December 15, 2012

Posted on December 18, 2012 by jgarrott

Luke 1:17 “And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Every once in a while God makes it clear that something that had been prophesied is taking place, and this is one of those occasions. This is a direct fulfillment of the last two verses of the Old Testament, Malachi 4:5-6, and I’m sure Zechariah recognized that. That’s perhaps one reason he was so incredulous, because he couldn’t believe that he was going to participate in the direct fulfillment of Scripture. (Actually, God’s plans are so big that they include every one of us, but only some of those plans are recorded in the Bible.) The specific prophecy is one that we urgently need to see fulfilled today. Both in Malachi and here it speaks of turning the hearts of the fathers to their children. Virtually all of the problems in society today can be traced directly to the breakdown of the family. We are infested with deadbeat, derelict fathers! To be fair, few of those had a good example of fatherhood in their own upbringing, but that’s no excuse. No human father is perfect, but today, many give up before they even start. Biological fatherhood is all too easy, but emotional and spiritual fatherhood is a lifetime endeavor. Every nation I know about needs a revival in this area. Men need to know how to be men, neither brutes nor effeminate, they need to know how to be husbands, both strong and caring, and they need to know how to be fathers, both loving and firm. There’s not a man alive who doesn’t have room to grow in more than one of those areas! I think the reason the prophecy focuses on fatherhood is that it is so explicitly generational; values die if they aren’t passed from one generation to the next. The Bible is filled with admonitions to communicate the truths of God to succeeding generations, and the focus is always on fathers taking the responsibility for that. For a long time we have twisted that around to make it a motherhood thing, and that has left fathers feeling less and less connected and needed. That’s tragic! I could give multiple examples, personally connected to me, of tragic situations that are the direct result of the breakdown of fatherhood. We need the ministry of John the Baptist in a big way today!

I have two children, but no sons. However, I have many spiritual sons, so I need to get this across to them. I do quite a few weddings, and I try to communicate this to the couples in the counseling that I require before I will do one. In either case, I need to operate in “the spirit and power of Elijah” to get the truth across, because my own intellect and persuasive skills won’t get the job done. My personal ministry is quite limited in scope, but I can pray, and there are no limits to that!

Father, I do pray for men to wake up to fatherhood. May they wake up first to You as their Father, regardless of what sort of physical father they had, so that You may correct their misconceptions about fatherhood. May they see and grasp both the joys and the responsibilities inherent in fatherhood, and so not run from it but embrace it with joy and gratitude. May they be instruments of generational blessing, rather than curses, so that the schemes of the devil may be defeated, Your Name be hallowed, and Your kingdom come as Your will is done, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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December 14, 2012

Posted on December 15, 2012 by jgarrott

Zechariah 9:12 Return to your fortress, O prisoners of hope;
even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.

This is one place where I prefer the English to the Japanese, though the Japanese seems quite logical. The Japanese says, “prisoners who have hope,” where the traditional English translation is “prisoners of hope.” To me that’s a striking image. It evokes what Paul said about “take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Philip-pians 3:12) When hope in Christ takes hold of us, it doesn’t let go! From the Christian context, our fortress is Christ Himself, so this becomes a call to come out of whatever has kept us from full fellow-ship with and obedience to Him, and return to our “first love.” (Reve-lation 2:4) When we do that, we discover that all we lost from our waywardness is indeed restored to us multiplied, so this is a joyous call indeed.

Having answered this call myself, it is now my privilege and respon-sibility to extend it to others. This is actually distinct from evangel-ism, which is sharing the Gospel with those who have never heard. It is remarkable how many people have heard and, to at least some degree received, the Gospel, but who have become tangled in “the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth” (Matthew 13:22) and not followed through. The devil is almost as happy trapping someone this way as he is in keeping them from the Gospel in the first place. If all who have heard and assented were to walk in the truth they have heard, the world would be a different place indeed! It is my sad experience to share the Gospel and have people be visibly moved, and yet not follow through to the commitment that will break them free from the traps of the devil. I need to act on my recognition that this is a spiritual battle and spend more time in prayer for those who hear the Word I proclaim. When I speak to groups, it is almost always a mixed crowd of those who have never really heard and those who have heard but never acted. I need to pray for both, before and after I’ve spoken to them, so that the Word of the Lord may have its full work in them, for their salvation and God’s glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the many opportunities You give me to share Your truth. Thank you for the two class Christmas parties coming up, and the two more weddings this month. Those are each situations where the majority will be hearing the Gospel for the first time. Thank You for the services here, where most of those present will be Christians, but some hearing by electronic means will not be. I ask for clear guidance for this coming Sunday, because I don’t yet know what You want me to say. I pray that in each case I would be a prepared vessel, a sharp tool, to work Your will in the hearts of my hearers, setting them free for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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December 13, 2012

Posted on December 15, 2012 by jgarrott

Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.”

It has always been of interest that when asked by Herod, the scribes in the 1st century could quote this passage without much hesitation, (Matthew 2:4-6) but they seem to have had no driving impulse to follow up on it on their own. This verse was accepted unquestionably as Messianic, but for those scribes, at least, that acceptance was strictly academic. Someone who really took this prophecy seriously would have had regular contact to keep up with the goings on in Bethlehem, and possibly even lived there themselves to be sure they didn’t miss the Messiah. It’s not that God doesn’t tell His people what He’s going to do, it’s that they misinterpret or fail to hear for any number of reasons. We get things fixed in our minds to the point that we can’t perceive anything that contradicts our preconceptions. For example, over the past 20 years I’ve been exposed to so much premillenial teaching that when I read something recently from someone I respect that contradicted that mindset, it seemed very strange. There are factions of all sorts in the Church today, many over fairly absurd hair splitting. There’s a reason Paul told Titus to “avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless!” (Titus 3:9) Our focus as a Church needs to be on our Lord Jesus Christ and on the task He set for us to do, which is to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey every­thing I have commanded you.”(Matthew 28:19-20) If that is our focus, we will be able to recognize what He has said and is saying to us, and won’t miss any of the blessings He intends.

I recognize the tendency to get set in certain ways of thinking in myself, and I must not run around pointing fingers at others. That’s not to say I’m not to know what I believe, and be assured of my posi­tions on various issues, but it is to say that I must always remember that God alone knows everything, and keep my ears open to Him. (1 Corinthians 13:9-12) I can hardly say I have fully discharged every task He has set for me! My focus needs to be on trust and obedience, and letting God be God.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Recently I’ve been getting ads for books on various theological disputes, and it all seems like such a distraction. Help me, help us all, focus on Jesus Christ our Lord, so that we have the unity You desire and the devil fears, advancing strongly against the gates of hell itself, (Matthew 16:18) to set the captives free for a massive in-gathering into Your kingdom, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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December 12, 2012

Posted on December 14, 2012 by jgarrott

Jeremiah 23:6 In his days Judah will be saved
and Israel will live in safety.
This is the name by which he will be called:
The LORD Our Righteousness.

Studying the various prophetic names for Christ can be very enlightening. This one is certainly echoed in the New Testament. Paul goes on at length about righteousness by faith in Christ in Romans and elsewhere, and the same note is picked up in Hebrews and 2 Peter. Probably the most explicit passage is 1 Corinthians 1:30 “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” Jesus Christ is indeed The Lord our Righteousness. This is vitally important, because every other religion demands a righteousness based on works. Christ being our righteousness isn’t an excuse to sin – Paul had to deal with that in Romans, too – but it removes the pressure of performance. We have such trouble accepting this, because we aren’t worthy of it, and because we want to be worthy, that is, we want to be able to say that we did it. That’s pride! That is actually a major hindrance to people accepting the Gospel. They have experienced so little unconditional love that they can’t believe God would make righteousness and salvation available simply on the basis of faith. I have seen students who felt they had to make good grades for their parents to love them. I’ve seen girls who felt they had to fit a particular standard of beauty for people to love them. The list could go on and on, but the point is, God loves us because He is love, and He created us. One of the most important statements in the whole Bible is found in Ephesians 2:8-9. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” We want to be able to boast! However, the Bible is clear that salvation is for the humble. (1 Peter 5:5-6 and many others)

This is of course something I’ve had to learn, sometimes the hard way. I did experience unconditional love as a child, and so had little difficulty believing God loved me, but I got to thinking I deserved it! I was an adult before the reality of my own sinfulness really came crashing down on me, even though that sinfulness had been express-ed many times in many ways before that. As a pastor/teacher doing the work of an evangelist, I have to communicate both that everyone is a sinner and that God loves us anyway, enough to give His Son to take the penalty for our sin. That flies in the face of both human logic and human pride, so I must rely on the Holy Spirit to prepare people’s hearts to receive the message I speak. However, He is certainly up to the task, so I must never be discouraged, much less give up.

Father, thank You both for Your love and grace and for the privilege of sharing Your love and grace with others. Thank You for last night, when I saw Your words through me shaking the barriers around someone who has resisted Your Gospel for a long time. I pray that those barriers would crumble soon, so that He may join me in Your family. Lord, there are many like him in this city. I pray for a massive outpouring of Your Spirit to wash away all barriers to the Gospel, so that great numbers of people may be gathered into Your kingdom, set free from all the lying traps of the enemy, that Christ may be Lord indeed in this city, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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December 11, 2012

Posted on December 14, 2012 by jgarrott

Isaiah 53:6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

I first memorized this verse when I was in elementary school, but that doesn’t make it any less important or relevant. The first half is vitally important to a proper understanding of sin. Most people think of sin as something we do deliberately, when the picture here is much more one of just “going with the flow,” following the crowd and all that. Grazing sheep will go to the next clump of vegetation that looks tasty, with no particular thought of direction at all. The key here is the phrase, “his own way.” The root of all sin is choosing self over God. That’s why Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) We don’t like to deny ourselves! God likes to give us good things, but if our motive is self indulgence, we aren’t following God. Honest self inspection will lead anyone to acknowledge that they are guilty here. That’s why Isaiah said clearly, “We all.” That’s why the second half of the verse is also vitally important, and is also enor­mously good news. God has taken our iniquity, our guilt, and placed it on Christ, and Christ took it to the cross. God is too holy to excuse sin, so he had to deal with it some other way. That way is so shocking that even after hundreds of years of a system of animal sacrifice to lay a foundation of understanding, people couldn’t grasp that the Son of God was going to shed His own blood, give His own life as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Sadly, even 2000 years later, many can’t accept that, first of all, their sins would require such a sacrifice, and second, that God would love them so much as to follow through with it. That’s why the Gospel is a scandal in many places even today. There are multiple organizations, inspired by the devil, that are dedicated to stamping it out. Nigeria and various places in the Middle East immediately come to mind. However, for someone who has really tasted and received the marvelous grace of God, even martyrdom is not too high a price.

I have not experienced the organized violent opposition of anything like Boko Haram in Nigeria, for example, but I have certainly experienced great opposition to the Gospel. The “veil over their hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:13-16) seems incredibly dense at times. However, I am never to give up, but continue to proclaim the grace of God in the power and love of God, so that as many as will may receive, repent, and believe for their salvation.

Father, thank You for calling me back to basics. Thank You for the questions that were asked me last night that caused me to explain the situation of the Gospel in Japanese culture, putting it into sharp focus. I am painfully aware that I cannot overcome the barriers to the Gospel in my own strength and wisdom, but nothing is too difficult for You. Help me trust You and expect great things from You, walk­ing in faithful obedience at all times, so that Your Word may indeed accomplish everything for which You send it, for the salvation of many and for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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December 10, 2012

Posted on December 11, 2012 by jgarrott

Isaiah 49:4 But I said, “I have labored to no purpose;
I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing.
Yet what is due me is in the LORD’s hand,
and my reward is with my God.”

Probably every servant of the Lord has felt like this at times. We wear ourselves out and see so little results. It should be a real comfort that this verse is in an undeniably Messianic passage. After all, if Christ felt this way at times, we have no room to complain! The point is that we don’t see the long term results of our labors, because we are anchored at a specific point in time, but God sees the end from the beginning, even many generations in the future, and He rewards accordingly. Once again it comes down to trust. Do we trust God enough to do whatever He tells us, and leave the results up to Him? Every believer is faced with that question, but some recognize it more quickly than others. The immature person is all about “What’s in it for me,” and so gives up when things get rough. A person who is really in love with Jesus will do everything for Him and take joy and satisfaction in the doing, whatever the immediate results might be or not be. As this verse expresses, someone who is totally committed to God will look objectively at their labors, recognize they are getting nowhere, and still say, “Even so, I will trust God.”

Ouch! I’m stepping on my own toes here. Japan has not unreasonably been called “the graveyard of missionaries,” because of the record low rate of return, but it has also produced some magnificent saints. I could name several off the top of my head. I am not to get hung up on numbers or timing, but apply myself fully to the tasks the Lord sets for me. I need to remember that though Jesus preached to multitudes, He invested Himself in the 12, and especially in the three, Peter, James, and John. Even there, some might think the time spent on James was wasted, because he was the first of the 12 to be martyred, but I would imagine he left a magnificent testimony in the process! I have been tempted many times to hang it all up and quit, and even now, with pension funds set to start coming in next year, the idea of “retiring and taking it easy” looms in my mind. That’s an illusion! I am “on duty” for the Lord as long as I am on this earth, and my tour of duty is entirely in God’s hands. I am to be faithful in my obedience, and leave the results up to Him.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the outreach program we had planned for yesterday, to which no one came. Thank You for the good time the church members had singing Christmas songs anyway! Thank You for the other things You’ve led us to plan for this season. We would be thrilled by visible results, but that again is in Your hands. I pray that we would be faithful as a body, so that Your Name may be hallowed and Your kingdom come as Your will is done in and through us. Thank You. Praise God!

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December 9, 2012

Posted on December 11, 2012 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.”

In any major undertaking, there’s always the danger of running out of steam before you finish. Through Isaiah, God is assuring us that won’t happen with Christ. The devil keeps trying to tell us, “The Christian movement is in danger!” but it’s just not true. After all, it doesn’t depend on human strength, wisdom, or anything else, but on God. Specific human institutions rise and fall, so there’s no cause to be complacent, but Christ will never fail. This should be particularly encouraging when we see so much injustice in the world around us. We need to remember that it’s just short-term! God is always fully just, whatever craziness we see going on around us.

That said, it’s the next line of this verse that has always blessed me. Born and raised of missionary parents in Japan, with over 30 years as a missionary in Japan under my belt myself, I have always loved Isaiah’s many references to islands. I know there are many island nations in the world, but I have always claimed these verses for Japan! This line, “The islands will wait in hope for His teaching,” has encouraged and comforted me when it has seemed at times that the Japanese don’t want the Word of the Lord. In reading this, I hear the Lord telling me that there are literally millions of Japanese just waiting to hear His Word expressed to them in ways that they can understand that it is indeed for them, and not some foreign philosophy. The cultural barriers are indeed huge, but they are no match for God! I am never to give up, because Christ will never falter or be discouraged, and I am in Him.

Father, thank You for this reminder. It’s easy to get discouraged when I focus on the physical, myself or my circumstances. Help me keep my eyes on Christ, (Hebrews 12:2) knowing that in Him I am indeed more than a conqueror, (Romans 8:37) and so move forward boldly in obedience to You, for the salvation of many and for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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December 8, 2012

Posted on December 11, 2012 by jgarrott

Isaiah 40:1 Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.

The Bible has many strong words in it, and it doesn’t mince words when dealing with sin. However, it also has passages like this. God is perfectly holy, which means He cannot ignore sin. However, He is also a “compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” (Exodus 34:6) John goes so far as to say that He is love itself. (1 John 4:8) Anyone who speaks for God will, at times, have to speak strong words, but even then, if they fail to do it in love they have missed God. I recall reading about the circumstan­ces of filming the Video Bible/Matthew. I had already seen the video and been very impressed and moved by it, and then I read about the filming and was even more moved. The actor portraying Jesus was a strong, Spirit-filled believer, and it really shows. After much prayer, he had come to the conclusion that Jesus really delighted in being who He was and doing what He did, and that’s the way he portrayed Him. When someone is healed, it would be hard to say which is more delighted, the person healed, or Jesus. With that attitude, the actor was very troubled by the extended passage in Matthew 23, where Jesus takes the Scribes and Pharisees to task for their hypocrisy. (The Video Bible, with practically no exceptions, simply uses the text of the NIV as a script.) He didn’t know how he could do it and be loving and essentially joyful. They started rather late in the shooting day, not really expecting to finish it all, but once started, the actor went all the way through with no breaks or errors, and the result is an anguished declaration of love. At the end, the actor fell to his knees on the stone pavement of the set, and completely unscripted, the man playing Peter rushed to him to comfort him and try to help him to his feet. That too was caught on film, and the whole is immensely moving. It is as it says in Psalm 85:8, “I will listen to what God the LORD will say; he promises peace to his people, his saints – but let them not return to folly.” God delights to comfort His people, but He still must deal with sin.

As a pastor/teacher I seek to speak the Word of the Lord, and at times that is rather stern. I am not to excuse sin, but I am to comfort the one who has been caught in it, assuring them that God has made a way out. That way includes repentance, which means forsaking the sin, and if someone is unwilling to do that, there is no comfort for them. However, I must be focused on the love of God, just as the actor performing Matthew 23 was. I am to seek to encourage, not in some watered-down, “seeker sensitive” way, but speaking the truth in love, so that all who hear may be built up and not torn down. (2 Corinthians 10:8)

Father, You know that I don’t like to speak strong words, but it seems like my messages tend to be more stern than joyful. I ask for an anointing of joy, that I may bring my hearers into Your joy. May I indeed comfort Your people, binding their wounds and lifting them up, rather than hitting them when they are down. May I be an exten­sion of Your heart even more than Your hand, so that people may know Your love indeed, for their blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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December 7, 2012

Posted on December 8, 2012 by jgarrott

Isaiah 11:2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him–
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.

This is perhaps the clearest description of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. As John points out, there are many spirits, (1 John 4:1-3) so we need to be discerning whether the “spiritual person” with whom we are dealing, or the “spiritual feeling” we are feeling is really of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is involved, wisdom and understanding will be heightened. We’ve all seen “spiritual” people who did some very foolish things. That’s not to say that the Holy Spirit will never prompt us to do things that contradict what our senses are telling us, but it is to say that someone who is consistently operating in the Holy Spirit is going to demonstrate wisdom and understanding that are hard to explain. It’s just as the Biblical scholars were amazed at the boy Jesus, because He was operating in God’s wisdom. (Luke 2:46-47) In the next pair of descriptors, the second is generally given as “power” or “might” in English, provok­ing an image of bulging muscles or something of the sort. The Japan­ese, on the other hand, says “ability.” The Charismatic Movement has made much of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, particularly those mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12, and it is true that someone operating in the Holy Spirit will demonstrate abilities that would be hard to account for from a strictly human standpoint. However, caution needs to be used here, because the devil counterfeits various spiritual gifts at times to try to deceive people. That’s why the last pair of descriptors is so important. The NIV just says “knowledge,” but the Japanese specifies “knowledge of the Lord and fear of the Lord.” That takes us back to what John says, because the Holy Spirit will always teach us more about Christ, and cause us to love and revere Him. Someone who is flippant about God, not showing respect, is not operating in the Holy Spirit.

This is of course very pertinent to me. I was blessed with a high IQ, but there’s a world of difference between that and Godly wisdom, as I have proven more times than I care to think about! I deal with many situations that are totally beyond my understanding, but at times the Lord will give me insight that I would not have dreamed up. I have a wide assortment of abilities, but they accomplish good only when they are submitted to and infused with the Holy Spirit. However, it’s the last pair, knowledge of the Lord and fear of Him, that most grab my attention. I know from experience that academic knowledge of the Bible is not the same as knowing God. I also know, from being raised totally in the Church, that it is all too possible to be flippant about the things of God, with familiarity breeding contempt. That’s not to say I frown on humor! Any member of my congregation would be quick to correct that idea. I have long said that I can be sure that God has sense of humor because he created someone like me! How-ever, humor that denigrates God and what He has done for us in Christ is certainly not of the Holy Spirit.

Father, thank You for this very clear Word. Help me continue to teach the believers so that they may be equipped to discern spirits and operate in Your Holy Spirit. Thank You for all that You provide by Your Holy Spirit – including humor! Help me be an open channel for Your Spirit, however You choose to flow through me, so that Your will may be done on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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December 6, 2012

Posted on December 8, 2012 by jgarrott

Isaiah 9:2 The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.

When you come right down to it, “dwelling in the land of the shadow of death” includes the entire human race! Everyone who is born eventually dies. Whether that is a shadow and a burden depends on the faith of the individual. Some people accept it fatalistically and some understand God’s promise of eternity, but the vast majority dread it, whatever their stated theology. That’s why the Gospel really is good news, if it is understood and received in faith. Physical death is part of the human condition, yet we are born with an innate under­standing that physical death isn’t really the end. Solomon expressed that as, “He has set eternity in the hearts of men.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11) The question is, where will we spend eternity? The Bible is clear that sin leads to eternal destruction, which is worse than simple annihila­tion. That’s certainly nothing to look forward to! That’s why the birth of Christ is such a great light: God provided a way out for sinful hu­manity. We have all sinned and so are worthy of eternal destruction, but as it says so famously in John 3:16, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” That is the message of Christmas, Santa and commercialism notwithstanding.

Even with my very real anticipation of eternity with Christ in heaven, not to mention resurrection, I am still not unaffected by the shadow of death, because it applies not just to me but to those around me. Many people I care about deeply are not currently in Christ, and death for them is indeed a very big deal, whatever they claim to feel about it. I have a close friend who is not yet a believer, and simple statistics indicate he doesn’t have a lot longer to open his heart to Christ. He is very much in the dark, though he insists he believes death is a simple end. He has told me repeatedly of when his wife was dying of cancer in a home hospice situation, and she asked him, “Am I going to die today?” She did, and it shook him profoundly. I want him with me in heaven! Likewise, the prospect of people “going on ahead,” even when I know they are secure Christians, isn’t always easy to take. My wife has been taking medication for atrial fibrillation for over 20 years, and that is a major cause of sudden death syndrome. I am relieved every morning when I wake up and hear her breathing, even though I know we’re headed to the same place! It makes me careful that my last words to her each night are loving. When I am touched by the shadow of death myself, that should make me all the more earnest to give the light to as many people as possible, while I have the opportunity.

Father, thank You for Your love that has given us light and life in Christ. Help me walk securely in that light and life, sharing it with all as You give opportunity, so that as many as possible may be brought out of the darkness into Your light, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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