AND A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM…Revelation 21: 16; 1 Kings 6: 20; and Ezekiel 41:4

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Why can’t I get it right?  It boggles my imagination.  When I was pastor of my last church, I made a commitment to share the Gospel to every child who came through the door.  As many as possible.   If they stayed for the fellowship hour after worship, I’d grab my handy-dandy ‘Evangecube’ from the front pew.    I’d ask whoever brought the child if I could share this puzzle-cube with them.  All said ‘yes’.

This cube told the Gospel story in such a fun way.  The children loved it.  Only problem was that I could never figure it out, never get the order straight.  Jesus was upside-down, died before He was born,  was resurrected while guarded by Romans still 3 days in the tomb!   You could see our regular kids laughing away at their goofy pastor could never get the cube to work!  Fear not!  I  had a plan!

I’d yell, ‘help’.  And one of the children would save the day for Pastor John!  Who would tell about Jesus?  They would!   All I’d have to do is ask the question–‘would you like to ask Jesus into your heart today? He loves you so much’. I never tired of the Evangecube.  Still use it now with our grandchildren who also show me how to work it!

Have you read today’s Bible verses?  They make reference to the shape of a cube.  Equal dimensions of width, length,  and height.  1 Kings tells us that Solomon’s Temple would have an inner sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, that was a perfect cube.  God would be present in that Holy Place.  Not just anyone could enter that cubic holy space.  Only once a year, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, could the High Priest enter, praying for the sins of his people.

Ezekiel 41 looks to the end time, with that Holy of Holies in a restored Temple as a perfect cube.  In Revelation, we hear that the New Jerusalem, the Holy City,  will itself have the  dimensions of a cube (21:15-17).  But no Temple there.   No need for one.  The Lord our God  will be the Temple.  Won’t be hard to figure out that cube!  Not at all.  We’ll be with Him.  He’ll be with us.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every child in all our churches could hear and respond to that message?   Could you do something about that?

 

Prayer:  Lord, thank you for opportunities to tell children about your Son Jesus.  Such is the Kingdom, we are told.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

AIN’T LIFE GRAND!… Revelation 22:4-5

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I can still hear my Nana Gibson saying, ‘Ain’t life grand!’  She’s been gone many years now.   In the Lord, our life certainly is grand!

But just you wait, and that’s not for Henry Higgins either…just you wait!  The Apostle John writes in the book of Revelation that ‘they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads’ (22:4).  Go ahead and read that whole last chapter of Revelation, and be utterly amazed at the wonders that await.   We’ll see Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit. Face-to-face.  We’ll be with them forever with no more tears, good-byes, failed hearing or eyesight.  None of that anymore.

‘They will see His face…’  Really?  What Moses had hoped and prayed for way back in Exodus 33:12-23?  “Moses said, ‘Please show me your glory.  And God said, ‘I will  make all  my goodness pass before you…I will be gracious…and will show mercy…but you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.'”   The Lord God showed Moses His character of love and mercy, compassion and forgiveness, but…’you shall see my back…my face shall not be seen.’  Not His face, not His being, but He will show His character.

That reminds me of what Jesus said about knowing people by their  fruit(Luke 6:43-45), and His half-brother James saying that ‘faith without works is dead(James 2:17).  Believers and followers, not by the labels on our lapels, but from what comes out of them, from deep within.  The Lord as well.  We know Him by His character and makeup of love, compassion, mercy, joy…

God has always been most generous in showing the whole world the ‘fruit’ of His being.  It’s there for all to see and wonder at.  But His face…now that will be for a special group.  For His children, those who say ‘yes’ to His invitation to know and love Him through the death and resurrection of His only Son Jesus Christ.  Is that you?  Have you asked Him into your life?  If not or you’re not sure, ask Him.  He’d love to love you forever.  I know that.  He even loves me!  And then some day, we’ll see Him…face to face…and that’s something you can’t quite put into words this side of glory…for that’s what it will be.  Glory!

 

Prayer:  Lord, thank you for better days ahead.  Someday we’ll be with you in glory, face-to-face.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE… Ezekiel 3:1-11

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Everything is about making your Christmas ‘pub’ dinner reservation now.  Don’t wait a second longer!  But it’s only September!   We gripe back home when we hear Christmas music in stores before Halloween!  Here in England they’ve been playing Christmas music for weeks and weeks.  It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Ezekiel chapter 3–Ezekiel’s call to prophetic ministry with God telling him, ‘all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears’ ( 3: 10).   Before he can hear God’s Word, Ezekiel needs a receptive heart.

Before we can hear the Lord, our hearts must be open and receptive, eager to hear from Him.  Is that yours?  Excited to get into the Bible each day?  Can’t wait to hear from Him?

Like back home.  Day after Thanksgiving, my father would decorate for Christmas.   He loved doing it, and had his certain routines.  The artificial tree had to be assembled, only to discover that the lights were invariably broken.  Outside, on the overgrown holly tree, he’d set up ladders and poles to string up lights, which were either stolen or shattered in some wind storm.  But every year the lights went up, regardless.   Inside, a smiling Santa was brightly lit on our fake fireplace mantel.  In the dining room on top of the breakfront he had 4 separate letters spelling ‘Noel’.  Someone, I won’t say who(!),  would rearrange the letters every day until they read Nole, Leon, Olne, Elon…  He always laughed, and then just as quickly nodded off for a nap!  That was my Dad.

Christmas morning no one, and I mean no one, ever went downstairs to see what was under the tree until my father slowly, ploddingly, deliberately, edged himself and us down those endless stairs to the living room.  Took hours, so it seemed!  And then, finally, he’d announce, ‘it looks like Santa has been here’!  Only then, could we run to all the packages and toys and fun that awaited us!

Is that the anticipation the Lord is telling Ezekiel to have when it comes to His Holy Word?  Is that your attitude?  If so, great!  If not, pray for it.  Ask the Lord to make you receptive, open and excited…to dive into the Bible regardless of how you feel.  Get a good study Bible.  Attend a Bible study that stretches your heart and mind.  Find the church where you can grow and share in the Lord.  Get with it.  Come on…get all excited!  It’s God’s Word…listen to Him.  What could be better?

 

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the Bible.  I can’t wait for our next time together!    In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

GET UP, ALREADY! …Ezekiel Chapter 2

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Ezekiel is such an amazing book.  Reading those first 2 chapters and you’re ushered into a totally different world.  Symbols and visions.  Disconnect from reality as we know it.   Here’s the world as Ezekiel saw it!

The call of Ezekiel to prophetic ministry is like none other.  Eating the scroll of the Word of God?  Strange diet!   At the end of chapter 1, Ezekiel sees ‘the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.’   Falls on his face (who wouldn’t?), and hears a voice saying to him– ‘stand on your feet…and the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard Him speaking to me’ (Ezekiel 2: 1, 2).

When I read those verses, something clicked within.  When we accept Jesus into our lives, we receive the Holy Spirit– ‘…do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?'(1 Corinthians 6: 19-20).  God the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us.  How?  In what way?

Here’s what I think–what does it matter?   He says to stand up, so I recommend you do that!    Don’t sit around and be lazy in the Lord.  That won’t work.  Not with the Holy Spirit providing the energy to live for Him.

Or filled with fears from the past.  I know:  easier said than done.  And I’ve got a long ways to go.  Like you do.  Don’t sit around,  filled with bitterness and regrets, making excuses for yourself.  I know.  Easier said…

When I became a believer in Jesus Christ,  something changed within me.  Like the Spirit said to stand up.  Start studying like you mean it.  Literally overnight, a mediocre student started earning straight ‘A’s.  In Millburn High, if a senior had an ‘A’ in class, you didn’t have to take the final exam.  A way to motivate seniors, tempted to slump at the very end of high school.   I never took one final exam.  Straight A’s!  From me?  Something had changed within.

Now I know that it was the Holy Spirit.  Telling me to get up, already!  Stand up…I’ve set you on your feet to do things for Me!  That’s what it was.  I know it.

How about you?   Look back at your life and remember when you accepted the Lord into your heart?  What happened when He stood you on your feet…to do things for Him, for others?   Maybe, just maybe, He’s extending  His hand to you right now, saying, ‘Get up!   Stand on your feet!  Let’s get going.  No time like the present…to live for Jesus!  Stop putting it off…

 

Prayer:  Holy Spirit within.  Move me to be and do all that You have designed for me for the sake of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior!  Amen.

LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF!… I Timothy 1: 12-17

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Could the Apostle Paul have been the worst sinner ever?   He said– ‘…Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.’  The worst one of all?  Really?  Worse than Judas Iscariot?  Stalin and Hitler?  What about Satan?  Of course not.

The Apostle Paul is looking into a spiritual microscope, one focused on every aspect of his life.  Like gazing at a mirror, seeing every blemish, showing us as we truly are.   He’s looking deeply within,  without pretense or excuse,  noting how far he misses the mark of God’s holiness and perfection. The comparison?  Well, there really is none.

As a believer in Jesus, God has sensitized Paul to every part of his life.  We humans, since Adam and Eve, are far away from God.  As far as far can be.  Truly one of the ironies of the Christian life is the closer we get to God, the more we know that, of sinners ‘I am the foremost’.   When we thought we could hide it, He nails us with the truth.

Times when I wasn’t particularly close to the Lord, even though a believer, I glibly headed out the door doing my own thing.  Sin didn’t seem to bother me very much.  Not really.  Maybe a twinge or two.

Now,  the closer I get to Him, the farther away I feel.  Like Paul’s foremost and chief of sinners.  Let me introduce myself.  I’m an old sinner saved by grace.  That’s me.  My salvation has nothing to do with my goodness. Nothing.  Neither does yours.  It’s all of God’s love and mercy,  forgiveness and grace.  All those words that lead directly to Him alone. ALL OF HIM, OF JESUS CHRIST.

I’m an old sinner…saved by God’s grace.  Let me introduce myself…no, let me introduce the One who gave Himself on the cross for you and me!  Have you met Him?  Welcome Jesus into your life…today!

Prayer:  Thank you, Lord, for making us new in Jesus Christ, your Son and our Savior.  In His name.  Amen.

WASTE NOT… Proverbs 5: 7-14

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‘Waste not, want not’.  Good advice!  Don’t waste your life , and you’ll not want for meaning and purpose in the short years we’re given.  Seems like life is on the fast-track in the latter years.  Know what I mean?  Like the ride uphill was not as fast-and-furious as the downhill slope and slide!  Time flies by… but you don’t get any frequent-flier miles!

As I look back, it bothers me about all those opportunities I’ve squandered.  Time wasted, the living for the Lord that was in name only.  With that in mind, I was hooked and dragged to shore by Proverbs 5:9–‘lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless’.

I can’t blame others for the wasted times.  I’d like to, but I gave them away.  And  I can’t get them back.  Words said that are forever out there.  Words not said that would have helped and maybe healed.  Who knows?  Too late now.

Things done that can’t be undone.  Things not done forever incomplete.  Given away.  Tossed to the wind of whim and whimsy.  Proverbs warns against giving away our honor and our years.  We have choices to make in life.  The way of wisdom or the way of folly.

I’m not blaming someone else for all the times I’ve given away.  I’d still like to!  Certainly, there have been many times when others have wronged me, causing pain and mess, not of my own making.  For you too?  Not much you can do about that except to let it go, to move forward and let the Lord take care of them and their malicious designs; and,  in some cases,  to walk out of their lives for good.

What the Bible is saying is to get focused,  get on track with the dreams and desires of my life.  A life for Him.   A life for others– not for me alone.    Find out more about who God made us to be. Try,  as best you can,  to follow the star of Jesus to make the most of the best that God has in store for us. And when we fail, we find Him to be merciful and gracious,  loving us like no one has ever loved us before or since.    Amen?  Amen!

Prayer:  Thank you, Lord, for a life worth living.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

I CAN STILL HEAR HIS VOICE………..Read John 10: 7-18

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DON’T USE THIS BLOG….A REPEAT!!                                                                                          I can still hear his voice!  Clear as a bell.  I’ll never forget it.  It was in 1957 or ’58 when my Dad and I first went to, what we called  back home in New Jersey, ‘the Stadium’.  Must I spell it out that that is Yankee Stadium, the house that Babe Ruth built.  The Babe was such a giant in the game of baseball that I thought maybe he really did build it!  We drove to the Stadium in my father’s 1956 blue Lincoln Capri, and parked it in just the biggest parking lot I had ever seen.  And all the people streaming toward the multiple gates all around the stadium.  We passed all kinds of vendors selling Yankee hats, daily schedules, buttons and ribbons with players’ pictures on them, you name it.  After we passed through the old-fashioned turnstiles getting back half our ticket from the old ticketvendor, we walked up and up those concrete ramps of inner Yankee Stadium to be greeted with tantalizing smells of hot dogs and sauerkraut, hot-roasted peanuts, and just lots of city sights and sounds.  It was magical to say the least.  And then as we walked through cavernous tunnels, it all opened up. There it was–the infield and the outfield with baseballs being hit all over the place.  Lights were on everywhere with everything bright and  green and loud and heavenly to this little boy holding the calloused hands of his dad.  We were then told where our seats were.  My father wanted a hot dog as badly as I did.   Brought right to us by a hot dog vendor carrying  a large box of steaming franks that took but a few gulps to consume.  And there they were!  My team!  My Yankees!   And my favorite players, ever–Mickey, Yogi, Whitey, Phil, Billy, Moose, Gil, Roger…But then there was that voice.  I can still hear it.  Like it was yesterday.   Bob Sheppard announcing, ‘Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Yankee Stadium’.  His resonance, clarity, respect and just plain majesty of simplicity, I could  never forget.   Decades later when I took my boys to the Stadium, and 10 years ago for Sue and myself, we heard that same voice, the voice of the Yankees for over 56 years.  He was 97 when he retired as the team announcer.    Derek Jeter had Bob Sheppard’s voice recorded to be played as he came to the plate  in Yankee Stadium, so with Jeter’s  retirement from the game, Bob Sheppard’s voice will no longer be heard at the Stadium.  But there’s another voice that I’ll never forget.  And His voice will never be silenced.  Never, ever.  That, of course, is the voice of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ.  He tells us in John  chapter 10 that He has other sheep to bring into His fold, that’s you and me who believe in Him.  When we accept Jesus into our hearts we become part of His growing flock and family.  He says, ‘…I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.’  Can you hear Him calling your name?  Introducing you to the crowd and cloud of heavenly witnesses?  Listening to Him and learning from Him in your Bible, His Word?  Such a joy to hear the voice of the Shepherd.  Jesus, the Good Shepherd…I can still hear His voice!  I’ll never forget it.  Never.

NO MORE, NO MORE! I’LL SAY IT AGAIN. NO MORE! …Rev. 18: 21-24

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We live in a scary, violent world, which is getting worse and worse all the time.   If we read the Book of Revelation and take it to heart, we wouldn’t be surprised at all.  Forget all the interpretation disputes and hobby-horse theories about this book, it’s going to get worse before it gets worse.  Aren’t you glad you read this devotional today?!

Wait a minute.  I did say to take the Book of Revelation to heart, didn’t I?  There are some really amazing verses that should give us lots of hope and confidence for the days ahead.  Not that the worst won’t get worse (for it will),  but that Satan will be defeated once for all.  Revelation 12: 7-12– you’ll find out that the devil, called a deceiver and destroyer, will be totally conquered by Jesus through His blood on the cross.

There’s more good news: Satan knows that his time is short (v. 12).  Times will deteriorate, but it will be for a short season ending with the forces of evil crushed and defeated.  Without a doubt.   Beyond even its shadow.

God has promised.  He has given His Word.  Revelation says it again in chapter 17:10–talking about coming beasts and wicked kings.  At the end of that verse it says, ‘…and when he does come he must remain only a little while’.  Did you hear that?  Only for a little while.   The forces of evil have but a short time.

Now read Revelation 17:14–‘They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with Him are called, chosen and faithful’.  Jesus reigns triumphant…and we,  His followers,  are right there with Him!  Safe and secure.  They may kill the body but not the soul!   Our souls are with Him.  Safe and secure.

Have you read those verses in Revelation 18 yet?  This whole chapter pictures the fall of evil in all its forms;  political and economic, in particular.  Six times it uses the phrase ‘no more’ to spell the end of this wicked, godless world. Six is a symbolic number for Satan in this last book of the Bible.  You know the infamous 666– a number referring to Satan.  No more…no more…no more evil.    For the enemy of God and his devilish allies, time will be no more.

But for us, who know Jesus, who have received His new life, no matter what,  no matter where, no matter when, our time will be in His hands.  With no looking back over our shoulders ever again!

Prayer:  Thank you Lord, for ultimate victory in Jesus your Son.  Amen.

I MUST ADMIT IT!… Ezra 9: 8-9

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I really don’t want to admit it.  I’m ashamed in some ways.  You’ll forgive me, won’t you?  But I must.  I can’t hammer a straight nail if my life depended on it.  There it is.  I’ve said it.  The cat’s out of the bag!  Anyone who knows me is snickering and sniveling as they could have guessed it all along.  Smarty-pants!

My brother, Robert, can hammer straight on with his eyes closed and one hand tied behind his back.  Mechanically-inclined, to say the least, is that older brother of mine.  And he’s always let me know it, as if I had one iota of doubt.  He’s gifted that way.  The Lord made him with both a steady eye and hand.

But I wonder how his book is coming along?  How his sermons are being received by a congregation week after week for years and years?  Put that shoe on, brother of mine, if it fits?!

God has gifted each of us in different ways.  And I thank the Lord for the gifts given Robert, and the ones given me, different as they could ever be.  That’s fine with me.  Whether you or I can or can’t, I know that God can hammer a straight nail!  Did you read those 2 verses in Ezra 9 yet?  Not sure what your translation says but mine says that ‘(God gives) a secure hold within His holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving…'(ESV).  See where it says ‘secure hold’?  In the original Hebrew that phrase is really one word– nail or tent-peg.  God was promising His remnant people, returning from exile in Babylon, that He would nail them in securely, bind them tightly to Himself.

When in England we were renting a 15th-century manor house.  This house was built in the late 1400’s making it over 600 years old.  And we think our house back home in the States is ‘old’ having been built in 1945!  The Old Manor House has timber framing, post and beam construction with squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers secured by large wooden pegs. It’s lasted century after century.

Like what God has done for us.  Tight and secure, carefully fitted and joined…by the death of His only Son, nailed to the cross.  Nails and pegs.  The nails that have left an eternal mark in Jesus’ hands and feet are the nails that keep us safe in Him not for 600 years but forever.  Nails that secured our forgiveness, salvation and future glory with Him in heaven.   Whether you can hammer a nail straight or not, He can.  He did.  He still does.  I must admit it, God is so good…at whatever He does!  Agreed?

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for your Jesus.  In His name.  Amen.

NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!… Psalm 108: 1-4

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I’ve always wanted to thank Billy Graham in person.  After all, he was the one I heard speaking  on that radio program a Sunday evening many years ago.  For some reason I heard the ‘Hour of Decision’ with Billy Graham. I had gone to Sunday School sporadically, but never really liked it or the church that I attended!

You ask why I didn’t go somewhere else?  I didn’t know that you were supposed to enjoy church. I  had questions about God and Jesus, but no one I knew had any answers.  Anyway, ‘you just don’t talk about those things’, even in church.  You don’t?  Really?  We didn’t.

I had no idea that some people did and that there were answers to my questions.  No idea at all.  Until that night.  I focused on his every word.  He said that Jesus loved me.  Jesus knew who I was.  He cared…about me.  And wanted to be in my life.  Are you kidding?

In a way, I didn’t know what Billy Graham was talking about, but something within said to ‘go for it’.  I  responded to that message.  The next day I got the Bible, never opened, that  I received when I was 8 years old  and started reading the New Testament.  Had Mr. Graham  told me to?  I don’t remember.

Then I discovered a couple of teachers in high school who were Christians.  One was an older woman that we would make fun of.  She was not so weird once I discovered that she also knew the Lord.  In 1964 my father and I loved going to the New York World’s Fair.  We went 12 times!  It was there that I got my very first Bible Study, the Gospel of John, from the Billy Graham Pavilion.  How exciting– and from that same preacher.

I’d like to thank him in person.  I almost have.  Was a counselor at a New York City crusade but he was too far away.  Saw Anne Graham Lotz, his daughter, at the Pike Place Market in Seattle and asked her to thank her Dad.  I’ll bet I’m the only one who ever asked her to do that!

While at the Cove, Billy Graham’s Conference Center in Asheville, North Carolina,  I sat next to his first cousin, Ed Graham, at dinner.  I asked him the same…please tell your cousin what his ministry has meant to me.  I’d still like to thank him… in person.  But it’s not going to happen.

No problem really.  He didn’t save me.  He would tell me that also.  Jesus did.  And I can  thank Him whenever I feel like it.  Direct and personal.   Like it says in Psalm 108:3–‘I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations.’  And someday I’ll get to thank Jesus in person for all He’s done for me…and you can join me as well!

Prayer:  Thank you, Jesus, for saving us.  Amen.