The Law of Seasons Part I             

We the people have the advantage of being in the position of voluntary submission to leadership, but when the transparency of leadership is clouded, and policy is made in the back room with a board of “yes” men, not spoken for all the people to hear as an official statement from the pulpit, it causes confusion concerning what they are being asked to submit to. Policy is made from the pulpit, not in the back room in a secret meeting.1 Cor 14:8 “For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle?”

Present church leadership, in general, typically has the shape of a pyramid, the people sit at the bottom, then the elders sit above, and there is one person in leadership at the top, who virtually directs, and in some cases, mandates vision.

i think maybe the leadership structure should be more like an upside down pyramid, and the eldership, which is supposed to be comprised of longstanding, well broken, lots-of-miles-under -their-belt people, not “yes” people who are rubber stamps and simply do what they’re told. The pastor should never be allowed to resemble the dictator of a regime. Maybe the present leadership model is more a season of the church learning to do better what God has asked of them…. a season. Luke 22, “Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing. Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.”

i have heard somewhere, servants, not paupers or beggars, but true servants make great leaders. Hmmm….i wonder where i got that?

Seasons – an appointed occasion,  meaning an event with a reason and a cause. There are seasons of learning leadership and seasons on learning to be a servant. i think the season of being a servant is permanent, and the season of being in leadership shifts as the need arises.

Jesus was transparent about what He was asking the disciples to submit to. It was a “clear sound”, a “sure and specific sound”. It is the time and season for us to make a sure sound.

Each of the following has a season in itself: Wisdom, character, authority, ministry, and money.

Wisdom is before character, character precedes authority, authority is the forerunner of ministry, and ministry comes before money. Here it is in reverse, so go with me on this:

Money follows after ministry. Ministry NEVER follows money around. When it was rumored that God was in the house, the house packed out, not because someone built a nice place and hoped God would show up. There are seasons when God allows money to flow into ministry, and other seasons ministry happens with or without money.

If money follows ministry, then ministry follows authority. Ministry craves to be under authority. Godly authority is the horsepower for ministry, and tends to increase what it touches. Ministry is a picture framed by authority, God given, never man-made. Without authority, ministry has no strength. Watchman Nee was a firm believer that there is always more authority than there is ministry.

If Money follows ministry, and ministry follows authority, wouldn’t you know, authority follows character. God calls us to personal holiness, character, which is the teeth in authority. In the time of Job the way widows were treated was indicative of moral character. Godly character is the container for authority so we are not overwhelmed for lack of intestinal fortitude, having the ability to stand effectively in authority. Without character we are swallowed up in the ground battles of the work.

Character follows wisdom. Without wisdom who guides and builds our character, it is just wheel spinning and ignorance. Wisdom accompanied God when eternity was designed and brought into being. Prov 3:19 “The Lord by wisdom founded the earth…”; Prov 4:7 “Wisdom is the principal thing…”

And at the top of the list is wisdom:Prov 8:” The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever an earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, When there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills, I was brought forth; While as yet He had not made the earth or the fields, Or the primal dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens, I was there,   When He drew a circle on the face of the deep, When He established the clouds above, When He strengthened the fountains of the deep, When He assigned to the sea its limit, So that the waters would not transgress His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth, Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; And I was daily His delight,    Rejoicing always before Him, Rejoicing in His inhabited world, And my delight was with the sons of men.”

Everyone has “seasons” where God works in them the work of His Hands, and there is a pattern as sure as summer follows spring…..that pattern is what i’ve started calling, the “Law of Seasons”.

In Ecc 3:1 God is the One who causes all things to happen in their“ seasons” and gives everything a “purpose.” In Ecclesiastes 3 all of life is described as “a grand mosaic of times and seasons; there is a time todo everything”. Take note here: There is a difference between time and seasons in that verse, they are two different words, not even spelled similarly.

Although God is timeless, time, as in the measured progression of existence, is one of our boundaries as long as we wear skin and breath air, so God uses time words in order to relate to us. “Season” and “seasons” are time words, not just general time, but an aloted span which contains specific appointments, as in… it is the season to grow a garden, but now is the time to plant and later harvest. A season or occasion for rejoicing, with a specific allotment of time for toasting in that occasion. There is a time for plowing, a season of transition, a time of learning and understanding, a season of storms, and faith is for all seasons and times, for a time and times and half a time.

i’ve found six things, at least, which are not affected by seasons… being a servant at heart,  right judgment, speaking the word of the Lord, a state of readiness, doing the right thing, and living uprightly.

The Hebrew word “yasar” or “yatsar” (H3335)  means, among other variations, to squeeze into shape, to mold into a form, to fashion, to devise. The primary meaning of the word is derived from the idea of cutting or framing as used in Psalm74:17, which references framing and shaping seasons. Seasons, in many forms, are directly connected to the development of our character. If we want ministry, it would seem prudent to ask the Lord for greater personal holiness, or character. We want to BE the people, not just LOOK like the people, which starts with wisdom and character, letting God use His seasons to squeeze us into the necessary shape for our destiny….we’ll never get righteous authority and ministry without righteous wisdom and character as forerunners. It is the season, and there is always a cause and reason for the season.

So here ends part one of the Law of Seasons.

         Isaiah 2:4-5  He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD.”

As long as we wear skin, and as long as there is a devil, life will be a fight, it will be war in every capacity and corner of our mind and the universe. i have been at war since i was born, and so have you. So I guess war is in everything about us. It’s in our thinking, our “want to and don’t want to”, it’s in our despair and hope, it’s in our dreams, even how we go about achieving our aspirations…it all somehow involves war of some sort. There is conflict and contention on every corner every which way we turn with a constantly rising noise floor of conflict. The idea of “not learning war and no more war” is a completely foreign thing to think for people. And just how deep is the concept of war, or conflict embedded in is? Ponder that question and i think you’ll come to the same conclusion i have. If we are all in a constant state of conflict resolution, that means there’s war and conflict which needs resolving. It is painful and exhausting to always be at war. In fact, scripture bears out that war is agony in the sense of Philippians1:30, Paul uses the word conflict, which is the Greek word “agon”, where we get our word agony from. Within the word “agon” are five distinct consistent divisions contributing to all our war and conflict: deceit, treachery, corrupt passions, a traitors heart, and lying. War is stressful, full of grief and difficult decisions, it is rife with enemies living and dead, spies, and dark things which hunt us in the night. We can run from our circumstances, but eventually we will return to our sadness and war unless we resolve our conflict. It is a battle close to the gates of our heart where we are continually besieged by the enemy of our soul who’s will is fully set against us. There is even war in our ethics and principles, as a result there are college classes on situational ethics. Situational ethics, as example, might be that we teach our kids that lying is wrong, which is correct and wise, yet there are extenuating circumstances where they would have to consider to lie in order to save the life of their family or friend. We are all inclined toward warfare and it seems it is in everything we humans are about… physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, so much so, that a state of war is what we are born into, and the truth is, we’ve had to learn to practice peace, to see the value in doing so, and to do those things which promote peace.  There are some who believe we’re all born “good people” and we become bad, but that’s just an outright lie. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Like i said, all my life i have been at war either in my spirit, in my head, or my body, and many times a dark symphony of all three. Upon trying to imagine “perfect peace”, to me, that says “no war” with a non-existent noise floor. i have had a few times where i’ve truly been at “perfect peace” and it was absolutely astounding. Sadly, it was also foreign and the contrast between -war- and -no war- felt like it was pulling my head apart. i like to imagine i usually operate at about an 80% peace, at least that’s what i’d like to believe, but the truth is likely far less than that, and wildly swings from all out war to sometimes being too exhausted to keep the roar of war going. If we’re being real honest, i think most of us don’t have peace like we think, but more we simply have found a way to turn the volume of conflict down a few notches, and then we decide we’re at peace, “beyond our understanding” simply because the volume of war has been turned down. I don’t believe simply turning down the volume of war and strife is what Jesus was talking about…at….all. For me, real peace as Jesus gives is a place God takes me occasionally, that place of “no war” and “perfect peace” and there is no effort on my part which could ever achieve “perfect peace” or “no war”. We’ve been at war so long we can’t hardly imagine “no war”, and the place of “no war” is descibed in Ps23 where the writer states, “He leads me beside still waters.” Do you see what i’m saying here?

i think that i am only truly as close to peace as i can get, short of being in Heaven, is when i trust God fully and permit Him to work in my own personal situations. Through a long, long series of very difficult trials, i’ve come to the conclusion God can and will eclipse any wrong ideas which have stuck to me from birth. So much of what i learned as a child inspired war and my lack of peace. i was taught to keep the rules and that is how you live at peace. But rule keeping didn’t make my heart and mind cease from all conflict and strife. i was taught going to church and giving my tithe was how you live at peace. But going to a brick and mortar facility, doing a weekly program, and giving money didn’t make my heart and mind cease from all war, conflict, and strife.

So how do i find a closer version of peace than what i’ve got? Is26:3-4, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.”

Are you tired of being at war, striving, and continual contention, then ask the Lord to settle your heart, and i mean really pursue Him on it until things change. As a result, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, the one and only.

What do you think?

          Ahhh, yea … it’s another of those hypnotic evenings with the sun having settled down to a rosey glow at the horizon and the clouds are parceled out across the sky, looking like the porches at the entrance to Heaven’s gate … This evening the lilacs from down the road a piece are so fragrant, i can smell them all the way over here at the deck, overlooking the Ockluhwahhah River.

The view from here reminds me of part of a poem by Francis Duggan that goes: “A beautiful evening the birds chirp and sing, The wonders of Nature is a magical thing. The sun going down red in the western sky, And the roost bound starlings wheel and turn as they fly.”

The idea of our dialogue here is to speak to our issues about three inches beneath the surface of where we really live, waking up reality and perseverance, encouraging us to stop being compelled by panic and fear, to trust God – to stop and think … think before you act as best you know how. i mean, take a moment and play the entire movie out before you jump off that high place.

i knew a man, many years ago, who, when he was very young and wild (meaning he didn’t think much), was out carousing with some other young buddies late one evening. They stopped at a high bridge and decided to do some bungy jumping … but they didn’t have any bungy cords. Off to the side of the bridge they found an old rope, and being young and foolish they really didn’t realize there is absolutely no bounce or give in a large diameter rope. Without considering the outcome of his actions, the unthinking young man tied the rope to his ankle and jumped … yea, you guessed it, he lost his foot that evening. If he and his pals had simply thought about it, taking a moment to think ahead just a little bit, he would still have his foot today. That certainly was a humiliating and permanent lesson of “look before you leap”, or “play the whole movie” before taking action.

Luke 14:28-30, “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.‘”

A few weeks ago our program topic was “Foresight, Insight, Hindsight”, and tonight’s topic is sort of about those three elements of understanding, but more from another angle maybe. i think most people think of “foresight” in the context of a prophetic gift, by the Power of the Holy Spirit predicting a future outcome, or confirming the Word of the Lord that is already operating in someone’s heart …  but tonight’s focus is more on the practicality and employment of foresight, insight, and hindsight. When we have understanding, putting into motion the wisdom of “look before you leap”, that means we are taking a circumspect view of things to gain insight when the Lord gives it to us.

Dr. Henry Cloud wrote a book in 2004, “Nine Things You simply Must Do” in which he probes the mystery of why some lives really work and others don’t. One of the chapters is labeled, “Play The Movie”. A moment ago, i gave a quote of Luke14:28-30. In the idea presented in that scripture, “… sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it”, that means to “play the movie”, pencil things out to see where they go, find the hidden costs if any, see and perceive, asking ourselves the question, “Is this really what i imagined? Does it look like what i believe the Lord showed me?”

How often do you make a “knee jerk reaction” about something without considering the consequences? i mean, c’mon, we’ve all done crazy stuff in life at some point or another without considering the consequences of our actions; bought a car, spoken rashly, voted without weighing reality, drinking and driving, running with a crowd we know better than to hang with, etc.

A friend of mine and i were at coffee this morning and we were recounting past decisions that we made in a moment of haste without any thought as to the possible outcome … we also remembered the miracles in that we weren’t killed and how the Lord, in His everlasting mercy, protected us from ourselves. The Lord brought to my remembrance the time i needed to load a bull in a trailer, a really big bull, but he didn’t want to get in, of course. i had him corralled in a very small space and he just wouldn’t get in. In my frustration and anger, i grabbed a big stick and just jumped in the pen with the bull and whacked him round and round the little space until he got in the trailer. Only afterwards, only !afterwards! did it dawn on me the complete and utter foolishness of my actions. i didn’t play the movie, i didn’t look before i leapt … it never occurred to me that i was in close quarters with an aggressive animal weighing in excess of 2000Lbs who, at any moment, could have effortlessly crushed me. i think the Lord delivers us from ourselves more often than we comprehend. Ha! Ya’ think? Thank you, Jesus, for your mercy and kindness. Amen?

           Luke 14:31-32, “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.”

Within that scripture are the ear marks of someone who is looking ahead some, using a sharp pencil to find out the actual cost of performing their idea, has understood the potential outcome, and even made an alternate plan.

The word “circumspect” is an interesting word for us to get a good solid grasp on when employing the idea of “look before you leap”. Webster’s Dictionary simply says, basically, to take all things into account, but the word used for “circumspect” in Exodus 23:13, means so much more than that. The word says, “And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect.” The Lord means for us to not only take all things into account, but to look at the noted details narrowly, scrutinize the information, and above all, do what the Lord says. We weren’t born being circumspect, so, let me add that if we know Jesus, God !will! teach us to be circumspect.

God’s idea of being circumspect comes into play in other scenarios. How about “think before you speak”. How many times have you spoken quickly, and, OH, didn’t you wish you could just get those words back? It’s sort of like sending someone an unkind remark by email … once you hit “Send”, it is gone baby, gone, and you can’t unring that bell. There is no “unsend” for email, nor is there an “unsay” for words that have hastily come out of our mouths.

The concept of being “circumspectful” is what is meant when i say “play the whole movie”.

Take Judas as an example, who acted so dishonorably by betraying Jesus. i believe he wished so bad he could take back his words and actions. But, in arrogance and blindness, he acted rashly and spoke unwisely. Look at his words, and actions in Matthew 27:3-4, “When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.” “What is that to us?” they replied in a sneering tone looking down their long judgmental noses at him. “That’s your responsibility.” They got what they wanted, and their attitude towards Judas was like saying, “Too bad, too sad for you buddy!”

i’m not sure, but it appears to me Judas … possibly … thought if he gave the money back and confessed his wrong to the Pharisee’s, that maybe he could somehow undo what he had done. A paraphrase of Psalm32 is that confession is good for the soul, unless, it is confession to the wrong person or group. Judas not only didn’t play the whole movie concerning his actions but he also confessed his error to the wrong people. Need it be said, Judas did not take into account the life and miracles of Jesus, he did not carefully consider the details of what he had witnessed for the years he walked as one of the disciples … Judas was not a very circumspect man, he failed to play the movie beyond the part where he saw himself as having saved the day. There was no “unsend” button, nor was there any “unsay”, or “undo” option. And if anything, the Pharisee’s used his confession against him, were delighted at his brutal mistake, and i believe they were pleased he took his own life. i believe the Pharisee’s found it delicious to close the trap and watch him squirm. He couldn’t un-ring that bell.

How often have we made, on the spur of the moment, spiritually impacting decisions without considering the outcome? A man and his wife bought a car on the premise that if the loan was approved, it must be God. Well, of course the loan was approved. A bankrupt felon could have gotten approval. Six months later they went bust and wondered why God would do this to them. Was it really God who did this to them? Had they played the movie, and scrutinized the details, they would have never suffered the catastrophic outcome.

i knew a man who had a dream that went like this: in his dream he went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. He only saw the nose and mouth of someone who sort of looked like him, but it wasn’t him. He woke up the next morning sure God gave had given him a vision of his future wife. He went about his day as usual, and that evening he went to a Bible study. There at the Bible study was an attractive young woman whose lower half of her face appeared exactly like the face he saw in the dream in the mirror. Immediately he had the idea he was supposed to marry that woman. Afterall, he was in the market for a wife, she was pretty, and she seemed to like him. He set himself on marrying her. He told her his dream and his intentions of marrying her, she bought into it, and two weeks later they were married. It turned out, after years of misery and struggle, he had done a knee jerk reaction, failing to play the rest of the movie, failing miserably at being circumspect.

When we take what we see in our foresight and give ourselves time to consider the details of what we have observed, getting insight, we’re typically not so quick to readily jump on popular trends and don’t tend to accept common advice as necessarily God’s wisdom. Proverbs 19:21, “There are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless it is the LORD’S counsel–that will stand.”

This is not about being cautious but about being wise – and understanding the ramifications of a proposed course of action. While others are ready to quickly decide an issue, looking before we leap often causes us to wait for a period of time, evaluating all sides of the issue, being neither proponents or opponents but simply keeping an open mind so that when a decision is made it is a wise decision. Playing the movie allows us to evaluate with objectivity rather than taking a position. i have a three day rule for buying a car, and what that means is that i figure Jesus rose from the dead in three days, and so in three days i can make a decision to buy or not. So far, it has worked out well. In those following three days, there is time to consider carefully and get a circumspect view.

How about the man and woman who were friends and went to a conference? While at the conference the speaker called them out of the crowd and prophesied that they should be married. They didn’t take into account the myriad of details that should have been carefully weighed before marriage, they didn’t count the cost … they failed to play the movie. They didn’t use a sharp pencil, scrutinizing the details, instead they took the conference speaker at his word, and got married straight away. It was a disaster which grew to super-volcano proportions quickly. How much different was that type of irresponsible behavior than the unthinking young man who went bungee jumping from a bridge with an unyielding rope tied to his foot?

          In a foreign country a priest, a lawyer and an engineer were about to be guillotined. The priest puts his head on the block, they pull the rope and nothing happens. He declared that he’d been saved by divine intervention, so they let him go. The lawyer was put on the block, and again the rope didn’t release the blade. He claimed he couldn’t be executed twice for the same crime and he was set free also. They grabbed the engineer and shoved his head into the guillotine. He looked up at the release mechanism and said, “Wait a minute, I see your problem … ”

Oh, gosh, he just had to open his mouth. Obviously, the engineer didn’t weigh and consider carefully before he spoke, and once his words were out there, he couldn’t unring that bell.

My mother used to tell me that it was better for me to be quiet and only be thought foolish, than it was for me to open my mouth and be known foolish. For much of my life … i didn’t listen.

Ephesians 5:14-17 “Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.” See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

Mark 4:23-24 “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. Consider carefully what you hear.” God’s meaning of “consider carefully” means to take in all the details, scrutinize them, leaving nothing out. And as to the use of the word “consider” in Greek … it means to “ponder to conclusion”, play the whole movie, or “look before you leap”, and we should do it carefully. To summarize that scripture it reads, “after you have taken in the details and, so to speak, penciled it out and perceived, after you’ve been to the Lord about what is in your mind, come to a conclusion and take action.” That is considering your hindsight, getting insight from the Lord, taking note of your foresight, draw it all into a conclusion, and then setting out to accomplish your task.

That method is the way the Lord does things. He is our example of “play the movie”, or being circumspect.

Isaiah 46:9-10 9 “I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning.” Our God is circumspect. He knows the end from the beginning, and takes all facts and intents of the heart into account.

Imitating the Lord, we are called to be wise and to take into account the ramifications of our possible actions ! before ! we jump and run. i’ll ask again, How often do you make a “knee jerk reaction” about something without considering the consequences? Think about that, and after you’ve thought, then think about it all some more.

When we take God seriously and practice the conclusion of our foresight and insight, life gets radically better. We may not be too good at it now, but the more we practice “looking before we leap”, counting the cost before we go to war, the better we get at it. To “play the movie” is one of the things alcoholics learn to do in order to succeed. Like Dr. Henry Cloud said, “Going to the movies can save your life by preventing bad things from happening, and it also enables us to see the good things that can happen also.”

i’m Social Porter and this has been Outposts, a beautiful evening on the deck overlooking the Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean over and every evening is pleasant.

Pick up your cross this week, afterall, no one can bear it but you. Look before you leap, see your options before hand and be circumspect about what you perceive. As you go your way, take the time to pray for someone with words that make a difference. Be strong and courageous, and i’ll talk to you next time.

We’ve GOT to stand up. Stand up church, get to your feet and let the goodness of God loose in the world around you. Rare-back and let it fly! C’mon people, stand up church, stand up in life, stand up in your businesses and let your Godly character shine; stand up in your conference meetings and BE the people the Lord has called you to be; stand up in court, stand up in school, stand up and live His Name out loud; stand up in your secret places and do the right thing ‘cause it is always the right time to do the right thing. We’ve GOT to get up off our pews, get up out of our indifferent places, get up from our leisure…put that fishin’ pole down and let’s get down to business with the Lord. Get up and move out! Put on our “git ‘er done” clothes, and move out. Stand up church, get to your feet and let the righteousness of God loose in the world around you. Let’s stop talking about the wonder working power and go out from your safe places and do the wonder working power.

There is a dark cloud on the horizon, impending darkness moving in the direction of the world and in the direction of the church. It looks like a dark sand storm engulfing everything around it. The days of trial are near to our hand, Stand up church, The night is far spent and the day is at hand, stand up church, get to your feet and walk the walk as never before. BE the people of God! Open your mouth in truth, honesty, reconciliation. Augustine said “Truth is like a lion , you don’t have to defend it; let it loose and it will defend itself.” Stand up Church, you’ve GOT to stand up! We can no longer allow ourselves to be complacent and indifferent to what’s going on within us and around us. Polish your armor, sharpen your word skills. Quit complaining about Jezebel being in your midst and simply quit holding hands with the her.

Tell the world about the justice of God, about the grace of God, testify of what you see and hear. Testify, testify, yes, testify of His goodness. Stand UP church, get to your feet, position yourselves before the Living God and be determined to dance the dance or righteousness. Get up! C’mon! Get up! Wake up, we’ve GOT to stand up!

It’s high time to wake up! Get up from you beds, stand up Church, stand up. Get to your feet and move out.

We’re make a clarion call to the people of God…. Stand Up Church! i say no more white noise living, no more non-response to encroaching evil. We MUST stand up, the Lord is with you… you can do this church. Wake up and catch His rhythm….

Nehemiah 9:5 “Stand up and bless the LORD your God Forever and ever! “Blessed be Your glorious name, Which is exalted above all blessing and praise!”

Let your true colors show…..fly your colors, wear your colors, let the world know by your love and character to whom your allegiance lays.

In Psalm 94:14-17 the word says, “ “For the LORD will not cast off His people, Nor will He forsake His inheritance. 15  But judgment will return to righteousness, And all the upright in heart will follow it. 16  Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? 17  Unless the LORD had been my help, My soul would soon have settled in silence.” ”

“Silence is golden” is a shortened proverbial saying with an obscured origin. The first example of it is from the poet Thomas Carlyle, who translated the phrase from German 1831. His translation was, more accurately, “Speech is silver, but silence is golden”, maybe romantically stated, but it is NOT always true…. there are times, like the day we live in, where silence is NOT golden….in fact….our silence, our lack of response, our “white noise” is often taken as our being complicit with darkness and that just will not do.

In Isaiah 48:12-13i believe the Lord is speaking to us, “Listen to Me, O Jacob, And Israel, My called, I am He, I am the First, I am also the Last. Indeed My hand that has laid the foundation of the earth, And My right hand has spread out the heavens above; When I call to them, They stand up together.”

How closely is your ear to the ground at the Lord’s feet? Is your ear even on the ground to hear His going forth? Can you hear the sizzle of the cymbals which have been struck in His presence? Can you hear the cadence of Heaven’s drum beat, or are you sitting in a pew somewhere hoping all the world’s badness will miraculously pass you by?How many of us just go home having done our due diligence of going to church and giving our tithe….we hang up our shirt in the closet, make ourselves a sandwich and sit back in our chair believing someone else will do the work? To whom do we hold an allegiance? Are we allied to the world, committed to our own comfort and money? Do we have an attitude that refuses to be inconvenienced by getting involved with what God is doing?  ….or are we committed to the values of God Himself? Stand up Church! Get to your feet and find out where God is working. Find out where the Lord is working and join Him there.

The word for “standing up” and “standing” was used extensively in the O.T., in  over 1000 times this expression is used in one capacity or another…. many times the entire nation of Israel was called to “stand before the Lord” in solemn assemblies…. the phrase “stand before Him” is an expression of dedication, allegiance, and service. Joseph stood before Pharoah, David before Saul, etc, etc and so the believer stands before the Lord in a position of obedience, respect, and readiness to serve. When at church and the music starts, do most of us even know why we stand? Is it because someone told you to? Is it blind habit, something we do because… well… it’s what we always do? Maybe it’s that we see others stand and we don’t want to be the odd one out… and if no one told you to – would you stand anyway? Why would you do that? The wise take the time to carefully consider their motivations….do you stand for righteous reasons?…..what are your reasons for standing, or not?

The whole idea of “standing up” has vision and choosing in it.To stand up means to confront fearlessly, oppose boldly, to take a stand for or against; to hold one’s ground or principles in the face of a challenge. With two eyes which connect to one brain we “see” and we choose our actions. We have the choice to sit in silence and conceal the truth of God, or we choose to stand up and reveal the truth of God –God concealed/God revealed, Deus Abscontitus/Deus Revelatus. In the action of our “standing up” there comes an enabling of the underlying power of the spiritual which is brought into the physical life. To “stand up”, from the Lord’s perspective isn’t in arrogance, but in humility, for the whole idea is to stand for something…..i’m sure you’ve heard the saying that if we don’t stand for something we’ll certainly fall for anything. Can you hear me?

Count the cost and don’t be afraid. The Lord has the cost covered….we have everything to gain in Christ, and nothing to lose. The word of the Lord in Isaiah 40:8, where it says, “The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever,” that scripture gives us a picture that His Word is not sitting in repose or idle…. it is standing and will forever stand, it is active and ready. If His word stands, then we should also. ….and having done all, to stand, Stand therefore… Stand up Church! Get your feet underneath you and stand up

We might say to ourselves that we can be equally effective when we sit, which is quite possibly true, but standing up is a physical action, it implies a mental and spiritual action with a posture of readiness.

Look at the N.T. hero’s of faith. Were they idle, where they casual in their faith, did they lead a life of repose because “standing up” and being firm about the gospel was too scary or too inconvenient?

In Acts 2, Peter stood up with the eleven….he lifted up his voice and testified… it would also appear that the eleven were already standing…they were ready, feet planted, committed and determined.

Acts 4:14, the healed man was standing with the others.By his standing up he was making a declaration…. he took action, testifying of God’s wonder-working power and grace.

In Acts 5 the apostles were seized and thrown into common prison, but then an angel came and rocked that place….prison doors thrown open and they were brought out….then the angel delivered the word of the Lord to them saying, “”Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.”

“GO STAND” is significant. It was a posture of readiness, a position of declaration, they arose and took action. “GO STAND” was a command not to be at leisure nor to be silent or complacent, but to rise up in the power of their testimony.

Now we come to Stephen. Great day what a testimony. In Acts 6 Stephen is revealed as a man of God, full of grace, having done many signs and wonders among the people. The Pharisee’s secretly got some people to lie saying Stephen had used the Name of the Lord tritely with cursing and they stirred up the people and elders against him; they grabbed him and took him to the council for judgment. There….Stephen stood up, do you see that? He stood up, held his ground and testified. As he was standing, all witnessed a physical change in his demeanor. Acts 6:15 says they observed him to have the face of an angel – i take it that he was radiant. Acts 7 reveals that he stood up, radiant in the power of the Holy Spirit and preached quite a piercing sermon….so much so that they were all cut to the heart. Acts 7:55-56, “But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56  and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

The Lord was standing, ready…..He was not sitting at rest and it is significant that the Lord was standing. In anger and rage they grabbed Stephen and stoned him, meaning they hit him with rocks breaking skin and bones until someone came with what is called “the headstone” which was the stone used to crush the head of the stoning victim.

Before he died, incredibly, he asked the Lord to not lay this sin to their charge. Stephen was no victim i’ll tell you that! How many of us would have simply been silent from the start, hoping that these accusations would just pass over us, being silent little sheep trembling in fear?

Stephen was committed to God’s values…. he stood up, firm in faith and delivered the words the Lord gave him.

Continuing on of course there was Paul who stood firm to the end. Peter and John stood up in the power of the Holy Spirit. All the apostles stood up in the Name of Jesus and are among the thousands of martyrs across history who stood firm for their faith in Christ. As they did, we must do also…. stand up church. Albert Einstein said, “The world as we know it will not be destroyed by evil,  but by those who watch without doing anything about it. ”Revelation 12:11 11  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” Get to your feet and be strong, testify of God’s goodness. Be silent no longer and stand….. up!

Imagine with me for a moment …. imagine in one large picture a vision of the United States; now imagine all the churches in all the cities, towns, and communities, some large, some small, some in homes, some in huge buildings….see all the people who come in and go out again, some walking, some riding, some rich, some poor. Imagine what it would be like if the churchstood up and began to seriously stand for God’s values and the testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

How different would our nation be if we, the church stood up, spoke out, and took action….. no longer being scared little sheep who feared they might not have their comfortable life or might not be liked by others if we lived out righteous character

2 Thess2:, “ So then, brethren, be constantly standing firm and holding fast to the teachings which were delivered to you….”

The Lord establishes us, meaning He causes His ways to stand up in us, His appointments “stand up”, they are made known and declared, they endure and persist. Church…. stand up….declare your colors, whose side are you on?…. be determined to endure and persist, make His values and appointments clear to the world around you…..it is righteous.

Friends – stand up from among the dead! We are not called to pander to the world, nor are we called to live passive lives. He asked us to stand up for righteousness, truth, honor and honesty; He asked us to be lights to the world and no light is ever passive in the dark – it shines where it shines in every place it can illuminate, not in brutal attacks but in grace and love….persistent, enduring, firm,  and unwavering.

Daniel 2:44, “And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”

The Lord establishes all that His Kingdom represents and it will endure and persist forever…. as will the people who occupy the Kingdom with Him. Standing up gives evidence to the validity of our testimony.. He gives us our substance that He would establish us in the face of the world and darkness

Stand up from among the dead and get to your feet. It’s time to wake up from your slumber, from your passivity, from you indifference, from your laziness that says it’s too much trouble to be involved with God. Let your hands be strong those who have been hearing and stand up in these days. Our Redeemer will “Stand Up” for His people, Zechariah8 says, “So I will save you, and you s hall be a blessing. Do not fear, Let your hands be strong.’” Amen.

The Lord says in Psalm that His throne endures forever, His throne as the days of Heaven, His Name to all generations will stand up and persist. Psalm 104:31, “May the glory of the LORD stand up forever; May the LORD rejoice in His works.”

He has put His words in our mouths and has covered us with the shadow of His hand that He would plant Heaven in us as fragrant flowers in His Name. He will call us His People!

This has been Outposts, broadcast live from the late evening banks of the Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees lean over the rivers edge and every evening in pleasant. This production has been brought to you by Living In His Name Ministries, and Trinity Bakers, where there’s always something good in the oven.

We’ve GOT to stand up. Stand up church, get to your feet and let the goodness of God loose in the world around you. Rear-back and let it fly! Stand up church, stand up in life, stand up in your businesses and let your Godly character shine; stand up in your conference meetings and BE the people the Lord has called you to be; stand up at court in truth, stand up at school in honesty, stand up and live His Name out loud; stand up in your secret places and do the right thing ‘cause it is always the right time to do the right thing. We’ve GOT to get up from our pews, get up from our indifferent places, get up from our leisure…put that fishin’ pole down and let’s get down to business with the God. Put on our “git ‘er done” clothes, and step up. Stand up church, get to your feet and let the righteousness of God loose in the world around you.

The days are upon us friends, take this seriously, please, think about it. Amen.