The Glory

The word "glory" is defined as very great praise.  We human beings either struggle with 

glory or desire it when we shouldn't.  I remember vividly when, as a young upstart minister,

 someone came to me after I had just preached in a service and made some complimentary 

statement about my sermon.  I was very uncomfortable with it and honestly didn't know what

 to say.  I said what I had heard other preachers say when in the same situation.  "To God 

be the glory!"  Even saying it felt wrong somehow because honestly, the compliment  felt

 good but I could never admit that.  After that I tried a number of phrases and none seemed 

any better.  Finally, I prayed and asked the Lord, "what would be a good thing to say when 

complimented for service."  I heard a very liberating answer. "Why don't you simply say 

thank you?"  Wow!  Kinda weird!  Yet, often our struggle with compliments over service can 

be the evidence of pride itself.  The fact that there is a struggle says a lot.  The absence of 

struggle and the clear understanding that we are vessels filled with the life and ministry of 

Jesus can really be a safe and secure place in the love of Jesus.  

On one occasion Jesus said, "Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you."NLT
Jesus said to us, "as the Father sent me so send I you."  God the Father does intend to
allow his glory to touch us and work through us as a way of glorifying himself.  When the Lord heals us or blesses us in an extraordinary way, we experience his glory.  Then our living testimony of His blessing reflect and directs the glory back to God.  It has been said that the Lord is like the sun and we are like the moon.  We have no light in our humanity but as redeemed humanity we reflect the light and Glory of the sun/Son.  Settle in your heart that there is nothing of any value in your own being. All that we have that is good comes only through the indwelling Christ.  With that knowledge we may relax in His Presence and allow the glory to fall us and reflect from us.  

“When we could no longer endure…”

What a negative confession!  How could any Christian who understands our authority in Christ make such a statement?  Who said it?  Well, it was the one who wrote about half the New Testament, the Apostle Paul.  Actually, he says it twice in just a few sentences.  You may read about it in I Thess. 3:1-5.  There are times in every life when after we have done all we know to do things still can be difficult.  Things can even be hard to endure.  We may even fight as hard as we know how and still lose a battle! That doesn’t mean you have done anything wrong.  It might even mean you are doing something right!  One of the most misunderstood concepts in the Church is that if things get hard we must have missed the will of God.  Not so!  That is not validated in the Bible.   On the contrary difficulty can often be a sign that we are on the right track and the enemy is attacking our advance upon him.  Remember, spiritual warfare is a real thing and Satan is in the business of resisting those who are advancing the Kingdom of God.  You may say, “Well I’m just working a job, and raising a family as Christians.”  I know and that is Kingdom advancement of the highest order.  Warfare happens most often in the home trying to live for Christ.

When Paul makes these statements it is important that we understand what he did and what he did not do.  He first and foremost, did not quit!  As a matter of fact his concern did not seem to be for himself but his focus was caring for the Church.  There is a real key here to victory in a bad situation.  The protections of our own interests and ourselves seem to work against us in spiritual warfare.  Spiritual power is released when in the middle of a mess we choose to focus not on our deliverance but on finishing the Kingdom task.  It is in that posture that we discover the Kingdom breakthrough and hopefully our own deliverance as well.  While it is fun and it feels good to choose to believe that hardship can’t touch us as Christians, it is not Bible Truth.  We are in a war.  In any war there are battles that are won and battles that are lost.  For us the great motivating force is that we know the war has already been won by Jesus.  We simply remain in the battle and focused on the prize, the Lord Jesus himself. 

Preach the Word!

2 Tim. 4:2"Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

  3For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine..."

When Paul writes his letters to his spiritual son Timothy, he stresses the need to protect the church from teaching that strays from the Truth of the Word of God.  In their day the danger was heathen practices, false gods and religions that were seeping into the church.  In both letters Paul describes the conditions of society and even a faltering church and the need to remain steadfast in the belief systems established by Jesus and the Apostles.  His answer to false teaching and deception, "Preach the Truth!"  You might say, "well, what else could the Church or preachers preach?" A quasi gospel is one that is apparently truth but not really.  Several times in the last few months people have approached me after I finished preaching and they all said something like this.  "Thank you for preaching the Truth."  At first I didn't think much about it.  Then as I began to hear it more and more in different places as I was traveling I began to wonder what it meant.  Could it be that they were all just using the same phrase to flatter me?  I began to think it might be much more than that.  What if preaching from the Scripture as the central focus of my sermon was unusual or different from their normal diet in that Church?  That would be alarming!  After all, when most of us were ordained by some spiritual authority we made a vow of sorts.  Like to taking the oath to join the military I raised my right hand and vowed to protect the nation and the constitution.  When I was ordained into Christian ministry I vowed to "preach the Word!"  Could it be that there is a trend away from preaching and teaching the Word of God in exchange for natural recipes of self improvement?  I surely hope not!  

The Word of God, the Scripture, is not boring.  It is a life force that, when preached with conviction, releases a life changing supernatural power that "converts the heart".  

Self improvement lectures motivates from without but the Word of God motivates and changes from the inside out. Even reading the Scripture in a group setting imparts the very life of God.  However, before one can preach the Word, one must know the Word.  Paul in writing to this same son Timothy also said in his letter, 2 Tim. 2:15 "

 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."  You cannot rightly divide the Word until you have studied the Word.(KJV)  

May we place a fresh faith upon the Power of the Word as the force that accomplishes the work.  While we may impress with our oratorical abilities, at the end of the day nothing is changed.  The preaching of the Word on the other hand releases an inescapable power that remains with the hearer long after the service ends.