Matthew 4:18-20

“Come, follow me” were the very first words Jesus spoke to Peter and Andrew. No doubt he Lord knew who he was calling, because the very next verse says, “At once they left their nets and followed him.

Every believer hears the Lord’s call to follow him. Sometimes it is the power of the word that draws us to Christ, or maybe a gentle whisper. Sometimes events do. And sometimes it’s truth revealed that causes us to see clearly. After all, it was Jesus who told Pilot, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." Pilot dismissed this claim summarily with the infamous words, “What is truth?” and men and women have been wrestling with this question and their response to it ever since.

It says of Peter and Andrew that they followed Jesus “at once.” For many of us, we were slow to hear and maybe even slower to respond. But the Lord is loving and patient and while it is still “today,” he has warned us with these words: “if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

So for those who choose Christ, we follow him and learn of his kingdom; we follow him to the Body of Christ where we can fellowship with other believers; or we follow him wherever He leads us, whether it’s to family and friends, to the office or to the ends of the earth to preach the Gospel.

Anyway you cut it, there’s a lot of following to a lot of different places. And along the way to victory in Christ, there’s a lot of heartache, betrayal and confusion. There’s rejection by unbelievers. There’s misunderstanding and human frailties within the Body of Christ. And there are trials that come no matter how closely we walk with the Lord. In the end, or at least at the point we think we are at the end, we can feel defeated, unworthy and unloved as we try to navigate the world, the church and our own doubts about what we are doing for the Lord and how well we’re doing it.

But take heart. Virtually every man or woman God has used to accomplish his purposes struggled with the same issues. Because God uses pressure and trials and doubt and pain to perfect something Christ-like in us no matter which path the Lord has led us down.

Look at Peter. “Come follow me,” the Lord said, and he did. Then he had the most remarkable life—here’s a few highlights just from the Gospels:

• He’s the one who first said “you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
• He’s the one who found the coin in the fish’s mouth.
• He tried to walk on water.
• He was at the mount of transfiguration with Jesus, Moses and Elijah.
• He also fell asleep in the garden of Gethsemane when Jesus asked him to pray.
• He cut off Malchus’ ear with a sword when they came to arrest Jesus.
• And he’s the who denied Jesus three times, just as the Lord predicted he would.

In that moment of personal failure Peter wept bitterly, wondering if he was wrong about who he thought he was, about how far he had come and about his calling. So when it looked like the end had come, he went back to fishing. No ministry. No calling. Just work. He no longer felt qualified to serve and had somehow lost his way despite the profound life he had been living as one of Jesus’ disciples.

But look at Peter’s last discussion with the risen Lord (John 21: 11-22), the one where Jesus restored him:

Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?"

"Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you."

Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."

Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"

He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."

Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."

The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."

Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, "Follow me!"

Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, "Lord, who is going to betray you?") When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what about him?"

Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me."

Peter’s restoration came when Jesus spoke directly to his broken disciple, asking him repeatedly whether he loved him and commissioning Peter, after each response, to feed his sheep. But perhaps the final words of restoration and reorientation were the most important, because they held the ultimate keys to his ministry, and to ours. Jesus' very last words to Peter were these: “follow me.”

Same as his first words.

Jesus says the same thing when we lose our way or grow weary, when we feel frustrated or unappreciated and when we think we are no longer qualified to serve him: “Follow me.”

That’s how your walk with God and your ministry began.

That’s how it is sustained.

And that’s how it keeps on track.

With all that you’ve accomplished or seen or failed at or forsaken, with all the questions that arise about where you’re heading, where you are and where you’ve been, Jesus reorients with the same two words: “Follow me.”

As the Book of Acts reports, Peter clearly got his bearings after hearing and responding to these words.

The same is true for us. When we wander off the narrow path or lose our way, God shows us the way back by saying "Follow me."

The next step is up to us.

It always is.

John 14: 30-31 (The Message)

The last detail was no small point. It was the point of everything, the turning point for all mankind. It was selfless obedience to the Father. It was sacrificial love on the cross. And it was mercy beyond comprehension. Jesus subjected himself to unfathomable brutality. To separation so great he cried out "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" And to restraint beyond measure when he chose not to stop it all and call down the legions of angels at his disposal. But as Jesus himself put it, had he chosen another path or been led astray, “how…would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?"

Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures exactly as written. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his sacrifice we were set free and restored. He gave his life for us. Nobody took it. No one could—not the Romans, not the Pharisees, not even Satan. And no one could lead him astray. There was nothing—no thought, no sin, no doubt—no leverage or claim that anyone had on him, nothing that could be used to manipulate him or prevent him from fulfilling his destiny, right down to the last detail. Jesus chose death on the cross that we might have eternal life, and in doing so freed us from the grip of guilt and sin.

There is no greater freedom in heaven or on the earth. Because of Jesus, neither the enemy nor anyone else has a claim on us. We are his. We are forgiven and spiritually debt free—born again with a clean slate. And his victory for our lives was sealed with these final words: “It is finished.” Nothing the father of lies can say will ever change that fact, no matter what the accusation, no matter what’s in our past, no matter how he tries to mislead us. His claims on our souls, on our minds and on our hearts are null and void. Our debt is paid. We are free. Period.

Still, Paul understood that the choice was ours when he said, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

Jesus wanted there to be no doubt about it. He put it this way: “if the Son sets you free, you will be absolutely free.”

Are you walking in God’s absolute freedom?

Or are you enslaved again by believing a lie of Biblical proportions?

Your choice.

That's the responsibility that comes with absolute freedom.

Gen 37:23-24

God made himself known to Abraham and promised to make his descendents a great nation. It was Abraham who was tested when he was commanded to sacrifice his “only son” Isaac. It was Isaac’s son Jacob who God spoke to in dreams and with whom he wrestled at the ford of the Jabbok. And so there would be no mistaking his plan for all of humanity through this family, the Lord himself told Moses at the burning bush, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”

It was into this special family that Joseph was born, at that time, the youngest of eleven brothers.

His story is well known. His father loved him more than any of his brothers. He made a richly ornamented robe for him. He treated him as his favorite. As a result, his brothers hated him. They were also bothered that he, like his father, had dreams, so they referred to him contemptuously as “that dreamer.” When the opportunity came, their hatred turned to thoughts of murder, and their thoughts to action. Sent one day by his father to check up on his brothers who were grazing the flocks, the word says, “they saw [Joseph] in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.”

Their plot unfolded quickly. They “stripped him of his robe” then threw him into an empty cistern. The intervention of his older brothers kept him from being left for dead, but not from being sold into slavery for twenty shekels of silver. His eventual ascendancy to second in command of all Egypt was an incredible demonstration of the redemptive work of God. In fact, in many ways, Joseph was a type of Christ—a shadow of things to come. He went from privilege to poverty—favorite son of his rich father to lowly slave and prisoner in a foreign land; he was put in the ground only to rise again to great authority, and; he was tested in the wilderness of his troubles where he learned to trust God in all circumstances, even when he was wrongfully accused and punished.

In an odd way, Joseph’s story calls to mind the story of the prodigal son. The prodigal son is a picture of the triumph of love over judgment. Jesus says that when the younger son came to his senses, he decided to go home and seek his father’s mercy. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” Joseph received no such welcome from his brothers who “saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.” The prodigal father moved in love and forgiveness as soon as he saw his son. The older brothers (in both stories, actually) moved in hatred and judgment.

There’s also this: The prodigal father not only embraced his son, but his first order of business was to restore him—to his family, to his position, to his dignity—by ordering his servant to “Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.” Not so for Joseph’s brothers. Their very first order of business was the exact opposite: to strip him of his robe.

The richly ornamented robe was not just a gift of Jacob’s love. It was a prophetic picture of what was coming. Jacob’s whole life was punctuated by prophetic moments, prophetic prayers and prophetic purposes. The robe was a picture of the anointing of God. Joseph was chosen by God. The family might not have realized it and the word says Jacob’s lavish affection for him was because he was the youngest, yet one can't help but wonder if it was also a reflection of God’s favor on his life. But as is frequently the case, God’s favor on one life—a special anointing, a special call, a special assignment—often brings out a special resentment in another, and the misguided notion that if God anoints one, there’s less anointing for the rest of us. Or worse, that God’s anointing on someone else means he loves them more.

God is infinite. He does not become less infinite when he gives freely to one of his children. We do not become less significant when he anoints others for service or calls them into a specific ministry. We who believe in Jesus are all called, chosen by God and equipped for service, each for a different purpose.

We do ourselves and the Kingdom of God a terrible disservice when we resent or covet God’s anointing on other people. Joseph’s brothers immediately took his robe. In their minds, taking the robe stripped him of his special status, returned him to the fold and made him more like them. But the anointing of God is not so easily torn away. The word says that “[t]he gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. “ It’s does not say, however, that men won't try to undermine or destroy them. They will.

They may try to make us feel powerless along the way. Even worthless. But only we can render our gifts and calling useless. By doing nothing.

The apostle Paul put it this way:

But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:13-15

Matthew 11:29-30

How can Jesus lovingly assure us that he is “humble in heart” when he is the same God of the Universe who created the heavens and the earth, who for six days spoke creation into existence and who later thundered so intensely from the cloud over Mt. Sinai that the people of God trembled in fear for their lives.

And how can he tell us he is “gentle” when he is the God who drowned the entire Egyptian army in the Red Sea, who opened the earth to swallow the rebellious Moses opposers, Kora, Dathan and Abiram, and also appeared as the hand that wrote on the walls of Belshazzar’s banquet that the king had been “weighed in the balance and found wanting” just hours before he was slain?

Maybe “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."

We do not want to be foolish or cavalier when it comes to God. We have the freedom to choose him as our savior, our deliverer, our father and friend. Or to reject him. Worse, we can actually oppose him, denounce him and make him our enemy. But being God’s enemy comes with a cost. As the Lord proclaimed to the people of Israel, “he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him.” Jesus put it this way: “He who is not with me is against me.”

That is why scripture warns that “It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” and asks, Who can stand in the day of his wrath?

It is not so terrible, however, to be embraced by him. To be drawn and even courted by him. In fact it is a wondrous thing. “The Lord, whose name is Jealous,” is patient and longsuffering as he waits for us to make up our minds or to return. He wants us to come to him, not run from him. He wants us to choose him above all else. He loves us so much he is willing to wait for us as we squander our affections elsewhere or are led astray, and to forgive us for the sins we commit along the way. His unconditional love captures our heart. Or as the Apostle John observed, “we love because he first loved us.”

But here’s the amazing thing: The all-powerful God of the Universe and God of Vengeance, who comes as fire, as thunder, as the earth-swallowing God who is not slow to oppose to their face those who hate him, comes to his friends—to those whose hearts are toward him—in gentleness and humility. To Moses, he came as a burning bush. To Abraham, as a man walking, someone who broke bread with him, a friend. To Jacob, in a dream and then as a man willing to wrestle with him about the things that matter most. And to Elijah, as “a gentle whisper.”

To the rest of us, he came as helpless and humble as is humanly possible: As a baby. He grew up among us. He taught. He shared. He suffered. He submitted to earthly authority. He willingly gave himself over to the Romans, was beaten and refused to defend himself or move in the power that was rightfully his, and ultimately, he took on our sins as a man forsaken and cursed.

Isaiah described him this way:

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

It doesn’t get more gentle and humble than this.

Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

We are the friends he died for. Jesus volunteered for the difficult part and told us "it is finished." Our part is simple: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me…” With unmatched gentleness and humility, Jesus extends his hand of forgiveness to us instead of the hand that writes you have been found wanting. It’s still not too late to receive it.

Even if it's not the first time.

All it takes is that we also be gentle and humble in heart.

And that we surrender.

To choose otherwise would be a terrible thing.

Deuteronomy 4:24

It is amazing how much we understand about our world and just how little we really know. We dwell in the midst of God’s creation and barely appreciate its majesty, its miraculousness or its mystery. From the secrets of what makes our heart beat to the vastness of the universe in which our spinning globe hurtles through space, God’s handiwork can both capture our imaginations or be missed entirely. Such is the nature of the God who reveals and conceals all at once. But once revealed—by his creation, by his love and intervention in our lives, by his son Jesus Christ—a profound transformation occurs in us. He becomes the object of our fascination, the desire of our heart and the love of our life.

He consumes us.

In fact, he more than consumes us: he is a consuming fire, a jealous God. Like a dry summer wildfire igniting everything in its path, God wants to burn up all the wood, hay and stubble in our lives — the deceptions, the sin and the lies that lead us away from him. He wants the depth of his love and the profoundness of his righteousness to capture our hearts and to cause us to plumb the deep waters of his Kingdom and of his only begotten son. And because we are made in his image, he wants us to love him with the same consuming focus with which he loves us. That is what holy jealousy is. That is why he is called El Qanna.

He is jealous for us when we turn to sin. He is jealous for us when our affections lead us astray. And he is jealous for us when we are consumed by our own unregenerate emotions because that is the path of destruction. It is the place where the King of our lives is dethroned in our hearts and his power is usurped by unholy passions. Whether we hate with white hot intensity, allow burning anger to blind us or are ignited with lust or vengeance, we have “disobeyed the Lord by burning before him the wrong kind of fire, different than he had commanded.” For Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, the consequence was death when "fire blazed forth from the Lord’s presence and burned them up." For us, it’s spiritual death—separation and estrangement from the King of Kings.

Jesus is the God of Forgiveness. Even on the cross, he forgave those who drove the nails into his hands and feet. His unconditional love knew no bounds at the moment of his crucifixion, and it knows no bounds right now as he sits at the right hand of the throne of God interceding on our behalf. His emotions—his love, his excitement, and yes, even his hatred of sin and injustice—are all governed by his perfect righteousness. He has given us the very same emotions so we can know who God is, what stirs his heart and what displeases him, and so we can share in his love and triumphs and the joy that comes from walking in forgiveness and freedom.

When we burn with the wrong kind of fire, we surrender to a different king. We allow the things of the world and its prince to consume us. We embrace unforgiveness and vengeance. And we ignore righteousness. In the process, we provoke God to anger, for He will not let our rebellion go unchallenged. Nor will he allow us to be consumed by such unholy obsessions. Which is why the writer of Hebrews warns us that “it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” since “we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay…" The Apostle Paul put it this way:

At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.
Titus 3:3-5

Jesus is the light of the world. By his transforming power he calls us to let our light shine in the darkness and by his spirit we burn brightly with God’s love, redemption and forgiveness. While the world embraces the wrong kind of fire, we are called to choose the Consuming Fire.

One way or the other, we are going to be consumed.

This is war, and there is no neutral ground. If you're not on my side, you're the enemy; if you're not helping, you're making things worse.

Matthew 12:30 (The Message)

On this issue, there are no shades of gray. We are either with Jesus or against him. Whether overturning tables in the temple, speaking to the woman at the well or warning that “anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me” cannot be his disciple, the choice is always the same. Joshua put it this way: "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve..."

We tend to forget how significant this choice is. And we can barely comprehend all the life-changing ramifications of choosing Christ. But Jesus knows every one of them, including this one: He knows that not everyone will embrace the choice you’ve made. In fact, many will hate it. And they will hate you for making it. Because for those who are perishing, for those who reject Christ, we are the scent of death. Even if you don't say a word about whom you have chosen, some will be repulsed by you. Somehow, they will know, and they will leave you wondering why they don't like you.

Peter explained it this way: “you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do — living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you.” To your friends, your coworkers, even to members of your own family, you are no longer the same. Now, by the choice you've made, something about your life makes them uncomfortable. It's this: You have become the very presence of God in their lives—a living epistle—and the Holy Spirit in you brings conviction like a two edged sword, piercing their hearts and exposing the choices they have made.

We may think you we can work out our differences with those who continue to follow the ways of the world. That maybe, by compromising with them on some things, by keeping our faith to ourselves, by biting our tongue when we ought to speak out, our relationships won't change and our old friends won’t be offended. It would seem, however, that no such compromise is possible. Jesus so much as told us so with this parable:

Suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

We are in a battle to the death. Everything is at stake. And it is the Prince of Peace who will have his way and who is dictating the terms of engagement. We are called to be holy as Christ is holy. We are called to be pure. And we are called to follow Christ wherever he leads, to surrender only to Him. Compromise with God's enemies—even with those who don't realize they oppose Him—compromises us. Jesus demands everything. Compromise means Jesus gets something less than everything, while the enemy gets something in us, something to leverage and use to separate us from God's loving embrace. Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy our relationship with Christ. Jesus comes that we may have eternal life by being crucified with him.

Such is the cosmic battle for our hearts and souls, a paradox with eternal consequences: Our enemy wants us dead. So too does Jesus, only he wants us to willingly pick up our cross and lay down our old lives that we might find new life in Him. That is what it means to be on the side of Jesus, to be for Him.

Let the world think it strange that we no longer plunge into the same old flood of dissipation, let the abuse come and let us celebrate that we have been changed into His likeness enough to offend anyone!

Paul says we are the aroma of Christ to those who are being saved and the scent of death to those who are perishing.

Either way, we carry a fragrant offering to those around us.

If they don't know that it's Christ in us, the hope of glory, we owe it to them to say so.

Sound familiar? It was for Joshua. He had been there before. Last time, he was one of the men sent into the land by Moses. This time, he was the one doing the sending. This time, he was leader of all Israel.

We first hear about Joshua in Exodus when Moses told him, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands." It’s a battle that clearly shows how God moves in the spirit and in the natural all at once. Moses, Aaron and Hur stood on the top of the hill while Joshua led the physical battle against the Amelikites. “As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amelikites were winning.” It goes on to say that Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ hands till sunset, until Joshua overcame the Amelikites with the sword.

As the leaders of Israel warred in the spirit with uplifted arms, Joshua led on the battlefield to defeat the Amelikites here on earth. It was one of many lessons Joshua learned about spiritual warfare and the unstoppable power of God.

When Moses went up the Mountain of God to receive the Ten Commandments, it was Joshua alone who accompanied him (at least part of the way). When Moses met with God in the Tent of Meeting and then returned to the camp, his face radiant with God's glory, Joshua “did not leave the tent.” Instead, he basked in the afterglow of His presence, trusting that he too would be changed by just being where God had been.

It was by his zeal for God and his faithfulness that Joshua became the spiritual leader the Lord chose to complete the work Moses had begun. Joshua had been transformed by his encounters with God: He had witnessed God’s miraculous deliverance from Egypt; experienced God’s victory over the Amelikites; and saw something others didn’t see when he was one of the twelve sent to explore the promised land: he saw the inheritance of his people and the invisible hand of God at work.

That’s often the way it is. Some people have eyes to see, some don’t. Some people see first, others follow. Some people never see, or worse, see and pretend they didn’t. The battle over spiritual truth—what God has actually said and revealed to us—has been raging since Adam and Eve set foot in the Garden. Jesus tells us, "he who is not with me is against me," and the Apostle Paul reminds us that this battle is not against flesh and blood, “but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

To be prepared for this struggle, we need to be able to see into the heavenly realms—to see by the spirit.

God puts people in our lives to teach us how to apprehend such things and how to grasp spiritual truths. We don’t automatically get it by being born again. But as we grow in the Word, as we desire to know God more, we begin to get revelation and we begin to see that which is unseen.

It was Joshua and Caleb who brought back the good report after they explored the land. They knew God showed it to them, not to scare them, but to excite them about this new beginning and the victory that he was about to hand them. The other ten, however, saw only inevitable defeat, and shared their view with all Israel. In spite of what they had seen when they were delivered from Egypt, their understanding of God had not been affected. They still only saw with natural eyes. They did not understand divine power. They did not comprehend the promises of God and that he would overcome all obstacles to fulfill them. And they refused to see with spiritual eyes, a choice for which they paid dearly. Only Joshua and Caleb were spared.

Forty years after trekking through the desert for the sins of his people, Joshua was right back where Moses had been when he sent the twelve to spy out the land. The moment was very familiar to him. But his experience with God and with Moses had taught Joshua to think like a man of God and to lead accordingly.

Forty years earlier, at God’s direction, Moses had sent twelve into the land. There was no need for a jury of twelve this time, because the verdict was still the same: the promised land is Israel’s. So only two were sent in to spy out the land. Two who were zealous for God—two a lot like Caleb and Joshua himself—who had spiritual eyes to see and reported back with total confidence, "The Lord has surely given the whole land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us."

Joshua did something else because of what he had learned through Moses: he sent the two “secretly” into the land. Why? Because after Moses sent out the twelve, he received their report in the presence of assembly. When all Israel heard how the ten were melting in fear, their faith evaporated and they rebelled against Moses and Aaron and what God was doing. Joshua had learned the hard way that not all men have the same level of faith or the same understanding of spiritual matters. This time, there would be no such rebellion. The two would report back to Joshua first so he could consider their words before sharing them with the assembly.

Joshua learned from his experience and from the men of God that had been placed in his life. He learned how to lead while being led by the spirit. By running after God, Joshua learned to walk in the spirit.

So must we, for we are also a spiritual people.

There are people all around us still waiting to be led into the promised land. The Holy Spirit is showing them to us. Many have been wandering the desert for a very long time. It’s time to lead them out of the wilderness. It’s time for us to be as "strong and courageous" as Joshua and to step out in faith. God will lead us and give us the words and the authority necessary to accomplish the challenge before us.

He always has.

And He always will.

Romans 8:22-24

How can it be that “the whole of creation” which God spoke into existence and certified as "good,” groans—right up to the present time—as in the pains of childbirth? How can God’s perfect creation be so distressed? And what of us? Paul says we "who have the first fruits of the Spirit” are groaning inwardly right along with creation.

In truth, all of creation has been groaning for the Kingdom to come almost from the very beginning.

Adam and Eve were not exactly like us. At least not at first. For they were created innocent, neither of them having been birthed in sin as we were. But like us, both were given free will. They were also given the perfect opportunity to thrive in the most perfect place on earth—Eden—the place where God walked in the Garden with them, blessed them in every way and held forth the perfect plan for their lives. There was just one warning for the man (and through him for the woman): whatever you do, “you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” That was God's only law. But like any law, it placed a limit on what they could do. And like anyone with a free will, they could choose to obey or disobey it.

By the fourth chapter of Genesis, the fall of man was complete. Paradise was lost and sin and death entered the world. Mankind was now so far from innocent that his every inclination was to do evil all the time.

In his fallen state, man cannot get out of his own way. Sinful man still has free will, but there have been some drastic changes. Before the fall, he shared the Garden of Eden with the holy and righteous God of the Universe. Since the fall, he shares the earth with, “the god of this world,” Satan, who in his rebellion "was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him."

Is it any wonder the world groans? Is it any wonder we groan? We live in a world contaminated by sin, populated by fallen men and fallen angels where evil flourishes and truth is nowhere to be found. As a result, the world disappoints. Our families and friends disappoint. And even the church can disappoint. Because none are without sin, and no one is immune from the pain of sin or its grip on their life. The Apostle Paul described it this way: “I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” Like Paul, we all can say “When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.”

But Paul also recognized he was no longer captive to sin, “because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” We still struggle, but Jesus has made a way through the Holy Spirit. We still battle sin, but defeat is not inevitable. We may “groan inwardly” when we glimpse the Kingdom of Heaven and see just how fallen our world really is, but “despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.”

Here in the world, where the fallen live among the fallen, we are nevertheless called to work out our salvation with fear and trembling and to be a light in the darkness. We are the redeemed with feet of clay, new creations in the same old body, living in the same fallen neighborhood, battling many of the same old demons. If only believing in Christ and receiving his Holy Spirit would have changed us forever, our struggles with sin and temptation would have come to an abrupt and definitive end. If only. We are profoundly changed, but our fleshly nature refuses to submit or renounce its claim on our desires.

God could have permanently transformed us in all ways at the moment of our rebirth, but he did not. Because had he done so, had he changed our nature in that fundamental way, he would have taken something so important from us that our transformation and our love for God would have lost all meaning by the next day.

Free will.

We have become children of God and are now heirs of the King and friends of Jesus. But we must still make choices when we are tempted; when our faith wanes; when we are wounded, rebellious or just plain tired of persevering. Which is why scripture says "choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve." That's not quite as easy as it sounds.

Jesus said, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.” Jesus uses the language of war because a battle for our souls rages all around us all the time, only “the weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world.” Our battle is in the heavenly realms and in our minds, where the choices we make affect not only our own walk with God, but the lives of those who look to us as "Christ's ambassadors." As believers, we see action every day. It is as if every voice we hear, every argument we entertain and every choice we make is the front line of the war. We may be prepared by God’s word, strengthened by his love, armed with His holy spirit and equipped with the mind of Christ, but at the moment of decision it is our free will that determines what actions we take and whose side we choose.

We are constantly confronting the same choice as the first couple. As we battle our flesh, as we battle temptation and false teaching and vanity and the need for recognition, and as we successfully force our will to bend to His will, the Kingdom of Heaven forcefully advances, and forceful, imperfect but saved men and women, struggling sinners all—people like us—lay hold of it.

The Kingdom of Heaven is within you. It is also near you, beckoning you home and holding forth the promise of God's ultimate redemption for his wondrous creation. Grasping this truth will energize you. It will lift your spirits and put hope in your heart for this troubled planet. There may be much that’s wrong in the world, but we’ve had a glimpse of the Kingdom to come and the unstoppable power of God's love to bring it to fruition. This fallen world we know is not the natural order our creator planned. Timothy Keller, in his book The Prodigal God, put it this way: "Jesus’s miracles were not so much violations of the natural order, but a restoration of the natural order. God did not create a world with blindness, leprosy, hunger, and death in it. Jesus’s miracles were signs that someday all these corruptions of this creation would be abolished.”

With every choice you make for God, every time you put others before yourself, pray for those around you, step out in faith and share your love for God with the broken hearted and the lost, you are serving as God's chosen vessel to restore the natural order in your corner of the Kingdom. And your obedience to God, even if it sometimes takes the full force of your will to obey Him, is a sign that the Kingdom of Heaven is still advancing, that love never fails and that the corruptions of this creation are much closer to being abolished than any of us can ever know!

Now that is worth groaning about.

1 Corinthians 2:9-10
How awesome is this revelation: Our great and mysterious God whose ways are higher than our ways, whose thoughts are higher than our thoughts, whose power is without end and whose love is unequaled, has revealed to us what he has prepared for those who love him.

Right before the quoted text, the Apostle Paul says he is speaking “of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.” And Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

It's hard to fully grasp the meaning of all this, but let's settle on this: Now we know.

We know at least this much: God has made a way for us to enter back into relationship with him. We know that he has never stopped loving us and that our sins are forgiven just for the asking. We know he wants to make himself personally known to us. We know he wants to dwell in us by his Holy Spirit. We know Jesus is the Messiah who was “pierced for our transgressions” and that “the punishment that brought us peace was upon him.” We know he gave his life for us. We know that there is a heaven we can enter and a hell from which we can be saved. We know we can be born again. We know we can receive eternal life. And we know that Jesus came to fulfill the law and the prophets, revealing by his life, death and resurrection that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New are one and the same.

We know this too: That God has a plan for those who love him. He has given us supernatural gifts, wisdom from heaven, an ability to understand spiritual things with a spiritual mind and a glimpse into things to come. He has set Jesus as an anchor for our souls in a world of constant change and increasing dissipation, and he enables us to stand firm in the midst of the storm.

No small matters, these things God has revealed. But they require something profound and simple from us: that we keep our eyes on spiritual truths, that we hear what God is saying and that we think about such things with the mind of Christ. Otherwise, what God has revealed to us won’t matter. For we run the same risk of falling that those in ancient times ran. Ezekiel said it this way:

Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.

That’s why the writer of Hebrews exhorts us to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” It’s the one certain way to stay focused on the things revealed, rather than on the things concealed. The world focuses on the latter, insisting there is no truth while rebelling against all that is good, holy and righteous. But for those of us who fix our eyes on Jesus, we know God’s truth. Despite all the confusion, distortions and hostility around us, we can see it and hear it and know it because he has made it known by his Spirit.

Truth never changes. But our grasp of truth can if we don’t remain vigilant and steadfast. So be encouraged and encourage others. Not only do we know the truth, but we have chosen the way and the truth and the life—we have chosen Jesus. And he confirms his truth every time we look, every time we listen and every time we think about how he has transformed our lives.

Such good news should not remain our little secret. We're called to share it with everyone who has an ear to hear!

James 1:27

Jesus was not a great fan of religion. Nor was he a fan of what Israel's teachers and the Pharisees had done by turning the law of Moses into a system of rewards, punishments and procedures—a religious system that left the heart unchanged and the Lord unpleased. So Jesus addressed the crowds to show them what they had unknowingly become a part of.

Because the teachers and Pharisees claimed authority in Moses’ name, they were thought to have the word of the Lord and worthy to be followed. Jesus didn’t see it that way and he warned the people about their leaders: “do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders…” “Everything they do is done for men to see” and for recognition. He rebuked them directly, saying, “You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.” And he left no room for debate, calling such leaders “hypocrites,” “blind guides” and “whitewashed tombs” full of wickedness within. So unspiritual was the religious system that “the people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus.” The leaders knew the rules but their hearts were blind to the Ruler of all creation and his heart for them.

In the beginning, God's heart was to have relationship with man. It's still his heart. He prepared a place for him so they could live together in the Garden. In the beginning, there was no law (except one: don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil). There was intimacy and fellowship—God, man and woman in Eden living in perfect harmony. But we know how that ended. And ever since then, mankind has been creating ways to make things right with God to win back his love, not fully understanding that God never stopped loving us. Ever.

Those ways are the stuff of religion. Religion creates ways to earn God’s love and his promised redemption. Religion puts all sorts of heavy loads on men’s shoulders by saying God will love you, IF…if you don’t drink; if you don’t smoke; if you dress appropriately, if you pray every day; if you clean up your language; if you give money; if, if, if…

Jesus says this: I love you, NO ifs, ands or buts.

Jesus has never stopped loving us. He gave his life for us. Anyone or any system that says we must do something to earn God’s love rather than receive it, is not biblical. And anyone or any system that says that we must do more than receive his sacrifice on the cross to be restored, has traded redemption for religion.

That’s why James says that pure religion is this: “to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Pure religion is about abiding in Christ. It’s about the overflow of a transformed heart causing us to love not as the world loves—with conditions and expectations of reward—but selflessly, “with actions and in truth.” Pure religion is not about a duty to serve. It's about the desire to obey.

God calls us to meet together, to pray, to worship him, to be in his word, to be teachable and to teach and to make disciples of all nations. More importantly, however, he calls us friends if we do what he commands. And his command is this: “Love each other as I have loved you.” Sometimes that calls for small sacrifices. Sometimes it calls for more. And still other times it calls for the ultimate sacrifce. As Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

Are we prepared to lay down our lives for our friends? How about just our pride? Or our rights? Or even our guard?

Doing so would be choosing obedience to Christ. It would also be choosing to lay down our lives, at least a little. And it would be choosing religion that God accepts as pure and faultless.

1 John 2: 27

Where have we heard this before? And why do we need to be reminded that the anointing we received when we became believers “remains” in us? Because we are mere mortals. Born again, but from worldly stock. Some of us forget names seconds after introductions. Others forget important dates and appointments. And many forget that they have been transformed—filled with the power of God to do great and mighty things, forgiven for past transgressions and equipped in all ways to fulfill God’s call on their lives.

The anointing is for a purpose. One purpose is to bring us into intimate relationship with God himself, to know his love and fellowship. Another is to equip us deep within so we can step out in faith with holy confidence.

John says we received the anointing (an infilling of the Holy Spirit; the oil of God; gifting and equipping; the act of having been chosen by God). He says that it remains in us. When called to step up and step out in faith and speak the word of the Lord to friends or family, our first thoughts are often that we are not qualified. And rather than risk embarrassment, we remain silent. So John reminds us we are qualified because the anointing remains in us. No one has to teach us about it, because the anointing—the Holy Spirit—teaches us about all things. And it’s not just wishful or positive thinking, but the very power of God. Only, we must remain in him. (Jesus himself proclaimed: “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”)

Paul put it this way: “He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

And even before Jesus walked the earth, God’s radical plan was to pour out his anointing on our lives. It was prophet Jeremiah who told us what to expect:

'The time is coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,' declares the LORD.

'This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,' declares the LORD. 'I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, "Know the LORD," because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,' declares the LORD. 'For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.'

Jeremiah 31: 31-34

(Is this word just for Israel? Not according to Paul, who tells us in Romans that the Jews are the natural branch (the original covenant people of God) while the Gentiles are the wild branch that has been grafted in. Which means both believing Jews and Gentiles are the new covenant people of God.)

Since the Garden, God has been reminding us that he provides everything as we abide (remain) in him. But like Adam, it’s in our nature to wander away and forget what we have been given and what we have learned. In fact, much of the Bible is the history of people walking away from God and forgetting what he has done. Many knowingly. Others unaware that they had even strayed.

Maybe it’s time to get our bearings again. Do we remember that we are anointed? Are we moving in it? Are we hearing the voice of God?

If not, we need to ask, Why not?

The anointing remains in you, even if you've forgotten about it. Let the Spirit of God show you where you are and just how far you’ve wandered. Then change your direction, remember the anointing and take your rightful place as competent ministers of the new covenant.

Galatians 4:16

Here’s a hard Truth: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” For all who are paying attention and actually care, this Truth leads to self-examination, exploration of some of the deeper mysteries of life and, for a few, salvation. But salvation only comes when we accept the Truth that we are all sinners who need a savior. And in that moment of distressing revelation about ourselves—that we are sinners—opportunity knocks, because “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.”

Not everyone believes there is absolute Truth (designated herein with a capitol “T” except for quotes from the Bible). Many believe truth is relative: Perspective, need and desire are just a few things that define truth at a given moment. Instead of the Truth, there are situational truths—truths defined by what works best under the circumstances. But if there is transcendent Truth that is not dependent on or our own needs, fears and desires, then what we call truth may have to yield to a higher power (e.g., my belief that I’m a “good person” and am therefore going to heaven will have to give way to the Truth that “no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again”).

Pilot was perhaps the most unfortunate relativist of all time. He was caught in the middle of the religious leaders who wanted Jesus crucified, his peers who wanted his job, and his own nagging awareness that Jesus was no ordinary man. When Jesus told him that “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me,” Pilot had a choice to make. Rather than examine his own understanding of reality or explore the profound life-changing ramifications of what Jesus was saying, Pilot simply parried and asked, “What is truth?” sealing his own fate and place in history. Pilot thought his clever response made him the final arbiter of Truth.

He was wrong.

Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life.” He is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and last word on all things, including Truth. His disciples, then and now, have been empowered to bring God’s Truth to an unbelieving world. And not without controversy.

The Galatians were falling away from the Gospel they had been taught. False teachers had gained prominence in the church, and religious traditions, rather than faith, were being heralded as the road to salvation. Once counted as mentor, friend and Apostle, Paul’s correction was not welcome when he confronted the Galatians.

“Have I now become your enemy” he asked, “by telling you the truth?”

In a way, he had. Because a hard Truth, whether about our own sin and failings, or about false teaching or abuse of authority, is rarely welcome. Worse, Truth is often so hated that crucifying the messenger seems like a viable alternative to receiving the message. It is what the Romans and Pharisees chose. And it was what Jesus was willing to suffer in defense of the Truth about who he was and why he came into the world.

What are we willing to suffer for the Truth?

John tells us we cannot love with just “words and tongue,” (the scriptural way of saying talk is cheap), “but in actions and in truth.” Our lives have to be a living testament to God’s Truth if they are to have any impact on the people around us. That can only happen if we accept that God desires Truth “in the inner parts”—Truth which transforms the heart and mind and lovingly sets us free.

Jesus did not come to be our enemy, though some think he is. He came to save us and show us this absolute Truth: "Love never fails."

Sometimes it is absolutely our responsibility to speak the Truth in love.

Other times it’s our duty and responsibility to lovingly hear and receive the Truth from others. That doesn’t make the messenger our enemy any more than speaking the Truth make us theirs.

One measure of our maturity in Christ is this: Are we as willing to hear the Truth as we are to speak it?

If not, we need to grow up.

Which is, incidentally, something else God desires for all of us.

Acts 6:38

These were the words of Rabbi Gamaliel to the Sanhedrin after Peter and the apostles were arrested for preaching the word. The members of the Sanhedrin wanted to put them to death, but Gamaliel cautioned restraint: “consider carefully what you intend to do to these men.” Since Gamaliel was highly honored, they heeded his words. The apostles were flogged instead, and freed with a warning “not to speak in the name of Jesus.” As for heeding that warning, Acts says this about the apostles: “Day after day...they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.”

So much for derailing God’s plan.

Jesus said, "Many are called but few are chosen.” In fact, the call of Jesus is for the restoration of all mankind. Our response to that call is one of the rare instances in life when we actually choose ourselves. Sadly, few do, so few are chosen. But for those of us who raise our hands or hearts to the Lord, for those of us who exercise our right to become “children of God,” we receive "the Spirit of sonship" and become “heirs of God and co-heirs of Christ.” From that moment on we no longer walk alone or only in our own strength. And what we share with others—the good news that Jesus is the Christ—is more than mere words; it is the word of life infused with the power of God Almighty.

Gamaliel understood something we need to lay hold of. If what we do for God, or rather, what we think we are doing for God, is of human origin, it will fail. If we share the word to be noticed, to get recognition or to get credit from God, we will accomplish nothing. In the same way, if our motivation is to be seen as different or holy or somehow better than those around us, we will accomplish little that lasts. Worse, because our motivations are never as concealed as we think, we will likely harden the hearts of those who hear us because our words will be eclipsed by our motives. All they will see is more of the world.

But if we love God and are committed to pleasing him, we will share with others out of the overflow of our hearts. Whatever that leads us to say or do, no matter how inadequate we think our understanding or delivery, they will hear and see something supernatural. Something uniquely different. Something unstoppable. For as Gamaliel explained to the unbelieving Sanhedrin, “if it is from God, you will not be able to stop [them]; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

As for those who try to stop us, don’t take it to heart or make it personal. Their opposition is not our fight. That battle belongs to the Lord. Let them fight against God.

And isn’t that really the point? To draw them into a fight with God (who says “come now, let us reason together”), then trust that the Lord of Hosts will bring them to the point of surrender, death and new life in Christ Jesus. To the place where to lose is to win.

There’s no stopping God.

And there’s no stopping us if our purpose or activity is from him.

Luke 11:23

Keeping the faith is not always a stroll in the park. Even Jesus tells us that "the work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." As believers we embrace God’s values. We try to view the world with Kingdom eyes. We accept that there are angels and demons, heaven and hell, and decisions to be made moment to moment that will either feed our flesh or fan the Spirit of God within. We are always confronted with what God has set before us: “life and death, blessings and curses.” God watches from his heavenly throne as we struggle and encourages us to “choose life” and press on.

Scripture says our walk with God is like a race. Paul tells us to “run in such a way as to get the prize.” The writer of Hebrews tells us to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” So the saints who went before us cheer us on in our walk with God. The angels in heaven join in that chorus of encouragement. And the Lord himself implores us to choose life at every turn in the race.

Yet despite all the holy encouragement, there are times when we are just plain tired of running the race, times of fatigue, exhaustion and frustration. It’s in those moments of weakness that other voices can suddenly be heard more clearly above the cherubic cheerleaders. And they are not the voices of encouragement. They are worldly voices. Hostile voices. Voices of people whose lives are set on a different path and who look to “cut in on you and [keep] you from obeying the truth.”

Let’s embrace Paul’s analogy and accept that we are running a race. Now picture a single runner in a marathon. Thousands of people have turned out for the race. They line the streets, shouting, yelling and attempting to attract the runner’s attention. Only in this race, it is not encouragement that reverberates from the sidelines, it’s discouragement and disdain. As if knowing the runner’s inner struggle, the crowd shouts such things as “Why are you bothering with all this? Who cares if you finish the race? What’s the point? You call that a prize? Don’t you have a mind of your own? You can’t really believe God cares what you’re doing!” These and even more demoralizing words come at us with every heavy step we take, from every message our senses receive, because we are running one way and the world is heading in the exact opposite direction.

Everyone chooses sides. At times it feels like everyone has chosen the other side and that we who embrace Jesus walk alone in a world gone mad—a world that passionately and irrationally hates Jesus and his followers. But take comfort. It’s been like this from the beginning. When Israel rejected the Lord, demanding a flesh and blood King like all the other nations, God’s prophet Samual took it very personally. It was the Lord who comforted him with these words: “it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.” Jesus said almost the same thing to his followers: “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.”

Yet as we run the race, struggling but undeterred even as the crowed heaps scorn on our motivations and beliefs and is almost giddy when we stumble, some in the crowd will wonder. Some will look on with curiosity. When the Ephesian craftsmen (idol makers) thought their business was in danger because idol worship was condemned by Paul and his followers, they caused a near riot. Two of Paul’s traveling companions were seized. But it says this about the mob that had gathered: “The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there.”

Most of the people watching us run the race don’t know why they are there either. But God does. Because it is from the ranks of the crowd, from among those who truly want to see us fail, that God calls forth his people, that God opens their eyes to see. And the unseeable God uses us to show those people the way. If we run the race that has been marked out for us, those who are called will follow.

As a disciple of Christ, we will never be able to please all the people all the time. “For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.” To those who hate God, we stink of death and are a reminder here on earth, right now, that all will be judged. When they look at us, they see the choice that they did not make. To those who are being saved, we smell of life and new beginnings. And we draw them after us simply by being faithful. That is what it is to gather with Jesus.

So keep running.

You never know who’s going to follow when they see you leading the way.

1 Samuel 3:1

Although we live in unprecedented times of both turmoil and radically earth-changing technological advances, too often it seems that even in these days, the word of the Lord is rare. Danger lurks in every corner of the globe—from terrorism to swine flu to the economic collapse of the western world. Trying to understand the times while living among a people who embrace everything but Jesus, is no easy task. But we have been called and empowered to do just that.

In Samuel’s day, it wasn’t much different. Israel’s miraculous delivery from Egypt had receded into history. It had conquered and settled Canaan. And while its special role in God’s eyes had not changed, its view of itself and its commitment to God’s ways had. Now it wanted to be like other nations. Being led by an unseen God no longer satisfied; Israel wanted a King. A real flesh and blood king, not just the King of the Universe.

Once the Israelites were no longer satisfied with their special role as God’s chosen people, they were no longer vigilant to keep his ways or to remain holy and set apart as the Lord desired. With its eyes off God, Israel could only backslide. First in small things. Then in all things. It says that Eli was the priest in God’s temple and his sons, also priests, “were wicked men; they had no regard for the Lord.” From the top down, Israel had fallen to the ways of the world.

Some things seem never to change. We live in times where having no regard for the Lord is thought not just preferable, but enlightened. There is an ongoing effort to sanitize American history so its Judeo-Christian roots are disparaged or denied. There’s an effort to recast the founding fathers as singularly secular men who did everything possible to eliminate the role of God in the fledgling nation they were creating.There’s even an effort to claim that America has always been a Muslim nation. And like in Samuel’s time, the fruit of these views is that the word of the Lord is rare, there are not many visions and we look to Kings (presidents) for hope, instead of to the God of hope who fills us with joy and peace as we trust in him.

It is only with an understanding of just how secular things had become that we can appreciate the diligence of Samuel’s mother. In a culture that no longer valued prayer, that no longer even recognized it (Eli thought Hannah was drunk), she pressed on because there’s always a faithful remnant (even today). It says “In bitterness of soul, Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord.” She did it year after year at the temple, beseeching God for a child, promising that if he gave her a son, she would give him to the Lord. God granted her prayers, and she gave birth to a son. Hannah knew God heard her prayers so she named him “Samuel,” which means "heard of God." Fulfilling her promise, Hannah brought the boy to Eli in the temple and told him, “For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And Samuel lived with Eli in the temple. A boy dedicated to God by his faithful mother, raised by priests whose hearts had gone cold and who reveled in their positions instead of God’s promises. But God’s will for the faithful few cannot be thwarted by the unfaithful many no matter how important or powerful they appear to be.

When he was about 12 years old, Samuel was lying down in the temple near the Ark of God. The Lord called him. Samuel thought it was Eli so he ran to him and said, “Here I am.” But it wasn’t Eli calling. The Lord called him again and again Samuel ran to Eli saying “Here I am.” But it still wasn’t Eli, so the boy went back and lied down. It wasn’t that Samuel was dense or unreceptive or dimwitted. It was something more fundamental:

Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

1 Samuel 3:7

How sad and pathetic. Living in the temple, sleeping near the Ark, being taken care of by the priests and the Levites, by Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. How did a people set apart for God foresake their special role, their special responsibilities and their special relationship with the Lord of the Universe?

How do we do it? We are God’s chosen vessels for these times. Yet many of us have foresaken our special role in God's Kingdom. Many of us have gone through dry and trying times. Times of no visions. Times of disappointment. Times that have so worn us down that we don’t hear what God is saying, can’t discern the times we live in and don't think our prayers are even heard. Samuel didn’t hear because the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. So why don’t we hear? We have heard the word of the Lord; that’s why we are believers. But if we are not diligent to be in the word, we are as good as deaf and are heading for spiritual death. That's the problem: the spiritually dead and dying cannot hear or see clearly. Which is why we are commanded to choose life.

Even in a backslidden nation, in a nation that looks to shake off its destiny and its roots, God still speaks to the remnant that's listening. He says pray. He says I am with you. He says I hear the prayers of my people. He says persevere through the dry times, just as Hannah did. And he reminds us to “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”

Samuel became a great prophet in Israel, anointing Saul the first King of Israel, then anointing David King when Saul’s throne was taken from him. But before Samuel could walk in God’s authority, something fundamental had to happen.

The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. The Lord continued to appear at Shilo and there revealed himself to Samuel through his word.

1 Samuel 3: 20

It was the word of the Lord that transformed Samuel. John begins his Gospel with these words: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And later he tells us, “the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

The Lord revealed himself to Samuel through his word. The Lord revealed himself to us through his word, through the word made flesh and through the Holy Spirit who quickens the word to our hearts. We too must dwell in the word. We too should be recognized as the people of God. We too should be attested as prophets among the lost, speaking with authority about Jesus’ return, about his redemption and about the increase in wickedness as love grows cold all around us.

Someone needs to speak these things.

Samuel didn’t recognize the call of God because the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. It is our responsibility to reveal the word of the Lord that has been revealed to us, so that those around us can recognize God’s call on their lives. It is our responsibility to hear the word of the Lord ourselves, to read and reread the word of the Lord and to let the word of the Lord dwell richly in us so that we will be transformed and recognized as God’s very ambassadors.

And it is our responsibility in these ever-changing and chaotic times, to speak words of life and love and hope to a lost people who think that the best we can do is to get past the God stuff and get down to fixing the planet and ushering in world peace on our own.

And people think we’re foolish!

You want to hear the word of the Lord like Samuel did? Read it.

You want the word of the Lord revealed to those around you? Speak it.

Because this is how we've been charged:

Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

2 Timothy 4:2-5