1Cor12:7, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”

Rom12:6-8, “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if ministry, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”

Service and serving are the words used representing ministry, and we often think of it as a deacon and priestly gift. And, like apostle, prophet, pastor, healing, miracles and teaching are Holy Spirit gifts meant to be employed for the common good of all, so those who have the gift of ministry are not less than any other gifts, but are vibrant and necessary for the well being of the house of the Lord.

Ministry…what a broad word we toss around these days. Basically the word means service, to serve, to work, and is also used in reference to serving God. In Rom15:16, Paul refers to himself as a minister of Christ Jesus but the word for “minister” in that verse has a slightly different connotation other than simply service. What Paul meant was that he was literally, in a liturgical sense or what was called wearing a “reversed collar”, he was “doing priest’s work” “that the offering-up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.”

The word “minister” in Rom15:16, carries with it the idea of the “sacrificing priest”. i can’t say i’ve ever been that person that i would claim such a thing… i’m just as guilty as anyone else of misusing the word ministry, largely out of ignorance, but also, in my being as honest as possible, i’ve done it with a faint hope of also gaining some respect for myself, and that’s a poor motivation.

Surprisingly, the same word used in a priestly fashion that we translate as “minister” also means “one who discharges a public office at his own expense, generally, a public servant, a minister “. That’s challenging…. “a servant of the state, assuming public office to be administered at his own expense”. Hmmm….i’d guess that the, “at your own expense” part wouldn’t go over too well with many who are in ministry. The, “at your own expense” part is really a challenge when you know you’re doing a viable service, endorsed by God, but you’ve got $10 in your pocket and the rent is due. It’s easy to say, “just trust God”, but when the rent is due, now we’re down to where the rubber meets the road

When we tell people we are “in ministry”, just what are we looking to convey to the other person or people? Many seem so very focused on making sure others know they are “in ministry”, but making sure others know that about you has a subtle way of spoiling the simplicity of our walk with God…bear in mind that even “ministry” can be an idol, birthed by the spirit of religion.

Bob Deffinbaugh of Community Bible Chapel in Richardson, Texas said, “While watching the television coverage of the visit of Pope John Paul II, I was reminded of the Roman Catholic concept of ministry. If I were to try to distinguish the Catholic view of ministry from that of our local church, I would say that Catholicism still practices an Old Testament ministry. Catholicism continues to perpetuate a clerical priesthood that is almost entirely responsible for what is called “the ministry.”

Mr. Diffinbaugh went on to say, “Probably few Catholics or Protestants would disagree with this analysis. But what most Protestant evangelicals fail to realize is that much of the Roman Catholic conception of ministry is perpetuated in Protestantism with only the labels having changed.”

It would not be difficult to surmise that so much of church leadership truly operates that same way. It is possible that if we aren’t under the thumb of leadership, even the most effective may not be allowed to serve, unless they come to the table with degrees, titles, and seminary experience accompanied by strict obedience to the rules of those recognized as leadership.

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, cool jazz and contemplative conversation, broadcast semi-live from the deck of a rural café which overlooks the broad and beautiful Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean over the rivers edge and every evening is pleasant.

Service unto the Lord and those around you is a “get to” not a “have to”, and to have a heart and mind to serve is a Holy Spirit gift.

Come go with me as we explore “ministry”, what do we mean, how do we do it, and the benefits of a sold out heart to God. Sit back in your big arm chair, relax and breath….i’ll be right back.

Joyce Meyer once said she gets tons of mail from people asking her to pray for them that God would reveal what their ministry was. She said, straight out, to quit worrying about it because every morning, when you wake up and go out your door, you are IN your ministry.” If we truly believe God has called us to “go out” and serve others, then why are we waiting around to find out what we should do?

Years ago i read a story about Mother Teresa. She and another nun wanted to go to an unchurched town in India and start a mission with a small aid station. In order to accomplish that, they had to play by the rules of their denomination, so they put in a request with the local priest, who made all the decisions for everyone in the service of the church…. and there they waited. Yep, they waited 5 years for a reply, but for 5 years they prayed and asked the Lord to move the heart of the priest to grant their petition. Sure enough, by-and-by, they got their walking papers. They packed the one pair of extra clothes they had, picked up their walking sticks and left for the remote town. When they got there, they had no idea what the Lord wanted them to do, or what their ministry was. So while they waited to hear from God, they sat under the big tree at the center of town and sent word out to the street children that if anyone wanted to know how to read and write, meet at the big tree at about noon. A lot of kids showed up, all living on the streets, children of all types, all homeless, all hungry and unlearned. Every day the two nuns would pray to God and ask Him what their ministry was, but in the mean time they were teaching the kids to pray, read and write…..all while they were waiting to hear from God. Over the following many months, while they were waiting to find out what their ministry was, a church had sprung up, salvations occurred, and a small hospital of sorts was developed. i don’t reckon they ever did get a “word from God” exactly concerning what their ministry was, but in the mean time, they served the community with all their heart, and God was brilliant among them…..just brilliant.

So what do you mean when you tell people, “i’m in ministry”? What do you think the head guy who comes to your church all dressed in high dollar clothing and is always asking for money, what do you think his or her idea of “being in ministry” is? Does that person say things like, “If you want God to bless you, put some extra in the offering plate?” How do you think it would go if you asked a very dangerous question, which is “What does the ministry do with the money?” They may very well give you the left foot of fellowship real quick, so brace yourself.

We who are in ministry, as servants of the people, are not in that position to get wealthy. We are in the position of servants to comfort, encourage, teach and strengthen those around us, not to sheer the sheep so closely they bleed.

To be a servant we must think like a servant. i heard somewhere that servants make g-r-e-a-t leaders. Hmmm…. i wonder where i got that idea? In Numbers 14 the Lord pardoned Israel after Moses pled their case, but even though God pardoned their rebellion, He said none of the people who had seen His glory and signs in the desert would enter the promised land…..except…..Caleb. Num14:24, “But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.”

Wanna live under an open Heaven? You don’t have to give money to make that happen….that’s a lie. Besides, how can you buy an open window in Heaven anyway? i didn’t think God, His callings, or Holy Spirit gifts were for sale that He would open the windows of Heaven if you gave enough money. Now you may think that’s absurd, but there are people in ministry who will tell you that if you give more money you will get more of the Holy Spirit, and it’s simply not true. If you want to live under an open Heaven, be a servant, get low, like Jesus, and God will use you, just watch and see. People are looking for a knight, someone of honor and humility, not a street fighter.

If you’ll live as a servant to others, God will, i repeat, will use you. Philip2:4-5, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” or like the Msg Bible translates, “Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself.” And how did Jesus see Himself? As the Son of God, yes, but also as a servant and He is the greatest leader in the history of everything. He humbled Himself all the way to the cross. He did the ultimate balancing act between maintaining His position with the Father as Lord, and also stooping to wash the feet of the disciples. He didn’t exalt Himself, He got low and waited on the Father to raise Him up.

How often do we want to get into ministry so, so bad, we run ahead of God, creating a platform of our own making? i can tell you from my own sad experience, it’s easy, real easy. We often think to ourselves we’ve got something to say, that it’s very important others hear it, but no one is letting us say it, so we finagle around to get ourselves in position to be on a platform we think we should have. The Greek word for “dignity” means, with in all honesty, being just as serious about our motivations as possible. The Hebrew word “dignity” reflects the idea of being elevated by respect and worthy of honor, an attribute worthy of those who minister, unless…. we elevate ourselves, then there’s a problem. Titus2:7, “Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity,” We will be far more effective in our servitude of the Lord if we will step off our self-made dignity, a platform of our own making, and get low. Real servants don’t try to use God for their purposes. They let God use them for His purposes.
Again, the word “ministry”, as used in Rom12 also means “let us wait on”. It always appears in the N.T. in connection with the service of the church and others. Being in “ministry” is a gift of God for us to serve others, with the goal of  lifting them up, leaving ourselves out of the credits at the end of the movie…and that’s not so easy in a world which constantly capitalizes on being seen and recognized, promoting the idea of lifting ourselves up. We are very vulnerable to advertising ourselves when we feel very unseen and unheard. i have a friend who had a word from the Lord while at church one time. He was slightly driven by the urgency to give it. When he asked if he could say it he was told no, not because he was wrong or ever had been wrong, it was just no. His feelings were hurt, of course, but then the Lord spoke to him saying, “Isn’t it enough that i have spoken to you?” So when i’ve felt the urgency to speak or act, i remind myself that God sees and hears me, isn’t it enough for me to know He has spoken to me?

Some limit the idea of “ministry” to that of being a deacon, but yet i wonder why Paul split ministry out as something separate from prophecy, exhortation, and teaching and the other gifts of the Spirit? i don’t know, but there it is in 1Cor12:5 where Paul says, “different kinds of services”, and again it is considered a gift in Rom12:7, saying, “if ministry, then in our serving.”

Frédéric Godet, a Swiss Protestant theologian who wrote some of the most noteworthy commentaries of the time calls ministry, “An activity of a practical nature exerted in action, not in word.”

i made note of a statement by a friend who said, “Ministry is about our focus on others, not ourselves. This is true humility: not thinking less of ourselves but thinking of ourselves less. Paul said, Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. This is what it means to “lose your life”- forgetting yourself in service to others. When we stop focusing on our needs, we become aware of the needs around us. Jesus “emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant.”

Here’s a good question we should ask ourselves while we’re being venerable and as honest as we can possibly be about our motivations: When was the last time you emptied yourself for someone else’s benefit? It’s tough to be a servant if you’re full of yourself.

What is it which prevents us from getting low and serving others?

To say you have the gift of ministry is very broad, as was previously mentioned. There are many different services which require real Holy Spirit gifting to accomplish. Being of service to others one time may be easy, but to be consistent and repeatable about the calling is another story.

For example in 2Cor5:18 there is mentioned the “ministry of reconciliation”. There is the ministry by the prophets in Hosea12:10, where the Hebrew word there for “ministry” means service with an open hand, like a picture of being generous. Acts6:4 is about being devoted to prayer and ministry of the word.

That part about devoted to the ministry of the word speaks to those who are commissioned for the continual proclamation of the gospel, and tending to the care of the congregation. It’s basically the job description of what we call “a deacon”, which was originally taken from the Jewish concept of someone who continues in prayer, and works to feed, nourish, support and even govern, sort of like a deputized priest. In Rom15:8 Jesus was called the “deacon of the circumcision”. Being a deacon is about serving, not a position above the congregation and below the pastor. Apostles, and bishops qualify to be called deacons because they serve and are called to the ministry or reconciliation.

1Cor16:15 shows us another ministry, “ministry of the saints”,  they devoted themselves to the service of Christians…that is, by showing hospitality; by providing for their needs; by attending and aiding other believers in their journeys, etc. According to 2Cor3:7-9, even death and condemnation have ministries, in this case the reference is to the law which was carved in stone by the finger of God. In the next verse though, the ministry of the Spirit and of righteousness far exceeds the ministry of death and condemnation beyond all imagination, far beyond the vanishing point forever….and that’s a long way.

i love Paul’s visual in 2Cor9:10-13, “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the implementation of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their concrete trustworthiness of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others”.

Stephen and Phillip were appointed to wait tables in the church, they were leaders by being servants.

i believe that is a great picture of having the ministry of giving….some are gifted at making money, then let them give to those who are in need; some are gifted in administration and staff support, then let them do their calling without pointing themselves out; some are gifted in the ministry of teaching, which is a technical service, let them discover the sound doctrinal precepts with all honesty and openness; some have a ministry gifting of being a visionary, they’re very good at conceptualizing and imagining, let leadership allow those people to tell what they see and take it seriously.

Here’s a gift i think needs special notation: some have a deep caring for the sheep and are called to be pastors, although i must admit, calling someone a pastor nowadays is like a catch-all title. If you ask most pastors what they do, if they’re honest, they’ll say they don’t really know except that they counsel, clean toilets, speak the gospel, field complaints, help define sound doctrine, organize events when those talented with organizational skills don’t step up to the plate, and visit the ill and terminal. Even when they themselves are ill and possibly near the end of their vision, their passion to serve the body is extraordinary….which is an earmark of a Holy Spirit gift. And of course, let it be said, not everyone who calls themselves pastor actually has a gift for it. Ministry isn’t something we go get, it’s something God gives, and if He didn’t give it, we would simply be performing and that would be a counterfeit.

Paul said there were many variations of gifts, like the service of discernment, the ministry of clerical needs, the service of prayer. Ahh, now there’s a good one, the service of prayer …it is a powerful yet subtle ministry we are all invited to participate in, but there are some who have an unquenchable fire in them to pray, like the extraordinary life of Rees Howells, a powerful, gifted intercessor. God has distributed to some the ministry to the infirmed, it’s a mercy gift, like some nurses i’ve met….they aren’t just doing medicine, they bring with them the power of the Holy Spirit that makes a difference in everyone’s life who they touch. Or like some doctors, they have a gift for healing and medicine and the power of the gospel just comes in the room with them and they are extraordinary in their practice. The list goes on and on and i wonder if we’ve limited ourselves to seeing the gifts of the Holy Spirit to just the “big 5” in Eph4?

To continue the list a little of different ministry-type giftings a little further, how about missions as a ministry? Having a gift and passion for outreach is huge and takes a real team effort to accomplish, not to mention very specialized leadership with an anointing to accomplish it. Even flying out of the country with 15 or more people to a 3^rd world nation for 2 weeks involves an amazing amount of planning, which often requires a multi-faceted team of people with very diverse gifts. How about the ministry of counseling? i’ve met some very gifted counselors, some of which actually had little education, but with them was the presence of God who gave them insight and wisdom and a real knack of speaking right to the heart of the problem. Here’s a vital ministry….How about the gift of consistently showing at the right time with the right supplies in order that certain needs would be met? That’s a real ministry friends.

i believe the Lord’s concept of ministry is pretty different than much of modern Christianity. The Gr. word for ministry most often used in the N.T. is diakoneo, meaning …service while having an eye on the health of God’s house through the door of grace, which speaks highly of… being a steward not an owner. In Mark10:45, Jesus said, “For _even the Son of Man did not come to be served (diakoneo) but to serve (diakoneo), and to give his life as a ransom for many.” He also taught that being a servant was an integral part of following Him. John12:26, “If anyone wants to serve (diakoneo) me, he must follow me, and where I am, my servant (diakonos) will be too. If anyone serves (diakoneo) me, the Father will honor him.” Wanna really live under an open Heaven? Do you really want God to bless and honor you? Then forget giving some big shot your money and be a servant. i believe one way Jesus measured greatness was in terms of service.

From what i understand, and i could be wrong, the Greeks had a disdain for service to others, being a servant was to be insignificant, but the Jews believed it had great dignity. Sadly, and not much different than today, the religious leaders of Israel began to think of ministry in terms of status rather than service, and then came Jesus who absolutely refused to accept such thinking and put all service, or ministry on the same level of importance, when He said in Matt23:8, “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one teacher and you are all brothers”. i’d guess that just added fuel to the fire God had lit under the hyper-religiousness Pharisee’s who stood to lose titles, authority, money, respect, and then to be lowered, how dreadful, lowered to be called merely a brother among other brothers. Yet, that’s exactly where Jesus said we have to go if we’re going to be in viable, powerful, authoritative ministry, which is a humble calling …. To be a servant we’ve gotta think like a servant, they make g-r-e-a-t leaders, and it’s really difficult to be a servant when you’re full of yourself. Again…from God’s perspective, ministry is being a steward, not an owner.

i believe most people in ministry fall into 1 of 2 categories, they’re either empire builders or kingdom builders. Both are gifted, but the empire builders build for themselves, and the kingdom builders are servants of the Lord who work to prosper the gospel. Kingdom builders don’t see others who have the same gifting as competition but as allies and partners….there’s just no place in God’s plan for being envious of other fellowships or servants. Kingdom builders classify themselves as being servants after God’s heart and see ministry, as a “get to” not a “have to”.

i used to play on the worship team a long time ago before it was called “the worship team”, and after several years it became common place to me. It wasn’t long before i groaned inwardly that i had to play again. i ceased seeing it as an honor, a get to, i saw it as an obligation, a “have to”, and it wasn’t long before my passion and zeal was just gone for playing music at church. Another of my shortcomings in the past has been i tended to judge a book by it’s cover, but the truth is you can’t judge the “spirituality” of a ministry by the form it takes as much as by the results it produces.

1Peter4:10-11, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Think about it.

John12:26, “If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.”

Ministry is service, and if we’re going to be servants then it needs saying: real servants think like stewards, not owners. Pause if you need to in order to let that one sink in. If you’re the senior pastor or in leadership of a church that has church running on a nearly unalterable time schedule, got it down to the minute for worship, prayer, and preaching….are you being an owner, or a steward, and if you’re a steward, just what are you stewarding, what are the sheep being served?

We who are in ministry, our first purpose is to bring glory to God by way of our obedience, our confession of Jesus, and our generosity toward others. Our ministries should be an expression of our love of the Lord and thanksgiving.

2 Cor4:15, “For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.”

Christian ministry is both at the same time, practical and spiritual. Christians should never be accused of being “so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good.” Ministry builds up the church, the body of Christ. In the words of Paul, it supplies “the needs of the saints”, and gives meaning and purpose to our lives. Each of us has a unique role to play for which no one else can serve as a substitute. You and your ministry gifting are necessary. Do you hear that?

There is a call on your life, what will the Lord lead you to put your hand to? Keep in mind while you’re waiting to find out what your ministry is, if you’ll live as a servant to others, God will use you.

Drive carefully, pray for your neighbors. The Lord hears your prayers, it’s a fact, so you are never alone. i’ll talk to you next time. Amen.

i remember, when i was very small, waking up one winter morning and looking out the window. It was very early, just in the edge of daylight, and as i looked around at the world outside, from the inside looking out, the snow was heavy on the trees. Everything was white and fresh and new. There rose an excitement which caused me to jump and run around the house looking out all the windows at the spectacular world that had appeared sometime in the night.

Looking back in time, as best i can remember, it was the first time i realized how much i loved the morning. In my little boy world, i decided that from then on i would be the first in my house to see and live in all the newness which had never been lived in before. To this day, i love the mornings more than anything, and i still rise very early with an excitement, walking through the house quietly while everyone is still asleep, peeping out the windows, breathing in the freshness of the morning. There is something amazing about it all, it’s mesmerizing to me and i just can’t help it.

When we talk about the morning, we associate daylight, breakfast, coffee, going off to begin the things we begin everyday, but what was God’s idea about it? Did He speak something into the morning that would impact all mankind as long as there is the dawning of a new day, before the end when all things will be revealed?

Lamentations 3:22-23 “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

There is such thing as the “song of the morning” you know. Sun rise is just as spectacular as the sun set. Sun rise sings of a new song, a new day dawning, washed fresh from the night, beautiful in its rising grace.

There is something wonderful about the rising of dawn out of the end of night, that very important time of day when the rising morning light of the new day plows under the end of yesterday. Standing early in the morning, watching the day come to life, i feel…alive, breathing, as if being drawn toward the threshold of Heaven’s gate…So here i stand, poised, watching…waiting…anticipating the morning song…the song of the morning…..it’s almost like a symphony that starts as soft as a whisper … so softly, you’re not sure you’ve actually heard anything. The dawn seems to pick up speed towards its arrival, night is driven back, and sure enough, the symphony of the rising light is actually there and growing in volume. If you listen it can be heard, that is for those who have ears to hear. It is real, it is the song of the Heart of The Father for all man kind, everyday, to be inspired to “return”. The idea of repentance is partly to change your mind concerning salvation and to believe that Jesus really can deliver and save, but God’s idea of repentance is not just to change your mind concerning the salvation offered through Christ, but more to come home. In order to come home, we must realize we have left home and are not at home in this world.

In the morning….there’s just something very important about “in the morning”. It’s like really important stuff always seems to happen at that time. We set off on a trip in the morning, we pray “first thing” in the morning, we begin another day “in the morning”; our thoughts seem more fresh and crisp in the morning – and yes, i know you night owls out there may debate that, but watch the witness, there is something about the way God designed us to operate that is somehow integrated with the rising dawn called, “in the morning”.

All creation has a part of the chorus, just like the various instruments of an orchestra.  Each has its part to play in the symphony of praise to God. Let all creation sing to God, in the morning.

Psalm 148:1-5 “Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD from the heavens, praise him in the heights above. 2 Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his heavenly hosts. 3 Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars. 4 Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. 5 Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded and they were created.”

You know in your heart it’s a good idea… so c’mon….come let us return to the Lord.

Built into the “morning” is the call of God to every person. Within each morning is His intent towards us causing a rise in people’s hearts to return, to come home to Jesus.

Some of the following may seem repetitive, but i believe it’s all worth saying as often as necessary until we get it down in our hearts. Know what i mean?

In the Hebrew word, “rain”, there is the hidden and revealed source of blessing, men may not know where the sprinkling comes from, but when the sprinkling on the earth is revealed, man is inspired to return.

In the “morning”, there is the rising of the light, the plowing under of the evening…. the morning is like an emissary of Holiness, top and first of the day… in the newness of the morning, again, man is inspired to return.

When it “rains” in the “morning”, it is a double pull on the hearts of people, and i don’t know about you, but i get a peculiar longing in my heart. The world may not realize it, but every morning, the appeal of the Lord to return is for everyone, everywhere, calling us to come home.

On that note, some may say returning to God is a fluid process, and the returning heart can arrive home by many different ways, but we must ask ourselves a very necessary question: How does the Lord say we come home? God is very specific about this and it is not flexible. Twice in John 10 Jesus said, “I AM the door”. In John14 Jesus said, “I AM the way, the truth, and life, and no one comes to the father except through me.” And then the passage through to home becomes more defined when Jesus narrows it down even further by saying, “If you have known me then you’ve known the Father” implying that if someone does not know Jesus then they don’t know the Father and can’t reach the Father without going through the son. Returning home is a nice romantic thing to dream about, but it’s more stringent than simply doing however you want, believing whatever suits you, based on what you think or the rumors you’ve heard. God was very specific about who shall return and how they’ll enter into Heaven. Very specific indeed.

Once God has spoken …. once His words have left His mouth, they continue to be spoken. That is amazing! i’ll say it again, Once the Lord has spoken, His words do not stop being said, they will continue until the end when all things will be revealed.

“Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning that is happening before our very eyes; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain upon the earth.” i’ll say that with slightly different words, Let us be steady and ready to study God. Let us be eager for God-knowledge. As sure as dawn breaks, so sure is his daily arrival. God is here! He comes as rain comes, as spring rain refreshing the ground.

In every pleasant thing God has created, know that not only did the Lord make it for us, but there is a subtle call to us all. And yes, i realize i’m using the phrase “call to come home” and “call to return” repetitively, but it’s so important that we hear and understand what the Lord is saying. So much of everything in the world has diluted God’s intent, that in our present system of words and definitions, we easily lose sight of His love.

We are called upon in Philippians4:8 to think on whatsoever things are lovely …. in the word lovely there is a call of the Lord to let go of the hindrances of this life, focus your attention on Jesus, and return to the God of our fathers. When anyone walks into a garden and it’s just busting with brilliant flowers, doesn’t there rise in your heart an inclination to marvel? The call to return pulls at our hearts even when we look at the night sky and gaze at the moon.

The Lord’s longing for us to be restored can be found in almost every part of creation. Many don’t see or hear, but it is there. Will we respond to His ever present call? Either we do or we don’t…there is no sort of, pretty much, or for the most part. It’s a persistent call, an unrelenting call to all mankind, generation to generation, every morning, every evening, every flower, every waterfall, every mist, and every drop of rain which falls, the Lord beckons us to come away with Him, and sing the song of a rising new day.

Many seem to not be aware of the universal call of God…. not knowing what the longing in their hearts is about, but the longing is there none the less. Every time we watch it rain, every time we are mesmerized by the moon and the stars, every morning with the rising of the sun and the dew is fresh on the grass, mankind experiences an unidentifiable desire for restoration and recovery … we yearn to return to God.

The beauty of the morning is always striking and the birds announce the arrival of the new day which wraps our world in wonder. Even when things are bad with us, every morning, we start again with the thoughts of possibilities, thinking, maybe this day will be different. Hope rises on the wings of the new day, joy comes with the morning.

Psalm 90:14, “Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.” Psalm 30:5, “For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote of the morning saying: “I see the spectacle of morning from the hill-top over against my house, from day-break to sun-rise, with thoughts which an angel might share. The long slender bars of cloud float like fishes in the sea of crimson light. From the earth, as a shore, I look out into that silent sea. I seem to partake its rapid transformations: the active enchantment reaches my dust, and I dilate and conspire with the morning wind.”

It was the habit of the hero’s of our faith to rise at the break of day to meet with God. Abraham and Moses rose up early in the morning to stand before the Lord. God sent Moses to stand before Pharaoh in the morning. Joshua, David, Job, Isaiah, Daniel, Jesus, and the Apostles all saw something important about starting the day off by meeting with God in the morning, when the sun begins to crest the eastern sky. They all had a habit of making the Lord the first one they spoke with every morning …. it was a first fruit offering; they gave God the honor of first recognition, first address, and first notice. after all, He is the alpha and omega, and multiple Bible heroes’s honored Him as the first and the last. And you? Who do you honor with your first and last words of the day? We say Jesus is first in our lives, so in light of that common declaration among believers, who is the first person you speak to every morning?

In the morning the brilliant blue larkspur and orange nasturtium blooms seem to glow in large beds against the sunny side of my house, and the swarms of yellow butterflies in continual motion speak of God’s kiss of affection for those who heed His call of grace. Art cannot rival this grandeur, this God-made pageantry of many colors … at the vision, i’m drawn up in worship of the Lord by the rising light of day. With the morning, every morning there is oneness in the house, God’s holiness rising as an emissary who is first and top of the day – the morning is divine.

Jesus, crucified in the evening, was found to be resurrected in the morning of the third day. As published in 1931 by English author Eleanor Farjeon, her lyrics about the most significant morning in history speak of the resurrection of Christ: “Morning has broken, Like the first morning, Black bird has spoken, Like the first bird. Praise for the singing! Praise for the morning! Praise for them springing, Fresh from the Word! Sweet the rain’s new fall, Sunlit from heaven, Like the first dewfall, On the first grass. Praise for the sweetness, Of the wet garden, Sprung in completeness,
Where His feet pass.”

In John 21, after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, maybe the apostles didn’t know what to do next, so, they decided to go fishing. They set up their nets, launched their boats and they worked all…night….long. They knew how to accomplish their trade, but there was no benefit for their work at that point … and fishing like those guys fished was indeed hard work. In the morning, that’s right….in the morning, Jesus met them and directed their work. In the morning God showed up and they were fruitful. And notice, the Lord could have shown up at any time, but He chose the morning, when the light plows under the evening and begins anew. i’m telling you, i don’t know what it is, but there’s just something very important about meeting with God in the morning. …it sets the tone for the day, it seems to put things in order and in a righteous array. All i can say is, on the wings of the morning, in the early morning light, the rising day brings the mercy and goodness of God which extends beyond the vanishing point. Think About it!

To recap a bit, indeed, there is something wonderful about the rising of dawn out of the end of night. It is a very important time when the fading darkness transitions into the new day. When the Lord divided the light from the darkness in Gen 1:5, and there was evening and morning, the first day, but when He named the morning, i believe God’s heart was infused in the event. Morning comes everyday all around the world, and the Lord imparted to the rising light which plows under yesterday, to be like an emissary of His Holiness, top and first of the day… in the newness of the morning, man is inspired to return. Come let us return to the Lord, for He will raise us up to live before Him, and He will send to us the rain in the morning, watering the earth.

Psalm143:8, “Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.”

i’m Social Porter and this has been Outposts, cool jazz and contemplative conversation from the deck overlooking the Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean over the rivers edge and every evening is pleasant.

Be strong and courageous this week. Try rising early to meet with God. Make Jesus the first and last person you speak to, Honor Him who died and rose from the dead so you can have life, and have it more abundantly.

Pray for your neighbors and friends, take God at His word – cover to cover; breathe easy and hold the line. i’ll talk to you next time, amen.

Bigger

Many years ago, down beyond my house near an old tobacco barn was a large spreading Mulberry tree. i never cared much for Mulberry’s but the birds were absolutely crazy over them in the season of the tree bearing it’s fruit. The truth is, that old tree, which had likely been there for 100 years was just an irritation to me. Like i said, i didn’t care for the fruit enough to make jelly, and when you picked the berries, the mulberry juice stained your fingers a deep purple which wouldn’t come off even with the best soap. But i had an incredible realization of the magnitude of creation one day there at the Mulberry tree.

It was hot, oh so hot and the birds were in all their glory as they gorged themselves on the fruit. i muttered out loud to no one in particular, “Stupid tree”, and suddenly, woosh, God was amongst us, catching me by surprise. He called me to come closer to the tree and just look, more than just notice, but really take in all that it was. You know, when the Lord is upon you, there is a brilliant clarity that happens, as in that moment i saw the massive creation of just the intricacy of leaves, the strength of bark and roots, and got an idea of how the tree served as shade and shelter for some, and food for others, including bugs and gnawing things, and how the Lord had sustained that tree for a really long time.

From that day till now, i’ve slowly begun to realize i have such a small view of the vastness of God. His idea of things like prosperity is so, so much larger and far reaching than what i think. i think of it like a rich guy driving a Cadillac with steer horns on the front, but God sees it as a knight in armor who is buffed to a high shine with sword and shield and the full endorsement of the king.

i see faith as something i wish i had more of like a glass with only a little bit of water in it, He sees faith as a place i stand on the foundation of the work of Christ with a constant upward pointing to the sovereignty of God as a second nature. God’s idea of faith is so, so much larger than we think.

My idea of healing most of the time is i just want the pain to stop and not be sick anymore. God’s idea of healing is that we are brought into unity and made whole, functioning as one person, in our right mind, flesh and soul in complete subjection and obedience, under the governance of the Holy Spirit, to function in season and out how so ever He asks us. God’s idea of healing is far beyond the light of this world. Bigger.

My idea of mercy is merely that i, yes I want God to be nice to me even when i’m a horrible person. God’s idea of mercy is bigger, so, SO much larger it is beyond my imagination. If everyone got what they “deserved” and what was “fair”, there would be no one left alive. 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 breath and live within the amazing mercy of God. His mercy is over the horizon and beyond the vanishing point. That is huge. i am the one who makes His ideas small.

We make grace to be nice, necessary, and we say knowingly, “Oh, it means unmerited favor”. How narrow because God’s idea of grace is as amazing and vast as His mercy. Grace is sister to mercy, and where mercy is, grace is close by. Within the Hebrew word for mercy is the word grace and 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.” God’s idea of grace so totally eclipses anything i had in mind. Bigger.

We all need hope, and if we have faith, we can rest assured hope was there first. Once again though, many seem to have turned the vastness of the hope in Christ into a narrow one way street, and His idea is so much larger. And no, i’m not going to tell you. It would be best if you pondered God’s idea of hope to a conclusion, you look it up, you read and find out how He sees it. You’ll be amazed at how much larger it is than would have ever entered your mind. Bigger. Way bigger.

Too often, we accept Christ to our own salvation, but many just stop there. When i first got saved and went to a little rural church, after a while i noticed we never got beyond “Jesus saves” to really knowing God’s preferences and standards. Sure, the important 3 initial survival tools of any believer are, pray, read your Bible, and tell others about Jesus, but for me, i wanted to know who was behind my faith, my peace, my courage and hope. i thought then, and still believe now that there is so much more of God to know. He is much, much bigger than we have imagined. i barely have grace for people who say they’re believers and don’t act like it, but Jesus, oh my gosh, Jesus died for a world of people who don’t do what they say, and i think i was at the top of the list of sinners, yet He died for me and did not flinch at my wrongness.

God’s idea of goodness is vastly larger than ours. Read your Bible, and don’t take the word of a friend because it’s too much trouble to find out what the Lord says for yourself.. On almost all counts, i find the Lord is so much larger and better than i’ve thought. We’ve gotta know it for ourselves. Friends, you can do this!!

What do you think?

          The storm is raging, i mean the ocean spray across the deck is being blown so hard it stings your skin and eyes and there is nowhere to hide from the pounding, the thunder and lightning. Through squinted eyes you can see nothing but water and rain, sheets of rain driven in front of your eyes… just raging water and wind from every direction. Every now and then a huge wave hits the bow at a perfect angle and nearly rolls the small ship over, either way, the last time a wave hit like that, the ship rolled over far enough for deep green water to come over the side. Men are yelling for the bailers to bail faster and for the men rowing to put their backs to it. “Keep the nose into the wind!” the senior leader yells. The helmsman has tied himself to the post at the wheel so that no matter how bad things get he can hopefully maintain some semblance of steering, if there really is such a thing in that kind of storm.

There is a long tearing sound as you watch the sails rip like newspaper and blow off into the distance as if that sail can’t wait to be far away. This is bad… really bad. The order is given to toss some of the ballast over. Men scramble to the bottom and start hoisting up the heavy things which helped the ship stay upright, but also made it ride too low in the water for a storm like this. Everyone is scared, really scared. Everyone is wondering if they will ever see home and families again.

Everyone, even those who adamantly deny the existence of God, secretly search their lives to see if there is any sin in them which would incur such wrath from Heaven, the very abode of God almighty whom they gave no thought to until it looked as if they might be lost at sea. Each man has abandoned his idol gods, and from somewhere deep in his heart he knows there is only one true God. Funny how in the face of terror and death, men suddenly realize the Lord is God and are compelled to call on Him alone to help. Funny how there are no atheists in a fox hole when bombs are falling and bullets are flying. Fear has a way of leveling the playing field for everyone when death is so close. All hands on deck are tired, nearing complete exhaustion, blue with cold, sick with hunger, all trying not to panic. It truly is a defining moment in the hearts of everyone on board. If you were one of the numbers on that ship, consider, what would you do? You’re dangling at the end of your rope, it seems you’re out of options, life seems about to come to the end of the line. Maybe… maybe not. This evening’s program is about the Options At The End Of Your Rope.

In everyone’s life, there are times and maybe even seasons when it seems we’re out of options and we’re at the end of the line… crying doesn’t help, being indifferent doesn’t help… we’ve mustered our best faith only to be met with the same problem… we feel stuck and hung out to dry. Regardless of all our drumming up faith, and declaring scripture over ourselves, it appears nothing has changed and we think probably never will. Stay with me for a little while and let’s see what God has to say, how to act and not to act when life seems at the end of the road.

Genesis 4:6-8 “Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.”

Alrighty then, right there is one idea for when you’re all out of options. Cain was in a spot, a tough place i’d say. The Lord was confronting Cain about his anger, and his bad attitude which probably made his eyes dark, his face long, and i’d guess maybe his face was in a perpetual sneer, not to mention he was probably really hard to get along with too. The Lord suggested the fix… my paraphrase here, “just do the right thing buddy and don’t let your bad attitude get the better of you.” Can you imagine yourself in that position? God is confronting Cain about himself… in Cain’s eyes, i reckon there was only two options left on his game board – either own his actions and change, or get rid of the problem, and in this case Cain figured Abel was the problem. Evidently, it was easier to get rid of Abel than it was to deal with his own attitude and actions. Yea, just get rid of the troubling people in your life and things will be better. Yea, just dis-fellowship those folks because they’re too honest and ask too many questions. Yea, that’s the ticket! Don’t deal with your stuff, just get rid of “them”, you know, the troubling, “them”. It was either checkmate for righteousness or checkmate for sin. There’s an idiom used occasionally meaning we are at the limit of our patience or endurance, the phrase is “i’m at the end of my rope”. So with Cain at the end of his rope, he figured Abel, not himself Cain, but Abel was the problem… so, in his mind, just get rid of Abel and he’s gotten rid of his problem. No good thing came from his attitude and actions, in fact, his attitude and problem followed him ever after.

There you have it, there is one thing to do while at the end of your rope: get rid of the other person you’re sure is causing you grief. Yea, that’s the ticket. That’ll sure fix it all right. Cain made a decision, refused to be responsible for his behavior, betrayed his brothers trust, lured Abel out to the field and took action… yea, he fixed it alright. It was a permanent fix to a temporary problem. Horrible as it is, believe it or not, some feel this is not a bad option, but it is surely at the top of the list of terrible ideas when at the end of your rope.

Another thing you can do while at the end of your rope is… nothing. Just hang there, hoping the knot doesn’t slip, hoping your hands don’t lose their grip…and just hang there, doing nothing other than thinking about all the other people who put you in that position, “what THEY did to me”, letting the obsession of bitterness overwhelm your heart. Don’t you think, when at the end of your rope, the option of “doing nothing” screams “victim” and “oh, poor pitiful me”?

In 2 Kings 24:8-16 we read the story of Jehoiakin. He came to the crown, not to have the honor of wearing it, but to the shame of losing it. As Matthew Henry would say, “He came in only to go out.” Jehoiakin was in power long enough to realize he was paying the price for his fathers’ poor choosings, and what’s worse, he continued in his fathers evil footsteps. Things were bad, he was at the end of his rope, but just like his father… he did nothing, he just suffered along, took no action to stop the curse, and as a result of his doing nothing, the curse just flowed down from the crown to the people. His lack of action to change things just made the end of his rope harder to hang on to, and the more things stayed the same, the more things stayed the same.

Let’s put that in today’s culture. One parent drinks like a fish and lives the part of an alcoholic, the other parent swears they will never drink a drop but exhibits all the earmarks of an alcoholic, which is called a “dry drunk”. The parents know they’ve got terrible problems and, are daily if not hourly, at the end of their rope with themselves and life, but rather than do something about themselves for their sakes and their children, they just… do nothing. The never admit their addiction, often blame others for all their struggles, never get counseling for their twisted thinking, never consider to change anything and simply continue as always in their fighting, drinking, blaming and chaos… they just let it all ride. The kids grow up with all the attitudes of the parents, after all, the parents were the model. From generation to generation, the chaos and catastrophically poor choices continue. Friends, it’s not a generational curse, but generational choice. They are choosing to perpetuate the sins of their parents. Personally, i am the first male in my family in four generations who is not addicted to something. Jesus stepped into my life and by His power, i chose to do something rather than do nothing. i’m not much on generational curses, but i think in terms more of generational choices. The horrible results that followed four generations through life in my family stopped with me. Thank you Jesus!

Doing nothing is an option… granted… it is another really bad option, but it is still an option. Are we in America and the church any different when we … do nothing? When our leadership distorts the truth, shows favoritism, does injustice, equity is nowhere to be found, and they do nothing, will their badness simply flow downhill to us? You know, like Jehoiakin, incumbrance flows down from the crown. And if we do nothing when we’re at the end of our rope, how are we any different?

When at the end of your rope, what are your options? So far, one is to be irresponsible and blame anyone and everyone else, the next thing to do is…nothing, taking no action to change anything, just let everything ride and become the well-practiced, consummate victim, heaving a heavy sigh, and resigning ourselves to the fate of the wind with a depressing “Oh well…”, trudging on, cold, hungry, and alone.

Here is a third thing to do: Take matters into your own hands, leaving God out of your idea of the fix, thinking “God is busy with important stuff. He probably doesn’t want me around… whatever, who needs Him anyway?” Some people say “we need to tend to our own business because God doesn’t busy Himself with the affairs of men.” It sounds more like an excuse to, once again, leave God out of the picture, because who needs Him anyway? Well… i do. SO… Let me understand better what is being said here, what we’re saying is we’re going to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps? Have you ever actually tried that? i have and not one boot ever came off the floor, and if anything, i ended up ripping the boot pulls off the side and hurting my back, all the while that boot never left the floor.

In 1 Samuel 13:10-12, in all his arrogance, all knowing-ness, and self importance, Saul took matters into his own hands… starting in vs 10, “Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him. “What have you done?” asked Samuel. Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Micmash (mic-maws’), I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the LORD’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.” When God didn’t move fast enough for Saul, he “felt compelled”; he took matters into his own hands. Saul did that sort of thing alot you know… but in the end, when at the end of his rope, this was another really bad option to exercise… needless to say, things didn’t go well for Saul.

For all us modern day Saul’s who take matters into our own hands, how is that working for you? For me, “Not too good!” How often do you wait for the poo to hit the fan full force before deciding that taking matters into your own hands was a bad idea? Once that poo has hit the fan, it’s impossible to get it back you know. It’s another poor option when you’re at the end of your rope, though truly an option, just not a good one by any means. How many times will we repeat the behavior i’ve just described before we get tired of being splattered in the face with our poor choices and bad ideas? How many times will we repeat our behavior before we do things differently?

Let’s get down to options that work then: A fourth option is to – (tada)  !Call upon the Lord!. Of course, most listeners this evening are probably believers, and we all know this option when at the end of our rope, but, really… honestly… is that what we do? Often what we say we do and what we actually do are different things. In Psalm 50:15 the Lord sez, “… call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

It is never wasted effort to trust in God, in fact, it’s the best idea we’ll ever have, to call upon Him in the day of trouble; those who do – often find the issue much better than they expected, God will give them wisdom about the best course of action when at the end of their rope. Repeat with me: With God, good idea. Without God, bad idea.

Here is wisdom: If you can’t get out of the storm with Jesus, then be in the storm with Jesus, with God being the key phrase there. Grip to Jesus with all your heart, and then, like Paul said in Acts27:15, “let her ride”. Lean into the wind and trust Him. Jesus will not forsake us, not now, or later. Let faith do it’s work. Let God be God, allow yourself to be persuaded by His counsel. He’s really really good at what He does ya’ know.

Here’s another great option when at the end of your rope: Wait on God. Oh, and don’t we all know that is also an excellent option but it’s also one of the most difficult, especially when your back is tired from rowing and wrestling with the storm as the ship seems it will sink at any moment. Let me encourage you, just keep rowing, keep steering, keep bailing, i can assure you, Jesus will show up at the right time, not at the final minute, but right on time. i’ve heard some refer to Him as the “God of the Final Hour” and i object… He’s the God of “right on time, every time”. Psalm 123:1-3, “I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven, we look up to you for help. Like servants, alert to their master’s commands, like a maiden attending her lady, We’re watching and waiting, holding our breath, awaiting your word of mercy till You come and have mercy on us. Mercy, GOD, mercy!”

Here’s another r-e-a-l-l-y good option, while we’re calling on the Lord in our day of trouble, while we’re waiting on the Lord to come and have mercy on us… let’s pray. i want to add something at this point: maybe it would be good to not wait until deep water is coming over the side before we pray; maybe we shouldn’t wait till our business is collapsing before we invite others to join us in prayer; maybe it would be good to ask the Lord for work before our checking account is empty. The Lord is not a dry ditch that only runs full when it rains, which would be a fair-weather friend, nor does He only come around when the weather is bad. i’ve got a buddy who only calls me when he’s in crisis, but soon as good weather breaks through, he sort’a quits praying and cruises until bad weather again. We’ve got to row the boat while we can, not just when it looks like we might sink. One translation of the word prayer literally means “i cannot but God can.”

Oh, and there is one more option and it is the crème de la crème …(tada)… simply let go and trust God. That’s the ultimate option and you know it, but it’s also a real scary one for those of us who have a hard time trusting, which is most everyone. Jesus said in Luke 9:24, “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.” Stop saving your own life and let go… just… let… go. Learn to live life without a net, trusting the Lord implicitly for all your needs.

2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, who are called by my Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” And then the text continues reading, “Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.”
Mind you, that part about “heal their land” doesn’t mean the Lord will make things like they used to be and we’ll all get our houses, boats, and stuff back. When the Lord heals our land, things will not be like they were but will become like they will be… better, holy, righteous and men will sing a new song and speak a new language. (Revelation 5:9)

Zeph3:9, “For then I will restore to the people a pure language, That they all may call on the name of the LORD, To serve Him with one accord.” Think about it.

Our options when at the end of our rope are not too widely varied. i think the most basic option when at the end of your rope, when the storm is howling, the ship is taking on water, the mast is cracked and the sails are torn, the most basic and foundational option is to simply believe on the Name of Christ. Romans 10:9, “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” It all may not happen like you’ve imagined, dreamed, or wished, but God is good for His word. When we’re at the end of our rope, believing in Christ, calling on His Name, and holding onto our relationship with Him no matter if the ship sinks or not, that is the key. i love this verse: John6:18-21, “A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rowed three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified. But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.” Do you see that?! When they believed, suddenly they were where they were going. When you’re at the end of your rope, and all out of options, Jesus is your answer. He is always your answer and there is never a time He is not your answer.

i’m Social Porter and thanks for joining me here at Outposts  .

If your down to the wire, your boat is taking on water, and you feel fresh out of options, Jesus is the answer, really really, actually actually.

Go with God this week, read your Bible, pray for your friends and take the Lord seriously when He says He is the Lord. i’ll talk to you next time.

Lately i’ve had many things on my mind which i’ve been discussing, on and off with the Lord, like “the value of church”. Think about it, we go to a central location with other people whom we suppose are somewhat like minded for about an hour to an hour and a half on a particular day of the week, and for some it’s twice per week if their lucky enough to have the opportunity. We sing together for a while, and somehow in that space of time folks are supposed to get it together enough to corporately engage with the Lord and be passionate and raise their hands … for 20-40mins. We sit down, pass the hat to give tithes and offerings, then we listen to someone expound on the scriptures while we nod our heads understandingly, maybe even take a few notes for some undetermined time in the future to be reviewed. There is an offer for prayer if anyone wants it, at which time we gather our stuff and go home. My question to myself was, “Is that really church? Is that what God had in mind when He said in Hebrews 10:24-25, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” Yet, on the other hand Acts 7:48, “Howbeit the most High dwells NOT in temples made with hands. . .”, and “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwells NOT in temples made with hands,” Acts 17:24.

i’ve been think about what we’re supposed to be doing, and considering the question to myself which is, am i accomplishing the purposes of the Lord in the time frame known as “all my days”? i’ve been part of fellowships that met for the corporate church body meeting on Sunday, and they loved being together so much that when the service was over, they just all continued church at someone’s house, many times the fellowshipping of the saints continued on into the evening. Now see, to me, that’s church, that’s the model of communal table, house to house, believer to believer that was spoken of in Acts 5:42 and Acts 20:20. But what is this other thing we do where we meet for a short time then just leave, some going away so fast it seems they can’t wait to be somewhere else … what is that?

i believe that we’re looking for Jesus. In all our congregating short or long, singing high or low, hanging out, and studying, we’re looking for Jesus, looking to connect with the Lord somehow. We’re not sure how to get “there”, where ever “there” is, hopefully it’s “somewhere” and it’s definitely better than “nowhere”. The topic on the table is titled “looking for Jesus”, and how are we going to do this? Sticky statement for pondering: If we look for Him, He will find us.

Isaiah 58:9-10, “Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.”

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, a semi-live production for your edification, think-worthy conversation addressing life in Christ about 3” below the surface of your presentation face. And in case the idea of “presentation face” is perplexing, what i mean is that everyone has a “face” they give to the world around them, and then there’s the real face where they live, the one which presents the reality of where we really live in all our concerns, confidences, fears, difficult questions, yea … all that, i reckon you get my drift.

Come go with me. By the way, your comments are welcome…i don’t mind. i think i’ve been hammered so much, there isn’t much that could slap the Holy Ghost smile off my face anymore, or, at least not nearly as often as in days past.

Where’s Waldo?, as taken from Wikipedia, is a series of children’s books created by the English illustrator Martin Handford. The books consist of a series of detailed double-page spread illustrations depicting dozens or more people doing a variety of amusing things at a given location. Readers are challenged to find a character named Waldo hidden in the group. Waldo’s distinctive red-and-white-striped shirt, bobble hat, and glasses make him slightly easier to recognize, but many illustrations contain red herrings involving deceptive use of red-and-white striped objects.

i think, part of our going to church, initially, was looking for Jesus like people search a picture, looking for Waldo. We look, trying to focus, our mind wanders a little looking at the different characters doing things in the illustrations, then we re-focus, undertaking a renewed effort to find the character Waldo.

In our search for Jesus, some just get tired after a few days, others seem to last longer, yet there are those who find, what i call, a “passion trail”.

i have asked myself a pretty pokey question many times when i feel my interest fading a little, “Just how interested are you in connecting with God?” To be honest, as if there’s any other way to be, it’s a great question, but i rarely like my answer. Am i just peeping around the corner at him….am i facing Him but looking more at the ground or other places, am i looking for Him with anticipation, or is my search just a passive looking around like watching a video while simultaneously playing on my phone?

1 Chronicles 15:29, “and as the ark of the covenant of the LORD came to the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window…”. Where the English word there is “looked”, in Hebrew it speaks of a very different heart posture than merely openly gazing like looking out across a meadow. It literally means to “peep at” or to “to lean out and gaze from a high window, as surveying a spectacle”, looking with interest while staying out of sight.

The “high window” says to me she was looking down on David from her high place of dignity. Not eye level, but peering at him who was “down low” implying a sense of he was somehow less than. i wonder how often i look for Jesus from the elevated platform of my own making, and rather than really chasing after Him, i peep at him from around the corner of my high place? Is this a question you’d be willing to entertain, and if you did, what is your answer to yourself?

Michal’s attitude towards David dancing before the Lord spoke volumes of her heart towards the Lord. The Hebrew word used in reference to Michal in 1 Chronicles 15:29, is the same word used of Jezebel in 2 Kings 9:30 in that she peeped at Jehu, gazed down at him from her high window. She lost her life from that high place she had gotten for herself. i would imagine Jezebel, like Michal, had a habit of looking down at the little people from a place where she could see them but the people couldn’t necessarily see her.

1 Peter 5:6-7, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” Let yourself be known to the Lord, expose to Him your heart, mind, and body. His mercy endures forever and there is no way He’s going to hammer you. He thinks you are beautiful. How bad do we want to find Him? He’s not going to allow Himself to be found so easily, as long as we peep at Him through the curtains of our high windows. Our purpose and reason is not to discover our purpose and reason but to discover and apprehend Jesus, and it is nigh impossible if we’re always hiding and looking down on the little people.

           Psalm 38:11, “My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague, and my nearest kin stand far off.” Matthew 27:55, “There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him,”

Both scriptures pass along to the reader a sense of looking on and observing… it’s more than gazing from a high place, but an earnest, continued inspection. The whole mood is one of interest, not just passive observance, but being attentive to what was going on to understand the situation, yet not wanting to get “too involved”. Do you see it? It is still from a distance, not wanting to exactly be involved altogether. Sort of like watching a friend get arrested … you dare not get directly involved, you’re not completely removed with indifference, but not exactly over there intervening and preventing harm to your friend.

In Matthew 27:55, the women had been attendant to Jesus, they were following, but they didn’t dare get too close lest they incur the wrath of the Roman guards who were doing the crucifying in case they get a beating for appearing to intervene, or worse, get crucified themselves for good measure.

Are we seeing Jesus in our lives but we’re not getting too close? Maybe we are afraid of being known, fearing maybe others will see us for who we are and they won’t like us so we hold ourselves at a distance, being careful to not get too involved. Maybe we don’t get too involved with the bankrupt and blind, the poor and prodigal sons lest some of their bad juju rub off on us. i mean, the attitude is like, “i hope all those homeless guys come to know Jesus, but, well, i’m not sure i want to shake hands with a really smelly guy with bad teeth, wild hair, and unknown sticky stuff on the side of the hand he wants to use to shake hands.”

i’m looking for Jesus, however i have to get there, and i pray God will give me courage to go where i need to be in order to connect with Him. How important is it to you to find Him? How far are you willing to go to find Him? Many folks only seem to look for Jesus in the obvious places, looking in the ground floor windows which are easy to get to, knocking on the doors which aren’t behind fences. In their quest for the Lord they seek Him among people which look clean, nice, and friendly.

And then last Monday, the day after traditional church, there was the homeless man, standing at the red light, holding out his hands or holding up a sign, asking for handouts. As is our custom, we cast our eyes away from him. It’s a pretty uncomfortable moment, isn’t it? We say within ourselves, “We gave at the church already, gosh.” So in the moment, we stopped looking at Jesus standing there, with His hand out.

i think a lot of the church is looking for Jesus, but it’s from a distance, sort of aloof from really being involved. I don’t know what we’re going to do next week in worship. Maybe as it turns out, we’re much more interested in feeling spiritually high and lifted up than we are in actually seeing Jesus in his actual “glory.”

Matthew 25:35-46, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Jesus is being painfully pointed here. Notice, He called the first group brothers, but there was no such relationship mentioned with the second.

Mark 1:37, “… Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.”” In Luke 2:49, when Jesus was in the temple and His parents were looking for Him, He asked, “Why were you looking for me?” i believe He knew the answer to the question and His question was meant to inspire them to examine their own faith concerning His true identity. The Greek word for “looking” used in both scriptures doesn’t mean looking, as in peering at, but looking in the sense of seeing with their eyes with the intent of seeking and searching to apprehend.

Today, in this season we live in, whether people admit it or not, everyone is looking for Jesus, seeking to connect with Him, just like in the days when Peter said those words to Jesus, “everyone is looking for you”. i’d say nothing has changed much since then. Mankind still acts the same as they did back then, and we’re all … still … looking for Jesus.

There is a different sort of looking for Jesus found in Mark15:43where Joseph of Arimathea was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, in other words not only was he seeking the Kingdom, but it’s a word which also implies he was looking in earnest and waiting with confidence. It was the passion of his life to find Jesus, and when he did he was bold and courageous to request the body and prepare it for burial.

Some folks seem to think the Lord is typically found in real big fancy places with mega seating, and mega sound systems run by mega technicians, managed by mega pastors and mega in-house mega marketing committees. Others think He’s found in old beautiful stones of ancient places, all with incredible art and high arched ceilings. They say God is surely in this place considering all the prayers that have gone up from that old stone building. Well, in that case, the county jail is probably twice as spiritual as the big beautiful churches. Think about this, prison and jailhouse walls are saturated with the prayers of desperate people who pray day and night, 7 days/week.

In another way, according to Paul, “high and lifted up” is precisely where God is not to be found, maybe we find Him among the lowly and down trodden instead of among the “high and lifted up”. We often find Him in unexpected places, sometimes He is looking at us out from under the eyelids of the most unlikely people. Some folks are always looking for Jesus in wondrous signs and others think they’ll find him in glorious wisdom. 1 Corinthians 1:22-23, “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.”

Now in Hebrews 11:26 there is another interesting use of the word “looking” which i think is relative to understanding this thing we do, “looking for Jesus” and what does it mean for our lives? To me, it’s important we understand our “looking for Jesus”. It is obsessive, and passionate, day in and day out. It seems important to know something about how we do it and why. Don’t you think?

Can we shape our “looking for Jesus” habits to be more productive? In Hebrews 11:26, Moses is spoken of as having considered the reproach of Christ a greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, because he was “looking to the reward”. The word “looking” is unique here in that it means Moses looked away from the riches of Egypt, he looked away from everything else and fastened his eyes on the Lord. And because the word “looking” is an imperfect tense it wasn’t a onetime thing, it was a continual and repeated action. There, right there is a major clue in not only how we “look for Jesus” but also how we successfully find our savior.

Then in Hebrews 12:2 Paul uses a Greek word for “looking to Jesus” that’s not used anywhere else in the Bible, only there. It’s a two-part verb, the first part meaning a separation from the whole, and the second part means to see with the eyes, to see with the mind, to stare at and discern clearly. It is not only a physical action but a mental action, both. The Hebrew equivalent means to “experience by perception, BEHOLD!”

Peter uses a different word for looking in 1Peter 3:12 and again in vs 14, but in this case the translators called it “waiting for” because this concept of “looking for Jesus” comes with the idea of confidently watching, looking for and anticipating.

Now you see, that’s how i want to go about “looking for Jesus”, with all breathing, all my thinking, and all my feeling. That’s it right there, “experience by perception … BEHOLD!”, turning my eyes from this world and fixing them on Jesus and the Kingdom of God. That’s looking for Jesus to me. Yea.

Another example of how i want to “look for Jesus” is in Jeremiah 13:16, “Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains, and while you look for light he turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness.” The phrase “look for light”, meaning we wait, collect with expectation, anxiously looking for His return, weaving together the facts and stories of God while waiting in anticipation. i don’t know about you, but to me that is fascinating.

Isn’t that sort of what we do while we’re “looking for Jesus”? We wait, we collect information about the object of our affection while waiting in confident anticipation of finding our beloved, touching Him, seeing His eyes. We know if we find Him, He will have found us first, and as long as we can see Jesus, everything will be ok.

Don’t we review the facts and stories of His exploits in our minds, and we retell to others the great things He has done? When we review we also relive the moment and emotion of the memory. It’s not like we are alone in our memories of His great deeds either. When we re-live the stories and weave together facts we’ve gathered while “looking for Jesus”, suddenly the memories become Holy Ghost charged, He assists us in our remembrance of Jesus. God inhabits the praise of His people. i figure, besides learning how to renew our minds, when Paul wrote those famous words in Philippians 4:8-9, he knew it would be more than just renewing, he was encouraging us to re-weave together the stories of Jesus which would inspire us to continue, with diligence, our pressing on “looking for Jesus”.

When i think of noble things, my highest dream is of Jesus. When i review what is just, pure, and lovely, my highest memory is of Jesus. When i put together the facts i’ve found while “looking for Jesus”, it’s not long before i began to sense God’s riveting virtue, redemptive goodness and, before i know it, anything praiseworthy starts coming to mind…shortly, a little fire is burning in my heart and my mind follows after. His presence draws all things together in His wake, and the hem of His robe and the glory of the Lord fills the temple. If we look for Him, He will find us. Do you get it?

i can’t speak for you, but i want to find what i’m looking for. i don’t believe i’ve ever met anyone who was searching for something they didn’t want to find. What person searches for something they earnestly don’t want and truly have no interest in? No one searches for what they do not want in the same sense that no one knowingly and willingly dies for a lie.

Our purpose and reason is not to discover our purpose and reason but to discover and apprehend Jesus. We have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people who will believe in their heart and confess with their mouth Jesus is Lord. We have tasted and have seen, therefore we search and “look for Jesus” because there is no one and no thing who satisfies our souls and makes us right before God.

How do we “look for Jesus”? We call out to Him with our voice and actions, we pour ourselves out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted. We praise and worship Him, we study to find Him in scripture for He is revealed in the Bible and inhabits the praises of His people, “If you look for Him, He will find you.” We look for Him with the seeing of our eyes and the vision of our mind and heart with the intent of seeking and searching to apprehend. To see what we see, we’ve got to be interested to know what we’ve found.

We look for Jesus in earnest and wait for Him with confidence. Finding Jesus is the passion of our lives, and we are bold and courageous to break out of our church model to be where He is. i will break your rules to touch the hem of His garment if i have to, but i must touch Him above all things. i will lose my titles, platforms, and positions of honor, i’ll call Him Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, or all of the above, whatever it takes to get close to Him, using everything i am to know Jesus. Are you willing to walk alone in the wilderness to find Him, or maybe sail violent seas, or camp in a desert place that’s just dry as far as you can see in any direction because the Lord said “wait here”, willing to look away from everything else and fasten our eyes on the Lord?

We are “looking for Jesus”, so we wait, collect details of His presence with expectation we will see our Savior, we anxiously look for His return, searching the sky for the fulfillment of His promise to return for us who love Him. We relish weaving together the facts and stories of God, recounting His extraordinary exploits.

The only way we’ll stand is on our knees with our hands raised, being strong and courageous to attain the prize of the high calling of God in Christ.

This could gloriously go on and on, so i’m going to say “think about it” and bounce. Think about it.

Mark 16:6, “And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.”

i don’t know how to tell you how i feel in my “looking for Jesus”. The closer He gets to all things, the more all things become like Him. You don’t need to go out and look for a guru that claims to have some special revelation. You can find everything you need to know about God in the pages of the Scripture, the Holy Spirit will guide you on a path, especially for you, to find Him whom you seek. As you pray and study His Word, you can begin to know Him, and He will begin to work in your life, He will open your eyes to see Jesus. It may be a glimpse here and there, but every time we see Him, we are changed from glory to glory, when we see Him, we shall be like Him.

One-way Jesus, He’s the only one i could live for. i tried the others possible gods and found, conclusively, they are all lifeless hulks of imagination and stone, and were so corrupt they were no one even the worst of humanity should follow after.

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, cool jazz and contemplative conversation, broadcast from the deck of a rural cafe at the end of Old Field Road which overlooks the beautiful Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean over the rivers edge and every evening is pleasant.

Are we “looking for Jesus” like someone who simply has a passive regard for what they see, or are we looking for Jesus with eyes wide open, gazing at Him like looking at something amazing? Are we watching for Him with anticipation, looking with eyes, mind, and heart, straining to hear the wisdom of God’s heart. We all are looking for Jesus in one fashion or another, whether we know it or not….He is the desire of the ages and one day, every eye shall see Him and none can turn away.

Be strong and courageous this week, take your time, breath easy, one step at a time, it’ll all come around. Amen, and amen.

Living Like Jesus

And they all sang, “i just want to be like Jesus.” It was a glorious thing to sing, and i believe everyone was truly sincere. Yet, i’m certain if we want to live like Jesus, we’ve actually got to know something about Him, more than only what we’re told from the pulpit on Sunday. We’ve got to dig in our Bible to read, and we’ve got to pray and be involved with God to know His attributes, preferences and standards in order to actually live like Jesus. If you think it’s impossible to live like that, let me assure you that if you’ll try, God will meet you on that path and empower you to live as you’ve only sung about and wished over.

We are so often implied to by Hollywood, advertising, our state and federal government, and self-help guru’s, that if we’ll just imitate highly respected, highly motivated role models, we’ll get life back in good working order. It’s like telling people that some form of good works will get us living the high life, and nothing could be further from the truth. We’re told saying right prayers making sure to end our prayers with some magic words will do the trick. When i was a new believer a man told me that if i didn’t end my prayer saying, “In the name of Jesus”, God wouldn’t hear me, nor could He hear me. That’s foolishness. We’re told if we do the right things, long enough and loud enough, that will somehow meet the qualifications of being a good person, God will approve of us, and that will be sufficient, implying if we try hard enough it will be good enough. That’s foolishness. That’s not what God said at all, and we would know that if we’d read our Bible. We’re told that if we’ll “just do the rules”, keeping these high days, and eating that certain food, saying those special words in a special way, and using the more technically correct names, that will be enough to live the life of Christ or that somehow, it gives us an extra-special connection with God. Again, that’s foolishness. Galatians3:21, “For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.” It’s not.

No amount of good works or religious deeds or ceremonies can ever save anyone. If grace did not come by Jesus Christ then grace did not come at all. No one can earn salvation, and yet it’s available to everyone, not because we went and got it, but because Jesus gives it.

We are told that if we’ll just change our behavior, supplying all our own effort, life will change. While that may be a little true for a short while, really, it’s nothing lasting. God says He, Himself will give us the power to change, and it’s not just change He’s after but a complete metamorphosis, a total transformation. We can’t rescue ourselves…. power for salvation and transformation come from God alone. Bottom line…if God doesn’t give it, we don’t get it.

i believe too many are spinning their wheels trying to transform themselves into some semblance of Jesus, but it never really sticks because without the power of the blood of Jesus in our lives, our inclination is to always revert back to our original state of godlessness. We have to let the Lord do it in us. The power to change is from God living in us, Jesus Christ living in us, and that power comes from Him, not from within ourselves. It is totally His work and nothing we, by any means, can take credit for.

We live like Jesus by worship, and that means not by simply lifting our hands and dancing around, but in how we lead our lives, how we present ourselves, as seen most evidently in our conversation, conduct and character. That is worship…it’s when you adore someone so much, you emulate all things about them.

We live like Jesus by prayer. Philippians4:5-6 reads, “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;  don’t be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Prayer is integral to the cultivation of our relationship with the Lord, and honestly, we won’t get far without it.

We live like Jesus by studying our Bible. Jesus knew, He KNEW the scriptures, in fact He WAS and IS the scriptures. He used the words of scripture to resist temptation and said in Luke4:4 we don’t live by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God. To live a spiritually upright life requires we get spiritually upright nourishment.

We live like Jesus by connecting with the Body of Christ. i didn’t say to necessarily attend a brick and mortar facility, i’m more saying we have to connect, position ourselves to have deep and meaningful dialogue with people who are honest and transparent. i believe we learn from those interactions about how to express ourselves, how to employ our giftings, and how to appreciate others who may have gifts different than ourselves. For all our criticism of the church, God loves the church and created the entire concept for more than just preaching the gospel but to help us grow.

Want to live like Jesus? Choose to be patient, to be considerate, extending yourself to others. Take time and make time to pray. Read your Bible, Jesus has a lot to say about our conversation, conduct, and character.

The Lord our God is the one who created man in His own image. We were designed to not only look like His image but to also reflect His heart. He’s the only who can finish His work in us, not just for change but for transformation.

What do you think?

Thanks for listening. i’m Social Porter with Living In His Name ministries

Isaiah29 uses the word “frame” in reference to the potter who shapes the clay.

A little recap from Part I is that the idea of “framing of the seasons”, means God squeezed into shape & formed the seasons which would squeeze into shape and form the things of the earth that were in each season, including us, the people.

The Lord marked the seasons with the moon in Psalm104. The weather warms, the daylight hours get longer, things begin to grow, thus we call that season Spring. We use the phrase, “i feel like i’ve been pulled through a key hole”, implying an occasion with a reason and a cause of testing that was tough, but the good thing about that is we took the shape of the key hole, along with the tumblers and slots….squeezed into shape & form due to the season we’re in. We often feel we are caught in a pinch point, but maybe it’s really the Lord re-shaping and squeezing the clay into someone more representative of His heart. Every season has two paths, and often, we don’t see the results of the season we’re in until later, in another time.

Everyone has had, are in, or will have “seasons of storms”….it is trying and scary, true, but it should also be remembered that the very nature of a storm is transient. As has been said before, not every blue sky is from Heaven, nor is every storm from hell. There are “blue sky seasons” just like there are “stormy weather seasons”…..it all builds us into God’s people, who are coming into the likeness of the Son.

Psalms 74:16-17 speaks of the framing of seasons; Genesis 2:7 refers to God’s fashioning man from the ground, He “squeezed” man into a shape & form in that season of forming; Psalms 95:5 is an expression of the things God made, squeezed into shape, form, and function. Like when God made water. He decided how it would act under numerous circumstances, how far it would go and where…design parameters, He gave it form and resolution, He framed it, like a potter. He framed, squeezed into form & function every other thing on the earth and they all have a design specific to them defining how they act, how far they go, what they react and don’t react to. God framed them, in His season of design and implementation, as in “…in the beginning”.

In Daniel 7:12 says, “…yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time”…. for occasions with a reason and cause, to be enacted in specific spans as measured with time.

Just like there is the “Rule of First Mention”, “Law of Opposites”, and the “Law of Reaping & Sowing”, there is the “Law of Seasons”.

Among many seasons of life, there appears to be a set of four that are connected…forming a season, seasons themselves, time, and times, and there are five that follow wisdom, Character, Authority, Ministry, and Money, and they have a specific order. All are gifts from God alone, but it requires “a season”  and “seasons” to bring them to fruition in our hearts.

Godly Character without wisdom is not possible, considering encountering Christ is definitely a character building, all time life changing event. And if Jesus is the very personification of wisdom, then how do we rub shoulders with God and walk away without wisdom?

Another small recap is that authority without Godly character is like grave dirt in your food, and can be degraded by sin and poor choices with the deterioration of ministry soon to follow. Ministry without authority is not empowered to do the work, and assigning ourselves a title does not gain us the authority we wish we had. Authority, real make-a-difference authority is given by God, and contrary to popular belief, we can have no tangible ministry, but still walk in God’s authority.

When the season of learning to wield authority righteously and as holiness does it’s work, even when that season is in process, the Lord will make a way for us to put our hand of authority to ministry. That is, unless we have another idea other than God’s idea….like giving ourselves titles which are not in keeping with our gifting.            Another view of the season of authority and ministry:   Authority is to ministry, as a frame is to a picture. Authority frames ministry, but ministry never frames authority.

Authority and influence are like man and wife. A verb needs an object to act on, making the noun the beautiful bride of the verb. For a while, the noun can stand alone but is always more beautiful and complete when the verb describes it, like a frame borders and supports a picture. Marriage of a man and a woman are like the marriage of authority and influence. The man is the authority and the woman is the influence….he has a verb in his middle and she has a noun in her middle, the man “cleaves” (a verb, Gen2:24)) and the woman” desires” (a noun, Gen3:16). Authority frames the beauty of righteous influence. Ministry desires and literally runs after authority, craves authority and loves to be under authority, and is most comfortable when fully yielded and exposed to the right authority. When a man and woman waltz, the man is like a frame, framing the picture, the woman. The woman is like a picture, made beautiful by her frame, the man.            Authority follows character. It seems then, the Season of Character is a constant, God calls us from cover to cover of the Bible to come up to a higher standard of righteousness. Like the phrase in Rev11, the Lord says to us, “Come up here”, for immature character is a poor container for authority.

What part of us is developed when God asks us to practice “personal holiness”? i think character, and a Godly person who has many “seasons” under their belt is said to be “well seasoned”. We can observe the seasons changing by getting up to a high place to see the tops of the trees, similarly, from a high place, i can see my life seasons changing me by my dark hair turning gray. As my wisdom and character grow, my body dies a little more, till now my whiskers are white and i’m finally settled enough to enjoy quiet contemplation with my wife in the fall of our lives. Well seasoned indeed.

Without God’s wisdom we just look like dull river rock set in tarnished brass. It would appear the Season of Wisdom and Character are always in season, but seasons of ministry and exerting authority seem to come and go….and the season of money definitely seems to fly on the wings of the wind for most of us.

For man, where is the beginning, the place to begin his journey? The fear of God and wisdom is always the beginning place, and all things in God’s creation have a “Season of Beginnings”. There is a “Season of Rest”, and one of Fruitfulness. We have the “Season of First Things”, like Genesis, and a “Season of Last Things”, like Revelation. Of course there are many other seasons of beginnings and endings for us to ponder, like the phrase, “in good season” as in a timely manner, a man for all seasons, business in the off season, and even seasons or cycles of the heart.

Everyone is invited to partner with God for Him to take us in and out of His seasons of our design and destiny, to form us and mold us, squeeze us into shape and function. What season are you in?

i’m Social Porter with some thoughts concerning Seasons.