The Dish

At the time of this writing, the NC Outer Banks are being battered by the waves and wind of an approaching Hurricane Earl. I do hope and pray the damage will be minimal. We have all seen pictures illustrating the devastating effects of such a terrible force of nature. The power released in a hurricane is 200 times the electrical generating power of the entire world. One scientist estimates that a hurricane can release power equivalent to more than 11,000 Hiroshima nuclear bombs (Manuel Garcia, Jr.).

It’s hard to imagine anything on earth more powerful than that. But there is power greater than a thousand hurricanes, a million hurricanes, greater than an infinite number of hurricanes … and that power is inside you.

Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water (John 7.38).’”

The phrase, “rivers of living water,” might cause one to envision a relaxed, pastoral scene with a healthy stream of water moving quietly through the countryside between flower-laced river banks. That’s certainly a nice thought bringing a sense of peace to a troubled soul. But the “rivers of living water” Jesus referred to is the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit moves, He most often does so very quietly, bringing little attention to Himself, but He moves in universe-transforming power.

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Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowd. After He had dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone, but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw Him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” (Matthew 14.22-27 NIV)

In that last verse, Jesus literally said, “Be having courage; I Am; be not fearing.”

In these few words spoken to the disciples, the Lord Jesus speaks to us today. His faith-filled Word breathes new life into dying hope; imbues hearts with encouragement; and bolsters resolve even in the face of overwhelming odds.

Jesus Christ is saying to you today, “Live life having courage.” Live your life with an attitude of confidence. Walk, talk and live with your heart filled with cheer, joy, gladness, and rejoicing.

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I’m praying you will experience a holy discontentment. I’m not praying that you would experience general discontentment. There’s enough of that already. Dissatisfaction and unhappiness is a way of life as we struggle daily with people and circumstances. In fact, I want you to experience a crisis of faith, an awareness that you are at a crossroads of life. At that crossroads, I pray that you will have a revelation, realizing your utter dissatisfaction with the world’s meager offerings and your desperate need of God’s presence in your life.

King Solomon had everything the world had to offer and which every worldly person seeks for today: wealth, power and fame. Solomon ruled Israel for forty years and each year he received twenty-five tons of gold plus other revenue from merchants and kings. He lived lavishly, drinking from vessels of pure gold - silver was apparently too cheap for his tastes. His harem included 700 wives and 300 concubines. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen. People the world over sought him out because of the wisdom God had placed in his heart. Even the Queen of Sheba paid Solomon a visit to test his famed wisdom.

With all of this Solomon was not a contented man. His wives led him into idolatry and his kingdom was stripped away after his death. Before he died, Solomon evaluated his life and he came to the conclusion that all he had sought after, all the wealth he had amassed, all the status he had attained was futile, pointless, and useless. (Ecclesiastes 1.2)

Paul wrote in 2 Timothy that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3.16). The story of Solomon is an extreme example of the extremes we humans can be led to if the world is our heart’s goal.

But I’m praying for you that you would experience a holy discontentment. A holy discontentment would involve a general dissatisfaction with the world and a holy yearning for God.

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We are praying for revival at St. Paul’s.

The leaders of St. Paul’s are now fasting and praying for 40 days, seeking God and asking Him to send revival upon us. The congregation will be asked to fast and pray for 21 days, beginning March 14, to seek God and ask for revival. But fasting and prayer will accomplish little unless we come to the place of brokenness in our lives, when we say, “Lord, I have not measured up to Your standard of love; I have not lived a holy life; but I am willing to change. Please, Lord, change me.”

Revival means “to live again.” Maybe you feel something is missing in your life, that your life is off-balance. Maybe you long for a closer walk with the Lord. If so, God has placed within you a hunger and thirst for Himself. You are poised for revival!

Jesus said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
The word life (zoe) in the Greek means “the absolute fulness of life, both essential and ethical, which belongs to God … life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed…” (Strong’s)

Jesus came to earth for this very purpose: to give us the absolute fullness of life, God’s life, a life devoted to Him, and Jesus came to give us this life in abundance, with wonderful intensity, not our common day-to-day existence, but a life superior to anything else we have ever experienced.

Do you want this God-life?

God loves with a great love the man whose heart is bursting with a passion for the IMPOSSIBLE.  - William Booth

What is the seeming “impossible” for us?

- That God would visit St. Paul’s mightily, powerfully, wonderfully.
- That the Holy Spirit would awaken our hearts, purify our lives, produce miracles and manifestations of His Presence.

God loves it when we believe Him to perform what is humanly impossible. God is honored and He honors that kind of faith.

I pray for that you would hunger for more of Him. I pray that you would receive an outpouring of His Spirit. I pray that you would know, experience, feel the God-life that He wants you to have. I pray for revival!

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. Hebrews 12.1-3

Never played sports? That doesn’t matter. You are, at this moment, dressed out (in uniform), on the field, living out the game of life before untold millions who have gone on before. These witnesses - including Abraham, Moses, Paul, Peter and many, many more - have worked and played, planted and harvested, suffered and struggled and given their lives to serve the King of Kings in this very world, on this very field that you find yourself.

Try as you may to remove your uniform and to quietly crawl into the stands to be a spectator, you will not be successful. Players who try to become spectators short-change themselves and the team by holding back their God-given gifts, abilities and time. The team suffers and the advancement of the Kingdom of God is delayed.

We have an obligation to continue the walk of faith (read Hebrews 11) of the witnesses for Christ who have gone before us. The great cloud of witnesses are not in the stands to cheer their favorite and boo another. They are there as living testimonials to the faithfulness of God in their lives.

We have an obligation to each other, to be “like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind” (Philippians 2.2). When players on the same team judge, condemn, criticize each other, the result is discord and division. This is not love, it is not of God and it is sin. Don’t be the weight, the hindrance, the impediment for your brother or sister in Christ.

Above all, we have an obligation to our God. Hebrews 12 is clear. We are to lay aside the weight and sin that most prevents our progress, play out the game on the field we have been given and keep our eyes on Jesus. In fact, we will forever keep our eyes on Him. That great cloud of witnesses in heaven are still fixing their eyes on Jesus at this very moment.

When you have followed the instructions of Hebrews 12 you will be able one day to confidently say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4.7).

Public debate in this country has so disintegrated that one can no longer call it debate at all. The communication of ideas through normal conversation has degenerated into a name-calling, shouting match that makes the sharing of differing points of view impossible. Throw pride and control issues into the mix, which are being manipulated by demonic forces, and we all suffer from the results.

This relationship breakdown should not be a total surprise in regard to the secular world but it should not happen in the Body of Christ.

We are the Body of Christ. We who name the Name of Jesus, who trust in Him as our only Lord and Savior are the Body of Christ. As the Body of Christ we are to live on a higher plane than the unbelieving world. We must not see ourselves as better than unbelievers, but we are to love better than they love.

Paul described what we, the Church, the Body of Christ, are supposed to be about in this life …

Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying [building up] of itself in love.        Ephesians 4.13-16

The Word of God is truth. The Word of God is unchangeable truth, therefore, everything, all of life, is subordinate to God’s Word. All actions, speech and even thoughts are under the authority of this Word of Truth.

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It’s really very simple. As Christians we are to be God-lovers and fruit-bearers. That’s all. The application, however, the living out of those words is easier said than done.

From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible describes the incredible, incessant quest of a loving God seeking the love and fellowship of His greatest creation: you and me.

No being, real or imagined, has ever existed who has gone to so great lengths to gain the love of another. God went so far in His pursuit that He actually sent His only Son on a mission of mercy, a mission of deliverance, a mission of love to win our freedom from sin and to draw us near to Himself.

We cannot truly live this life apart from our Creator God, this God who wants us to call Him “Father.” We can do nothing of consequence, we cannot live productively, we cannot experience true fulfillment, we cannot know true joy apart from a close, personal, loving relationship with our Father God. He made us that way.

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“Are we there yet?”
How many times have these words echoed through the car as the family treks toward the beach, amusement park or other anxiously anticipated destination?

How many times have we repeated the same words in our minds as we long to make up lost time; as we long to overcome a particular habit or sin; as we seek to reach a life goal?

Maybe you don’t care, at the moment, about “arriving,” you would simply like some relief.

Life is often difficult and sometimes hope is lost or postponed.

The world is experiencing continuous and very rapid change. As a result, our lives are in flux. Suffering surrounds us, a feeling of dread hangs in the air, many people are hurting. Politicians offer empty promises, leaders lack vision, frustration and fear mounts.

But there is a God and He offers us hope.

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“And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5.18).

These instructions to the early Church in Ephesus apply to us today. Just as if Paul penned these words on a Hallmark card, wrote your name on the envelope and had it delivered to your door and placed into your hand, so, too, is the letter to the Ephesians written to you.

In this short sentence from Ephesians 5 we are given two commands and one warning.

The first command is don’t be under the influence, under the control of alcohol or any other drug for that matter.

The word “drunk” in the Greek refers to a drenching, a soaking that results in the person being under the controlling influence of whatever he or she has allowed in the body.

Of course, I am not referring to powerful prescription drugs used wisely under the direction of a physician. But what is controlling your life today? Do you find that you are allowing yourself to be influenced by anything that is not of God?

Along with this first command in the verse, Paul gives this warning: if you place yourself under the power of alcohol or another drug it will result in “dissipation.” Dissipation simply means “a wasteful use of resources.”

The resource that is being wasted is your life! Dissipation is literally throwing your life away. The Holy Spirit is saying through Paul, “Don’t do it!”

You don’t have time to waste.

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Michael Jackson has died. What an extraordinary, yet, extraordinarily tragic life. From what I’ve read and heard over the years, Michael Jackson was a generous, sensitive, incredibly talented person who was surrounded by the opulence of his own success but a person who was ever dissatisfied. He was a man on a mission, a mission to remake his life. The world witnessed his constant transformation from changing skin color (he said it was disease-caused) to multiple plastic surgeries (in later years he couldn’t even smile) to religion (from Jehovah’s Witness to Islam to Kabbalah - a type of Jewish mysticism also practiced by Madonna). Even his 2800 acre Neverland Ranch in California seemed, in my opinion, to be a desperate bid to escape the pain of the real world.

We are all trying to change, aren’t we? Or, at least we try to cope with pain, suffering, confusion, frustration, loss, yet, too often, we try to change the externals of life, our appearance, for example, but we manage to make things so much worse. We need change in direction, focus, attitude, and perspective but changing direction and focus in the real world is not easy … but it can be changed!

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