We just celebrated our fifth anniversary as pastor of Lighthouse Pentecostal Church in Wausau, Wisconsin. What a wonderful display of thanksgiving and appreciation was shown toward my wife and me by the Lighthouse church family. Great kindness and generosity was “slathered” on us. We felt so special. I never do feel comfortable in the spotlight, but it is so encouraging to see that what we do with our lives is truly making a difference.
Bill and Marsha Davis (friends from Sandwich, Illinois) came to celebrate with us and to minister in the morning and evening services. They are friends whom we met in our very first year of marriage. We had such a good time together, along with Rick and Vondeleigh Robinson (missionary friends from Turkey), who also were in town and spent time with us in fellowship. What a great weekend we had. It truly seems like just a few months have passed, (not years), since we arrived in Wausau. God has been good and has done great things.
Anniversaries are like mile-markers. They are times of reflection and introspection. They are times when we turn and look behind us and do a “self-check”. My wife has a journal in which she lists how we spent every one of our 37 wedding anniversaries. We can recount every restaurant we dined at in celebration of our wedding day. We know where we were on our first anniversary, and our second, third, fourth, and etc. We occasionally recollect where we were on “such and such” a date and talk about the significance, or the humor, or the wonder of the occasion. Just yesterday we passed by the little church where, nearly 38 years ago, we stood at the altar and pledged ourselves to each other before God in matrimony.
She also has a journal of the trip we took to Europe in celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary. She brought it with us and read parts of it while we were recently traveling out of town. The journal includes receipts, sketches, and side-notes of that exciting adventure across the Atlantic. What memories came back to us.
Anniversaries worth celebrating are the result of a unique combination of personal success for those with a determined spirit, along with a huge dose of God’s great blessing and providence. Each occasion becomes a treasure that cannot be lost, stolen, or taken from us. We may lose our house, car, possessions, but we cannot lose an anniversary.
To remember where you have been, to recognize what you have experienced, and to understand God’s great blessing on your life is such a pleasure. What great joy and satisfaction it is to know that Jesus Christ has been there all the while. The riches of His grace are incalculable and His faithfulness endures to all generations.
Enough anniversaries, lined up in a row, make a life. What a wonderful life it is when Jesus Christ is at the center of it all.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Just a thought
“But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:4-7
“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”
1John 3:1-3
A simple thought.
On that very long day when we each, in our own turn, come to stand before Jesus, we will stand alone. What merits will we claim to our own tribute? Not the works of our own righteousness. Even if our efforts, great or small, were counted toward some advantage, how would we stand alongside men of great spiritual stature, whose accomplishments shine like purified gold? There are so many great men of God whose lives cast long shadows. Do we dare compare?
Would we want to compare our character or personal accomplishments with Moses, the meekest man on earth? Or, consider Abraham the father of the faithful; Solomon the wisest; David, the man after God’s own heart; Job or Joseph, the patient in unexplainable suffering; Paul in his profound inspiration, intellect, endurance in trouble, and spiritual impact in his generation; Stephen, the first Christian martyr, or James the first Pentecostal pastor who died for his faith.
We will not have any appeal based on our own righteousness. We have only the righteousness and mercy of Jesus to base our hope on. We have no position or place guaranteed by our own accomplishment. We have only a place guaranteed by our sonship. Beloved, now are we the sons of God.
It is no personal accomplishment, great or small, that is our hope. It is our sonship, our new birth in Jesus Christ through repentance, taking on His Name in baptism, and the infilling of His Spirit that is our hope. It is not accomplishment, but relationship.
Now are we the sons of God. It’s not clear yet what we shall be... what place, position or reward awaits us... but we are promised that we shall be like Him. The spiritual genetics will be evidenced by our being cast in the likeness of our Lord. Imagine that moment when He says, “Yep, my Name, my Spirit, my Likeness... you look like Me... you’re Mine.”
“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”
1John 3:1-3
A simple thought.
On that very long day when we each, in our own turn, come to stand before Jesus, we will stand alone. What merits will we claim to our own tribute? Not the works of our own righteousness. Even if our efforts, great or small, were counted toward some advantage, how would we stand alongside men of great spiritual stature, whose accomplishments shine like purified gold? There are so many great men of God whose lives cast long shadows. Do we dare compare?
Would we want to compare our character or personal accomplishments with Moses, the meekest man on earth? Or, consider Abraham the father of the faithful; Solomon the wisest; David, the man after God’s own heart; Job or Joseph, the patient in unexplainable suffering; Paul in his profound inspiration, intellect, endurance in trouble, and spiritual impact in his generation; Stephen, the first Christian martyr, or James the first Pentecostal pastor who died for his faith.
We will not have any appeal based on our own righteousness. We have only the righteousness and mercy of Jesus to base our hope on. We have no position or place guaranteed by our own accomplishment. We have only a place guaranteed by our sonship. Beloved, now are we the sons of God.
It is no personal accomplishment, great or small, that is our hope. It is our sonship, our new birth in Jesus Christ through repentance, taking on His Name in baptism, and the infilling of His Spirit that is our hope. It is not accomplishment, but relationship.
Now are we the sons of God. It’s not clear yet what we shall be... what place, position or reward awaits us... but we are promised that we shall be like Him. The spiritual genetics will be evidenced by our being cast in the likeness of our Lord. Imagine that moment when He says, “Yep, my Name, my Spirit, my Likeness... you look like Me... you’re Mine.”
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Mercy
In Mark chapter 10 the man named Blind Bartimaeus called Jesus "thou Son of David". He then pleaded for mercy -- "have mercy on me". "Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me."
Reading in the book of II Samuel, I recognized the profound presence of mercy in the life of King David.
David recieved a great measure of mercy shown to him. He also showed an incredible measure of mercy to others. Chapter after chapter reveals the tide of mercy as it came to him in the form of forgiveness by God, and a generous tide of mercy as it flowed from him in his forgiveness to others.
How God forgave him of his transgression with Bathsheba and the awful crime of the loss of Uriah's life is incomprehensible. This transgression was unimaginable. Yet Mercy came. Forgiveness came.
How, again and again, David spared the life of Saul, who sought to destroy David's. Mercy flowed out. How he showed mercy to Saul's son. How he showed forgiveness to men who cursed him and threw stones and dust at him. How he forgave men who plotted against him. How he wept for the loss of the life of his son who, without reservation, attempted to destroy his own father and take the kingdom for his own. Mercy flowed from him.
Yes, Bartimaeus knew what he was saying when he called on Jesus, the Son of David, and cried for mercy. He knew that this descendant of David would know what mercy was all about. He cried for mercy, asked for his eyesight, and received that for which he asked.
Reading in the book of II Samuel, I recognized the profound presence of mercy in the life of King David.
David recieved a great measure of mercy shown to him. He also showed an incredible measure of mercy to others. Chapter after chapter reveals the tide of mercy as it came to him in the form of forgiveness by God, and a generous tide of mercy as it flowed from him in his forgiveness to others.
How God forgave him of his transgression with Bathsheba and the awful crime of the loss of Uriah's life is incomprehensible. This transgression was unimaginable. Yet Mercy came. Forgiveness came.
How, again and again, David spared the life of Saul, who sought to destroy David's. Mercy flowed out. How he showed mercy to Saul's son. How he showed forgiveness to men who cursed him and threw stones and dust at him. How he forgave men who plotted against him. How he wept for the loss of the life of his son who, without reservation, attempted to destroy his own father and take the kingdom for his own. Mercy flowed from him.
Yes, Bartimaeus knew what he was saying when he called on Jesus, the Son of David, and cried for mercy. He knew that this descendant of David would know what mercy was all about. He cried for mercy, asked for his eyesight, and received that for which he asked.
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