Deuteronomy 31:8 “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

To what or whom do you turn when you’re in the middle of a terrific storm or experiencing a terrible loss? Someone? No one? Anyone? Are there any truly safe people in your life who would comfort you in your time of need as opposed to someone who is inspired to review how you fell short and could have done things better? i think most of us tend to first look to what we know, like someone or something that has helped us in the past. Sometimes though, trying to get hold of what seemed to work before… just doesn’t resolve anything and we keep coming up empty handed. In the late hours, sitting, searching, and thinking … we walk the paths of our remembrances, we talk to a spouse, a parent or friend… they mean well but, often it seems their counsel is almost cliché, appearing to, offhandedly, say things like, “Just give it to God my friend”, or “Your loved one is in Heaven now, looking down and smiling on you.” Let me say again, they mean well, but maybe an understanding smile, or a silent hug many times is a much better reply. Most of us, i’m sure, appreciate the friendship offered us, but truthfully, we would like something a little more solid. Honestly, we want an answer, even when we aren’t too sure of the question.

Our national news and media service give the feeling of working to cut the Christian faith off at the knees, but after a careful inspection, i find the Bible is a lot more solid than its critics and even many of its advocates realize. It has consistent lines of thought we can base our lives. If we look and are willing to put God’s directions into motion, we will find solutions to life’s most difficult situations. God’s justice and mercy, his offer of eternal life, the source of faith, hope, wisdom, strength, and love, it’s all there.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

You’re not here reading this just because you “happen” to be tuned in. No no no. Nothing just happens and the truth is, i seriously doubt there is actually any such thing as happen-stance. This evening’s topic is about one of the Lord’s attributes, which is comfort and consolation. He is called the God of all comfort in 2Cor1:3. In the spelling of the Hebrew word for comfort and consolation, in it’s very root is the idea of God’s support toward those who breath strongly for sorrow, and weeping in grief. He is compassionate and kind to sad and weeping hearts and is the master of consolation.

There was a time in my life many years ago when i seemed far from the Lord. It wasn’t the Lord who moved, it was me. i had lost the focus on my life’s point of convergence and, like a boat untied from its moorings, i ebbed, obliviously, farther and farther away from Jesus. When i came to myself, i was in a panic in my heart. i felt in danger. i know that sounds odd maybe, but it’s the best way i can think of to describe what was going on. Feeling vulnerable and in danger, i turned to my Bible in an effort to re-center on Jesus, the source of my peace. Psalm 94:19, “When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.”

When life confronts us with terrible loss and we can’t seem to find our feet again, God’s offer of comfort and consolation stands unwavering. It is not God WAS the God of all comfort, but He IS the God of all comfort and the declaration in 2Corinthians will never fade, that is always true. A.W. Tozer said, “The word of God once spoken… His word never ceases to be said.”

In our society today, in our nation, from the Chief of Staff to the saddest street person imaginable, we all seem to have a need to blame someone for everything. In almost every news report of tragedy and sadness, the media service is always on a witch hunt to find out who was responsible and who is to blame for travesty and badness.

Know this, it wasn’t God who did this to you. And yes, He did know those things would happen to you, God knows the end from the beginning, but His knowing isn’t His determining. Catch that and let it sink into your ears, God’s knowing is NOT His ordaining.  Just because He knew i would skin my knee, doesn’t mean that God ordained that i should skin my knee. Similarly, just because He knew unfortunate things would happen to us doesn’t mean He designed and implemented those things to happen. And if God didn’t set those things in motion, who does that leave? If the Lord isn’t the one whispering doom to you, then who does that leave? That’s right, it’s not God, and it’s not you, so who does that leave?

When confronted by inconsolable loss, consider our examples from the Bible: Job 6:10 says faith is a consolation: “Then I would still have this consolation– my joy in unrelenting pain– that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.”

David writes in Ps119:50, “My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.” and vs 76 continues, “May your unfailing love be my comfort.”

Isaiah wrote in chapter 49, vs 13, “For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.”

God speaks to his people in Jer31:13, “I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.”

The Lord knew that even the kindest words are not consolation enough when we are pressed by death and loss, as a result, He went the next mile and sent his Son to save us, and sends his Spirit to bring us to him. Jesus IS our consolation.

Jesus told his disciples, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

It seems to me that we have often heard the words of Jesus as if He were making a speech or something, but do you think maybe His words in Matt5:4, were not just a speech but more a sincere offer to do just exactly what He said? His words were not part of some speech to gain support, raise money , or gain a following. He was and is making an offer in that He’s offering to help comfort us now if we will turn to him, yes, if we would only turn to him and say, “Is that offer still good?” Or how about, “Lord, i’ll take you up on that offer of comfort, ‘cause i could sure use some.” He is never too lofty to hear, and we are never too far out of plumb to call.

From the beginning of the Bible to now, Christ appears though out Scripture as the Great Consoler. He makes His offer of consolation to us again and again from the first to the last book. Revelation 3:20, “Behold! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” When Jesus enters in with us, there is consolation and comfort for weary souls, for our wounded and sad hearts.

Within the word “comfort” is the idea of raising up the faithful by the Lord’s strong right arm and divine support… there is hope.

Jesus IS our consolation, for the nails which pinned our Savior to the cross are significant to the grace connection of Heaven and earth… and in that connection is comfort for those alone in the dark… we don’t have to weep in the dark any longer.

Seeing as how God’s word for “comfort” is closely allied to His word for “mercy”, we can conclude that by His mercy, He extends us comfort and consolation. Through His covenant with us there is something for us beyond our sad circumstances; the action of consolation and comfort grows new beginnings out of the ashes of burned out lives, God’s divine comfort breaths life, the rising springs of water of God’s refreshing which He brings to us. When we allow Jesus to comfort us our eyes can see God’s supernatural strong right arm, and His presence and support become evident. Did you hear all that? It is beyond the simple Miriam-Webster dictionary blurb, which once again doesn’t even begin to tell the story of what God has for us. Jesus IS our comfort, and by His strong, supernatural right arm, He draws us near to Himself, and wipes the tears from those who weep.

Psalm 94:19, “When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.” Luke 2:25, “Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.”

Again, Jesus, Himself IS our Consolation. Sufficient comfort and consolation is possible when we begin by seeing Jesus as Comfort, and Consolation personified- the same way we see Him as “the Way, the Truth and the Life.” Jesus isn’t just “a way”, He Himself is the way; He doesn’t just know the truth, He Himself IS the truth; and finally, He doesn’t simply have life, He Himself, is Life. To carry it on, He is our comfort, consolation personified.

Luke 11:3, “Give us each day our daily bread.” i bet most people think that verse has something to do with asking the Lord for bacon and eggs every morning, or at least something about getting food, but that’s not what the Lord is saying. It means that Jesus IS our daily bread and can be understood as “our daily bread”, in the same way He is our consolation and can be understood as “our comfort” in this life.

John 6:51, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

i met a woman last week who was raised by her drug addicted mother and an abusive grandmother. When she grew up, after many failed relationships, she had a child, a beautiful baby boy. As a young single mom, she gave her life to Christ, and things were better than she had ever known. She worked hard, and as a result, she had a baby sitter keeping her child. Tragedy struck when she got the call that due to abuse and neglect by the sitter, her child died, she was alone in the world again. From her perspective, God and her child were the only ones who had ever loved her, and not only was the child gone, but she felt far from the Lord and self-medicated to find some relief. 20 years later she was still an emotional wreck … she couldn’t hardly get 10 words out of her mouth before the tears just started pouring from her eyes. Can you imagine living like that for 20 years? She had prayed many other times, but i guess the day we prayed wasn’t going to be like any other days. When we prayed for rest and consolation on that day, 20 years after her child died, something shifted. The air got sweet, and bright; there came the faint smell of vanilla and grapes in the room, and suddenly, she brightened and laughed, and said through her tears that Jesus was inside and out, and she felt light. Jesus came near and comforted her wounded heart. Interestingly, in the time of her visitation, she said God had made her to know some wisdom, He said, “Of course, I don’t want you to forget your little one, but it’s like a newspaper…what happened 20 years ago cannot be allowed to continue to occupy space on your front-page news every day. I will not forget him or you, but let Me put your memory of him in its rightful place, and you and I can get on with your life.”

Jesus was her comfort. She could either continue to weep in the corner or let Jesus comfort her heart. The future will come, one way or another. Jesus changed her mind and heart. God truly is the Lord of comfort.

           Hebrews 7:24, “…but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he ever lives to intercede for them.”

Psalm 16:11, “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”

God’s consolation and comfort is not just for us to hide away. i mean, yes, it is for us, but also for us to give away to others. If God gives you something, it is also yours to give away too. If we look up consolation in Webster’s Dictionary, we’re handed the silly definition of “to console”, right… like we didn’t know that already. So, to continue on, if we look up console, it says, “see comfort”. Now, i want you to know, from God’s perspective comfort is NOT consolation. In scripture they are two different words, although sometimes the translators exchanged comfort for console, and sometimes even translated “console” as “repent”. Ultimately, the buck stops with God and from His perspective “console” and “consolation” mean >> God, who is our shelter, supports us in our times of need with truth and grace, with truth and grace nailed to support by way of the cross of Jesus. He literally breaths deeply after us with a physical display of compassion. We can see His consoling heart in Hosea11:8 “How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim (tseb-ee-yeem’)? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.” Interestingly and additionally, within the word “console” and “consolation” there is a tension of encouraging others to come home.

The Lord comforts us in our sorrows so that we may console others.  I don’t know all of the answers or the reasons there is suffering in this world. Although i personally have suffered some terrible things just like you… most of us understand very little about the mystery of suffering, but what i do know about suffering is that it reduces everything to its lowest common denominator, and in the middle of life’s vicious circumstances Jesus is our comforter and consolation, without fail. Some other things i know about suffering are that it adds meaning and dimension to even the smallest things, it reduces culture to a classless society, it teaches us to grow. Lastly, in the middle of suffering we don’t realize how much courage we’ve got until all our options are done and there are no others. Opposingly, we don’t realize how powerless we are until all efforts are spent and yet the situation remains the same.

Rest your hope in the person and power of Jesus Christ, for He has proven Himself faithful throughout the history of His people. He has not left you to suffer alone, but provides you with comfort in His Son. God calls troubles “light affliction, which is but for a moment.” Sometimes it truly is challenging during our difficulties, but God sees around corners. We are encouraged to look not only at what is presently happening, but to look at things which are not seen, using insight and foresight, understanding present and future spiritual realities. God is present always, and already has a solution to every problem. He is faithful to always provide a way of escape so believers can patiently endure, and cast their cares on Him knowing He cares for them. Think about it.

           The Holy Spirit and the Word of God give us comfort, and God’s consolation and comfort is strengthening, encouraging, inspiring and gives hope. God’s comfort is not given so that people can just sit around, as one friend would say, “waiting, wishing, wanting and whining,” but rather to get busy, live for Christ and move forward in faith.

The Lord is God of all comfort in 2Cor1:3. In Jesus is kindness and support toward those who breath strongly because of sorrow. He has comfort for those who weep in grief, who sit in a corner and cry softly. He is compassionate and kind to sad and weeping hearts and is the master of consolation.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.”

i’m Social Porter and this has been Outposts.

If we have nothing to rely on, or we forget our blessing and sink into our circumstances, thereby becoming circumstantial, then discouragement begins to take hold. We need hope and peace. Be encouraged because the Lord is there with us in our affliction, and is not leaving us unloved or uncared for. It’s time to re-focus on Jesus, amen.

How is it we can do so many things God asks us to do and yet, for many, we have seemingly no clue about who He really is? i mean, we say we do, and of course we actually do to a degree, but really getting to know the person whom we say we love takes time and patience. Our abilities to observe and reason must change from the way we understand the world to understanding someone who is not of this world, bigger and better than anyone we can imagine. Like an infinitely faceted diamond, there is so much of the Lord Himself to know about, i can’t help but think that if we actually knew Him better, our difficulties and problems would be seen with such a shift in perspective they would become insignificant to the point where we would truly be willing to endure anything to be where our lover is.

What is that old song from back in the 50’s, “Getting To Know You”….you know the one:

(part of tune “Getting To Know You”, Julie Andrews)

How should that old love song NOT apply to our relationship with Jesus? The lyrics seem to fit so well. So just how does one get to know God, and why would anyone really want to know, who *I* think is, the most wonderful, worthy, loveable person, in the entirety of forever, Jesus?

i’m Social Porter and this has been Outposts, a semi-live broadcast from the late night, cascading banks of the Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean over the rivers edge, the fire fly’s are out by the billion, and every evening is pleasant, peace is our cornerstone.

Cool Jazz and contemplative conversation is our format, i hope you enjoy this Friday evenings content. We’re venturing out into the deep waters of “Getting to Know God”, why would you want to do that, and the benefits of knowing Him. Stand by, refresh your coffee, tap your toe, dream a little, and we’ll be right back.

Matthew 14:23 “When the crowd dispersed, he climbed the mountain so he could be by himself and pray. He stayed there alone, late into the night.”

Spending time with God is THE key to developing the essential and vital relationship with Him we all so desperately need. Just simply being involved with God gives us the tools we need to meet the difficulties of life in general. i’ll be the first to say, hanging out with God is the greatest joy of my life, but it’s not an easy sort of thing to do, not because He is difficult, but because *i am* difficult. Regardless, we need to develop the discipline of spending time alone with God—He is the fertile soil, we are rooted in Him, and grow we must. The Lord is interested in us all becoming mature children, and if we are to mature then we must do the work of growing. i need Jesus to grow and so do you …. as no one is an island unto themselves, neither are we able to grow in Christ by ourselves.

Luke 2:40 says very plainly, speaking of Jesus, “And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace (favor and spiritual blessing) of God was upon Him.”

Jesus grew and we must grow also.

i suppose it would be easy to ask the question: “What’s in it for me?” The “what about me” crowd seems to, foundationally, be interested in a relationship with God, but it’s overlaid with a heart posture that wonders what they get out of it, always measuring the profit margin. Friends, it is a “relationship”, not a pecking order …. a “love relationship” is not a merit/demerit system…… the word “relate” is the root of relationship and God has made a way for us to relate to Him through Jesus Christ. The Lord a two-way street for us through the cross of Christ, not just the one way street of an action, but the two way street of interaction. He’s interested in spending time with you and i, and He doesn’t want to chase us down all the time in order to do that. Have you ever had a friend who never called you, but you always called them? …. and it seemed you were always the initiator? Yea…one of those….And one day you sort of wake up and realize, if you never dialed their number, chances are VERY good you’d probably never hear from them….well, unless they needed something. Many a church goer is like that friend when it comes to a relationship with Jesus.

That relationship with God is the goal of Christianity and it’s where the true joy in being a Christian is found, so if we neglect it, we’re missing the whole point. Is your goal, your skopos in Greek, is it just something you’re shooting for, or is it a person who encompasses all you hope for, who drives your life, and motivates your passions? What’s your goal?

Getting to know God means we must spend time with Him. One way is simply reading His word. Ya’ gotta admit, we can’t know it if we don’t read it, and we can’t just sleep with a Bible under our pillows and hope that by osmosis, somehow the words and meanings will just seep into our mind and spirit. Reading your Bible is a choice. We’re not reading because we’re too busy, that’s an excuse. We’re not reading because we are choosing.

Most all of us have gone into our room to read our Bible, and there on the table is a Bible and one of our favorite magazines. Which one do you think the devil would prefer you pick up? It’s not the Bible. Reading your Bible is a purposeful choice, we have to choose to Get To Know God, we have to aim ourselves at Him, or position ourselves, and purpose to set our feet in the direction of Jesus. Maybe it seems as if the day you met Jesus was a bit “coincidental”, but i can assure you it was not. NOTHING just ….happens… God purposed to meet you, He orchestrated the entire encounter, and now you must purpose to meet Him. A one way street only runs just so far, and a relationship is a two way street.

Prayer is another way of getting to know God. Now isn’t it the truth that if we don’t talk to anyone, it is right nigh impossible to have a relationship, much less relating to anyone as an acquaintance. It is silly to think of saying we know someone if we don’t talk to them. Talk to Jesus, we’ve got everything to gain and nothing to lose by carrying on a conversation with the Lord. If we’ll talk to Him, i promise He will talk back, if we’ll listen.

Plainly spoken, knowing Jesus !IS! the benefit of knowing God. There are other benefits, but that is primary. Praying gets us involved with Him; reading our Bible gets us involved with Him, but is reading and studying His word really enough? i’ve known more than a few, sadly, who read, study, analyze, and get certified in the study of the Bible, yet are quite possibly some of the most spiritually blind people i’ve ever met. They interpret it based on experiences, flesh, and the findings of other “really smart people”. How is it someone can read the Word of God daily, and not understand even the elementary characteristics of God? We can’t know the Lord based on what someone else says. We’ve got to know Him for ourselves.

Getting to know Jesus is the key. Knowing who He is and How He is …is more important than just being able to quote scripture or pray eloquent prayers. Knowing Jesus is THE key. Ya know what i mean?

In getting to Know the Lord, we can more easily find out what God wants for us; learning to draw close to the Lord tends to refocus us and get our mind off the world and the worries which surround us. Also i believe in drawing close to Jesus we naturally become more like Him …. for the closer He gets to all things the more all things become like Him. Most importantly, the more time I spend with God, the more I will love Him! To know Him is to love Him, afterall, He *! IS !* the fairest of all, no joke.

Another way to get to know God is through worship and praise. Is worship just going to Sunday service? i see alot of signs that say, “Come worship with us”, but when you go, the idea your left with is a far cry from the idea of worship in the Bible. Worship isn’t the words and singing, but a lifestyle with a constant upward pointing to the sovereignty of God as our second nature. Worship is a decision and action, not a feeling. We need to discipline ourselves to worship even when we don’t feel like it. The Lord deserves our worship, so we should give it to Him. It is His and His alone and there is not another who is worthy of an honorable mention. To reiterate, worship and praise helps us focus on the Lord, not ourselves and not our circumstances; it helps get us out of ourselves. It would probably be good to stop thinking about ourselves so much, and focus on Him so we can put things in perspective. Worship and praise inspire humility and reminds us of the truth of who God is.

Position yourselves to draw close to the Lord and know that getting to know God is the greatest thing in the universe we could ever do. Breathing is at the top of my list of important things to do, and knowing Jesus is more important than breathing.

Shifting gears a little, let me list some of the benefits of knowing God. When we Get To Know Jesus, He shares with us His attributes, like Hope, Peace, Wisdom, Courage, Strength…. and there are some other more subtle benefits like rhyme and rhythm in the ebb and flow of our work-a-day world, or diligence, endurance, persistence, humor, perception, intimacy, and joy.  In our getting to know the Lord He shares with us His compassion and privilege, grace and reason, His creativity and righteousness, His sanctification and companionship. Those are just a few of the benefits of knowing God, and over time, i have compiled quite a list.

And why would anyone want to know the King of the Universe? To know Him is to love Him, and if anyone has ever met Him they are permanently imprinted by His goodness and grace…. they will never be the same, in Jesus Name.

Maybe some of us feel we are having a difficult time Getting to Know Him….here’s some very simple suggestions:

Don’t rush your time with God. There are things He’d like to say to you and, honestly, it’s difficult to talk to someone when they are busy talking or they don’t have time to listen. Slow down! Take the time to sit with Him. If we’re not willing to sit with Him a while, why should He share anymore than He does? i think we’ve all suffered a relationship of two where the other person only wanted something from us, and the moment we ceased giving what they wanted, they were off to the next thing.

Do you feel you’ve gotten in a rut and don’t feel you’re connecting? Try looking at different ways to spend your time with Him: read a different translation, move to a different spot, maybe ignore your reading plan! and let the Holy Spirit lead you. How about try a different time or place, maybe add a devotional – do whatever it takes …. how about just being honest and telling the Lord you feel like you’re in a rut in your relationship with Him and ask Him to help you out of it. Being honest and transparent with the Lord goes a really, really long way to knowing Him better.

Another way distance grows between ourselves and Jesus is by our not sharing what God is teaching us. When we don’t share with others what God is doing, it can discourage us and maybe we stumble into what i call, the doldrums of boredom – find some friends to share with from time to time. Let His testimony out of your mouth.

And of course, none of those suggestions really cut the mustard when we are in a crisis of faith and it is a season of literally just holding on, believing God will change things shortly. You know, we all love a prophetic word of encouragement, and sometimes, sometimes…. i think the Lord gives someone a word for us because the world as we know it is about to spin under our feet and, in His mercy, God is giving us something to grip to until our world is repositioned for a new season.

It is a new season. If you will ask Him, He will tell you. If we will draw close to Him, He will draw close you us, and that’s right out of James 4:8 “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”

Jesus loves you and has been waiting your entire life to be close to the object of His affection, you and i. Getting to know the Lord is the best thing anyone could do. Really really. Think about it

What do we mean by saying, “Knowing Christ”? Faith, Bible reading, doing right, loving others are all a means to an end, but in the end …. knowing Jesus is the prize. When we say, “I know you”, is that figuratively, literally, euphemistically, or inferentially – the act of passing information around? When i say i know the Lord, it means i have a good idea of what makes Him tick, and what His preferences are. Knowing God means we are more than just aquainted, more than just passing conversationalists. It means we know His joys, His sorrows, what makes Him happy or angry….we know His tendencies, His hopes and dreams.

This has been Outposts, brought to you semi-live from the late evening, cascading banks of the Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees lean gently over the rivers edge, and every evening is oh so pleasant. i’m Social Porter and this production has been brought to you by Living In His Name Ministries, Area 22 Guitars, Gladys Ward at Select Foods, Bobby Whitmire, Kevin, Perry, and Tommy of the Mebane Freedom League, White Knuckle Studios, and Trinity Bakers, where there’s always something good in the oven.

i hope i’ve not posed too many questions….but i do want you’all to know the questions are posed to encourage us to think our facade of skin, 2-3” below the surface of our presentation face. Do you know what i’m saying?

Hosea 6:3 “So Let us know, let us press on to know the LORD; his going forth is as certain as the dawn; he will come to us like the rain, like the spring rains that water the earth.”

Be blessed this week, pray for your neighbor, get involved somewhere, and be a friend to someone. Till we meet again, amen.

Ephesians 2:1-5 “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But 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.”

God, YHWH, who is rich in mercy is the King of the Universe. What an amazing heart God has toward us, and i mean not just those who believe on His name, but all people. Because the Lord is merciful, Matthew 5:45, “… He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

Friends, for those who know Jesus, rest assured there is a Divine Spark glowing within you, and you are part of the magnificence of God. Yet, let me encourage you, don’t become preoccupied with yourself. If all you have in the room of your mind is mirrors, you will only be aware of yourself and your own needs. Take this suggestion seriously, replace some of those mirrors with windows so you can discover the world outside yourself and the needs of others.

Speaking of the needs of others, this evening’s topic is about the “Power of Mercy”. Mercy, specifically, the mercy of God – invented by God, exercised by God, who is the soul owner of righteous mercy in the universe … mercy, it is one of my prized possessions.

 Genesis 19:19 “Indeed now, your servant has found grace in your sight, and you have increased your kindness which you have shown me by saving my life;.” Interestingly, in some translations, the Hebrew word for mercy was translated as kindness and i take exception to calling a specific thing by another name. Gosh, let’s just call it what it is. Kindness is a subset of mercy and it probably should have been mercy. Kindness and compassion are derivatives of mercy, and the quality of compassion is what we would call being merciful. Indeed, in the Old Testament, there is another word used for “mercy”, but in this case, today, “hesed” is the focus of God’s character which we want to appropriate for ourselves. When scripture says, typically, that the Lord is compassionate and gracious, those two are derivatives of the word “merciful”. To say “the Lords mercy endures forever” is to say He is kind and compassionate beyond the vanishing point. The mercy of the Lord spans our lives from the beginning to the end. Every mountain and valley, every river and sea, every man, woman and child breaths and live within the amazing mercy of God.

Abraham was the first in scripture to mention the amazing power of the mercy of God. We badly need to understand that the idea of God’s mercy is far more than just a Webster’s Dictionary blurb. True, mercy is the withholding of judgment, but it is so SO much more. It is God’s expression of pity towards us as one who has love for an unborn child. His idea of mercy includes redemption from trouble and enemies. To say “God’s mercy” includes preservation of life from death, and is the foundational action for the redemption of sin. Did you hear that? God’s mercy is the action of His compassion and kindness. Again, literally, the Hebrew word for “mercy” means “God’s kindness and compassion beyond the vanishing point.” How far away is your vanishing point? Believe me, in His mercy, the Lord stands on your horizon and occupies space at your vanishing point. Like the rising sun, the glow of His mercy lights up all the earth, from river to rim.

Jesus said in Matthew 11:29 “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me…” The yoke of this world without God is one of turmoil, grief and suffering, with grief as the default setting for the endpoint of life without Christ. In light of that then, what is His “yoke” that we should take it upon ourselves? i suppose it would be good to understand that a “yoke” is a connection between two things so that they move and work together, and if we take upon ourselves HIS yoke, we will be yoked with God, working and moving together, and in that picture we understand The Lord calls for us to come participate with Him in what He’s doing. His easy and gentle yoke is composed of, here it is: mercy, compassion, kindness, and grace, and has the sum value of love. That is so excellent i’m going to say it again so put your ears on: the yoke Jesus spoke of in Matthew 11:29 is composed of mercy, compassion, kindness, and grace, and has the sum value of love. In other words, when we sum up all righteous mercy, compassion, kindness, and grace, it all adds up to Love.

Grace is sister to Mercy, and where mercy is, grace is close by. Within the Hebrew word for mercy is the word grace … the Lord has given me some words to portray the idea of grace within mercy – it goes like this: Grace under the umbrella of mercy is “Compassion and kindness beyond the vanishing point, which crowns us with the Sword of the Spirit for life and new beginnings.”  Yea! Now that’s a good definition, at least i think so. i can literally “see” it in my mind.

i love the way the words “mercy” and “grace” sound and feel in my mouth, sort of like tasting something delicious and right. i want to say it again and again until my mind hears what my heart is saying, “mercy is God’s divine compassion and kindness beyond the vanishing point, like the light from Heaven, the blood of the Lamb, applied to the door posts of our heart for new beginnings.” Yea man, that’s what i’m talkin’ about!

Abraham was not content to simply receive God’s compassion and kindness, he took it up a notch becoming the human embodiment of God’s infinite kindness. Through God’s love and kindness Abraham inspired others to follow after the Lord. i find the mercy of God an inspiration. From studying the life of Abraham, and ultimately Jesus, we easily see that man’s humanity reaches it’s zenith in his imitation of the Ways of God, and … within the store house of mercy, is a key component – truth. The opposite of all that, when we imitate anyone or anything other than the Lord, is rock bottom at the lowest ebb possible, with the key component as lies, distrust, suspicion, and corruption.

If we want to live in a culture of honor then truth and honesty are keys we must own and prefer, even to our own hurt. Truth decides when to utilize kindness, when to utilize justice, and when to temper one with the other. When kindness and justice are blended together in proper measure, the result … is Truth. Psalm 25:10 “All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth, To such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.”

The Lord in His wisdom has tied mercy to grace, mercy to truth, and mercy to justice. He is absolutely brilliant! But of course, He is God you know.  The word “systemic” refers to something that is spread throughout, it is not only something you know, but it is system-wide, affecting your entire person. i believe eventually, although mercy starts in our hearts as systemic, eventually it is even intrinsic, as in it is part of our being and becomes part of our nature. Without a systemic love of mercy, honesty, truth, and grace, when those four are lacking in us, we become the people of a multiplicity of vision, meaning we have moved from vision, the singleness of eye, to di-vision, people divided in our hearts. Amazingly though, God has mercy for us and continues to pursue us, regardless of ourselves. We see ourselves in a judicial sense as being right and wrong, but i’m firm the Lord sees us more as near and far from Him. On a side note, i found it interesting that the Lord comforts us, but there is nothing in all scripture implying we will be comfortable, as in relaxed and at ease. As though that’s not enough, i believe most of us hold that we can’t function unless we are comfortable, and that’s a long way from the truth.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” God’s mercy runs from the top to the bottom of His heart, there’s a continual giving nature revealed in that scripture. Mercy is extended to us as comfort in a manner such that we can then use it to comfort others. The focus of mercy is focused outward and isn’t only for ourselves.

The beautiful fabric of our God-clothing is woven with the threads of mercy, and when we extend mercy to others as it has been extend to us, it looks like the action of grace and benefits for other people, it looks like kindness to the needy, and makes us beautiful inside and out … which is why when Jesus lives in your heart, as He is beautiful, we are beautiful, and as He is holy, we are holy also. His mercy is radiant and enduring. His yoke of mercy, compassion, kindness, and grace is only difficult when i’ve got a heart full of don’t want to.

Mercy is linked to all His attributes, therefore it should be linked similarly in every part of our character also. Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” That is God’s expectation of us.

Luke 6:35-36, “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Jesus commanded us to be merciful as He is merciful, with compassion and kindness running in our lives like a clear river because it’s just the way we are, not a rule to keep but someone to be. Do you get it? Loyalty is intrinsic to mercy, they are part of the whole. If someone says that loyalty, which is part of “hesed”, or what we call “mercy” in English, is more important than kindness, or compassion, or grace, then we’ve as good as said the first finger is more important than the ear. The five attributes, mercy, kindness, compassion, loyalty, and grace function as a hand, acting together as one unit, and repetitively throughout scripture, the Lord ties the five together. Mercy is more than loyalty.

Saul had died in defeat. The care of Saul’s body seems clearly to have been a free act of kindness. It is partly where the early church gathered the idea that burying the dead was a mercy and seen as one of the seven virtues.

Also. Laban’s willingness to send Rebekah to Isaac was not from any covenant obligation. It was a kindness as part of mercy to a long-lost relative. He could easily have said no. i hold that the beautiful story of Ruth is tarnished if we think Ruth’s action as motivated by some contractual obligations and loyalty alone. The Lord had no obligation to get the widows new husbands in Moab in Ruth1:8-9. Ruth went with Naomi from pure love. Boaz recognized her action as goodness in Ruth 2:11-12 and calls it “ḥesed”, what we call mercy, and in Ruth 3:10 the translators called it “kindness”.

When the Lord is specific, it is something He really, really wants us to get, like Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Jesus spoke specifically that we should possess and practice mercy.

In Ephesians 2:4, mercy is linked with grace which is linked to love – “But 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.”

Proverbs 14:21-22 refers to making mercy an integral part of your life with wisdom.

The Lord linked mercy to covenant in Nehemiah 1:5 where the writer wrote, “O great and awesome God, you who keep covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments.” The word “and” means “in addition to”.

Mercy is part of forgiveness, starting way back in Numbers 14:18, where God linked longsuffering, and forgiveness with mercy.

On a different note, the unmerciful, shall not receive mercy. When Jesus addressed the Pharisee’s, again, He was very pointed. In Matthew 23:23-24, Jesus said, very plainly, that the Pharisee’s tithed, not money, but things, and he rebuked them for making justice, mercy, and faithfulness something small, they made overly large the paying of tithes and made small justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Jesus was extremely specific! In verse 24 He called them “Gnat swallowers”. Do you know any “gnat swallowers”?

43 times in the O.T. it is specifically written that God’s mercy endures forever. Considering He mentions that His mercy endures forever, do you believe the Lord thinks it is important that we understand the power of mercy, compassion and kindness which is beyond the horizon, past the vanishing point? Isn’t it obvious to us that the Lord’s heart is to be good to us? Why do we have such a hard time letting God be good to us, after all, His mercy endures forever?

i believe one of the most important people to practice mercy on, is … ourselves. We are so mean and stringent with ourselves it is unreal. My religious teaching from years ago has convinced me that i’m not hardly worthy of love or mercy, and it’s so not true. That’s not what God said. Is the Bible true or not? If it is, we need to tuck deep in our pockets God’s perspective of how He sees us and leave our self-loathing behind.

Now about that part concerning being merciful to ourselves … i don’t mean not being mindful of cruelty, lack of love, lying, generally living a life which wounds our conscience, or simply not being responsible for our actions. Anyone who thinks they don’t have to be responsible for themselves and their actions because Jesus quote/unquote “Dealt with all that at Calvary” really doesn’t understand the Heart of God. As long as there’s a devil and we wear flesh, it’s going to be a fight. What i do mean, for example, is we need to quit calling ourselves names in the mirror. Stop cursing yourself, stop loathing your neighbor as you loath yourself. If you make a mistake, let it go and get over it. If you sin, repent, for we have an advocate with the Father. The devil has been trying to get you to hate God and yourself all your life, and i believe it’s high time to cut it out. God has mercy on us, so be merciful as God is merciful; let us be compassionate children of our compassionate father and make mercy a central family value. Don’t just ask for mercy, Show mercy! I would like to suggest today that mercy can’t be regulated. Mercy is wild. Mercy can’t be contained. Mercy cannot be measured. Mercy cannot be sliced in small pieces and offered according to our agenda. Whether or not we have committed one crime or 1 million crimes, God’s mercy pardons us if we seek it.

Mercy offers a way out when the LAW condemns us. When the law cannot protect you, your only hope is mercy. When lawyers can’t take up your case, when judges are ready to give the verdict, you desperately need mercy.

Oh, and before you go doing the law, wherewith i guarantee you’ll see yourself as a failure, remember Romans 7:6 which says we have been delivered from the law. In fact, when the Hebrews made the ark of the covenant, they put the law inside and then covered it with … that’s right, the Lord covered the law with the mercy seat.

In 1 Samuel 6:19 seventy men died because they looked into the ark, meaning that they had to remove the mercy seat to look inside. Why would they have died for looking inside the ark? The law was in the ark, and to look upon the law without the covering of mercy, it is sure death. For those out there who think they want to go back to do the law of the Old Testament, the law has no mercy or grace, and going back to do the law with no mercy is death. We can’t live with one foot in the law and the other foot in grace. Let us prefer the mercy of God through Christ. The power of mercy from God as it is extended towards mankind is life changing for us all. If the Lord did not extend mercy to the entire universe in general, as a whole, there would be no universe, and there would be no us. And that’s a good place to say, Think about it.

Grace is brother to Mercy, and where mercy is, grace is close by. God’s mercy is  “Loyalty, Compassion and kindness beyond the vanishing point, which crowns us with the Sword of the Spirit for life and new beginnings,” and grace is like “the light from Heaven, the blood of the Lamb, applied to the door posts of our heart for new beginnings.”

“Your mercy is great unto the heavens” Psalm 57:10.

“For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His compassion and kindness beyond the vanishing point for them that fear Him” (Psalm 103:11). None can measure God’s mercy, it is beyond the vanishing point.

We are designated “vessels of mercy” in Rom. 9:23.

In Ephesians 2:4,5 It is mercy that made us alive when we were dead in sins.

It is mercy that saves us in Titus 3:5.

It is His abundant mercy which brings us into an eternal inheritance in 1 Peter 1:3.

There simply isn’t enough time or space to tell of the Lord’s preserving, sustaining, pardoning, life supplying mercy. Truly, His mercy, compassion and kindness is beyond the vanishing point.

i’m Social Porter for Living In His Name Ministries and this has been Outposts.

Be kind and generous to a lost and dying world this week, practice mercy for yourself and others. Drive carefully and remember Jesus knows your name, and that’s a good thing. You are not forgotten! Amen!

Psalm 37:11 “But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace.” Psalm 37:34 “Wait for the LORD and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land.” Inheritance from God is a privilege, not something we get because we demand it, nor can we manipulate favor out of God’s hand. Some seem to think more highly of themselves than they are in that they can declare blessing out of God’s hands, or prophecy prosperity out of His pockets making sure to get the words right like they’re speaking some magical incantation. i’ve heard people pray out loud and then insist everyone say “In Jesus Name” together while making a circular motion with their hands like their sealing a pact of some sort. i think that’s just crazy presumptuous, pretentiously assumptive, and arrogantly taking advantage of the privilege the Lord affords us to come to His throne. We can’t name it out of His hand, nor can we claim it from Him in order that we would “make” God give us what we want.

One of the laws of sound doctrine is we must take the entire Bible into account, cover to cover, not just select scriptures which make us look and sound good. Jesus said in John 8:44 “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire.” John makes the same distinction in 1 John 3:10, saying “This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are”. Sounds harsh maybe to some, but there is a difference that is important to point out the distinctions. i’m not creating the difference, God is. Those scriptures are being quoted because, within ourselves, we must draw a distinction of who belongs to God and who does not in order to see privilege as God extends it to us, and pretense as we have extended privilege to ourselves. Let me say that again, that is “privilege as God extends it to us, and pretense as we have extended privilege to ourselves.”

To those who have entered in to a relationship with God, there are amazing and wonderful privileges that come to us, and for those who have NOT entered into a relationship with God and have refused His gift, the only privilege hell will grant is the right to suffer…and that’s a privilege i, personally, do not want. Even at that, let it be known God gives wisdom and mercy, even to those who are not His. Matt5:45, “…for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

i’m Social Porter  and this is Outposts.

The topic is “Of Privilege And Pretense”. Inheritance is a privilege, not something we get because we demand from God, or practice to manipulate favor out of God’s hand. i’d like to briefly discuss privilege as God extends it to us, and pretense as we have extended privilege to ourselves.

Pretense. People seem to love, i say, love personal titles. We love qualifiers and titles which, hopefully, cause the world around us to highly esteem us and think we are worthy of being listened to – maybe even so we will believe we are worthy to be heard in our own ears. We need to hear God more than men. What if God asked you to lose your title and quit telling people your name? Would you still be willing to do what He called you to? Or would the need for the dirty water of men’s praise and being validated in the eyes of other people prevent you from continuing? Let us weigh that one well within our own hearts.

A minimum of 5 times, John simply refers to himself as the “one whom Jesus loved.” John never named his title, someone else did that. i figure he must have been really irritating for some religious people to talk to. i also think it would be safe to assume that he was the premiere apostle on earth and was the last man alive who knew and walked with Jesus, but yet you probably couldn’t get the guy to tell you his name much less his title. i can hear it now, “What’s your name?” “Doesn’t matter.” “Where are you from?” “Doesn’t matter.” “You’re the last apostle, how do you feel about that?” “It’s irrelevant.” “Well, what is relevant and what does matter?” (1John5:20) “That you know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And that you are in Him who is true– his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” 1 John 5:20 was what was important to him, not his entitlements or privilege among the brethren.

The titles we get for ourselves make us larger than we are. i figure only the world and religious people need a title.

i am amazed at the people who demand to be called “pastor”, “apostle”, or “bishop”, “teacher”, or “prophet”. They gladly name themselves. It’s almost as if the Lord did not say over them, “This is my beloved Son, hear Him”, so they say it over themselves. Is it not enough for those people that God has called them? Is it not enough for them to simply be who they are? Proverbs 27:2, “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips.”

i recently heard of people giving themselves titles like, “panoramic prophet”, “all encompassing prophet”, “comprehensive teacher”, “master prophet”, “super-prophet”, “dread apostle”, or “super mystic”, and then there comes a guy trumping all those by naming himself, “Pastor to the prophets”. When will it end? This is absurd. Jesus, even Jesus the Son of God said of Himself in John 5:31, “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid.” Isn’t it enough that God has given us the privilege of exercising His gifts, which are supposed to be used to glorify Him and bring forth the Kingdom of God? His spiritual gifts are a privilege, not used in pretension to create a facade of greatness for ourselves.

When privilege becomes entitlement, when we assume we are more than we are because we “deserve” glory, then pretense is revealed and our God-given-privilege becomes an aberration. Do we think God owes us something and we deserve favor because we have “the right kind of history”?

 Pretentious people are folks who portray themselves as those with unwarranted, or exaggerated importance, worth, or stature. Pretense is when we extend privilege to ourselves, by ourselves and for ourselves, being in our own eyes more than we are. With pretention comes large egos, seeming narcissism, and a compulsion to be “right”, there is a need to be seen.

i believe we often operate in pretentious faith when we feel small, invalidated, and we need to be larger in our own eyes than we are. Romans 12:3, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”

i’m not talking about entitlements like Social Security, which most of us have paid into and are entitled to the pensions of the plan; or Medicare and Medicaid which our taxes have supported and we are entitled to the benefit. Those type of entitlements were meant as a safety net for the needy, not as a prop.

To quote Ezra Bayda, “Perhaps the most basic belief underlying all of our feelings of entitlement, our ‘if onlies,’ and even our illusions, is the belief that life should please us, that life should be comfortable. All of our resistance to life is rooted in our wanting life to be pleasing, comfortable, and safe. When life doesn’t give us what we want — you know, the job that isn’t satisfying, the relationship that isn’t quite working, the body that ages and breaks down — we resist. Our resistance can manifest as anger, fear, or self-pity, and even depression … but whatever forms it takes, it blocks our ability to experience true contentment. We see our discomfort as the problem: yet it’s the belief that we can’t be happy if we’re uncomfortable that is much more of a problem than the discomfort itself.” Wow. Did you catch that? The belief that we can’t be happy if we’re uncomfortable, which is much more of a problem than the discomfort itself.

Often, in our nation, it seems only conquering heroes and title holders count, and it’s okay to do whatever it takes to advance our position. The church says, “Oh, that is the worldly way of living”, but i see the same pretentious behavior going on in my own people who are more than willing to get themselves a position and a title when God doesn’t move fast enough for them.

We tell ourselves that we deserve happiness and to always have things go our way. We often act like a bunch of spoiled little kids when we don’t get what we want. Many of us, when we were kids, expected our parents to chauffeur us around from one place to another. Were we thankful? No; we expected adults to meet our needs; were we were convinced they owed us special treatment? Absolutely, maybe not consciously, but the attitude was still there. And when they didn’t do what we wanted, we cried out demanding: “It’s not fair!”

My friends, God’s appointment will come around to us, but in His time, not ours. He will give us a position and a title if we’ll wait, but it will be on His time schedule and His terms, not ours. And finally, a quote from John Wimbur, founding member of the Vineyard Church, he once said, “Let me see first how the Holy Spirit is using you before we give you a badge defining your place in the Body of Christ.”

Many in Christianity act as if they deserve preferential treatment, like spoiled children demanding their rights of their parents. It isn’t that we have the privilege of preferential treatment by God as His people, but more that we demand our rights from God. For us, as the Body of Christ, to be so involved with ourselves and our agenda and entitlements that we let honesty, truth, and justice ebb away from us really does not speak well of us.

More than a few seem to operate under the pretense that they, themselves, have earned everything and success is entirely of their own making. Really? i believe we take God’s blessing of privilege and twist it into the pretense that we did it all by ourselves.

For me, i’m old enough to surely know one thing about entitlement and that is it doesn’t give up without a fight. On a side note, pretentious privilege and expectations seem to go hand in hand, and you know what is said about exaggerated expectations, that most of the time they are premeditated resentments. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with expectations. We live with it, and it’s part of having hope, but when we got twisted thinking which feeds our twisted expectations, we’re absolutely bound to be disappointed.

So fight we must. Where do we get the idea that we deserve benefits and favor because we have the “right kind of history”, as if God somehow owes us power, blessing, honor, wealth, or life with a lack of conflict? Don’t you know, we’ve all been at war, in some form or another, all our lives, so much, so long, we’ve never known anything but war, and for us to have a life without conflict would be a life in “perfect peace”, which even with the best of us, is an astounding rarity most of us have never known. As long as there’s a devil and we wear skin, it’s going to be a fight.

Shalom does mean peace but it does not mean a lack of conflict or violence. In John 16:33, Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Privilege. God gives us life through His Son Jesus. Life, real life, not life according to the world. It is an exclusive privilege afforded us by God.

Peace is a privilege from God, and we can’t get it because we have declared ourselves or set ourselves up on a podium. Galatians 1:3, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Wisdom is a privilege God gives to all who ask. James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”

Faith is a privilege. It’s a something that is real and without it we can’t please God. Hebrews 11:6, “but without faith it is impossible to please God.” Is the faith in me something i drummed up? No. We can’t go to the store and buy faith. In order to drum it up i would have to have some ability to drum with, and i have no such thing in me. Faith is an exclusive privilege afforded us by the blood of Jesus.

Justification is a privilege. Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Being holy because He is holy is a privilege not to be taken lightly.

Grace is a privilege – it isn’t something we demand from God or manipulate Him into giving. We can’t fast it out of His hand, demand it or declare it from His wealth, nor can we tithe enough or do good works do get some. The privilege of grace was not available under the law, but by Jesus Christ as it is written in John 1:17, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

Those are just a few things which are a privilege extended us exclusively by God.

One definition of privilege is “to be exempted”, and in our case and all who call on the Name of Jesus, we are exempted from the penalty and verdict of death, delivered from the law and corruption.

Salvation, Redemption and mercy are a privilege; We are afforded the privilege of reconciliation – which means God balanced our books; and probably the highest privilege is the Love of God which abides with us forever. Here’s one: being given a seat at the marriage supper of the Lamb, talking, eating, and laughing with God is an amazing privilege! God did not HAVE to give us those things, but because He loves us, He grants us the privilege of sharing in His Kingdom. i don’t ever want to take God’s extension of privilege for granted. Now this may seem odd to say but according to Heb12:5-8, part of the privilege of being part of God’s family is … being tested. i have read somewhere that, unlike the Egyptian’s perspective which said that the heart was weighed after death, the Lord continually evaluates and improves our hearts that in the end we may come forth as gold. It is a privilege to be tried in the refiner’s fire.

It is a privilege to live our lives in the loving kindness and favor of God. The Lord is the center and source of creativity in the universe, and it is a privilege and honor that He shares His resources with us, and shares His inheritance with us. It is an honor that i can’t hardly get my head around. i mean, can you imagine that, the King of the Universe, upon repentance He honors us who were dishonored by sin by making a way for us to come clean, be forgiven, and to come home with honor? He even shares His name with us! Friends, it is a privilege to be placed in leadership in the body of Christ, not so we can get wealthy, not so we can lord it over the sheep, but for the purpose of advancing the Kingdom of God. Not your denomination, not the number of titles you demand others recognize about you, but to advance the Kingdom of God.

Ultimately it is a privilege and eternal honor to know the unknowable. He was known to Martin Luther as “deus absconditus” (ˌdāy-oos-ˌäp-ˈskȯn’-di-ˌtoos\), deus revelatus” (ray-vay-lah’-toos) … Literally meaning, “the hidden God” and “the revealed God,” respectively. The phrases, originally used together by Martin Luther, speak of the paradoxical situation of a hidden God revealing himself and a revealed God hiding himself. For Luther, the unknowable God is revealed in Christ; yet in the cross of Christ, God’s true glory is hidden to human wisdom.

The Lord did not HAVE to reveal Himself to us, it was His good pleasure to grant us the privilege of meeting Him, and it should never, ever be taken that He owes us a ministry, a title, or a position with power and authority.

It isn’t that we have taken, but more that He has given. Psalm 116:12 “What shall I render to the LORD For all His benefits toward me?” Let us be glad and thankful we get the privilege of all His benefits and not stretch our privilege into presumption and pretense. Amen, and think about it.

 Privilege: When God gives us a place and a title, it is given with authority and with His endorsement. Know this – with God’s endorsement, we have the power and authority to do whatsoever He has given us to do. His calling and gifts are a privilege.

Pretense: When we make our own place and give ourselves titles … it is thin, self-exalting, self-important, self–authenticating, and self-validating … ultimately, it’s all about, me, me, me – where I go, what I see, how I feel, what I do, what I say, what I want … me, me, me, always controlling the narrative. Whether we are dictating what others are allowed to talk about, or depreciating ourselves in our conversations where we are the focus, it is still all about ourselves. That is pretentious. Is that really who we want to be as the people of God, or does it just sound like a continuation of pretentious worldly thinking?

i’m Social Porter and this has been Outposts,

The idea is to go with God, not get what we want. It is a privilege to serve in the court of the Great King Jesus before all the host of Heaven. Be strong and courageous, take your dreams seriously, listen carefully for the Lord, it is life and peace for those who have ears to hear. Amen!

When you spend time on a river, you get almost every imaginable condition – heat and rain, high and low, hot and cold.  Any given day can be a challenge, but on average: every day is beautiful! In the evening there is the occasional fisherman launching out for a time of trying his luck, often without success but still satisfied to casually float along – even from here i can see the water swirls of blue and brown around the boat with the fisherman bending over to steer with the rudder, getting clear of the shore line and trees.

          i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, cool jazz and contemplative conversation from the deck which is perched above … and overlooking the late evening cascading banks of the Ockluhwahhah River. There is a warm breeze easing up from the south this evening, i’ve got my coffee, a comfortable chair, a beautiful view and good conversation…. ahhh yea, it doesn’t seem to get any better than this!

          Aside from having Christ as the center of our lives, what are some other attributes which are imperative for us if we are going to live upright, Godly lives before the Lord. All my days are before the Lord and none of them are hidden from God, the one who’s eyes see everything, all potentials and all possibilities, from beginning to end, all at once.

          i have three of God’s imperatives in mind, things we absolutely must have as essentials, they are Wisdom, Hope and Love. Don’t you know you need it, gotta have it, can’t live without it.

          On a side note, as sub-imperatives aiding us to live out God’s three imperatives, the first one is learning the value of letting yourself bend your knees to the Lord, getting yourself some humility, now that’s a good thing, afterall, humility goes before honor, and if you want to have some honor, you’ve gotta get low first. That’s if you want the honor as God would give it to you…otherwise, let’s be honest here and ask the question, is it more important to you to get honor from people and fit in, or get honor from God, regardless of people? Tough question, that’s…if your honest.

           God’s grace is sufficient to see us through life, and it isn’t written as entertainment, it means we need to get low, that we cannot go through things in our own strength. Humbling ourselves before the Lord goes a long way to living well where you are.

          Another sub-imperative is for us to take the time to let God change our perspective. It takes time, just let Him do it. A friend came back from the mission field. At a meeting one evening someone was complaining about their potential problems next year, as they foresaw them….. my missionary friend spoke over the top of the room saying that if we have heat, food for more than a day, shelter, and water, then we are probably ahead of 80% of the rest of the world. It was quite a piercing moment.

          i’ve been told i’m an independent fellow, and what they mean is that i come off as not allowing anyone help me. i don’t know about that, maybe what’s closer to the truth is, it doesn’t actually occur to me that i need help. But i can tell you this, in addition to God’s three imperatives, it should be no skin off our noses to ask for help. i don’t mean cry wolf every time things aren’t easy, or asking for help because we need someone to do something in order to make us ok, that’s co-dependent victim living….but learn to recognize when someone besides yourself knows stuff you don’t. Learn to ask for help. It’s not demeaning, it’s the truth. Learn to ask for help and accept the help when it comes.

          And lastly, learn to trust God that He will bring good out of every crisis. Now that won’t avert conflict and crisis, but we really need to know nothing passes though the nail pierced hands of Jesus without His allowance. Rom8:28 says all things work together for good, for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Here’s the summary of the four things which will go a long way to achieving God’s three imperatives: Get low, get a better perspective, ask for help when you need it, and trust God to bring the best from your circumstances. It’s the truth to say, “God’s got this”, but we’ve got to join Him in His redemptive work. He want us to participate in our own well being you know.

          Come go with me, let’s go forward then. Tap your toe, dream a little, and i’ll be right back.

          There are a few things God refers to as “above all”, meaning first and foremost, greater and higher, before anything else. 2Peter1:20 “Above all, you must understand…” there is no doctrine or prophecy which is of a private interpretation, meaning sound doctrine applies to the entire body of Christ and not just an elite few. Those with understanding are able to extract the meaning out of information. They “see through” the facts to the dynamics of what, how, why, where, and who. Understanding is a lens which brings the facts into crisp focus and produces principles, except, let me add, we can see the crisp focus of the facts in our telescopic vision, but we don’t have much unless God gives us an ability to connect the dots to see through the facts to grasp the dynamics. i know some very smart people who know lots of facts, but they have yet to connect the dots, so there they sit, unredeemed regardless of all they know.

          The phrase “above all” is used 284 times in the N.T. alone. Hmmm…must be important for us to notice i’d say. 1Peter4:8 “Above all, love each other deeply…”; James 5:12 “Above all, my brothers, do not swear–not by heaven or by earth or by anything else”; Col 3:14 “But above all these things put on love….”; Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things”; Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart”.

    What i’m getting at are the things that are “above all”, they are essential to our ability to persist in and accomplish the purposes of God. In light of that, i think 3 of God’s imperatives could easily be wisdom, hope, and love.

Without wisdom we are like a man who will die because he cut the cords of his own tent and knocked down his support poles. Real wisdom doesn’t exist in the simple possession of facts, real wisdom involves honesty, more than the facts… but the truth. God’s intent in His creation of the idea of “knowledge” comes in many forms. True knowledge involves some important adverbs…. how, when, where, what, and how often, making knowledge directly  connected to the word “why”. If we know “what” or “how” but don’t know nor care to know “why”, truly, we really only possess partial understanding and are largely left with a pile of unanalyzed data.           Knowledge means we investigate how something happens, where it happens, how often it happens, when it happens, and why.

Without hope there is only despair, the opposite of hope IS despair. Where ever we find faith, hope was there first, and hope inspires faith, for without faith we can not please the Lord, nor will we do any righteous works. Like in Eph2:12, before we knew Christ, we were foreigners to the covenants of the promise, therefore without hope and without God, we are dead in the water in a dead and inanimate world. As long as people insist on their own qualifications as good enough to stand before God, they are cut off from hope.

Without love, we are just a noise among many other noises in the universe, boy and let me say, the universe isn’t as silent as we might think.

Love was essential and at the core of the heart of God from before the foundations of the earth were laid. Jesus gave himself for us on a horribly beautiful cross because of love, which as has been said, was worked in the Heart of the Father from before there was the height and width and length of light and time.

          Proverbs 4:7 says that “Wisdom is the principal thing; get wisdom: and with all your getting, get understanding.” Did you hear that? It’s a principal thing, meaning in order and rank it is among the first, and chief. To call wisdom the “principal thing” means it is the beginning and the first fruit, and in light of wisdom being a “principal thing” it would seem it should be the first request of God in our prayers. We desperately need wisdom, because with wisdom comes her two brothers, understanding and knowledge. Understand me, i say “her two brothers” because “wisdom” is a feminine noun, understanding and knowledge are masculine nouns, the three go together so closely knit, they are together as one, like the three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit in 1John 5:7.

          i believe the Lord extends everyone some wisdom and repetitive opportunities for understanding. But, at some point, we can safely say, to get more knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, we’re going to have to get involved with God. He is the source and fountain, and if you got it, believer or not, God gave it. How many of us say we “know” God? If you say you know God and you don’t, then you don’t. There is not kind of knowing Him. But you know, Kevin said it seems that “knowing” God to a level of discomfort is just too much for some people. But if that’s what God wants, shouldn’t we also want “to know” Him that well? If we aren’t knowing Him, then who are we knowing, ‘cause, it’s a fact, we are going to be knowing somebody?

          The wisdom of the world is a manipulative wisdom, in other words, because it is “of the world”, it always leverages an outcome in it’s own favor at the expense of others, and that is the way of the world. But God’s wisdom, which is “in the world” but “not of the world”, always comes with value added, that being understanding and knowledge. To reiterate a bit, buried in the word “knowledge” is, what, why, how, when, where, and how often….those are the six subdivisions of knowledge. Just like the Hebrews held there are not four but six directions, north, south, east, west, forward, and backward. Knowledge, wisdom, and understanding give us a reason to be where we are, and direction for where we’re going, if we’ll get involved with God.

          Consider Exodus 31:1-5. There was a guy named Bezalel (bets-al-ale’), whose name literally meant “shadow of God”. As seen in the scripture, God had filled him with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. i suppose i could re-phrase that to say, “In the very shadow of God, is wisdom, understanding, and knowledge.” According to Exodus 31:4-5, as it was with “Bets-al-ale’” it can be with us also, that if we have wisdom, understanding and knowledge, then within us is the ability to set jewels in life, to work gold, silver and bronze in our relationships, and to accomplish all manner of workmanship in the world around us. That’s called “doing the Kingdom of God”.

          Proverbs 4:7 “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you get …. and whatever else you may get, get understanding.”

          Wisdom, knowledge, and understanding are imperative.

The second of God’s imperatives could easily be hope. Hope is an anticipation of becoming and overcoming. Did you get that? Hope is an anticipation of becoming and overcoming.

The idea of the Hebrew word for “hope” is seen in God’s kindness which offers us a rescue rope. The rope represents the possibilities of becoming and overcoming. Imagine the picture of a drowning man and someone throwing him a rope, well, that rope is the idea of the Hebrew word for hope. Rope and Hope….hmmmm, that rhymes. i see …. Kindness threw a dying man the rescue rope of Hope, and Compassion encouraged the man to grip to God’s offer of salvation.

i ask myself, why not faith, or patience, or peace as one of the three imperatives? i figure that faith, patience, peace, self-control , etc, are fruits of the spirit as seen in Gal5:22, they are the results of a Holy Ghost led life, but without hope, without the kindness of God which leads us to repentance, there would not be a place for any good fruit. The kindness of God creates a platform for hope to stand on, belief stands on the shoulders of hope, and faith finds momentum in the grip of belief. Hebrews 11:1 “…faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

It bears saying again……without hope we could not believe, without believing there would be no faith, and without faith there would be no righteous works nor pleasing our beloved. Hope is essential.

Without love the fruits of the spirit in Gal 5:22, and the gifts of the spirit in 1Cor12:8-11 are just stuff we do. In the Old Testament, at the hem of the priests garment, there were bells and pomegranates. This is brought to light in Exodus28:3-4, and Exodus39:25-26. At first i thought to myself, “What do bells and pomegranates have to do with fruits and gifts?” Like a fog which drifts in upon us in the evening, God’s wisdom slowly found it’s grip in my thinking.

i believe the pomegranates at the hem of the priests garment, which were worn when they served before the Lord, are the O.T. version of the fruits of the spirit. After all, can we have real peace without love at our core? Can we really exercise Godly self-control without love in our middle? Is it possible to be long suffering as Jesus is long suffering without love? i think not. No. Can not. Love is essential.

1Corinthians13:1-3 “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

A resounding gong or a clanging cymbal? That would mean without love we are a just a noise … an obnoxious one at that. A “clanging cymbal” is a bit grating, if you know what i mean. In this case, the word love is “agape”, and within the context of this scripture, it means,  the self-sacrificing love of God for humanity, which we are committed to mutually giving, taking, and practicing towards God and others; it refers to the covenant love of God for humans, as well as the human reciprocal love for God; the term extends to the love of those around us, believers and unbelievers alike. The word “agape” in and of itself is not exactly all that, but the Biblical writers, in this scripture, use the word in a way in which it’s always pointing toward God’s heart for us.

Here’s another interesting view of the bells and pomegranates, or the gifts and the fruits – a dove has 9 main feathers on each wing, if any one of those feathers falls out or doesn’t function correctly, flying becomes very difficult. But if the heart of the dove is broken and the dove dies, the greatness of the nine feathers on each wing, or the fruit and the gifts, are worthless without the foundation of the life of the dove. Love is like that. If the fruit is not rooted in love, it is rotten fruit. If the gifts aren’t motivated by love, they are just an obnoxious noise. Fruit without the gifts, or gifts without fruits is like flying with only one wing. But fruit and gifts without love are just dead works, in fact i seriously question if we can even have Godly fruit or practice righteous gifts without love. i sorta’ doubt it.

Knowledge without love is the worlds’ way, not God’s way. The Lord says love should overlay everything about us. 1Corinthians8:1 “….We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” Are you puffed up, or built up? The end result is an up position, but how we got there is the crux of the matter. In the last 13 years, i have become aware of many imperatives in scripture, so i’ve been making a list. It is essential that our love is genuine, and that we hold fast to what is good. It is essential that we serve the Lord, rejoice in hope, and be patient in tribulation.

If we’re not serving the Lord then who are we serving? If we’re not rejoicing in hope then we are slowly sinking in despair. If we are thrashing around in the midst of tribulation,itdidn’t change the crisis…it just means we’re swinging our hands around,banging and crashing into stuff, and being panicked in a little room somewhere. It is essential we are not wise in our own eyes, and equally essential for us to learn to weep with those who weep, bless those who persecute us, and practice hospitality.

1 John 4:19 doesn’t say “We like, because He first liked us.” It says “We love, because He first loved us.” Scripture says to “love your neighbor as you love yourself”. Love is essential for all the God-functions in us to work properly. It’s like the grease in the gears.

For friendship to work there are essential elements of the relationship which need to function. It’s essential there is a two way street of grace, a willingness to communicate, and being transparent and authentic…. it does not flow in only one direction. For friendship to work it’s essential there are boundaries for no good relationship survives without good boundaries which define where loyalty and responsibility start and stop. Honesty is essential for friendship or else nobody is actually connecting with anybody, it’s all a meeting of perpetually smiling faces, and that’s not friendship.

A couple other essential things are ….the necessity of hearing God, and doing what He says. The Lord may approve your motive but may delay taking action….not “no” just “not now”, and we must hear Him and do what He says. Can you think of essential things we all must put into action in our lives?

Three essentials sit over the top of all the other imperatives: Wisdom, Hope, and Love. The world around us has many counterfeits of those three, but the truth is, only God can supply those things in us, according to His riches in glory. It’s a God thing.

i met a lady at the jail who told me, besides Jesus and God, death was holy too. i figure it must be a cultural thing because if death is so holy that someone made a saint out of death, why does God throw death in the lake of fire in Rev 20:14? Death is a result of sin, therefore nothing righteous comes from death in any form. Santa la Muerte has a play date with the lake of fire and woe to them who worship a false god. It is imperative we worship only the Lord lest we, subtly, over time, become continually unfaithful to Him.

Let me encourage each of us to ask the Lord for wisdom….and rest assured that as He gives us wisdom, Godly understanding and knowledge will come with it. Wisdom, understanding, and knowledge travel as a team and they’re just waiting for you to tell them to “play ball!” Give away hope like it’s candy in your pockets, love those around you and intercede for transgressors… Jesus did, and we should too! Think about it.

i’m Social Porter, and thank you for joining us this evening here at Outposts. This program is brought to you by Living In His Name Ministries, and Area 22 Guitars, the home of brilliant creativity and dynamic forward thinking. Support has also come from Ray Prater of Terminal Taxi service in Mills River, Rev. Tommy Proctor of Shaw’s Creek Baptist Church, Allen Freeman of Quality Tire on North Church St. and Trinity Bakers, where there’s always something good in the oven.

          Colossians 3:14 “But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”

Love is the grease in our gears, the glue which keeps electrons and neutrons from flying off in other directions; love is the grip of God on our hearts; it is the blood of the Son, and motive of His resurrection that we would have life and have it more abundantly. Love is the strength of hope, the melody of God’s heart, and the aroma and bouquet of His peace. Let us get wisdom, have hope, and exercise our love, living in the shadow of God to set gem stones, creating beautiful things of gold, silver, and bronze, allowing the wisdom of God be like a chisel in our hands directed and compelled by the inspiration of Hope and Love.

    Be strong and courageous, and i’ll talk to you next time.

After four years of a man pursuing the Lord for a vision of what He, the Lord wanted to do, it finally happened and God gave him a vision and multiple confirmation as to the new direction. So the man gets rid of all his stuff, packs up his little remaining possessions, and moves across the country. Suddenly, the man finds himself in a place he does not know, with people he does not recognize, to do something he has no idea about. He wonders about employment and how to pay the bills; the culture is very different than where he came from, they talk different, use different words to reference similar things, even food products are different…it’s still food, but very little of it is anything he’s familiar with; the air is different, dust is different, the water is different, food is different, the bacteria is different, the land and soil are different, tax structure is different. But yet he is sure that this is what God has asked him to do. Uprooted and obscure, a seemingly inconsequential outsider, this fellow is so very uncomfortable. And now that he is at the destination the Lord has given him, he finds himself with one huge, over-arching, ever present question: Now what? And all is silent.

Do you find yourself in similar discomfort? The circumstances may be different, but the discomfort is the same.

It would seem our nation is a country of uncomfortable people…frustrated and disquieted in our hearts. Some for good reasons, some for not.

Maybe God is gently getting our attention and we, as a nation, are simply, and quite probably, hard of hearing. What do you think? …. and i’ll be right back.

In all the Bible, one of the most uncomfortable people, in my opinion, was Naomi, who’s story is revealed in the book of Ruth. Sure, Job was uncomfortable, but it was for a short while, whereas Naomi had a life of being uncomfortable. It seemed for the longest time nothing was working out. When situation after situation arose, i’d bet, at some point, she stared off into the distance, sighed, and thought, “Great! What’s next? Locusts?”

She, her husband and two sons lived in Bethlehem, Judah during a famine, times were tough. They decided to move to Moab, evidently things seemed better there. During the next 10 years in Moab, her husband died; her two sons marry two Moabite girls, then the sons die. She is left with no means of getting by, and everything about the big plans to prosper in Moab have just fallen flat. Her husband and two sons have died and she is left with only herself and two daughters in law. Now what?

They heard God was giving food to her home people in Judah, so she and the two daughters in law set out for home. On the way back to Judah, evidently things were so difficult, and she was so uncomfortable, she told the two daughters-in-law to go home. Life was very bitter. They were all so very uncomfortable. One daughter-in-law agreed and went home, but the other, Ahhh….Ruth was the other, and she said, “Where you go I go, your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.” Ruth 1:20-21, Naomi’s heart was, “….Don’t call me Naomi; call me Bitter or Mara. The Strong One has dealt me a bitter blow. I left here full of life, and GOD has brought me back with nothing but the clothes on my back.” Can you relate in some way to this? Maybe you left a home or job, full of life, convinced you were following God’s lead off on a great adventure, and came back with nothing,  just nothing but the ashes of your dreams and the continued discomfort of your circumstances. Yea, i did that. i moved us all to a far away place, and came back 9 months later with my tail between my legs.

What do we do when we’re in the long night of our discomfort? It feels like our ship is sinking, the wind and ocean are howling and raging, and God is silent silent silent. Tough question…honestly, i don’t even like to think about it….it’s just a very uncomfortable question.

Jonah is another person who had a time in his life of being extremely uncomfortable. i think Jonah was a real grouch, never the less, God gave Jonah a job, go preach to Ninevah. Now you may think this is a great thing, and it was, but it was also something which terrified Jews of the time. Ninevah was well known for it’s hatred and abuse of Jews, even torturing them just for entertainment, and i think Jonah wanted God to simply kill them all, without giving them of any sort of hope. i mean, what if Ninevah repented and God saved that horrible nation of horrible people? So, Jonah ran away from God. Yea right, like anyone can actually escape God.

Jonah found a ship going far away. He was so uncomfortable with God’s request and his personal circumstances that he left everything behind, got on a ship and headed out to anywhere but where God was, or so he thought.

Well, everything about Jonah’s life got worse and even more uncomfortable. The more uncomfortable he became, the more uncomfortable things got. A storm of storms blew up, the ship and it’s crew were in danger of dying at sea, and i guess in an effort to escape God all together, Jonah resigned himself to die. He told the sailors it was all his fault. In Jonah 1:15 “Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm.”

It seems Jonah figured dying was better than being as uncomfortable as he was….a sort of suicide in a way, only he was getting the sailors to do it for him. It was a permanent fix to a temporary problem, when quite probably, all Jonah had to do was STOP his running and face God.

When we are uncomfortable, so often, i think we attribute that discomfort to our doing something wrong, or God is pressuring us to repent or something like that. On the other hand, it is entirely possible our discomfort has nothing to do with doing something wrong and everything to do with simply being in the Lord’s transition. Regardless, if you can’t out run the difficulty you’re in, stop running, turn and embrace it. We’re going to live with it until we deal with it, and pretending an unfortunate situation isn’t really there, doesn’t solve anything. Actually, if anything, that pretending thing we do only increases our discomfort.

Is that, as a nation, what’s going on with us? We need to stop, STOP what we’re doing and face God. You know, i heard a man say once that God will get our attention, one way or another. He’ll work to get our attention in our spirit, and if that doesn’t work, he’ll work to get our attention in our minds, and if that doesn’t work, he’ll get our attention in our flesh even to the shedding of blood, but one way or another, He WILL get our attention.

So many people are looking for work, and these days there’s a lot of work available, so they can no longer say they aren’t working because there isn’t any, but now must be honest to tell the truth, which is “i want to get what i want and i don’t want to work for it.” A very uncomfortable place to be i’d say.

Many are uncomfortable at church, and uncomfortable even in their best chair. They are uncomfortable in their beds, in their kitchens, sitting outside, with friends, without friends…it’s almost as if all of life feels like wading through mud. We plant 100 and reap 10, we extend ourselves to 10,000, and only 50 respond. We leave a difficult situation and shortly find ourselves, in yet another difficult situation. We get into a conflict with a friend or at work, and we don’t resolve the conflict, we just leave it to stand hoping it will simply go away, and of course, it doesn’t really go away. It just changes shape to morph into yet another conflict, which we’ll have to live with until we deal with. Many sail from storm to storm, so often, the storms seem to be normal operating conditions.

Imagine each life situation as a brick. One brick of one unresolved situation maybe inconsequential, but when it is many bricks of many unresolved situations, what was once just a brick is now a wall, walling the world out, but also walling ourselves in. There are two sides to every wall. God calls to us and we’re not listening…. The phone is ringing but we pretend to not hear.

We have become a nation of uncomfortable people who tend to want to move away from or avoid what we don’t understand…. many times rather than ask an uncomfortable question, we simply smile, keep quiet, and move away. In our avoiding the Lord we have become increasingly uncomfortable. We eat but we’re not satisfied; we store up and conserve but in the end nothing is saved; it’s almost like we plant but don’t get to harvest; we do the work of crushing grapes but don’t get to drink the wine. We invent machines and tools to help us save time in order to have extra time, but in the end we still seem to have no time. We are frustrated and very uncomfortable.

What do you think is up with that? And what are we going to do about it?

James 3:17 “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” It would be simply brilliant if we stopped what we were doing and turned to face the Lord. It just seems wise to find out what He’s got to say. Not so we can shut Him up, but because all our own efforts are getting us no where…. like Jonah, we need to stop running away and meet with Him. i really believe the discomfort will continue until we turn ourselves to meet with God Almighty.

Mind you, i don’t believe God has sent work into our hearts, that we would labor mindlessly as some sort of vindictive punishment, that is not His character. i fully believe if there is laboring and work in our hearts it is because we have put ourselves there. Listen though, that doesn’t take into account that in the middle of transition, it is highly likely there’s going to be struggles and expasperations, ‘cause there are. i’m talking about our evading issues, running from God and metaphorically plugging our ears singing “La-la-la-la” to drown out the call of God.  It is more that He has simply allowed us to have our determined self-focus, self-determination, and self-declaring which all is an effort to leave Him out of our lives.

An old horseman had a very difficult horse once. i asked him what he was going to do to persuade the horse to yield and do things the man’s way. He said, “I’m going to simply give him his head, and let him run square into the law.” He did exactly that the next time the horse wouldn’t yield, and ended up deep in the most awful briar patch you ever saw, cut, poked, and frustrated. After a couple times like that, the horse and the man got along just fine. Funny how that works.

God has given this nation it’s head and will let us go as we insist until all our efforts completely come to a grinding, radically uncomfortable halt. Do we r-e-a-l-l-y think we can ignore the Lord? Do we really think He’s just going to take a passive-submissive posture towards the very creation He created? C’mon, who are we kidding?

Is it possible, we in America are so uncomfortable with life that we just don’t notice the world around us?

Let me complete the story which i began all this with…the man in the first part of this conversation stopped his own actions, prayed morning, noon, and night…sought the Lord with all he had, and for all he was worth….in his looking for the Lord, God has given him a vision of what’s next. Life is largely still a puzzle, but things are moving, not so fast he’s lost his way, but bit at a time as the Lord grows his character to fit the next appointment. Inch by inch, life is a cinch. Yard by yard it’s very hard. We need a vision of where we’re going so we’ll know how to be where we are. Think about it!

Our time is up and we’re at the end of the road for this production of Outposts, a semi-live broadcast from the late night cascading banks of the Ockluhwahhah River. i’m Social Porter sitting on the deck with Tony, Paul and a late evening cup of coffee, talking and laughing, cutting up and watching the river flow by. Tonight, as usual, has been brought to you by Living In His Name Ministries, Area 22 Guitars, Miss Jackson at the DeLuxe Beauty Shop, Frank Edney at the Hot Spot, Bruce and Mildred Harrell, White Knuckle Studios, and Trinity Bakers, where there’s always something good in the oven.

Music was by the Pete Minger Quartet, The Brecker Bothers, Dissection, Bill Bruford, and Jazz for a Rainy Day.

Isaiah 51:1 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn;” Acts 17:27-28 “…so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; ²⁸ for in Him we live and move and have our being…”.

The Lord is our direction, He alone is our comfort, and in Christ alone will we ever in this life gain the peace we need. Let us cease from our own works and seek Him. Just stop from our own doings and stubborn way…. turn and face God. It’s time to inquire of the Lord, don’t you agree?

Time slips away everyday for all of us. As we sit under the stars on the deck of a wonderful cafe at the end of Old Field Road, time is ticking, the sun rises and sets, the days come and go, moments and occasions click past us regardless of how much we all wish it would just stand still for a minute or three.

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, a semi-live broadcast from the late evening, cascading banks of the Ockluhwahhah River. i’m excited because …. this is the fourth friday of the month, which means it is ACOUSTIC night, acoustic jazz as performed by some extraordinary artists accompanying some contemplative conversation, words to carry with you as you walk around in your work-a-day world. As we proceed in life as we do, it’s always nice to have something to chew on in the mean time.

What do we do with our time? How do we “spend” our moments? We all have time and moments to spend as we determine, they are valuable and whatever we choose to spend them on is a one time purchese, whether precious or frivolous, if you know what i mean. So, as i was asking, how do you spend your time and moments? Chasing our kids, making meals, praying, arguing, deciding, thinking or maybe trying not to think about things, wondering, wishing….hoping. Maybe you spend the bulk of your time wishing you were doing something other than what you’re doing. Time is ticking by us and i’ve wondered how many of us seem to be unfocused and flat-lining in the middle of life. In desperation we come to the surface for air just long enough to convulsively gasp for breath, wishing someone would throw us a life preserver or pull us into a rescue boat.

Are we investing only in ourselves or have some of us realized that if we invest our time in others we, indeed, HAVE invested in ourselves.

The idea here is not to present a huge list of ponderous questions…. truly, i think maybe most of us have a list of questions which completely out weigh our list of answers if we put some thought into it. i heard someone say the other day, is your problem actually your problem, or is your attitude ABOUT your problem really the problem? Consequently, is our list of answers r-e-a-l-l-y all that sufficient, or are they answers God has extended us except they are simply not the ones we want to hear?

Maybe we have more answers than we appreciate, but they just don’t fit our agenda. Time is ticking, the days are moving past us, and at some point we’re going to have to move out with God regardless of whether we have answers or not, taking Him to BE the answer, not just Him giving us answers which fit our agenda. Know what i mean?

Enjoy the rhythms, let yourself relax a bit and i’ll be right back.

What do we do when we seem to have no answers? Please take note that i used the word, “seem” there. It’s all well and good to say, “the just shall live by faith” from Romans 1:17, or 2Corinthians 5:7 “we live by faith and not by sight”, but when the poo really hits the fan and we’ve actually gotta DO those scriptures, it might be a very different story for many. Having wisdom and DOING wisdom are very different you know.

In 1987 a close friend of mine lost his job. He and his wife prayed, a lot, confessing they were people of faith and were standing firm. A short while later, they lost one car. They continued to pray and tell their friends they were people of faith and were standing firm. Then his wife lost her job, money was thin and getting oh so much thinner all the time, but they were standing firm, standing on the word of God, and rightly so … they were people of faith and were confident God would deliver them. “The just shall live by faith” they told themselves every day, knowing it to be true, so they clung to Jesus even more tightly.

Then the creme de la creme came, the house payments were so far behind, it appeared they would be losing their house. They prayed constantly for help from the Lord, they knew they were speaking to the one and only person who could help. They began to feel like they were in the “trials of Job”, worry nipped at their heels, gnawed at any surety, and doubt left them messages on their phone….and of course let’s not leave out the well meaning church folks who asked them if there was some unconfessed sin in their lives. Yea, that’s irritating isn’t it? Funny how church people think there’s likely something wrong with you before considering maybe the Lord was at the helm and it was simply a trial of faith.

It is hard to not be frustrated when there seems to be no answers.

One evening, the youngest son went to a youth rally and gave his life to the Lord. The boy began to pray for his family, a job for his dad, for his mother to sleep and be at peace, and for his older sibling to come home because they were hanging with a troubling crowd. Wouldn’t you know it, things started to turn around. His dad got a job, the mortgage company miraculously extended them forbearance, his mom stopped looking like worry was hanging on her shoulders like a weight, and in a couple months, the older brother decided the fast crowd he was hanging with just wasn’t a good idea. It all worked out well, but they knew something after the trial which they didn’t know before: it is the truth, the just really do live by faith, and when unfortunate circumstances hit the fan in our lives, we can really and truly trust God….even when we don’t have any answers. Most especially when we don’t have any answers.

Gosh do we need answers, and the world around us does indeed give us some answers, but in the end they aren’t the answers we really need. Here’s the problem with all the answers we are being given: If you don’t know or understand the questions, the answers don’t make any sense. If i were to look at you and say, “42”. You might ponder a moment, then hopefully ask, “42 what?” Ah-ha! Exactly. i just gave you an answer but seeing as how you had no context because you didn’t know the question, my answer didn’t make any sense. Now, not only do we need to know the question so we understand the answer, we also need to know HOW to apply the answer. Just because we know the question and possess the answer, doesn’t mean we know what to do with it. We need wisdom, knowledge and understanding, and there is only one source for the three. God. You may say, “My doctor has answers and i didn’t have to go to God.” True, but where did those medical professionals get the ideas to pose the questions which then led to their conclusions? No one is smart enough to do life by themselves, and we need God to spark our dormant flame for the “right” answers.

He really has given us many answers to our looming questions, but i think many folks see God’s answers as insufficient somehow. We DO have answers, but often the answers just don’t seem to fit our agenda as far as we can see. Here’s a better question then: Are His answers insufficient, or is it more that we simply don’t understand, and rather than be honest and say we don’t understand, we say His answer was insufficient? Oh it wasn’t me who didn’t understand, it was God who wouldn’t tell me, and that’s not true, at, all. That’s what i call the theory of shifting responsibility. i say it’s horrible weather. Is it horrible, or is it that i don’t prefer it. Weather is weather, and no one decided it was horrible but me. Actually, i’ve decided there isn’t any such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.

Sometimes, when the conflicts in life are so thick, all the paint on our picture seems to have been blasted away and we’re down to bare canvas, it does qualify as suffering. When we put our foot on the brake pedal and there’s the hideous sound of metal-on-metal, life isn’t simple. i don’t know much about suffering except these few things. One, suffering reduces everything to it’s lowest common denominator. Two, it adds meaning and dimension to even the smallest things. Three, suffering reduces culture to a classless society, it levels the playing field, meaning, when the country is out of food, everyone is suffering from hungry, rich, poor, big and small. And four, suffering teaches us to see the suffering around us, it is literally an eye opener to see beyond ourselves. The things we thought were important somehow lose their priority, the value of our social standing looses ground, priorities change quickly and suddenly God becomes VERY important…. faith is what you do when you have no answers.

Hebrews 11:6 “… without faith it is impossible to please God”.

Faith is not having conclusions. Faith is not being qualified. In our western version of Christianity we are basically fed a line of thinking which says “If you have faith, you will have answers and conclusions.” Ummm….no, that doesn’t hold water, if you know what i mean. Some think if you have faith you will prosper and never suffer, and if you are poor and are suffering, obviously you don’t possess the faith to rise above it all, as if you could run down to Walmart and by a couple cans of “Instant faith – just add water”. Some even say, ‘if you are sick or poor, it is your own miserable lack of faith which keeps you there.’ Friends, that is cruel and untrue.

Suffering is as much a part of Christian living as not suffering and we are always measuring each other as to who is more sinful, more blessed, closer to God (or not) than we are. Always measuring according to who has the most answers. “So-and-so must be more sinful than i am because they have way more problem’s than i ever thought of having. i don’t see what could be wrong with them, but look at them, things aren’t well with them, and things are well with me, therefore, i must have more faith and favor with God and less sin in my life than my neighbors.”    Astoundingly, many believe that……and it isn’t true …. at …. all.

The Jews of Luke 13 seemed to feel that bad things happened to bad

people of poor faith, and good things happen to good people who have lots of faith. This is called retributive theology, which says “If i am good to God He will be good to me, and if things don’t go well for me then surely i must have done something wrong.” Jesus said that is absolutely not true. Job was a righteous man according to God in Job 1:8 and there was not another man on earth like him, yet he suffered many things. Jesus was and is the most righteous man there ever has been, or ever will be, and He suffered many things. Was it that those people were sinful or due to their lack of faith there was suffering? Did Abraham leave not knowing where he was going or in what direction because he didn’t have his faith all worked up in order to get the level of answers and conclusions he thought he needed? Or was God just being ambivalent with him, jerking Abraham around? It wasn’t like that at all.

Faith is not having answers and just because you know stuff doesn’t mean you are someone of faith.

In Hebrews 11, did Sarah have to wait for 10 years after it was prophesied to her that she would have a child because she didn’t have any faith or because she was sinful? Was Watchman Nee poor and desperate because he didn’t have any faith? Did the early heroes of the faith become martyred because they didn’t have the faith to escape persecution and they somehow deserved to die because they were faithless and sinful? Do we not have answers to important questions because we don’t have faith? Maybe we do have answers, we just don’t like them. Or are we not able to come to some of life’s necessary conclusions or know what to do many times because we don’t have any faith? Many times we don’t know what God is doing, but we are required to trust Him until His purpose and direction comes clear.

Many times we don’t know the rules and are asked to trust God until the boundaries are made clear, and they will be made distinct. i don’t understand how God is right many times, but i’m willing to wait because i believe God is right in what so ever He does.

Faith is not having answers. Being willing to wait in the interim space of having no answer is faith, and in that space of waiting with no answers and no conclusions, God creates faith. Catch the vision here: sometimes, waiting is like exhaling and waiting too long to inhale, and there is a growing ache and urgency which begins in our body. Yes, i know this ache well, but the Lord will give us breath for the conclusions we need to resolve our dilemma.

The instruction of much of church-ianity tells us that if we have

faith we will have our certitudes if we use the standard religious

formulas. Faith is not a paint-by-number set. There are so many books which outline prosperity in a step-by-step, “How to live by faith” manual. It all maybe a great read, but when you’re the one on the boat with Jesus, there’s water coming over the sides, the wind is howling, the Master seems no where to be found, and in your most authoritative voice telling your neighbor to “just have faith” is almost cruel and cliché.

Jobs counselors were NOT willing to live in the space of no answers

and no conclusions, and as of today, many many people equate “having

answers” with “having faith”.

Jobs friends or counselors told Job in Job 8:20 that if he would “just

admit he was a corrupt and rotten guy that in no time God would give

him blessing on blessing and he’d be singing and smiling again.” But

Job refused to violate his integrity by admitting to something that

wasn’t true just so he wouldn’t have to suffer, just so he wouldn’t

have to keep trusting God even though he didn’t have any answers. We

will not gain faith or joy by compromising our integrity. i myself have, before the Lord, admitted to things i never did in hopes of stopping the storm i was in, yet the storm raged on.   and a fix based on my timetable, i wanted things to change, and i was more willing to focus on how horrible the situation was rather than focusing on the goodness of God. Even in the storm, set your eyes on Jesus, not the storm, because as long as you stare at the storm, the storm is all you’ll see, and the more you see it, the more it sweeps you out to sea. Even at that, God has not left you.

Having faith doesn’t mean having answers, but more being

willing to trust God and live in that space of time without answers

and without conclusions. It’s easy to glibbly say, “just have faith” until you’re the one in the hot seat.

In that space of waiting, between an exhale and an inhale, in the

space of no answers and no conclusions, it is always so very uncomfortable, and many times it feels like dying. But trust me, the sky will clear. Storms are only here for a short while and then they move on, the skies will clear and stars will come out again. You’ll see.

Let us trust God who is completely trustworthy. He is faithful and

righteous, and even when we don’t know the answers, God is still with

us who believe on Christ, and we can be assured that our answers will

come at the right time, the best time, in God-time, and it will be

enough. Think about it

Actually, we do have an answer: Jesus. He is THE answer….i wonder what it will take for the rest of our nation to confess He is Lord? Truly, i’m trying not to think about that….i suspect it will be a very unpleasant time in history before they bow their knees.

Thank you for listening in this evening. i’m Social Porter and this has been Outposts, cool acoustic jazz and contemplative conversation, brought to you by Living In His Name Ministries, the always amazing Andrea at Viva coffee house in Tucson Arizona, Area 22 Guitars, [paul powers of WK Studios], the ever so talented Jerry at Werner Graphics, and Trinity Bakers where there’s always something good in the oven.

Be still in the time of waiting, take advantage of that time rather than resenting having to wait. Jesus really is the answer, everyday, from the beginning to the end, even when we’re down to brass tacks and bare metal, Jesus is the answer.

It is God’s timing that we are between an exhale and an inhale, trust him, He is building extraordinary faith in you! Step out in faith this week. Ask the Lord how to get closer to Him and to know Him better. Drive carefully, pray for your friends and neighbors, have faith and trust God. Meet me next time and we’ll pickup at the feet of Jesus where we left off. Amen.