Waxing on Chinese Heroes

We have heard much of the call for a boycott of the Bejing games because of the Tibet issue. Recently we have also heard stories of North Korean refugees who have fled to China, being rounded up and sent back to face the wrath of that brutal regime. There will surely be more protests and news reports but most nations will probably participate in the games and the world will watch. The human rights issues will be silenced enough so that the same governments who speak the rhetoric of freedom can send its "finest" to represent each country in the "proud and heroic thrill of atheletic competition"...hey I love sports like the next guy but please...I think we have all figured out by now that this whole thing is driven by politics and money...which is a pretty blurred line...oh but I digress!

What I really wanted to comment on is the true heroes that you will hear little, if nothing about... Chinese Christians who are in prison for nothing more than telling others the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I don't write to advocate a boycott, or a protest, or a t-shirt campaign. I write to call on believers to pray for these heroes of the faith. Pray as the Apostle Paul asked the Church at Ephesus...pray that the word of God, which can never be bound, will be preached by these precious ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ who represent none other than the eternal Kingdom of God of which Jesus Christ is King! No organized international athletic competition here...this is the struggle for the eternal souls of men! May we be inspired, emboldened, compelled to preach His truth in free America...while we are still free...and remember our brothers and sisters in prison. Click below to see the profiles of just a few of our heroes in China:
http://www.prisoneralert.com/qry/vp_miniprofiles.taf?_function=country&cid=47&_nc=a766e87533d3f06877b61bc35a

In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak. (Ephesians 6:16-20)

Waxing on Gladness

I will bless the Lord foreverAnd I will trust Him at all times
He has delivered me from all fear
And he has set my feet upon a rock
And I will not be moved
And I'll say of the Lord....
You are my shield

My strength

My portion

Deliverer

My shelter

Strong tower

My very present help in time of need

Whom have I in Heaven but you? There's none I desire beside youYou have made me glad and I'll say of the Lord....You are my shield, my strength, my portion, Deliverer, my shelter, strong tower my very present help in time of need.- Miriam Webster

My daughter Jordyn had mentioned this song several times and today I finally gave it a real listen...thank you Jordyn! What a blessing from God! Last night during prayer meeting I asked the Lord for a fresh touch from Him and I was still waiting today and He answered my prayer! He reminded me through this song that NOTHING will EVER be or even come close to being what He is to me. No accomplishment, even in the ministry. How many times must I re-learn this? I am glad that He is such a gracious and compassionate God! He is awesome! He has made me glad!!!

Waxing on Getting There

Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord,and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,over the man who carries out evil devices! (Psalm 37:1-7)

I listened to 3 messages from one of my favorite speakers today...Ravi Zacherias.
I am always challenged and encouraged by listening to Ravi and today was no exception. In one message Ravi spoke of Habbakuk's complaint to the Lord as the prophet saw the increase of wickedness and violence in his day:
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,and you will not hear? Or cry to you "Violence!"and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity,and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed,and justice never goes forth.For the wicked surround the righteous;so justice goes forth perverted. (Habbakuk 1:2-4)
A question that would be understandable today. If you read the book of Habbakuk you will see how the Lord pronounced woe upon the bloodthirsty, the greedy and spoke of the foolishness of idolatry and then He speaks a word that alone gives the believer hope in the darkest day:
But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him. (Habbakuk 2:20)
The prophet takes hope and rejoices in God. I rejoice in God!
Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines,the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord;I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength;he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places. (Habakkuk 3:17-19)
Ravi finished his message by reminding the listener that the same God who delivered us into this world will bring us safely home, if we are trusting in Christ Jesus. The One who suffered the violence and evil, punishment and death for us all. If we will repent of our evil ways and put our faith in Him, we can know that we will get there no matter how dark the road may look.

Waxing on Beautiful Feet

Our youth group has been taking an evangelism course and last night went out to practice what they had been learning. Not everyone was glad to see them as they handed out tracts in the mall but that didn't seem to bother them. They arrived back at the school where we were finishing prayer meeting obviously excited. They had no great dramatic stories to tell but they had just finished delivering the greatest news ever known to mankind!

Scripture says in Romans 10 that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"
Wonder where I would be if noone ever preached the good news to me? I know where I would be headed...keep them feet looking good and keep preaching that good news of Jesus Christ! Never know who you might be rescuing from being lost for all eternity!

Waxing on Praise to the King

As He was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples." He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out." (Luke 19:37-40)


I would have never guessed that I would be talking about American Idol in consecutive blogs but...wow! The opening song that the final 8 contestants sang was "Shout to the Lord." Yeah, last week we heard the Clark Brothers do "This Little Light of Mine" and this week the final eight do "Shout to the Lord!"
This is American Idol? Apparently the "Idol Gives Back" show ended last night with "Shout to the Lord" but replaced "My Jesus" with "My Shepherd." Tonight they sang the song with no changing of the words.

My Jesus, My Savior Lord there is none like You All of my days, I want to praise The wonders of Your mighty love My Comfort, My Shelter Tower of refuge and strength Let every breath, all that I am Never cease to worship You Shout to the Lord, all the earth Let us sing. Power and majesty, praise to the King. Mountains bow down and the seas will roar At the sound of Your name I sing for joy at the work of Your hands Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand Nothing compares to the promise I have in YOU! -Darlene Zschech

Did I mention that this was on American Idol?

Shout for joy to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name;give to him glorious praise! Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you. All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name." (Psalms 66:1-4)

Waxing on God and TV

Some irony is just too much to ignore...this week on American Idol, The Clark Brothers sang "This Little Light of Mine," yeah, the same one you might remember from Bible School. It also included the chorus of "Jesus on the Mainline." In the same show, Dolly Parton sang "Jesus and Gravity." It wasn't great but conveyed a message of simple faith in Jesus as well as the need to stay humble...on American Idol! Also on Americal Idol, the show continued to talk about its upcoming "Idol Gives Back" and showed viewers some of the work that has been done from last year's show where 76 million dollars was given to help the needy in Africa and the United States. Pretty cool stuff, and I know I am not telling you something you probably don't already know but what made this so ironic to me was the same night (after American Idol) I was in the mood to hear some preaching and I flicked to one of the "Christian" networks...what I saw was disturbing and embarrassing.
After watching some of this, if I didn't know better I would think that God lived in Costa Mesa and unless I sent some money to Costa Mesa, He couldn't bless me. I heard all kinds of scripture, taken out of context, in an arrogant attempt to justify this incessant plea to send money to them, so that the blessing could be "released in my life." According to these people a "wealth transfer" was on the way and it was pretty easy to see where the wealth was being transferred to. It was enough to make me sick. All I heard was give us money, money, money and you will get all you want from God...I just don't see it in the scriptures.
Jesus said give but He said to give to the poor and the needy. I saw more real concern for the needy on American Idol than I saw on this "Christian" network. All I heard was send us money so you can get rich! Have the house you want, drive the car you want! "Your financial breakthrough is coming!" Jesus was pretty clear that these things are what the UNBELIEVERS spend their time thinking about...Jesus didn't say give to get! Not on this earth anyway. He said our treasure is in heaven. Wake up before it is too late!!

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)
Jesus also said that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks...pretty easy to see what the hearts of these speakers were full of...the love of money. That is all they talked about!!
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24)

So if earthly prosperity is what God is all about....what about the people of faith who live on the street (by the way, Jesus was homeless)? What about the Christians who have had their homes foreclosed on in the housing crunch?
What about the Christian war veterans, who have lost legs and eyesight and their families have spent everything they have just to make their life tolerable?
What about Christian parents of special needs children who have 6 digit medical bills?
And what about those Christians who have been believing these lies for 20 years and have sent so many "seeds" that they have NO MORE SEEDS LEFT?
Repent you who devour widow's homes and confuse the weak-minded! You who live on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence, in the name of Jesus! You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. Repent! Give your riches away to those in need! Open your eyes and give to the poor! Honor Christ with your riches!
Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. (James 5:3)
Our God does not live in Costa Mesa and you don't have to send a dime there to receive His grace! His glory fills the whole earth and He gives liberally to all who asks! He gave His own Son to ransom your soul from eternal damnation! He loves you with an everlasting love and His love does not cost you a penny! The price for our sins has been paid by the precious blood of the Lamb Who alone is worthy to be praised!
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:7-11)

Waxing on Angola

The Lord is merciful and gracious,slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.He does not deal with us according to our sins,nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth,so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;as far as the east is from the west,so far does he remove our transgressions from us.As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. (Psalm 103:8-13)

I had the incredible privilege of attending the "Miracle of Hope Conference" yesterday at Louisiana State Penitentiary, otherwise known as "Angola." This institution has a long and violent history and was once known as the "bloodiest prison in the nation." The average sentence is 80+ years and many of the 5,000 inmates are "lifers." But the miracle of hope found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ has transformed "Angola."

Pastor Jim Cymbala of the Brooklyn Tabernacle was the main speaker yesterday and Pastor Michael Durso from Christ Tabernacle in Queens spoke last night. We were also blessed with Gospel singing legend Babbie Mason. This was all tremendous but what overwhelmed us was the amazing grace of God that was so evident in the inmates. We had the opportunity to spend time with men who were serving life sentences but were absolutely overflowing with the joy of the Lord.

Last night's worship was just incredible! What gratitude and thanksgiving was expressed by these men who had been forgiven and "set free" through Jesus Christ!

One inmate who had served 20 years said that if he had the choice to go home tomorrow without Jesus, or stay in with Jesus he would choose to stay in prison.

Another, convicted of murder, said that the Lord has never reminded him of who he used to be!

They offered no excuses for their crimes and made no claims of innocence, they merely expressed exuberant joy, passionate love for the Lord and patient love for one another.

These men are offered education opportunities as well as Seminary training and Bible college, along with trade skills, etc. Violence is way down in the prison. Death Row inmates are singing the praises of God with all of their hearts! It is truly a miracle.

The Lord has boldly used Warden Burl Cain and others to create an atmosphere of hope in what could be a hopeless place and it is all centered in the grace and mercy offered through Jesus Christ. Jesus has been exalted in Angola and God has worked a miracle!!
One inmate described it like this "The Holy Spirit has come like a whirlwind and nothing is what it used to be!"

Praise Him for His great salvation and may we all remember that we are just as hopelessly lost in our sins as these inmates without the miracle of hope found in Him!!!