August 10, 2015

Posted on August 11, 2015 by jgarrott

Isaiah 49:22 This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“See, I will beckon to the Gentiles,
I will lift up my banner to the peoples;
they will bring your sons in their arms
and carry your daughters on their shoulders.”

This passage was beautifully, incredibly, fulfilled in 1948 with the restoration of the nation of Israel as a Jewish state. Today Israel is under grave threat again, with Iran about to go nuclear and with the Obama administration turning treacherous toward her. Such things are not to be taken lightly, but those who love her need to remember all that God has done for her in the past, and turn to Him to protect her now and in the future. At this point the majority of Jews still haven’t acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah, but that number is growing, and as an article I was reading just recently pointed out, Israel is the best place in the Middle East to be a Christian at this point. There is plenty of cause for alarm, but we’ve got to remember that God is greater than it all, and His plans will be fulfilled. There are those who dismiss Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation, but dismissing them doesn’t make them go away! We certainly live in interesting times, and that is all the more reason to keep our focus on God in obedient trust.

For most of my life, as long as I have been aware of it, I have been pleased and proud that I was born in the same year as the modern nation of Israel. For reasons known only to God, my wife and I were “adopted” into the Messianic group in seminary, where as poor graduate students we pooled our resources for a “pot luck” dinner and fellowship at the end of each month. It floored them that I knew “Hava Nagila” better than some of them did! Here in Japan, it has been my great privilege to interpret for Benjamin Berger repeatedly on his visits here. His testimony of meeting the Messiah is awesome, and his ministry as a Messianic pastor in the Old City of Jerusalem has been notable. He had been raised in New York City with the understanding that it was Christians who had killed all four of his grandparents in the Holocaust, but after a personal visitation he knew unshakably that Yeshua ha Messiach was his Lord. The devil hates all the spiritual descendants of Abraham, but he keeps a special animus toward the physical descendants of Isaac. That is all the more reason for me to support them, while praying, along with Paul (Romans 9) that those physical descendants would repent and believe so that they would be included in the spiritual descendants as well. Living in Japan I have very little interaction with Jews on a day-to-day basis, but there are some amazing connections between Japan and the Jews down through history. I can’t begin to figure it all out, but I am to trust God and keep myself available for however He wants to use me.

Father, the timing of my birth is just one reason why I feel I will see my Lord’s return with my physical eyes, but that’s Your business and not mine. I can’t keep it all straight in my own mind, much less straighten out the world myself. Help me walk in obedient faith all the time, step by step, so that I may fulfill every purpose You have for me, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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August 9, 2015

Posted on August 10, 2015 by jgarrott

Isaiah 42:4 “He will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
In his law the islands will put their hope.”

These nine verses are very clearly and explicitly Messianic, but every time I run into a Messianic passage I remember what Jesus said: “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12) On that basis, I believe that, with a few obvious exceptions, Messianic passages apply to every believer who is abiding in Christ. We aren’t called Christians for nothing! What speaks to me from this verse right now is the line about “not falter or be discouraged.” Next month I hit 34 years of ministry in this city, and current attendance in our Sunday morning services runs around 10. That can easily be discouraging! However, as Paul said, we live by faith and not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7) I am also touched by the last line in this verse, because I minister in the island nation of Japan. The image of the islands “waiting in hope” for the Word of the Lord is a glorious one indeed. We do not always see the fruit of our labors in this life, but God keeps track.

Stress and busyness eat away at our emotional margins and make us vulnerable to all sorts of attacks. I set up tomorrow for a photo show in the City Gallery that starts the next day, and that has certainly depleted my reserves. I believe that is an opportunity the Lord has given me, and with the theme of “God’s Creation,” it is an opportunity to witness to people who have never been in a church. Accordingly, I should not be anxious, but know that God will enable me to do everything He calls me to do. There are a few details yet to be finalized and a lot of work in setting up, but I know from experience that God will supply both the wisdom and the energy necessary. Meanwhile, I have the service this morning and the Bible Class this afternoon. I need to rest, relax, and rejoice in my Lord, focusing on the task at hand and not being preoccupied with the next thing on my list, so that I will be fully available for God to use me however He chooses, and not try to decide on my own how that is going to be.

Father, thank You for Your faithfulness. Thank You for the encouragement You give me through Scripture and through other members of the Body of Christ. Help me indeed not “falter or be discouraged” before I have completed all the work You have prepared in advance for me to do, (Ephesians 2:10) for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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August 8, 2015

Posted on August 10, 2015 by jgarrott

Isaiah 40:25 “To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.

Even before getting out of bed this morning I was thinking about the “irreducible complexity” argument for the existence of God. The odds of the universe existing as it does simply by chance are so small as to be incalculable. The question then becomes, who created it and why? Of all the “holy books” in the world, only the Bible gives a cogent answer to that, and only the New Testament really answers the why of it. God did it for love, because love requires an object; it cannot exist in a vacuum. That last fact demolishes the “Divine Watchmaker” idea of God, which is an attempt to acknowledge that there had to be a Creator without acknowledging our personal accountability toward Him. God, being infinite, is beyond our ability to grasp fully, but He has told and shown us enough about Himself, not only through the Bible but through Creation itself, that those who deny Him are, as Paul said, without excuse. (Romans 1:20) The mental gymnastics people do to try to avoid accountability to God would be amusing if they weren’t so tragic. The Bible and nature itself make it very clear that denying truth doesn’t negate it. Insisting that you are “free” from the law of gravity won’t protect you if you step off a cliff. We would be in deep trouble indeed if God were only holy, because we aren’t, and holiness and unholiness cannot really coexist. Guess which one loses? However, God is also love. That fact not only caused Him to create the universe, it caused Him to make a way for our sins, our unholiness, to be washed away and negated, so that we can have the fellowship with Him for which He created us. John 3:16 is justly famous as the spiritual centerpiece of the whole Bible. As this verse from Isaiah says, there could be no other Divinity than the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All mankind needs to stop running, stop denying the One by whom and for whom they were created, and enter into the inexpressible joy that He has prepared for those who respond to Him in obedient faith.

This is of course my message. Living and serving in Japan, where only about 2% of the population claims Christianity by any label, that can be an exercise in frustration. I am never to give up, but remember that God loves the person I’m talking to as much as He loves me, and I’ve tasted enough of that love to know it’s worth everything. Every time someone repents and believes (Mark 1:15) I am aware that heaven rejoices. (Luke 15:7) I am to rejoice in my Lord and I am to seek to give Him every possible opportunity to rejoice, delighting in Him so that He may delight in me, (Numbers 14:8) for His glory.

Father, there is literally no end to all I could say about this, and I would still never get to the end of all that You are and how You love us. May I be an open conduit for You to pour Your love through me, because only then will people be swept out of the traps that have held them and washed free from all the devil’s lies. May I hold nothing back, because Jesus certainly held nothing back in order to be my/our Savior. Thank You. Praise God!

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August 7, 2015

Posted on August 8, 2015 by jgarrott

Isaiah 38:17 Surely it was for my benefit
that I suffered such anguish.

King Hezekiah had received a vitally important revelation, one that we all need. The Bible speaks almost countless times of how God uses things that we don’t enjoy at the time as instruments of blessing, for us and for others. Several passages come to mind even as I write. However, our flesh, our natural mind, rebels at the very idea, so we have to take it in hand. Perhaps the writer of the letter to the Hebrews said it best: “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:11) This is exactly the revelation Hezekiah received. The more we rebel against God’s discipline the harder it is on us. That’s something Jesus said to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus: “’Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’” (Acts 26:14) We don’t have a good grasp of just what a goad is. Japanese doesn’t even have the word, so it describes it: “a stick with spikes.” Goads are still used in some places for controlling large animals, such as oxen or elephants. “Animal rights” groups hate them, but they are often the most effective way of communicating with/controlling the animal. Cruel people can use them for cruelty, yes, but even the kindest owner needs them at times. God is not cruel. That is one of the devil’s favorite lies, “God is cruel,” but He absolutely is not. However, He uses goads of all sorts to correct and guide us when we are headed for destruction, and as He said to Saul, kicking against them only hurts us. The more we mature in our relationship with Him, the quicker we respond to what He allows in our life and the quicker we receive the “harvest of righteousness and peace” that Hebrews speaks of.

I’ve certainly done my share of “kicking against the goads!” It’s no fun! However, time and time again I have been able to look back and see that God has worked blessing through things I didn’t enjoy at the time. He’s even used my own mistakes and even sin and turned it around for good! That’s not to say that it was good that I made the mistakes and sinned against Him, but rather that He is so much greater than all of that that He can use it for good. That’s what Joseph the son of Jacob realized: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20) As a pastor I seek to communicate this truth to others, but I often get strong resistance. People don’t want to admit that they need to change, and they don’t want to believe that unpleasant things can be used for good. That’s why everything I say and do must be bathed in prayer and motivated by love. God’s truth is sometimes a scalpel, necessary to remove malignancy, but it is not to be used as a cudgel, to bludgeon people into submission. I’ve got another surgery for skin cancer coming up this month. I wouldn’t like it if the doctor tried to knock it off with a stick!

Father, You were already indicating that I was to use Andrae Crouch’s Through It All as the framework for Sunday’s message, and You’ve certainly confirmed it! Particularly as I’ll be delivering it on the 70th anniversary of the Nagasaki A-bomb, I pray that I may speak precisely what You are saying, no more and no less, so that Your words through me may work all that You intend in the hearts and lives of my hearers, both in person and at a distance by electronic means, so that the devil’s lies may be torn down and people be set free, for their blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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August 6, 2015

Posted on August 8, 2015 by jgarrott

Ecclesiastes 9:1 So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no man knows whether love or hate awaits him.

The thought in this verse is actually echoed in verse 11, and the point is that we aren’t in control. We try to wrest control from God, but it never works. We invent such things as “cryogenics,” trying to cheat death by freezing, sure that somewhere down the line man will advance to the point that we can be revived, but the stupidity of that has too many levels to discuss here. We try to insist that God doesn’t exist, declaring Him gone by our words, but that’s like a child trying to make a puppy disappear by saying “abracadabra.” To be honest, I don’t much care for Ecclesiastes, because for all his wisdom, Solomon soured it all by trusting that wisdom instead of the One who gave it to him, and he became very stupid in the process. There is real truth in this verse, but it lacks either hope or joy because it doesn’t come from a heart at peace with its Creator. Solomon didn’t understand the greatest joy, peace, and satisfaction of being in harmony with, and at rest in, his loving, omnipotent, heavenly Father.

Being blessed in the IQ department, I feel I understand Solomon’s temptations. If I had had essentially unlimited financial resources and temporal authority, I might well have gone the way he did, and I’m very grateful to have been kept from that. I have had to learn that not only am I not in control, it’s a very good thing that I’m not. I don’t see the end from the beginning, because I’m at a fixed point in the space-time continuum, so I don’t know what havoc my good intentions will bring down the line. Only God can even keep track of it all, not to mention be in control. My father had real insight when he said that God’s will for any individual is going to fit in perfectly with His will for every other individual. It takes the biggest super-computers just to model planetary weather patterns, and think about how often the weather forecast misses it! I am not to be anxious about not being in control, or really even “in the know,” but be satisfied with knowing the One who is, and strive to live in obedient fellowship with Him.

Father, thank You for being God. Thank You for getting through to me a few years ago with the simple reality that You’re smart and I’m not. Thank You for the little reminders of that that You give me every day. Help me be Your agent to do Your will at all times, blessing those around me and drawing them to You, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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August 5, 2015

Posted on August 8, 2015 by jgarrott

Proverbs 29:25 Fear of man will prove to be a snare,
but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.

We fear many things, to varying degrees and with different results. Fear itself is a defense mechanism to keep us from danger, and like all of God’s creation is originally good. However, like much of creation it is often distorted, leading to harm rather than benefit. We are all familiar with stories of people paralyzed by fear, and there’s a good chance we’ve experienced it ourselves. Most of the time paralysis is too strong a word, but countless people are kept by fear from exercising their full potential, and most of that is fear of man. When we hear the phrase, fear of man, we usually think in terms of being afraid of other people and what they will think, say, or do, but I would include fear of yourself in this as well: fear I won’t measure up, that I will do something stupid, that I will fail in any number of ways. The answer to all of that is trusting God. The Japanese word for “confidence” is made up of two characters that individually mean “self” and “belief.” When I teach the word, “confidence,” in my classes in Medical English I tell my students I don’t like the Japanese term, because I know from experience that I will fail myself at some point down the line. However, I say that I have assurance, because instead of believing in myself, I believe God, and He will never let me down.

I wish that my bold words to my students were more consistently accurate! I still have times of looking to/at people and being anxious, rather than keeping my focus on God and being at peace. Various things came together in my mind just this morning, keeping me from going back to sleep after a run to the restroom, to the point that I gave up and got up around 4. That’s not trusting God fully! I know from experience that fearing anything other than God brings loss, of peace, sleep, or any of a number of other things. I still need work in making that knowledge operative all the time in my life. The interesting thing is, the more I exercise the faith I do have (instead of bemoaning the faith I don’t have) the better I can trust God to supply all the faith I will need for whatever circumstances come my way. This is not being irresponsible or passive; I am to be faithful and diligent. However, it is refusing to be anxious, and it seems like most of the people in the Bible, from Jesus on down, exhort me to do just that.

Father, You know the issues that kept me awake this morning. Help me know and fulfill my part in each of those situations but not try to carry the load myself. Help me rather wait expectantly on You so that You may replace my strength, my wisdom, with yours, (Isaiah 40:31) so that Your will may be done in and through me, on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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August 4, 2015

Posted on August 5, 2015 by jgarrott

Proverbs 26:12 Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?
There is more hope for a fool than for him.

The previous 11 verses are all condemnatory of the “fool,” so this verse has extra bite. Humility is greatly to be desired! It’s not that we cannot have assurance in what we know, it’s that thinking you’ve got it all together sets you up for a fall, just as Paul pointed out. (1 Corinthians 10:12) The first step in growth, mentally/emotionally/spiritually speaking, is realizing that you have room to grow. Churches are filled, unfortunately, with people who think that once they’re dipped, they’re done. They understand neither grace nor repentance and may well not be saved, though that is for God to decide. Anyone who thinks they don’t need to learn has a major problem. We can’t know everything, nor do we really need to, but saying, “that’s enough,” is dangerous indeed. We need first of all to know God; everything else is secondary at best to that. However, since God is infinite and we certainly are not, there is no limit to our continued growth in knowing Him, unless we decide “that’s enough.” Bigots fall under this verse, because they have already settled their own superiority in their own minds, thereby condemning themselves to inferiority. There’s a neat bit of irony for you!

I had a painful lesson in the reality of this verse myself. I had skipped the 12th grade of school and gone directly into college in the “honors curriculum,” and “cocky” didn’t half describe me. I got into Freshman Math, under a rather uninspiring teacher, and immediately tuned out, because “I could do all that stuff.” I was six weeks into the course when I really woke up and by then it was too late, and I ended up having to repeat the course, since it was required. God used that to knock me out of a Chemistry major and push me toward a Speech/English major, which was good in terms of His plan for me to be a minister/missionary, but it was a very sell-deserved blow to my pride. There have been various other times of similar lessons, all of them sadly necessary, but God has been more than patient and gracious toward me, leaving me with hope in spite of what this verse says.

Father, thank You indeed for Your grace and patience. Help me continue to grow in all areas (except girth!) so that I may be increasingly useful to You for however You want to use me, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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August 3, 2015

Posted on August 5, 2015 by jgarrott

Proverbs 24:13-14 Eat honey, my son, for it is good;
honey from the comb is sweet to your taste.
Know also that wisdom is sweet to your soul;
if you find it, there is a future hope for you,
and your hope will not be cut off.

This is a very interesting and apt simile. Young people might not fully understand the benefits of wisdom, but they can understand sweet! The point in the second half of the passage is one that is echoed in common expressions even today. The Japanese, agreeing with the Hebrew, says, “You will have a good end.” We put that in the negative sometimes, saying “He’ll come to no good end.” We also speak sorrowfully of people as, “but he had so much promise.” That’s because their hope was cut off, just as this verse says. Wisdom is indeed the answer to these issues, and true wisdom is based on an awareness and appreciation of God. (Job 28:28) Today there is a huge increase in knowledge, to the point that we speak of the “Information Age,” but too often that isn’t coupled with wisdom, and that is futile and often tragic. “Driving While Texting” is an excellent case in point. Knowledge, though usually desirable (we do speak of TMI) is neutral. It is only when it is coupled with wisdom that it truly benefits.

I’ve always been something of a “knowledge hound,” reading the Encyclopedia Britannica for fun from the 4th grade, but wisdom has been much more elusive! Thankfully I was raised by parents who were both intelligent and wise. Even more importantly, God has been incredibly patient and gracious toward me. How wise I am at this point is certainly open to debate, but I do have the firm foundation of an ongoing relationship with my Creator and Lord, and that is what is most important. I also know not to take myself too seriously. As Dr. Richard C. Pettigrew, a dear teacher and mentor from college and later, said in a poem once, “There’s such a thing as too much sense. We need a little nonsense to keep us sane.” I sometimes say that I know God has a sense of humor because He created me! (Maybe that humor is a little twisted?) In all of the confusion and carnage of the world today I still know that God is God and He is love, and that is really all the wisdom I need.

Father, thank You yet again for Your amazing grace. Help me receive the wisdom You offer so freely (James 1:5) and apply it fully, walking in step with Your Spirit (Galatians 5:25) so that Your grace and love may flow through me unhindered, drawing many to repentance and faith, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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August 2, 2015

Posted on August 5, 2015 by jgarrott

Proverbs 23:17-18 Do not let your heart envy sinners,
but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord.
There is surely a future hope for you,
and your hope will not be cut off.

It is ironic, actually, but not uncommon that “good” people would envy “not good” people. After all, sin can look like a lot of fun, and sometimes it really is, in the short term. However, as I tell people in almost every counseling situation I find myself in, selfishness never leads to true happiness, and sin is certainly self-centered. Perhaps the biggest factor in the good envying the bad is distorted values: material goods and physical pleasure are seen as more desirable than being Christ-like. We need to remember what the first half of verse 18 says. It is variously translated as “future hope” and “reward,” but the Japanese agrees with the King James in saying, very simply, “Surely there is an end.” We become envious of sin only when we lose sight of our own mortality. The pleasures of sin are no more than the bait that leads to eternal destruction. If your hope is in God, the Creator of heaven and earth, then that hope will indeed never be cut off, for all eternity. None of us are perfect. As Romans 3:23 so famously declares, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That’s why we are all dependent on the grace of God for salvation. (Ephesians 2:8-9) However, anyone who has appropriated that salvation by faith will be seeking to please and not grieve their Savior. There is no substitute for the assurance of salvation.

I deal with imperfect people all the time, because there is no other kind! As a pastor I have to deal with other people’s imperfections, and as a human being I have to deal with my own. I’ve got to remember for myself and teach to others that there is an end, a reward, and our lives are to be lived in recognition of that fact. The world is filled with glitz and glamour and the devil uses our flesh to tell us those things are desirable. However, they are generally deadly traps, and we need to stand in God’s truth to stay clear of them. (John 8:32) The world says, “He who dies with the most toys wins,” but they ignore the reality that we indeed all die. As a pastor I deal with death rather more than most people (short of medical staff and funeral directors) and I see a stark difference between those who face death with hope in Christ and those who do not. There is absolutely no question which is better, even from a temporal perspective! The more closely we fellowship with our Lord the more envy of anyone who does not enjoy such fellowship goes out the window. When we walk on this earth in fellowship with Him, then there is joyful anticipation of even closer fellowship with Him for eternity.

Father, thank You for all the people You allow me to encounter, both high and low, as this world views them. Help me be Your agent to all, drawing them with Your love to repentance and faith, so that they too may have the eternal hope You have given me, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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August 1, 2015

Posted on August 2, 2015 by jgarrott

Proverbs 19:14 Houses and wealth are inherited from parents,
but a prudent wife is from the Lord.

I continue to be amazed at the attitude many men have toward women, and at the radical feminism that has arisen in reaction to that. Both cause great damage, to individuals and to society as a whole. A balanced Biblical perspective sees men and women as certainly different, but as mutually complementary and essential. I tell couples that marriage is a journey of discovery, because neither gender can really imagine what the other is like with any reliable accuracy. God made us this way and then instituted marriage, because a single individual would have to be divine to encompass all the good characteristics of both men and women. Life-long singles have without question contributed to society, but they are certainly the exception, and require a special gift from God to be successful. God intends gender friction for the benefit of both, on more levels that we generally realize. It is precisely the fundamental nature of gender and marriage that makes the devil attack it in every way he can. He has been all too successful, which makes it all the more important for every believer to submit to God and resist the devil. (James 4:7)

It is very interesting that this would be the first verse that hits my eyes this morning, when I was just thinking about my incredible wife. Most of my “inheritance” from my parents (the Japanese says “ancestors”) is intangible, though of far more ultimate value than tangible things, but I certainly agree that an exceptional wife is from the Lord. In the 46 years, so far, of our marriage, there have been long periods when she was far closer to the Lord than I was. She has always been an influence to draw me closer to Him, all the while being lively and a lot of fun. When I do marriage counseling I point out to the husband that when it says in Genesis 2:18, “I will make a helper suitable for him,” it is using an extreme word for “helper” that is otherwise used in the Bible only for military help or God’s direct help. In other words, a wife’s presence is huge. It is interesting to consider whether Solomon wrote this particular proverb or whether it came from some other source, because his wives were his undoing! It has been said that “Behind every successful man there is a woman,” but from a Biblical perspective that would be an understatement. The Bible records history accurately, and historically speaking, women have all too often been considered inferior to men, property to be utilized, but the loss to society, and specifically to men, in that attitude is incalculable. I am to treat my wife as the treasure she is, giving her all the joy, peace, respect, and honor I can, because she is more than worthy of it all, and more.

Father, thank You indeed for the wife You gave me. Many who know her are in awe of her as she continues to be incredibly productive and a blessing to all around her even while dealing with quite a laundry list of physical problems. I do ask Your grace and blessing for her today, and specifically relief from the pain that is all too familiar to her. Give her wisdom in what to do and what to let someone else do, or just let ride, so as not to have unnecessary pain. May today be not only a day of accomplishment for her – hardly a day passes that isn’t that – but a day of peace and joy, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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