The Event-WJACC 2

Moses and Aaron and Pharaoh

So I'm reading Exodus 5 & 6 this morning and here's the scene.

Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and tell him to let the people of Israel go into the wilderness so they may celebrate a feast to God.

Pharaoh not only says no but then makes the work load of the people more difficult than it was before. He does then on top of calling the people lazy.

Which brings me to my question of the day. Would it have been more productive for Pharaoh if he had granted a short break for the people and required the same amount of work to be done or to withdraw resources (which he did) and then require the same work to be done?

Some things just seem silly to me.

Quote of the day

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."

-Flannery O'Connor

Apology

To all of our friends, family, and especially WJACC folks...

I apologize if you have left messages on our home phone over the last month. We made a change in our phone service and we now have voice mail on our home phone. We noticed that we had not been receiving any messages lately but didn't think much of it.

Then today Allison realized the we had not set up the voice mail yet and when she did she discovered a whole list of messages that were waiting for us from the last month. So please know that we did not intentionally ignore you. We just didn't realize you had called.

Thanks for understanding.

Hearing from God and seeing Pastor Jones pt.3

#3-Is this idea something born out of prayer or something prayed on to be born?

Here's what I mean by this in a nut shell.

Am I experiencing intimate time with God so that I may hear and recognize His voice above all of the busy-ness and chaos that surrounds me? Or am I trying to come up with ideas that would be cool and relevant and praying that they are God's will?

God is such a creative and relevant God. He is better able to supply all we need including ideas and plans for His ministry. The question is are we still enough and quiet enough to hear Him?

#4-When you think God is telling you something is it confirmed by other believers?

First let me say this. If God wants to give you a message He'll tell you first before someone else. I had a well-meaning lady one time tell me, "God told me to tell you...". What was funny about that experience was God had not revealed to me anything like the message she was trying to convey. This is not the type of person I'm talking about here.

Here are the type of people that you want to seek out for confirmation.

a) Does this person have a track record of holy obedience to God's word?

b) Does this person have a track record of being still and quiet before God?

c) Does this person have a track record of living in and by the grace and love of God?

d) Is this someone who you find yourself submitted to in a discipling relationship?

e) Is this person coo-coo for cocoa puffs or do they tend to make sense?

Hearing from God is not an exact science and is not completely defined or described by anyone but I hope some of these things do help.

The big thing is...if you are never still you will rarely if ever hear the voice of God.

Like I said before, I don't know Pastor Jones personally so I can not speak to his ability to be still. However, I do know how still or not still I am. Now let me shut up and go listen for a while.

Hearing from God and seeing Pastor Jones pt.2

So how do we know if we are hearing from God?

Here's some thoughts on that.

#1-THE BIBLE...the WORD, the WORD, the WORD!!!

God never ever contradicts Himself. So if you want to know if God is telling you to do something the first question you need to ask is "does it line up with the Bible?" But in order to answer that you must know what the Bible says. Spend time in it. Soak it up. Read it. Meditate on it. Study it. Memorize it. Share it. Talk about it. Pray it. Am I making my point?

The Bible is living and active (Hebrews 4:12) and relevant every day in every way.

Another pastor once said, "if you can't hear God, read God." That's a great suggestion! Listen to God through His word...the Bible.

#2-Does this line up with Jesus' commands?

This one is closely related to the first. Jesus gave us two great instructions in scripture. Love God with everything you have and love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:36-40)

Go and make disciples. (Matthew 28:18-20)

If believe God is telling you to do something and it does not line up with one of these two instructions then you know it is not God talking. Plain and simple.

more to come...

Hearing from God and seeing Pastor Jones pt.1

As a lot of you know Pastor Jones is a pastor of a church in Gainesville, FL who over the last few weeks has dominated headlines with his plans to perform a Koran book burning on September 11th.

His reasoning is that this will communicate to the world the evils of Islam and that he believes God told him to do it.

This story has bothered me so much that I changed gears yesterday and preached on hearing from God and the examples of burning and fire in the Bible. Here is my take on Pastor Jones.

(Just to clarify...I do not know Pastor Jones personally and have never met him so what little I know about him has come from the media.)

Through out several interviews Pastor Jones stated that God told him to have a "Koran book burning."

Then he stated that they would cancel the burning if the Islamic leaders in New York would cancel and/or move the building of a mosque further away from ground zero. After what seemed like plans to meet with these leaders in NY the pastor said the burning had been suspended until further notice. The last news story I saw reported that no meeting ever came about but yet now Pastor Jones is saying that God does not want the burning to happen "now or ever".

So here's my questions.

If God tells you to do something and then you change plans based on striking a deal with a religion that you are convinced is evil then what does that say about what you think of God's word?

Is God's word just a bargaining chip? Is it a negotiable word?

If you truly believe you are hearing from God then is God just wishy washy and changes His plans on a whim?

OR in light of all of this, are you really hearing from God or are you coming up with some ideas and tagging God's name on it?

So how do we know if we are hearing from God? I'm going to offer some suggestions over the next couple of post. Stay tuned.

The Event-WJACC

WJACC folks...be on the look out for more info on what "The Event" is and how it may impact your life!!!!