Challenges of Faith

When difficult times are upon us, we are challenged in our faith as to whom we will depend on to get us through.  Will we patiently wait for God to move or will we look to someone else to come to our rescue?  Do we really trust God to show up or do we move ahead with our plans and leave God out?  This was the situation that King Asa was confronted with when he in the 36^nd year of his leadership of Judah. 

  The united kingdom of Israel had been divided after Solomon died.  Ten of the tribes of Israel abandoned Rehaboam as the king and chose Jereboam to rule over them.  There was constant warfare between the two groups throughout their history.  Asa had been faithful to follow God while the king of the ten tribes, Baasha, had not.  Baasha was building a city called Ramah to keep King Asa from receiving supplies.  It posed a serious problem for Judah and needed to be resolved.  Asa decided to rely upon the king of Syria, Ben-hadad, to help him with the problem rather than ask God for help.  He took silver and gold from the treasury of the temple and his personal treasury to the king as a bribe and asked him to break the agreement he had made with Baasha and go to battle for him.  The king of Syria agreed to do it and Baasha had to stop building the city that was a threat to King Asa.  In the mind of Asa, he thought his problem was solved.  The city of Ramah was pillaged and the building materials were used to fortify other cities.  It all looked good to Asa but it was not how God wanted him to respond and a prophet Hanani, was sent to Asa to relay God’s message to him.

 2Ch 16:7  At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, "Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you.

2Ch 16:8  Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, he gave them into your hand.

2Ch 16:9  For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars."

  2Ch 16:10  Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in the stocks in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time.

2Ch 16:11  The acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

2Ch 16:12  In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but sought help from physicians.

2Ch 16:13  And Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign.

 Asa’s Bad Decision

God had bigger plans for Asa and the nation of Judah.  He would have provided greater peace as Syria was an enemy who would come against Judah in the future.  God wanted to deliver Syria into the hands of Asa.  The agreement Asa made with Syria was not in agreement with God’s desires.  Asa was looking for a short term fix while God has a long term plan that would have been much better for the nation.  One has to wonder why Asa made this decision, especially after the track record of God’s incredible deliverance from the vast Ethiopian and Libyan armies.  Asa had his own experience as well as the experience of his father’s deliverance from their enemies to rely upon, yet he chose to act on his own. Perhaps Asa was weary of facing another battle and chose to let someone else fight for him.  Taking the precious metals from the temple was evidently a sufficient bribe to change the heart of the king of Syria to break an agreement he had with Baasha.  You have to wonder how faithful the king of Syria would be to Asa, if he was willing to break an agreement for the payment of silver and gold. 

In addition by making the agreement with Ben-hadad, the nation of Israel suffered many casualties when Syria fought against them.  When we make wrong decisions we can also affect the lives of many other people.  The loss of lives and bloodshed of the people of the Northern Kingdom resulted from Asa’s wrong decision.

  God’s Disappointment

Hanani came with the bad news of God’s disappointment with Asa’s actions.  God was disappointed in Asa’s lack of faith in his desire to intervene.  God would have helped Asa overcome his situation.  He was not unaware of what was happening and was giving Asa another opportunity to allow him to show himself strong and defeat the enemies of Judah.  God did not want Asa forming an alliance with Ben-hadad because he knew what was going to happen in the future when Syria would attack them.  God was going to deal with Syria to protect Judah but Asa blew it by forming the alliance.  It seemed like an easy solution to Asa but it would only create greater problems in the future.  Because of his foolish decision the future for Asa and Judah was not good, there would be turmoil instead of peace.

We all struggle at times with making decisions on our own, failing to consult God, making compromises that we should not make to be able to give us some relief from an impending crisis.  We rely on our limited wisdom rather than God’s to make short term decisions that have long term consequences.  We look to others to solve our problems and leave God out of the picture because we do not want to seek him or we do not want to wait upon him and trust him to show up.  Our impatience often drives us to make wrong decisions that will lead to regret. 

 The Vega

Have you ever bought something impulsively and then regretted it as it turned out to be a money pit?  I bought a car one time that I did not take the time to really seek God about buying it and did not get it checked out thoroughly.  I needed a car or at least I thought I did at the time and made a purchase too quickly.  I had to borrow the money to buy it and then after a couple of weeks had to borrow more money to fix the transmission that went bad.  Soon afterward it started burning oil and a black cloud spewed out from the exhaust.  It was a royal lemon that I should have never bought.  But my problem goes beyond the purchase of the car as I was in a situation that I should not have been in, in the first place.  I had been offered a job working with a company doing a wonderful thing, working with children, developing Bible clubs.  My motivation in taking the job was more to allow me to be near a girl I had met at my summer job working at a Bible camp than it was for the job itself.  I was thinking of the future relationship more than the job and made a decision to take the job rather than return to the university to finish my degree.  I was not in the right place and it became evident that my plans were not going to workout.  After working for about 3 months, I finally came to my senses and realized I was in the wrong place.  Had I truly sought God and been willing to follow what he would have told me, I would have saved myself a lot of trouble as well as finances.  I learned some hard lessons through the situation but most of all I realized how I relied on myself and did not seek God or wait upon him for his plans.  I had my mind made up as to what I wanted and had I been really seeking God I know I would have made a different decision.  Often we want God to give approval to our plans more than we want to seek him to find out what is his plan.  King Asa made the same mistake and he suffered for it.

 Asa’s Bad Response

Not only did Asa make a bad decision he also responded poorly after he was told that he would have future trouble.  He got mad at God and took out his anger on Hanani as well as some of the people.  His anger was displaced and he made others suffer who really were not responsible for anything that had happened.  We often respond in the same way when we are confronted.  We get mad at the person who pointed out our error and we respond by being mean toward other people.  Asa could have chosen to respond in a different way, like asking for forgiveness and repenting from his lack of consulting God, giving away treasures dedicated to the temple and making an alliance with a king of whom he should not have been involved.  Asa would not own up to his errors and chose to respond in anger.  God is merciful and always ready to forgive when our hearts are humbled and we truly repent of our sin.  He wants to have a restored relationship with us.  He takes no delight in seeing bad things happen to us because of our sin.  Asa could have experienced restoration and forgiveness but his pride and anger would not allow him to do it.  He carried this anger until his death.  Even when he had a problem with diseased feet he refused to seek God for healing a condition that God could have easily healed.  It seems that Asa had a 5 year long pity party.  His pride got in the way and he could not bring himself to the point of repentance.  How foolish it is to hold a grudge against God.  What benefit was there in doing so for Asa?

When we mess up we need to fess up immediately.  God was not Asa’s problem, Asa was his own problem. He forgot his history of God’s faithfulness to him and God’s desire to help him.  God wanted to show himself strong but Asa did not give him the opportunity.  The word “strong” means to “fasten upon”.  The image is that God is looking for someone whose heart is made ready for him, one who is looking to him so he can fasten himself to him.  It is almost like someone on a search and rescue mission who is looking for someone in trouble who is reaching out for help.  When the rescuer sees him, he sets his eyes upon him and reaches out to fasten himself to him to pull him out of the problem.  Asa had a problem but he was not reaching out to God to invite his help.  

Whatever situation the enemy puts in our way or we create by our own error, we have to remember that God is always for us.  God is there to rescue and help us get the victory but we must be willing to seek him and invite him into our situation.  If we respond in our own wisdom or in the flesh we will only create a worse situation with consequences that we will not want to face.  God is ready, willing, and able to come to our rescue.  He wants us to call upon him.

  God will rescue us

Psa_22:8  "He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!"

Psa_91:15  When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.

Isa_31:5  Like birds hovering, so the LORD of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it; he will spare and rescue it."

  Dan_3:29  Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way."

2Ti_4:18  The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

2Pe_2:9  then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,

Whatever situation we face our first response must be to go to God and seek him for help. We can approach him with confidence knowing that he is in control and he is good.  He will come to rescue us.

 Teton Climbing Experience

After graduation from high school, I went to Wyoming to climb the Gran Teton Mountain.  It was my first mountain and I was excited to be able to do it.  I spend some time learning how to rappel before the trip but that was it. We climbed the first day and came to a patch of snow where we learned how to “glaciade” which involves sliding down and then using a pick axe to stop.  It was a lot of fun and not dangerous in the situation we were at.  We summited the mountain the next day and began our descent.  Somehow I got separated from the group and I came upon a huge ice field.  I decided that I could save a lot of time by sliding down the ice field to the path below.  Not a good idea when you do not have a pick axe to stop you.  I decided that I could straddle the side of the ice field and use my leg on the outside to act as a brake so I could control my speed.  It sounded like a good plan to me but I quickly found out it would not work.  I sat down and straddled the edge and began sliding down.  Within a few feet I veered away from the edge and found myself sliding down the ice field headed toward the bottom where huge rocks were waiting to receive me.  I tried to dig my heels and hands into the ice to slow but it was to no avail.  I continued to slide and picked up speed as I approached the bottom.  I knew I was in deep trouble and I put my legs in front of me and braced myself for the collision.  As I got close to the bottom I remember calling out to God, “God save me!!!”  I slammed into a rock that was probably 3-4 feet tall with my legs extended straight in front.  Somehow I hit the rock and was catapulted in the air, doing a complete somersault over it and then landed in an open area on my back. Fortunately, I had my backpack on and it absorbed all the impact.  My momentum rolled me forward and I hit my knee on a rock and got a little cut.  I stood up, shaking violently as I realized what had just happened and how God had rescued me from being seriously injured.  It was a very bad decision on my part to slide down the ice field and had someone else been with me to advise me not to do it or had I consulted God, I would have saved myself from the near death experience.  God showed up when I called upon him and he rescued me.  I knew that he had something more for my life and that became a reality a couple of months later.

  Call, Trust, Obey

We have to call upon God but we also must trust him to move and we must be willing to obey what he asks us to do.  A story is told of a man who fell off a cliff and on his way down he grabbed on to a small tree growing out of the side.  He was suspended in the air and was calling out for help.  God heard his call and responded by telling the man, “This is God, let go of the branch”.  The man called out again for help and God replied with the same answer.  He called out a third time for help and again God told him to let go of the branch.  Finally in desperation the man called out, “Is there anyone else who can help me!”  What the man did not know was that he was only a few feet above a shelf that had he let go of the branch he would have safely landed on it.  Often we do not see what God can see and we have to trust him to know what we need to do and be willing to obey him whether it seems logical or not.

http://christianity.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=christianity&cdn=religion&tm=126&f=00&tt=55&bt=0&bts=8&zu=http%3A//www.cbn.com/700club/features/amazing/Brooke_Donnelly_041310.aspx

Brooke Donnelly shared her testimony on the 700 Club of God rescuing her from a life of lesbianism.  She had been abused sexually as a child and had been raised in a Christian home.  The abuse she suffered was not from her family but from classmates and this caused great anger and rebellion to dominate her life.  She entered into a lesbian relationship with a witch and moved to Hollywood seeking fame and fortune.

One day, Brooke was uncomfortable about going out to a particular nightclub with her girlfriend.

“She said, ‘Well, let’s just sit on the fence about it.’  The only time I’d ever heard ‘sit on the fence’ was in church. You don’t sit on the fence. You’re either hot or you’re cold. But you’re not lukewarm. When those words came out of her mouth, I just felt this quickening within me like all of a sudden it felt like something entered the room.  My heart started pounding. I said, ‘Do you feel that?’ And she’s like, ‘No, I don’t feel anything.’  I’m like, ‘You don’t feel it?’  She’s like, ‘You don’t actually think there’s such a thing as a devil, do you?’  At that point, I knew I could not trust her anymore.”

Brooke called out to Jesus, and her girlfriend jumped up and left.

"I was like, ‘Okay God, okay, I don’t know what You want me to do, but I’m asking You to help me.’  As soon as I prayed that, another presence came into my apartment and this was just like this urgency like, ‘C’mon! C’mon! Let’s go! Let’s go!’”

She left her apartment and started walking.  She says she felt like the Lord was guiding her steps. 

“I heard the Lord. He said, ‘Brooke, fear not, for I am the Lord your God.’  He said. ‘Even though you may walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you shall not fear evil. For My rod and My staff, they will comfort you.’  There was this breeze that passed by.  I knew I was dealing with the Lord. Then I heard in my heart, ‘Love is the most powerful source in the universe.’  I just started crying, and I said, 'Okay, God, love is the most powerful source in the universe. What about my lover?' And he said, ‘No!’  I just heard a really loud ‘no’. When I heard that ‘no’, God opened my deceptive mind for a moment in time to be able to have clear thinking and to make a choice.  He gave me a choice, ‘It’s either Me or her. Who’s it going to be?’”

She knew she had to make a decision.

“I felt like there was a man with a knife standing behind me.  I was terrified. I tried to reach behind me and see if someone was really standing behind me. Nobody was standing behind me.  I felt like I was going crazy. I knew I had to make this choice. And when I chose Jesus, the presence behind me left.”

Brooke made her choice, but now she had to take action.

“I came back to my apartment, and my girlfriend was standing at our altar that we had. I didn’t know what to do next. But when I saw her, I did not want her. God met me right where I was. He helped me right in that decision. When I chose with all of my heart to follow Jesus, God changed my heart. I was just broken. I had nothing to show for 26 years of my life except a broken heart.  I had Jesus. I had made a decision for Jesus.”

Brooke moved back to her parents’ house.  She needed to heal.

“I didn’t want to live.  I laid on my bed waiting to die.  I didn’t have my right mind, I couldn’t think clearly.”

After six months at home, Brooke went forward for prayer at a women’s Bible study.

“I felt like the woman who reached out to grab Jesus’ garment, and I just felt like I was grabbing it and saying, ‘I’m not letting go until You help me. You’ve gotta help me!’ So I believe that Jesus delivered me that day from witchcraft or from demonic spirit or whatever I had opened myself up to.  It left.”

It has been a long journey, but the pain Brooke held since childhood has been replaced by the love of God.

“What the Lord did was He took a broken heart and He put it back together with Himself entwined now in my heart. He’s filled all those broken places inside of me with Himself.  I was able to emotionally heal. I was able to go through the memories of what had taken place and face those memories with Jesus this time forgive each one that did this to me. I believe that it’s through forgiveness that I’ve been set free.”

God is faithful to rescue when we call upon him but we must also be willing to do what he asks us to do.  Had Brooke not been obedient to what God was asking her to do she would not have been set free.  We will all face hardships in this life, there will be tests and trials that we will experience.  We are not exempt but we do have a God who will rescue us when we call upon him and obey what he asks us to do.

King Asa had seen many moves of God yet at the end of many years of faithful service he made bad decisions that resulted in the final years of misery.  His end could have been very different.  Being mad at God only produces greater problems in our lives.  He gets blamed for many things that are not his fault and people become bitter toward him because they do not really know him and trust him to be working for their good.

 Maybe you are here tonight and you are facing some challenges and really need to call upon God to rescue you.  Maybe you have responded incorrectly and acted in your flesh to resolve a situation and you need to seek forgiveness so your relationship can be restored with God or another person you have offended.  Or perhaps you know someone who is facing a challenge and needs God’s intervention and you want to stand in the gap for them through your prayers. 

One young girl I want to pray for is one we have met on the streets whose name is Norma.  She needs to be rescued.  She is 18, pregnant, homeless and both parents were killed in a car accident.  She needs to be rescued and placed in a loving environment where she can experience healing and provision for her and her baby.  Let’s spend some time praying for ourselves and others who need God to intervene in their lives.

The Joy of Winning Souls

Recently I had a conversation with a man and I asked him what was the most important thing or event in his life.  He told me it was his family and went on to say that his daughter has a child 1.5 years old that lives with him and his wife.  He commented how this young child brought great joy to the family.  Children are a blessing and when they arrive there is usually great joy among the parents and family members.

Jesus told 3 parables in Luke 15 that emphasized what brought great joy in heaven.  So much joy that all the angels celebrated when a special event happened and that event was when one wicked sinner repents.

Luke 15:7,10,32

Jesus told these parables to the Pharisees who were questioning his involvement with people who were outcasts according to their theology.  They did not understand the level of joy celebrated when a wicked sinner repents.  This joy expressed in heaven is the same joy that we can have when we dedicate ourselves to being a soul winner for the Lord. 

Sadly 97% of Christians in the USA will never lead another person to Christ; they will never experience the joy of bringing someone to saving faith in Christ. 

 Luke 15:1,2

The Pharisees could not understand why Jesus would associate with such vile, horrible sinners.  They looked upon the people that Jesus spent time with great contempt.  In their eyes they were of no value and to spend time with them, eat with them, drink with them was not within the parameters of their religious legalistic beliefs.  Their self-righteousness and perceived moral superiority kept them from engaging these people.

“They called them the People of the Land.  There was a complete barrier between the Pharisees and the People of the Land.  To marry a daughter to one of theme was like exposing her, bound and helpless, to a lion. The pharisaic regulations laid down, “When a man is one of the people of the land entrust no money to him take no testimony from him, trust him with no secret do not appoint him guardian of an orphan, do not make him the custodian of charitable funds, do not accompany him on a journey.:  A Pharisee was forbidden to be the guest of any such man, or to have him as his guest.  He was even forbidden so far as it was possible to have any business dealings with him or to buy anything from him or sell anything to him….

the strict Jews did not say “There is joy in heaven over one sinner, who repents”: but, “There is joy in heaven over one sinner who is obliterated before God.” Source: Wm. Barclay commentary on Luke.

The Pharisees knew how to keep rules and their lives were governed by them.  Anyone who did not keep the rules was scorned and despised.  Since these vile sinners did not conform, they were ostracized and avoided.  They could not get beyond the exterior of the people to see why they did not conform and what they were really like.  The solution of the Pharisees to control behavior was found in conformity to rules and they had hundreds of them to help clarify the commands of the Law.  Some of their rules were ridiculous.  Work on the Sabbath was forbidden so work had to be qualified by rules to make sure that they did not violate the command.  The Jew was forbidden to spit on the ground because the spit would move the dirt and that was considered work!  Likewise when Jesus healed the lame man on the Sabbath they took great offense when Jesus told the healed man to take up his bed and walk.  This too was considered work and was forbidden.  It would have been better for the man to remain lame then be set free.  This warped understanding of the Law lead to legalism and bondage.

Legalism never leads to liberty.  When was the last time a new rule brought transformation to your life? Conformity to rules never leads to compassion for people but leads to being critical and judgmental.  Instead of seeing divine potential the Pharisees only saw violations of their rules.  They never were able to see the heart of the people or have any compassion or understanding of their situation.  They judged quickly by what they saw and based on their assessment wanted nothing to do with these people.

Jesus took a different approach to people.  He saw beyond the external behaviors.  He saw a person of value and worth who had needs that they were trying to meet in ways that were not God’s ways.   He saw people caught in lifestyles of sin and rebellion that needed to be helped and set free.  He saw people who were not understanding their true identity and were living lives that were marked by destructive and unfulfilling behaviors.  The Pharisees were blinded to them by their own selfish, sinful behavior. One definition of sin is “missing the mark” and the Pharisees were missing the mark just as much as the people they called sinners.

The problem with legalism is that it keeps us from seeing our own true heart.  We can comply and conform to rules externally but our heart can be full of rebellion.  We can be obedient to the rules while at the same time hate the one who made the rules.  Many young people when they leave home find out what is really in their heart.  Often they engage in behaviors that were previously forbidden because they do not have their parents nearby to make sure they conform.  Their true heart is revealed.  Their conformity was not their own personal choice and when given the opportunity to not conform their true heart was revealed.  Rules will not transform the heart and when the rules are not enforced our true heart is revealed.

The Pharisees did not have transformed hearts.  When John the Baptist came he preached a message of repentance.  The Pharisees saw no need to repent.  We, like the Pharisees will not repent from our sin until we see our selfish, judgmental, self-righteous, legalistic, moralistic behavior and attitudes.  Once we see ourselves as we really are we can repent and receive forgiveness and experience the true joy of being in right relationship with God.  The reason there is such great joy in heaven after one sinner repents is because a transformation of the heart can now take place and the sinner can become the person they were created to be.  The phony shell that has kept their true identity and purpose hidden has been stripped away and they can now become the New Creation God wants them to be through Christ!!They become a child of God which is what God desires and this brings great joy to him.

The “great joy” Jesus brought out in these 3 parables must have been very disturbing to the Pharisees.  Their joy was found in condemnation not in reconciliation.

Luke 15:3-7

In all 3 parables something of value was lost, found and resulted in a joyous celebration.  The lost sheep was of great value to the shepherd.  He was responsible for its care and if lost would have to pay the owner or if was his own he would lose the money from its sale or the sale of its wool. The shepherds often worked in pairs so one could leave the sheep in the care of the other to seek after the lost sheep.  They were expert trackers and would search through rough terrain until the sheep was found.  If it was killed they had to bring back the skin as proof.  The entire village would wait for the shepherd to return and when the lost sheep was seen with him they would all celebrate.

Luke 15:8-10

The lost coin represented a day’s wages to the woman and if you are poor this means more to you because the loss will be felt more.  The coin may also have represented the future identity as a married woman. 

“In Palestine the mark of a married woman was the head dress made of ten silver coins linked together by a silver chain.  For years maybe a girl would scape and save to amass her ten coins, for the head dress was almost the equivalent of her wedding ring.  When she had it, it was so inalienably hers that it could not even be taken from her for debt.  It may well be that it was one of these that the woman in the parable lost, and she searched for it as any woman would search if she had lost her marriage ring.” Source: Wm. Barclay commentary on John

She searched with great diligence until it was found.  When found she celebrated with her friends, it was a joyful time to be shared with others who understood the value of the coin.

In these 2 parables a new concept was introduced by Jesus to the Pharisees.  The idea that God would search and seek after men was new to them.

 “The Jew might have agreed that if a man came crawling home to God in self-abasement and knelt before God praying for pity he might find it; but the Jew would never have conceived of a God who went out to search for sinners.” Source: Wm. Barclay commentary on Luke

Luke 15:11,12

The parable of the Lost Son was really a story about the two lost sons. Both the younger son and the older son were lost.  The value of the son could not be compared to the value of the lost sheep or coin; he was of infinite value and was irreplaceable.  He was not a possession but an eternal soul. 

He left home of his own will to fulfill his own selfish desires.  He brought shame to his father when he asked for his inheritance.  It was a though he was saying to his father, “I wish you were dead!”  It was very costly to the father.  In order for the son to receive his inheritance the father had to sell part of the property to be able to give him the money.  The property sold caused the father to lose the income it would produce until the day it would be given to his son as his inheritance.  One third of his property was sold to meet the demand of the son, “Give me the share of the property that is coming to me.”  The father did not prevent him from leaving even though he may have had reservations about his intentions.  He gave him the freedom to do what he wanted to do perhaps hoping that he would use the money wisely and be successful. 

Luke 15:13-19

 Once he left, the father did not send out a search party to monitor his behavior or try to bring him back home.  He let him go, releasing him to experience either success of failure.  Like any father he hoped for the best, that his son would be successful.

But this was not the case and the money was wasted on fleshly desires.  Finally the son realizes where he is at but he also remembers where he came from and made the decision to return to his father not as a son but to ask to be a hired servant. 

“The hired servant was the lowest rank of slaves who were only day laborers.  The ordinary slave was in some sense a member of the family, but the hired servant could be dismissed a day’s notice.  He was not one of the family at all.” Source: Barclay

He left his father with arrogance and pride but returned with humility and repentance for the sins he had committed against God and his father.  His attitude changed from “Give me” to “Make me”.

Luke 15:20,21

The reunion of the son with the father was probably unexpected by the son and the Pharisees while listening to the story must have been very upset by the response of compassion by the father.  The son must have had thoughts of being rejected by his father for the shame he had brought to him.  When he saw his father running toward him he probably wondered if he would be chastised and rejected.  It was not considered dignified for older men to run, they were to always walk.   Some have speculated that the father ran to the son in order to protect him from elders in the community who could have demanded that he be stoned for the disrespect he had shown to his father.  The reception of his father must have been overwhelming to him.  To be embraced and kissed by his father had to be a huge relief to him and certainly made it easier for him to make his confession of his sins. Though the son was willing to become a servant, the father never gave him the opportunity to make this request.

Luke 15: 22-24

Grace not judgment and condemnation was extended by the father.  The father was delighted that his son had returned and called for a huge celebration to be given.  The son was restored to the family and given a robe that represented honor, a ring that represented giving him the power of attorney to transact business for the father, sandals that identified him as a son and not a servant who went barefoot.  To top it all off the wheat fattened calf that was worth a great deal of money was butchered so they could have a great feast.

Luke 15:25-30

All the while this is happening the lost older brother is growing madder and more hostile to the father and his brother.  The older brother was responding just like the Pharisees would respond in a situation like this.  He was thinking only about himself. He became angry with his father and refused to join in the celebration.  He felt that he was entitled to better treatment because of his moral behavior and obedience to his father.  He was obeying out of wrong motives; it was not out of love for his father but love for himself and what he could get out of the situation.  He felt his behavior deserved more recognition from his father.  His years of service to his father were out of duty and not of love.

We see also in the comment of the older brother that his heart was not pure.  His comment that his brother had spent his money on prostitutes was his own speculation that revealed what he probably desired for himself.  Given the same opportunity his brother had he would have done the same thing.  His moral superiority was only a cover up for what was really in his heart.

His moral behavior was self-serving, hoping that he would be rewarded for his goodness or be seen as a virtuous person worthy of respect and recognition

Tim Keller uses the following story in his book “Prodigal God” that illustrates this point.

Once upon a time there was a gardener who grew an enormous carrot.  So he took it to his king and said, “My lord, this is the greatest carrot I’ve ever grown or ever will grow.  Therefore I want to present it to you as a token of my love and respect for you.”  The king was touched and discerned the man’s heart, so as he turned to go the kings said, “Wait!  You are clearly a good steward of the earth.  I own a plot of land right next to yours.  I want to give it to you freely as a gift so you can garden it all.”  And the gardener was amazed and delighted and went home rejoicing.  But there was a nobleman at the king’s court who overheard all this.  And he said, “My! If that is what you get for a carrot-what if you gave the king something better?”  So the next day the nobleman came before the king and he was leading a handsome black stallion.  He bowed low and said, “My lord, I breed horses and this is the greatest horse I’ve ever bred or ever will.  Therefore I want to present it to you as a token of my love and respect for you.”  But the king discerned his heart and said thank you, and took the horse and merely dismissed him.  The nobleman was perplexed.  So the king said, “Let me explain.  That gardener was giving me the carrot, but you were giving yourself the horse.”

His resentment of his brother was so great that he did not even claim him as his brother “your son” was his description of his brother.  His brother had diminished the value of the family in the community, disgraced their name and diminished the family wealth.  He could not forgive his brother because he did not see himself as just as much a sinner as he was.  He had no sympathy for his brother and wanted his brother to be treated much differently than his father was treating him.

The attitudes of the older brother represented the very attitudes the Pharisees had toward the people Jesus found time to spend with and befriend.  They were being judged by Jesus in the parable and found guilty of the sins of being critical, judgmental, thinking of themselves as morally superior while having hearts as black as the sinners they condemned.  They lacked love and compassion for people who were of infinite value.

Luke 15:31,32

The father in the parable represents God’s attitude toward the lost and as believers we need to have the same attitude if we really want to bring joy to heaven. 

The father was quick to forgive the younger son and treated his older son with respect.  The older son had lost nothing; his inheritance was still the same.  The father emphasized the miracle of the younger sons return and how joyful the older son should be that his brother was now home.

We have all sinned and come short of what God intended for our lives.  We were either like the young son who rebelled and acted in the flesh to fulfill its desires in unholy ways or we are like the older brother who lives a moral life, is hard working, a rule keeper yet our hearts are not transformed and we live with anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, condemnation, judgment of others, insecurity, the drudgery of duty and lack real joy.  Both need to be saved by the grace of God, liberated to become the person God desires them to be through the work of Christ who alone can transform our lives.

We have to see people as God sees them with infinite value and worth. They are worthy of our efforts to reach them with the gospel and make every effort to share the message of salvation.  No one is beyond the grace of God, unworthy to be reconciled to him. We cannot isolate ourselves from the lost with judgmental attitudes.  Paul wrote to the Corinthian church to encourage them to reach out to the immoral people.

1Co 5:9  I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people--

1Co 5:10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.

We have to represent God as he truly is.  People who are lost, who have strayed from God because they do not know him for who he is.  Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve and even in the fall, God’s true image has been damaged by the lies of the enemy.  Fallen man does not know God as a loving father who has sacrificed his most precious Son to be the payment for our sin.  God has been misrepresented and people have rejected him. We have to represent God and re-present God to a world that has been blinded to the truth of who he is and how much he loves this fallen world. Forgiveness and restoration to the place of honor in the family of God needs to be the message we communicate to the world.  The greatest joy in heaven and earth is leading someone to the Lord to receive everything God has for them.

The other part of this story which was the main reason Jesus told the parable is to expose the wrong attitudes of the Pharisees toward the lost.  There are many Pharisaical Christians in the church today. They have no love for the lost, especially those who are really horrible people.  They let fears and prejudice keep them from reaching out to the marginalized.  During the Jesus People Movement in the 1970’s Chuck Smith, the pastor of Calvary Chapel began to reach out to the hippies.  They would come to his church with dirty clothes and disgusting smells and would sit in the front on the carpet.  People in the church complained to him that they would ruin the carpet.  Chuck’s reply was “then we will take out the carpet.” 

Pharisaical Christian follow rules but lack a real relationship with God.  No real joy, life is about conformity and duty.

We all need to judge ourselves to see if we are misrepresenting God by holding Pharisaical attitudes toward any segment of the lost.  We also have a responsibility to the body of Christ to judge people in the church who are not reflecting God’s love for the lost.  We are not to judge people who are not believers, the Holy Spirit will do that for us but we are to hold each other accountable within the church to live as a real disciple of Christ.  Many will say, “Judge not least you be judged” but within the church it is our responsibility to make sure Christ is being represented as he truly has been revealed through the Scriptures.  Paul had to bring correction to the Corinthian church for immoral behavior that was taking place within the church.  He wrote:

1Co 5:12  For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?

1Co 5:13  God judges those outside. "Purge the evil person from among you."

We do not do the church a favor by being silent when there is obviously a major issue that needs to be corrected.  Church leadership needs to take up this responsibility and hold believers accountable. It is not an easy job but it is necessary and it needs to be done correctly or it will not have the desired effect or result.  Restoration always needs to be the goal.  Recently in the news a pastor of a large church in Orlando, Florida was asked to step down by the leadership of the church after it was revealed that he had an adulterous affair for several years which was kept hidden.  These are obvious things that need to be addressed but just as important is our own attitudes that Jesus exposed among the Pharisees that we need to address with each other.

We must keep in mind that our mission on earth is to bring people to Christ.  We need to be reminded of the great joy expressed in heaven when the lost are found.  The joy in heaven is an expression of the heart of God when people are reconciled to him. 

We must reject the attitude of the Pharisees or the older brother and not let it creep into our lives and keep us from reaching out to the lost, no matter how lost they may be.

God has chosen us to re-present him to the world, to be his instruments he uses to reconcile people to himself and help restore people to their true identity.  He allows us the privilege of preaching his word to the lost so that the Holy Spirit can do the work of bringing people to repentance and faith in Christ. We bring great joy to heaven when we allow God to use us to bring people to Christ.

Living in the Presence

There is a story in the Old Testament of Elijah, the prophet that I want to read to introduce the message tonight.  It is found in 2 Kings 4:8-10
One day Elisha went on to Shunem, where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to eat some food. So whenever he passed that way, he would turn in there to eat food. And she said to her husband, "Behold now, I know that this is a holy man of God who is continually passing our way. Let us make a small room on the roof with walls and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there."
We do not know what this woman or her husband knew about Elisha prior to meeting him but one thing became apparent to the wife was that Elisha was a holy man of God.  There must have been something different about him that caused her to recognize him as a man of God and as a result opened her home to him.  It is interesting that it was the wife who made this observation, her husband did not say anything.  I don’t want to make any broad based conclusions but it is often women who are more perceptive to spiritual things.  She sensed that Elisha was man of God.  I believe that Elisha carried with him the presence of God that was noticeable to those who have spiritual perception.  Elisha lived in the presence of the Lord and that presence was noticeable to others.
This is something that I believe all of us want to experience more of in our lives, the noticeable presence of God in our lives that will impact others.  We read of examples of God’s presence being visibly present in several parts of the Bible.
Moses spent an extended time in the presence of God on Mt. Sinai.  When he returned to the people his face was shining with the glory of God such that he had to have it covered. Ex. 34.30
Exo 34:29  When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.
Exo 34:30  Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.
The one thing that would distinguish God’s people from the others was his presence that would go with them.
Exo 33:16  For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?"
When Solomon dedicated the temple, the presence of God was like a cloud that came over the people and caused them to fall to the ground.
1Ki 8:10-11  And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.
When the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies to offer the sacrifice of atonement, the presence of God filled the room.
When Jesus was on the Mt. of Transfiguration, he was in the presence of God and there was a physical manifestation that happened that was noticeable in his body.  The three disciples who were with him did not have the same experience but wrote about what they had seen.
Mat 17:1-2  And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.
When the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost, there was a physical manifestation of the presence of God through the sound of the rushing wind and the tongues of fire that were visible.
Act 2:1-4  When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
When Stephen was on trial and was about to be stoned, there was a manifest presence of God that was evident in his face and noticeable to those around him.
Act 6:15  And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Peter carried the presence of God to the degree that even his shadow would transmit the power of God to bring healing to the sick.
Act 5:14-16  And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
Paul had such a presence of God about him that even his handkerchiefs that were saturated with his sweat carried the presence and power of God to bring healing.
Act 19:11-12  And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.
There are many today who reject the manifest presence of God and feel that it is not something that is real or is necessary.  Some believe it is all fake, just physical or fleshly things that people do to pretend that God through the Holy Spirit is manifesting his presence through them.  We are called to be discerning of the spirits but we must be careful to not put the Holy Spirit in a box and place limitations on the way he will manifest his presence.
Jonathon Edwards was greatly used of God to bring the gospel in the Great Awakening Revivals in 1740-42 in the USA. His messages were literally read to his audience with very little emotion.  Some commented that he spoke in a monotone yet the Holy Spirit and the presence of God was apparent as hundreds of people came to Christ.  Many responded with different manifestations.  Some people cried out to God for mercy, others laughed, wept and fell down with no bodily strength left: There were some instances of persons lying in a sort of trance, remaining perhaps for a whole 24 hours motionless, and with their senses locked up; but in the meantime under strong imaginations, as though they went to heaven and there saw a vision of delightful things.  It was a very frequent thing to see outcries , faintings, convulsions, and suchlike, both with distress and also admiration and joy…Some were so affected, and their bodies so overcome, that they could not go home, but had to stay all night where they were.”
Edwards acknowledged that God may be working in greater ways that we realize and that we must not limit God where he does not limit himself.
Charles Finney was a lawyer who came to Christ and was powerfully used of the Lord to preach the gospel and bring many to salvation.  God’s presence was strongly manifested in his life.
One of the greatest stories of the power of God’s presence was when he visited a factory filled with young ladies working on their weaving machines, looms, and spinning devices, two in particular stood out to him.  They looked a bit agitated, but seemed to cover it with laughter. He said nothing, but walked close, noticing that one was trembling so badly that she couldn ‘t mend her thread. When he got to within about 8 to 10 feet they burst out in tears and slumped down.  In moments nearly the whole roomful of workers was in tears.  The owner, who was yet unconverted himself, recognized that this was a divine moment and ordered that his factory be shut down to give his workers a chance to come to Christ.  A mini-revival broke out, which lasted several days.  Nearly the entire mill was converted during this time.  It all started with a man upon whom the Spirit of God loved to rest.  And so without words a room full of workers came under the conviction of the Holy Spirit and a revival was born. (Hosting the Presence: Unveiling Heaven’s Agenda, Bill Johnson)

 Another incredible person God’s power and presence were manifested through was Mary Woodworth Etter.  She ministered in the early 1900 and was conducting evangelistic crusade where thousands attended when she was 69 years old!  God’s presence was powerfully demonstrated in her meetings in which not only were there physical manifestations and miraculous healings but also people went into trances.  In her diary she wrote about the meetings she conducted in New Corner.
“Nearly all who were saved during this revival, when the Spirit of God came in their hearts, they fell under the power, or sprang to their feet, shouting the praises of God.  Those who fell would lay, some fifteen minutes, some half an hour, some one or two hours, some a day and night, and others longer.  They would all come out praising God.  I commenced the meetings at nine o’clock in the morning, and continued till twelve at night.  We could not close, there were so many outside; when one went out, one came in.  Sinners were struck down at their homes, and along the highway.  They were saved for miles around.”
Kathryn Kuhlman was greatly used of God in a healing ministry.  She was known as a woman who carried the presence of God and was sensitive to him during her meetings where hundreds were healed.  One of the remarkable healings was of a four year old girl named Amelia.  She had developed a horrible rash that progressed into sores all over her body.  She was in constant pain and she screamed if anyone came near her.  Her head was covered with sores.  She had no eyebrows and her eyelids had been eaten away with sores.  Her ears were rotting away, and one ear was literally falling off.  They could not take her out in public.  The family agreed to let the grandmother take her to a Kathryn Kuhlman service.  During the singing toward the end of the service, Kathryn heard a voice calling out, “Look, Grandma, I see Jesus up there, “followed by , “Up there!  At the side of Miss Kuhlman!  Look at him-Jesus up there!  And see- he has his hands out!”  Amelia had been completely healed and later told Kathryn that Jesus stood there for five or ten minutes.  God’s presence was manifested in her meetings.
Kathryn always said that anyone could have the anointing that she had.  She said she was an empty vessel for the Lord.  Her favorite expression was, “You pay the price.” She said it will cost you everything, but if you pay the price, you can have what she had.  She was only afraid of two things in life-she was afraid of losing the anointing and she was afraid of grieving the Holy Spirit. (God’s Presence: Revival and Miracle Workers Vol. 1, Ryland)
One final example of God’s presence being manifested through us is recounted by Mahesh Chavda in an experience he had in a hospital waiting room.
“With me were three people who had brought me to pray for a young girl who was dying of cancer.  I said, “Well, while we wait, let’s just invite the Holy Spirit to come,” There were eighteen other people, all strangers to us, in the waiting room.  I simply said within the hearing of my three companions, “Welcome, Holy Spirit.”  The next thing I knew, everyone in the waiting room-all eighteen plus my three-were on the floor.  If a glimpse of God’s glory is enough to do that, and we are carriers of His glory, we should expect the unexpected.”  (The Power of the Cross: Epicenter of Glory)
These examples are not meant to make us feel like we have not arrived or that our lives are nothing compared to these people but they are meant to show us what is possible and available to us today.  We serve a God who is supernatural and we have to believe that he is the same yesterday, today and forever. Prior to WWII a group of three missionaries went to a remote area of SW Ethiopia in Wallamo Province, to work among a tribe of 35 people that had never heard the gospel. After working for four years with the people, they had to leave the country when it was being invaded by Italy during WWII. They left behind the only book of the bible they had translated, the gospel of John. One of the missionaries returned 5 years later after the war and discovered a church of 10,000!   God had been doing miraculous healings among the people.  This shook him because he was of the belief that miracles ended when the last of the Apostles died.  The people of the tribe believed what the Word of God taught about Jesus the Healer and God’s presence filled the village and miracles were a regular part of their daily life.
 What he has done in the past is simply stepping stones to what he will do in the future.  We go from glory to glory and the greater works are yet to be done.  God’s presence is with each one of us.  Jesus said he would never leave us or forsake us.  He is Emmanuel, God with us. We can count on his presence to go with us as we walk in faith and obedience to him.  We have to have a hunger for his manifest presence in our lives.  We cannot be satisfied with where we are at, there is always more of God available to us if we like Kathryn Kuhlman stated are willing to pay the price.  What is required of us?
We must have a sincere love for God.  A love not based on what he does for us but who he is.  We can love because he first loved us.
1Jn 4:19  We love because he first loved us.
It is his love for us that gives us the capacity to love him.  Our love for him increases as we grow in our knowledge of him.  In this love we grow in our trust in him.  We learn to lean upon him and not our own understanding.  We acknowledge him in all our ways, we surrender to his ways because we know that he loves us and always does what is best for us.
Pro 3:5-6  Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
As we grow in love and trust God’s presence will be more evident in our lives.
We have to earnestly desire his presence. God is a rewarder of those who seek him and when we seek him with all of our heart we will find him.
Jer 29:13  You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Bill Johnson, pastor of Bethel church in Redding, California has experienced the presence of God in very unique and powerful demonstrations.  He hungered for more of God in his life, to have his presence and power manifested in his relationship with the Lord.  God answered the cry of his longing heart one night while he was in bed.
“Once in the middle of the night, God came in answer to my prayer for more of Him, yet not in a way I had expected.  I went from a dead sleep to being wide-awake.  Unexplainable power began to pulsate through my body, seemingly just shy of electrocution.  It was as though I had been plugged into a wall socket with a thousand volts of electricity flowing through my body.  My arms and legs shot out in silent explosions as if something was released through my hands and feet.  The more I tried to stop it, the worse it got.
I soon discovered that this was not a wresting match I was going to win.  I heard no voice, nor did I have any visions.  This was simply the most overwhelming experience of my life.  It was raw power…it was God.  He came in response to a prayer I had been praying for months-God, I must have more of you at any cost!” (Hosting the Presence: Unveiling Heaven’s Agenda, Bill Johnson)
God may not meet you in the same way but he will answer the cry of your heart.
We must walk in obedience to his Word (John 14.15).  Through his Word we are cleansed, renewed and transformed.  Our disobedience lifts God’s anointing off of our lives until we come to repentance and full surrender to him. Repentance must be a regular part of our life.  We fail and fall but repentance puts us back on track with God.  David prayed,
Psa 51:10-11  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
He had witnessed the Holy Spirit leaving King Saul and how insane Saul’s life became. David’s own sin against Bathsheba and Uriah must have also caused him to feel distant from God. The joy he had once experienced was not there.
Psa 51:12  Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit
 David had experienced the presence of God in his life and he did not want it to be removed.
Psa_16:11  You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Repentance is required to maintain God’s presence in our lives.
Surround yourself with others who are in harmony with what God is doing and have a passion for his presence. 
Act 2:42  And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
 Get plugged in with others who are plugged in to what God is doing. God often manifests his presence when his church is gathered in worship.  Angelic visitations, visions, the presence of fire, gold dust, speaking in tongues, being slain in the Spirit are just some of the unique ways that God may manifest his presence among his people.  We are not to seek for experiences but seek the Holy Spirit who is the presence of God and if God decides to manifest his presence in some way we simply get to enjoy it.
Daily pray for the Holy Spirit to fill you .
Eph 5:18-19  And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart
Pray to be overflowing in the Spirit so it spreads to others.
 Pray in the Holy Spirit to build up your faith (Jude 20).
Jud 1:20  But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,
 Learn to be led of the Spirit 
Rom 8:14  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
 Don’t be afraid to do something prompted by the Spirit that seems illogical or out of the box.  Remember the story of Elisha recovering the ax head that had fallen in the water.  He threw a piece of wood into the water and the ax head floated to the top.
2Ki 6:5-6  But as one was felling a log, his axe head fell into the water, and he cried out, "Alas, my master! It was borrowed." Then the man of God said, "Where did it fall?" When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float.
Spend time in worship and praise. 
Psa 22:3  Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
We become like the person we worship.
Spend time in prayer with Him rather than praying to him.  Wait upon the Lord.  Be silent and allow God to speak to you through the thoughts and ideas that he gives you. Remember we are co-laborers in the Kingdom.
1Co 3:9  For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.
We are working together with God.  God is not working for us but with us and we too are working with him to accomplish his work.
As we spend time in prayer, God can release his creativity in us to give us fresh ideas, new solutions, new approaches to accomplishing his work.
God’s presence is the most precious thing we have as believers.  It is his presence that sets us apart from the world. It is his presence that brings change in our lives and the lives of the people we are with each day.  His presence brings healing and joy.  His presence should be our greatest longing and we must do everything we can to keep his presence with us.

The Journey of Faith

Luk 9:1-6  And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. And he said to them, "Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them." And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

Luk 10:1-11  After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house!'
 And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.'
  Discipleship Training
Part of the training of the disciples was sending them out into the villages to announce the Good News that the Kingdom had come.  This message was confirmed by signs and wonders and miracles.  The disciples had witnessed the power and authority of Jesus as he healed the sick, cast out demons and performed miracles.  It was not enough for them to simply see what Christ could do in obedience to his father, Jesus wanted them to also have first-hand experience of the same things he did.  In order to do this he had to send them out as a small group and later in groups of 2 to the people.  They were sent out with very little resources into places they may not have been very familiar.  They were being trained, challenged, stretched, tested in order to let them experience ministry now as well as prepare them for future ministry when Jesus would be taken away from them.
The Forgotten/Neglected Discipline
This journey of faith that involves leaving your home, going to another location to carry out the mission God has given us is an important aspect of our spiritual growth. It involves abandoning our present life to experience the new life God wants to give us.  It involves leaving behind the familiar and the comfortable.  Leaving behind all the aspects of life that we control and the abandonment ourselves completely to the Lord.  It is not just for a few to go but I believe every believer who wants to grow spiritually needs to make this journey.  It is a forgotten discipline or a neglected discipline for many people.  God uses these adventures of faith and obedience to teach us many things, the same things the 12 disciples needed to learn as they were sent out.
When we look at the Great Commission we realize that it was not the first time the disciples had been instructed to go. Throughout their time with Jesus they were being sent out and being challenged to go into a lost world.  Though Jesus was sent to the “lost sheep of Israel” his ministry was not limited to the Jews.  He ministered to the Samaritans as well as the Gentiles.  He was a man for all peoples and the disciples witnessed first hand the compassion he had for everyone.  The Great Commission as we call it was really just a final confirmation of what Jesus had been teaching his disciples throughout his ministry on earth.  It was not new information, they had experienced being sent out and heard Jesus’ prayer, “so send I you”.  The Great Commission was really a Re-Commissioning of the disciples.
The commission to “GO” really means in your going. It is not a one-time event but is to be a constant going as part of our life of obedience to the Lord.  To go means we physically move from one place to another.  God is calling all of his followers to GO, to constantly be looking for opportunities directed by the Holy Spirit to move from one location to another to reach people with the miraculous power of the gospel message he has entrusted to us.
The vision for World Missions needs to infiltrate the churches of Guatemala.  The Assemblies of God is one of the largest denominations in Guatemala but it has only 3 missionaries, one in Costa Rica, one in the USA and the other in Canada.  How can this be?  It is not only the AG that is not sending out missionaries, other denominations are also not sending out missionaries as they should.  One of the things I want to see more of is young Latinos participating in our DTS to give them the training and opportunity to GO and be an example to other young people as well as their churches that this needs to be a priority for the churches and that it is possible.  I think God wants to demonstrate his heart to the believers of his great compassion for the lost and the urgency of the church to pray and send out laborers into the harvest field.
I believe God places within our hearts a restlessness, a yearning to GO, a spirit of adventure, that stirs us to leave our present location to go to another place of his calling.  Many never respond to this stirring but stay where they are, in the comforts of home, unwilling to step out in faith and obedience to God’s calling.  I am thankful for the many opportunities that God has given me to GO to several countries to share the gospel.  This restlessness has been a part of my life since my early years.  When I was in the military after graduation from high school I was sent to Germany for 20 months.  I loved being there and had many opportunities to travel and see Europe as well as Israel.  Experiencing new cultures, meeting  believers and unbelievers has shaped my life in ways that I do not think I would have experienced had I not taken advantage of the opportunities I was given.  This desire to travel has not abated, I have no desire to hunker down for the rest of my life, retire playing golf or idle my time away doing things that really have no impact on the advance of the Kingdom of God.  I do not want to waste my life pursing the pleasures of easy living as it is not in the DNA of a follower of Christ.
Why is this so important and what is God trying to build into our lives when we respond to invitations and opportunities to go where he calls us to go?
Our spiritual growth depends on our obedience to the Lord and in our going to new places paves the way for new experiences in our growth.  I believe there are things we will never learn if we refuse to go.  It was an emphasis in the training of the disciples with Jesus and it is a major component in the training of disciples today that I believe has been deprioritized.   As much as we disagree with the theology of the Mormons, one thing they have incorporated into the training of their youth is making a 2 year commitment to go to another country and propagate their beliefs. I would love to see the evangelical churches embrace the same vision of sending out young people to live among the people, learn their language and proclaim the gospel message.  I pray there will be a cultural shift among the evangelical churches to capture the need to send out the youth, to support them financially and in prayer to be able to dedicate time to go to another culture and share the gospel.
When we respond in obedience to GO, God will use this experience to develop our character and deepen our relationship with him.  There are three things that God wants develop through these journeys of faith.
  1.  Dependence upon God
Jesus sent his disciples out with few resources in order that they would learn to depend upon God to provide for them.  The expectation was that the homes that received them would take care of their needs.  They depended on the hospitality of their fellow Jews to help them and if there was no peace when they came to a home to announce the good news they were to leave and find homes where they would be welcomed and received.  Jesus sent them out on a short term mission trip that perhaps only lasted a few days but it was an experience that taught them that God would provide for their needs.  The emphasis for most missionary agencies today is to gather all the finances needed and then be sent out.  This is different than the way Jesus sent out the 12 and the 70, who went with basically nothing.  I am not saying that the way mission agencies work today is wrong but there is something to be said about going out in faith and obedience and fully trusting God to take care of your needs through his people or through other means.  I know within YWAM there are differing expectations regarding funding the outreach phase of the DTS.  Some countries take the philosophy that the host bases or churches will take care of their needs for food, housing and transportation when they come to serve. Other bases raise all the financial support or expect the students to raise all the support they will need to be able to carry out the mission.  The bottom line is that in either method, there has to be a dependence upon the Lord to supply for needs.  He is our Source and we can be confident that He will take care of us to provide before we leave or in our going.
My experience of God providing has been proving over and over in the years of serving full time in missions.  God has been so faithful to supply for my needs as well as the needs of our YWAM base.  I know that our staff also has testimonies of God’s faithfulness to take care of their needs.  We may not have all of our desires met but God is faithful to supply what we need.  There may be times of limited resources as Paul experienced but there are also times of abundance as he also experienced.  When we are walking in obedience and faith we can be confident that “my God shall supply all your needs…”
When we respond to the call to GO God places us in situations where he breaks us of our dependence upon ourselves.  We like to be in control, to be able to understand what is going on around us and have answers to situations that are confronting us.  But when we are sent out to a different country we are confronted with many new customs, a new language, misunderstandings, confusion and often feelings of frustration and anxiety.  God uses these times to break us so he can mold us into a vessel that he can use to reach the people.  Culture shock is part of the training He gives us to break us of our reliance on ourselves and our way of doing things.
 God uses these experiences to help us bond with the people, to understand them, how they think, what they believe and value so we can develop compassion for them and effectively work with them.  We come like an infant in many ways who has to be taught a new way of doing things.  If we do not allow God to break us we will never be used as effectively as we could be.  Often we find ourselves confronted with situations that challenge our faith and our understanding to how God is at work.
 2.  Brokenness
 This past week I was in San Pablo with a group of men building a home for a family who had lost their home in the earthquake last November.  One afternoon we visited a 40 year old man riddled with cancer.  He had a wife and 2 beautiful children.  He has been in bed for 2 years and the cancer is progressing.  He has sores all over his body and now has worms in the wounds on his back.  He is suffering, his family needs him and there is nothing I would like to see happen more than a miracle of healing to raise him from his bed a live a normal life with his family.  We prayed for him and I continue to pray for his healing in spite of my lack of understanding why he is suffering for so long.  These situations break us of our need to understand everything and places us in a position of trusting God to be in control of something we wish we could control.  It is not easy and we can complain to God about the situation but through it all we need to develop a complete trust and confidence in the goodness of God,  that he is sovereign in our lives and his plans and purposes are being accomplished in spite of our lack of understanding.
Rom 8:28  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
The murder of Erik who Mark and Dayle have been helping to get his life together and free from drugs is another one of those breaking events that causes us to trust God to be working through situations that seem contrary to what we think is best.  When we GO in obedience God will break us so we can be used by him in ways we never thought possible.  Sometimes we experience hardships that we cannot understand why they are happening or how God could allow this to happen.  One story I read of a missionary to Africa told of her being raped.  Why would something like this happen to someone serving God and sacrificing to be working among a different people group?  Yet God was able to make all grace abound and used this horrible tragedy to minister to many young girls who had also been raped.  Her experience opened a door to minister to young girls whom she may never have been able to reach.  As believers we think or at least want to think that we are exempt from sufferings and hardships but this is not always the case.  Out of our brokenness we learn how to minister to people who have experienced the same pain that we have.   Our failures become our connecting point with others if we are willing to press through the pain and learn from it.  If we do not let God teach us through these broken experiences we will not be able to be used by him because we will be stuck in our past pains and live lives of regret.  We live in a fallen world and are often subject to the effects of sin that has corrupted the human race.  Yet we serve a God who can make all things work together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purposes.  These experiences break us but God can pour in his healing and use these things to mold us and give us opportunities to minister to others in a way that would not be possible.
 3.  Humility
Along with brokenness God also teaches us humility as we respond in obedience to GO.  Humility is seeing yourself as you really are.  God has a way of deflating our ego bubble through other people and circumstances that we face when we are in another culture.  We are exposed to our prejudices, our ethnocentric way of thinking, seeing people and judging them by our standards of the way we do things and the way they should do things to be more like us.  It is easy to become critical when we compare our way of doing things with the way “they” do things.  We have to come as learners not “know-it-alls” as we enter another culture.  It is humbling to know that there is more than one way to do things.  We have to be careful we do not label things as the wrong way to do it when it is really just a different way to do it.
Humility is also developed when we adjust to the customs and foods of the culture.  Our trip to India brought challenges of humbling ourselves to eat with our right hand, eat foods that were different, wear clothing at least for the women that was different and learn how to use the squatty potty.  Humility is also developed when we let other people show us how to do things.  We allow them to be our teacher and guide rather than try to figure things out on our own and perhaps not get it right.  Humility is demonstrated by having a teachable attitude and being willing to lay down our rights to what we think we deserve.
We have to be willing to bond with the people. We have to learn the rules they play by and adjust our way of thinking or we will be forever frustrated and judgmental.  Instead of building bridges of understanding we build walls of separation and we lose our opportunity to build relationships. One of the ways God humbles us is through the experiences we have learning and speaking a new language.  I have made my share of blunders mispronouncing words or using the wrong word.  These experiences should motivate us to work harder at learning the language to improve our ability to communicate.  We cannot be satisfied with a “good enough” attitude when Christ calls us to excellence in all we do for him.
Another thing we learn when we go out in teams is how to get along with others and place their needs before ours.  Jesus sent the disciples out 2x2 for a purpose.  It was not only for encouragement but also to learn how to work together. If we want to have a successful mission,  we must learn to die to ourselves and place others needs before ours.  We learn that our needs are often petty and trivial compared to the needs of the people we serve or who are serving with us.  If we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us he will show us what God sees in the lives of the people we meet.  We live in a culture that is focused on self-absorption, what I need, what I want, what I think should be done.  When we live in community we have the opportunity to serve the needs of others if we are first willing to get our eyes and our focus off of ourselves. When we take the time to get to know the people we are ministering to we learn of their needs and are challenged to respond to them.  When Jesus was in the synagogue he announced the purpose of his mission and people he would target as he was led of the Holy Spirit.

Luk 4:18-19  "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

The poor, the captives, the oppressed, the blind were the people he targeted. If we are not targeting these groups we are missing out on the mission that God has for us to get our eyes off of ourselves and focused on the needs around us.
Henri Nouwen, a Catholic priest, has spent many years of his life working with the mentally disabled wrote the following:
“Those who are marginal in the world are central in the church, and that is how it is supposed to be!  Thus, we are called as members to of the church to keep going to the margins of our society.  The homeless, the starving, parentless children, people with AIDS, our emotionally disturbed brothers and sisters-they require our first attention.  The church will always be renewed when our attention shifts from ourselves to those who need our care.  The blessings of Jesus always comes to us through the poor.  The most remarkable experiences of the those who work with the poor is that, in the end, they poor give more than they receive.  They give food to us.”
There is such great need in the world, people are hurting and waiting for someone to offer them hope that can only be found in a relationship with Christ.  When we were out on the streets in Solala, we stopped at a store to share the gospel with a lady and her 2 sons.  When I asked her what was the most important thing that has happened in her life, she replied, “my whole life has been sad.”  Tears came to her eyes and ran down her cheeks.  I do not know what caused the pain in her life but we offered her hope through a relationship with Christ.  She and her sons prayed in the store to receive Christ.
Another young man I talked to in San Pedro La Laguna was working at a store by himself.  He worked from 8 a.m. to midnight every day of the week.  He told me that he had moved to San Pedro to find a job but since moving he began to run with a different group of guys who were involved in activities that were not good.  He lamented that he had turned away from following the Lord as he had been serving in his church prior to moving to San Pedro.  He told me he wanted to find a new job so he could start attending church and meet new friends who will encourage him in his journey of faith.  I prayed with him and encouraged him and then told a couple of pastors in San Pedro who were attending the seminar of his need.

God uses these journeys of faith to equip us for ministry, to call us to specific ministries that we may have never considered before and help us prioritize our lives.  Every believer must GO.  It is not optional.  It may involve going to another country or simply walking across the street to visit your neighbor.
When we do not GO we miss out on many opportunities to be a blessing to someone’s life and people who need the Lord remain in their sin and the problems it presents.
We do not know the impact we have on people as we go to other countries in obedience to God’s call.  One word or one act of kindness may be the turning point of someone’s life to bring them to a greater understanding of the love of Christ.  But more importantly is the impact GOING will have on your life if you are willing to allow God to teach you through the experiences he places before you.  He wants us to learn to abandon ourselves to him, taking up our cross and following him wherever he leads.  He wants us to learn to depend upon him to supply for all our needs and he may use a variety of ways to prove his faithfulness to us.  He wants to break us of our pride and develop humility in our lives to give us the proper perspective of what we are really like as he exposes us to our selfishness and lack of compassion.  He wants to use us to reach the poor, oppressed, captives, brokenhearted with the good news.
The Journey of Faith must include that little word “GO”.  God wants to do new things in our lives, give us new experiences that will train us for ministry both now and for the future.  May we never get the attitude of a settler because we are pilgrims by nature.  Be open to new places God wants you to go. If you are going to grow, you must GO!