September 27, 2014

Posted on September 28, 2014 by jgarrott

Romans 1:16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

What a powerful statement! Today we might get hung up on referring to all Gentiles as Greeks, but even a cursory understanding of the culture of the 1st Century should clear that up. With that out of the way, the next point is whether the Gospel is something to be ashamed of. We don’t have the same visceral response to the idea of crucifixion that people of that day did. Recent crucifixions by Muslim jihadists might help us understand that point! In those days, crucifixion was an execution reserved for the worst criminals, and the Gospel proclaims that Jesus was crucified for our sins. That was shame-worthy both because of crucifixion itself and because all who receive the Gospel are saying that they themselves are worthy of crucifixion. Even today, many are unwilling to say that. Even apart from that, there are those today who are unwilling to claim the Gospel because in their eyes it isn’t “cool,” it isn’t the philosophy of the “in crowd.” That particular pressure is extreme in American academia today. However, Paul’s reason for not being ashamed of the Gospel is as valid today as it was when he recorded it: it is the power of God for salvation for all who believe. It is a major problem when we fail to really grasp that point. Far too many church members today aren’t really settled on the issue of whether Jesus is the only way to salvation. That is a major push of the devil, the liar and father of lies. If we fail to grasp that fundamental issue, we will lack both gratitude for our own salvation and motivation for sharing the Gospel with as many people as possible.

This is of course why I am a pastor in Japan. If I didn’t agree with Paul on this verse I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing! However, I have seen time and time and time again that Jesus really does save those who believe. I was talking with someone just yesterday about how many people have a distorted idea of what salvation is. They think in terms of being rescued from immediate difficult circumstances, when it is far more than that. We’re talking about eternity here! When people are fixated on the problem in front of their nose they have trouble grasping the reality that even at the worst it is just temporary, but salvation totally transcends that. As the Bill Gaither song says, “The longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows.” However, that doesn’t mean that life becomes “easy street.” I’ve baptized a few people who disappeared once they discovered that Jesus doesn’t mean easy street! I am to be faithful to speak the truth in love, proclaiming the same Gospel Paul did, and for the same reasons, and trust God with the results.

Father, thank You for the two major ministry opportunities You gave me yesterday. Neither was planned on my part, but they were clearly in Your plan. One recipient is not yet Christian and one is. I pray that they would both receive what You said through me, so that Your Word would work Your salvation in them on every level, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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September 26, 2014

Posted on September 28, 2014 by jgarrott

Acts 24:25 As Paul discoursed on righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and said, “That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.”

Paul was certainly not afraid to speak truth to those in power! I’m sure he was familiar with the Lord’s words to Ezekiel, and he wanted no one’s blood on his hands. (Ezekiel 3:20, 33:8) Felix’ response to the Gospel is all too typical. I’m sure Paul didn’t leave out how we can make it through the Judgment, by grace through faith, (John 3:16, Ephesians 2:8-9) but Felix didn’t really hear that, and his response was fear and avoidance. He has a lot of company! People today are just as prone to run away from the Gospel, despite the fact that it’s the best news in the world. They don’t want to be confronted with their own sinfulness, and think that ignoring it will get them out of it. That’s like ignoring cancer. As doctors keep telling us, the sooner cancer is discovered and treated, the higher the probability of full recovery. However, many people are so afraid of a cancer diagnosis that they put off going to the doctor, often until it is too late. With cancer, we might or might not have it, but with sin and judgment, everyone has it! That’s why the irony of a response like Felix’ is so acute: the fatal infection is present, but the only cure is rejected. That is heartbreaking indeed, but all we can do is pray for people and speak the truth in love.

I’ve run into Felix’ response more times than I could possibly count. However, there have been those who have heard the good news and had the humility to repent and believe, and they make it all worth it. If I were to focus on those who decline to receive I would have given up a long time ago! I am to keep sowing the seed, plowing and watering as the Lord gives opportunity, and leave the results in His hands. Each person is a fresh opportunity, and I am to expect great things of God as I walk in humble obedience.

Father, thank You for the various successes You do give me. Thank You for those who have received Your Word with joy and have put down good roots. I pray for fruitfulness in each life so that we may see exponential growth, with each believer reaching multiple people and drawing them, too, into full discipleship. I pray that You would use me to impart vision to the believers so that they would grasp that You want to use them as much as You use me. Help them understand that it’s not about the vessel but about the contents, and that You are in them as You are in me. May we together be so full of Your presence that people would be drawn continually, even as they were to the early Church in Jerusalem, (Acts 2:47) for a massive harvest in Your kingdom, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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September 25, 2014

Posted on September 26, 2014 by jgarrott

Acts 17:24-25 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.”

This is the classic statement of who God is, and is the foundation of monotheism. However, it is remarkable how many people act like it isn’t true. We of course have the cohort of those who deny there is or ever was a Creator, because they don’t want to acknowledge their accountability toward Him. However, even setting those aside we have many people who act like God lives in the house they made for Him, and nowhere else. It’s not that they have examined that way of thinking and are intellectually satisfied with it, it’s that they have an emotional need to feel like they “own” God, that He belongs to them instead of the other way around. Then we have the people who feel like God couldn’t get along without them. There is a song that goes, “God has no hands but our hands…” That has some truth to it, but the fact is that He allows us to participate in what He does, rather than Him being unable to do things without us. Failing to serve God hurts us, but it doesn’t hurt Him. And the last point is one where we all trip up from time to time: God supplies everything for us. We are prone to miss Him in one of three ways here. We tend to think we have what we have entirely by our own efforts, forgetting that “It is [God] who gives you the ability to produce wealth.” (Deuteronomy 8:18) As this passage says, every breath we take is a gift from God! The second mistake we often make is the opposite of that, thinking God owes us, that nothing is called for on our part. That would be the ultimate Welfare Society, and as is so evident today, that is invalid on every level. The third, and most common, mistake we make is in thinking, or at least feeling emotionally, that God is going to run out of what we need. That’s called being anxious, and the Bible is filled with admonitions to have nothing to do with it. (Philippians 4:6, etc.) When we have the right foundation for our faith we can grow strong and tall, but if the foundation is faulty, everything will collapse.

I am deeply grateful that this foundation was laid in my heart early in my life, but I deal constantly with people who were not so blessed. I find that things that seem completely obvious to me come across as fresh insight to many, and it never ceases to surprise me. I am never to get conceited about it, but rather be faithful to speak the truth in love so that others may receive it, passing on what the Lord has poured into me. At the same time, I am not to think that simply knowing these things is sufficient in itself; I have to live it out. I am not to fall into the trap of deceiving myself. (James 1:22) Only then will I be effective in communicating God’s truth to others.

Father, thank You for who You are, and for the incredible privilege of calling You Father. May I be an effective instrument in Your hands so that many, many more may be drawn into that relationship with You through Christ Jesus Your Son, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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September 24, 2014

Posted on September 26, 2014 by jgarrott

Acts 10:15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

This is an extremely important Scripture. Not only does it reinforce God’s authority over human traditions, even when those traditions are based on what God has said previously, it also touches on the only way anyone can be pure before God, and that is by the edict and action of God Himself. I’m reminded of Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18, in which the man the world would have called less pure was pronounced more pure than the other, because of his humble honesty before God. Here, God was dealing with over a thousand years of awareness that the Jews were the chosen people of God, showing Peter that they didn’t have a monopoly on God’s love and mercy. We are quick to categorize people by all sorts of criteria we set up, some of it Biblical and some not. However, in so doing we often set ourselves in the place of God without realizing it. We forget that none of us deserves to be accepted by God on our own merits, so we are all dependent on His grace. Universalism, that is, “everybody’s going to heaven,” is in no way a Biblical answer. However, as Jesus said so clearly in Luke 6:36, we are to be merciful as our Heavenly Father is merciful. It is the blood of Jesus, and only the blood of Jesus, that cleanses us so that we are acceptable to God.

There are groups that practice “sloppy agape,” (not even pronouncing the Greek correctly, much less understanding it) paying little if any attention to the Bible’s many calls to holiness, and there are groups that seem to search for reasons to disqualify people from being called Christian. Neither is pleasing to God, nor Biblical, though both will trot out plenty of “proof texts.” I am to love both but not be caught up in either. I am to be uncompromising with God’s standards, laid out so clearly in the Bible, but I am to do so with an overriding, and overwhelming, awareness of the grace of God. Yesterday I was talking with someone with a very confused and inadequate understanding of God – as I do almost every day, because so many around me fit that description. I am not to focus on “correcting” them, but rather on sharing with them the grace that has been poured out on me. With my Teacher gifting, I tend to “set people straight,” when that is rarely the best way to open their heart to God’s truth. I am to share the Good News as simply as I can, in terms they can relate to, so that they may grasp the hope that they see in me and make it their own. I need to remember that God loves them as much as He does me, and that I am as dependent on His grace as they are.

Father, thank You for Your grace indeed. Help me be an open, accurate conduit of that grace, never degrading it either by compromise with the world or by legalism, so that as many as possible may receive and accept it, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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September 23, 2014

Posted on September 24, 2014 by jgarrott

Acts 7:57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him.

The irony of this scene is extreme to me. These people were doing exactly as Stephen had said in verse 51, resisting the Holy Spirit. If their hearts had been tender, hearing Stephen describe the vision he was given of Christ at the right hand of the Father would have driven them to their knees. Instead, they covered their ears while yelling, so as to block every word Stephen might say. People today do similar things, accepting any distraction so that they won’t have to receive the Word of the Lord. We make jokes about it, but it is funny only because it reflects what we really do. Of course the devil delights to supply all the distractions and lying voices we will accept, but we can’t say, “the devil made me do it,” as though that were a valid excuse. The devil only has as much power over us as we give him, so if we will choose to stand firmly in Christ, submitted to Him, then the devil’s tricks fade to insignificance. (James 4:7) The devil works with fear based on deception. When we choose to submit to God and trust Him, we see through the deception and the fear is lifted. That is when the devil flees indeed, though only to “look for a more convenient time.” (Luke 4:13) We are never to let our guard down, but also never to walk in fear. We are certainly never to yell and cover our ears to block the Word of the Lord, but singing praise to God is an excellent way to counter the lies the devil speaks to our minds and hearts.

I have certainly witnessed in abundance the capacity of mankind to block, ignore, and resist what God is saying, and I’ve practiced it far too often myself. For myself, I need to renew daily my commitment to listen to and obey the Holy Spirit. For others, I am to pray for them and continue to speak the truth in love to them, both in words and in actions. There are times when my patience runs out, but I must remember how much patience has been shown toward me. I don’t expect to be stoned as Stephen was, but I must not let even such a prospect deter me. God’s plan is good, and He will more than reward me for all I do in obedience to Him.

Father, I am often amazed at people who say they love you, yet they fail to turn their hearts to You and inquire of You about the countless decisions of their lives. I ask for wisdom and anointing to speak Your truth to them so that they may be set free from the deceptions of the enemy. I also pray for the multitudes around me who have not taken the first step of choosing to believe, acknowledging Jesus as Lord. May my obedience to You draw many more into that obedience, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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September 22, 2014

Posted on September 24, 2014 by jgarrott

Acts 3:12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?”

This is the response of a true man of God. Peter and John had just been involved in a miracle so dramatic that not only the onlookers but even the Sanhedrin took close notice, but there isn’t the slightest trace of “Look what we did.” This verse, in fact, is the exact opposite of that, saying, “Why look at us?” Peter and John had been around Jesus enough that His attitude had rubbed off, and that is what we all should aim for. They had no question that God was able to do anything at all; their only question was what did He want to do at the moment. They had no delusion that they could do anything on their own, but they were entirely willing for God to use them in doing anything at all. There are people today like that – Heidi Baker comes to mind – but they are few and far between. We are so prone to pollute even what God does through us by thinking that in some way it’s about us, when it’s actually all about Him. God desires to use each of us far more than generally happens, but we are too focused on ourselves to get with the program. It is when we are fully focused on Him in loving obedience that we are lined up for His power to flow through us. We think of it in terms of theology or doctrinal purity or the like, when it is actually all about loving, trusting obedience.

Well that’s a Word in due season! There have been many times when I have desired to see God work in power through me, but not many times when it has happened. My focus is not to be on the problem as such, and certainly not on whether I can do anything about it, but on God and what He wants to do. Too often I try to tell God what to do! I’m reminded of Smith Wigglesworth, who resurrected his wife only to have her say to him, “Smith, why did you do that?” I am to let Him tell me what He wants to do and what part, if any, I am to play in it. I am not to fear looking ridiculous. Any time I think, what if nothing happens, I am focused on myself and not on God, who is the only One who could make anything happen in the first place!

Father, You know how much I have desired that You demonstrate Your reality through signs and wonders right here in Omura. Forgive me for being too focused on myself to be available. Help me love You more, trust You more, be fully obedient to You, so that Your will may be done as perfectly here as it is in heaven, for Your pleasure and glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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September 21, 2014

Posted on September 24, 2014 by jgarrott

John 17:20-21 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

As familiar as this passage is, as I read it again just now it came over me that Jesus prayed for me! That fact alone is astounding, and it makes me pay close attention to just what He prayed for me, and that is unity, with Him and with my fellow believers. Here again He is saying that the relationships among believers would be a demonstration and affirmation of Christ to the world, just as He had said just a little earlier, in John 13:34-35. When Christians bicker and fight, the world says, “Oh, they’re just like everybody else.” When they demonstrate God’s love, toward one another and even toward their enemies, then the world sits up and takes notice. It was said of the 1st Century believers that “They really know how to love each other and they really know how to die.” That truly says it all, because it means Christ-likeness toward this world and the next. Physical siblings can have genuine disagreements and still love each other deeply. I don’t think Jesus was praying for organizational unity here. After all, the Trinity isn’t a committee! This is a matter of “I am part of you and you are part of me because we are both part of the Body of Christ.” Ecumenical movements can be good and not-so good. When they are focused on Christ as our common Lord and God as our Father, they can be very good. When they try to force theological conformity, they become exercises in human pride and control, and can be very bad indeed. It is only when we are fully submitted to the One who prayed that we would be one that we can hope for the unity He desires for us even today.

I was raised in a denomination with a great deal of very good history, but at the same time I saw from a fairly early age that denominations seemed to be better at erecting walls between believers than at tearing them down. It was a major shock to me not long after I came to Omura, when I heard a Japanese denominational leader who had been very close to my family from my childhood say, at a non-denominational meeting I was attending, that it was the first time he had ever spoken at a meeting that didn’t carry his denominational label. I think that was a real factor in my decision, not long after that, to pull out of denominational organization and establish Shinsei no Sato as a non-denominational church. In the years since, the Lord has given us close ties with Christians of all stripes, and I feel affirmed that I heard the Lord correctly. I’ve got to remember and teach that any child of God is my brother or sister, and at the same time leave it to God as to exactly who are His children, because not all in any group are His, just as Jesus told the parable of the wheat and the tares. (Matthew 13:24-30) My focus is to be on loving God and loving my neighbor. (Matthew 22:36-40) Only then will we experience the unity Jesus prayed for.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for having Jesus pray for us! May we be fully committed to You so that we may enjoy that unity as a demonstration of Your reality to the world, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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September 20, 2014

Posted on September 21, 2014 by jgarrott

John 16:12-13 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.”

I love it that God knows what we can take, and He acts accordingly. As David said, “He knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:14) This applies even to the conviction that the Holy Spirit provides, that Jesus has just been talking about. If He were to show us everything unholy about us all at once, we literally could not endure it. That’s why He shows us things by His priorities, and why we should not try to do His work for Him in relation to other people. When we do it, it comes across as condemnation. When He does it, it is pure love, calling for repentance so that we may be better. As God made so very clear to Ezekiel, when He tells us to warn someone to repent, we had better do it. (Ezekiel 33:7-9) However, we aren’t to run around faultfinding! The name, Satan, means “accuser,” and that’s exactly what the devil does. If we try to do the Holy Spirit’s work for Him, we wind up doing the devil’s work instead! As I tell people regularly in all sorts of counseling situations, the Holy Spirit never issues blanket condemnations, ie. “You’re no good.” When that’s what we’re hearing in our hearts and minds, we can be sure it’s the devil. The Holy Spirit is a Gentleman, and He is always specific. In my own very dramatic encounter, in which I fell to my knees and cried out, “My Lord and my God,” really all He showed me was my spiritual pride. That was enough! In the years since then He has showed me many more things, and the quicker I have repented of them, the quicker they have cleared up. We don’t have to be afraid, because God will only do in and to us what He has made us capable of dealing with.

As a pastor, this is something I have to be very aware of, and very careful I don’t mess up. I am indeed a watchman as Ezekiel was, but even so I must not spout warnings out of my own imagination; I must speak only what the Lord tells me to. I started to write, what the Lord shows me, but sometimes He shows me things I’m only to pray about at that point, and not confront the individual involved. However, when He tells me to speak I’m not to fear confrontation. That’s a hard one for me! I must be fully available and willing as God’s agent and messenger, but at the same time get myself out of the way as much as possible. Sometimes He has said through me things that have shocked me that I said them, but the results have been good. At other times I have jumped the gun in what and how I have spoken to people, and the results have not been good. I am to operate in humility, love, and assurance, not forgetting to receive for myself the warnings I speak to others.

Father, thank You for the ministry of Your Spirit. Thank You for the sweet fellowship that He makes possible, with You and with my brothers and sisters in Christ. Thank You that He indeed leads us into Your truth, as fast as we can absorb it. Help me be faithful to receive and act on that truth, as well as transmit it undistorted, to build up the Body of Christ for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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September 19, 2014

Posted on September 21, 2014 by jgarrott

Luke 23:46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

Everything about the cross was intentional on Jesus’ part. That’s something we have a hard time wrapping our minds around. Jesus was in no sense suicidal, but He made the conscious choice to sacrifice Himself for our sins. I saw something just yesterday that said many are denying the doctrine of Jesus’ sacrificial atonement for sin. My immediate reaction was, then on what are they basing salvation? We don’t want to acknowledge the sinfulness of sin, how horrible it is and how worthy of destruction. God is absolutely holy, and anything that is less than holy is destroyed by even close proximity, let alone contact. It’s like matter and antimatter, only in that case both are destroyed on contact, whereas with God and the unholy, only the unholy is destroyed. Jesus, perfectly holy, took that destruction on Himself by choice, so that we might receive His righteousness by faith. When we fail to grasp that, all sorts of things are deficient. In the first place, we lack gratitude for our salvation and so have reduced motivation for obedience. In the second place, we tend to take God’s grace lightly, and fail to repent truly of the sins we continue to commit. And in the third place, we become unlikely to share Christ with those who do not yet know Him, because we don’t know how wonderful He is. Every believer needs to pray and seek for a better, deeper understanding of the cross, because it is our access point to all that God has prepared for us in Christ Jesus.

This is something I have known intellectually for a long time, yet I know I have only scratched the surface. I too need a better, deeper revelation of the cross and what Jesus did for me there. I have dedicated my life to sharing Christ, but that is too small a response. As a pastor I long to impart an understanding of the cross to every believer in this church, but only the Holy Spirit can do that. However, He can use me in the process, and I need to keep myself available. Robert Culpepper, the missionary who was my father’s prayer partner and who preached my ordination sermon, wrote a book, Interpreting the Atonement. I’m sure I have a copy, but I’m embarrassed to say I’ve never read it through. My response to the cross isn’t to be academic, though my mind does need to be involved, but rather with my spirit and my life. As the song says, “All that I have, all that I am, all I will ever be cannot repay this love-debt I owe. I surrender to Thee.”

Father that is my prayer and my commitment. Help me communicate the magnificence, the wonder, of the cross even as You reveal it to me, so that You may have a people who are prepared and committed, as Your children and Your representatives, so do Your will for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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September 18, 2014

Posted on September 19, 2014 by jgarrott

Luke 18:9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:

It strikes me that this is a very necessary counterpoint to the story of the lost sheep in yesterday’s reading. In the story of the lost sheep, Jesus referred to those who don’t need to repent. Here, he is speaking of someone who judges himself as not needing to repent. The whole point is one of humility, which comes out not only in the explanation of this parable in verse 14, but also in what Jesus said about receiving the kingdom of God like a little child in verse 17. We are never to ignore sins, much less commit them, in order to have something of which to repent, but neither are we to be confident of our own righteousness, as Jesus says here. Paul hit the right balance in 1 Corinthians 4:4. “My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.” We are never to let sin fester; as soon as we become aware of it we are to repent. However, we are also not to assume that because we aren’t aware of anything, there’s nothing there. Our righteousness is never sufficient, as Isaiah noted. (Isaiah 64:6) As the old hymn says it so beautifully, “My hope is build on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness…. Dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.” The difference between the Pharisee and the tax collector was whether they were aware of their sin. The righteousness of Christ is available to us by faith, but we will accept it only when and if we realize we need it.

This has been huge in my life. I committed myself to Jesus as a boy of seven but drifted off into spiritual conceit over the years, until the Lord tapped me on the shoulder, figuratively speaking, and showed me a mirror. I was devastated at how despicable I was, and have never gotten away from that awareness that I am totally dependent on the righteousness of Christ. My mother once shared with me how she was baptized at age five after coming to a clear awareness that she had committed sin, without anyone else knowing about it, and knowing she needed the cleansing blood of Jesus. Now that is exceptional! As a pastor I am to be careful that I don’t bring people into the church (baptize them) because it feels good, to them or to me, but because they have recognized and repented of their sinfulness and committed to Jesus Christ as Lord. At the same time I am not to turn people away because their understanding isn’t sufficiently “mature.” That would exclude people like my own mother!

Father, thank You that Your grace is sufficient, even for such a one as I am. Thank You that You are wise and I’m not. Help me see people with Your eyes, to know when they are ready for harvest so that I won’t do them and the church harm by being off in timing. May I be an effective tool in Your hands to bring people into Your family indeed, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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