okieinexile
Well-Known Member
August 31, 2008
Exodus 3:1-15
3:1 Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
3:2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.
3:3 Then Moses said, "I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up."
3:4 When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am."
3:5 Then he said, "Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."
3:6 He said further, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
3:7 Then the LORD said, "I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings,
3:8 and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
3:9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them.
3:10 So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt."
3:11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"
3:12 He said, "I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain."
3:13 But Moses said to God, "If I come to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?"
3:14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." He said further, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
3:15 God also said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you': This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.
/***/
Romans 12:9-21
12:9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;
12:10 Love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.
12:11 Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.
12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.
12:13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.
12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
12:16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.
12:17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.
12:18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
12:19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."
12:20 No, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads."
12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
/***/
I grew up as a Southern Baptist and we had revivals twice a year. I didn’t like them too much because I thought they were boring. The preacher would either try to make you feel guilty or he’d try to make you scared. I guess I shouldn’t put too much stock in my memories because I was just a kid and you’re never sure what a kid is going to make out of what you say.
My Grampa Sam, on the other hand, looked upon revivals and preaching as a form of entertainment. This goes back to the old days when there wasn’t any TV or radio and entertainment was pretty slim pickings. Folks would go to sing the songs and hear the preaching. It was a different style than I employ. The preacher would tell the story from the Bible and embellish it. They would make it come to life.
Grampa told about one preacher who was so good that when he preached on Noah’s Ark you could hear the water lapping at the boat.
For my part, I don’t consider worship to be entertainment. Before anybody says, “we know that already,” let me say that it’s more complicated than that. A lot of people went to those old revivals to be entertained and they wound up finding God instead.
In the Baptist Church where I grew up they gave invitations, they did it every Sunday and they did it during revivals. The preacher would invite you to come down the aisle and accept Jesus as your savior. There is nothing wrong with this, but there are wrong ways to do it. They sing just as I am and invite people to come forward. That’s fine, but there were times when they’d sing all six verses of “Just as I am” and then start back over at the beginning. Sometimes, I think it was more about the preacher than God.
But walking that aisle and making a commitment is a powerful thing. You are up there in front of everyone who is near and dear to you and you are making a commitment to live the life God would have you to live. It’s a lot like getting married.
And I don’t mean to be irreverent, but it works on about the same percentage. By that I mean to say, a lot of folks stick with it, but there are quite a few that don’t make the long haul. They either give up on it entirely or come back again and ask for a new deal.
Moses was out in the wilderness working for his father-in-law. He’d killed a man in Egypt and had to run for it. He’d out herding sheep when he looks and see’s something he’s never seen before. There is a bush on fire, but it’s not being burned up. He’s never seen anything like this before; he’s never even heard of it. So he goes up on the mountain to see the show, but he founds God while he was at it.
This sort of thing happens a lot when God’s at work.
I hope that I am not going to burst anyone’s bubble, but men don’t get married because they like mowing the lawn, killing spiders, and taking out the garbage. There is another reason.
As of next January, Jean and I will have been married 23 years. There has been a heck of a lot of mowing the lawn, killing spiders, taking out the garbage, changing dirty diapers, and so on and so forth. Getting married to a good woman like Jean has been the single most positive life-changing experience I’ve had—besides the decision to follow Christ.
That last part I have to take on faith. I walked the aisle so early in life—I was six—that I might as well have been baptized as an infant. You have to be pretty gifted to work up any world-class sins by the age of six. My children have benefited by the same decision, but Jean and I made it for them. While they missed out on the bit of walking the aisle and making a public profession in front of friends and family, that is done in other ways.
Once the decision to follow Christ is made, every other decision should follow in its wake. If you’ve made a decision to follow Christ, to be Jesus’ disciple, it is natural for you to seek a spouse in a Christ-like way. You do your job in a Christ-like way. You raise your children in a Christ-like way.
Paul had some more to say:
“Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; Love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”
If that all starts at a revival that you went to as entertainment, then that’s pretty expensive entertainment from a certain way of looking at it. It costs your life.
So believe me when I say worship isn’t entertainment. You can enjoy. You can laugh, and you can feel good, but this is sacred space where a life can change and never be the same again.
Father, let us find joy in our worship, but let us find you there as well. We ask this in the name of your precious Son Jesus Christ. AMEN.
Exodus 3:1-15
3:1 Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
3:2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.
3:3 Then Moses said, "I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up."
3:4 When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am."
3:5 Then he said, "Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."
3:6 He said further, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
3:7 Then the LORD said, "I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings,
3:8 and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
3:9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them.
3:10 So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt."
3:11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"
3:12 He said, "I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain."
3:13 But Moses said to God, "If I come to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?"
3:14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." He said further, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
3:15 God also said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you': This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.
/***/
Romans 12:9-21
12:9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;
12:10 Love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.
12:11 Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.
12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.
12:13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.
12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
12:16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.
12:17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.
12:18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
12:19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."
12:20 No, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads."
12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
/***/
I grew up as a Southern Baptist and we had revivals twice a year. I didn’t like them too much because I thought they were boring. The preacher would either try to make you feel guilty or he’d try to make you scared. I guess I shouldn’t put too much stock in my memories because I was just a kid and you’re never sure what a kid is going to make out of what you say.
My Grampa Sam, on the other hand, looked upon revivals and preaching as a form of entertainment. This goes back to the old days when there wasn’t any TV or radio and entertainment was pretty slim pickings. Folks would go to sing the songs and hear the preaching. It was a different style than I employ. The preacher would tell the story from the Bible and embellish it. They would make it come to life.
Grampa told about one preacher who was so good that when he preached on Noah’s Ark you could hear the water lapping at the boat.
For my part, I don’t consider worship to be entertainment. Before anybody says, “we know that already,” let me say that it’s more complicated than that. A lot of people went to those old revivals to be entertained and they wound up finding God instead.
In the Baptist Church where I grew up they gave invitations, they did it every Sunday and they did it during revivals. The preacher would invite you to come down the aisle and accept Jesus as your savior. There is nothing wrong with this, but there are wrong ways to do it. They sing just as I am and invite people to come forward. That’s fine, but there were times when they’d sing all six verses of “Just as I am” and then start back over at the beginning. Sometimes, I think it was more about the preacher than God.
But walking that aisle and making a commitment is a powerful thing. You are up there in front of everyone who is near and dear to you and you are making a commitment to live the life God would have you to live. It’s a lot like getting married.
And I don’t mean to be irreverent, but it works on about the same percentage. By that I mean to say, a lot of folks stick with it, but there are quite a few that don’t make the long haul. They either give up on it entirely or come back again and ask for a new deal.
Moses was out in the wilderness working for his father-in-law. He’d killed a man in Egypt and had to run for it. He’d out herding sheep when he looks and see’s something he’s never seen before. There is a bush on fire, but it’s not being burned up. He’s never seen anything like this before; he’s never even heard of it. So he goes up on the mountain to see the show, but he founds God while he was at it.
This sort of thing happens a lot when God’s at work.
I hope that I am not going to burst anyone’s bubble, but men don’t get married because they like mowing the lawn, killing spiders, and taking out the garbage. There is another reason.
As of next January, Jean and I will have been married 23 years. There has been a heck of a lot of mowing the lawn, killing spiders, taking out the garbage, changing dirty diapers, and so on and so forth. Getting married to a good woman like Jean has been the single most positive life-changing experience I’ve had—besides the decision to follow Christ.
That last part I have to take on faith. I walked the aisle so early in life—I was six—that I might as well have been baptized as an infant. You have to be pretty gifted to work up any world-class sins by the age of six. My children have benefited by the same decision, but Jean and I made it for them. While they missed out on the bit of walking the aisle and making a public profession in front of friends and family, that is done in other ways.
Once the decision to follow Christ is made, every other decision should follow in its wake. If you’ve made a decision to follow Christ, to be Jesus’ disciple, it is natural for you to seek a spouse in a Christ-like way. You do your job in a Christ-like way. You raise your children in a Christ-like way.
Paul had some more to say:
“Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; Love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”
If that all starts at a revival that you went to as entertainment, then that’s pretty expensive entertainment from a certain way of looking at it. It costs your life.
So believe me when I say worship isn’t entertainment. You can enjoy. You can laugh, and you can feel good, but this is sacred space where a life can change and never be the same again.
Father, let us find joy in our worship, but let us find you there as well. We ask this in the name of your precious Son Jesus Christ. AMEN.
