Experiencing God; June 15, 2024

Posted on June 16, 2024 by jgarrott

Exodus 33:20 “But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

God deals with us where and as we are. He knew that Moses couldn’t imagine Him in other than human terms, and so He very gently interacted with him on that basis. God is infinite Spirit, existing before creation, so the idea of Him having a back and a face is anthopomorphization of the highest order. Actually, that’s one of the major reasons for Christ coming to earth, born of a woman and having the same sort of body that we do. God knew we needed something on our scale to relate to. Here, He knows that Moses’ background is the pagan idols of Egypt, so He gives Moses an experience he will remember the rest of his life, without showing him something he would be tempted to replicate as an idol. We do relate to God on the basis of our experiences, and God knows this even better than we do. After all, He knows everything! One of the great things of the Gospel is that when we believe, God is no longer exterior to us, He takes up His residence in us. (John 14:16-17) That is far more personal and intense than merely “seeing His face.” That said, in our human weakness we do need something we can relate to. There is a story of a little girl who was afraid to sleep by herself, and her mother assured her that “Jesus is with you.” She replied, “Yes, but I want somebody with skin on.” Believers are often called to be “Jesus with skin on” to the people around them, because it takes major spiritual growth to really grasp that our Creator is both infinite and personal. That defies human logic, so God meets us where we are.

God blessed me with a fairly high level of “mental horsepower,” so I have an easier time of this than many. Part of that is being smart enough to know that I can never understand God fully! At the same time, I have experienced His personal touch so many times and in so many ways that I can’t deny that He is indeed both infinite and personal, that He created every atom in the universe and yet He still cares about me, who and where I am and what I am doing. I can’t explain it, really, but I can experience it, and I am deeply grateful. To me, this is the greatest proof that God is indeed Love, as John said. (1 John 4:8) I serve in a nation that is not culturally Christian, so much of what I say to people seems very foreign to them. I’ve got to back it up with a demonstration of the character of God, loving them with His love, all the while proclaiming the need for repentance and faith. That’s certainly not something I can do on my own! However, nothing is impossible for my infinite, omnipotent Lord, so I am to trust Him and yield myself to Him, for Him to use me however He pleases to draw people to Himself, for their salvation and His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the countless ways that You have allowed me to experience You, and for how You will keep growing me. Thank You for the assurance that in heaven I will know fully, even as I am fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12) In the meantime, help me keep growing, to be increasingly useful to You, for the sake of the Body of Christ and for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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God’s Mercy; June 14, 2024

Posted on June 15, 2024 by jgarrott

Genesis 19:16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them.

Sometimes God’s mercy might not seem very gentle. Lot obviously didn’t understand the seriousness of the situation, but the angels certainly did. They remind me of military commandos rescuing hostages, which is a scenario we have seen very recently. The thing is, hostages sometimes develop “Stockholm Syndrome,” empathizing with their captors and cooperating with them rather than with their rescuers. We see that in a spiritual context all too frequently. People can be in horrible bondage to sin, and to those actively submitted to the devil, and when they are presented with a clear path of escape, that is, the Gospel, they choose to reject it. Sometimes in His mercy God “forces their hand,” so to speak, much as He did with Lot and his family, but we can’t count on that. The point is to pray for, recognize, and thank God for His mercy. I know of cases where that mercy involved being caught by police, and even jail time. In that moment the individual was very upset, but later they were grateful, and recognized that God had indeed been very merciful to them. We can’t specify to God what His mercy will look like, but we can trust that it is part of His character, and so pray that His will be done.

I have commented many times that if God were not merciful, I would have been squashed like a bug a long time ago. However, like Paul, I can say that His grace and mercy have not been without effect. (1 Corinthians 15:10) That’s not anything to get puffed up over, however, because I have I have also shown myself to be more than capable of fruitless inactivity. The point is for me to remember God’s grace and mercy toward me and thus extend that toward those around me. Sometimes that might involve firm action, as it did with Lot, and I am not to shy away from that. I am to seek to accurately express God to people, whether it makes them like me or not. As much as possible, I am to take myself out of the equation and allow God to use me for His glory alone.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You indeed for Your grace and mercy toward me. May I not distort that in my interactions with others, but rather effectively draw them to repentance and faith, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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The Book of Revelation; June 13, 2024

Posted on June 14, 2024 by jgarrott

Revelation 16:17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!”

Revelation is an important book of the Bible, but it is to be read with caution. Down through the centuries since it was written, various heresies have been spawned by particular interpretations of it, notably the Jehovah’s Witnesses but not limited to that. When we read it, we need to remember that John was shown things he had no words to describe, but he did what he could. Some parts, like the letters to the seven churches, are relatively straightforward, but many sections leave us scratching our heads. One of my seminary professors said, “If you want to know what Revelation means, go home and ask your wife.” His point was that getting all “theological” is likely to lead us into more error than truth! There was a very brief, simplistic chorus that was popular around 50 years ago that said, “We win! We win! Hallelujah, we win! I read the back of the Book, and we win!” That was all there was to it, but that may be the biggest message we are to take from Revelation. In essence, that is what this verse quotes God as saying: “It is done!” For that matter, that is something Jesus famously said from the cross: “It is finished (completed).” (John 19:30) We see everything in flux and turmoil, but God sees the end from the beginning, and He says, “It is done.” When we really grasp that, we can have peace no matter what is going on around us. That’s not to say the process isn’t important, or that we don’t have to be faithful in the details, but it is to say that we can leave the outcome in God’s hands, knowing that He is omniscient, omnipotent, and love itself.

Even I need reminders of this from time to time. I do seem to have been given more faith than many, but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy to rest, relax, and rejoice, as the Lord has told me to do. The world situation today hardly lends itself to complacency, but regardless of politics, the economy, or war, God is still God, and I’ve got to remember that. My part in God’s plan is doubtless pretty small, but I’ve got to be faithful in fulfilling it. I’m not to think it all depends on me, but I and those around me will miss blessings if I fail to listen obediently to my Lord. When Jesus went through all He did just to fulfill God’s plans, I have no room to complain about any part He might have for me to play.

Father, thank You for this reminder. I think it’s an important thing to share with the believers, who might be confused after these readings from Revelation. Help me be faithful as a teacher of Your Word, as You have called and equipped me to be, so that the Body of Christ may be built up indeed, as You desire, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Depraved Minds; June 12, 2024

Posted on June 13, 2024 by jgarrott

Revelation 9:20-21 The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood–idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.

The whole point of this is that people will love their sins so much they won’t repent even when judgment falls on them. Frankly, I’m reminded of Hamas in Gaza right now. They are in an impossible situation, but they love killing Jews so much they aren’t about to give up, and their own civilians being killed in the process doesn’t faze them. Human beings are capable of great nobility and beauty, but we are also capable of unspeakable horror. It is our choice. Paul spoke repeatedly of people having “depraved minds,” because he couldn’t come up with a better description. It is at times incredible to those whose minds are not yet depraved. It is indeed beyond imagination that so many people fight so hard for the “right” to murder unborn infants. The Church of Satan was actually very honest in calling it a religious rite. The pun there is grim indeed. Those who have repented and thus know God are faced with the tragic reality that some people simply aren’t going to repent, and choose horrible destruction for themselves instead.

I don’t like to write on this, to confront this tragedy, but I have known people who were stubbornly unrepentant. I cannot make their choices for them, but I can make it clear to them what those choices are. Glossing over those choices is certainly not loving! The thing is, repentance is available right up to the last minute. Recently I have taken out some scrub trees in our yard, and because of local ordinances I’ve had to cut them up small to dispose of them in city trash bags. It struck me, as I was sitting there clipping branches into little bits, that people involved in mass killings probably operated much as I was doing, not considering the people in front of them to be more than the branches and leaves I was dealing with. I’ve read some reports that I would sooner not have known. However, some of even those people repented, and were saved. Corrie ten Boom was involved in the salvation of the very guard who had killed her sister in the concentration camp. I have to accept that some people aren’t going to repent, but I am never to write someone off while they are still alive. I am to speak the truth in love, and pray God’s mercy on them.

Father, this is hardly a feel-good passage. Help me be clear-eyed and loving toward everyone, trusting You and not them, or even myself. I long ago realized that I was capable of unspeakable horrors. Thank You for keeping me from them. May Your mercy and holiness be manifested as You bring the world, and mankind, into line, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Zeal; June 11, 2024

Posted on June 12, 2024 by jgarrott

Revelation 3:19 “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.”

This verse is good in English, but it’s even better in Japanese. After verses 15-16 talking about their being lukewarm, the Japanese word for “earnest,” (or zealous, depending on the translation) is “have a hot heart.” That fits the context perfectly! I have lost track of how many preachers I have heard talking about how the Church in America is very much like the one in Laodicea, and I don’t think they’re wrong. When there is no social cost to being a Christian, we tend to take it lightly. On top of that, America has had one of the world’s highest standards of living, and that sounds very much like what is described in this passage. I’m reminded of what was reported by a Christian aid worker who delivered supplies to Christians in South Sudan. When he told a pastor that believers in America were praying for him and his flock, the man responded that they were praying for the believers in America, because they had so many temptations to discard their faith. I think he had accurate understanding from the Holy Spirit! On one level it is sad that many in the US are now actively anti-Christian, but on another level it is something to be grateful for, because we don’t value something for which there is no cost. If gold were as common as aluminum, it wouldn’t be valued any higher. All of this said, we need to realize that Christ is saying explicitly that He loves the believers of Laodicea. That’s something to be happy about! This verse certainly brings to mind Hebrews 12, that expands the whole topic of God’s loving discipline. We indeed need to examine ourselves and choose to have “hot hearts” toward our Lord and Savior.

This certainly applies to me. As I have commented before, I don’t feel like I have been persecuted for my faith. Paul’s words to Timothy have really given me pause: “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2 Timothy 3:12) Does that mean my heart isn’t hot enough? It could, and I must not be complacent. However, part of my feeling comes, I think, from my being an introvert and not really caring what people thought or said about me for not drinking, for example. Social persecution isn’t very effective when you don’t give a flip! However, I’m not to think that makes me better than other people, either. I have my own weaknesses, and God is going to call me to account for them. Like everyone else, I’ve got to keep my repentance up-to-date, choosing obedience and the things of God consistently, so that Christ may accurately be represented in and through me, for His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Help me indeed burn with the oil of Your Spirit, so that many may be drawn to the light to repent and believe, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Reputation; June 10, 2024

Posted on June 11, 2024 by jgarrott

Revelation 3:1 “I know your deeds; You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.”

This is certainly a scary thing to hear from Christ! Later on He says that there were a few people in the church who were genuinely His children, (verse 4) but the church as a whole was dead, despite having the reputation of being alive. This shows the danger of rely­ing on human evaluation. It really doesn’t matter much what people say about us, because we are dependent on our Lord. This passage isn’t very clear about what they were or weren’t doing, and I’m sure that is deliberate. We have the expression “going through the motions,” and that’s all too apt. There are sadly many churches that are just going through the motions, culturally Christian but with no real relationship with Christ. This is in distinct contrast to the next church addressed, Philadelphia. They are told, “I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” (Revelation 3:8) Sardis, addressed here, probably had a much better reputation than Philadelphia, but again, it’s not human reputa­tion that matters. Our eternal destiny depends on God, not man, so that’s where our focus needs to be.

I’ve never been that much of a “man pleaser,” but that may have come from conceit! I’ve never had long-lasting trouble with self-image, because my parents raised me with an awareness of their love and God’s love. I have had times of social awkwardness, as I think every adolescent goes through, and I’ve never been a sports star, but I developed a fairly thick skin toward what people said about me. The things that developed from that weren’t much fun at the time, but I’m grateful for them now. I have always felt that I had something to contribute, regardless of the situation, even if my contribution turned out to not be worth much. The thing is, it is God who decides my worth, and He thought I was worth dying for! It is nice when people think well of me, but it ultimately isn’t very important, except to the degree that I represent Christ to them. I certainly don’t want to drag His name in the mud! I am to focus on being obedient to Him, and let people think of me whatever they will.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Help me never coast on my reputation, whether good or bad, but always keep pressing in for more of You, since my standard is Jesus Christ my Lord. Thank You. Praise God!

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Biblical Illiteracy; June 9, 2024

Posted on June 10, 2024 by jgarrott

Revelation 2:20 “Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols.”

This is an area of church discipline that we don’t think about very much. At the time this was written, the Canon of Scripture wasn’t yet settled, which made heresies easier to teach. I’ve heard that this is an issue in China, where, because of government oppression, the Gospel has spread much faster than the availability of Bibles. In such situations, someone can seem very “spiritual” without it being the Holy Spirit. However, the believers in Thyatira were still held responsible for tolerating such junk. They at least were operating under the Holy Spirit! This points up the dangers of Biblical illiteracy. Far too many Christians in America, even, have little idea of what is in the Bible, attributing such things as “God helps those who help themselves” to it when it’s not there, and failing to know that it does speak directly to many of the sins and excesses that are prevalent in the world today. A Bible isn’t a good luck charm, to be kept on the shelf or cof­fee table, or even in a purse, but not read. The more familiar we are with the Bible, the less likely we are to be led astray by evil spirits, even though they can seem very convincing to the ignorant.

One of the many blessings God has poured out on me was being raised in a family that read, loved, and obeyed the Bible. I was given a full Bible after I was baptized at seven, and had read it through by the time I was 10. (It was something to do while my father was preaching in Japanese!) My personal issue has never been ignorance, but rather in deceiving myself by thinking that knowing the words was enough. (James 1:22) After the Lord convicted me of spiritual pride when I was 24, I finally got into the habit of daily devotional reading, allowing the Lord to speak His Word to me each morning. Over 20 years ago now I heard Wayne Cordeiro explain his SOAP system of devotions (Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer) and have been following that ever since. One of the members here, a recovering alcoholic himself, once declared that I was addicted to the Bible. I couldn’t have been happier! That is precisely how I want to be, and how I want to lead others to be. I seek to be open and sensitive to the Holy Spirit, but I am very aware that there are other spirits as well, and my own flesh can be pretty noisy at times. I am very grateful for the written Word that serves as an anchor in all the storms of influence and explicit teaching that rage around me, (Ephesians 4:14) and I want to be increasingly faithful in putting it into practice.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for Your Word indeed. May I be faithful to keep taking it in, applying it accurately and teaching it without distortion, so that it may be fulfilled in every detail, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Dealing with Heresy; June 8, 2024

Posted on June 9, 2024 by jgarrott

Revelation 2:16 “Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.”

These people were in a place of intense spiritual warfare, but they didn’t recognize it properly. One of them had been martyred, as it says in verse 13, but some of the rest had swallowed some heresies that were prevalent at that point. (No one is quite sure what “the teaching of the Nicolaitans” was, but it obviously conflicted with God’s truth.) Jesus is calling the whole congregation to repent, but His beef is with those who were following the deceptions. That’s why He says, “I will fight against them.” That said, you don’t want to be in a situation where Christ Himself is coming against even some of the members of your group! We have trouble with “the teaching of Balaam” even today, with many churches accepting the standards and practices of the world instead of holding to the Bible, with Jesus as our example. When we recognize problems in our local church we should first pray, and then go to the pastor, but sadly, sometimes he’s a major source of the issue! As Jesus says in this verse, our own repentance is also involved, even if we weren’t directly involved in the heresy. At the very least, we weren’t sufficiently spiritually sensitive and on guard. That’s not to say we are to run around being “heresy hunters,” as some people seem to appoint themselves to be. It does, however, mean we are to be so familiar with the Word and with the Spirit that things that conflict with them are immediately obvious. When that happens, we are first to pray, and then ask the Lord what if anything He wants us to do beyond that. At the very least, we will avoid being among those He has to come against!

I don’t think I’ve had to deal with major heresies, but I have been accused of being a heretic! My leaving denominational affiliation was a very hard thing for some close family friends to swallow, since my family had been so closely associated with a particular denomination. However, when their official position was Cessationist, denying the current validity and operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, I no longer fit. That was not an easy time, but I’m thankful to not have had to deal with denominational politics ever since that point. I seek to teach only what God says through His Word by His Spirit, and I’m thankful to say that I feel I’ve been successful in that.

Father, thank You for Your faithfulness. I’m not a reliable source or standard for anything, but You certainly are. Help me indeed stay in step with Your Spirit, so that Your will may be done in and through me for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Churches; June 7, 2024

Posted on June 8, 2024 by jgarrott

Revelation 2:4 “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.”

I have heard several sermons preached on this passage, and there doubtless could be many more. Ephesus was a church that essentially did everything right, but their heart wasn’t in it any more. Orthodoxy is good, but God wants our hearts more than anything else. We can do the right things for any of a number of reasons, but God wants us to do them because we love Him (John 14:15) These days, when whole denominations are jumping ship into demonic, hedonistic teaching, it’s easy for other churches to say, “We’re not like that,” and get self-satisfied. That’s exactly what the Pharisees did in Jesus’ day! Doctrine is important, but if it isn’t based on loving God because He first loved us, (1 John 4:19) it becomes totally empty. These Letters to the Seven Churches tell us a lot about what to look for, both good and bad, in our churches today. We need to remember that the term, church, never refers to a building in the Bible, but always to the assembled people, the ecclesia. As such, it is an organism at least as much as it is an organization, and each church will have character and personality, if you will. We need to examine the church we belong to with both honesty and love. No church is perfect, and very few are without redemptive qualities. Sometimes God will direct us to find a different church, but far more often, He wants us to be part of the solution to draw the church more into the pattern He has for it. That said, churches aren’t supposed to be identical! Churches are as different as individual believers are, just as Paul went to great length to explain in 1 Corinthians 12. However, every church should have a dedication to be obedient to Christ, based on their love for Him. If that is missing, it can hardly be called a church.

I hadn’t expected to go in this direction! However, the words flowed, and I believe I’m being obedient. The faults in this church are pretty firmly mine, because I’ve been its only pastor for the past 40 years. If love for God is lacking, then it’s because I have failed to love Him as I should. I’m grateful to say that numbers of people have commented that this seems to be a very healthy church, spiritually speaking, but that is only by the grace of God. We are continuing to grow in various ways, for which I’m very grateful. We’re about to start a regular discussion time after each Sunday morning service, for the believers to share what they got out of the message, in order to cement it in their own hearts and encourage each other. I don’t want this to devolve into “study sessions,” as though academics were the way to God, but I do want each believer to recognize when God is speaking to them and welcome His Word to apply it, all based on their love for Him. There are various things about the mechanics of this that we don’t know yet, so we’ve got to be open and flexible. At the same time, I don’t want to give up, because the process itself will grow and strengthen us.

Father, thank You for this Word, particularly at this point. Thank You for all You are doing in and around us. Help me be fully sensitive and obedient to You in every area, so that I will be useful rather than in the way, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Faith and Love; June 6, 2024

Posted on June 7, 2024 by jgarrott

1 John 3:23-24 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

Reading this chapter it feels like John is veering toward legalism, but then he states here that the laws he’s talking about are to believe in Christ and love one another. You really have to work hard to make that legalistic! The devil does all he can to interfere with our relationship with God, and one of the things he does is to make it all seem very difficult. It’s true that sometimes it feels difficult to believe, to trust God fully, but faith itself is a gift, (Ephesians 2:8-9) and if we exercise however much we have received, we find it grows exponentially to meet whatever need we face. Likewise, some people aren’t very lovable, but the more we recognize and receive how much God loves us, in spite of all our personality issues and the like, the easier it is to let that love flow through us to others. And the icing on the cake is the Spirit, who is both the Agent and the proof of all that God does in and through us. When God started restoring spiritual gifts to the Body of Christ in 1900, people were naturally captivated by those gifts and started idolizing them, in a sense. Those gifts are indeed as valid and important today as they were in the 1st Century, but John brings us back to the primary focus of faith and love. As Paul so famously pointed out in 1 Corinthians 13, without love, all the other stuff loses its meaning, not to mention effectiveness. If we really believe Christ and all that He says to us through His Word, then His gifts will operate through us as they are called for, as expressions of His love for every human being. That’s what it is to abide in Christ and be filled with His Spirit!

Whenever this subject comes up I remember Mrs. Okazaki. She was a widow by the time I got to know her, and she was as pure a channel of the love of God as I have ever met. Just being with her, you knew that God loved you! She never exercised any of the gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12 that I knew of, but she was magnificently filled with the Holy Spirit. I know that right now she is rejoicing before the Throne, along with my parents, whom she knew in this life as well. I am grateful for the spiritual gifts God has given me, but I know that God’s evaluation of me will not depend on what I have done, but on the faith and love that I have allowed to flow through me, for the blessing of those around me and for His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder, and for the example of people like Mrs. Okazaki who have illustrated Your truth to me. May I likewise be a demonstration of Your truth, Your grace and love, so that those who see me may know that You are real, and open their hearts to You for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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