from Egyptian bandage.
Jesus asks us to remember something that happened 1900 years before he was born, & really one of the “less memorable” things in all of Holy Writ. He singles out only one person to be remembered & that was a person who was lost forever. He cries out—Remember Lot’s wife.
Jesus was saying this in the context of His own second coming to judge the world; he’s describing the awful state of unpreparedness in which many souls will be found. Jesus isn’t saying this to the Scribes & Pharisees who hated Him, but Peter, James & John & many others who loved Him. Even to these good folk He sees fit to warn—Remember Lot’s wife. He speaks as if we are in danger of forgetting something exceedingly important. He speaks of Lot’s wife & wants us to keep firmly in our minds what happened to her. He cries out—Remember Lot’s wife.
Remember- that Lot’s wife was a favored woman.
Remember- that she had a believer for a husband.
Remember- that she had an uncle by marriage who was the father of the faithful.
Remember- that Lot’s wife lived close to these two men & she knew their God was real.
Remember- that she knew her husband & uncle served God not out of religious formality. - Serving God was the ruling principle of their lives.
Remember- that having a Christian relative isn’t enough to save anyone.
Remember-that spiritual advantage won’t open heaven’s doors to anyone.
Remember- that Lot’s wife saw the angels who came to warn & rescue them.
Remember- an angel took her by the hand to lead her out of the city.
“Remember Lot’s wife.”
Remember that close association with good people even spiritual people doesn’t rub off on us. Joab was David’s captain. Gehazi was Elisha’s servant. Demas was Paul’s companion & Judas was Christ’s disciple. These all died in their sins showing that rubbing shoulders with spiritual friends or relatives won’t save us; only God’s Grace can do that.
"Remember Lot’s wife."
WE SHOULD TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT WHO’S ASKING HERE.
This is asked by no mere man. The one doing the asking here is none other than God’s only son, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. You will remember that when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, God’s voice was heard to say; - this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased-HEAR YE HIM!
We should honor the request to remember Lot’s wife if for no other reason than the fact that it was made by none other than God’s Son.
WE SHOULD REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE BECAUSE SHE LIVED IN A DAY NOT UNLIKE OUR DAY.
We can see many parallels between Sodom of old & our beloved America. Homosexuality, free love, pre-martial sex, cross dressing, same sex marriages, & spouse trading are all being accepted as alternative lifestyles.
AIDS has killed & is killing millions & man is trying to find a cure for it. In my opinion we should stop looking for a cure & start looking at the CAUSE of it which is SIN! If we get rid of the CAUSE we won’t need the CURE!
Maybe we should remember Lot’s wife because she was warned of judgment to come just as you & I have been warned.
WE SHOULD REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE BECAUSE SHE CAME SO CLOSE TO BEING SAVED.
She made an honest effort to be saved. Unlike her sons-in-law who made no effort to escape the wrath of God, Lot’s wife actually left Sodom with her hand in an angel’s hand. If we miss heaven by a few inches we may as well have missed it by a million miles.
“Almost” is a sad word in anybody’s dictionary. In Acts 26:28 Agrippa told Paul that he’d almost persuaded him to be a Christian. Almost is a traveling companion to expressions like “If only,” as we say in the South, “near bout.” “Almost” smacks of missed opportunities & fumbled chances.
THE RICH YOUNG RULER
This young man’s story is repeated in Matthew, Mark, & Luke. Each version is slightly different so we tend to mix it all together into one composite story. This wealthy young man came running to Christ to learn more about the eternal life He preached. Jesus told him to go sell his possessions & give the money to the poor & come follow Him.
Jesus wasn’t against money neither was He against prosperity. Money in itself is morally neutral. When Nicodemus came to Christ, he wasn’t asked to sell his possessions. The reason He required this of the young man was that Jesus knew he was using his money as a security blanket & not trusting God. But neither did Jesus make the offer to Nicodemus that he made to this young man. He actually told him that after he had liquidated all his possessions, he could come & follow Him. This young man turned down an offer that was made to precious few people. People were usually encouraged by Jesus to stay where they were & be faithful, but Jesus must have had a place for this young man. He could actually have been one of Christ’s disciples. One of the saddest passages in the Bible is—he went away sorrowful for he had great wealth. The rich young ruler almost found eternal life, but Jesus’ instructions to sell everything he had & give it to the poor to him was way too much.
I remember the great preacher, the late C.M Ward saying once that the main reason he didn’t want to go to hell was because of all the stupid people who would be there. At first that might sound a little snarky but this is what Ward meant; God arranged for all our sins & mess-ups to be transferred to the shoulders of Jesus when He died on the cross. In exchange, we can be clothed with the righteousness of Christ. What a trade! All we must do is endorse it by faith, confess our sins, & trust in the risen Christ as our personal Lord & Savior. Ward’s thought was that anyone who’d stumble over that fifteen second transaction, has to be a little stupid.
Lot’s wife took a step in the right direction. She separated herself from her sinful surroundings even though the angels had to hold her hand & lead her out. She was being whisked out of harms way by heaven’s angels & was given the instructions—Escape for your life-Look not behind thee….lest thou be consumed. Genesis 19:17
WE SHOULD REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE BECAUSE SHE REFUSED THE SIMPLE WARNING OF GOD.
When Lot, his two daughters & his wife were led out of Sodom they were all warned not to look back. But as they reached the little town of Zoar, Lot’s wife turned & looked back. She was out of Sodom but Sodom wasn’t out of her. When she looked back, she was immediately turned into a pillar of salt. In one scintillating moment she lost her life & her soul.
What a contrast this story is to the testimony of the great Apostle Paul. He said—
This one thing I do, forgetting those which are behind & pressing toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13,14
A FINAL QUESTION
What did Jesus really mean by that cryptic expression—Remember Lot’s wife? What does that woman who lived & died so long ago have to do with people who’re watching the closeout of history?
After all Lot’s wife did leave the city. Her only fault was her focus problems. She looked back. Lot’s wife serves as a warning to all of us. Jesus said,-No one having put his hand to the plow & looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.
You & I can’t cling to heaven with one hand & cling to hell with the other. We can’t walk the broad road to hell & the narrow road to eternal life simultaneously. We can’t leave a world of sin by looking longingly over our shoulder missing what we left behind.
Hebrews says,
For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, & every transgression & disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord & was confirmed to us by those who heard them.
We aren’t told what Lot’s wife’s eternal destiny was but given the fact God saw her sin as great enough to deserve a death sentence, it’s likely the sentence was permanent. Many people sin & don’t let it bother them because they’re certain God will forgive them of anything. I believe what we could use in 2015 is a good healthy dose of reverential fear of the one who sits upon that throne.
Hebrews also says;--Therefore since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to come short of it.
Listen again to Jesus’ words;
Woe to you Korazin! Woe to you Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre & Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth & ashes.
But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre & Sidon on the Day of Judgment than for you. And you Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the Day of Judgment than for you.—Matthew 11:21-24.
While we’re remembering Lot’s wife, let’s not forget Lot. He didn’t fare so well either did he? How much did he lose in Sodom? He lost his wife & all his possessions. What happened to him can happen to any of us who love the world more than we love God.
Sodom still lives, not externally but internally. We can see traces of Sodom in our beloved America. We can follow the way of Abraham or we can go the way of Lot.
Why did our Lord admonish us to –Remember Lot’s wife? Jesus spoke those words because He knows if we don’t remember her, if we forget her story, the dreadful prospect exists that we will repeat her mistake.
Blessings,
John
Two men stood on a hill overlooking the lush, fertile plain below.
One of the men was quite old, the other very young -but both were super- rich. It’s interesting that the young man was rich. That would have been quite unusual in that era.
It was obvious that these men & their flocks were taking up a lot of room & logistically speaking it was best that they split up.
Abraham, the uncle, told his nephew Lot, “you take the direction you want & I’ll take what’s left.” Pretty large of the older man wouldn’t you say? Since this is one of the oldest stories in the Bible we all know what happened. Lot made a bad choice. He immediately transitioned toward & acquired property close to the big city of Sodom.
Five cities, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zebolim & Bela [Zoar] dotted the plain of Jordan. In this fertile plain Lot chose to settle. Evidently Sodom & Gomorrah were the chief cities. Sodom was a beautiful place. The temperature was nice practically all year round. It was full of palm trees, olive orchids & flowers bloomed everywhere. Sodom sounds a lot like Palm Springs California to me.
The men of Sodom were mean, evil, wicked & nasty & that’s just their good traits. They were homosexuals. Since children were still being born, many of these rascals must have been bi-sexual. I read somewhere that a large percentage of young Hollywood actors/actresses are bi-sexual. Just a point of information.
The men of Sodom wanted wives to cook & clean for them, then at night they’d go chasing men while their wives went chasing women. What a sick place. Lot had two daughters that he took to live among these reprobates.
We don’t need to know much else than God’s destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah to realize that He especially despises homosexuality. Some people would put this sin in the same category as others but in truth, any place we look in the Bible- from cover to cover -where homosexuality is mentioned, it’s abjectly condemned. To say that homosexuality is an alternative form of sexuality is like saying that bulimia is an alternative form of eating & that drunkenness is an alternative form of drinking. Homosexuality is nothing less than a wholesale abandonment of God’s ways with respect to sexuality.
God loves the homosexual but He hates homosexuality. Did Lot know what a rotten town Sodom was? Of course he knew. But he reasoned; “all these sinners will buy my corn, oil, cattle & wool. And besides that I’ll be in a fertile mission field & I’ll be a light in a dark place.” Right. It’s obvious that Lot had no impact on Sodom but Sodom decimated his family & almost killed him.
The Bible says that “Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom.” He wanted to be facing the big city. However, it wasn’t long before Lot & family were living in Sodom. The next step was that Sodom finally moved into Lot & his family. We see here the progressive nature of sin. Satan is incredibly patient. Lot may have eventually been Sodom’s mayor. Lot’s wife especially liked the raucous lifestyle of the town.
One evening two men [angels] visited with Lot & Lot invited them to stay for a meal. As the evening wore on the angels unfolded to Lot God’s plans to destroy the city, admonishing he & his family to flee. To see how perverted they were, in Genesis 19, we read about the men of Sodom surrounding Lot’s house desiring to gang-rape the visiting angels inside the house. God struck the men blind so they failed in their attempt. A sickening aspect of the story is that Lot tried to appease the mob by offering his own daughters to them but this only roused them against him. The depravity of these men was so deep that both young & old, rich & poor participated in this grotesque riot.
HUGE FIRE BALLS FELL FROM HEAVEN ON SODOM
The next morning a small cloud appeared over the city of Sodom. The Angels continued to beg Lot & his family to leave. Lot didn’t want to go & his wife lingered even longer. She wanted to sort through her jewelry & the daughters wanted to pick out some clothes. The women folk dillydallied around & Lot argued with the angels.
But the lightening produced huge balls of sulfuric fire & poured torrents of blazing brimstone & scalding sulfur from the sky as the heaving earth belched oil & pitch from beneath. Fire came from heaven like hell was breaking loose & hurricane like wind swept the fire over the city & the plain.
Balls of fire fell on Lot’s wife as she stood there lingering & looking back & she was struck dead & became a pillar of salt.
UNUSUAL ADVICE FROM JESUS - “REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE”
In Luke 17:32 Jesus uttered one of the shortest verses in the Bible;-Remember Lot’s wife.
Certainly everything Jesus said should be remembered. As a matter of fact Jesus never said anything that wasn’t vitally important.
However, Jesus is clearly exhorting us to remember someone. Isn’t it interesting that Jesus never asked us to remember Abraham? Isn’t it interesting that He never asked us to remember Isaac, or Jacob, or Sarah, or Hannah or Ruth? Jesus could have told us to remember & ponder on the great flood of Noah’s day. He could have requested of us that we remember the rebellion of Adam & Eve our first parents. He could have asked us to remember ancient Israel & their deliverance from Egyptian bandage.
Jesus asks us to remember something that happened 1900 years before he was born, & really one of the “less memorable” things in all of Holy Writ. He singles out only one person to be remembered & that was a person who was lost forever. He cries out—Remember Lot’s wife.
Jesus was saying this in the context of His own second coming to judge the world; he’s describing the awful state of unpreparedness in which many souls will be found. Jesus isn’t saying this to the Scribes & Pharisees who hated Him, but Peter, James & John & many others who loved Him. Even to these good folk He sees fit to warn—Remember Lot’s wife. He speaks as if we are in danger of forgetting something exceedingly important. He speaks of Lot’s wife & wants us to keep firmly in our minds what happened to her. He cries out—Remember Lot’s wife.
Remember- that Lot’s wife was a favored woman.
Remember- that she had a believer for a husband.
Remember- that she had an uncle by marriage who was the father of the faithful.
Remember- that Lot’s wife lived close to these two men & she knew their God was real.
Remember- that she knew her husband & uncle served God not out of religious formality. - Serving God was the ruling principle of their lives.
Remember- that having a Christian relative isn’t enough to save anyone.
Remember-that spiritual advantage won’t open heaven’s doors to anyone.
Remember- that Lot’s wife saw the angels who came to warn & rescue them.
Remember- an angel took her by the hand to lead her out of the city.
“Remember Lot’s wife.”
Remember that close association with good people even spiritual people doesn’t rub off on us. Joab was David’s captain. Gehazi was Elisha’s servant. Demas was Paul’s companion & Judas was Christ’s disciple. These all died in their sins showing that rubbing shoulders with spiritual friends or relatives won’t save us; only God’s Grace can do that.
"Remember Lot’s wife."
WE SHOULD TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT WHO’S ASKING HERE.
This is asked by no mere man. The one doing the asking here is none other than God’s only son, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. You will remember that when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, God’s voice was heard to say; - this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased-HEAR YE HIM!
We should honor the request to remember Lot’s wife if for no other reason than the fact that it was made by none other than God’s Son.
WE SHOULD REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE BECAUSE SHE LIVED IN A DAY NOT UNLIKE OUR DAY.
We can see many parallels between Sodom of old & our beloved America. Homosexuality, free love, pre-martial sex, cross dressing, same sex marriages, & spouse trading are all being accepted as alternative lifestyles.
AIDS has killed & is killing millions & man is trying to find a cure for it. In my opinion we should stop looking for a cure & start looking at the CAUSE of it which is SIN! If we get rid of the CAUSE we won’t need the CURE!
Maybe we should remember Lot’s wife because she was warned of judgment to come just as you & I have been warned.
WE SHOULD REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE BECAUSE SHE CAME SO CLOSE TO BEING SAVED.
She made an honest effort to be saved. Unlike her sons-in-law who made no effort to escape the wrath of God, Lot’s wife actually left Sodom with her hand in an angel’s hand. If we miss heaven by a few inches we may as well have missed it by a million miles.
“Almost” is a sad word in anybody’s dictionary. In Acts 26:28 Agrippa told Paul that he’d almost persuaded him to be a Christian. Almost is a traveling companion to expressions like “If only,” as we say in the South, “near bout.” “Almost” smacks of missed opportunities & fumbled chances.
THE RICH YOUNG RULER
This young man’s story is repeated in Matthew, Mark, & Luke. Each version is slightly different so we tend to mix it all together into one composite story. This wealthy young man came running to Christ to learn more about the eternal life He preached. Jesus told him to go sell his possessions & give the money to the poor & come follow Him.
Jesus wasn’t against money neither was He against prosperity. Money in itself is morally neutral. When Nicodemus came to Christ, he wasn’t asked to sell his possessions. The reason He required this of the young man was that Jesus knew he was using his money as a security blanket & not trusting God. But neither did Jesus make the offer to Nicodemus that he made to this young man. He actually told him that after he had liquidated all his possessions, he could come & follow Him. This young man turned down an offer that was made to precious few people. People were usually encouraged by Jesus to stay where they were & be faithful, but Jesus must have had a place for this young man. He could actually have been one of Christ’s disciples. One of the saddest passages in the Bible is—he went away sorrowful for he had great wealth. The rich young ruler almost found eternal life, but Jesus’ instructions to sell everything he had & give it to the poor to him was way too much.
I remember the great preacher, the late C.M Ward saying once that the main reason he didn’t want to go to hell was because of all the stupid people who would be there. At first that might sound a little snarky but this is what Ward meant; God arranged for all our sins & mess-ups to be transferred to the shoulders of Jesus when He died on the cross. In exchange, we can be clothed with the righteousness of Christ. What a trade! All we must do is endorse it by faith, confess our sins, & trust in the risen Christ as our personal Lord & Savior. Ward’s thought was that anyone who’d stumble over that fifteen second transaction, has to be a little stupid.
Lot’s wife took a step in the right direction. She separated herself from her sinful surroundings even though the angels had to hold her hand & lead her out. She was being whisked out of harms way by heaven’s angels & was given the instructions—Escape for your life-Look not behind thee….lest thou be consumed. Genesis 19:17
WE SHOULD REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE BECAUSE SHE REFUSED THE SIMPLE WARNING OF GOD.
When Lot, his two daughters & his wife were led out of Sodom they were all warned not to look back. But as they reached the little town of Zoar, Lot’s wife turned & looked back. She was out of Sodom but Sodom wasn’t out of her. When she looked back, she was immediately turned into a pillar of salt. In one scintillating moment she lost her life & her soul.
What a contrast this story is to the testimony of the great Apostle Paul. He said—
This one thing I do, forgetting those which are behind & pressing toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13,14
A FINAL QUESTION
What did Jesus really mean by that cryptic expression—Remember Lot’s wife? What does that woman who lived & died so long ago have to do with people who’re watching the closeout of history?
After all Lot’s wife did leave the city. Her only fault was her focus problems. She looked back. Lot’s wife serves as a warning to all of us. Jesus said,-No one having put his hand to the plow & looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.
You & I can’t cling to heaven with one hand & cling to hell with the other. We can’t walk the broad road to hell & the narrow road to eternal life simultaneously. We can’t leave a world of sin by looking longingly over our shoulder missing what we left behind.
Hebrews says,
For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, & every transgression & disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord & was confirmed to us by those who heard them.
We aren’t told what Lot’s wife’s eternal destiny was but given the fact God saw her sin as great enough to deserve a death sentence, it’s likely the sentence was permanent. Many people sin & don’t let it bother them because they’re certain God will forgive them of anything. I believe what we could use in 2015 is a good healthy dose of reverential fear of the one who sits upon that throne.
Hebrews also says;--Therefore since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to come short of it.
Listen again to Jesus’ words;
Woe to you Korazin! Woe to you Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre & Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth & ashes.
But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre & Sidon on the Day of Judgment than for you. And you Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the Day of Judgment than for you.—Matthew 11:21-24.
While we’re remembering Lot’s wife, let’s not forget Lot. He didn’t fare so well either did he? How much did he lose in Sodom? He lost his wife & all his possessions. What happened to him can happen to any of us who love the world more than we love God.
Sodom still lives, not externally but internally. We can see traces of Sodom in our beloved America. We can follow the way of Abraham or we can go the way of Lot.
Why did our Lord admonish us to –Remember Lot’s wife? Jesus spoke those words because He knows if we don’t remember her, if we forget her story, the dreadful prospect exists that we will repeat her mistake.
Blessings,
John
Sunday, August 2, 2015
The Great Falling Away
By John Stallings
Behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. (Isa. 60:2)
The greatest revival in history is here and will continue for some time. We know that a great awakening is sweeping across the nations. We look with joy as God fulfills His promise to pour out His Spirit on all flesh and empower His people to bring the gospel to all nations. What a privilege to live in this awesome hour of history!
Listen to Peter on the Day of Pentecost….
It shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams… I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy… before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. (Acts 2:17-20)
The Spirit is speaking about this outpouring in our day. We are in the middle of the great end-time outpouring of the Spirit. The Spirit will continue to release the miracles seen in the book of Acts.
BUT CONSIDER THE CRISIS THAT IS AT HAND
We’re living under the threat of natural disasters, terrorism, lawlessness, and war. The oldest citizens among us can scarcely remember floods, earthquakes and violent storms like we’re witnessing today. –Matt.24:4-12-
Radical Islam is growing more intolerant as they seek global domination while Western governments are growing more tolerant as they legalize perversion and corruption. Fear is quickly becoming a predominate emotion.
Men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things… (Lk. 21:26)
Abortion continues to kill 4,000 babies each day in America. The sanctity of marriage has come under siege, threatening to destroy the moral foundations of our nation. Sexual immorality, both heterosexual and homosexual, is reaching epic heights of depravity.
Entire school systems are giving way to this craziness. The number of women and children being trafficked in the sex industry is growing at an alarming rate. The list could go on and on.
Satan, realizing he can’t prevail against God’s church, has joined it and is presenting “another gospel.” A new wave of confusion is systematically seducing young adults into deception. Sincere believers, once ablaze for The Lord, are being allured into compromise on biblical truths and practices.
A kind of “social gospel” is insidiously supplanting the true gospel of Jesus Christ, but no amount of ministry activity can “balance out” the profound spiritual compromises that many are making. More and more is being done in the name of justice and humanity, and less and less in the name of Jesus. In the name of tolerance we are settling for politically correct theology that trivializes God’s glory. Our works of compassion and justice must flow from allegiance to God and His Word, not take their place.
The tsunami of the greatest revival in America’s history approaches even as our nation stands on such precarious footing. The onslaught of darkness is increasing in classrooms, boardrooms, courtrooms, and bedrooms. Confusion is pouring forth from many pulpits and from the halls of Washington.
We live in a very significant hour of history. I believe we are in the time described in the Scripture as the “beginning of sorrows,” or “the beginning of birth pains,” that precedes the Great Tribulation -Mt. 24:4-8, 21. The Bible tells us that during the Great Tribulation, sin will become fully ripe with unprecedented and unimaginable levels of debauchery.
In the letter to the Thessalonians, a church that was eagerly awaiting the return of the Lord, Paul outlined a few events that will come to pass before "the day of the Lord" arrives. The day of the Lord is a general term pointing to an entire series of events that culminate with Jesus landing on the Mount of Olives and taking up the throne of David in Jerusalem.
He says in II Thessalonians 2:1-4 that two things must happen -- a great falling away, and the revelation of the Antichrist, or man of sin. He goes on to discuss this pivotal character in end time history, and then starting in verse 10 Paul introduces the theme of end-time delusion. There are constant reminders throughout the New Testament, from the teachings of Jesus Himself to the writings of Paul, John, Peter, James, and Jude, indicating that the end times will be times of great delusion and deception. These warnings are specifically directed at "the elect" that they might not also be carried away with the "strong delusion" that God will send expressly for the purpose of separating true believers in Him from those who "have not a love of the truth."
The Great “Falling Away”
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed... (II Thessalonians 2:1,2)
There are some things in the Bible that are hard to understand and we can generally leave them open to interpretation. But there are some things that are all too clear. One of these things that should be without debate is that the Rapture of the church will not occur until after something Paul calls “a falling away” happens first.
This has always seemed strange to me but there are those who equate the “falling away” with the Rapture, or the catching up of the Lord's people to meet Him in the air [I Thessalonians 4:17]. They see the Body of Christ "falling away" from the earth as the Lord miraculously draws them up to be with Him in the air.
However, the Greek word translated "falling away" is the word "apostasia," the basis for the English word apostasy. It is the act of going back on the faith. It is a denying of the basic tenets of the faith one once held. “Falling away” is a deviation from or forsaking of an authentically established position.
While there has been a general apostasy on earth since I was a boy, it’s getting exponentially worse almost daily. This falling away will result in persecution of the true believers who refuse to follow “religion” in its retreat from true, authentic Christianity. In fact, it’s likely that it’s just this sort of persecution that will create the unity among Christians that will help them overcome the division that keeps her from coming together as one chaste virgin to meet her Bridegroom King.
Expect to see more liberalism/ modernism, also referred to as “Liberation theology” or the social gospel, continue to invade and take over more mainline Christian denominations. We can also expect to see true Bible believing Christians come under more and more pressure to comply with the form of Christianity that will be spearheaded by the media, the press, and the United Nations. It will be ecumenical, multicultural, tolerant of other faiths and religions, and ultimately conceivably enforced at gunpoint or through other coercive means.
Before you say this is not a possibility in our lifetime; there are restrictions on preaching already being enforced in places like Australia and Canada on the preaching and teaching of Biblical truth. Laws are being passed that will make it "illegal" to teach the Biblical view when it comes to such issues as abortion and homosexuality. And this is just the tip of the iceberg and a shadow of things to come over the next decade.
T.V evangelist John Hagee recently sent lawyers to defend him from accusations he’d preached “hate speech.” Hagee said that the “handwriting is on the wall” because even though he won that round the victory cost him about ten thousand dollars. I don’t claim to be a prophet but I’ve predicted for decades that the time would come when preaching the gospel would be costly.
A MOMENTOUS TIME IN HISTORY
I believe we’re blessed to be alive at such a time in history; a heaven sent revival flourishes world-wide in spite of the fact that we’re witnessing the slow undoing of Western civilization. Should Christ tarry His coming it will be interesting in the days ahead just to see what sort of order will come about following the collapse of much of our social, governmental, financial, and technological systems. Of course that’s just around the corner.
The Bible foretells that the current systems will ultimately be brought under the control of one great authoritarian dictator. This seemingly benevolent dictator will become personally indwelt by Satan himself, the great enemy of God, and will bring havoc down on the heads of God's people until God Himself removes him from the scene. It’s then that God establishes His own Kingdom, with Israel serving as the planet's political focal point.
But the Falling Away is only one of the signs Paul wrote about. In addition to a general apostasy, there will also be the revealing of the man of sin.
That Man of Sin shall be revealed...
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed... (II Thessalonians 2:1,2)
There is much written in the Bible about this man.
He is called the "Antichrist" by John -I John 2:18, 22 and 4:3, the "little horn" and the "prince that shall come" by Daniel- Daniel 7:8 and 8:9; Daniel 9:26. He is the "idol shepherd" of Zechariah 11:17. According to the Book of Revelation, where he is called "the Beast" -Revelation 13:1, he will be a much admired world leader- Revelation 13:3 and exercise incredible authority over the Western hemisphere. It is for this reason that he is often referred to as the coming "one-world leader." He institutes an economic system involving personal identification numbers- Revelation 13:18- that is used all over the world, just as credit cards are now used all over the world.
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.-II Thessalonians 2:4
People speculate that certain current leaders have all the earmarks of the anti-Christ. I would just remind them that this is because the spirit of the anti-Christ is and has been in the world for some time. I seriously doubt any of the current “usual suspects” people point to have the power to raise the dead, a power that the “man of sin” will have.
This man decides to break the treaty he has made between Israel and her neighbors half way through the term of the treaty, or 3 1/2 years after its signing. At that time he will enter the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and sit himself down in the mercy seat of the Most High God and he will declare that there is no higher God in the universe then himself. He will then demand that all the people of the earth, or at least all the people under his control, worship him as God under penalty of death. The Jews will become irate saying he's blaspheming, claiming to be God. His answer will be-"You're looking at God." Paul said-"Blindness in part has happened to the Jews." On this day the scales will fall from their eyes.
According to Daniel 9, this event marks the beginning of the final 3 1/2 years of the "times of the Gentiles."
At the end of that time, the Lord Jesus Christ will return to the earth and to Jerusalem where He will fulfill the Old Testament promises to Israel that Zion shall never be without a descendant of David to rule as King. Everything on the planet will come under the direct control and supervision of Jesus, who is God in the flesh, and those who were faithful to Him and His promises during the current age the church age will "live and reign with him." (Revelation 20:4).
God shall send them strong delusion...
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie... II Thessalonians 2:11
One of the great characteristics of the end times is described in the New Testament as deception, or delusion, on a grand, unprecedented scale. Jesus warned that the deception that is coming in His Name and accompanied by great shows of power will be so convincing that even the very elect stand in danger of being carried away in the deception.-Matthew 24:24.
In discussing the end time delusion that will accompany the world's acceptance of Satan himself as the savior of the world, Paul points out that when this "man of sin" arrives on the scene, he will be accompanied by great signs and wonders -II Thessalonians 2:9.
The world believes that Israel is an imposter in the Holy Land and is "occupying" "Palestinian" territory! The world also believes that there can be peace outside of submission to God and His authority. All of this is purely delusional. The fact of the matter is that God has given Israel to the Jews with an oath and a promise that cannot be broken. The world will know no peace until the Prince of Peace returns and takes up His rule from David's throne in Jerusalem. Anyone who has read and believes the Bible knows these things, but the world doesn't know these things.
One day soon, God, by divine intervention in the return to earth of His Son, is going to snap history in two. The climactic point of history will be reached. God is going to crown Jesus King of kings and Lord of it all. There will be a coronation in the sky. What a moment that is going to be! All of us are there in our white robes, and the orchestras of heaven are going to play. The choirs are going to sing; the angels will furnish the music.
The stars will sing together. They are beginning to find now that stars do sing. They send forth rays that make music to ears that can hear. The stars will sing, and our ears will be attuned to the songs of the universe.
And then, the angels will fold their wings. They will sit down, and then we are going to sing. We'll stand and sing redemption's theme song, "Saved, saved by the blood of the crucified One."
The angels can't join us because they never knew the joy that our salvation brings. I'm glad to be a Christian in this momentous hour. Aren’t you?
Blessings
John
Behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. (Isa. 60:2)
The greatest revival in history is here and will continue for some time. We know that a great awakening is sweeping across the nations. We look with joy as God fulfills His promise to pour out His Spirit on all flesh and empower His people to bring the gospel to all nations. What a privilege to live in this awesome hour of history!
Listen to Peter on the Day of Pentecost….
It shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams… I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy… before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. (Acts 2:17-20)
The Spirit is speaking about this outpouring in our day. We are in the middle of the great end-time outpouring of the Spirit. The Spirit will continue to release the miracles seen in the book of Acts.
BUT CONSIDER THE CRISIS THAT IS AT HAND
We’re living under the threat of natural disasters, terrorism, lawlessness, and war. The oldest citizens among us can scarcely remember floods, earthquakes and violent storms like we’re witnessing today. –Matt.24:4-12-
Radical Islam is growing more intolerant as they seek global domination while Western governments are growing more tolerant as they legalize perversion and corruption. Fear is quickly becoming a predominate emotion.
Men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things… (Lk. 21:26)
Abortion continues to kill 4,000 babies each day in America. The sanctity of marriage has come under siege, threatening to destroy the moral foundations of our nation. Sexual immorality, both heterosexual and homosexual, is reaching epic heights of depravity.
Entire school systems are giving way to this craziness. The number of women and children being trafficked in the sex industry is growing at an alarming rate. The list could go on and on.
Satan, realizing he can’t prevail against God’s church, has joined it and is presenting “another gospel.” A new wave of confusion is systematically seducing young adults into deception. Sincere believers, once ablaze for The Lord, are being allured into compromise on biblical truths and practices.
A kind of “social gospel” is insidiously supplanting the true gospel of Jesus Christ, but no amount of ministry activity can “balance out” the profound spiritual compromises that many are making. More and more is being done in the name of justice and humanity, and less and less in the name of Jesus. In the name of tolerance we are settling for politically correct theology that trivializes God’s glory. Our works of compassion and justice must flow from allegiance to God and His Word, not take their place.
The tsunami of the greatest revival in America’s history approaches even as our nation stands on such precarious footing. The onslaught of darkness is increasing in classrooms, boardrooms, courtrooms, and bedrooms. Confusion is pouring forth from many pulpits and from the halls of Washington.
We live in a very significant hour of history. I believe we are in the time described in the Scripture as the “beginning of sorrows,” or “the beginning of birth pains,” that precedes the Great Tribulation -Mt. 24:4-8, 21. The Bible tells us that during the Great Tribulation, sin will become fully ripe with unprecedented and unimaginable levels of debauchery.
In the letter to the Thessalonians, a church that was eagerly awaiting the return of the Lord, Paul outlined a few events that will come to pass before "the day of the Lord" arrives. The day of the Lord is a general term pointing to an entire series of events that culminate with Jesus landing on the Mount of Olives and taking up the throne of David in Jerusalem.
He says in II Thessalonians 2:1-4 that two things must happen -- a great falling away, and the revelation of the Antichrist, or man of sin. He goes on to discuss this pivotal character in end time history, and then starting in verse 10 Paul introduces the theme of end-time delusion. There are constant reminders throughout the New Testament, from the teachings of Jesus Himself to the writings of Paul, John, Peter, James, and Jude, indicating that the end times will be times of great delusion and deception. These warnings are specifically directed at "the elect" that they might not also be carried away with the "strong delusion" that God will send expressly for the purpose of separating true believers in Him from those who "have not a love of the truth."
The Great “Falling Away”
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed... (II Thessalonians 2:1,2)
There are some things in the Bible that are hard to understand and we can generally leave them open to interpretation. But there are some things that are all too clear. One of these things that should be without debate is that the Rapture of the church will not occur until after something Paul calls “a falling away” happens first.
This has always seemed strange to me but there are those who equate the “falling away” with the Rapture, or the catching up of the Lord's people to meet Him in the air [I Thessalonians 4:17]. They see the Body of Christ "falling away" from the earth as the Lord miraculously draws them up to be with Him in the air.
However, the Greek word translated "falling away" is the word "apostasia," the basis for the English word apostasy. It is the act of going back on the faith. It is a denying of the basic tenets of the faith one once held. “Falling away” is a deviation from or forsaking of an authentically established position.
While there has been a general apostasy on earth since I was a boy, it’s getting exponentially worse almost daily. This falling away will result in persecution of the true believers who refuse to follow “religion” in its retreat from true, authentic Christianity. In fact, it’s likely that it’s just this sort of persecution that will create the unity among Christians that will help them overcome the division that keeps her from coming together as one chaste virgin to meet her Bridegroom King.
Expect to see more liberalism/ modernism, also referred to as “Liberation theology” or the social gospel, continue to invade and take over more mainline Christian denominations. We can also expect to see true Bible believing Christians come under more and more pressure to comply with the form of Christianity that will be spearheaded by the media, the press, and the United Nations. It will be ecumenical, multicultural, tolerant of other faiths and religions, and ultimately conceivably enforced at gunpoint or through other coercive means.
Before you say this is not a possibility in our lifetime; there are restrictions on preaching already being enforced in places like Australia and Canada on the preaching and teaching of Biblical truth. Laws are being passed that will make it "illegal" to teach the Biblical view when it comes to such issues as abortion and homosexuality. And this is just the tip of the iceberg and a shadow of things to come over the next decade.
T.V evangelist John Hagee recently sent lawyers to defend him from accusations he’d preached “hate speech.” Hagee said that the “handwriting is on the wall” because even though he won that round the victory cost him about ten thousand dollars. I don’t claim to be a prophet but I’ve predicted for decades that the time would come when preaching the gospel would be costly.
A MOMENTOUS TIME IN HISTORY
I believe we’re blessed to be alive at such a time in history; a heaven sent revival flourishes world-wide in spite of the fact that we’re witnessing the slow undoing of Western civilization. Should Christ tarry His coming it will be interesting in the days ahead just to see what sort of order will come about following the collapse of much of our social, governmental, financial, and technological systems. Of course that’s just around the corner.
The Bible foretells that the current systems will ultimately be brought under the control of one great authoritarian dictator. This seemingly benevolent dictator will become personally indwelt by Satan himself, the great enemy of God, and will bring havoc down on the heads of God's people until God Himself removes him from the scene. It’s then that God establishes His own Kingdom, with Israel serving as the planet's political focal point.
But the Falling Away is only one of the signs Paul wrote about. In addition to a general apostasy, there will also be the revealing of the man of sin.
That Man of Sin shall be revealed...
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed... (II Thessalonians 2:1,2)
There is much written in the Bible about this man.
He is called the "Antichrist" by John -I John 2:18, 22 and 4:3, the "little horn" and the "prince that shall come" by Daniel- Daniel 7:8 and 8:9; Daniel 9:26. He is the "idol shepherd" of Zechariah 11:17. According to the Book of Revelation, where he is called "the Beast" -Revelation 13:1, he will be a much admired world leader- Revelation 13:3 and exercise incredible authority over the Western hemisphere. It is for this reason that he is often referred to as the coming "one-world leader." He institutes an economic system involving personal identification numbers- Revelation 13:18- that is used all over the world, just as credit cards are now used all over the world.
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.-II Thessalonians 2:4
People speculate that certain current leaders have all the earmarks of the anti-Christ. I would just remind them that this is because the spirit of the anti-Christ is and has been in the world for some time. I seriously doubt any of the current “usual suspects” people point to have the power to raise the dead, a power that the “man of sin” will have.
This man decides to break the treaty he has made between Israel and her neighbors half way through the term of the treaty, or 3 1/2 years after its signing. At that time he will enter the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and sit himself down in the mercy seat of the Most High God and he will declare that there is no higher God in the universe then himself. He will then demand that all the people of the earth, or at least all the people under his control, worship him as God under penalty of death. The Jews will become irate saying he's blaspheming, claiming to be God. His answer will be-"You're looking at God." Paul said-"Blindness in part has happened to the Jews." On this day the scales will fall from their eyes.
According to Daniel 9, this event marks the beginning of the final 3 1/2 years of the "times of the Gentiles."
At the end of that time, the Lord Jesus Christ will return to the earth and to Jerusalem where He will fulfill the Old Testament promises to Israel that Zion shall never be without a descendant of David to rule as King. Everything on the planet will come under the direct control and supervision of Jesus, who is God in the flesh, and those who were faithful to Him and His promises during the current age the church age will "live and reign with him." (Revelation 20:4).
God shall send them strong delusion...
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie... II Thessalonians 2:11
One of the great characteristics of the end times is described in the New Testament as deception, or delusion, on a grand, unprecedented scale. Jesus warned that the deception that is coming in His Name and accompanied by great shows of power will be so convincing that even the very elect stand in danger of being carried away in the deception.-Matthew 24:24.
In discussing the end time delusion that will accompany the world's acceptance of Satan himself as the savior of the world, Paul points out that when this "man of sin" arrives on the scene, he will be accompanied by great signs and wonders -II Thessalonians 2:9.
The world believes that Israel is an imposter in the Holy Land and is "occupying" "Palestinian" territory! The world also believes that there can be peace outside of submission to God and His authority. All of this is purely delusional. The fact of the matter is that God has given Israel to the Jews with an oath and a promise that cannot be broken. The world will know no peace until the Prince of Peace returns and takes up His rule from David's throne in Jerusalem. Anyone who has read and believes the Bible knows these things, but the world doesn't know these things.
One day soon, God, by divine intervention in the return to earth of His Son, is going to snap history in two. The climactic point of history will be reached. God is going to crown Jesus King of kings and Lord of it all. There will be a coronation in the sky. What a moment that is going to be! All of us are there in our white robes, and the orchestras of heaven are going to play. The choirs are going to sing; the angels will furnish the music.
The stars will sing together. They are beginning to find now that stars do sing. They send forth rays that make music to ears that can hear. The stars will sing, and our ears will be attuned to the songs of the universe.
And then, the angels will fold their wings. They will sit down, and then we are going to sing. We'll stand and sing redemption's theme song, "Saved, saved by the blood of the crucified One."
The angels can't join us because they never knew the joy that our salvation brings. I'm glad to be a Christian in this momentous hour. Aren’t you?
Blessings
John
Saturday, July 25, 2015
"Saving Face" --That Old Devil EGO
By John Stallings
In 1985 a super group of American popular singers were invited to Los Angeles to record a song written by Michael Jackson called, “We are the world.” It was billed as USA for Africa.
Arranger Quincy Jones held the baton & the charity single was intended to raise funds to help famine relief efforts in Ethiopia which experienced unusual drought in 1984/85.
The single sold 800,000 copies its first week & was the highest debuting single since John Lennon’s “Imagine, “ & won Grammy Awards for song of the year & record of the year.
Jones coined a statement that day that took on a life of its own when he placed a sign at the front of the studio reading, “Please check your ego at the door.”
Jones knew he had a few dozen of the most successful solo artists in the world in one place & all of them were used to running their own show so he said in essence; “You’re not going to sing a solo [though an effort was made to somehow feature everyone’s voice at some point-that to me was comical,] you’re not going to fiddle with the sound-system & you’re not going to call the shots. This is a group effort- period!”
From all accounts things went well that day because Jones was wise enough to see the obvious pitfalls of a venture like this & “nip old man ego in the bud,” & each of the performers realized the occasion was bigger than them.
WHAT IS EGO?
- Ego is the invisible shield planted around self to protect it from the outside world.
· Ego is being shy & unable to move outside to connect with others.
· Ego is fear of what others think.
· Ego is critical & will not accept compliments.
· Ego is lack of trust in others because trust has been violated.
· Ego is living inside a comfort zone to protect from failure & other people.
· Ego can be thinking you’re perfect or striving for perfection.
· Ego will take the credit when credit doesn’t belong to you.
· Ego has a mind like a steel-trap. Closed.
· Ego is not allowing yourself to learn & grow for fear of responsibility.
· Ego is refusal to forgive because you feel justified in your anger.
· Ego takes offense quickly at what others do or say.
· Ego is self-righteous & critical.
· Ego is false humility.
· Ego is oppressive & loves living in the past.
· Ego is having to be in control of everything.
· Ego is thinking no one can do it as good as you.
· Ego is an inability to admit you need help.
· Ego needs to “keep up with the Jones.”
· Ego needs to appear like everything is perfect when it isn’t.
· Ego is a victim.
· Ego is prideful
· Ego will never, never apologize but if necessary, to preserve itself, will go down to the grave with every relationship torn asunder.
· If we turn our lives over to God our ego will safely be left outside the doorway of our life.
· In short---EGO IS ;
E.—Edging
G.—God
O. ----Out
WE ALL HAVE AN EGO
G.—God
O. ----Out
WE ALL HAVE AN EGO
If we didn’t have an ego we wouldn’t last long on this earth. Our Ego tells us what we want to eat for dinner, who our friends are & what books we want to read. The dangerous part of our ego’s is when it gets so swollen & inflated it turns into an evil monster with another name—self-centeredness.
Duke University did studies on ego & found that people who were egotistical & self-absorbed scored the lowest in any test measuring happiness.
We’ve all seen people who were egotists & usually they wonder why they have it so hard in life, but no one likes a person with a big-head, puffed-up with pride.
A crowded United Airlines flight was cancelled. A single agent was rebooking a long line of inconvenienced travelers. Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk, slapped his ticket down on the desk & said, “I have to be on this flight & it has to be first class.”
The agent replied, “I’m sorry sir. I’ll be happy to try to help you but I’ve got to help these folks first.” The passenger asked loudly, “Do you know who I am?” Without hesitating the agent smiled & grabbed her public address microphone. “May I have your attention please? She began, her voice heard clearly throughout the terminal. “We have a passenger here at Gate 14 who doesn’t know who he is. If anyone can help him find his identity please come to Gate 14.”
In the first chapters of the book of John, John the Baptist comes on the scene as the forerunner of his cousin Jesus. By taking a close look at what was happening here we can see the dynamics of what can take place when an individual is willing to make their ego subservient to a cause greater than itself.
The agent replied, “I’m sorry sir. I’ll be happy to try to help you but I’ve got to help these folks first.” The passenger asked loudly, “Do you know who I am?” Without hesitating the agent smiled & grabbed her public address microphone. “May I have your attention please? She began, her voice heard clearly throughout the terminal. “We have a passenger here at Gate 14 who doesn’t know who he is. If anyone can help him find his identity please come to Gate 14.”
In the first chapters of the book of John, John the Baptist comes on the scene as the forerunner of his cousin Jesus. By taking a close look at what was happening here we can see the dynamics of what can take place when an individual is willing to make their ego subservient to a cause greater than itself.
John the Baptist throughout his life played second fiddle. That’s what his life was about. He played before, & he played behind, & he supported the main melody, the main act the main event, the “one who was coming,” which was Jesus. That was his job so that when Jesus came His voice would ring loud & clear.
It was John’s job to wake people up before Jesus came. It was John’s job to create an air of expectancy about Jesus & prepare peoples ears to hear His message. It had been many years since a great prophet had been active in Israel so John’s job was to wake the people up to the fact that God was sending Jesus the Messiah.
John was to be the dry run before the test. He was to be the lightening before the storm. He was to be the first tremor of the earthquake that was on its way. His job was to be the “leaked press release” before the president’s speech so that before Jesus came to speak, people would be speaking about what was going to be spoken.
The prophets Isaiah & Malachi years before had said that someone would come to do this, to prepare the way for God’s Messiah. John was to be a voice crying in the wilderness & he knew he was that voice. So up & down the West bank John went dressed like a prophet of old, eating bugs & stirring the people up with anticipation.- of Jesus who was to Come.
SO HOW DID JOHN LET GO OF HIS EGO?
John put his ego aside. He had disciples but he knew he wasn’t going to keep them for himself. They would be sent by him to Jesus.
I’m sure you’ve heard the term “Saving Face.” John wasn’t in the business of saving face; he was spending all his energies preparing the hearts of people for his cousin, whom he knew was the one sent from God to die for the sins of the world. Let’s take the word FACE as an acronym, using each letter to make a word describing John’s method of operation. The first word is;
FEAR
John let go of fear. Fear of being rejected & subjugated to his cousin Jesus. John could well have felt like his disciples following Jesus meant that they were rejecting him or that they had no more use for him. If John had given in to that fear he would have had to spend all his energy protecting his ego & kept his disciples in orbit around him, “The great John.”
We often see husbands so fearful that their wives will get out from under their control that they spend all their time working on their minds making sure there isn’t one speck of difference in the way they see things. I’ve known men who called their wives from work every hour, on the hour to talk, especially if they felt they needed to be conditioning her to think like they do on some issue. This is nothing more than fear that things will get out of their control. It’s an autocratic, mental domination stemming from an ego that would be crushed if it wasn’t regulating everything in their sphere. This in the long run plays out as genuine hurtful even destructive behavior.
Relationships will be healthier when we love others deeply enough to serve their needs rather than using them to meet our needs & further our agenda’s.
Our next letter is A, which stands for
ATTACHMENT;
Attachment- to being right; to being the only star in our personal solar system. John could have viewed his disciples leaving him for Jesus as an attack on what he was teaching. He could have allowed himself to let him view their behavior as a sell-out & dug in his heels to defend his precious ego. He could have started criticizing Jesus & pushing himself. He might have responded like a Blow fish blowing himself up to look bigger than he really was in order to compete with Jesus & keep his disciples as HIS disciples.
Do we have a heavy investment in always being right? We are in the middle of an argument with our spouse, a friend or loved one & we come to realize we are dead wrong. Do we admit it or do we dig in even deeper because our Ego is too fragile to “lose.” We are willing to hurt the other person & damage the relationship rather than simply admit we were wrong & apologize.
Why can’t we apologize when we know we’re wrong? Why can’t we say things like “I might be wrong”? Why do we have to have the last word in every altercation? Why can’t we reach out to others & extend an Olive branch of peace & understanding? It seems to me that if we allowed it free rein, our ego would destroy all our relationships & alienate the rest of the world so long as it was coddled, catered to, stroked & never threatened. The C stands for;
CONTROL,
.....the need to control others. If John needed his disciples to do things his way in order to feel good about himself he never would have let them go with Jesus. He’d have tried to control them. He might have tried to manipulate them or to somehow use guilt to get them to do his bidding. If we need others to behave or look or think certain ways in order for us to feel good about ourselves then we’ll be people who have a strong need to control others.
We need to learn from John. We need to learn how to love people deeply enough to let them go. To trust them enough to release them to blossom & bloom into the people God created them to be. Finally, E stands for;
We need to learn from John. We need to learn how to love people deeply enough to let them go. To trust them enough to release them to blossom & bloom into the people God created them to be. Finally, E stands for;
ENTITLEMENT,
...the idea that I should be loved & respected without any personal responsibility or obligation. John might have felt that his disciples owed him their loyalty & that it was his right & privilege. Again if John had felt that way he would never have encouraged his disciples to follow Jesus.
However John doesn’t have a sense of entitlement. He’d rather serve others than expect them to serve him. If you & I really care for others we will let go of the FACE of an over inflated Ego & look for ways to serve them rather than thinking they owe us.
However John doesn’t have a sense of entitlement. He’d rather serve others than expect them to serve him. If you & I really care for others we will let go of the FACE of an over inflated Ego & look for ways to serve them rather than thinking they owe us.
THE EGO’S OF JAMES & JOHN
In the tenth chapter of Mark, James & John the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus & asked Him- to grant that they may sit, one on they right hand & the other on thy left hand in thy glory.
Before we condemn these two men let’s look at ourselves & ask if we don’t have the same basic desire for recognition & importance; the same desire for attention & the same desire to be first. There is deep down within all of us an instinct to be out front, to lead the parade. And it’s something that runs the whole gamut of life.
Before we condemn these two men let’s look at ourselves & ask if we don’t have the same basic desire for recognition & importance; the same desire for attention & the same desire to be first. There is deep down within all of us an instinct to be out front, to lead the parade. And it’s something that runs the whole gamut of life.
Sigmund Freud contended that sex was mans dominate impulse but later psychoanalysts argued that the quest for attention & for distinction is the basic drive of human life. Our first cry as a baby was a bid for attention. We came into this world a bundle of ego.
A SWOLLEN EGO CAUSES US TO LIVE ABOVE OUR MEANS
People will drive cars they really can’t afford but they do it anyway because it feeds their ego.
Much of the latest housing crisis in America with people losing their homes is due in many cases to buying above what they could actually afford to pay for, thus they are going into foreclosure in record numbers. EGO is responsible for much of this.
Much of the latest housing crisis in America with people losing their homes is due in many cases to buying above what they could actually afford to pay for, thus they are going into foreclosure in record numbers. EGO is responsible for much of this.
EGO will cause you to be a name-dropper. In an attempt to pacify an enlarged ego some people will try to identify with so-called “big-name people.” They will make you think they know somebody they really don’t know. They will try to convince you they sip tea with famous folk. That actually happens to people.
SPREADING GOSSIP & LIES ABOUT PEOPLE IS THE REFUGE OF A SICK EGO.
When a person fails to harness their ego they will be driven to try to push others down in order to lift themselves up. When they do that they engage in a vicious sin & a sin God particularly hates. They will spread evil vicious lies on people.
Lately we’ve heard the politicians, Clinton & Obama, accusing each other of elitism. This also is one of the places the Ego goes, to snobbish exclusivism. This happens in churches. I’ve heard pastors say, “we have so many school teachers, & so many lawyers & so many doctors & businessmen in our church.” Now don’t get me wrong; these people ought to be in church. That’s fine. The problem is they can sometimes say this as if other people don’t count. Maybe we could call this; “An Ego-driven church.” If there’s any place that a doctor should forget he’s a doctor & a PHD should forget his education, church should be the place. When a church is true to its calling, it says, “Whosoever will may come.”
THAT BOY IS BACK IN TOWN
THAT BOY IS BACK IN TOWN
When Jesus returned to His hometown of Nazareth, the people responded to him with their EGO’S in full bloom. Jesus offended almost everyone. He asked His family, “Who are my brothers & sisters?” He told His disciples, “Get behind me Satan.”
He offended the Pharisees….the ancient religious right. He offended the Sadducees…the liberal, spiritual, well-educated left. He offended the Herodians…the opportunistic secularists of the day. Have you noticed how many folk are getting miffed in the gospel stories?
You can tell a lot about people when they are offended, especially when you see what it is in them that has been offended.
He offended the Pharisees….the ancient religious right. He offended the Sadducees…the liberal, spiritual, well-educated left. He offended the Herodians…the opportunistic secularists of the day. Have you noticed how many folk are getting miffed in the gospel stories?
You can tell a lot about people when they are offended, especially when you see what it is in them that has been offended.
YOU KNOW WHEN YOU’VE BEEN OFFENDED THAT EGOS IN CONTROL.
When you find yourself saying “She didn’t include me…” They disagreed with me & were critical of me.” How dare he suggest such a thing?” “They didn’t consult me.” When we’re in that state…we’re controlled by something & it’s not God.
When Jesus goes home & He’s teaching, the home-boys & girls get offended. “Where did He get this stuff?” “I remember this guy from school. He had pimples back in Junior High. He was terrible at stick-ball. Who does He think He is?” “Its all well & good for someone to be a prophet but not someone I baby- sat…The carpenters son…might as well have been my son…nothing good can come out of Nazareth, certainly not me.”
Can you see how these people’s Ego’s caused them to be offended? In Jesus’ teaching in their temple, He mentioned how Elijah was sent to a woman during the famine & she received a miracle & she wasn’t even Jewish. He also mentioned General Namaan who was healed of leprosy & he’d been Israel’s enemy. They felt like God worked only through the Jewish people & here was Jesus, point blank telling them it wasn’t so. These Nazarene’s blew a fuse. They said, “Enough of this. Man the battle stations….Lower the draw bridge…Stones for everyone…Lock & load.” Jesus had bruised their tender & sensitive Ego’s.
NAMAAN’S EGO ALMOST LOST HIM HIS MIRACLE
You will no doubt remember him from 2 Kings. Namaan was a great man, a general in the ancient army of Aram, the area we now call Syria. He was great but afflicted with leprosy so he comes south to Israel & meets with the prophet Elisha.
He has heard that Elisha can heal him so he goes to Elisha’s humble house but Elisha won’t even come out to meet him. Instead Elisha sends his servant out to tell him to “go wash in the Jordan River seven times & you’ll be clean.”
Namaan gets miffed. He’s hurt & upset. Remember this man has a large ego. He’s filled with pride & flies into a rage. “No exception for a man like me? And what is this Jordan River? Its nothing compared to the rivers of Damascus! It’s just a puddle or a pond.” It was all beneath him. His ego almost outweighed his chance for healing.
Namaan had some good & faithful servants who said, “Do it anyway Namaan, do it anyway.” Namaan put his ego aside & found his healing & a new life in a seemingly small & insignificant thing like dipping himself in the Jordan seven times.
THE GREATEST SERMON CHRIST NEVER PREACHED
Our example in humility & laying aside of ego is Christ. In John 13:1-14, Jesus laid aside His garments & took a towel & began to wash His disciple’s feet. Jesus didn’t preach this sermon but a sermon it was; a sermon in humility. In Jesus’ day, this was a job for slaves because people’s feet got every kind of filth on them from dirt to dung. This one, who was the Messiah of God, humbled Himself & became obedient to the circumstances of human existence to the point of death on a cross.
Jesus affirmed Himself on Palm Sunday as Messiah & allowed the crowds to shout hosanna. But then, with not an egotistical bone in His body, He went from the praises of Palm Sunday to the humiliation of the Roman cross.
But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled Himself & became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.—Philippians 2:7-8
Blessings,
Blessings,
John
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Seven Ducks In A Dirty River
By John Stallings
……..but he was a leper. -- 2nd Kings 5:1
Imagine if you attended a well known college or university.
You graduated with honors & now you have a really great job with a large company. You had worked hard through the years & gotten lots of promotions & eventually became CEO of the company.
You continue to grow the business & expand it further into other countries. NOW YOU’VE MADE IT!! You’ve made a name for yourself. You’re smart & everybody knows it & well known in your field of expertise. Not to mention you’re rich.
One morning you’re combing your hair & feel a burning pain in the upper part of your body. You see your doctor & he tells you you’re seriously ill. Not only that, you must enter the hospital immediately for a battery of tests with radical surgery soon to follow. You must cancel all plans as of that moment & put your life on hold and you’re told that most cases like yours have an extremely high mortality rate. How do you think you’d feel? You’d be devastated, it’s just that simple.
Now all the education, all the hard work, all the riches mean nothing. Not only that, what about all the employees in your large company who look to you for sustenance. Suddenly everything goes up in smoke.
This brings us to one of the most interesting stories in the Old Testament. In the book of 2nd Kings we find a man named Naaman in the very same situation we just described. His chief claim to fame is --- he’s mentioned in a sermon by Jesus in Luke 4:27. Jesus commented that the only leper healed in Elisha’s time was Namaan the leper.
Our response to our bad health news would very likely be taken much more mildly than Naamans so long ago. His world abruptly blew apart. He was the captain of the Syrian Army. He was a mighty man of valor, a great man of courage, a great leader & military tactician. He was brilliant with many battles behind him most of which he’d won. He was a big- shot & a national hero in his own country. Had he lived in our day Namaan would have been a governor, head of a chamber of commerce or president of some bank. But---Naaman was a leper.
Naaman had the whole world seemingly in the palm of his hand. He had all that fleshly appetites could possibly want. He was on top of the world & at the top of his game. Unfortunately his life took a bad twist & when we meet him here in 2nd Kings he’s hideously & terminally ill with a flesh devouring disease.
The best comparison I can think of with leprosy in our modern day would be AIDS. Barring a miracle, life as he knows it is over for Naaman. He’s going to die sometime soon. Death would be a blessing considering the alternative of the digits & limbs of his body literally falling off.
But now Naaman must be quarantined because he’s contagious. He’s unclean. There’s no cure. This once powerful man is now powerless, he’s a pathetic case. He’s really sick. His position in the Army now means absolutely nothing at all. The battles he’s won; the achievements he’s had so far in life are totally insignificant.
As it oft-times happens, help came from a strange source-a young Jewish girl. She had been taken captive & was now a servant to Namaan’s wife. This girl was probably a teenager snatched from her home & may have even witnessed the death of her parents. Her reaction to Namaan’s tragedy was remarkably Christian. She had no hatred or resentment, only a desire to help. She told of a prophet by the name of Elisha in Samaria who could heal him of his disease. Samaria was the capitol of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. This constituted great news for Naaman.
Now Naaman is on a search for God & God’s man.
SADLY SOME PEOPLE NEVER THINK OF GOD UNTIL THEY’RE DESPERATE?
Far too many people take no time for God when things are running smoothly. They don’t acknowledge Him in any way. I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news but God loves us enough to rock our world to get our attention. If we place God on the back burner, sooner or later we’ll get a rude awakening & it won’t be pleasant.
So Naaman asked permission from the King to go see the prophet Elisha. The King sent him to another even weaker King & we are furnished with a little comic relief here at the expense of “The high & the mighty.” It was a typical case of bureaucratic bungling which causes two kings, the king of Syria & the king of Israel to have a short “Mexican-standoff.” The King of Israel had a conniption hissy-fit thinking he was being messed with by the king of Syria. He couldn’t cure a fly with a headache & he knew it, so he got all bent out of shape & rent his clothes. It’s really comical when you read it in 2nd Kings 5:6-7.
Well Elisha the prophet heard about the kerfluffel & sent word to the king of Israel to send Naaman to him. It’s slowly sinking into Naaman’s head that God is his only hope. Naaman lets no grass grow under his feet. You’ve really got to picture the scene of Naaman arriving at Elisha’s house. His big chariot wheels barely fit between the curbs. He pulls up in front of Elisha’s house with all his entourage thinking Elisha is going to lay hands on him. Naaman’s horses are puffing & pawing on the ground & Elisha’s neighbors are hanging out their windows. One of Naaman's snappily dressed servants walks up to the door & knocks.
But Elisha sends his servant out to tell Naaman to go duck in the river Jordan River seven times. It’s this simple; General Naaman, a commander of the Army of Aram who was packing a lot of gold & silver in his luggage as well as clothes, was supposed to go squat around in a muddy river like a five year old boy.
JUST DO IT NAMAAN
The instructions given Namaan are reminiscent of the Nike commercial— “Just do it.” When Naaman gets the orders to go to this dirty river & duck he’s gets so angry & upset he turns & starts home. What kind of shabby welcome is this? The approach Elisha is using & these seemingly nonsensical instructions are totally unacceptable. His home town of Damascus was known for its clean pure rivers & endless supply of clean water. Namaan’s servant reminds him that if the prophet had asked him to so some great thing he’d have been willing to do it.
NOTICE HOW THE SERVANTS, BASICALLY POWERLESS PEOPLE, ARE PLAYING SUCH IMPORTANT ROLLS IN THIS STORY.
Namaan was fortunate to have such wise people around him who weren’t afraid to speak truth to power. So often simple common sense tips the scales in the right direction. So finally Naaman goes down to the river & walks out into the muddy water. He really wants to get well. He leaves his clothes & shoes on the bank. The water was greenish & smelled like fish. There was nothing remotely sacred about it. Can’t you just hear him say “Ooooooooo its Soooo cold & muddy?” I can imagine his teeth were chattering & his sores were burning. He pinches his nose & tries to think of nothing but numbers.
1. After the first DUCK Naaman still had leprosy --but his DISOBEDIENCE TO GOD was washed away.
He was obedient & that was a good start but what he needed was more of God. If he was going to be healed it would take more obedience. Many people have all of God they want. Today “our greatest need is to see our need.”
Abraham was the poster boy for disobedience in Genesis. God told him to leave Ur & go to Canaan but he went as far as Haran & settled down there; a direct act of disobedience. He didn’t sojourn there, he settled there & there’s a big difference. As a matter of fact, when studying Abraham’s life Haran is called the “land of disobedience.” Many people never see their dreams come true in life because they fail to fully execute God’s will for their lives.
Also Abraham strayed down into Egypt which is a type of the world. Abraham was a man with flocks & herds & when the rain stopped he was in trouble. So he felt driven to leave & go south toward Egypt. Abraham didn’t consult God about the matter, he just went. This was a tragic mistake for each step took him away from the alter & closer to Egypt.
Egypt looked good with its lush green delta & the Nile River. There would be plenty of food there. But the trip turned out to be disastrous because Abraham took council with this fears instead of with God.
So we can readily see that when Namaan got rid of his disobedience he was definitely on the right track but he still had a ways to go.
If God tells us to jump through a wall it’s our business to jump & God’s business to make a hole. The people standing around watching will be happy to tell us two seconds after we jump if God told us.
2. The second DUCK & Naaman still had leprosy-- but his STUBBORNESS was washed away.
Proverbs 29:1 says---He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed & that without remedy.1 Peter 5:5 tells us to---- clothe ourselves with humility toward one another.
Saul is a great example of stubbornness in the Old Testament. In 1 Samuel 15 God told Samuel to tell King Saul to wipe out the Amalekites. Saul in his stubbornness didn’t complete the job & allowed the King to live & took many of the spoils of the land including the animals. It was in this context that God said;
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, & stubbornness is as iniquity & idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king.
Namaan isn’t whole yet but he now has a handle on his stubbornness & this is a great victory for him. The sins of Naaman’s character & his lack of Godly graces were much more of a challenge to God than the healing of his leprosy. As a matter of fact the ducking in the muddy Jordan really had nothing to do with the leprosy but all to do with the sins of Naaman’s heart. Man looks upon the outward appearance but God sees the heart.
3. The third DUCK & Naaman still had leprosy-- but his PRIDE was washed away.
Pride was a major problem for Naaman. After all he was a man of high estate & authority. Pride is a pesky weed that sprouts up when & where we least expect it. Someone has said that pride is the Dandelion of the soul. Its roots go deep & if a small amount is left it can sprout again & again. It will always be standing two or three inches above the grass. If the grass grows two inches, the dandelion will grow three. The danger in pride is that it thrives on goodness. We tend to think of real sin as adultery, murder & car-jacking but pride is perhaps the most dangerous sin of all because of its deceptiveness.
I remember reading a story about Ronald Reagan back when he was governor of California. He was making a speech in Mexico & afterwards he sat down to a rather unenthusiastic applause. A Spanish speaker then got up to speak & he was applauded on almost every paragraph. To hide his embarrassment, Reagan applauded at every opportunity. He clapped when he spoke, and always clapped a little more than everyone else. Then our American ambassador leaned over & said, “Mr. President, I don’t think I’d do that, the man is interpreting your speech.”
This was a very innocent mistake but it points up how easy it is for us look prideful or slip into prideful actions. It seems you can beat pride down & do all you can to eliminate it but there it is, it’s still alive. Part of the problem with pride is that it’s easy to see in others but not so easy to see in ourselves. The self-centered see everything through the prism of self. There’s a little “mini-me” lens in the eye & our main question is always, “what about me?” Pride causes us to look through a straw & of course at the end of the straw is “us.”
I saw a cartoon years ago where a smiling woman said, “That’s enough about me, lets talk about you. What do you think about me?”
One time Mohammad Ali was riding on a plane when the stewardess came up & told him to buckle his safety belt. Ali answered; “Superman didn’t need a safety belt.” She answered; “Yes, & Superman doesn’t need no plane.” Pride can convince us that we are somehow better & more important than other people.
Juda & I once met with a denominational leader about becoming part of his organization. All through the conversation he would refer to “the little man.” By this he meant the basically unknown men who pastored the small churches in his group. During an hour conversation he must have used that phrase “The little man” two or three dozen times. We left there with a sick feeling in the pit of our stomachs & I told Juda I didn’t believe that man would hold his leadership very long unless he lost that way of referring to his ministers. Sure enough before long he was voted out of his leadership position & consigned to a small church, which in his own words was a “little mans” place.
I like the way The Message Bible paraphrases Proverbs 16:18---First pride—then the crash—the bigger the ego, the harder the fall.
Someone has rightly said; when the head starts swelling, the mind stops growing. If we are having marriage problems & we refuse to talk to anyone about it, that’s pride. When we’ve got financial problems & we refuse to admit & get help, that’s pride. When we are having problems as parents or aren’t cutting it on the job, we don’t want anyone to know about it & we refuse to seek help, that’s pride; & a very destructive kind of pride. Pride is the wall that keeps sinners from Christ & it leads us to exclude Him from His rightful place in our hearts.
I remember a song we used to sing when I was a boy;
When I survey the wondrous cross,
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but lost,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
4. The fourth DUCK & Naaman still had leprosy--- but his SELF- PITY was washed away.
Let’s not forget that Namaan was a strong, proud accomplished warrior, the ranking general of his nation’s armed forces, an honored & well-rewarded member of Syria’s ruling elite. He was accustomed to adulation from commoners & to riveted attention from their admiring eyes. But now he is forced to leave the confines of his home & endure people’s stares. His clothes may conceal the fiery inflamed skin & the white scaly patches that cover most of his body, but his face is so afflicted that it is clear he’s a ritually unclean man who has been marginalized by the dreaded disease of leprosy.
How art the mighty fallen. There can be no reasonable doubt that Namaan is filled with self-pity & suppressed anger. Everyone in his household knows of his dreaded disease. As already stated, all through this story God is using servants, those who some would call “small people” to bring Namaan’s miracle into fruition. God is orchestrating every detail in this story to minister to Namaan’s pride & self-pity because it was such a great weight to the powerful man. But when he obeys the man of God’s instruction self-pity is washed away.
5. The fifth DUCK Naaman still had leprosy-- but his ANGER was washed away.
When Namaan is told he’s to duck seven times in an old dirty river his response is to stomp off in rage. His anger is stirred up & his ego is wounded by the prophet who is again stepping on his pride & marginalizing him. Even the Holy Man has refused to come to him directly. How much more humiliating can it get? Is this prophet going to shrink away from looking on his afflicted personage? The anger almost did the trick of cheating this man out of his miracle because he was definitely headed home until one of his servants reminded him that had he been asked to do some great thing he’d probably been glad to do it, just not this demeaning dip in an unclean river called Jordan.
6. The sixth DUCK Naaman still had leprosy --but his SELF-RIGHTOUSNESS was washed away.
Have you ever noticed that rebellion & arrogance usually carry with them a strong sense of self-righteousness? Head-strong people will almost invariably have an attitude of “I’m right,” & it’s usually the “in your face” variety.
Job was correct when he said;
If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse. Job 9:20
Luke gives us a very succinct story in Luke 18:9-14. He starts off by saying;
And Jesus spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: two men went into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee & the other a publican. The Pharisee stood & prayed thus with himself, God I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortionist, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
I fast twice in a week & give tithe of all I possess. And the publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exhalteth himself shall be abased & he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
We all want to be O.K. We want to be accepted. Who is acceptable to God? This story we have read throws some light on that question. The Pharisees were seriously religious. They weren’t Jesus’ favorite people. But we shouldn’t forget that at least they were serious about keeping the Law. They felt that their nation had suffered in the past because they hadn’t kept the law. They studied it very carefully & had codified it into 248 positive rules & 365 negatives ones. As if that wasn’t enough they had a bunch more to sort of keep them from “getting into trouble.” So we can’t say that was all bad.
The other group, the tax collectors were considered the dregs of society. They had to collect taxes from the common folk & pass them on to the Romans. But they were crooked & often took more than they were supposed to & lined their pockets with it.
Jesus takes one person from each of these groups & tells his story about what happened when they both went into the temple to pray. In this story Jesus is aiming at the problem of self-righteousness.
Here is the real problem with self-righteousness;
SELF-RIGHTOUSNESS MAKES IT POSSIBLE FOR OUR GOODNESS TO SEPARATE US FROM GOD.
Let me say that again---Self-righteousness makes it possible for our goodness to separate us from God. Whew! Doesn’t that sound strange? Surely God prefers good to evil. After all it was God who gave the Ten Commandments. But the reason self-righteousness is so dangerous is that instead of our goodness bringing us closer to God, it can lead us far away from Him. The reason for that is-- self-righteousness is just another manifestation of the sin of pride. When I speak of pride here I don’t just mean the pleasure & satisfaction we get out of a job well done or when one of our kids does well at school. The problem comes with the tendency of the individual to do so well in his own strength that he refuses to acknowledge any dependence on God. Haven’t you heard people say; “I feel I’m a pretty good person, I don’t really need God. I bet I live as good a life as those people down at the church.”
SELF RIGHTOUSNESS IS A SLIPPERY CONCEPT
To show you how slippery it is, a Sunday school teacher taught one morning about this proud Pharisee & in her closing prayer she said, “Lord I thank you that I’m not like the Pharisee in this story.” We can smile at this but then if we’re not careful we can turn around & feel that the fact that we are humble sinners saved by grace is something to be boastful of.
7. The seventh time Namaan ducked into the cold muddy water his skin became like a BABY’S SKIN.
The pivotal point of the whole story is found in verse 15 of 2 Kings 5. Namaan goes to Elisha’s house & stands before him & says. –“Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.”
Namaan is a converted man. He finally got emptied out & realized that his connections had gotten him nowhere. Elisha wasn’t even going to dignify him, he was just going to ask him to do an extremely stupid thing, & his bags of money would get him nowhere. When Namaan was finally stripped of all his pride & “fig-leaves” & stepped down to bathe in the murky Jordon waters, he met the wonder-working grace & power of God.
It was in his moment of vulnerability, helplessness & humiliation that Naaman found God & so have lots of others. Stripped, obedient & trusting, that’s the territory where God finds fertile human soil. Again, think of the way God used human instrumentality in this story. Every person is acting out of their own free will & not under compulsion. Yet from these many threads God weaves a tapestry of grace with Namaan at the center. If it weren’t for each of these people, their understanding, their care, their advice, Namaan would never have been healed.
So at the end of our stories lengthy journey through-
• Self-pity-
• Rage-
• Righteous indignation-
• Pride-
• Stubbornness-
• Disobedience- &
• Sympathetic intervention----
--We arrive at the final destination, -the good news that the compassion of God is offered even beyond the borders of Israel to persons of all nations.
God’s love was & is so radically inclusive that it embraces even enemy generals.
Elisha sends Namaan off to his new life, cleansed of the leprosy of his body & renewed in his soul. What will Namaan do? What happened to him? We don’t know. But Elisha is content to send him away in God’s peace & in God’s grace. The God who sought Namaan out & healed him in body & soul will also guide him when he gets back home.
Leprosy is a type of mans sinful condition. We were all born spiritual lepers. The only cure of the spiritual leprosy is to be cleansed by the blood of Christ. ---There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath the flood, lose all their guilty stains.
If you haven’t been plunged into the river of Christ’s forgiveness & washed in his blood, why not do it today. You will know the same life changing miracle that Namaan experienced.
If we serve the same loving & nurturing God, & we do, what will stop us from seeing the cries of our hearts come to fruition? As I see it, the only things that could hinder us would be the same things that almost sidetracked Namaan.
When we look at some of these hindrances & see ourselves there, we can follow Namaan’s example & throw off the old cloaks that self has weaved for us to wear & plunge into the waters of God's love, mercy & forgiveness.
Blessings,
John
……..but he was a leper. -- 2nd Kings 5:1
Imagine if you attended a well known college or university.
You graduated with honors & now you have a really great job with a large company. You had worked hard through the years & gotten lots of promotions & eventually became CEO of the company.
You continue to grow the business & expand it further into other countries. NOW YOU’VE MADE IT!! You’ve made a name for yourself. You’re smart & everybody knows it & well known in your field of expertise. Not to mention you’re rich.
One morning you’re combing your hair & feel a burning pain in the upper part of your body. You see your doctor & he tells you you’re seriously ill. Not only that, you must enter the hospital immediately for a battery of tests with radical surgery soon to follow. You must cancel all plans as of that moment & put your life on hold and you’re told that most cases like yours have an extremely high mortality rate. How do you think you’d feel? You’d be devastated, it’s just that simple.
Now all the education, all the hard work, all the riches mean nothing. Not only that, what about all the employees in your large company who look to you for sustenance. Suddenly everything goes up in smoke.
This brings us to one of the most interesting stories in the Old Testament. In the book of 2nd Kings we find a man named Naaman in the very same situation we just described. His chief claim to fame is --- he’s mentioned in a sermon by Jesus in Luke 4:27. Jesus commented that the only leper healed in Elisha’s time was Namaan the leper.
Our response to our bad health news would very likely be taken much more mildly than Naamans so long ago. His world abruptly blew apart. He was the captain of the Syrian Army. He was a mighty man of valor, a great man of courage, a great leader & military tactician. He was brilliant with many battles behind him most of which he’d won. He was a big- shot & a national hero in his own country. Had he lived in our day Namaan would have been a governor, head of a chamber of commerce or president of some bank. But---Naaman was a leper.
Naaman had the whole world seemingly in the palm of his hand. He had all that fleshly appetites could possibly want. He was on top of the world & at the top of his game. Unfortunately his life took a bad twist & when we meet him here in 2nd Kings he’s hideously & terminally ill with a flesh devouring disease.
The best comparison I can think of with leprosy in our modern day would be AIDS. Barring a miracle, life as he knows it is over for Naaman. He’s going to die sometime soon. Death would be a blessing considering the alternative of the digits & limbs of his body literally falling off.
But now Naaman must be quarantined because he’s contagious. He’s unclean. There’s no cure. This once powerful man is now powerless, he’s a pathetic case. He’s really sick. His position in the Army now means absolutely nothing at all. The battles he’s won; the achievements he’s had so far in life are totally insignificant.
As it oft-times happens, help came from a strange source-a young Jewish girl. She had been taken captive & was now a servant to Namaan’s wife. This girl was probably a teenager snatched from her home & may have even witnessed the death of her parents. Her reaction to Namaan’s tragedy was remarkably Christian. She had no hatred or resentment, only a desire to help. She told of a prophet by the name of Elisha in Samaria who could heal him of his disease. Samaria was the capitol of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. This constituted great news for Naaman.
Now Naaman is on a search for God & God’s man.
SADLY SOME PEOPLE NEVER THINK OF GOD UNTIL THEY’RE DESPERATE?
Far too many people take no time for God when things are running smoothly. They don’t acknowledge Him in any way. I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news but God loves us enough to rock our world to get our attention. If we place God on the back burner, sooner or later we’ll get a rude awakening & it won’t be pleasant.
So Naaman asked permission from the King to go see the prophet Elisha. The King sent him to another even weaker King & we are furnished with a little comic relief here at the expense of “The high & the mighty.” It was a typical case of bureaucratic bungling which causes two kings, the king of Syria & the king of Israel to have a short “Mexican-standoff.” The King of Israel had a conniption hissy-fit thinking he was being messed with by the king of Syria. He couldn’t cure a fly with a headache & he knew it, so he got all bent out of shape & rent his clothes. It’s really comical when you read it in 2nd Kings 5:6-7.
Well Elisha the prophet heard about the kerfluffel & sent word to the king of Israel to send Naaman to him. It’s slowly sinking into Naaman’s head that God is his only hope. Naaman lets no grass grow under his feet. You’ve really got to picture the scene of Naaman arriving at Elisha’s house. His big chariot wheels barely fit between the curbs. He pulls up in front of Elisha’s house with all his entourage thinking Elisha is going to lay hands on him. Naaman’s horses are puffing & pawing on the ground & Elisha’s neighbors are hanging out their windows. One of Naaman's snappily dressed servants walks up to the door & knocks.
But Elisha sends his servant out to tell Naaman to go duck in the river Jordan River seven times. It’s this simple; General Naaman, a commander of the Army of Aram who was packing a lot of gold & silver in his luggage as well as clothes, was supposed to go squat around in a muddy river like a five year old boy.
JUST DO IT NAMAAN
The instructions given Namaan are reminiscent of the Nike commercial— “Just do it.” When Naaman gets the orders to go to this dirty river & duck he’s gets so angry & upset he turns & starts home. What kind of shabby welcome is this? The approach Elisha is using & these seemingly nonsensical instructions are totally unacceptable. His home town of Damascus was known for its clean pure rivers & endless supply of clean water. Namaan’s servant reminds him that if the prophet had asked him to so some great thing he’d have been willing to do it.
NOTICE HOW THE SERVANTS, BASICALLY POWERLESS PEOPLE, ARE PLAYING SUCH IMPORTANT ROLLS IN THIS STORY.
Namaan was fortunate to have such wise people around him who weren’t afraid to speak truth to power. So often simple common sense tips the scales in the right direction. So finally Naaman goes down to the river & walks out into the muddy water. He really wants to get well. He leaves his clothes & shoes on the bank. The water was greenish & smelled like fish. There was nothing remotely sacred about it. Can’t you just hear him say “Ooooooooo its Soooo cold & muddy?” I can imagine his teeth were chattering & his sores were burning. He pinches his nose & tries to think of nothing but numbers.
1. After the first DUCK Naaman still had leprosy --but his DISOBEDIENCE TO GOD was washed away.
He was obedient & that was a good start but what he needed was more of God. If he was going to be healed it would take more obedience. Many people have all of God they want. Today “our greatest need is to see our need.”
Abraham was the poster boy for disobedience in Genesis. God told him to leave Ur & go to Canaan but he went as far as Haran & settled down there; a direct act of disobedience. He didn’t sojourn there, he settled there & there’s a big difference. As a matter of fact, when studying Abraham’s life Haran is called the “land of disobedience.” Many people never see their dreams come true in life because they fail to fully execute God’s will for their lives.
Also Abraham strayed down into Egypt which is a type of the world. Abraham was a man with flocks & herds & when the rain stopped he was in trouble. So he felt driven to leave & go south toward Egypt. Abraham didn’t consult God about the matter, he just went. This was a tragic mistake for each step took him away from the alter & closer to Egypt.
Egypt looked good with its lush green delta & the Nile River. There would be plenty of food there. But the trip turned out to be disastrous because Abraham took council with this fears instead of with God.
So we can readily see that when Namaan got rid of his disobedience he was definitely on the right track but he still had a ways to go.
If God tells us to jump through a wall it’s our business to jump & God’s business to make a hole. The people standing around watching will be happy to tell us two seconds after we jump if God told us.
2. The second DUCK & Naaman still had leprosy-- but his STUBBORNESS was washed away.
Proverbs 29:1 says---He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed & that without remedy.1 Peter 5:5 tells us to---- clothe ourselves with humility toward one another.
Saul is a great example of stubbornness in the Old Testament. In 1 Samuel 15 God told Samuel to tell King Saul to wipe out the Amalekites. Saul in his stubbornness didn’t complete the job & allowed the King to live & took many of the spoils of the land including the animals. It was in this context that God said;
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, & stubbornness is as iniquity & idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king.
Namaan isn’t whole yet but he now has a handle on his stubbornness & this is a great victory for him. The sins of Naaman’s character & his lack of Godly graces were much more of a challenge to God than the healing of his leprosy. As a matter of fact the ducking in the muddy Jordan really had nothing to do with the leprosy but all to do with the sins of Naaman’s heart. Man looks upon the outward appearance but God sees the heart.
3. The third DUCK & Naaman still had leprosy-- but his PRIDE was washed away.
Pride was a major problem for Naaman. After all he was a man of high estate & authority. Pride is a pesky weed that sprouts up when & where we least expect it. Someone has said that pride is the Dandelion of the soul. Its roots go deep & if a small amount is left it can sprout again & again. It will always be standing two or three inches above the grass. If the grass grows two inches, the dandelion will grow three. The danger in pride is that it thrives on goodness. We tend to think of real sin as adultery, murder & car-jacking but pride is perhaps the most dangerous sin of all because of its deceptiveness.
I remember reading a story about Ronald Reagan back when he was governor of California. He was making a speech in Mexico & afterwards he sat down to a rather unenthusiastic applause. A Spanish speaker then got up to speak & he was applauded on almost every paragraph. To hide his embarrassment, Reagan applauded at every opportunity. He clapped when he spoke, and always clapped a little more than everyone else. Then our American ambassador leaned over & said, “Mr. President, I don’t think I’d do that, the man is interpreting your speech.”
This was a very innocent mistake but it points up how easy it is for us look prideful or slip into prideful actions. It seems you can beat pride down & do all you can to eliminate it but there it is, it’s still alive. Part of the problem with pride is that it’s easy to see in others but not so easy to see in ourselves. The self-centered see everything through the prism of self. There’s a little “mini-me” lens in the eye & our main question is always, “what about me?” Pride causes us to look through a straw & of course at the end of the straw is “us.”
I saw a cartoon years ago where a smiling woman said, “That’s enough about me, lets talk about you. What do you think about me?”
One time Mohammad Ali was riding on a plane when the stewardess came up & told him to buckle his safety belt. Ali answered; “Superman didn’t need a safety belt.” She answered; “Yes, & Superman doesn’t need no plane.” Pride can convince us that we are somehow better & more important than other people.
Juda & I once met with a denominational leader about becoming part of his organization. All through the conversation he would refer to “the little man.” By this he meant the basically unknown men who pastored the small churches in his group. During an hour conversation he must have used that phrase “The little man” two or three dozen times. We left there with a sick feeling in the pit of our stomachs & I told Juda I didn’t believe that man would hold his leadership very long unless he lost that way of referring to his ministers. Sure enough before long he was voted out of his leadership position & consigned to a small church, which in his own words was a “little mans” place.
I like the way The Message Bible paraphrases Proverbs 16:18---First pride—then the crash—the bigger the ego, the harder the fall.
Someone has rightly said; when the head starts swelling, the mind stops growing. If we are having marriage problems & we refuse to talk to anyone about it, that’s pride. When we’ve got financial problems & we refuse to admit & get help, that’s pride. When we are having problems as parents or aren’t cutting it on the job, we don’t want anyone to know about it & we refuse to seek help, that’s pride; & a very destructive kind of pride. Pride is the wall that keeps sinners from Christ & it leads us to exclude Him from His rightful place in our hearts.
I remember a song we used to sing when I was a boy;
When I survey the wondrous cross,
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but lost,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
4. The fourth DUCK & Naaman still had leprosy--- but his SELF- PITY was washed away.
Let’s not forget that Namaan was a strong, proud accomplished warrior, the ranking general of his nation’s armed forces, an honored & well-rewarded member of Syria’s ruling elite. He was accustomed to adulation from commoners & to riveted attention from their admiring eyes. But now he is forced to leave the confines of his home & endure people’s stares. His clothes may conceal the fiery inflamed skin & the white scaly patches that cover most of his body, but his face is so afflicted that it is clear he’s a ritually unclean man who has been marginalized by the dreaded disease of leprosy.
How art the mighty fallen. There can be no reasonable doubt that Namaan is filled with self-pity & suppressed anger. Everyone in his household knows of his dreaded disease. As already stated, all through this story God is using servants, those who some would call “small people” to bring Namaan’s miracle into fruition. God is orchestrating every detail in this story to minister to Namaan’s pride & self-pity because it was such a great weight to the powerful man. But when he obeys the man of God’s instruction self-pity is washed away.
5. The fifth DUCK Naaman still had leprosy-- but his ANGER was washed away.
When Namaan is told he’s to duck seven times in an old dirty river his response is to stomp off in rage. His anger is stirred up & his ego is wounded by the prophet who is again stepping on his pride & marginalizing him. Even the Holy Man has refused to come to him directly. How much more humiliating can it get? Is this prophet going to shrink away from looking on his afflicted personage? The anger almost did the trick of cheating this man out of his miracle because he was definitely headed home until one of his servants reminded him that had he been asked to do some great thing he’d probably been glad to do it, just not this demeaning dip in an unclean river called Jordan.
6. The sixth DUCK Naaman still had leprosy --but his SELF-RIGHTOUSNESS was washed away.
Have you ever noticed that rebellion & arrogance usually carry with them a strong sense of self-righteousness? Head-strong people will almost invariably have an attitude of “I’m right,” & it’s usually the “in your face” variety.
Job was correct when he said;
If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse. Job 9:20
Luke gives us a very succinct story in Luke 18:9-14. He starts off by saying;
And Jesus spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: two men went into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee & the other a publican. The Pharisee stood & prayed thus with himself, God I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortionist, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
I fast twice in a week & give tithe of all I possess. And the publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exhalteth himself shall be abased & he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
We all want to be O.K. We want to be accepted. Who is acceptable to God? This story we have read throws some light on that question. The Pharisees were seriously religious. They weren’t Jesus’ favorite people. But we shouldn’t forget that at least they were serious about keeping the Law. They felt that their nation had suffered in the past because they hadn’t kept the law. They studied it very carefully & had codified it into 248 positive rules & 365 negatives ones. As if that wasn’t enough they had a bunch more to sort of keep them from “getting into trouble.” So we can’t say that was all bad.
The other group, the tax collectors were considered the dregs of society. They had to collect taxes from the common folk & pass them on to the Romans. But they were crooked & often took more than they were supposed to & lined their pockets with it.
Jesus takes one person from each of these groups & tells his story about what happened when they both went into the temple to pray. In this story Jesus is aiming at the problem of self-righteousness.
Here is the real problem with self-righteousness;
SELF-RIGHTOUSNESS MAKES IT POSSIBLE FOR OUR GOODNESS TO SEPARATE US FROM GOD.
Let me say that again---Self-righteousness makes it possible for our goodness to separate us from God. Whew! Doesn’t that sound strange? Surely God prefers good to evil. After all it was God who gave the Ten Commandments. But the reason self-righteousness is so dangerous is that instead of our goodness bringing us closer to God, it can lead us far away from Him. The reason for that is-- self-righteousness is just another manifestation of the sin of pride. When I speak of pride here I don’t just mean the pleasure & satisfaction we get out of a job well done or when one of our kids does well at school. The problem comes with the tendency of the individual to do so well in his own strength that he refuses to acknowledge any dependence on God. Haven’t you heard people say; “I feel I’m a pretty good person, I don’t really need God. I bet I live as good a life as those people down at the church.”
SELF RIGHTOUSNESS IS A SLIPPERY CONCEPT
To show you how slippery it is, a Sunday school teacher taught one morning about this proud Pharisee & in her closing prayer she said, “Lord I thank you that I’m not like the Pharisee in this story.” We can smile at this but then if we’re not careful we can turn around & feel that the fact that we are humble sinners saved by grace is something to be boastful of.
7. The seventh time Namaan ducked into the cold muddy water his skin became like a BABY’S SKIN.
The pivotal point of the whole story is found in verse 15 of 2 Kings 5. Namaan goes to Elisha’s house & stands before him & says. –“Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.”
Namaan is a converted man. He finally got emptied out & realized that his connections had gotten him nowhere. Elisha wasn’t even going to dignify him, he was just going to ask him to do an extremely stupid thing, & his bags of money would get him nowhere. When Namaan was finally stripped of all his pride & “fig-leaves” & stepped down to bathe in the murky Jordon waters, he met the wonder-working grace & power of God.
It was in his moment of vulnerability, helplessness & humiliation that Naaman found God & so have lots of others. Stripped, obedient & trusting, that’s the territory where God finds fertile human soil. Again, think of the way God used human instrumentality in this story. Every person is acting out of their own free will & not under compulsion. Yet from these many threads God weaves a tapestry of grace with Namaan at the center. If it weren’t for each of these people, their understanding, their care, their advice, Namaan would never have been healed.
So at the end of our stories lengthy journey through-
• Self-pity-
• Rage-
• Righteous indignation-
• Pride-
• Stubbornness-
• Disobedience- &
• Sympathetic intervention----
--We arrive at the final destination, -the good news that the compassion of God is offered even beyond the borders of Israel to persons of all nations.
God’s love was & is so radically inclusive that it embraces even enemy generals.
Elisha sends Namaan off to his new life, cleansed of the leprosy of his body & renewed in his soul. What will Namaan do? What happened to him? We don’t know. But Elisha is content to send him away in God’s peace & in God’s grace. The God who sought Namaan out & healed him in body & soul will also guide him when he gets back home.
Leprosy is a type of mans sinful condition. We were all born spiritual lepers. The only cure of the spiritual leprosy is to be cleansed by the blood of Christ. ---There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath the flood, lose all their guilty stains.
If you haven’t been plunged into the river of Christ’s forgiveness & washed in his blood, why not do it today. You will know the same life changing miracle that Namaan experienced.
If we serve the same loving & nurturing God, & we do, what will stop us from seeing the cries of our hearts come to fruition? As I see it, the only things that could hinder us would be the same things that almost sidetracked Namaan.
When we look at some of these hindrances & see ourselves there, we can follow Namaan’s example & throw off the old cloaks that self has weaved for us to wear & plunge into the waters of God's love, mercy & forgiveness.
Blessings,
John
Monday, July 13, 2015
If I Had Not Believed...
By John Stallings
A short time ago America’s top commander, General David Petraeus fainted during a congressional hearing as he was being grilled by senators about US strategy in Afghanistan.
He collapsed about an hour into the hearing as John McCain questioned him. McCain stopped mid-sentence, his face frozen as Petraeus slumped forward from his seat.
The hearing was suspended as Petraeus, looking dazed was led out by army colleagues. He returned 20 minutes later, blaming skipping breakfast and jet-lag and dehydration for the fainting spell. Thankfully the general bounced back quickly and resumed answering questions without a hitch.
I remember a lady in one of the churches my father pastored when I was a kid who would keel over once in a while. She had a tendency to do this in hot weather at picnics or outdoor events when she was surrounded by people. The only explanation I ever heard was that when people are crowded together, especially in the Florida heat [I’ve sometimes wondered if we don’t have our own Sun] it has a way of sucking up the oxygen. Most people aren’t terribly affected by this and never faint, but obviously some do.
When I was growing up, there would be a youngster now and then who’d faint, or something akin to it, on the playground. There were times I wished I could have fainted but somehow never did.
As long as a bad fall doesn’t occur and things are otherwise uneventful, as soon as the person regains consciousness they can just pick up where they left off.
However, sometimes people will slump over or fall down and though it might look as if they’ve fainted, it’s much more serious like a heart attack or stroke.
FAINTING GOATS
Maybe you’ve heard of the “fainting goats.” These little fellows suffer from a genetic condition which causes them to faint at the slightest provocation. You can say “boo” to them and they’ll fall over, stiff as a board. If you’ve never seen one of these you can check them out on YouTube. Any kind of stress, even the stress of hearing the dinner bell ring can knock them over. Of course it only lasts for a few seconds and they’re back on their feet. The younger goats are most susceptible to this. The older ones have learned to control it and the most you’ll see of them is their legs will stiffen and they’ll just stand for a moment, then all is well again.
A MORE SERIOUS KIND OF FAINTING…
In Psalm 27:13, David said;
I would have fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of God in the land of the living.
David explains that he had a close call. His knees had gone weak and the whole world seemed to grow black for him. He had been on the verge of toppling over in a dead faint. David is speaking here of spiritual fainting.
But when he was reeling in his tracks and ready to fall, there was one firm staff that wouldn’t break in the grip of his clutching fingers. There was one solid wall he could lean on without fear that it would give way. Here’s how David puts it as he looks back over it all. He declares with humility;--I would have fainted unless I had believed… he leaned on his faith in God that things would be made right. That was the only hope he saw.
Fainting is one of the most common and deadly foes you and I have to face. We know from our own experience with it that it can be a worker of havoc in our lives. For every one who faints physically there are literally scores who faint spiritually. How many spiritual fainters are there in our churches?
When a person has fainted, they’re no good to anyone during that time. Once they could be counted on to be in their places. But as soon as someone keels over they lose their availability. Their fire of enthusiasm has gone out. They have become spiritually listless and lifeless. They’re almost like a dead person. Might as well not hand them a songbook, they can’t sing. Don’t call on them to pray, they can’t do that either. No need to preach to them they can’t listen. As in actual physical fainting, when a persons having a spiritual fainting fit, others have to come to them and help them. Others must leave their posts in order to look after them. Where they once were an asset, now they’re a liability. They are huge rocks standing in the mouth of the grave where God is trying to raise some needy Lazarus from the dead.
These fainters don’t mean to be antagonistic to the work of God. They aren’t vicious or living corrupt lives. They’ve just fainted.
I attended a funeral one time and at the graveside service, the elderly minister who was officiating was overcome by the stifling heat and had to be helped to a seat to regain his breath. He almost fell over into the Palms. Thankfully the “old soldier” was able to regain his composure and complete the service.
Sadly some people aren’t so fortunate to be able to bounce back from fainting. Their lives are strewn with half-finished tasks. There are paintings they didn’t quite paint and books thrown aside with only the preface written. What dreams or goals have we laid aside when we’d only just begun?
A large house of worship exists in Florida, not far from where we live. I visited the building during many of the stages of its being built and marveled at the immense size of it. The leader of the flock that was building this mammoth house of worship was constantly on T.V and radio sharing his vision of what God would do with this beautiful structure. Today that man is gone and the church has been sold and resold. Just a few huddle in a building almost large enough to have an inside weather pattern of its own. Why; because the builder fainted and gave up the work years ago.
I’m told that if you visit the Panama Canal Zone in certain areas you’ll see along the sides of the roads great heaps of machinery slowly sinking into the mud and wasting away. These worthless heaps were left the by the French in the early twentieth century when they undertook to build the canal to join two seas. The effort cost them untold amounts of money and not a few lives, but they left the task unfinished. At some point along the way the French decided the enterprise was either undesirable or impossible and they fainted before their dream became reality.
If lack of opportunely and lack of ability have slain their thousands, and they have, fainting has slain its tens of thousands. No amount of talent or ability or even genius can help us if we don’t have stick ability and staying power to see a thing through. It’s said of Thomas Edison that when he got on the track of a new invention he pursued it with the tenacity of a bull dog until it became reality.
AGAIN AND AGAIN -BIBLE WRITERS WARN AGAINST FAINTING.
The Holy Men of old who penned the Bible spoke of “not fainting” as one of the prominent characteristics of the hero’s of faith.
MOSES
The best compliment Moses could be given was that he endured. Heb. 11:27. There was opposition, there was disappointment, there were bitter heartaches but he endured. At age forty his picture was in all the Egyptian post offices because he had a murder rap on him but still he endured. The writers knew God had a great part to play in Moses’ success so they said: He endured as seeing Him who is invisible.
ABRAHAMAbraham was drawn by a dream about a great nation that seemed destined never to come true. God had made him a lot of promises but long years had slipped by and nothing had come of it. We can say what we will about Abraham, he had this sturdy quality about him that just wouldn’t quit. The years were flying fast but the promised heir hadn’t come. But staunch old Abraham never believed for a moment that God was going to let him down. Paul writes about him with great admiration and says; he staggered not at the promises. Rom. 4:20. Refusing to faint, Abraham finally realized his dream.
WHAT ARE SOME CAUSES OF FAINTING?
1. SOME FAINT BECAUSE OF A BAD ATMOSPHERE
To be surrounded by stale air and not enough oxygen can cause some people to faint. Have you noticed that if you spend enough time around certain folk you’ll sort of take on the coloring of their personalities? This is almost inevitable. But there are some atmospheres that are rich with hope and help. Nowadays we hear the term “vibes” frequently. This is a new way of saying that people and places give off vibes, or create an atmosphere. The Apostle Peter created such an atmosphere because his shadow had healing in it. Acts 5:15.
There are homes you can enter and you feel a warm atmosphere of welcome. Visit other homes and you feel a chill that bites you like a killing frost. I have preached in some churches whose congregations and the attitude they projected lifted me on eagle wings. You say when you’re in these churches, “Surely God is in this place. Gen. 28:16. Others I have preached in made me feel as if I never wanted to preach again. We should beware of the atmosphere we create and also be aware of the atmosphere we’re in when we’re with our associates.
Juda and I visited a church in Orlando several years ago and the ushers, or “greeters” made us feel like we were members of the Mafia. The pastor seemed to be the only friendly guy in the place. As we drove home we discussed how drained we felt just by being in that atmosphere. Of course God blesses individuals, not groups so we can always get our soul fed no matter what, but that doesn’t mean we’d ever want to go back to an atmosphere like that. I heard a few months ago that the pastor of that church had resigned and returned to his roots in Europe and the church had folded. This didn’t come as surprise to us because the place had no spiritual breath.
There are atmospheres in which a vital spiritual life is flatly impossible.
You will remember the story of Herod and how he was influenced to have John the Baptist’s head cut off? Obviously Herod didn’t really want to kill John but he was influenced by the people around him. The Bible says;
For the sake of them that sat with him at meat, he commanded John to be killed. Matt. 14:9.
The companion of fools shall be destroyed. Prov. 13:20
2. SOME FAINT AT THE SIGHT OF BLOOD.
A young enthusiastic man came to Jesus one day with the best of intentions and said; Lord, I will follow you whithersoever thou goest. Matt. 8:19.
Jesus didn’t paint a very appetizing picture to the young man. He told him he was more homeless than a fox and if he followed Jesus, he may have to sleep unfed on a mountainside. In all reality, Jesus was showing this young man a cross with blood stains on it and the eager young man fell into a dead “faint.” He yearned for the benefits of being a follower of Jesus but the price was greater than he was willing to pay.
3. WE FAINT FROM SHEER EXHAUSTION.
The Christ life isn’t a life of drifting with the current but rather a going against the tide and at times we get tired.
Paul is seeking to strengthen us when he says;
And let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.-Gal. 6:9
We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it.
Do you recognize the words above? They are the words of none other than the great apostle Paul, in 2 Corinthians 1:8—NLT.It sounds like Paul was ready to drop doesn’t it?
I heard about a man who ordered flowers for his deceased father and when the beautiful spray of flowers arrived at the funeral home the card attached read “Enjoy your trip.” It was obviously a mix-up at the florist so the man called to chew the people out who were responsible for the fluke. The florist shop worker, trying to defuse the situation told the man, “Sir, this isn’t so bad, somewhere in town at another funeral home is a spray of flowers with an attached card that reads, “Congratulations on your new location.” It sounds like fatigue & burn-out can happen even to people who work with flowers for a living.
Elijah had a fainting fit after his great victory at Mount Carmel. After that he ran seventeen miles to Jezreel then another day’s journey into the wilderness. He was so far gone he even asked God to kill him.
The Children of Israel got tired of wandering in the wilderness and wanted to go back to the leeks and garlic of Egypt. Numbers 11:5
In spite of all the temptations to faint by which David was surrounded somehow he managed to stand firm. He tells us;
I would have fainted- unless I had believed to see the goodnes of the Lord in the land of the living.
We’re told in Isa. 40:31- if we wait on God, we’ll be able to - run and not be weary, and to walk and not faint.
4. PRAYERLESSNESS WILL CAUSE US TO FAINT.
In Luke 18:1 Jesus told a parable;--to the end, that men ought always to pray and not faint.
Any problem you and I come to prayerless, we also come to it powerless.
In all candidness, I can relate to David’s feelings though we don’t know exactly what he makes reference to in Psalm 27. I see freedoms eroding and godlessness becoming prevalent everywhere I look these days in America.
If I didn’t have faith in God that He’ll straighten this mess out, I think I could engage in some “faint feelings” also.
But notice in the fourteenth verse right after David pours out his heart about believing God in spite of the way things look, he says;
Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say wait on the Lord. Psalm 27:14
In the movie Castaway, Tom Hanks was lost at sea. His wife, played by Helen Hunt after a time of waiting, followed her friend's advice, moved on and married someone else. Of course he finally found his way home to discover no one was waiting for him. Watching the movie we're trapped between conflicting feelings and emotions. On one hand we understand the wife's hopelessness and need to move on but at the same time we're unsettled by the fact that if she'd only waited a little longer her faith would have been rewarded.
Romans 8:24-25 says,-For we are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then we with patience wait for it.
If you don't know what to do, then do nothing! Wait on the Lord until you're sure what to do. One day, praise God the waiting will be over! Until then, trust God and continue to dwell close to Him and keep believing His promises.
Where would I be today, where would you be, if we had fainted,
If we had not believed…..?
Blessings,
John
A short time ago America’s top commander, General David Petraeus fainted during a congressional hearing as he was being grilled by senators about US strategy in Afghanistan.
He collapsed about an hour into the hearing as John McCain questioned him. McCain stopped mid-sentence, his face frozen as Petraeus slumped forward from his seat.
The hearing was suspended as Petraeus, looking dazed was led out by army colleagues. He returned 20 minutes later, blaming skipping breakfast and jet-lag and dehydration for the fainting spell. Thankfully the general bounced back quickly and resumed answering questions without a hitch.
I remember a lady in one of the churches my father pastored when I was a kid who would keel over once in a while. She had a tendency to do this in hot weather at picnics or outdoor events when she was surrounded by people. The only explanation I ever heard was that when people are crowded together, especially in the Florida heat [I’ve sometimes wondered if we don’t have our own Sun] it has a way of sucking up the oxygen. Most people aren’t terribly affected by this and never faint, but obviously some do.
When I was growing up, there would be a youngster now and then who’d faint, or something akin to it, on the playground. There were times I wished I could have fainted but somehow never did.
As long as a bad fall doesn’t occur and things are otherwise uneventful, as soon as the person regains consciousness they can just pick up where they left off.
However, sometimes people will slump over or fall down and though it might look as if they’ve fainted, it’s much more serious like a heart attack or stroke.
FAINTING GOATS
Maybe you’ve heard of the “fainting goats.” These little fellows suffer from a genetic condition which causes them to faint at the slightest provocation. You can say “boo” to them and they’ll fall over, stiff as a board. If you’ve never seen one of these you can check them out on YouTube. Any kind of stress, even the stress of hearing the dinner bell ring can knock them over. Of course it only lasts for a few seconds and they’re back on their feet. The younger goats are most susceptible to this. The older ones have learned to control it and the most you’ll see of them is their legs will stiffen and they’ll just stand for a moment, then all is well again.
A MORE SERIOUS KIND OF FAINTING…
In Psalm 27:13, David said;
I would have fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of God in the land of the living.
David explains that he had a close call. His knees had gone weak and the whole world seemed to grow black for him. He had been on the verge of toppling over in a dead faint. David is speaking here of spiritual fainting.
But when he was reeling in his tracks and ready to fall, there was one firm staff that wouldn’t break in the grip of his clutching fingers. There was one solid wall he could lean on without fear that it would give way. Here’s how David puts it as he looks back over it all. He declares with humility;--I would have fainted unless I had believed… he leaned on his faith in God that things would be made right. That was the only hope he saw.
Fainting is one of the most common and deadly foes you and I have to face. We know from our own experience with it that it can be a worker of havoc in our lives. For every one who faints physically there are literally scores who faint spiritually. How many spiritual fainters are there in our churches?
When a person has fainted, they’re no good to anyone during that time. Once they could be counted on to be in their places. But as soon as someone keels over they lose their availability. Their fire of enthusiasm has gone out. They have become spiritually listless and lifeless. They’re almost like a dead person. Might as well not hand them a songbook, they can’t sing. Don’t call on them to pray, they can’t do that either. No need to preach to them they can’t listen. As in actual physical fainting, when a persons having a spiritual fainting fit, others have to come to them and help them. Others must leave their posts in order to look after them. Where they once were an asset, now they’re a liability. They are huge rocks standing in the mouth of the grave where God is trying to raise some needy Lazarus from the dead.
These fainters don’t mean to be antagonistic to the work of God. They aren’t vicious or living corrupt lives. They’ve just fainted.
I attended a funeral one time and at the graveside service, the elderly minister who was officiating was overcome by the stifling heat and had to be helped to a seat to regain his breath. He almost fell over into the Palms. Thankfully the “old soldier” was able to regain his composure and complete the service.
Sadly some people aren’t so fortunate to be able to bounce back from fainting. Their lives are strewn with half-finished tasks. There are paintings they didn’t quite paint and books thrown aside with only the preface written. What dreams or goals have we laid aside when we’d only just begun?
A large house of worship exists in Florida, not far from where we live. I visited the building during many of the stages of its being built and marveled at the immense size of it. The leader of the flock that was building this mammoth house of worship was constantly on T.V and radio sharing his vision of what God would do with this beautiful structure. Today that man is gone and the church has been sold and resold. Just a few huddle in a building almost large enough to have an inside weather pattern of its own. Why; because the builder fainted and gave up the work years ago.
I’m told that if you visit the Panama Canal Zone in certain areas you’ll see along the sides of the roads great heaps of machinery slowly sinking into the mud and wasting away. These worthless heaps were left the by the French in the early twentieth century when they undertook to build the canal to join two seas. The effort cost them untold amounts of money and not a few lives, but they left the task unfinished. At some point along the way the French decided the enterprise was either undesirable or impossible and they fainted before their dream became reality.
If lack of opportunely and lack of ability have slain their thousands, and they have, fainting has slain its tens of thousands. No amount of talent or ability or even genius can help us if we don’t have stick ability and staying power to see a thing through. It’s said of Thomas Edison that when he got on the track of a new invention he pursued it with the tenacity of a bull dog until it became reality.
AGAIN AND AGAIN -BIBLE WRITERS WARN AGAINST FAINTING.
The Holy Men of old who penned the Bible spoke of “not fainting” as one of the prominent characteristics of the hero’s of faith.
MOSES
The best compliment Moses could be given was that he endured. Heb. 11:27. There was opposition, there was disappointment, there were bitter heartaches but he endured. At age forty his picture was in all the Egyptian post offices because he had a murder rap on him but still he endured. The writers knew God had a great part to play in Moses’ success so they said: He endured as seeing Him who is invisible.
ABRAHAMAbraham was drawn by a dream about a great nation that seemed destined never to come true. God had made him a lot of promises but long years had slipped by and nothing had come of it. We can say what we will about Abraham, he had this sturdy quality about him that just wouldn’t quit. The years were flying fast but the promised heir hadn’t come. But staunch old Abraham never believed for a moment that God was going to let him down. Paul writes about him with great admiration and says; he staggered not at the promises. Rom. 4:20. Refusing to faint, Abraham finally realized his dream.
WHAT ARE SOME CAUSES OF FAINTING?
1. SOME FAINT BECAUSE OF A BAD ATMOSPHERE
To be surrounded by stale air and not enough oxygen can cause some people to faint. Have you noticed that if you spend enough time around certain folk you’ll sort of take on the coloring of their personalities? This is almost inevitable. But there are some atmospheres that are rich with hope and help. Nowadays we hear the term “vibes” frequently. This is a new way of saying that people and places give off vibes, or create an atmosphere. The Apostle Peter created such an atmosphere because his shadow had healing in it. Acts 5:15.
There are homes you can enter and you feel a warm atmosphere of welcome. Visit other homes and you feel a chill that bites you like a killing frost. I have preached in some churches whose congregations and the attitude they projected lifted me on eagle wings. You say when you’re in these churches, “Surely God is in this place. Gen. 28:16. Others I have preached in made me feel as if I never wanted to preach again. We should beware of the atmosphere we create and also be aware of the atmosphere we’re in when we’re with our associates.
Juda and I visited a church in Orlando several years ago and the ushers, or “greeters” made us feel like we were members of the Mafia. The pastor seemed to be the only friendly guy in the place. As we drove home we discussed how drained we felt just by being in that atmosphere. Of course God blesses individuals, not groups so we can always get our soul fed no matter what, but that doesn’t mean we’d ever want to go back to an atmosphere like that. I heard a few months ago that the pastor of that church had resigned and returned to his roots in Europe and the church had folded. This didn’t come as surprise to us because the place had no spiritual breath.
There are atmospheres in which a vital spiritual life is flatly impossible.
You will remember the story of Herod and how he was influenced to have John the Baptist’s head cut off? Obviously Herod didn’t really want to kill John but he was influenced by the people around him. The Bible says;
For the sake of them that sat with him at meat, he commanded John to be killed. Matt. 14:9.
The companion of fools shall be destroyed. Prov. 13:20
2. SOME FAINT AT THE SIGHT OF BLOOD.
A young enthusiastic man came to Jesus one day with the best of intentions and said; Lord, I will follow you whithersoever thou goest. Matt. 8:19.
Jesus didn’t paint a very appetizing picture to the young man. He told him he was more homeless than a fox and if he followed Jesus, he may have to sleep unfed on a mountainside. In all reality, Jesus was showing this young man a cross with blood stains on it and the eager young man fell into a dead “faint.” He yearned for the benefits of being a follower of Jesus but the price was greater than he was willing to pay.
3. WE FAINT FROM SHEER EXHAUSTION.
The Christ life isn’t a life of drifting with the current but rather a going against the tide and at times we get tired.
Paul is seeking to strengthen us when he says;
And let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.-Gal. 6:9
We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it.
Do you recognize the words above? They are the words of none other than the great apostle Paul, in 2 Corinthians 1:8—NLT.It sounds like Paul was ready to drop doesn’t it?
I heard about a man who ordered flowers for his deceased father and when the beautiful spray of flowers arrived at the funeral home the card attached read “Enjoy your trip.” It was obviously a mix-up at the florist so the man called to chew the people out who were responsible for the fluke. The florist shop worker, trying to defuse the situation told the man, “Sir, this isn’t so bad, somewhere in town at another funeral home is a spray of flowers with an attached card that reads, “Congratulations on your new location.” It sounds like fatigue & burn-out can happen even to people who work with flowers for a living.
Elijah had a fainting fit after his great victory at Mount Carmel. After that he ran seventeen miles to Jezreel then another day’s journey into the wilderness. He was so far gone he even asked God to kill him.
The Children of Israel got tired of wandering in the wilderness and wanted to go back to the leeks and garlic of Egypt. Numbers 11:5
In spite of all the temptations to faint by which David was surrounded somehow he managed to stand firm. He tells us;
I would have fainted- unless I had believed to see the goodnes of the Lord in the land of the living.
We’re told in Isa. 40:31- if we wait on God, we’ll be able to - run and not be weary, and to walk and not faint.
4. PRAYERLESSNESS WILL CAUSE US TO FAINT.
In Luke 18:1 Jesus told a parable;--to the end, that men ought always to pray and not faint.
Any problem you and I come to prayerless, we also come to it powerless.
In all candidness, I can relate to David’s feelings though we don’t know exactly what he makes reference to in Psalm 27. I see freedoms eroding and godlessness becoming prevalent everywhere I look these days in America.
If I didn’t have faith in God that He’ll straighten this mess out, I think I could engage in some “faint feelings” also.
But notice in the fourteenth verse right after David pours out his heart about believing God in spite of the way things look, he says;
Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say wait on the Lord. Psalm 27:14
In the movie Castaway, Tom Hanks was lost at sea. His wife, played by Helen Hunt after a time of waiting, followed her friend's advice, moved on and married someone else. Of course he finally found his way home to discover no one was waiting for him. Watching the movie we're trapped between conflicting feelings and emotions. On one hand we understand the wife's hopelessness and need to move on but at the same time we're unsettled by the fact that if she'd only waited a little longer her faith would have been rewarded.
Romans 8:24-25 says,-For we are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then we with patience wait for it.
If you don't know what to do, then do nothing! Wait on the Lord until you're sure what to do. One day, praise God the waiting will be over! Until then, trust God and continue to dwell close to Him and keep believing His promises.
Where would I be today, where would you be, if we had fainted,
If we had not believed…..?
Blessings,
John
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