TerryLema

Halloween is a week away. Thanksgiving one more month. Christmas about a month after that. I guess everyone has already bought what they want for Halloween, and except for some candy displays and a few meager children’s costumes left on the shelves, Christmas decorations have taken over. Christmas. Christmas arrives 62 days from today. The crazy season has begun.

What was on my mind this morning, however, wasn’t Christmas. It was the cross. “And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified Him.” [John 19:17-18 NKJV]

Almighty God. The Great I AM. Yeshua. The Son of God. The Sinless One. Bearing the weight of His cross. Bearing the weight of our cross. Went out to a place. There they crucified Him.

There we crucified Him. Because it was for us that He went. For all of us. For each one of us He went. And because He went, we can come.

We all come to the same place. We all come in the same way. In surrender and sorrow. None of us stands in front of the cross. None of us have more to bring than others. None of us is worthy to be there.

We come on our knees. We come with heads bowed. We come with hearts broken. We come knowing we have nothing to bring. Nothing to boast about. Nothing to offer.

And He looks down from that cross. Down from the Place of a Skull. Down from Golgotha. And He says, “Welcome.”

Oh, sweet Jesus, He says, “Welcome”

Faith. The Bible speaks a great deal about faith, about saving faith, about the Gift of Faith resident in the Holy Spirit. Perhaps the faith we are most familiar with is that day-to-day faith we exercise as Christians. Jude calls it our “most holy faith.”

“Dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.” [Jude 20-21]

This is faith that grows. It is supposed to become stronger and grow bigger, especially as we see God working in our lives through every trial, tribulation, problem and test. As we experience the love of the Father, as we see every promise a “yes” in Christ Jesus, our faith becomes solid and sure.

Jude reminds us that part of that build comes when we pray in the Holy Spirit. That means praying according to the direction and desires of the Holy Spirit as He will always lead us higher and deeper into Christ Jesus.

We are also to “keep [ourselves] in God’s love.” I found that command quite interesting. That word for “keep” means to watch and guard against loss or injury by keeping your eyes upon something.

I know that our Father God who called us is able to secure us. He will never leave us nor forsake us. I also know that we can lose our perception of the Presence of God in our life. We can flounder around in our doubts and denials. We can let our emotions drive us so that we begin to focus on the wrong things instead of keeping our vision solidly on our Father’s love.

God has His part in “keeping” us. We also have a part … and that is to “keep” our vision upon Him and Him only.

Last week Bob went hunting for a few days with a friend. (Turned out fewer than anticipated as the water pipes in the RV froze. A couple other things froze also (including Bob) so they returned early, without a deer. In the meantime, while they were suffering up there in the mountains, I was home really enjoying my time alone.

On Thursday, I had absolutely nothing planned. I was not going out, except for a worship walk, and no one was coming over. I planned on a day of reading, writing, praying and praising. The morning started as usually, time alone with God. Then I showered and dressed and spent the next few hours doing exactly what I planned. After lunch I went for a walk.

By late afternoon I decided to turn on the television. I noticed that the volume was a bit lower than normal, so I turned it up, and up, and up, until I realized I was hearing sound in my left ear but not much in my right one. Wow, did the battery go out in my right hearing aid while I was walking? Maybe the noise of the wind as I walked masked the warning. So, I took it off to replace the battery only to discover there was no battery. It had fallen out in the case in the morning and I never noticed. I was without power that entire day.

Even though I wore that hearing device all day I wasn’t getting any help hearing on that side. And, since I wasn’t talking with anyone, I never noticed until I turned on the television. Funny how you can be disconnected from the power source and never notice.

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” [Acts 1:8]

Maybe we should make sure every day we’re connected to our spiritual power source!

Last week, many Northern Californians (some of our friends included) woke up with no power. A total of 800,000 customers were expected to be affected. The utility company, in the face of a strong wind event that could trigger wildfires, decided to simply shut the power off to those in threatened areas. It didn’t want a repeat of the recent years where fires ignited by defective electric power and distribution lines, conductors and the failure of power poles caused massive devastation and loss of many lives.

800,000 customers, several million people, without power because it was intentionally shutoff by the largest power company in the nation. I guess it thought that it was easier to control the “symptoms” than to fix the “source” of the problem … defective distribution lines, conductors and aging power poles, etc.

I know we need to take care of “symptoms” as they arise, but that does nothing for alleviating the “source” of the problems. Unfortunately, man is very good at focusing on “symptoms,” rather than “sources.” Not only do we do that with the problems of this world, we do that with the problems of our souls.

God reminded Jeremiah that the heart of man is “deceitful above all things and beyond cure.” [17:9]

God promised Ezekiel that He would remove hearts of stone and replace them with “hearts of flesh.” [11:19]

Jesus declared that the way to the Father to receive that new (tender) heart is through Him alone. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” [John 14:6]

This process of redeeming the heart, of going to the source of our ills, is all of God through His wonderful grace. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.” [Eph 2:8-10]

Maybe power companies can simply deal with symptoms, but man’s inner problems must be dealt with at the source – his very own heart. And only God’s grace can do that.

Oh Joy! I am being very purposeful in my avoidance of Halloween this year, skipping right over it as if it doesn’t exist and heading straight to Thanksgiving. (I even have a “thanksgiving” table set up in the church.) Each time I walk past a home decorated for Halloween I have been praising aloud for something God has done for me; doing the same thing in the stores (but with a little less volume). I really thought I had it covered.

Thursday morning when I awoke, I peeked out my living room window. It was still dark outside at 5 AM, but what should I see but that my neighbor across the street, directly across the street, decorated their home for Halloween. There are ghostly figures dangling from their tree along with other such “treats” scattered about. Oh Joy!

One of my favorite pastimes is to open my front curtains and my front door and allow the fall and winter sun to come through the large window and glass storm door to warm the house. Now when I do that, my first vision is my neighbor’s newly decorated “Halloween” house.

The devil thinks he’s so smart, doesn’t he? He’s put his ugly nose right in my face. What he doesn’t realize is that now I don’t even have to leave my house and walk around the neighborhood to be reminded to praise God for all the good He’s done for me. I just need to sit in my chair, lift my head to look out the window and right there is my reminder to praise God’s goodness and light and love and life and beauty.

“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise-the fruit of lips that confess his name.” [Hebrews 13:15]

Oh, what God has done! He has taken rebels and made them children. He has taken the fallen and raised us up in Christ!

Our current Bible Study at The Way is Paul’s Prison Epistles. We began with Ephesians. Last Wednesday night we studied Ephesians 2:1-10. Paul describes us as dead, dead in our transgressions (sins of commission) and sins (sins of omission). He said we used to follow the ways of the world and the cravings of our own fallen nature … influenced by the ruler of the kingdom of darkness. As such we were deserving of nothing more than God’s wrath meted out to us in His justice.

“But God ….” Oh, what God has done! “Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” [Eph 2:4-6]

Oh, what God has done! He has done for us exactly what He did for Christ Jesus in His Resurrection (made Him alive), Ascension (raised Him up) and Exaltation (seated Him at the Right Hand of the Father).

Now we too are made alive in Christ. We are raised up with Christ. We are seated in Him and with Him in the heavenly realms. Oh, what God has done!

If you have nothing in your life for which to be thankful right now … if you are enduring pain, trouble, hurts, anxieties, confusion or defeat … remember this! Oh, what God has done! You are alive. You are raised up. You are seated at this very moment in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, Savior, Lord, and King. Oh, what God has done!

The Apostles John and James, were given a nickname by Jesus, “Boanerges,” which means “Sons of Thunder.” They were the two who wanted to command fire from heaven to destroy a Samaritan village that rejected Jesus.  [Mark 3:17]

James would be the first Apostle to be martyred after Jesus’ ascension. John would outlive all the others and die of old age, probably the only one to not be martyred. He would also acquire a new name, John the Beloved. This Son of Thunder was the disciple who rested his head on the chest of Jesus at the Last Supper. He was the one who witnessed the crucifixion and heard Jesus’ words to care for Mary, Jesus’ mother. And John was the one who would write the most about love . . . love for God and love for each other.

Perhaps the most amazing interaction between John and Jesus, however, is found in that first chapter of the Book of Revelation. The Apostle John was given the revelation of what would happen at the end of the ages. He wrote it all down, including what happened when he saw the Triumphant Christ following Jesus’ Ascension and Exaltation to the Right Hand of the Father.

Take a moment to read it in Revelation 1:12-18. John heard a voice and turned. He saw someone he described as “like a son of man.” But this someone was unlike anyone John had ever seen or met. “His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.”

John’s reaction was to fall at the feet of the King of Kings as though dead. It was then Jesus touched John and identified Himself, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”

John had rested his head on the chest of Jesus when He walked this earth. He had witnessed His crucifixion and ate with Him following His resurrection. He was there when Jesus ascended to His Father, but nothing prepared Him for the Exalted Christ Jesus, His Savior and LORD. I wonder how prepared we will be …?

Last Saturday 14 people from The Way Assembly of God in Middleton, Idaho, gathered in my little house for a dinner. We divided up between two rooms to sit at tables to eat, but when the meal was done, we folded up the table in the living room and brought in chairs. We sat in a circle, 14 people who love the LORD God, who love the local fellowship, who love each other.

The dinner was a way for Bob and me to say thank you to each one. We could not do this ministry without the loving support and encouragement from others. We wanted to say thank you to each one personally, and in the presence of others. These wonderful people have ministries of music and maintenance, preaching and prayer and care. They serve on the Board, they organize fellowships, organize children’s church and they run the sound. Even more, they look out for others in the church by following up, praying, and even stocking and handing out food from the small pantry we have.

Sometimes when we work in a church, we think that no one notices what we do. I wanted each person present to know that I notice. Even more, I wanted each person present to know that God notices.

Paul reminded the believers in Thessalonica that he and others “continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” [1 Thessalonians 1:3]

Nothing we do for the LORD will ever escape His notice; and one day we will each receive our rewards. Still, as we “continually remember” people before God for their “work produced by faith,” we should also remember them in their presence and before others.

This week, when you see someone working in the church or helping others outside those walls, say thank you and tell them you notice what they do, and that they bless your soul.

There was one more realization I experienced as I worship walked past so many of the homes in our neighborhood decorated for Halloween. It was not just about “Darkness versus Light” and “Death versus Life,” there was a third truth that came to mind.

The Third: Ugly versus Beautiful: I walked past gruesome masks, skeletons, witches with hideous faces, bloody heads dangling from porches. I saw not one thing of beauty connected to this holiday. And if that weren’t enough, the videos and movies that are promoted during this time are also repulsive.

Our focus, as believers, is never to be on the ugliness or viciousness that comes with this holiday (or even with this life). Paul was clear when he said that we are to always seek “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.” [Phil 4:8]

I get enough ugliness with the world news; I don’t need to be reminded of it by decorating my house in it. Instead I take joy in the beauty of God’s creation, the skies, the ocean, the mountains. I take delight in the flowers that bloom, in the joy on the face of a child, in the bountiful harvests that come in the autumn. I take comfort in the Words of God’s promises I find in my Bible. Those are the things on which I dwell.

I find myself praying with the psalmist, “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” [Ps 27:4]

I want a head start gazing upon the beauty of the LORD. I want to dwell in His presence all the days of my life. I want to spend my time seeking Him in His temple instead of wasting it on an unpleasant holiday.