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Category: Exodus (Page 1 of 7)

GCR’s Theophanies

September 24, 2024 / / 2 Comments

In Acts 4, the early Church is facing cultural opposition and political oppression in Jerusalem. Peter and John have been jailed, interrogated, and ordered to cease speaking and teaching about the resurrected Jesus. So they go “back to their own people,” they gather with the Church, and they pray for God to give them even more boldness to continue speaking about Jesus and they ask God to stretch out his hand to heal and perform even more miracles and wonders to glorify Jesus.

Our God responds to the prayer immediately by shaking the building and filling them all with Holy Spirit courage.

It’s called a theophany. it’s a visible appearance of God. God revealing his presence in a real, physical way you can see or feel.

God did this for Moses at the burning bush. The fire and the smoke got Moses’ attention and our Lord told him, “I am with you.” God said, “I will be with you,” and he gave Moses the boldness he needed to speak to Pharaoh.

God revealed himself this way to his people on Mount Sinai. There’s thunder and lightning, smoke and fire and noise, and the whole mountain is shaking. “I am with you,” God says. “You are my people and I am your God.” His presence gives them the increased courage and faith they need to obey the commands he gives them on the mountain.

Isaiah experiences the same thing. He goes into the Temple and sees our holy God on his eternal throne. There is smoke and noise and the whole Temple begins to shake. God asks, “Who will go for us?” And Isaiah goes from “Woe is me; I am ruined,” to “Here I am! Send me!”

Go and tell the people. I am with you. Go and speak. I’m right here. Go and live. I am with you. Go and proclaim.

It happens to the first Church on the Day of Pentecost. Those 120 disciples of Jesus praying in the upper room are blown away by the noise, the wind, and the fire. God is here with us! All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, Scripture says, both the men and the women, and they began to speak.

I suggest to you that these kinds of things are still happening today if we’ll pay attention and notice. Our spiritual God is still making himself known in physical ways in order to assure us of his presence and fill us with Holy Spirit boldness. We get these theophanies here at Golf Course Road all the time.

In the past 22 months since we launched our vision of transformation and mission–just a little less than two years ago–we’ve had 174 people place membership at GCR. That’s 174 men, women, and children who are jumping in with our church family. And we don’t know how they’re getting here or why they’re coming. With a lot of our new members, there’s no real connection, no personal invitation, or particular event. They’re just showing up and forming relationships and embracing the mission and becoming important parts of what God is doing in us and through us here. It’s a physical reminder that our God is the one who gathers his people and brings them together for his holy purposes. We’re seeing it here. It’s real.

In that same time frame, in a little less than two years, we’ve had 61 baptisms here at GCR. That reminds us that, yes, God is still saving people. God is still at work in people’s lives. God is still rescuing people and snatching souls from hell! We’re seeing it all the time.

Last May, there were about 30 kids at Emerson Elementary who had lunch debt in the school cafeteria  and were about to be cut off. They were going to be served inferior lunches in special bags for the last month of the school year. It would mark these students as different. It would make them stick out. So we paid off their debt. We didn’t ask any questions, we didn’t ask anybody to fill out a form. Did you know you were in debt? How much debt do you owe? Are you trying to pay off the debt? Would you meet us halfway with your debt? No! We didn’t do any of that, we just paid it all off. Just like Jesus. Just like our God in Christ who forgives our debt and pays off our sin and rescues us from bondage. These students and their parents got a physical, tangible, living parable or proof of God’s grace that sets us free.

Those one hundred Mission Agape boxes we provide every Thanksgiving. Our people buy the food and pack the boxes, and we distribute them to families in need in Midland County. That’s physical proof that our God is still providing what people need through our community of faith.

The “4 Midland” worship services with First Methodist, First Presbyterian, and First Baptist. There are always 800-1,000 of us in each other’s buildings, singing with our combined choirs, praying together in our different traditions, loving and accepting one another in the name of Jesus, putting aside our denominational differences to unite for the sake of our city.

That takes Holy Spirit courage! That’s Holy Spirit community! That’s proof that our God is determined to bring all things and all people together in Christ, and he’s doing it in us and through us at GCR! Yes, our God is still stretching out his hand to heal, he is still performing miracles and wonders through the name of his holy servant Jesus! And we’re experiencing it here all the time!

Our spiritual God is constantly making himself known to us in physical ways. We know our God lives inside us and we know his Son is our Lord. So we are not defined by the times. The government does not control how we live our lives. Technology does not define our existence. Postmodernism does not determine how we think. News and entertainment does not account for who we are. We must break the faithless and ignorant habit of letting the journalists tell us what’s doing on. We need to at least give the Holy Spirit equal time!

Peace,

Allan

No Solo Missions

October 24, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Our God is on a mission to save the world. But he has no interest in doing it by himself. God doesn’t do solo missions. He’s not interested in that.

When God decides to tell us how he’s going to restore the world, how he’s going to fix the problem of sin and death, he lets us know clearly that we’re in on it with him. He’s not going to do it alone. He recruits Abraham to join him. “Go to the place I will show you. All the peoples of earth will be blessed through you.”

God calls Moses. “I have come down,” he says, “to rescue my people. But I am sending you to do it.”

God calls Joshua. “I am giving this promised land to the people. But you’re going to lead them and do all the fighting.”

God saves his people Israel out of exile, not for their own sakes, but for the purposes of participating in his global mission:

“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles (nations), that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” ~Isaiah 49:6

Then God decides to show us in person exactly what he’s doing and how he wants it done by coming here in the flesh and blood of Jesus, so we can see it and understand it. Jesus says, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.” Well, what do we see in Jesus? He calls the apostles and recruits the disciples to partner with him in bringing the Kingdom of God to earth. They pray together, “Your Kingdom come; your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” And that’s exactly what happens.

Jesus heals the sick because there’s no disease in heaven. He feeds the poor because there’s no hunger in heaven. Jesus raises the dead because there are no cemeteries in heaven. He turns the other cheek because there is no violence in heaven. He eats and drinks with everybody because there are no divisions between people in heaven. That’s the mission. And our God is not doing it solo. On that last night, Christ Jesus sends his disciples out.

“As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.”

“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do the same things I’ve been doing. In fact, you’ll do even greater things because I will live inside you.” 

“Remember, you didn’t choose me; I chose you!”

Every one of us is on God’s mission. None of us is exempt. According to Matthew 25, Jesus says on that last day the King is going to judge us according to who was on the mission and who wasn’t. Our God is on a mission to bring the fullness of his eternal Kingdom to this earth. And he refuses to do it by himself.

Peace,

Allan

Slow to Anger

June 13, 2022 / / 0 Comments

“The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger…” ~Exodus 34:6

Patience is tough. Boy, it is for me. I believe it is for all of us. Especially today. We don’t just have cars and TVs and microwave ovens, we’ve got cell phones and computers and AI and 5G, we’ve got drive-thrus for everything and online for everything else. And it’s making us a much less patient people.

Our God reveals his name to us in Exodus 34, he tells us exactly who he is. This is God’s nature, his character, his eternal will. Slow to anger. Long-suffering. Patient. Oh, my, is he patient.

God does not experience time the same way we do. He has a much different perspective on clocks and calendars. What seems like ages to us is just a blink to our Lord. If my computer doesn’t load my Google search in three seconds, I get impatient. I get upset in line at the grocery store. My garage door goes up too slowly. But God is patient. God is willing to let entire centuries go by, he lets whole millennia pass as he carefully works out his eternal purposes. He waits. He delays. He is patient.

Romans 2 says it’s this patience of God that leads to repentance. God’s patience is a big part of what saves us. 1 Timothy 2 tells us God wants everybody to be saved and that’s why he waits.

“Our Lord’s patience means salvation.” ~2 Peter 3:15

The world needs us to reflect God’s patience. To practice it. To demonstrate it consistently. We live in a harsh world. This world is not slow to anger, it is quick to anger. It is fast to judge. It is in a hurry to criticize and condemn. This world needs a shock absorber. We need to show our God’s patience to everyone we’re around because our God has been so incredibly patient with us.

Peace,

Allan

A People Person

February 7, 2022 / / 0 Comments

When we follow Jesus through the Gospels, it’s impossible to miss that Jesus is basically just moving from one dinner party to the next. On every page of the Gospels, Jesus is either at a dinner party, just leaving a dinner party, or about to go to a dinner party. We notice early on in the story that Jesus is not a silent, high-minded, stoic priest lighting candles in a dark sanctuary; he is a rowdy rabbi who does his best teaching and pastoring among a big group of people at a party.

Of course, he was criticized for it. He was called a glutton and a drunk. One of the main things Jesus was known for was his very public eating and drinking.

Yes, there were times when Jesus went alone to the desert or up on a mountain to pray. But it’s much more typical in the Gospels for Jesus to be eating and drinking with big groups of people. Eating and drinking with five thousand folks in the wilderness. Having dinner with two strangers in Emmaus. Dining with his twelve closest friends in an upper room. Feasting with Levi and his friends at Levi’s house. Preparing a picnic on the beach. Jesus was all the time eating and drinking with sinners and saints, with prostitutes and Pharisees, with men and women, with Jews and Gentiles.

These big meals are illustrative of our Lord’s character as a people person. Jesus was with people all the time. Praying with people. Worshiping with people. Walking with people. Fishing with people. Teaching and debating with people. Laughing and crying with people. Attending weddings and funerals with people. Jesus was very deliberate about this, very intentional.

John 4 says Jesus had to go through Samaria. Well, no, nobody has to go through Samaria. Most people like Jesus went out of their way to avoid Samaria. But Jesus purposefully goes to meet that woman at the well and he stays in her village with her and her people for two days. And at the end of those two days, everyone in Sychar declares that Jesus truly is the Savior of the world!

Our Lord Jesus is a people person. He is a supremely social and communal person. Whatever the Father sent the Son to do, Jesus had no interest in doing it by himself. Jesus is a people person. And if you’ve seen Jesus, you’ve seen the Father.

Remember, Exodus 24. The very first communion meal. God has come down to his people on the mountain. He comes to be near them, to be with them. Moses is sprinkling blood on the people to cleanse them: “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you!” Then they go up on the mountain and they see God. The Bible says it twice because it is so astonishing. “They saw God and they ate and drank.”

But as good as that was, it wasn’t good enough for God. It wasn’t close enough. Or near enough. It wasn’t physical.

So our God decides to come to us in the physical flesh and blood of Jesus. And now, through Jesus, God himself is eating and drinking with everybody! All the time! At Zacchaeus’ house with all his friends. At Mary and Martha’s house with the community in Bethany. God in Christ is now eating and drinking with everybody, together, in person!

And Jesus says, “This is the Kingdom of God! The Kingdom of God is like a wedding banquet, like a giant feast! It’s just like this!”

You might read the Bible differently – the whole Bible – when you realize that our God’s eternal goal is to eat and drink with his people. To be so close to us, to have all the barriers to relationship between you and God removed so that you and we can eat and drink together in perfect community – you might understand the Kingdom better when you understand the goal.

Peace,

Allan

Christ For the World We Sing

September 29, 2021 / / 0 Comments

“Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a Kingdom of priests.” ~Exodus 19:5-6

The Lord places our priesthood in the context of the whole world. We are not saved by God to rule the world. We are not saved by God to ignore the world. We are saved and called by God to participate in his plans for the world.

A priest is someone who stands between two parties – a liaison, a go between – usually between the people and God or, in this case, the world and God. Priests represent the people in the presence of God. So as a Kingdom of priests and a holy nation, Israel was called to represent the whole rest of the world to God. On behalf of all the people on earth, Israel was to offer praise to God. And sacrifices and offerings. Confession and prayers. Worship.

Worship is a priestly duty. Our worship is for the sake of the world. We mostly think of worship as for the sake of the individual, for my personal sake. We act like the purpose of worship is to inspire me, to enrich my own private walk with God. That’s part of it, I think. But we need to remember that we represent all of creation when we come together in the God’s presence to worship.

Christ for the world we sing! The world to Christ we bring!
With loving zeal;
the poor and them that mourn, the faint and overborne,
sinsick and sorrow-worn, whom Christ doth heal.

Christ for the world we sing! The world to Christ we bring!
With fervent prayer;
the wayward and the lost, by restless passions tossed,
redeemed at countless cost, from dark despair.

We sing for the whole world. We intercede for the world. We speak to God on behalf of the world. Part of being priests is that we sing and pray for everybody. We ask God to be merciful, we ask God to forgive, we ask God to save – not just people like us and not just people who like us. Everybody.

Once we had not received mercy, but now we have received mercy. So we ask God to show that same mercy to all people. We intercede for the world in our worship.

Peace,

Allan

About to Pass By GCR

August 11, 2021 / / 1 Comment

One of my most favorite passages in all of Scripture is at the end of Mark 6. Jesus has commanded his followers to get into a boat and cross the Sea of Galilee to Bethsaida, while he climbs to the top of a mountain to pray. The text tells us that the wind was against the apostles and was blowing them off course. It says, “He saw the disciples straining at the oars because the wind was against them.”

I love the imagery of Jesus praying to the Father while he watches his disciples straining at the oars. They’re working with everything they have to accomplish what Jesus has called them to do, and they’re struggling. They can’t get there. No progress. No results. Just frustration. But the Lord is watching. He knows how much they’re working. He sees how hard they’re trying. And he’s talking to the Father about them. He’s interceding.

And then Jesus comes to them, walking on the lake. The end of verse 48 tells us that Jesus was “about to pass by them,” but when they saw him, the apostles thought he was a ghost.

That’s a strange verse, huh? Was Jesus trying to sneak by the disciples without being seen? Was he attempting to beat them to Bethsaida so he could welcome them to the shore with a smug, “What took you so long? Where have you been?” What does it mean that Jesus was “about to pass by them?”

At the end of Exodus 33, after God’s people had worshiped the golden calf in the wilderness, Moses pleads with God to forgive them and go with them to the Promised Land. Moses has been working really hard for the Lord and hasn’t seen any results. He’s seen only bad things, horrible things. Moses begs God to show him proof that he will be with them, to give him some assurance. “Show me your glory,” Moses says. And God responds, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name.” When he gives Moses instructions on what’s about to happen, he concludes with, “When my glory passes by…”

And he shows himself to Moses. God “passed” in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin” (Exodus 34:6-7). God used that occasion to renew his covenant with Moses and his people, to lavish on them his love and forgiveness, to lead them on a path to their promised future.

In 1 Kings 19, Elijah is standing on a mountain complaining to God. Elijah had been working really hard for the Lord, only to find himself on Jezebel’s most wanted list. I’m the only one left, Elijah declares. I’m all alone. That’s when God said, “Stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by” (1 Kings 19:11).

And God revealed himself to Elijah in a small, still voice. God told Elijah how many thousands of faithful people there were in the land and he promised to take care of Elijah’s enemies.

When Mark tells us Jesus was “about to pass by them,” he means Jesus was preparing to show the disciples his glory. He was about to reveal his true identity to them. The word “pass” in Mark 6 is the Greek translation of the word translated “pass” from the Hebrew in Exodus 33-34 and 1 Kings 19. When God passes by, he reveals his glory. People see God, they recognize God and what God is doing. That’s what happens on the lake with the disciples. Jesus climbed into the boat with them, miraculously calmed the winds, and amazed the apostles with his authority and his grace. Once they landed, Mark says the “people recognized Jesus.” They brought their sick to him and he healed them all. Throughout the villages, towns, and countryside, wherever he went, Jesus healed the people and made them whole. He revealed himself. He showed his glory. His power. His mercy. His love. The mission he came to accomplish. And the disciples “were completely amazed” (Mark 6:51).

Here at the Golf Course Road Church, the winds have been blowing in our faces for several years. The elements have been against us. The shepherds and ministers here, all the faithful members of this church, have been working incredibly hard around the clock, faithfully, trying with everything they have to accomplish what they believe God has called them to do. And it hasn’t always been good. Bad things have happened here, terrible things. Little progress. Few results. Lots of frustration. This GCR Church has been straining at the oars for a long time. But Jesus has been watching. And praying. He’s seen how hard everybody’s working here and he’s been talking to the Father about us the whole time.

And now our Lord Jesus is about to pass by. He is about to reveal himself to us. He is about to show us his glory. People are going to be healed here at GCR, they’re going to be made whole. We’re all going to experience our God’s mercy and grace, his love and his compassion, his forgiveness and new life. He never left us; he’s been here in the boat with us the whole time. And now we’re about to finally see it. His  glory. His power. His mission accomplished in and through GCR, throughout Midland, and around the world to his eternal glory and praise.

“Take courage,”Jesus says to his church at GCR. “It is I, don’t be afraid.”

I believe we’re all about to be completely amazed.

Peace,

Allan

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