This weekend we have a pastor from Pakistan come to us on the Hill. On Saturday evening we are hosting a community-wide supper and teaching session with Pastor Masih. This session will be held at Westwood Baptist Church, on Hwy 158, at the western edge of Roxboro. The focus of his teaching will be on understanding the Koran and communicating Christ to those who follow the Koran. Supper starts at 6pm, and the session starts at 7pm.

Sunday morning and evening he will be on the Hill for the Sunday School and church time in the morning, and for the youth time in the evening. All those going to Ethiopia and India this summer are especially encouraged to join these teaching times, so that you better understand the culture to which you are going.

Call BeckyLynn Black or Jason Evans for more details.

SOME INFORMATION ABOUT PASTOR MUJAHID-EL-MASIH

1. Dr. Mujahid has studied Islam and the Qur’an for many years in Pakistan.
2. Jesus Christ found Pastor Masih and used him to start churches in Pakistan. Now there are close to 200 churches, a Bible school, the Jesus Heals Medical Clinic, and a child-support program in Pakistan.
3. He has traveled to 45 states here in the USA, and has spoken in over 600 churches of all sizes.
4. Pastor Masih has also spoken at Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs, Pastor John Piper’s church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the national conference for The Voice of the Martyrs, and many regional conferences.
5. Pastor Masih has spoken on Christian television programs, Moody Radio, American Family, and other radio programs.
6. Pastor Masih has given many conferences and seminars on Islam throughout the country.
7. Pastor Masih has also spoken in public and Christian schools, community colleges, Christian colleges and universities like Christian University in Colorado, Biola, Masters College, Denver Seminary, NCU, and many others.
8. Pastor Masih is also an author of a book, “The Fearless love in midst of Terror”.

Praise Jesus and all glory to Jesus for everything, because He made it possible.

Now I want you
to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the
gospel. As a result, it
has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone
else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my
chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word
of God more courageously and fearlessly.

It is true that
some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so
in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former
preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can
stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it
matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or
true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that
through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has
happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.^dI eagerly expect
and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so
that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by
death. For to me, to
live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on
living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I
choose? I do not know! I am torn
between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more
necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of
this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your
progress and joy in the faith, so that through
my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.

Whatever
happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.

This got me to thinking about the meaning of the words ‘above all’. Does this really mean that Christ is more important than anything else?  Take the time to read some of these passage.

Physical Life….Philippians 1:19-20
Reputation…Romans 1:16-17
Money/Financial Security…Luke 18:18-25; Matthew 6:20-33
Family…Mark 3:31-35
Cultural Obligations…Luke 9:51-62
Religious Rituals…Matthew 6:1-18
Knowledge/Education…I Corinthians 1:17-31

When Christ is ‘above all’, it does not mean that these other things do not exist in our lives. We are not hermits, living in an isolated monastery away from everything.

No, it means that when these things are in conflict with the time, energy, appointment, resources, values required to be obedient to Christ, then they must be (MUST BE) subjugated to the authority of Christ. In such situations, we must turn our back upon these things in order to turn our face to Christ & follow Him.

How often we give lip service to this, without living it out! How often we fool ourselves into thinking that He is Lord of our lives, when we wimp out on obedience because of the pull of these things!

God, help us to be honest with You and ourselves, about our spiritual adultery.

And my mind went to the verse in Lamentations 3. Remember, this verse was written by the Prophet Jeremiah. He had just spent a considerable amount of time in a pit, a prisoner of a wicked king. This prophet, perhaps more than others, recognized the depth of the ugly stubbornness of man and his refusal to embrace the love of God. Read the book of Jeremiah sometime….God pleading with his people to come, reason, accept forgiveness. “Why not enjoy My love?” God asks His people.

And Jeremiah write in 3:2-23:

The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

Like the waves breaking from the vast ocean upon the shoreline….so is God’s mercy breaking upon our lives. Stop and look at the Mercy Waves in your life today. It will refresh your spirit, and fill you with song.

Fifteen women from all walks of life shared life together for a few days. While doing various things, we talked of our lives, under the Cross. Cindi & Leigh challenged some to physical stewardship; what a joy to watch the power of God displayed in this area of Life. Bridget & Kim served in driving & organization. Nancy opened her home in hospitality. Kim & BeckyLynn sat by the pool & talked. Mothers discussed the challenges of raising children in this age. Some shared in the burden of caring for aging parents or grown children.

One of the greatest joys was listening to Cindi recite the entire book of James. I sat back & listened, imagining what it must have been like when that letter was first read to the new believers 2,000 years ago.

This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am writing to the “twelve tribes”—Jewish believers scattered abroad.

Greetings!

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.

Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them. And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field. The hot sun rises and the grass withers; the little flower droops and falls, and its beauty fades away. In the same way, the rich will fade away with all of their achievements.

God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.

So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.

But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

The words rolled off the tongue of Cindi as smooth & comforting as ever could have come from the mouth of the old apostle James.

And then several women shared what God was teaching them personally. One shared about the conviction she had of failing another sister, and the restoration that took place when that was dealt with. Another shared about the challenge to trust God in the area of finances, as she moved from one situation to another. Others shared about the desire to be godly mothers to their children, and the sense of frustration in learning how to discipline for godliness. Others shared about the journey towards holiness as they struggled with past choices.

Each had her own personal journey with God, and in each was the grace of the Lord displayed as she moved towards becoming more like the Son.

For myself, the speaker that I enjoyed the most was an older woman named Sandy. She shared in the early morning devotions. She spoke on the life of Moses, and how his phases in life reflect ours. She put his stages into “B” words.

Bequeathed…given life from on high
Birthed…into a chosen family, under specific circumstances
Blossomed…into young adulthood, with all its idealism and pitfalls
Bungled…mishandled an opportunity for justice
Betrayed…by the very ones he wanted to help
Broken & Battered…left in a state of apathy, settled into a life of nothingness
Beckoned…by the Lord of Hosts, to service for Him
Bolstered…given partners in the work as well as clear assurance of His presence & power
Branded…labeled as a servant of the Most High God
Burdened, Bothered, Bewildered…in the meeting of his responsibilities
Beneficent…generous-hearted towards those who made his life difficult
Blessed …reaped the blessing of God for his faithfulness
Blessing…gave blessing to others as he departed this life

As we pulled back into the church parking lot, Life moved forward. One would be leaving disability payments and entering the work force again. Another would lose her father to death within 24 hours. Another resumed chemo treatments. Another began a new job. The responsibilities of children & marriage & home resumed.

And the Lord went with each woman. Day in & day out, He is present in our lives. We do not need the “high” of a retreat to enjoy His presence. We need only remember the reality of who He is…and He stays the same whether at the beach or on the job or in the home.

It has stayed in my heart, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I am.

Jesus, What a Savior you are!  The perfect savior, for all situations… eternal & temporal… physical, spiritual, emotional and relational. 

Let us keep our eyes upon His face.  Let us listen to His heart.  Let us follow His instructions.

 The great preacher C.H.Spurgeon was quite ill when he preached on Ps 31:15. His words are an   encouragement to me. I trust they are to you and yours:

 ”Lastly, if our times are in God’s hand, here is A GRAND ARGUMENT FOR FUTURE BLESSEDNESS. He that takes care of our times, will take care of our eternity. He that has brought us so far, and wrought so graciously for us, will see us safely over the rest of the road.

 I marvel at some of you older folks, when you begin to doubt. You will say, “Look at yourself.” Well, so I do; and I am heartily ashamed that ever a grain of mistrust should get into the eye of my faith. I would weep it out, and keep it out for the future. Still, some of you are older than I am, for you are seventy or eighty years of age. How much longer do you expect to travel in this wilderness? Have you another ten years, think you? God has been gracious to you for seventy years, and will you fret about the last ten, which, indeed, may never come? That will never do.

God has delivered some of you out of such great trials, that your present ones are mere flea-bites. Sir Francis Drake, after he had sailed round the world, came up the Thames, and when he had passed Gravesend there came a storm which threatened the ship. The brave commander said, “What! Go round the world safely, and then get drowned in a ditch? Never!” So we ought to say.

God has upheld us in great tribulations, and we are not going to be cast down about trials which are common to men.  A man of energy, if he takes a work in hand, will push it through and the Lord our God never undertakes what he will not complete. “My times are in thy hand,” and therefore the end will be glorious.

‘My Lord, if my times were in my own hand, they would prove a failure; but since they are in thy hand, thou wilt not fail, nor shall I.’

The hand of God ensures success all along the line. In that day when we shall see the tapestry which records our lives, we shall see all the scenes therein with wondering eye; we shall see what wisdom, what love, what tenderness, what care was lavished upon them.  When once a matter is in God’s hand it is never neglected or forgotten, but it is carried out to the end. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.

I have not been able to preach on this text as I hoped to do, for I am full of pain, and have a heavy headache; but, thank God, I have no heartache, with such a glorious truth before me. 

Sweet to my soul are these words — “My times are in thy hand.” Take the golden sentence home with you. Keep this truth in your mind. Let it lie on your tongue like a wafer made with honey. Let it dissolve until your whole nature is sweetened by it.

Yes, dear old lady, you that have come out of the workhouse this morning to hear this sermon, say to yourself, “My times are in thy hand.”

Yes, you, dear friend, who cannot find a situation, and have been walking the shoes off your feet in the vain endeavor to seek one: you also may say, “My times are in thy hand.”

Yes, my dear sister, pining away with consumption, this may be your song: “My times are in thy hand.”

Yes, young man, you that have just started in business, and have met with a crushing loss, it will be for your benefit after all; therefore say, “My times are in thy hand.”

This little sentence, to my mind, swells into a hymn: it buds and blossoms into a psalm. Few are the words, but mighty is the sense, and full of rest.”

Dear Reader, today have you yielded your time today to Him? 

Are your times in His hands….or in yours? 

There is no safer place, no more blessed place, no greater place of wonder than in HIS hands. 

His hands are open….place your day in them.

Once upon a time there was an apple grower who had acres and acres of apple trees. In all, he had 10,000 acres of apple orchards.

One day he went to the nearby town. There, he hired 1,000 apple pickers. He told them:

 ”Go to my orchards. Harvest the ripe apples, and build storage buildings for them so that they will not spoil. I need to be gone for a while, but I will provide all you will need to complete the task. When I return, I will reward you for your work.

“I’ll set up a Society for the Picking of Apples. The Society — to which you will all belong — will be responsible for the entire operation. Naturally, in addition to those of you doing the actual harvesting, some will carry supplies, others will care for the physical needs of the group, and still others will have administrative responsibilities.”

As he set up the Society structure, some people volunteered to be pickers and others to be packers. Others put their skills to work as truck drivers, cooks, accountants, storehouse builders, apple inspectors and even administrators. Every one of his workers could, of course, have picked apples. In the end, however, only 100 of the 1,000 employees wound up as full-time pickers.

The 100 pickers started harvesting immediately. Ninety-four of them began picking around the homestead. The remaining six looked out toward the horizon. They decided to head out to the far-away orchards.

Before long, the storehouses in the 800 acres immediately surrounding the homestead had been filled by the 94 pickers with beautiful, delicious apples.

The orchards on the 800 acres around the homestead had thousands of apple trees. But with almost all of the pickers concentrating on them, those trees were soon picked nearly bare. In fact, the ninety-four apple pickers working around the homestead began having difficulty finding trees which had not been picked.

As the apple picking slowed down around the homestead, Society members began channeling effort into building larger storehouses and developing better equipment for picking and packing. They even started some schools to train prospective apple pickers to replace those who one day would be too old to pick apples.

Sadly, those ninety-four pickers working around the homestead began fighting among themselves. Incredible as it may sound, some began stealing apples that had already been picked. Although there were enough trees on the 10,000 acres to keep every available worker busy, those working nearest the homestead failed to move into unharvested areas. They just kept working those 800 acres nearest the house. Some on the northern edge sent their trucks to get apples on the southern side. And those on the south side sent their trucks to gather on the east side.

Even with all that activity, the harvest on the remaining 9,200 acres was left to just six pickers. Those six were, of course, far too few to gather all the ripe fruit in those thousands of acres. So, by the hundreds of thousands, apples rotted on the trees and fell to the ground.

One of the students at the apple-picking school showed a special talent for picking apples quickly and effectively. When he heard about the thousands of acres of untouched faraway orchards, he started talking about going there.

His friends discouraged him. They said: “Your talents and abilities make you very valuable around the homestead. You’d be wasting your talents out there. Your gifts can help us harvest apples from the trees on our central 800 acres more rapidly. That will give us more time to build bigger and better storehouses. Perhaps you could even help us devise better ways to use our big storehouses since we have wound up with more space than we need for the present crop of apples.”

With so many workers and so few trees, the pickers and packers and truck drivers — and all the rest of the Society for the Picking of Apples living around the homestead — had time for more than just picking apples.

They built nice houses and raised their standard of living. Some became very conscious of clothing styles. Thus, when the six pickers from the far-off orchards returned to the homestead for a visit, it was apparent that they were not keeping up with the styles in vogue with the other apple pickers and packers.

To be sure, those on the homestead were always good to those six who worked in the far away orchards. When any of those six returned from the far away fields, they were given the red carpet treatment. Nonetheless, those six pickers were saddened that the Society of the Picking of Apples spent 96 percent of its budget for bigger and better apple-picking methods and equipment and personnel for the 800 acres around the homestead while it spent only 4 percent of its budget on all those distant orchards.

 To be sure, those six pickers knew that an apple is an apple wherever it may be picked. They knew that the apples around the homestead were just as important as apples far away. Still, they could not erase from their minds the sight of thousands of trees which had never been touched by a picker.

They longed for more pickers to come help them. They longed for help from packers, truck drivers, supervisors, equipment-maintenance men, and ladder builders. They wondered if the professionals working back around the homestead could teach them better apple-picking methods so that, out where they worked, fewer apples would rot and fall to the ground.

Those six sometimes wondered to themselves whether or not the Society for the Picking of Apples was doing what the orchard owner had asked it to do.

While one might question whether the Society was doing all the owner wanted done, the members did keep very busy. Several members were convinced that proper apple picking requires nothing less than the very best equipment. Thus, the Society assigned several members to develop bigger and better ladders as well as nicer boxes to store apples. The Society also prided itself at having raised the qualification level for full-time apple pickers.

When the owner returns, the Society members will crowd around him. They’ll proudly show off the bigger and better ladders they’ve built and the nice apple boxes they’ve designed and made. One wonders how happy that owner will be, however, when he looks out and sees the acres and acres of untouched trees with their unpicked apples.

Original version appeared in Let’s Quit Kidding Ourselves About Missions, Moody Press. © 1979 by The Moody Bible Institute. Edited and revised by Howard Culbertson. ————– Though this story was written some 30 years ago, little has changed. Let’s quit kidding ourselves about missions.

  The man I was greeting sat at the end of the pew, dressed in his Sunday suit. It seemed to me that he was used to being in that location each Sunday morning. I was speaking in the service that morning, presenting an update on the Lord’s work in Ethiopia. (Yes, in the midst of Stage IV cancer treatments, the work of the Lord Jesus continues!) And before the service started, I was going around visiting with folk.

  A blank star met my question. “Oh, no!” I thought. “This poor man has dementia. He doesn’t understand my question.”

  However, before my sorrow over him blossomed, he responded. “I don’t know how I am. I don’t think about it. If I think about it, I get discouraged.”

Immediately my sorrow over him reached a new depth. This man was not lacking cognitive function; he was lacking Jesus!

“Oh, let me tell you about Jesus! He makes all the difference in the world.”

And there in the midst of that old church I told him what I want to tell you, dear friend.

*************

There are difficulties in Life. There always will be. Some are mere inconveniences; some take your breath away. Some last a short time, and some stay until our last breath.

If we define our status according to the presence or absence of Difficulty, we cut ourselves short. And we show that we don’t understand the Scriptures. The Scriptures say that we have died with Christ….and we have risen with Him…and now we live in Him. What does this mean?

My grandfather began some in-depth research into our family history about 100 years ago. I still have his hand-written notes. As we learned our history, our hearts celebrated when we discovered another judge, or railroad president, or preacher…..and our hearts sank when we discovered some ancestor who robbed a bank, or ran off with the preacher’s daughter, or shot someone down in the street.

Why were we so affected by the information about the ancestor? Because we were in that person when he or she did what they did! This was not mere information, as we’d read in a history book. This was our family history! These people were our own flesh and blood. We rejoiced over their victories and we agonized over their defeats. In a sense we were there with them as they walked through Life!

In much the same way, those of us who belong to the Family of Faith were with Jesus when He lived. As He fought against temptation, as He dealt with people in teaching and healing, as He wrestled in the Garden, we were “with Him.” And when He climbed that hill, when His clothes were stripped from Him and the nails entered His flesh, and He was raised high above the people….we were there! We died with Him! And then He was buried; held in that cold, sterile tomb. Three days we were buried with Him! But then He arose….up, up, up from the grave! That moment of great victory was ours, too! As His descendent in faith, we were with him in that resurrection…we rose with Him!

And now, in this generation, we live His life of resurrection.

We live in Him!!

Our life is intricately entwined, so much so that we are “lost” in who He is. It’s not us living any more, but somehow He is living in and through us. Yes, we have our personality, our strengths and weaknesses, our issues….but they are overshadowed, evened out, patched up, “refinished” by who He is, so that we really can say “Christ lives in me, and the life I now live in this body, I live by the faith of Him who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal 2:20).

So, we come back to our question. “How are you?” In answering that question, we can answer according to Life without Christ, or Life with Christ. Without Christ, the answer will be based solely upon our circumstances. With Christ, the answer is always “I’m fine!” Because Life + Christ = Fine….every time, all the time!

It’s not a matter of sweeping things under the rug. Nor of playing some sort of mind game where we delude ourselves. Nor is it an issue of being “holier than thou,” where we won’t admit troubles.

No, it’s a matter of saying, “Yes, I have trouble. But I and my trouble are wrapped up in the One who rose from the dead. I died with Him; I rose with Him; and today I live in Him. And somehow, who He is neutralizes, overshadows, covers all the pain and distress of my trouble. Because of Him, I really am fine!”

**********

Now, dear one, let me caution you. This message of truly being fine in all circumstances is not for everyone. Christ died and rose again for everyone, but not everyone is descended from Him. Only those who have by faith have embraced Him as Savior and are obeying Him as Lord are in His family. Only these ones can live above their circumstances, and always be fine.

So if you are struggling with this issue, if you are rocked by the waves of the Storm, if you are dying of loneliness in the struggle of Life…..first come to Him as your Savior, first commit to follow Him in obedience, living Life according to His instructions….and then you will know the wonderful truth that as His ‘child’, you died with Him, you rose with Him, and now you live in Him.

And because of that simple truth, you are always fine!

  Yesterday we had the first snow for this winter blanket our area.   It didn’t last long, but it brought  a lot of joy.  Snow men appeared, folk were greeting neighbors, sleds came out.

  As always I thoughts went to that wonderful verse in Scripture…..”Your sins shall be made white as snow.”  Praise God for the prophet Isaiah who first penned those words!  Read the passage yourself….it will amaze you & bless you:

 Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow  (Isa 1:18)

 Did you catch it?  The Lord God of the Universe is pleading with us to sit down to a peace conference!  “Come now, let us reason together….”   What other god in the Universe do you know that desires a relationship with Mankind, and is willing to stoop to sit with us to discuss things?  The Creator, the Sustainer, the Mighty One….the Righteous One….    It is HE who wants to visit with us!  Amazing!!!

He not only wants to meet with us about making peace, He has done all that is needed for peace.   “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made white as snow.”

He starts the meeting with facts.  Our sins are like the scarlet dye; later on in the verse, He says they are like the crimson dye.  One is bright red, one is blue-red.  One came from a worm, one from a shell.  One is applied to the spun clothe, one to the basic material.  They are double-dipped.  The color red is very symbolic in the Scriptures….sometimes meaning sinful, sometimes redemption, sometimes royal.   The point of Isaiah is this: here’s a color that absolutely cannot be removed!  No work on Man’s part can remove this color; it takes a God-thing to get it out.

You and I have been double-dipped in sin.  We do acts of sin, and we ourselves manufacture the sin by our nature.   Sin comes out of us, and sin resides in us.  We are through-&-through sinful.

And there’s nothing we can do about it.  No acts of goodwill can erase this blot of our souls.  No funds to charity.  No New Year’s resolutions.  No Scripture reading or prayer rituals.  No raising of good kids.  We are stuck forever with this horrible, double-dipped sin.

And with that sin comes death….the flow of red blood, draining away Life, leaving us powerless, full of stench, ugly to look upon.  Nothing can be done.

Except for God’s invitation.  “Come!  Let’s reason together!  Though your sins be double-dipped, permanent, immovable; though you are in prison to them; though they are killing you; though you are powerless before them……..I will make them white as snow”

Matthew Henry’s commentary puts it this way:  It is plain that the sacrifices of the law could not atone, even for outward national crimes. But, blessed be God, there is a Fountain opened, in which sinners of every age and rank may be cleansed. Though our sins have been as scarlet and crimson, a deep dye, a double dye, first in the wool of original corruption, and afterwards in the many threads of actual transgression; though we have often dipped into sin, by many backslidings; yet pardoning mercy will take out the stain

King David knew what Isaiah meant.  It was the awful stain of sin in his inner man that ushered forth the sin of lust with Bathsheba, resulting in the death of his thinking processes & the murder of Bathsheba’s husband, and the resultant death of an innocent baby.  This crimson stain is well known….but it is not the only horrible death that came from this great King. 

Like you & me, his inner man was full of death, full of sin….and his daily life spilled out deeds of wickedness.  Yes, he did many good things.  Yes, he had times of great faith & godly courage; he visited the Temple regularly.  But these times were not enough to wash away the red dye of sin, the double-dipped scarlet sin, that permeated his soul and actions.

David knew the secret to removing that dye.  He sat down with God and discussed the matter openly.  And in Psalm 51:7 he wrote, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”   Hyssop was the base of a tart vinegary-wine that was the course drink of the Roman soldiers; Jesus drank some of this wine just before His death.

Hyssop was also used in the Old Testament rituals for purifications, especially for purification of the lepers so that they could be returned to normal society, or for those who had touched dead bodies. 

David pleaded at the Peace Table, “Lord, please! You can cleanse me with Your hyssop.  And when You do this, I know I will be cleaner than snow.”  He wasn’t talking about only an outer washing over, a soothing of the discomforts of sin, an encouraging of the spirit.  No comfort can come until there is first cleansing of the soul!  We often confuse the two…comfort & cleansing.  In our society, we are so averse to discomfort of any kind; the discomfort is all we can think about!

But Comfort follows Cleansing.  When we come to the Lord with our double-dipped scarlet selves (our deeds and our persons), and we deal with the much-needed cleansing….then the Comfort naturally follows!  And it is a comfort that lasts the tests of time!

In  David’s case, his sin with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah was washed with hyssop.  God heard the humble pleading of his heart and cleansed his soul.  And from the whiteness that came, the birth of Solomon resulted…the greatest ruler of Israel’s history.

Now, before we finish this blog, let me bring one more thing to our attention.  That is question, Why?  Why would the Almighty God, the Creator, the Master of the Universe, the Eternal One care about little old you and little old me, to the point of humbling Himself to invite us to a peace conference?

 The prophet Isaiah tells us.  He quotes the Lord again, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for My own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” (Isaiah 43:25)

Why does He do it?  For His own sake.  It is His nature to be gracious, to be forgiving, to be just….and His own nature works to that end.  In this gracious, forgiving, just work, He brings glory to Himself.  Do you think that those of us who sit with Him and accept His offer to cleanse our double-dipped sin will leave the Table to boast of ourselves and our abilities toward righteousness and healing?  No way!!!  We will leave that table full of joy, full of comfort, full of hope, full of Life…..and full of praise to the One who provided all of this at His own expense!!

So, how about you, dear reader?  Will you accept the invitation of the Lord God, the Eternal One, the Creator God?  Will you sit with Him at the peace table and accept His offer to cleanse your double-stained soul of the sin that is killing  you?  Today is the day.  That same sin in you will push you away, to keep you from the Table.  It wants to kill you to the end.  But the Savior is calling you.  Listen to Him.  Sit at the Table.  Accept His hyssop-cleansing.  And leave the Table with love, joy, hope….and Life!

(email us if you want to talk.   grace@bethelhillbaptistchurch.org )

,

Perhaps this is the “mother” coming out in me, but I really, really like to help people. God has given me a heart of generosity & sensitivity. I love to nurture others, to ease their suffering, to bring them joy. Maybe it comes as a monetary gift, or a meal, or childcare, or just bringing folk to the farm for some old-fashioned romping, or giving a listening ear, or seeing how to solve a practical problem. Each situation calls for a different response, but the joy is the same. They get relief, and I get joy.

Some call it the gift of helps….my mother has this gift. There seemingly is no problem she cannot solve, and she has an attitude of ‘safety’ where people feel free to come to her with their hurting situations.

Some call it a “mother’s heart”…that nurturing skill, where everyone around feels like a little chick feels under a mother’s wing….soft, secure, protected, supported.

When God is taking us towards that last leg of the Journey, He is appointing us to lay down all the things that have brought us joy in this life….family, friendships, nature, hobbies, work, ministries….and sometimes this sacrifice brings us tears.

It’s not that we are afraid of dying….it’s not that we are not appreciative of seeing His face in Heaven…it’s not that we belittle the reality of eternal bliss. It’s just that we don’t want to let go the joy that has been our portion in aspects of life here on earth. And for me, that joy is bound up in serving others, in the Ethiopia ministry, and in walking on the farm.

So, how to handle this sadness?

Let me suggest some things.

1. As in Life, so in Death….there is no surrender too small or too great for the Savior! And it’s a no-brainer about whether or not to surrender. Romans 12:1 says “because of His mercies,” because of what He has already done for me, how can I possibly do anything else except totally surrender?

I love to garden. Every year I plant a vegetable garden. Every year I harvest & enjoy fresh, organic vegetables on my table. Every year I can or freeze vegetables to enjoy in the winter. ….. And many, many years God has put us in Ethiopia during strategic times in the garden. One year we returned from 6 weeks in Africa, and I came home to weeds that were knee high, strangling all my vegetable plants. I groaned, looking at that mess….and God said to me in His quiet gentle voice “Are you willing to sacrifice even your garden for My appointment?” I stood silent before Him, ashamed that I had even questioned or complained about it.

So now we come to a new situation, yet it is the same scenario.

I stand before the Garden of Serving; it is about to be taken away from me. Am I willing to sacrifice it for the Lord’s appointment in Death?

Is He the Lord?

2. Underneath the joy of serving is the pain of watching others suffering. And as I come to the surrender of my role in relieving that suffering, there is a nagging pain in my heart at the thought that they will suffer without my service. Somehow I’ve got underneath an impression that my role in other’s lives is an absolute necessity! How foolish!

My Lord is able to meet their need just fine without me. It is sin to harbor the idea that without me no problems can be solved!

God has used me greatly in the past….to give babies to motherless women, to literally save lives, to ease financial burdens, to soothe spirits of anxiety & confusion, to give supplies where none existed, to open up doors of opportunity.

Can He not continue to do this through someone else? He is the Lord. He is the master of the universe. He raises up & He lays down. He orchestrates all that concerns His people. And my passing from this earth will not reduce His ability one wit!!!

Do I trust His character to remain the same after I go to Him?

3. I must examine the source of my joy. In all honesty, often it is the Doing that yields the joy. Jesus said “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” He was right! But such is deficient.

There is a greater joy than Doing….and that is the joy of Him.

The deeper joy must come from a deeper Source….it must come from the One who appointed the doing. To look past the Doing to the Savior, and to receive Joy from His face is a far more pure and eternal joy!

And that Face will go with me thru Death. The Doing will be left behind, but the Face will continue.

So the deeper joy can continue thru Death…and it is a joy without sadness. During these weeks or months before when the Doing must stop, I will focus my eyes upon that Face, and draw the deeper joy from Him.