Inducted into the Hall of Faith

Hebrews 11-Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets:

All came by faith. What made the difference between standing tall or sitting small? Was it how they handled the trials?

Abel had to deal with a jealous and disobedient brother who ended up killing him.

Noah had a flood of problems.

Abraham had to hold on for the promise to be fulfilled and then God asked him to sacrifice his son. Abraham also had his wife taken by a king…and lied about it.

Sarah had to go through pregnancy at 100.

Isaac had to deal with twins and sibling rivalry. Isaac also lied about his wife to protect his own hide.

Jacob tried to live down his deception of Esau and ended up facing Esau and 400 fighting men…after a night wrestling an angel
Joseph was thrown into a pit, pulled out and sold as a slave, falsely accused and thrown in prison, and finally exalted to second in the kingdom.

Moses killed an Egyptian and ran…then had to deal with 2 million people on vacation for 40 years. Think perpetual "Are we there yet?"

Rahab hid the spies though it might have cost her life and that of her family. She ended up getting mentioned in the hall of faith as well as being included in Jesus geneology.

Gideon had to worry about his own hometown people that wanted to do him in after he smashed the idols in town before he ever had to go against the Midianites.

Barak had to face Sisera, the general for Jabin, king of Canaan.

Samson had the Philistines, as well as his own internal lust, to fight.

Jephthah’s dad was Gilead, but his mother was a prostitute. He was chased off from his own people. He sought to follow God and became a mighty warrior, so much so that when the Ammonites made war on the land of Gilead, they came and asked him to come back and lead them. God granted him victory and he ruled the people, and though illegitimate, is listed in the hall of faith.

David faced a bear, a lion, a giant, an angry king and thousands in Canaan and Philistia. He also had an affair and devised a murder plot as a cover up.

Samuel had to deliver a message to Eli that wasn’t too cool. And he had to stand up to the people when they demanded a king, until God told him to go ahead.

Everyone of them had tough times. Every one of those in the hall of faith are there because they exercised that faith when they came up against the tough spots. Every one of them messed up. The difference between standing tall and sitting small is not whether you blow it or not, but in what you choose to do after you blow it. How do you recover?

Why are they listed as heroes in the Bible? What makes them better than you or me? Nothing…except they learned to go back to God and depend on Him. They learned that even though life isn’t always sunny, that God is also there when the storms come. They continued to seek God even though at times God seemed silent. They chose, ultimately, to put their faith in Him.

Where is your faith? Will you also be inducted into the great Hall of Faith?

Who's Yo Daddy, David? Not you, big guy!

Have you read 1 Samuel 17 lately?  What a story.  David, sent out by his father to take supplies to his brothers, is simply going about his daily life when he meets the giant.  Goliath was huge.  The Bible says that he was 6 cubits and a span tall.  A cubit is 18 inches and a span is 9 inches, so that would make Goliath 9’9” tall.    And check out his equipment.  V5 of 1 Samuel 17 says:  He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; (about 126 lbs)  v6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back.   7 His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, (between 30-50 lbs) and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. (about 15 lbs)  Goliath is wearing or carrying over 200 lbs of armor and weaponry.  And he has a guy who’s only job is to carry his shield.

Not only was Goliath huge, but he had an attitude!  And I’ve met people today that still carry the same attitude. Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me.   9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us."   10 Then the Philistine said, "This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other."  

It’s the bully syndrome.  I’m bigger and might makes right.  Come and see if you can do anything about it.  It’s one of the first lessons we learn in the schoolyard.  If you’re a runt, watch out.  And the Israelites had the same reaction that I had whenever the schoolyard bullies came around.  I would try to run and hide.  At the very least, I grew afraid and uncomfortable.

David is going about his duties and greeting his brothers, when the giant enters his life.  He didn’t get up that morning and say, “Hey, think I’ll go kill a giant today.”  His only thought was to do what his father had asked him to do.  But when he gets there, here’s Goliath.  And Goliath has an attitude.  It’s a Yo Mama attitude.  Or closer,  a Yo Daddy attitude. Yo Daddy, yo God, is so weak he can’t even stand up against me.  Yo Daddy is a loser.  If ya’ll are so tough, somebody come on out and do the deed!  Come on, let’s see what you got! And the attitude didn’t sit well with David.

So here he is, just seeking to be faithful to his father’s calling, and now there’s a giant with an attitude.  Ever had one of those days?  When you’re just trying to be faithful and do what your Father asks you to do, and before you know it, you’re smack up against a giant with an attitude.

Pretty intimidating, isn’t it?  Before you know what’s happening, some big, giant, hairy problem is all over you with attitude.  And your first reaction is just like the armies of Israel.  Run, hide and tremble in fear.  Sit there behind your tent and wish that someone would do something to take care of this thing.  Just make it go away.

Why is it when we can’t figure out a solution ourselves, that we just sit and hope the problem goes away?  How is it that we can sit and pine over the problem for days and weeks, anxious and worried about it, but stuck, unable to do anything about it?  It looms large and we feel overwhelmed.  No blows have been exchanged—only words, or ideas.

It’s in times like that when faith gives way to fear, and fear has its way with us.  We let it run rampant in our souls, a giant that keeps us intimidated and paralyzed in our spiritual walk.  We cower in the corner listening to the taunts of  giant fear inside our souls as the icy fingers of dread wrap themselves around the core of our being and begin to choke the life and even the will to live right out of us.  Ahhh, Maybe that’s why we need this story.

We’re the little guy.  Problems, fears, anxieties, issues…those are the giants.  What would God have us do with the giants.  Go back in the story and look at David. V.44  "Come here," he said, "and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!"   There’s the giant talking.   It’s enough to intimidate any of us.  Come here and I’ll rip you up!  Come here and I’ll finish you.  And while the rest of the army hides, David has a response. 

Check out v. 45 David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.   46 This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.   47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give all of you into our hands."  

Do you see the response?  Turn to those fears, those anxieties, those issues and in the name of Jesus confront them.  Say, “this day the Lord will hand you over to me and I’ll strike you down.  For the battle is the Lord’s and he will give all of you into our hands.

Notice something.  David relied on the Lord, but he still had to go out to meet the giant.  Some people feel they can’t do anything unless they are rescued.  You still have to pick up the rocks.  You have to put in your time.

David had put in hours practicing with the sling.  The sling was considered a weapon of war.  In their conflict with Israel, the Benjamites, mustered on one occasion, according to Judges 20:16 “seven hundred chosen men who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.”  It was an instrument of war…but they had to put their time in to be effective.  David had spent hours practicing, so that he knew how to use his weapon.  He trusted God, but he still picked up and used a stone.  In fact, he picked up 5...not in case he missed, but because he had learned that Goliath had 4 relatives about the same size as he.  (See 2 Sam 22.  David and his men met and killed them all later)

God wants us to trust Him, but in order to have the faith that we need, we have to put in the time.  Our best weapon in spiritual warfare is the word of God.  The only way to win is to recognize that the battle belongs to the Lord, and launch the rock of His promises.  His promises can turn fear back to faith, anxiety to trust, and uncertainty to a calm assurance. 

2 Peter 1:3-83 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.   4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.   5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;   6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;   7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.   8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Of Dungeons and Dreams

Ever felt trapped in a dead end job?  Stuck.  Unable to go any higher.  Or perhaps it’s a situation or a set of circumstances that seemed to have you locked in.  Wherever you may be, you have a choice.  You can drag through the day, hoping it will get over with quickly so you can go home and lay down, or you can meet it head on and make the best of it.

When faced with temptation, Joseph stood firm and did the right thing and it got him nowhere except the Dungeon. Ever wondered if it was worth doing the right thing? Ever had things go from bad to worse as a result of trying to choose to do the right thing? What do you do when you seemed to be locked in a tough spot and life doesn't make sense?  What do you do when you find yourself locked in the dungeon of your soul? 

Joseph was sold to Potiphar and was in his house 10 years, faithfully serving God and Potiphar.  The Bible says that God blessed everything that Joseph did, and Potiphar made Joseph chief of his household, in charge of not only the other servants, but all of the business affairs and in touch with many of the political leaders of Egypt.  The only thing that Potiphar withheld from Joseph was his own wife—for obvious reasons.

Gen 39:6 says that Joseph was “well-built and handsome” and that Mrs. Potiphar noticed him and began to desire him.  She tried everything to tempt him, coerce him, command him to do what she wanted, but he firmly resisted.  He did the right thing.  One day, she came and grabbed him and Joseph slipped out of his cloak and ran out of the house.  She began to scream for the other servants to come help her and then told them that the young Hebrew had tried to attack her and when she screamed he ran leaving his cloak behind.

When Potiphar came home, she told him the same story.  He grew angry and had Joseph thrown into the dungeon.  And that is where we pick up the story today.

Potiphar, most likely, didn’t truly believe his wife.  I say, most likely, because the Egyptian punishment for any slave who attacked anyone in their master’s household was instant death, no questions asked, no guilt received by the master for doing so.  If Potiphar had truly believed her, Joseph would have died instantly.   But there is the thing about saving face.  You can’t have those type of accusations hitting the neighborhood without major ramifications.  If Potiphar did nothing, people would quickly figure out that he believed his wife to be a liar, and that would bring shame on the household.  If he killed Joseph, he knew he would be killing an innocent man that had done nothing but brought the blessing of God on the household.  So rather than lose face, Potiphar had Joseph thrown into the dungeon where all sorts of vermin and disease were known to fester.  And the 10-year rise to head of the household was suddenly brought to a screeching halt.  He had consistently done the right thing and instead of being honored, he was thrown into jail.  Joseph had to have questioned God.  He had to have been discouraged and downcast.

Which brings me to you and me.  Why is it that whenever things take a down-turn we grow discouraged and begin to doubt God’s love for us?  Why do we retreat back into the destructive habits as a way to cope with our disappointment?  Do you ever find yourself questioning God when you tried to do the right thing and it ended up getting you fired or thrown out, or ridiculed?  Did you ever wonder why you were given a certain lot in life or how you seem to work and work and get nowhere financially?  And as you get lost in those thoughts,  the doubt creeps over you like a thick fog, and it is easy to see only your current circumstances and feel that God has abandoned you or that He truly doesn’t care.   It is during those times that Satan gets us to give up even hoping for God’s deliverance.  We just give up and let everything go.  But that’s human nature.

The devil would have you look at the future with no hope of anything ever changing.  Your marriage—it will never change.  Your rebellious child—he will never change.  Your dire financial picture—it will never change.  All of that stuff wrong in your life—well, you’re stuck with it.  It will never change. The devil knows that if he can get us to lapse into hopelessness, we will settle for just trying to get by the best that we can…and if we can’t, we will do ourselves in to seek to escape the hopelessness.  And then he’s got us.  Satan wants everything to look as if there is no hope of anything ever changing.

Joseph could have easily grown hopeless.  He could easily looked at his abysmal surroundings and said, “That’s it God.  I tried serving You and this is where it got me.  Well forget it…I’m through!”  But he didn’t. But he purposed to remain faithful to God even if he didn’t understand the why’s of his circumstances.

Gen 39:20-23  Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.  But while Joseph was there in the prison,  21 the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.  22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there.  23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

God hadn’t forgotten Joseph.  There was a bigger picture that Joseph couldn’t see.  God had a plan for him and Satan was trying to thwart it.  But Satan can never thwart God’s plan.   God sometimes allows harder circumstances to come upon us to prepare us for a greater work.  It all depends on attitude and the choice we make in dealing with our situations.

Choosing to trust God when all seems bright is not so hard.  But choosing to trust God in the midst of the storm when all seems lost allows God to build your faith as well as His glory in you. 

Which brings me back to us.  There are some  who believe your circumstances will never change and you just can’t bear to go on with life the way it is right now. So you look for your own alternatives.  You plot and you scheme and you figure out your own way to try to escape your dungeon, but the problem is, it only leads to a bigger dungeon.  You’re still stuck.  You haven’t found the happiness or escape you were looking for.  Only more issues.  More problems.  More  heartache.

If we are to learn anything from the dungeon experience of Joseph, it would be to look to God for our answers.  Trust Him when all seems dark.  Hope in Him when all seems hopeless.  It may take time.  Maybe years, but God is faithful and will bring you through to something greater as a result of your suffering right now. 

It means looking at the situation full on and choosing instead to be the best you can be right in the middle of the mess.  It’s refusing to give in to despair, but instead to look to God and what He wants for you, even though you might not be able to understand it  right now.

G.K. Chesterton, once wrote: Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all...As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength.  Gilbert Keith "G. K." Chesterton

American Chesterton Society 

Don't give up hope.  God still sees you and knows where you are and what you need.

Making Your Theology Your Biography- Lifestyles of the Humble and Holy

There used to be a show on TV called, "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous."  People loved to watch it because it showed off all of the things the wealthy have that everyone else wanted.  We've fallen for this same ideology in the church as well.  We seek to have a lifestyle of the Rich and Famous rather than what Jesus called us to: Lifestyles of the Humble and Holy.

I received an e-mail last week that I think may sum up what we are talking about.  It was titled “The way we might sing some well-known hymns if we were being honest.

I surrender Some.   There shall be sprinkles of blessings.  Fill my...spoon, Lord.   Oh, how I like Jesus.   He’s quite a bit to me.   I love to talk about telling the story.   Take my life and let me be!   It is my   secret what God can do.   There is scattered cloudiness in my soul today.   Onward, Christian Reserves.   Where He leads me, I will consider following.   Just as I ...pretend to be.   When the Saints go Sneaking in.

When will the church get honest about its intentions?  When will we get honest about our individual intentions?   There comes a time when we must stop playing church and start praying, church!   When we must stop kidding ourselves into thinking that we are praying saints when we have never really stopped being selfish.   We still want what we want, when we want it, how we want it, why we want it, and who gives two full-blown hoots about what God is asking of us.   In short, we like the idea of being God too much to relinquish the throne.    He asks for our time...we’re too busy.  He asks for our money... can’t afford it, don’t want to give it, and  don’t agree with what they want to do with it anyway.   He asks for our talents...I can’t be bothered with that, I have to use mine in making sure that I have enough in my house.  Someone else can work on filling His house.

If your time, talents and money aren’t spent on leading others to the kingdom, you just wasted your time, talents and money.   If you can’t see past meeting your own wants to a see a world that is dying, you are more philosophically aligned with the Rich and Famous than with the Humble and Holy.   Can you not lift your sights above the here and now?  Is there no recognition that all of this stuff will burn? 

Many of us have a proper theology, but it has not yet become our biography.  Many of us know the texts, but we hold too tightly to the things of this earth for the texts to mean much to us.   Many of us know what we should be doing, but we have gotten good at holding on to wordly policy plans.  Think about this though: It isn’t a huge outbreaking of sin in our lives, but rather, the selfish, greedy spirit that takes possession of us, which will finally lead us, like Judas,  to sell out our Master.  How much are you willing to sell Him for?  Unfortunately, I have often sold Him out for far less than Judas.

So how do we turn our Theology into our Biography?  How do we take what we say we believe and live it out?  Well, there’s good news and bad news.  

First the bad news...We can’t.  There is no way that we can live out our theology. You may be able to accomplish a few things on the list by yourself, but Jesus said that apart from Him  we can do nothing.   So put away your how-to notebooks and forget about trying to be good.  You won’t be able to do it.   Bury the idea that you have a strong will and can do anything you put your mind to.  Sink the ship of self-sufficiency and recognize that you, nor I, have what it takes to make it across the ocean of life.   Try as hard as you will, you cannot  live out your theology.  You are doomed to failure!   Your theology is too demanding.  It is too formidable.  Too hard.  Anyone seeking to make it on their own will find themselves sinking into a sea of discouragement and hoplessness.   They will grow bitter over the disappointments in life.  Eventually, they will seek any other way, and end up selling their Master out.  So the bad news  is....you can’t live your theology.   So if we can’t do it, then why talk about it....

Because our theology must be lived!

But wait...remember, there's also good news!  Here it is.   While I can’t do it, Jesus already did.   And He has promised to ascribe His life to me if I will just accept it.  He has promised that He will come in and change me if I will let Him.   He has promised that He will work His theology into my biography.  Not because of what I do...but because of what He does in and through me.  

Jesus said in John 15:5    “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

So what is my part?  I must let go of the world and allow myself to be grafted into the Vine.  Then his Spirit will flow through my branches and produce fruit.  Not because of me...but because I’m living in Him.  It is a natural progression.  I’m grafted in, the fresh sap of the Vine begins to give me nourishment.  I grow and change and produce fruit.   If your not growing, check out your connection to the Vine.   If you have a connection, your time, talents, money and everything else will be freely given to Him.   You can’t help it.   Jesus inspires us to grow outward, giving of what we have to help His kingdom grow.

If you find yourself struggling with selfishness, greed and gain in the material world with little thought of the eternal,  stop and check your connection to the Vine.   Recognize that all of this is just going to burn.  It won’t last.  When Jesus comes, all that you worked for in the material world will be gone.  You can’t take it with you.   Check out your connection to the Vine.  Make sure that you are grafted in.  Which brings me to my last point.

In order for the church to stay a part of the Vine, we must daily feed on Jesus.  Daily draw our source of life from Him.   This is vital if we are to survive.  How do we do that?  Through prayer and the ministry of the Word.   We must once again go back to His Word and find our nourishment there.  We must hold each other up in prayer as the devil attacks and tries to rip us away from the Vine.  We must become intercessors, not only for ourselves and our families, but for each other in the church family as well.   We must fight against our natural instinct to put self first, and instead, let Jesus replace us on the throne of our hearts. 

Prayer and the Word.  Imperative to the spiritual battle.  If we recognize that we must have a lifestyle of the Humble and Holy, we must also recognize that it must start with us.  No one else can make that choice for you or me.   If we remain in the Vine, and the Vine in us, we will find that, by and by, our Theology has grown very naturally, into our Biography.   Not because of what we do, but because we have fed from the True Vine.  We have lived in Him and allowed Him to live and work in us.

May you allow Him to live in you today.