Kings and Kingdoms

It’s been a while since my lasted excursion into the world of cyber-literacy. It’s not that I didn’t have anything to say (if you know me you know I do not suffer the lack of words) but I really didn’t know how to express my thoughts in a coherent way (again, if you know me…)

 

First, allow me a word about politics (skip a couple paragraphs if you have no desire to hear about politics). Politics has been my only spectator sport for many years. Got a question about a politician or policy? I have an opinion. However, allow me to pass on what I wrote to the church I serve in my bi-monthly email blast:

Election Day is behind us. I pray that the nastiness, bitterness, anger and meanness that have been prevalent will also end. I have been deeply saddened by the level of animosity that has been displayed. I pray that all of us can make it our priority to be Salt and Light and not Pepper Spray. If God’s people are not the voices of compassion, forgiveness and forbearance, then from where will those voices come?

Our journey through “The Story” takes us to Chapter 10, Standing Tall, Falling Hard. It tells us the story, from I Samuel, about how the children of Israel clamored, whined, begged and complained that all the other nations had a king, why couldn’t they. The problem, however, was that they DID have a king…a majestic power house of unimaginable strength, but for some reason they were unable to see Him because of their jealousy of their next door neighbors.  “I want what they got.” “They have one, please, Please, PLEASE, can I have one too?”

Unfortunately for them, God said “OK”, and provided them with a king named Saul. God also warned them that even with a king, if they continued to look elsewhere rather than upward, no matter who was sitting in the oval office, things weren’t going to work out well. And, it didn’t. King Saul, not only disobeyed God, he also threw his underlings under the bus (sound familiar?).

There was another time in the nation of Israel's history that comes to mind with regard to earthly kings and the King of Kings.

“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted,

“Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered. John 19:14-15

The Jews are not the only ones that looked horizontally for leadership, guidance and governance. Just turn on the news…pick a station, any station…and you will hear exactly the same thing today as 2000 years ago.

A bit of Old School for you that may be wet behind the ears.  There was a song with these words:

Emperors have tried to destroy it, Philosophies have tried to stamp it out. Tyrants have tried to wash it from the face of the earth with the very blood of those who claimed it, yet it still stands. And there shall be that final day when every voice that has ever uttered a sound, every voice of Adam's race shall raise in one mighty chorus to proclaim the name of Jesus, for that day every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ Is truly Lord!

You see, it was not mere chance that caused an angel one night long ago to say to a virgin maiden, His name, his name shall be called Jesus. Jesus, Jesus, you know, there is something about that name.

Kings and kingdoms will all pass away

But there's something about that name.

(“There’s Something about that Name” Bill and Gloria Gaither)

Joshua ended his service to Israel, and closed out his life with these words;

“…choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15

Daily, we choose where we look for leadership, guidance and assistance.  Choose wisely, your eternal destination depends upon it.

Impossible Dreams

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go

To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

I always loved “The Impossible Dream” from the Broadway play “Man from La Mancha”. I can still hear Robert Goulet’s incredible baritone voice singing it. 

Dreaming the impossible dream. When do we come to the realization that our dreams are impossible?  What causes them to become impossible? As we get older some of us crash into some startling and unexpected observations. For instance, we all dreamed big dreams when we were younger. But as we rush through our twenties, thirties, and forties, we eventually slam head on into the realization that some of our dreams will never be realized. Mid-life crisis anyone?

Some miss out on some of their dreams, not because life got away from them, but because of bad choices got the better of them.  Others watch their dreams disappear because of circumstances beyond their control. Still others run into difficulties realizing their dreams so they give up and settle for less.

Joseph, of the multi-colored coat fame, had some huge dreams that through the events of one day of betrayal and deception disappeared as the fog lifts when the sun rises. He dreamed that one day he would be in such a position of responsibility and power that even his 10 older brothers would all bow down to him. (Note to reader…do NOT tell older brothers about a dream where they have to bow down to you…it will most likely not end well for you.)

At the age of seventeen Joseph found himself a souvenir purchased by a band of Ishmaelites heading to Egypt.  In Egypt the boy was sold to the Captain of Pharaoh’s palace guard, Potiphar. But, even though his dream seemed dashed, he found unexpected success and moved up the slave chain of command to head of the entire household.  Not the anticipated dream, but not bad for a kid thrown into a well by his own brothers.

But, that didn’t last long. Potiphar’s wife got the hots for “well-built and handsome” Joseph and made multiple not all too subtle advances to the point that Joseph had to run away from her, with his cloak left in her hand. She cried rape, he was arrested and into jail you go buddy.

His life was a rollercoaster ride. One minute a slave the next in charge of Potiphar’s house. Suddenly off to prison and ending up in charge of the prison. Then he found himself in front of Pharaoh, to interpret his dreams. With God’s help he was able to warn Pharaoh that Egypt would have seven years of bumper crops and he needed to store up because those great seven years will be followed immediately by seven years of famine. Recognizing his wisdom, Pharaoh put Joseph second in command of all of Egypt.

Because of God’s direct involvement in his life, Joseph was able to save his family; the same family that God was building into a nation. Joseph was in position to bring his family to Egypt and give them the most fertile land in Egypt to live and work. And it was definitely fertile. In the time they were there they were “fruitful and increased greatly” (Exodus 1:7).

Joseph could have lost his life getting caught up in the details of his life, chasing his dreams and desires. Instead, he chose a better story. God’s story.

You can do the same. If your life’s dream has stalled, look to God. If your dream now realized is not all you thought it would be, look to God. He can give you another dream. A better one, not according to the world’s standard but God’s great plan. Just like Joseph’s. Then you’ll have a story to tell.

To dream the impossible dream. "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26

Keep on dreaming, focusing, and aligning yourself to God’s Upper Story. One day, those dreams will become reality. They will then become Your Story.

Call Me Ishmael

Call me Ishmael. Herman Melville opens his classic Moby Dick with these haunting words, classified as one of the most memorable opening sentences in the literary world.

Reading Chapter 2 of The Story we read about Ishmael. God promised Abraham that he would become the father of a great nation, children more numerous than the stars in the sky. A problem arose, however, at least in the minds of Abraham and Sarah. After waiting for 15 years this incredibly unbelievable promise still hasn’t occurred. At 85 and 75, the promise was becoming not only unbelievable, but more and more improbable. God was obviously busy, or had forgotten the promise. Sarah calls Abraham with this brilliant idea, “Hey, let’s give God a hand and get this ball moving. Abraham, sleep with my servant girl, Hagar.” I can imagine Abraham just shrugged his shoulders and with a big grin said, “Well, if you think its best…OK.” 

How’d that work out for them? Hagar gave birth to Ishmael and immediately the boy was an outcast. Sarah was jealous (go figure) and sent momma and baby out to the desert with a canteen. God, hearing Hagar’s sobbing, sends them back to Abraham where they remained until the birth of Abraham and Sarah’s son, Isaac. Once again the ugly head of jealousy raises and once again Hagar and Ishmael are in the desert this time never to return.

God promised Abraham that his offspring would be a great nation. Although Ishmael was not part of the plan, he was part of the promise. God told Hagar that Ishmael’s descendants would also be more numerous to count but Ishmael was going to have a serious character flaw; he and his descendants would be against everyone and everyone would be against them, even family. In other words, Ishmael would not play well with others. (Genesis 16)

Fast forward the calendar 4000 years. Over the past week we have watched, read or heard about the protests throughout the Middle East aimed toward the west, primarily the USA. With all this happening, be mindful of one very important historical fact; Ishmael does not play well with others…not even his own brothers.

There is a very important lesson to be learned from the story of Ishmael. In God’s Upper Story, His plan is well laid out and if we are obedient and stick with the plan, things will go swimmingly. But, when we decide that maybe God is going too slow, or has forgotten or needs our assistance, things begin to go south. The course deviation may be ever so slight, and possibly unnoticeable, but over time, that small, insignificant deviation from God’s plan, unless corrected, gets further and further off course.

All of us get off course.  All of us deviate from God’s plan, but here’s the good news. All of us can very easily get back on course; it just takes recognition of where we strayed and commitment to get back on the path.

While watching the news and you hear about Middle East uprisings, Arab Spring or Iran with a nuke, remember that one, seemingly small and understandable miscalculation, over a long period of time is responsible for all of the mayhem. 

Call me Ishmael. Oh, and one more thing, I don’t like ANYONE!

Its all HER fault!

“Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, of who you are, into something a little different from what it was before. ~ C. S. Lewis Mere Christianity

It’s really easy to sit back and point our fingers and say, “It’s all Eve’s fault!”  I know, I know, I do it regularly…actually I did it a couple minutes ago. Life is so much easier when we let ourselves off the hook for our choices, decisions, and thoughts. It happens all the time, almost everywhere you turn, the finger is pointing outward, deflecting any consequences (or acknowledgement of consequences) towards events, people or situations.  How about turning on your TV this evening and watch approximately 22 minutes. I can almost guarantee in those 22 minutes you will hear at least one politician pointing his/her finger at their opponent. Now, some politicians may actually be blameless, but that would be because they had never held a political office before.

Catch the drift here?  Our fingers are so busy pointing elsewhere that we are blinded by the fact that OUR choices define who we are…our decisions, our mindset, our directions. That is the beauty of C.S. Lewis’ quote above. Every time we make a decision, a choice, we are ever so slightly different than the moment before the choice was made.

Sure, Eve had a choice to make, and as a result of her choice, the entire sum of humanity points their collective boney fingers at her with the thought, “I couldn’t help it, it’s all HER fault!” Now, some of you may be a bit more benevolent and point to Adam who, as we read in Genesis 3:6, “…She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” (Emphasis mine)  Yes, you read that correctly. It’s a surprise to some of you I know. The entire time that slick exotic fruit salesman was doing his best Billy Mays impersonation for Eve, Adam was standing right there, listening, watching, doing what most of us finger pointers do best…nothing.

So, we can all point to Eve, or to Adam…maybe we all can collectively point our fingers at the slick fruit salesman…but to do so means you miss the point of the story, entirely.

The Story begins with this simple, but widely missed point; God desires nothing less than to have a close, personal, Father/Child relationship with us, but we must choose to enter into, develop and maintain that relationship. The entire point of creation is US!

Yes, Adam and Eve chose poorly…Cain messed up royally…Noah apparently had a drinking problem…Ham, Noah’s son was a gossip and trouble maker – all these folks made really bad decisions, and serious consequences followed.

Here is the exciting thing about The Story, even in light of all those mess ups and all the additional mess ups throughout history, God still desires a relationship with each one of us and has provided the way for that relationship to be restored.

God’s core passion in all the beauty of His creation is US! We are still His core passion, and the rest of The Story is about how He will hold nothing back to get you back.  Now, that is a decision that will “turn us into something different that we were before.”

An Introduction…The Story

Thank you for dropping in! It’s been years since I’ve attempted to write weekly. With River Run Christian Church beginning to study The Story this blog will reflect on what we have read and studied together. If you are not familiar with The Story, allow me to let Randy Frazee and Max Lucado introduce it to you from their forward:

This book tells the grandest, most compelling story of all time: the story of a true God who loves his children, who established for them a way of salvation and provided a route to eternity. Each story in these 31 chapters reveals the God of grace-the God who speaks; the God who acts; the God who listens; the God whose love for his people culminated in his sacrifice of Jesus, his only Son, to atone for the sins of humanity. ~ Randy Frazee and Max Lucado

Unlike any version of the Bible, The Story is written in a way that gives us a seamless, chronological telling of God’s Story, directly from Scripture with few transitional statements to provide continuity.

We will begin our study of The Story this Sunday, September 9 in our Sunday services (9:30, 11:00 am and 6:00 pm). All age groups, from pre-school to our adult Life Groups, Women’s and Men’s studies and WAVE student ministries will be studying the same material. Our entire family of faith will walk together through The Story of God’s love and His never-ending desire to have a relationship with His grandest and most glorious creation.

In this age of technology, even if you are unable to attend services at either our Seminole or Brevard locations, you can follow along with us through this blog, our web page (http://www.riverruncc.org/#/brevard-campus/the-story) and also on Facebook. Messages, outlines, study questions and parent resources will all be available on a weekly basis.

I am confident that everyone that joins in on this journey through God’s Word will look back over the previous 8-9 months and see a beautiful transformation has taken place. When God’s children dive deeper into His word, incredible things are expected!

Enjoy the journey as we “find our place in God’s story together”.

dan