…There was nothing attractive about him,
nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.

One look at him and people turned away.

We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried–
our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.

We thought he brought it on himself,
that God was punishing him for his own failures.

But it was our sins that did that to him,
that ripped and tore and crushed him – our sins!

He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.

We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.
We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.

And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong,
on him, on him.”

- Isaiah 53:1-6 (The Message)

 I’ve been on a several year personal journey through the old testament and am currently looking at the minor prophets.

Zechariah is a wonderful book. I can’t say I completely understand every element of prophecy in it. But some of it is quite clear and eye opening, regardless of your eschatological bent.

Zechariah 14 talks about this future time, when Jesus will rule and reign from Jerusalem.
No more politicians.
No more chaos.

Just Jesus, ruling righteously.

Verse 16 says that the nations will come up to Jerusalem every year:
1) To “worship the King, the Lord of hosts
2) To keep the feast of Tabernacles.

But to those who refuse to come worship and celebrate, “on them, will be no rain.”

This prophecy was written in a time during history, when Israel was an agrarian society (that means they were farmers).
And Israel — and the surrounding nations were dependant on seasonal rain.
No rain = no water, no food. 
Without rain, life as they knew it, would cease to be possible.

And so this prophecy — of this future timeperiod, communicated a powerful message to the people of that day:

If you do not worship the Messiah (Jesus) — there will be no rain, and life as you know it will cease.

As disciples of Jesus, we desire the LIFE of God.
We desire the POWER of God.
We desire the BLESSING of God.
We desire the SPIRIT of God.  
We desire the DIRECTION of God.
And we desire the PRESENCE of God.

Past, present or future — the principle is the same:
 If you do not worship the Messiah (Jesus) — there will be no rain, and life as you know it will cease.

The life, the power, the blessing, the Spirit, the direction and the presence of God will all elude us.
Dryness will be our experience.
There will be very little harvest in our ministry.
Our relationships even, will be characterized by strife.

Wait a second — do we serve a mean God?
Is God “getting even” with those who do not come to worship Him?
Is he like the proverbial kindergartener who says: “if you don’t do what I want, I won’t be your friend.” ?

Jesus is not evil.
He is completely pure.
He is altogether lovely.
And altogether just.

It’s not that Jesus is mean –
It’s that the rain only falls in Jerusalem, where He is.

Friends, if you want to be refreshed,
if you want to experience the power, the life, the blessing,
the direction and the presence of God –
you have to Worship Jesus.
You must be in His presence.

Because it is there — and only there, that you will experience the “rain” of God.
It’s only there — that your heart will be washed clean of the sin,
the attitudes and the rottenness that so characterizes the human race.

It’s only there, in the presence of Christ, that you will find contentment, and refreshment.

Past, present, future — if you find Jesus, you will find the rain.
Psalm 16:11:
“In you presence, there is fullness of joy.
And at your right hand, there are pleasures forever more.”

  When I preach –

 I want the Bible to come alive.
 I want the truth of God’s word to become living, liberating,
 arresting, convicting and something that the hearer
 is compelled to respond to. 

 When I live my life out in the world of daily life –

 I want Jesus to come alive to people.
 That in the day spent together, the one time exchange of words
 or the life examined over the years — Jesus is seen, accessible,
 and represented in thought, response and character.

 But when I lead people in worship –

 I want heaven to descend to earth.
 That people would see the majesty of God.
 That they might see His attributes,
 His love, His nature, His works, His beauty, His holiness
 – all displayed before their eyes. 
 
 The point of worship isn’t to make people feel good-
 It’s to open their eyes to the heavenly reality. 
 
 When we clearly see God for who He is -
 our hearts our aligned with truth. 
 
 From this alignment springs worship. 
 
 If you seek to lead worship – get your eyes on heaven. 
 Point people to heaven — and worship will flow.

 Make majesty, a reality.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! - Matthew 23:27

Pastoral ministry is a blessing.
But there are burdens to it as well.

I think one of the most difficult things for me — is to watch people I love, ruin
their lives with sin.

To chase after the wind.
To chase destruction itself.

Forging links for their own chains.

The verse in this caption is a quote from Jesus –
Who is literally weeping over those who will crucify Him a short time later.

This is Jesus in HD.
Weeping — longing to gather people bent on destruction.

That is the heart of God.
Supreme love.
Undignified love.

The problem with serving God is that He begins to give you His heart.
And I have found the heart of God — sometimes full of sorrow.
Full of longing for the very people running away from Him.

Although it seems unbearable sometimes to feel the heart of God – it’s
ultimately for His glory.

It’s not meant to be an unbearable weight.

God gives us His heart –
So we can love as He loves.

He gives us His heart–
So we can pray with passion.

If you could see the actual sins of people, if you knew the depth of their depravity,
how would you pray?

Sometimes God gives discernment, words of knowledge — not to be shared
and gossipped over, but rather to fuel passionate prayer.

Ultimately, it’s a gift.
May we use it to His glory.

Art by Jen Higgins

Then they entered into a covenant to
seek the LORD, the God of their ancestors,
with all their heart and soul.

They agreed that anyone who refused to
seek the LORD, the God of Israel,
would be put to death–whether
young or old, man or woman.

2 Chronicles 15:9,12-13 – NLT
 

Asa was a good king.

He did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord.
The prophet Azariah encouraged him to continue to seek the Lord.

So Asa took it to heart and took it to the people.

Unfortunately in his zeal — Asa resorted to coercing people into the kingdom.

Sometimes we see people we love or minister to not
walking as they ought.

In our passion for God – we want them to live righteously.
We want better for them.

But if we try and pressure people into the kingdom and
force or scare them into righteousness  — at best,
we contribute to their hypocrisy.

It’s not by might, power, legislation, guilt,  or dropping hints that
a man or woman will be redeemed — It’s by the blood of Jesus Christ
and the power of the Holy Spirit that this work will be accomplished.

There is a way to ignite passion in our loved ones though.

Word got out in the Northern kingdom of Israel that King Asa down in
Judah was a righteous king.

All of a sudden, people began to stream out of Israel into Judah because
of what they had heard about Asa.

You see — Passion breeds Passion.

If you want your wife, kids, neighbors, friends — the people you
minister to or work with, to be passionate about the Lord –
YOU must be passionate about Him.

It’s infectious, it’s attractive, it’s eye-opening.

Regardless of his misdirected zeal — Asa was right.
A lack of passion always leads to death.

Death of the soul.
Death of any fruitfulness in your life.
Death of Joy.

If we are to preserve the quality and quantity
of our lives — we must seek to be passionate about the Lord.

Practically — again, Asa had the right idea.

To gather together and covenant with God and each other
to seek Him wholeheartedly.

The American in me –
tends to think of my relationship with God
as extremely personal.
Just between me and Him.

In reality — this is a foolish way to operate.

What would happen if we gathered together with a friend
and made a covenant agreement to be passionate about the Lord.

How is you passion for the Lord?

Is it strong, or has it waned?

Meet together with the Lord and with each other.

Let us spur each other on to Love and good works and
Passion for Jesus.

Mark 3:13-15

Jesus called His disciples and us for four reasons:

1) Because He wanted us

2) To be with Him

3) To preach

4) To have authority over sickness and demonic forces

When you put it that way — it’s a really sweet deal.

1) He picked us — not for our beauty, but because of HIS beauty.

2) Our primary duty: Spend time with Jesus

3) Our calling: Preaching through our lives, careers, relationships and words

4) our authority: Unlimited. We have been given the same authority as Christ
  to do the same works as Christ, by the same power of the Holy Spirit.

Awesome.

“Oh, that You would bless me indeed,
and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me,
and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!”

So God granted him what he requested.

I Chronicles 4:9-10

  ——

Jabez is an interesting character in 1 Chronicles smack dab in the middle of
eight chapters of geneologies.  It’s not exactly the place one goes looking
for inspiration or encouragement. But if you mine through the geneologies
as I have been doing of late, there are quite a few hidden gems. 
Jabez has had a little more press in recent years due
to Bruce Wilkinson’s book, entitled The Prayer of Jabez.

It’s a fascinating story.

Jabez’s name means “He will cause pain.”

Jabez was an honorable guy — who despite his honorable
behavior was cursed by his own mother — just because
she had a bad birthing experience.

And so, rather than accept his mother’s curse on his life –
he cries out to the Lord. Specifically, the God of Israel.

Not the God of his country — but the personal God of
a man named Israel (formerly Jacob).

Perhaps Jabez could relate to Jacob.

Jacob’s name meant “heel catcher” or “deceiver”.
Jacob’s own behavior was kind of a curse.

Maybe the same God who turned around Jacob’s,
could work a miracle in Jabez’s life.

Perhaps he thought back to Jacob’s heir Joseph –
Who also was cursed and mistreated by his brothers,
but experienced the blessing of God.

This in it’s very essence, is faith.

We not only call on God, but we call on THE God
who has kept His promises, performed miracles
in our lives and the lives of others and who has
assured us victory through the blood of Christ
over sin, death and the devil.

We call on the same God — who the patriarchs,
prophets, apostles and great cloud of witnesses
before us called upon — and that should make
a difference in our prayers.

One of the devil’s oldest tricks is to make us feel alone,
isolated.

If you feel alone — in temptation or trial,
your prayers will be filled with doubt and distress.

But, if like Jabez — we realize we are not alone, our situation
is not unique — and that God has a long track record of answering
prayers just like ours — prayed by men and women just like us –

it infuses our prayers with hope,
which leads to expectation –
which is itself the stuff of real faith,
the kind that pleases God to answer.

And so it was with confidence that Jabez
(and you and I) could pray:

“Oh, that You would bless me indeed,
and enlarge my territory,
that Your hand would be with me…”

Oh that we would have the boldness
to pray this — not in sinful greed, but
in righteous desire!

How the Lord looks to and fro to strongly
support those whose hearts are fully His –
and will pray honest and bold prayers
for righteousness sake, and for His kingdom!

Finally — Jabez asks the Lord to remove his
mother’s curse:

…keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” 

This echoes the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:13.

In life and in ministry there is a potential to
bless people and to also cause real pain.

The Blessing flows from the Lord’s working
in our lives.

The pain flows from our wretched humanity.

Only death can divorce the two.

How can it be that out of the same mouth
flows both bitter water and sweet?

Personally, I have seen my life gush out both.

My prayer is the prayer of Jabez:

Keep me from evil, 
don’t let my life cause pain.

But use me Lord.
Send me.
Enlarge my territory.
Keep your hand upon my life. 
Let none of my words fail.

Amen.

   Big Idea: Your private faith is not only essential:
  It’s the pre-requisite for your public ministry. 
  All ministry flows from intimacy with Jesus.

Revelation 3:17

Rich people can’t go to heaven.
Rich people can’t  enjoy fellowship with God.
Rich people cannot be saved.

 Let me elaborate a bit (now that I got your attention).

I’m not talking about monetary wealth (although that can sometimes
get in the way as well (see  Jesus’ statement in Matthew 19:24).

I’m talking about the attitude of the heart we have — that echoes that of the
Laeodiceans in Revelation 3. 

The one that that says: ” I’ve got it together. I’m sufficient in every area
of life. “

Jesus said: 

                   “I didn’t come for people that think
                    they are healthy — I came for those
                     who know they are sick.” (Mark 2:17)

Jesus came to heal sick people. Poor people.
Jesus saves people in need of saving.

In my line of work, I deal with destitute people every day.
People who have totally messed up their lives with sin.
People who are distressed, depressed, miserable and
angry.

If everything was wonderful in their life –
they wouldn’t call me.

But they depend on my agency and other social service
agencies to help them, because they need help.

Sometimes we like to think that we are invincible.
We are proud.
We are self-sufficient.
We are in need of nothing.

As my daughter says: “I can do it MYSELF!”
And that’s pretty much our mentality.

I’ve noticed that the rich and many in the middle class
of America don’t really experience God because in a sense,
they don’t really need God.

Because if an emergency arises — there are:

• Credit Cards
• Doctors
• Pills
• Overtime
• Savings accounts
• Good old Fashioned hard work
• and worst case scenario… Government benefits and services.

Money might not be able to buy you love, but it can
insulate you to some extent from the effects of sin -
at least for awhile.

And it can protect you ( to some extent)
from the uncertainties of life.

But money isn’t the only thing that we hide behind.

You can be broke and stubborn.
You can be falling and deny it.

It’s not only our money and economic situation.
It’s our heart.

Our own stubborn, self-sufficient hearts can
keep us from our Savior.

From salvation and from experiencing
the daily reality of Christ.

It’s like this:
I go through my day on my own strength,
thinking I can’t handle any situation that
arises– pushing myself hard to get everything
done and everything right.
An unexpected bill comes up — No problem.
I’ve got it covered.
A family member is sick — no problem.
I’ll run to the pharmacy.
My child is out of control — no problem.
I can be tougher.

And because I don’t make a habit of
running with every little situation to
Jesus — I don’t experience

• His power
• His wisdom
• His provision
• His voice
• His gifts
• His presence
• His REALITY.

Beautifully, the converse is true as well.

When I realize that basically I’m an idiot -
I can’t do anything apart from Christ
and I better run to him for every little
thing — I get it all.

And Jesus becomes REALITY to me.
I experience

And it’s a beautiful thing.

Are you rich?
Are you in need of nothing?

 Those who are rich and in need of nothing, get nothing.

Those who are weak enough to admit their poverty –
get everything.

Choose wisely.