Sunday, July 27, 2008

Be Back Next Week

Visiting my dad and family this weekend, I'll be back next week. May I recommend www.spurgeon.org for some wonderful reading of the exposition of God's Word.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

When God Does Not

Daniel 3.1-18

There are times when God does not do what we think He will.

These three Hebrew men knew He could deliver them and they were fairly certain that He would, make that very sure. They had great faith, but they did not know what the outcome would be.

There are times when we pray and believe and trust and things do not turn out the way we had thought they would.

Perhaps the biggest issue we have to face here is healing, praying for some one to be healed who loves the LORD. When I was a very young pastor, 25 years old to be exact, way back in 1981, I was part of a pastor’s group where a bunch of us just starting out in the ministry would meet and have some breakfast and talk. One day there was an older pastor who came. He was filling in for a few months at a church while they waited for the arrival of the new pastor. He was a mature man. He spoke to us that day from his heart. He spoke about having things firm in our minds. I listened carefully. He spoke about healing and how there are times when God does not heal even after we have prayed very hard with faith. He said “It is important fellows that you know what you believe about this. If you don’t people could get hurt by you.” Then he told us that his wife was terminally ill. He told us they had prayed and believed but she grew worse and was not going to live.

17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.

But even if He does not

Rescue us (Remember Paul’s chains)
Colossians 4.3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.

Heal my loved one

Heal me (Remember Paul’s thorn) II Corinthians 12.7

Give me what I think would be good
It might be a snake or a scorpion Luke 11.11-13

Do what I am asking
Remember Paul the Apostle knew what it was to go hungry


Admittedly there have been times when I lacked faith and God honored
someone else’s faith
Ex/ my Dad being healed. My niece had faith.

Likewise there have been times I thought and believed God would do what He is able to do and He did not.


What about this “Even If He Does Not”?

1. Don’t lose your faith (or become bitter ) Genesis 49:22-24

Do not try and figure this out. Don’t theologize. People who do that are not the ones with the questions generally. They are the ones who think they have the answers Be careful around people who never say, “I don’t know.” I remember a time when I had some pretty heavy questions about the future, my future. I went to this pastor, a few years older than me, whom I respected and asked him what he thought. He humbly said, “I don’t know. I’m not God.”

Some, keep their faith but let their fruit become bitter. “I love you, you know ”

Joseph is an example. Bitterness and hostility yet he remained strong and firm.


2. Keep your eyes upon Him and His glory Hebrews 12.1-3

This is given in the context of suffering if your read on.

3. Don’t bow to images or gold or anything else. Exodus 20.4-6

This was a golden image, probably of Nebuchadnezzar himself. We have to be careful not to let the pursuit of riches find its way into our heart.

4. Praise Him
Not easy when He does not do what we hoped for. Or when suffering occurs fro no apparent reason. Job 13.15 Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him

5. Keep Serving Him to the end 1 Corinthians 1:8-9
Offer yourselves as living sacrifices (Romans 12.1-3)
Press on Philippians 3.14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Hope in the LORD
Trust in the LORD with al your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding.
Obey the LORD.


Wait for the LORD, be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

The LORD's Day July 13, 2008

God Can Change Everything in Your Life In a Moment

Daniel 2.46-49

Daniel and the others were doomed. In a few hours they were going to be executed. They were being asked to do the impossible.

Things that were going well now they went south. They had been chosen from the exile to serve before Nebuchadnezzar. Now the king is asking something totally unreasonable and completely impossible... with man.

Remember what is impossible with man, Jesus said, “is possible with God.” All things are possible to him who believes.

It wasn’t fair! These young men had been carried off to Babylon for the sins of their fathers. They had been chosen for service in the king’s court and now he is turning against them and the other wise men and ordering they all be killed. They had purposed in their hearts not defile themselves. They had kept themselves pure and now they are going to die because King Nebuchadnezzar is angry. Why?!

We lean on our own understanding far more than we realize. Every worry, every care comes under this umbrella How many times I have fretted only to find out God was at work in things I was powerless to do anything about!

1. God gave the king this dream.

It was a view of world history and world kingdoms.

It showed how after the four kingdoms had their time the Kingdom of God would emerge.

Think with me about God’s Everlasting kingdom.

Paul said two things:

not a matter of talk II Corinthians 4.20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

not a matter of eating and drinking Romans 14.17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit
All over the world today God’s Kingdom is at work.

2. Daniel and his friends lives were in danger.

God sometimes allows us to be severely tested. The dream set this off.

They were being sought out to be executed.

They had not done anything to bring this on.
There are times when we have obeyed the LORD, kept ourselves pure and war breaks out against us. We cannot stop these things from happening.

We see here.

God allows it.

He doesn’t always stop it immediately. Things can get worse. Doesn’t that encourage you? Sometimes He takes us out of the storm but more often He keeps us through it.

Don’t try and figure out the difficulties in your life is you have been faithful. They will come. Just continue to be faithful and trust in Him.

Daniel didn’t defend himself. He had a case but instead he sought the LORD.

Two of the times in the Paul, the Apostle’s life when he was going through the fire...

* He felt the sentence of death in his heart (II Corinthians 1.9) Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.
Amazing how these horrific trials produce in us a dependency upon God. One of the reasons Daniel, Joseph and David suffered so much at a young age could have been to assure this very thing- that they would cry out to God. This could be the purpose of your present trials. With all that the LORD was doing or going to do in these young men’s lives it would have been easy for pride to come in, manifesting itself as self dependency.

Daniel cried out to God. (2.14-18) That is a good thing that usually doesn’t happen until we are in a situation that makes us do it.

* He was abandoned by everyone. II Timothy
1.15 You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me
4.16 At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. 17 But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength...
Until we face a degree of loneliness, we won’t know how precious fellowship and having Jesus standing with us can be. Most of the Psalms that comfort our hearts were written during David’s pre-king days. These were times when it was just him and the LORD. There he found that when he is alone and he was by himself, the LORD came and comforted his soul.

He listens to our prayers.

Daniel prayed and God answered the impossible God did what no one on earth could do. How we need to remember what he told Nebuchadnezzar, “But there is a God in heaven ” and...


3. Our God Reigns

There is a God in Heaven and He reigns from there

There is a God in Heaven and He cares about His People.

There is a God in Heaven and He can turn things around in your life in a moment if He wills.




Many times we are tested ad we don’t know why
Things turn against us and to God we must cry
Searching for the reasons why we suffer are for us to do
Just trust in the Master. He has promised to bring you through.

Many times He brings us through the storm and not out of them,
But each time He gives us grace and mercy as we look to Him.
So if you today are suffering for things you did not do,
Be of good cheer, Jesus knows just what you are going through.

He died for sins of others so that they may go free
He never became bitter over man’s inhumanity
So keep your eyes on the Master. He’ll fill your heart with a song
He has promised to be with us always until the day we’re home.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

The LORD's Day, July 6, 2008, Fourth of July Weekend

Praying For America

Daniel 1


On March 2, 1863, Senator John Harlan of Iowa introduced a resolution in the Senate, asking President Abraham Lincoln to proclaim a national day of prayer and fasting. The resolution was adopted on March 3 and later signed by President Lincoln on March 30.
At the top of the resolution were these words: A Day of National Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer in The United States of America on April 30, 1863.

Here are a few sentences from the early part of the resolution:

WHEREAS, the senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and Just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has by a resolution, required the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation.
...We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has every grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us It behooves us, then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

Here we are, on another July 4th weekend. This is our 232nd birthday.

We began Daniel this week. It is a book that testifies to the fact that God does judge nations for disobedience. Israel found out it was no exception and the same will hold true for the United States if we do not listen to God’s Word and learn from both Israel’s history and our own.

One of the themes of the Bible is that during judgment, God’s people are kept by Him, even if they do suffer, Jesus comes and stands with them. From Noah in Genesis to John in Revelation, including Lot and Joseph and Daniel and the prophets. Daniel was in Babylon because of the sins of his fathers. God had warned the nation to turn from their wicked ways. He had given them a solution through Solomon. They did not listen. So they were removed from the land God gave them. This was God’s judgment.



1. Why Exactly Did God Judge Israel?
Hosea 7.1-11
Deceit, crimes of thievery, adultery, arrogance, they never called on God
8.5-6 They were making idols for their people to worship

9.1 They had been unfaithful to God

10.1-4 They were self consumed. The more their riches increased the further from away from God they grew. Lawsuits abounded.


2. Pray that people will cry out to God in repentance.

There are certain things the LORD looks for. He is looking for sincerity. He looks for people whose hearts are towards Him.

He is moved when people call out to Him in humility and desperation.

Exodus 22.22-23
1 Chronicles 16:34-36
II Chronicles 20.9
Isaiah 19.20

3. Join in With Repentance with the national sins. 9.1-19

Daniel did. Look at this prayer It is a model for us.

He started with God’s Word. (vs.1-3) It will keep you from praying for symptoms and take you to the heart of the matter.

He prayed with a heart for his people. (vs.4-6)

He understood the calamity was God’s judgment. (vs.7-14)

He prayed for God’s glory and the honor of the Name of the LORD. (vs.15-19)

We know God heard his prayer and answered it.