His name was Bill; he’s a guy that ridiculed me in the schoolyard in eighth grade and I took umbrage with it; he kicked me; I kicked him back, we got into a fight, and I lost, getting a black eye as visible evidence of it for weeks.

In high school I didn’t see him that much, but I knew he was a trouble-maker. I remember when I was 18 he showed up at a party I was at. I couldn’t stand him, so I left, and found out later on he broke a lamp at the girl’s house who held the party, just because to cause some trouble.

One other time I saw him is when I used to do the afternoon announcements over the school’s PA system. He came out of the vice principals office along with this poor Asian kid that he beaten in a terrible way. I still remember the bruised, swollen and bloodied face as that kid came out holding a towel and ice to it.

When I became Christian, when I read Jesus saying to love your enemies and forgive what people do to you, as Jesus did on the cross — remember His famous line:

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” — Luke 23:34 (NIV)

I couldn’t do it with regard to Bill. When I was 50 years old, Bill actually friend requested me on Facebook, and all the hate came back up. I remember saying at the time, “That’s one guy on the planet I wish was dead.”

This week’s two-part message is the final one in the series Castaway: A Cautionary Tale From the Life of Jonah, and so far, we learned that in those times when feel far away God, you need to ask yourself if you are moving in the opposite direction from Him.

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We learned that God is a God who rescues you, even from yourself; and last week we learned God restores you for a purpose, which is to shine His light.

This week, as come to the last chapter of the book, we see Jonah’s reaction to the national revival that took place in Assyria, a nation he hated and wished was dead:

But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the LORD, “O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

But the LORD replied, “Have you any right to be angry?”

Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

But God said to Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?”

“I do,” he said. “I am angry enough to die.”

But the LORD said, “You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?” — Jonah 4:1-11 (NIV)

It’s obvious in this interaction Jonah had with God that Jonah was angry with the decision God made to spare Ninevah. And that leads to a question to ask you this week:

Are there times in your life when you’re angry with what appears to be God’s decision regarding a matter? Is it that He hasn’t taken care of that boss or neighbor or rival who makes life miserable for you? Is it a person like Bill in your life? Or is it what appears to be God’s decision about your health, the health of someone you love, or the state of your job or finances?

What Jonah chap four teaches is this key idea:

As God said through prophet Isaiah:

“My thoughts,” says the LORD, “are not like yours, and my ways are different from yours. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways and thoughts above yours.” — Isaiah 55:8-9 (TEV)

But as the series title says, the book of Jonah is a cautionary history. It tells you not to be a castaway from God, not to think opposite of God but to align with Him.

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And so for those who are ticked, chapter four teaches three approaches to take when you’re angry at God’s decision. Here’s the first:

1. Recognize you can be quick to judge and slow to show mercy.

Jonah was as we read in verses one to three:

But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the LORD, “O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” — Jonah 4:1-3 (NIV)

doing here. “God, these Assyrians are so evil. But I knew you’d forgive, because that’s your character, and it just disgusts me!”

You and I can be the same way. You may say about that relative, “He’s just an irredeemable drunk. I want nothing to do with him.” It’s not that you shouldn’t protect yourself from someone who’s a danger to themselves and others. You don’t want to become co-dependent. But you do need to realize God may be using you to exercise mercy to them.

Protect yourself, but you also need to be the person, we learned last week, who forgives 70 times seven, an infinite number of times.

Quick to judge and slow to show mercy shows up all the time when you’re driving. Comedian George Carlin once said, ever notice anyone driving slower than you is an “idiot who shouldn’t even have a license,” while anyone driving faster than you is a “twisted maniac who thinks he owns the road!”

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But more seriously, we can get angry when God drives His will contrary to ours. “I expected you heal her. Why didn’t you?” “I expected to see justice when that person hit my car, sped off, and didn’t even leave a note. What’s up with that?”

But here’s something the Holy Spirit gave me while I was researching this message: anger is not the fruit of God working inside you, not the fruit of the Holy Spirit, but is part of your sinful nature, which God is working to change inside of you.

As Paul is inspired to say in his letter to the Galatian church:

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious…hatred…fits of rage…etc. — Galatians 5:19-20 (NIV)

God is saying, in effect, “Will you trust me with this situation, this person?”

But I love how God works. He uses questions to Jonah to get Jonah to rethink his attitude. God says to him in verse four:

“Have you any right to be angry?” — Jonah 4:4 (NIV)

God is saying, in effect, “Will you trust me with this situation, this person?”

But I love how God works. He uses questions to Jonah to get Jonah to rethink his attitude. God says to him in verse four:

“Have you any right to be angry?” — Jonah 4:4 (NIV)

That is a question you and I need to ultimately ask ourselves, too, and it leads logically to a second approach when you are angry at God’s decision. We’ll look at that and a third approach on Thursday.

Until then, go in peace; go in love; and smile, and walk, and sing and dance with Jesus today. And all God’s people said, “Amen.”

In every message I write for this publication, I am aware that there are those who are reading it who have either drifted from their faith, have been exploring issues of faith, or have had no faith at all. To all you, if you have felt any stirring in your heart while reading this, that is Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart. My prayer is that you will open that door by believing and then saying something like this: “I don’t know and understand all of this. But I am coming to believe that you Jesus are God come down to earth; that you died on the cross to bridge the gap between you and me, due to my sin; and that you rose from the dead, defeating death. I ask now that your Holy Spirit would come into my heart and fill me to overflowing, and that you would change me and lead me in the way of faith. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of faith. I would encourage you now to pick up a Bible and read the Gospel of John to learn more about your newfound faith, and that you would find a Bible-believing church in your community to attend.

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In part one, we found out that one of the actions you can take is to stop and pause when God convicts you of something. The king and the people of Ninevah were convicted of their sinful behavior when Jonah finally did preach to them. Likewise, God may use His word, or other people to convict you of yours.

A second action you can take is still yourself to reflect and believe. God made the Ninevites receptive to Jonah’s message because of the circumstances in which he finally showed up in their city. Today you and I have the entire Bible, which is powerful. It will penetrate the soul and cause you to stop, pause and reflect.

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Let’s expand upon that now, which will lead us to an additional action to take, in order to cooperate with God’s restoring work in you.

Because the word of God is so crucial to living as God would have you live, you need to be involved with it every day. You see in this passage how with just a few words from God an entire nation was affected. I saw in that Tanzania mission trip I took in 2019 how a few words of God delivered led hundreds to come to faith, for demons to leave people, and for people to be healed.

My continual prayer for our nation is for spiritual revival, but for that happen, it’s going to take personal and national reflection…and belief. It says in verse 5a:

The Ninevites believed God. — Jonah 3:5a (NIV)

That last statement is incredible. As one Bible scholar described it, national revival took place in Assyria.

How can that work in your life? Or this nation’s life? First you have to slow down. Get quiet. Hear God’s word, and then reflect. That can lead to prayers of repentance.

And if enough people do it, that can lead to revival.

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As theologian James Montgomery Boice pointed out, revival comes in three ways: faithful preaching and hearing the word of God; believing what is God saying, in other words, letting it convict you; and then repenting and taking action to change your ways (with the power of the Holy Spirit).

And all this will lead into a third crucial action your part:

3. Step into the vibrant life God has for you.

I’ve been writing in this series called Castaway that a big theme of the book of Jonah is the mercy of God.

The king and the Ninevites repented and fasted, after they heard that stark message that in 40 days they’d be toast. What they were in fact doing was acting on the vague possibility that God would show mercy.

You don’t have to hope that maybe, possibly God might be merciful to you. God has shown mercy by taking your penalty for sin upon Himself when He came down to earth as Jesus.

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What Jesus did was exactly what God promised to do in Psalm 103:

He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. — Psalm 103:10-12 (NIV)

He did it through the cross. And God forgives you through Jesus, as He forgave Ninevah:

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened. — Jonah 3:10 (NIV)

It’s what God promised King Solomon of Israel hundreds of years before this incident with Ninevah:

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. — 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)

God wants to restore you, or the person you’ve been praying about. God wants to do it through Jesus. In fact, He only does it through Jesus.

But that does lead back to the question I asked in part one of this message, that you might be asking yourself today: “Can God restore me?”

“That was fine for Ninevah, but I’ve really messed up. Sometimes it seems I must be too far gone in God’s eyes.”

You aren’t. The Apostle Peter wasn’t too far gone when, after Jesus was arrested, he denied he knew Jesus three times to save his own skin. Afterwards, Jesus deliberately used words to show He forgave and restored Peter the same number of times that Peter denied Him.

And Jesus Himself showed God’s standard for forgiveness when the disciples asked Him how many times they should forgive someone, up seven times? — seven being the symbol of completeness in the Bible. Jesus replied:

“I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” — Matthew 18:22 (NIV)

…meaning an infinite number of times.

God is in the restoration business. But He does it for a purpose.

He did it with Jonah to bring about the mass conversion of Ninevah. He wasn’t done with Jonah when he rebelled; He’s not done with you either.

But as with Jonah, He may be restoring you to give you an assignment outside of your comfort zone — a career change where can more readily and easily share your faith, a change of city or state for the same reason.

When He restored me He made me a Christian for something I totally did not expect when I first became a believer at age 29, to call me to ministry at age 40 and have me involved in ministry now 27 years.

He has assignment for you of some kind, because things are just as urgent in the world now as it was with Ninevah back then.

So much of the world is lost, looking for other things to satisfy them. And when those things are taken away, or paused like they were during the pandemic, you hopefully start to see something more important than your job, your latest purchase, or conquest, or the state of your favorite sports team.

Like that old coal bin that my Joanna purchased, that was painstakingly restored, God wants to restore you, to be a living light that showcases Jesus to a world that needs Him, that needs to hear about Him.

God is in the restoration business. And you are restored for a purpose. To God be the glory.

Go in peace; go in love; and smile, and walk, and sing and dance with Jesus today. And all God’s people said, “Amen.”

In every message I write for this publication, I am aware that there are those who are reading it who have either drifted from their faith, have been exploring issues of faith, or have had no faith at all. To all you, if you have felt any stirring in your heart while reading this, that is Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart. My prayer is that you will open that door by believing and then saying something like this: “I don’t know and understand all of this. But I am coming to believe that you Jesus are God come down to earth; that you died on the cross to bridge the gap between you and me, due to my sin; and that you rose from the dead, defeating death. I ask now that your Holy Spirit would come into my heart and fill me to overflowing, and that you would change me and lead me in the way of faith. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of faith. I would encourage you now to pick up a Bible and read the Gospel of John to learn more about your newfound faith, and that you would find a Bible-believing church in your community to attend.

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As we continue our series called Castaway: A Cautionary Tale From the Life of Jonah, I want to pick up a key idea discussed in last week’s two-part message and expand upon it. And that is the fact that God is in the restoration business.

If you are feeling like a castaway when it comes to God, especially because you’ve done a lot of things in life you aren’t proud of, maybe in your past, maybe recently, you might be asking yourself, “Why would a holy God want anything to do with someone like me? Could God really forgive me of the things that make me feel so far away Him? Could He really restore me or bring me close to Him?”

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To answer that, I want to take you to the third chapter of the book of Jonah. Jonah was told to go and preach to Ninevah, the wicked capital city of the nation of Assyria, which today is in-between northern Iraq and southwestern Turkey.

Jonah thought it was a horrible idea so went in the opposite direction of Ninevah. But then a storm in his life came up, as it usually does when running away from God — but this time it was a literal storm. But God rescued and restored Jonah, just like He rescues and restores you and me through Jesus.

And so we pick things up this week as Jonah is re-commissioned to be missionary and preacher to Ninevah:

Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”

Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city--a visit required three days. On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh:

“By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened. — Jonah 3:1-10 (NIV)

Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”

Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city--a visit required three days. On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh:

“By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened. — Jonah 3:1-10 (NIV)

Jonah was restored, as you can see, for a purpose: the conversion of the city of Ninevah to belief in the One True God.

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God restored you through Jesus for a purpose too. It might be to make you conduit to bring others in your family to faith in Jesus, to be a Christian moral compass in your workplace, or in this community in which you live. It might be to be involved in some kind ministry to a make difference in the lives of people.

God is definitely in the restoration business. But Jonah chapter three reveals three actions you must take, cooperating with the work God does in you through Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. Here’s the first action:

1. Stop and pause when God convicts you of something.

Ever had one those situations where you are about to leave the house for an errand or a weekend trip, and you know you’re forgetting something? You can’t leave til you figure out what it is. “Oh yeah, I forgo my brains!” That’s how it feels like! But then you remember. Oh yeah, that prescription I have to get filled — I can’t forget that!

In a similar manner, what God does is He convicts you, He reminds you, of what we talked about last week. By the Holy Spirit, He will remind you, consistently until you do so, of things for which you need to repent.

Like when you’re driving: “My reaction in traffic the other day to that other driver wasn’t what Jesus would do. I can’t ever remember reading in the Bible that Jesus gave someone the one finger salute!”

God will oftentimes use people to convict you. It could be through a preacher with a message like this one, or a Christian writer here on Substack. I have found Mandy Morris’ writing to be particularly compelling.

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He could use a Christian friend or relative or even a non-Christian friend or relative. Think of all the times in the Bible that God used other pagan nations to convict ancient Israel of the need to change.

God used Jonah for Ninevah and he preached a pretty short sermon:

“Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” — Jonah 3:4 (NIV)

Jonah probably repeated that same one-line sermon several times in Ninevah, since historians tell us the metropolitan region of that city probably had a circumference of 60 miles and Jonah most likely traveled on foot, as many did back then.

So a first step in the restoration process is being convicted, to be heightened to what the Holy Spirit might be doing in you. Stop and pause for a moment in the midst of a situation and ask yourself, “Is God trying to tell me something?”

How you stop and pause is the second action on your part:

2. Still yourself to reflect and believe.

As said I last week, God made the Ninevites receptive to Jonah’s message because of the circumstances in which he finally showed up in their city.

Word likely had gotten around that Jonah was spit out of a fish, and since people in that city worshipped the false fish-god Dagon, they’d be paying attention.

Circumstances may get your attention, too. “Why am I feeling so stressed out about that situation with a friend?” “Why am I overwrought at work? Is there something God ethically wants me to change?”

But what really caused the people of Ninevah to stop were Jonah’s words: From verse four again:

“Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” — Jonah 3:4 (NIV)

That’s because those were not Jonah’s words, but God’s words.

Today we have the entire word of God written, composed, and finalized by various people — all fully inspired by God with God then being the ultimate author.

God’s word is powerful. It will penetrate the soul and cause you to stop, pause and reflect. God inspired the writer of Hebrews to say:

For we have the living Word of God, which is full of energy, and it pierces more sharply than a two-edged sword. It will even penetrate to the very core of our being where soul and spirit, bone and marrow meet! It interprets and reveals the true thoughts and secret motives of our hearts. — Hebrews 4:12 (TPT)

The word of God stopped all commerce in Ninevah as Bible scholar James Montgomery Boice surmised. It says in verse 5b:

They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. — Jonah 3:5b (NIV)

We even read that the King of Assyria got involved, described as the king of Ninevah in this passage because that city was where his throne was located. It says in verses seven and 8a:

…he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth.” — Jonah 3:7-8a (NIV)

It would be pretty hard to carry on day-to-day work when the entire nation, including animals used for the work were fasting and wearing sackcloth. Sackcloth was a sign of deep despair and reflection back then. God stopped things in Ninevah’s tracks even more that COVID-19 did for our nation back during the pandemic.

God’s word is powerful.

We will expand upon that thought in part two of this message, to be published Thursday, as well as pointing out a third action on your part to cooperate with the fact that you have been restored for a purpose.

In the meantime, go in peace; go in love; and smile, and walk, and sing and dance with Jesus today. And all God’s people said, “Amen.”

In every message I write for this publication, I am aware that there are those who are reading it who have either drifted from their faith, have been exploring issues of faith, or have had no faith at all. To all you, if you have felt any stirring in your heart while reading this, that is Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart. My prayer is that you will open that door by believing and then saying something like this: “I don’t know and understand all of this. But I am coming to believe that you Jesus are God come down to earth; that you died on the cross to bridge the gap between you and me, due to my sin; and that you rose from the dead, defeating death. I ask now that your Holy Spirit would come into my heart and fill me to overflowing, and that you would change me and lead me in the way of faith. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of faith. I would encourage you now to pick up a Bible and read the Gospel of John to learn more about your newfound faith, and that you would find a Bible-believing church in your community to attend.

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First, we learned that you need to cry out to God in your distress. Jonah did, and you and I need to do so, too, whether the calamity you’re facing is of your own making, like Jonah, or due to living in a fallen world.

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Next, you and I need to count on the fact God listens. If God could hear Jonah’s cry from inside a whale, He can certainly hear yours from wherever you stop and pray to Him.

Let’s explore now a third essential for knowing and trusting that God rescues:

3. Correct what needs correcting.

Your part of the equation is to know — as I said last week in cases where the storms in your life are self inflicted — your job is to desire to change the direction of your life, which is what repenting means: changing the direction of your life to align it with God.

In prayer, Jonah expressed he wanted to do that when he said in verse 4a:

“…yet I will look again toward your holy temple.” — Jonah 2:4a (NIV)

And then he said in verse eight:

“Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.” — Jonah 2:8 (NIV)

The worthless idol in this case was Jonah’s pride. No way he was going to preach to the evil city of Ninevah. I can imagine him saying, “I can’t do that, I’m a prophet of God after all!”

Distress has a way of causing you to reflect, especially when the source of your distress is self-inflicted. But it also occurs when the trial is simply due to, as I said before, living in a fallen world.

And in that reflection, you might find something you need to repent from. It might be making money your idol, putting it in first place instead of God, or doing the same thing with sex, or power, or like with Jonah, with pride.

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Chuck Colson, who was involved with the Watergate scandal of the 1970s, found that pride was the source of his downfall.

It was when a friend of his, Thomas Phillips, president of the Raytheon Company, read him a chapter of C.S. Lewis’ book Mere Christianity and the line, “The chief cause of misery of every nation and every family since the world began…is pride;” it was at that moment that Colson had a revelation about himself.

He knew that on his own, he had nothing to commend himself to God, and that’s what started Him on the path to Jesus, and led to his conversion to Christianity and starting a prison ministry that carries on long after his death.

When you cry out to God, when you count on the fact He’s listening, and when you desire to correct what needs correcting, God is merciful. God’s mercy is a big theme of the book of Jonah.

And as Chuck Colson came to see, great miracles can happen in your soul when you and I admit our sin and our need for God through Jesus. It’s really what the fourth essential is all about, in understanding that God rescues you:

4. Count on God restoring you.

One of the expressions I coined a long time ago in ministry is that God is in the restoration business. You see it in the life of Jonah in these final words from chapter two:

And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. — Jonah 2:10 (NIV)

Now aside from the grotesque imagery, I want you to note that Jonah was resurrected, restored to dry land again.

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In a similar way, God promises that when you follow Jesus, He will resurrect hope in you and faith in you, whether the source of your distress is your own making or just the way the world is.

He resurrected Jonah from his self-inflicted plight, and He can resurrect you, too. And I love how God always works in a multi-faceted way, like a diamond has many facets when you look at it.

God resurrected Jonah so that he did preach to Ninevah, as was his original mission. But God also resurrected Ninevah from being lost to sin and pagan idol worship, as will be seen in Jonah chapter three. And look at the clever way God accomplished this.

The people of Ninevah worshiped a false fish god named Dagon. As God orchestrated events, the word got out that Jonah was spit out of a fish. This would have really caught the attention of that pagan people, and it looks like it made them that much more receptive to hearing Jonah’s message about the One True God.

And this whole idea of resurrection? Think of another event Jonah resurrected on dry land points to, and that’s the resurrection of Jesus. God wants you to know this ties in to Jesus resurrecting and saving us when He has Jonah say this in verse 9b:

“Salvation comes from the LORD.” — Jonah 2:9b (NIV)

God is in the restoration business. That San Francisco businessman who went to prison, my opening illustration from part one of this message; he discovered that.

While in San Quentin, he wanted to die. But some guys in San Quentin wouldn’t let him do himself in. Because there were some guys serving life sentences there who found Jesus in prison, and knew that that businessman needed Him too.

And as they shared with him that God loved him, it slowly started to impact him. He started getting up at 5:00 a.m. to pray, and in his prayers he cried out God, and God listened and Jesus met him, and caused this man to correct what needed correcting, so that even while serving his time, he was restored.

This man had to reach the bottom to look up and find Jesus. So did Jonah. Maybe it’s the same thing for you, too, or somebody you care about.

No matter what your source of distress today, remember the promise of God: He will never abandon you or forsake you; He will be with you wherever you go.

You are not sinking, God is in process lifting you up. To God be the glory.

Go in peace; go in love; and smile, and walk, and sing and dance with Jesus today. And all God’s people said, “Amen.”

In every message I write for this publication, I am aware that there are those who are reading it who have either drifted from their faith, have been exploring issues of faith, or have had no faith at all. To all you, if you have felt any stirring in your heart while reading this, that is Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart. My prayer is that you will open that door by believing and then saying something like this: “I don’t know and understand all of this. But I am coming to believe that you Jesus are God come down to earth; that you died on the cross to bridge the gap between you and me, due to my sin; and that you rose from the dead, defeating death. I ask now that your Holy Spirit would come into my heart and fill me to overflowing, and that you would change me and lead me in the way of faith. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of faith. I would encourage you now to pick up a Bible and read the Gospel of John to learn more about your newfound faith, and that you would find a Bible-believing church in your community to attend.

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But when the real estate bust hit in the 1990s he lost it all. And in addition to that, he had been engaged in illegal financial practices, and ended up in San Quentin, north of the Bay Area. In few short years he went from the penthouse to prison. If ever a guy needed spiritual rescue, it was him.

We are continuing the series Castaway: A Cautionary Tale from the Life of Jonah and this week we once again visit the life of another guy who needed rescue.

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Jonah was told to go proclaim the One True God to Ninevah, the capital city of the cruel nation known as Assyria. But as we saw last week, Jonah went in the opposite direction, and ended up in the sea, in a huge fish. We pick things up this week in chapter two, as Jonah prays in the midst of his distress.

From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God.

He said: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry. You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’ The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God.

“When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.

“Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD.”

And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. — Jonah 2:1-10 (NIV)

Jonah and the man in John Orberg’s story were in distress due to things they really did to themselves. But you and I know that you can feel distress from other things through no fault of our own, like all of us experienced during the pandemic.

Some might feel distress this week from high gas prices. Others might worry about the upcoming midterm elections, regardless of party affiliation. Still others about the state of their bank account or the debt they are carrying.

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It’s at times like those you might feel like Jonah in the ocean; you might feel like you’re sinking. But this week in our two-part message, I want proclaim God’s rescue, and using this account of Jonah, share with you four essentials for understanding that God is God who rescues. Here’s the first essential:

1. Cry out to God in your distress.

That’s what Jonah did in verse two:

“In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry.” — Jonah 2:2 (NIV)

Think how scary Jonah’s plight must have been. First, in the sea, where he said:

“…and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.” — Jonah 2:3b (NIV)

And then in verse five:

“The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.” — Jonah 2:5 (NIV)

He even poetically described in verse 6a that as he sank in the water, he felt like he could see

“…the roots of the mountains…” — Jonah 2:6a (NIV)

and that the very planet was like a prison to him:

“…the earth barred me in forever.” — Jonah 2:6b (NIV)

What Jonah showed is that in times of distress you and I need to cry out to God. Cry out when you’re suffering the illness, the joblessness, the loneliness, the anxiety you might be feeling now; the grief, the depression, or the overwhelming stress.

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In those moments you don’t need to run away from God, but run to God and voice what you’re feeling. And that leads to a second essential for understanding that God is a God who rescues:

2. Count on the fact God listens.

Jonah said in his prayer when he called out to God:

“…you listened to my cry.” — Jonah 2:2b (NIV)

In the midst of everything Jonah was going through, God was listening. God is not like we husbands can be sometimes. Ever had your wife accuse of selective listening?

But God is always listening. You can know that if God heard Jonah in the belly of a whale, He certainly hears you cry out to Him in bed, in the office cubicle, in the garage, riding your bike, in the hospital, wherever.

But God is not only listening, He’s orchestrating! In the original Hebrew language of the Old Testament, when it says in verse 3a:

“You hurled me into the deep…” — Jonah 2:3a (NIV)

…the language implies that though the sailors did the act of throwing Jonah in, described in chapter one, it was actually God that orchestrated events that resulted in its occurrence. And when the fish spit Jonah out and Jonah said:

“…you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God.” — Jonah 2:6b (NIV)

It implies God caused this to happen, too. As mentioned last week, He also made sure the fish was nearby to actually protect Jonah from dying in the stormy water. Since the advent of Jesus, God doesn’t cause calamities to come our way, but He allows them to happen…and then He orchestrates in your life and mine around those events.

And because God is always orchestrating, you need to be persistent in crying out to Him.

You need in many respects to be a broken record. Most people today don’t remember vinyl records and the 45s that had songs on the A side and B side — now you just download music. But back in the day, you put a record on the turntable, put a needle on it, and it would play.

Except if you scratched the record, then the record would stick. It be like this, be like this, be like this…

That’s what God requires of you: be persistent in that area of life, that confession, that thing you cry out for. Jesus said in the Gospel of Luke:

“And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?” — Luke 18:7 (NIV)

Like water vapors that rise from the earth, that form rain clouds that when the time is right will eventually rain down, God is listening, and when the time is right — by His timing — He will answer your prayer in a way that will always be the best. But in meantime, there is a third essential for understanding that God rescues you.

We’ll explore that and the rest of this message on Thursday. Until then, go in peace; go in love; and smile, and walk, and sing and dance with Jesus today. And all God’s people said, “Amen.”

In every message I write for this publication, I am aware that there are those who are reading it who have either drifted from their faith, have been exploring issues of faith, or have had no faith at all. To all you, if you have felt any stirring in your heart while reading this, that is Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart. My prayer is that you will open that door by believing and then saying something like this: “I don’t know and understand all of this. But I am coming to believe that you Jesus are God come down to earth; that you died on the cross to bridge the gap between you and me, due to my sin; and that you rose from the dead, defeating death. I ask now that your Holy Spirit would come into my heart and fill me to overflowing, and that you would change me and lead me in the way of faith. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of faith. I would encourage you now to pick up a Bible and read the Gospel of John to learn more about your newfound faith, and that you would find a Bible-believing church in your community to attend.

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We began on Monday by reviewing chapter one of the book and discovered three approaches in your own life when you feel far away from God.

The first approach we discussed in part one: recognize when you and God are going in the opposite direction.

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Like He did in telling Jonah to go to Ninevah, a city of the cruel Assyrian nation, God will sometimes nudge you do things you don’t want to do, the opposite of what you want to do. That’s where you have to trust that God does know better than you what’s best for you or what’s best for a particular person or situation.

So, if you are feeling are feeling far away, and it’s not due to a tragedy of trauma in life that you dealing with, you need to ask yourself, “Am I going in opposite direction God wants me to?”

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This will help you become aware of a second approach to take when you are feeling that way:

2. Realize it can cause storms to come up in your life.

When Jonah goes in the opposite direction from God he goes down down down both spiritually and — symbolizing this — physically as well.

In verse 3b it says:

He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. — Jonah 1:3b (NIV)

In verse 3c it says:

After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD. — Jonah 1:3c (NIV)

So from boarding the ship he would have to go down into it. Now look at verse 5c:

But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. — Jonah 1:5c (NIV)

He’s now gone down below deck. The down down down is symbolic of where he was at spiritually. It reminds me of what can happen to a person raised in the church, taught not to hang out with a certain crowd, and does the opposite.

Now what I’m going to give is an extreme example, but is also true story.

The young man I’m thinking of fell in with that wrong crowd, started partying with that crowd to excess, and went down morally. He started doing drugs with them, trying to find other things to substitute for the feeling you get when you’re close to God. He went down spiritually. And then he tried heroin, and the next thing you know, he went down physically.

This happened while I was the Senior Pastor at a church, and I will never forget being called to his grandparents home at 2:00 in the morning, when he had OD’d and died in their basement.

Going in the opposite direction from God can cause self-inflicted storms to come up in life.

But it can cause other storms, too. Notice what it says in verse four:

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Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. — Jonah 1:4 (NIV)

Now since Jesus came on the scene and died as a substitute for your sin and mine, many Bible scholars, and I agree, say God doesn’t send storms and disasters like did to Jonah. Jesus took the judgment and penalty of going in the opposite direction from God which, if you think about it, is the definition of sin.

God doesn’t cause storms to come in your life now, but if you far away from Him, God will take the hedge of protection off of you, and allow the full consequences of your actions to play out.

He might be nudging you to a different career direction, but you refuse, and so He allows the nemesis in the company to continue to make your life miserable. Or, like the sailors in the storm, He might help you realize that you are over your head in a particular situation, and you need Him.

But God is also merciful. The whole book of Jonah shows God’s kingship or sovereignty over all human life — and that means yours and mine, too — but it also shows the mercy of God.

He wants things in your life to turn around, as one Bible scholar says; He wants to get you back into a place of blessing. And so in His sovereignty, in His love and control and mercy, He will actually nudge you by the Holy Spirit to want go back to a place of blessing, while you experience storms.

It reminds me of the prodigal son who felt the full consequences of his actions, living a lowly life, a stormy life, and realized he needed to come home.

The use of those lots in Jonah account is an example of God’s sovereign nudging. Lots were like a kind of dice, like a game of chance, only this wasn’t chance; God was controlling the outcome, so that that captain and all sailors came to understand that Jonah’s actions ultimately made God cause the storm, letting Jonah and those around him experience the full weight of Jonah’s sin, again in those days before Jesus atoned for believers’ sins.

And all this leads to another question to ask yourself: Are you experiencing storms in your own life right now? Could it be that God’s allowing them to happen? Could it be because you’ve gone in the opposite direction from God? If that’s the case, God might even be using this message today to nudge you.

It leads to a third and most beautiful approach when you feel far away from God:

3. Return to Him because He’s merciful and protecting.

God protects Jonah in our account. When Jonah is thrown overboard by the sailors into that stormy sea, it says in verse 17a:

But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights. — Jonah 1:17a (NIV)

Being inside that huge fish — yes, it could be a whale, we don’t know — actually kept Jonah alive.

Just to show you this is possible, as I was reading and preparing for this message I read an account from the 19th century near the Falkland Islands. It seems a man’s boat capsized while he was whale hunting, and he went missing.

But as God would have it, that whale was eventually captured by another ship and killed, and when the whale was cut open and the blubber removed, there was the missing sailor, James Bartley, found unconscious but alive.

There are so many ways God protected Jonah from himself. There were the lots, the dice, so could be found out; there was protection from death by drowning by being inside the belly of the fish; and there is the way God worked in his conscience to bring Jonah to a state of repenting, wanting to turn back to the direction God wanted him in.

When Jonah says in verse nine and then in verse 12:

“I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” — Jonah 1:9 (NIV)

“Pick me up and throw me into the sea, and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.” — Jonah 1:12 (NIV)

…this is a form of Jonah repenting, realizing the direction he took was wrong, and even being willing to sacrifice himself to save the innocent sailors aboard.

But in today’s day and age, thanks to Jesus, when you’ve done wrong, you don’t have to sacrifice yourself. That’s because Jesus is the sacrifice to make up for those times you’re in the opposite direction from God.

Jesus can calm the storm of difficult situations that might be due to opposing God. Jesus Himself said that the story of Jonah and Jonah going into the belly of the fish was foreshadowing what Jesus was going to do for you:

“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” — Matthew 12:40 (NIV)

But you and I have to do the same thing Jonah did. We have to repent. We have to desire to change the direction of our lives go with God’s direction.

For some of you, that might involve embracing Jesus as Savior, as God come down to earth for first time in your life. Notice that after God calmed storm in their lives, the sailors had a conversion experience:

At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him. — Jonah 1:16 (NIV)

Feared here means they had reverence, respect for the One True God. It wasn’t false gods like they used to worship. The word translated LORD from the original Hebrew is name for the One True God in that language, the language the Old Testament is written in; it’s the name Yahweh.

So that leaves you with one final question to ask yourself today. Do you think if you’ve been far away from God it’s possible to return to Him?

It is. Like the story of the prodigal son, if you desire to return to God through Jesus, He’ll more than meet you half way. You don’t need to be a castaway in the mold of the Gilligan’s Island crew, or the Tom Hanks character with is volleyball Wilson. Or Jonah. Come to Jesus. Find peace. And live.

Until then, go in peace; go in love; and smile, and walk, and sing and dance with Jesus today. And all God’s people said, “Amen.”

In every message I write for this publication, I am aware that there are those who are reading it who have either drifted from their faith, have been exploring issues of faith, or have had no faith at all. To all you, if you have felt any stirring in your heart while reading this, that is Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart. My prayer is that you will open that door by believing and then saying something like this: “I don’t know and understand all of this. But I am coming to believe that you Jesus are God come down to earth; that you died on the cross to bridge the gap between you and me, due to my sin; and that you rose from the dead, defeating death. I ask now that your Holy Spirit would come into my heart and fill me to overflowing, and that you would change me and lead me in the way of faith. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of faith. I would encourage you now to pick up a Bible and read the Gospel of John to learn more about your newfound faith, and that you would find a Bible-believing church in your community to attend.

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I think of Gilligan’s Island, with Gilligan, the Skipper too, the Millionare, and his wife, the movie star, the Professor and Mary Ann, here on Gilligan’s Isle.

I also think of that Tom Hanks movie where he was stranded on a desert island and his only friend was a volleyball named Wilson.

But what I want to examine this series are times you and I make ourselves feel like castaways when it comes to God, and then what God does about it, and what you can do about it.

Where we’re going to spend the next four weeks is in the Old Testament book of Jonah. Jonah lived around the time when the northern kingdom of Israel still existed, and God inspired Him to write this account of significant moments in his, Jonah’s life, around 760 BC, eight centuries before Jesus came on the scene.

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So here’s what we’re going to do this week: Let’s first read all of chapter one, 17 verses, talk a little more about the history of that time, and then let the Holy Spirit start applying this to your life and mine right here in the 21st century.

I’ve always said the Bible is not just some ancient historical document, and it’s certainly not fiction. It’s living and active and can speak to your life just as powerfully now as it did to people back then. That’s because what Apostle Paul said is true:

Every Scripture has been written by the Holy Spirit, the breath of God. It will empower you by its instruction and correction, giving you the strength to take the right direction and lead you deeper into the path of godliness. — 2 Timothy 3:16 (TPT)

So, with that in mind, let’s read and see how God breathes new life into the account of Jonah, inspired by God, and written by Jonah in third person:

The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.

Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.

But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish.”

Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.

So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”

He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.”

This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.)

The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”

“Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”

Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. Then they cried to the LORD, “O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased.” Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.

But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights. — Jonah 1:1-17 (NIV)

So who or what is Ninevah and why was Jonah so dead set against doing missionary work amongst them, which is really what God was asking him to do?

Ninevah was the capital of Assyria, which eventually God would use to conquer and eliminate the Northern Kingdom about 40 years after the events described in this reading. This was all due to the Northern Kingdom of Israel’s sin. And Assyria, and Ninevah in particular, had a reputation of being incredibly cruel.

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Here’s what another Old Testament prophet — Nahum, a contemporary of Jonah — had to say about them:

Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims! The crack of whips, the clatter of wheels, galloping horses and jolting chariots! Charging cavalry, flashing swords and glittering spears! Many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number, people stumbling over the corpses… — Nahum 3:1-3 (NIV)

Jonah didn’t want see anyone in Ninevah converted to the One True God. And so he not only rejects God leading him to do so, but in the actions that follow says he wants nothing to do with God.

It can happen to you and me as well. Ever had a time when you sensed God nudging you to do something, but you dig your heels in?

I’m not going to forgive that person who hurt me, no matter how many verses I read about forgiveness. I’m not going to apologize to that other person, even though in reading the Bible I keep getting a sense of how I behaved towards them was sinful. I’m not going to get involved in the particular way God’s nudging me that I should serve that group, even when reading God’s word, I keep getting a sense I should.

It’s times like that you can feel like a castaway, far away from God.

Now certainly, there are other times in life when you might feel far away from Him. Like when you’re grieving a loss you’ve had as we talked about last week: someone dies, or you lose your health, or a relationship you were all in for ends when the other person breaks it off. It’s not unusual in those circumstances to say, “Where was God in the midst of this,” and feel distant.

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But other times, feeling far away can be of your own making. And so that leads to where I feel God leading us this. To three approaches to take when do feel far away, kind of a gut check for yourself: Could it be me? Here’s the first:

1. Recognize when you and God are going in opposite directions.

Joanna will tell you that one bit of dyslexia I have is sometimes I mix up my right from my left. For most part, it’s okay, because I will stop and literally check by making a hand motion with my left hand.

But one time this created a lot of trouble for my late first wife Susan. We were living in the San Francisco Bay Area at the time, and she had a meeting at the San Francisco Junior Chamber of Commerce. At the time she was driving a stick shift Hyundai.

She said to me, “I’m going into the city to this location. Could give me to directions to avoid taking the big hills, so I can park the car in the flat part of the city and take a cab. Those hills terrify me.” And this was in the days before GPS.

So I gave her directions, but instead of telling her to go right, I had her turn left, up the biggest hills of the city. She didn’t kill me, but I deserved it, as I sent her in the opposite direction of where she should go.

What I did there was by accident, but what Jonah did wasn’t. Look at verse 3a:

But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. — Jonah 1:3a (NIV)

Assyria and Ninevah are in the modern day Middle East. Tarshish is in modern day Europe, part of modern-day Spain near Gilbraltar. God told Jonah to go one way, and he went the polar opposite direction. It be like God telling you go share about Jesus in New York City, and you say no, I’m heading to Hawaii instead.

Yes, what God was telling Jonah do was tough, considering how cruel Assyria was. It be like telling a Jewish Christian in World War II to go to Nazi Germany and share about Jesus. But Jonah still needed to obey.

God will sometimes nudge you do things you don’t want to do, the opposite of what you want to do.

He’ll nudge you to forgive that person as I already mentioned. Or he may tell you to stay in that marriage though you think you should escape and be free. You may be convicted to share your faith with co-worker you don’t like, or a neighbor, or that scrapbooking club person who’s a real gossip, or that overly aggressive captain of your bowling team.

But this where you have to trust. This is where you have to know God does know better than you what’s best for you and what’s best for a particular person or situation.

As Apostle Paul reminds us in the Message paraphrase of the Bible:

He knows us far better than we know ourselves… Romans 8:27a (MSG)

So if you are feeling far away from God and it’s not due to a tragedy of trauma in life that you dealing with, you need to ask yourself, “Am I going in opposite direction God wants me to?”

It will help become aware of a second approach to take when you feel far away. And we’ll explore both the second and third approaches in part two of this message, on Thursday.

Until then, go in peace; go in love; and smile, and walk, and sing and dance with Jesus today. And all God’s people said, “Amen.”

In every message I write for this publication, I am aware that there are those who are reading it who have either drifted from their faith, have been exploring issues of faith, or have had no faith at all. To all you, if you have felt any stirring in your heart while reading this, that is Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart. My prayer is that you will open that door by believing and then saying something like this: “I don’t know and understand all of this. But I am coming to believe that you Jesus are God come down to earth; that you died on the cross to bridge the gap between you and me, due to my sin; and that you rose from the dead, defeating death. I ask now that your Holy Spirit would come into my heart and fill me to overflowing, and that you would change me and lead me in the way of faith. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of faith. I would encourage you now to pick up a Bible and read the Gospel of John to learn more about your newfound faith, and that you would find a Bible-believing church in your community to attend.

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First we learned Jesus allows valleys to connect with you, correct you and guide you. Like a shepherd has both a rod and a staff, Jesus through the Holy Spirit will correct you sometimes, and guide you other times with a gentile hook. That’s because as Jesus identifies Himself in Scripture, He is the Good Shepherd.

Second, we learned Jesus has gone ahead of you into the valley. He experienced loneliness on the cross, the temptation of the evil one, and even death — from which He rose.

And so now, again using both the Bible and Philip Keller’s book, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, let’s move on to part two of this second look with a third reality:

3. Jesus has prepared the rich mesa of heaven for you.

Jesus said in the Gospel of John:

“I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” — John 14:2b-3 (NIV)

Jesus has gone ahead of you up to the high country of heaven, and He’s prepared a rich mesa there for you, where there will only be joy and abundance, where you’ll be so closely connected with Him, as it says in the book of Revelation, you won’t need the light of the s-u-n, because the S-o-n will be right there with you.

And Jesus even gives a hint of it now, with the sacrament of communion.

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He prepared the table of the Lord’s Supper to show you and me what He did, and how’s He’s gone ahead of you, and the rich mesa to look forward to.

And He’s also given the gift of the Holy Spirit. Verse 5b reads:

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. — Psalm 23:5b (NIV)

Oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit inside you, soothing you. And that same Holy Spirit can overflow from you and touch the lives of others.

It makes me want to pray right in the midst of this message:

I’ve got to tell you. I couldn’t have prayed that prayer after Susan died, or even months afterwards.

But He continues to do work in me, as He will do with you. He moved me beyond the valley of the shadow, and has given me a perspective that I know He wants you to have as well. It’s the fourth and very important reality for you:

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4. Jesus uses valleys to move you closer to him.

I mentioned that in and around the Middle East, the best grazing land for sheep is in the high country.

But did you know the only way to high country is through valleys, dangerous valleys, where there could be predators, rampaging rivers, or rock slides? That’s what meant when it says in verse 4a:

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me… — Psalm 23:4a (NIV)

What the Bible teaches, what I learned, is it’s the road through the valleys of life that actually takes you closer to God. I saw this in my own life.

I mentioned in my late June message that when Susan died, I didn’t know what rest of life was supposed to look like and how I felt half of me had been ripped away.

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All I knew was I needed be at Bob and Dee’s house on Pigeon Lake, known as Cottage Country, 100 miles from Toronto. And I knew on the day that would have been our 31st anniversary, that I had to be on their dock overlooking the lake.

And so I was, and as I was, there was fog was on the lake, the kind of fog that felt like my life. And I had my Bible, and praise songs on my phone, and my ear buds in. And I read the Bible out loud, talked to God,; sang, cried, sang some more, talked, and cried, and prayed some more.

And then God gave me a beautiful visual: the fog on the lake started clearing. And the Holy Spirit spoke to my soul, and gave me a sense — I wouldn’t call it vision like my Joanna once had — but a strong sense.

Susan was just on the other side of a veil, the thin veil that separates the heavenly realm from the earthly, like the veil in the Old Testament tabernacle that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple. He gave me a sense of her restored and youthful and so happy she was almost mischievous.

And more fog cleared and the sun started to come out, and I felt God shining a light on my soul.

I didn’t know when I began my time on the dock at 8:00 in the morning how long I was going to be out there, but as the sun came fully out, the Holy Spirit gave me this sense: that at noon 31 years before Susan had walked down the aisle to be my bride, and so on that at day noon, I needed to walk up that dock and back into life.

And though there was additional pain to come in later years — the loss of a church, the loss of a second spouse, the loss of my brother Larry — God more than restored my soul when He brought Joanna into my life, because I came to see that though I had been happily married for 31 years, God was bringing into my life my soul mate.

I know the valleys of your life can be painful. I know they can be scary and lonely and can sap you of joy and strength. But if you just trust your Shepherd, He’ll connect with you, correct you and guide you; and He’ll move you close to Him. That’s because He’s already gone ahead of you.

Here is hope in Jesus, the One to whom the psalm ultimately points. No wonder Psalm 23, to conclude this series, is one of the Top Five.

Go in peace; go in love; and smile, and walk, and sing and dance with Jesus today. And all God’s people said, “Amen.”

In every message I write for this publication, I am aware that there are those who are reading it who have either drifted from their faith, have been exploring issues of faith, or have had no faith at all. To all you, if you have felt any stirring in your heart while reading this, that is Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart. My prayer is that you will open that door by believing and then saying something like this: “I don’t know and understand all of this. But I am coming to believe that you Jesus are God come down to earth; that you died on the cross to bridge the gap between you and me, due to my sin; and that you rose from the dead, defeating death. I ask now that your Holy Spirit would come into my heart and fill me to overflowing, and that you would change me and lead me in the way of faith. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of faith. I would encourage you now to pick up a Bible and read the Gospel of John to learn more about your newfound faith, and that you would find a Bible-believing church in your community to attend.

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The top five were Psalm 119, 51, 1, 139 and 23. And because Psalm 23 is so poignant and beautiful, the Holy Spirit led me to breaking the message about that psalm into a first look and a second look.

I talked at the end of June and on July 2 about how when have a big loss in your life — job, marriage, relationship, friendship, health, the death of someone close to you — it can leave you feeling directionless, like a boat without a rudder.

I shared personally that that’s how I felt when my first wife Susan died, and how grateful I am that God brought the love of my life, my Joanna, into my life.

Back then we learned a key idea I believe God wants to communicate to you through this psalm:

We learned at the end of June that that means as you journey through your valley, there are all kinds of things that Jesus protects you from.

This week I want to conclude this message and the series by taking a second look at Psalm 23, focusing on the concluding verses of it.

Here’s a key thought for verses four, five, and six:

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Let’s revisit this psalm again, with a prayer that the Holy Spirit puts it all together in your heart:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. — Psalm 23:1-6 (NIV)

Jesus and the Holy Spirit can help you move beyond the valley of the shadow through four realities God shares:

1. Jesus allows valleys to connect with you, correct you and guide you.

It is true that when life is going along really well, it’s easy to fall into thinking, “I’ve got this. I can handle this on my own. I don’t need God; I don’t need anybody.” It’s like Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in Titanic who said, “I’m king of the world!”

But then when the shipwreck happens, when he or she breaks up with you, when the company layoff happens, when the sales in the business turns south, when the health report comes back negative, when your retirement income takes a hit, then you realize maybe you don’t got this. Maybe you’re not totally in control. Maybe you’re actually more like sheep in a valley.

You’ll recall that a source for this message — both the first look and now this one — was Phillip Keller’s book, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23. You’ll remember he said sheep in a valley can be kind of dumb. They can wander off to an area of poisonous weeds; they can get themselves too close to where a predator might be lurking, or where rockslide could easily occur.

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That’s why the shepherd has to guide them and discipline them to keep them safe. How they do that is with the devices found in verse 4b:

…your rod and your staff, they comfort me. — Psalm 23:4b (NIV)

A rod is like a club, and it’s used for two things — it’s thrown at predators to keep them from attacking the sheep, and it’s thrown near the sheep to keep them from wandering near poisonous or dangerous places.

A staff is like what you might have seen in pictures: it’s got a little hook at the end, and it’s used to gently guide the sheep. Phillip Keller also mentions in his book that the staff is used when a baby ewe is too far away from its mother, to gently pick it up and place it near her.

You and I like sheep need both the rod and staff. As I quoted in the Old Testament book of Isaiah in our first look at this psalm:

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way… — Isaiah 53:6a (NIV)

And so though they can be painful, God will sometimes allow those shipwrecks, those valleys to happen so you’ll know you need the Shepherd, to correct you sometimes, and to guide you other times with the gentile hook. And as we identified in the first look at this psalm, Jesus is the Shepherd.

So how does He correct and guide? Certainly through circumstances. But what are His rod and staff? It’s the word of God, the Bible. It not only refreshes but it also corrects and guides. Paul says 1 Timothy:

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All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…— 2 Timothy 3:16 (NRSV)

Note that word correction. It’s a rod. But the Bible is also for training. It’s a guide.

I mentioned in the first look at Psalm 23 that I would illustrate from biggest valley I experienced, my late first wife Susan’s death, and then relate to things in your life.

One thing I found in reading God’s Word months following her death is that it became a rod for me. It helped me realize the times I was very self-centered when I was married to her; how patient she had to be with me, and the special gift she was — a gift I thought God could never top until He brought Joanna into my life.

I suspect God’s word is the same way with you. You read about the acts of the sinful nature found in Galatians 5 and you see “fits of rage” is part of it. And it becomes a rod that kind of clubs you: “Wow, I’ve been losing my temper a lot lately.”

Or you read in the same passage about dissension. “Wow, I’ve been sewing a lot dissension in my family or amongst friends by gossiping or talking behind people’s backs.”.

But God’s word is also a guide. When I spent my first Christmas without Susan, even though I got lots of invites to places, I felt so alone that I didn’t even put up a Christmas tree that year. But God’s word reminded me I wasn’t.

Remember some Bible verses when you are moving through the valley. There’s Deutermonmy. 31: “I will never leave forsake you.” Or Joshua 1: “Do not terrified, do not discouraged.”

When you say to yourself, “I feel unlovable since he or she broke up me,” remember God says in Jeremiah 31, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” When you say, “I feel useless in this world since I got fired from that job,” remember God says thru 1 Corinthians 12: “You are part of the body Christ” and have gifts.

The Bible is always good to read. But if we’re honest, a lot of times people won’t think of Bible verses when things are going well. You won’t seek God in prayer or the guidance of the Holy Spirit when you’re walking along singing a song. It’s in valleys you look up, and discover a second reality:

2. Jesus has gone ahead of you into the valley.

This ties in with a phrase David was inspired to use in verse 5a:

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. — Psalm 23:5a (NIV)

For a shepherd like Phillip Keller, or like King David when he was a young man, the “table” referred to are high plateaus in those summer mountain ranges where shepherds take sheep to graze on the best grass, where there is food in abundance.

To make sure that “mesa” is it’s called is absolutely okay, that there are no poisonous weeds, and that the path to the mesa is the best one possible, the shepherd would have gone ahead of them, earlier in the year, to make sure everything was prepared for the sheep.

Don’t you see that’s what Jesus has done for you?

He’s walked ahead of you into the valleys. He’s knows the loneliness you know when you’re the only Christian in the workplace. When He went to the cross and the apostles deserted Him, it was the loneliest time ever.

Jesus walked ahead of you, to keep you from the poisonous weeds of the evil one, who is out to discourage you with words like, “You’re no good;” or “Give in to the addiction; it’s the only thing that will make you feel better;” or “Don’t start a new ministry; it’ll fail.” Jesus was tempted in the desert for 40 days, in the valley so speak, and walked out of it.

Jesus even went ahead you in death, but rose from it, to show you that even the valley of your illness can’t get the better of you. And Jesus as shepherd has done even more than that. Those are the final two realities that we will discuss in part two of this message on Thursday.

In the meantime, go in peace; go in love; and smile, and walk, and sing and dance with Jesus today. And all God’s people said, “Amen.”

In every message I write for this publication, I am aware that there are those who are reading it who have either drifted from their faith, have been exploring issues of faith, or have had no faith at all. To all you, if you have felt any stirring in your heart while reading this, that is Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart. My prayer is that you will open that door by believing and then saying something like this: “I don’t know and understand all of this. But I am coming to believe that you Jesus are God come down to earth; that you died on the cross to bridge the gap between you and me, due to my sin; and that you rose from the dead, defeating death. I ask now that your Holy Spirit would come into my heart and fill me to overflowing, and that you would change me and lead me in the way of faith. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of faith. I would encourage you now to pick up a Bible and read the Gospel of John to learn more about your newfound faith, and that you would find a Bible-believing church in your community to attend.

Jesus protects you from a lack of peace. Through the Holy Spirit, no matter your circumstances, Jesus can give you a peace that passes all understanding.

Jesus also protects you from fear. Let’s continue with this thought and others, and again, I’ll be sharing some personal illustrations along the way that I pray speaks to your situation.

David writes in verse 2a:

He makes me lie down in green pastures… Psalm 23:2a (NIV)

To lie down sheep must be free from fear. God though Jesus can keep you calm from the uncertainties of life that can cause you fear, uncertainties that occur for example when you experience loss. Like David was there in his earlier days to shepherd his sheep, Jesus is there for you. Jesus said in Matthew 28:20:

“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” — Matthew 28:20b (NIV)

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I know the biggest fear God saved me from when Susan died was the fear of never being happy again. I felt like I was in a bubble with the rest of the world around me happy, but I couldn’t be myself.

Early on in that same visit with Bob and Dee, they took me out to a Legion Hall for Canadian Thanksgiving dinner, and all the laughter and joy was too much for me in my grief.

Bob looked at me across the table as I tried to eat my meal and said, “You can’t be here, can you?” I said, “No, I just can’t” and spend the rest of my time outside, crying and talking to God, and through God, trying to talk to Susan.

But I felt God with me there, at that moment, in my fear and grief. He will be for you, too, no matter what your situation.

c. Protection when irritated

Sheep won’t lie down when insects are annoying them. We get irritations in life, too, sometimes little things like being cut off in traffic, sometimes big things like a doctor’s office not getting back to you and you need the prescription refilled.

A shepherd uses linseed oil to keep certain insects away from the sheep. Thanks to Jesus’ ascension, God gives you the oil of the Holy Spirit to keep your irritation at a minimum.

I can tell you that after Susan died, and I know the Holy Spirit gave me this sense, things that used to irritate me just didn’t seem that important anymore.

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I pray you’ll feel the Holy Sprit giving out His presence, protecting you from the things that irritate you, making them less in your life.

d. Protection from rivalry

Within the flock, some of what you might call the alpha sheep try to jostle for position, and can create tension. Kind of sounds like the workplace, or family, doesn’t it?

The presence of the shepherd of the flock ends rivalry because all eyes are on him. When Jesus is truly in your life, when your eyes are truly following Him, all the need for doing dumb stuff, like jockeying and climbing for status, comes to an end.

I found that to be true in my life. It needs be all about Him.

e. Protection through His Word

I love the phrase in verse 2b:

…he leads me beside quiet waters…— Psalm 23:2b (NIV)

When sheep are panicked for water, they will go for any polluted mud hole from which to drink, and it can make them ill. When you experience loss, there can be a tendency to run to any polluted thing to get refreshed.

I talked about my friend Billy from the Tanzania mission trip last week. He started going down dark roads after his wife of 30 years died. Going out and getting drunk, having one-night stands, spending yourself into oblivion — those are dark roads.

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But if you’re connected to God’s word, the Bible, God can refresh you just reading it.

During my time at Bob and Dee’s lakeside house in Canada, healing after Susan’s death, I spent lots of time just reading the Bible, and journaling my thoughts, and it spoke to my soul. The Bible can do the same thing for you, too.

And through it, Jesus does this too:

f. Protection from flailing

Protection from flailing

When a sheep falls and gets turned over on its back, it will flail with its legs, and be unable get itself standing up again. This makes it easy prey for predators.

In addition, sheep have four compartments to their stomachs, and one compartment is for collecting bacteria and wastes. On its back, unable to get up, those bacteria and gases can build up, and it can kill the sheep.

The shepherd, seeing this, rights the sheep, so little by little the sheep gets its equilibrium restored.

After Susan died, I was flailing a bit. I wanted to date someone I had known for years, even though she was not a believer. But thankfully it didn’t happen. Though an unbeliever, God spoke through her to me just like God used Balaam to protect the Israelites.

She said, “You don’t want this. You’re just vulnerable.” She was right. Jesus kept me from flailing, and like good Shepherd turned me back over.

Years later, having led me to Joanna, the love of my life, I am so grateful that He did.

He’ll keep you from flailing, doing things to keep you from the predator of addiction, or the bacteria of a drifting faith. It could be person, a friend, with word for you. Or it could be a Bible verse. Or a message you hear, like this one. That’s what’s meant when it says in verse 3a:

…he restores my soul. — Psalm 23:3a (NIV)

Here’s a final way He protects you:

g. Protection from ruts

Sheep are creatures of habit. They’ll travel the same trails so often they become ruts, or graze the same hills until they become desert wastes, and or pollute their own ground til they are diseased and covered with parasites.

But the good shepherd, as Phillip Keller says in his book, goes ahead of the sheep, finds the best paths and the best grazing ground. That’s what David means when says in verse 3b:

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. — Psalm 23:3b (NIV)

When you lose something or someone, it’s easy to fall into a rut. To stay inside like a hermit watching TV; or heading to the same bar every night; or trying to drug away the pain, or drift into sin.

There’s a reason why God inspired the prophet Isaiah to say:

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way… — Isaiah 53:6a (NIV)

There’s a reason why the writer of Proverbs was inspired to say:

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. — Proverbs 14:12 (NIV)

But Jesus said in the Gospel of Mark:

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” — Mark 8:34 (NIV)

Jesus is God come down to earth. He walked this earth. He knows what it’s like. And as He said in John 14:6, He is:

“…the way and the truth and the life.” — John 14:6 (NIV)

He’ll lead you on the right path if you let Him.

I can guarantee you that those of you who have experienced loss have needed protection from all the things described. And that’s what He provides.

He’ll keep you on the path. He’ll keep you from being directionless.

So how can you apply what learned today to your life, with whatever valley you might find yourself in? I’m going suggest this, because it helped me:

1. Take to heart that Jesus is your Shepherd.

That means He’s there for the valleys, because He’s the good Shepherd.

2. Read His Word and speak to Him, even in your anger and hurt, just like David did.

3. Be open to people and circumstances through whom the Holy Spirit will provide refreshing oil for your soul.

Bob and Dee were that for me, and their home in Canada.

It might be a friend for you, or your boss, or a co-worker or a client, or a relative or a neighbor. God often works through people.

I’ll have a few notes and brief posts during my time off with Joanna in this month of July.

But when I return to more intense writing in August, we’ll look at verses four through six, and God willing, bring those verses to life for you, as well.

Six short verses, but so powerful the message about it needs to be broken into a first look and a second look. No wonder it’s part of the Top Five. To God be the glory.

In every message I write for this publication, I am aware that there are those who are reading it who have either drifted from their faith, have been exploring issues of faith, or have had no faith at all. To all you, if you have felt any stirring in your heart while reading this, that is Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart. My prayer is that you will open that door by believing and then saying something like this: “I don’t know and understand all of this. But I am coming to believe that you Jesus are God come down to earth; that you died on the cross to bridge the gap between you and me, due to my sin; and that you rose from the dead, defeating death. I ask now that your Holy Spirit would come into my heart and fill me to overflowing, and that you would change me and lead me in the way of faith. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of faith. I would encourage you now to pick up a Bible and read the Gospel of John to learn more about your newfound faith, and that you would find a Bible-believing church in your community to attend.

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This morning we come fifth most popular psalm of all time. I don’t know if you’ll agree with me, but based on requests I get for it, it has always seemed like it would have been the most popular of all time.

As I was praying, researching and thinking through this one, the sense I got is that God created it, and inspired King David to write it, because it really speaks of those times you feel directionless in life.

A lot people, even non-Christians, know Psalm 23 because it’s often recited at funerals, a time when with the death of someone you know, you’re taken out of the routine of life. And if it’s someone really close to you, like a spouse, parent, grandparent or best friend — it can leave you feeling directionless.

I can relate this. When first wife Susan died after 51 days of illness, when God called her home, like a lot of you I went on autopilot.

With the Clerk of Session at the church I served at the time, John Welty, by my side — in all his compassion and kindness that I will never forget — I planned the memorial. I shook hands, hugged people at the visitation, then with heaping tears beforehand, made it through the funeral.

And then I knew I had to go back home for a while, back to my native Canada. And I’ve got to tell you that, although I drove home to Canada, in soul, in spirit, I was directionless, I didn’t know where I was going, because I felt like half of me had been ripped away.

I was going home, but I had no idea what the rest of my life was supposed to look like.

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I suspect there are times in the lives of many of you when you’ve felt the same way.

It could be the death of someone close. Or it could be another kind of loss: the loss of health like my Joanna experienced during most of 2025. It could have been a loss of a relationship or marriage. Or the loss of a career you thought you’d be in forever.

It’s here that Psalm 23 can be both a tremendous comfort and a tremendous help.

God inspired King David to write it, but we don’t know the time frame in which he did. It may been when his son Absalom was killed, as one Bible scholar put forth. Or maybe it was written when he was fleeing King Saul and was danger himself of being killed at any moment.

Either way, it offers a unique perspective, as David used imagery in the psalm that he would have been very familiar with. That’s because David worked as shepherd before he became king. He at the time was the youngest and smallest of his family and that was the task his father Jesse gave him to do.

And in this psalm God inspired him to speak some beautiful words, which I know especially minister to those moving through the valley of the shadow of loss. Here’s what God inspired him to say:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. — Psalm 23:1-6 (NIV)

Just beautiful. And I have to tell you. Originally I thought could cover these beautiful words in just one message. But the Holy Spirit convicted me there’s so much in here, it’s so rich, that I have to break this message into a first look, one for this week, and then a second look for when I am back after Joanna’s and my time off in July.

I believe God wants to minister to those of you walking in the valley of the shadow, whatever that valley that might be. And here’s what I believe God wants you to know in this week’s two-part message, a key idea for this first look at Psalm 23, and the second look at this psalm we will do in August:

So this week, we’re going to take close look at the first three verses of this psalm. I’ll be illustrating it with some of own journey, but along the way, I’m also going to translate it to journeys you might be going through.

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There are two revelations in these verses about Jesus’ protection. First is this:

1. Realize why Jesus protects you.

This psalm was written by King David thousands of years before Jesus came to earth, but you know God the Father was inspiring David to ultimately point to Jesus when he wrote:

The LORD is my shepherd…— Psalm 23:1a (NIV)

This is how Jesus identified Himself when He walked the earth. He said in John chapter 10:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” — John 10:11 (NRSV)

Why does Jesus want to protect you? Jesus cares enough for you that He considers you one of His precious sheep, despite the vast universe He oversees.

How can you know Jesus cares for you? That phrase in John 10 says it all. He lays down His life for the sheep. Jesus cared enough about you, loved you enough that He went to the cross for you. And He did it despite the sheeplike tendencies human beings exhibit.

A big source for this message is a book by Phillip Keller: A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23. At the time the book was written Phillip was a Canadian agrologist. That’s someone who does a scientific study of agriculture, land management, and ranch development. But before that, he actually was a shepherd in Kenya, where his parents were missionaries.

Phillip can tell you what sheep are like. They can be stupid, stubborn, and give in to a mob mentality. If one goes that way, all go that way even through it might be dangerous. Kind of sounds you and me. And yet Jesus as shepherd protects us.

I can tell you when I was lost and directionless, Jesus protected me. In the aftermath Susan’s death, as vulnerable as I was, He kept me safe and eventually led me to the love of my life, my Joanna.

When you’re moving through the valley, dealing with loss of any kind, you’ve got to know Jesus is still your shepherd; you’ve got to know that He still loves and cares for you. He’s going to protect you from dumb, self-inflicted things, and things that can just happen when you’re weak, vulnerable, and feeling directionless.

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It leads to a second revelation where we’re going to spend the rest of our time in part one of this message, and then on Thursday in part two:

2. Realize how Jesus protects you.

As I read Phillip Keller’s book and prayed, I came to see seven ways in these first few verses that Jesus protects you:

a. Protection from a lack of peace

He says in verse V1b:

…I shall not be in want. — Psalm 23:1b (NIV)

The word there basically means not lacking. As a Christian, as believer and follower of Jesus, you won’t lack what you truly need, which is a deep connection with God and therefore peace, thanks to Jesus and through the Holy Spirit.

Sure, you may have troubles, just as sheep under a shepherd’s care can have danger. Jesus said in John 16:

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” — John 16:33 (NIV)

Sheep under a shepherd’s care are subject to diseases and dangers from predatory animals.

King David, before he was king, was subjected to grief at the loss of his best friend Jonathan, the son of King Saul. He also lost the first child he had with Bathsheba. He lost his son Absalom when he rebelled against him and later was killed. He knew poverty when he was on the run from Saul.

David knew anguish is his soul, as other psalms attest, like this line which began Psalm 22:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? — Psalm 22:1 (NIV)

And yet David had a settled peace, which you can feel in Psalm 23.

Jesus promises the same peace for you.

I can tell you he gave it to me, many moments as I healed from Susan’s death when I travelled back to my native Canada.

I stayed for a time with my friends Bob and Dee at their lakeside house — Bob was my high school English teacher who has become a close friend.

Riding in their boat along Pigeon Lake in Bobcaygeon Ontario Canada, seeing the fall colors during that October of 2013, and spending time with those dears friends and mentors, I felt a sense of peace.

Jesus promises you peace, and this with it:

b. Protection from fear

Protection from fear.

We’ll discuss this and additional ways Jesus protects you in part two of this message. Until then, go in peace; go in love; and smile, and walk, and sing and dance with Jesus today. And all God’s people said, “Amen.”

In every message I write for this publication, I am aware that there are those who are reading it who have either drifted from their faith, have been exploring issues of faith, or have had no faith at all. To all you, if you have felt any stirring in your heart while reading this, that is Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart. My prayer is that you will open that door by believing and then saying something like this: “I don’t know and understand all of this. But I am coming to believe that you Jesus are God come down to earth; that you died on the cross to bridge the gap between you and me, due to my sin; and that you rose from the dead, defeating death. I ask now that your Holy Spirit would come into my heart and fill me to overflowing, and that you would change me and lead me in the way of faith. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of faith. I would encourage you now to pick up a Bible and read the Gospel of John to learn more about your newfound faith, and that you would find a Bible-believing church in your community to attend.

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We began identifying, through this psalm, four ways in which God “holds” you.

First, God holds you in His mind. As David says in the psalm, fully inspired by God, God’s thoughts outnumber the grains of sand, but He also thinks about you individually.

Second, God holds you by His secure hand. He does this through the marvelous gift that Jesus gave to you and I as believers when Jesus ascended to heaven; He does it through the Holy Spirit.

Let’s explore that now in further depth, as well as delve into two additional ways God holds you.

The Holy Spirit didn’t let Jonah go in the Old Testament when he did the opposite of what God wanted him to do. He didn’t let Elijah go when during the time of the Kings of Israel, Elijah defeated false prophets, but then was so worn out that he wanted to die.

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The Holy Spirit won’t let go of your prodigal son or daughter, your prodigal grandchild, or your prodigal friend. And not only does God hold them and you by His secure hand, but He holds you this way, too:

3. God holds you in high esteem.

Actor Johnny Depp is actually like a lot of actors, though you wouldn’t know it because actors don’t project it on the screen. Johnny Depp has admittedly very little self confidence.

He said in an interview once that he likes to play a character that wears a lot of makeup and has a lot of alterations done to his appearance by special effects and the makeup crew. Kind of like the character of Jack Sparrow he played in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

He said he likes it because it means he doesn’t have to think of himself. He says when he looks in a mirror and just sees himself, he says “Ugh, you again? You still here? What do you want?”

You may feel that way about yourself, maybe even today. But that’s not how God feels about you. God says in verse 14a that you are:

…fearfully and wonderfully made. — Psalm 139:14a (NIV)

Fearfully means God looks at you with reverence. Like a carpenter who finishes building a table says, “Whoa, look at what I’ve done.” I want you to picture this: God is high-fiving Himself over you.

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And that world wonderfully, in Hebrew, the word used there means one of a kind. Ever heard somebody say in a derogatory manner to someone, “Man, God broke mold when He made that guy.” Well God means it in a great way. You’re one of a kind. You’re special. And because of that, here’s a fourth way God holds you:

4. God holds your destiny from beginning to end.

David writes in verse 16b:

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. — Psalm 139:16b (NIV)

When God says to Jeremiah in the Old Testament book that bears his name,

“For I know the plans I have for you…” — Jeremiah 29:11a (NIV)

…it means it’s a unique plan, a plan designed just for you, because He cares for you.

So let’s talk about what that can mean to you, as you leave the safety of your childhood backyard, to use the opening analogy of this message; as you venture out as an adult with no earthly parent to hold your hand.

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What are the application steps in terms of you living life, especially in those difficult times when, even when you’re surrounded by family, it feels like you against the world.

When you say to yourself, “My family can’t truly understand the illness I’m dealing with,” or “My friends can sympathize but can’t know the loss I feel at that relationship ending, that marriage ending, that job ending, or the death of someone I love.”

For those situations here’s some applications steps inspired by this psalm:

1. Remind yourself in those lonely moments God is with you always.

Vice Admiral Vivek Murthy, the Surgeon General of the U.S. from 2014-17 said one of the most lethal health issues there is in America is the issue of loneliness, which can lead to cardiovascular problems, depression, and anxiety. For the Christian, you are never alone.

2. Resolve not to let fear debilitate you and cause you to flee.

You can step out of that symbolic backyard knowing that the Holy Spirit is holding your hand and that through the Holy Spirit, a kind of spiritual “backyard” travels with you.

3. Reassure yourself just how valuable you are in God’s eyes.

Think about this: I’ve said it here before: You are so valuable to God that if you were the only person on the planet, Jesus would have come and died for you.

4. Rest assured God does love you and has a marvelous plan for you.

A unique, one-of-a- kind plan.

5. Recommit to cooperating with Him as He grows you for heaven.

What David does is what you and I should do: be loyal to Him, and hate what God hates. That’s what David means in verse 20b and following when he says:

…Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. — Psalm 139:20b-22 (NIV)

And also, be open to God working continual changes in you. That’s what David means when he says in verses 23 and 24:

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. — Psalm 139:23-34 (NIV)

It reminds me of a movie I loved in my youth, the movie Being There starring Peter Sellers.

In the movie, Peter Sellers played Chauncey Gardener, a simple man who was raised to be a literal gardener in a rich man’s house. When the old man dies and the will is read, for the first time in his life, Chauncey is forced to make his way in the world, to leave the safety of a backyard where he had tended the garden his whole life.

But you find out that as the movie progresses, somehow Chauncey is protected. And though a Hollywood movie is not going to give you for the most part an overtly Christian message, there is a sense throughout that Chauncey is constantly being watched over.

You are, too. Having left those childhood backyards, God’s spiritual backyard, His presence, is hedging you in, keeping you safe, holding your hand.

But to guarantee that is true for your life, you must be a believer and follower of Jesus. You must believe that Jesus is your Savior, God come down to earth, your only way to the security of heaven one day. For the believer and follower of Jesus, no matter what you face in life, no matter where you have to travel, you are never alone. What a great truth, which makes Psalm 139 the fourth most popular psalm of all time. To God be the glory.

In every message I write for this publication, I am aware that there are those who are reading it who have either drifted from their faith, have been exploring issues of faith, or have had no faith at all. To all you, if you have felt any stirring in your heart while reading this, that is Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart. My prayer is that you will open that door by believing and then saying something like this: “I don’t know and understand all of this. But I am coming to believe that you Jesus are God come down to earth; that you died on the cross to bridge the gap between you and me, due to my sin; and that you rose from the dead, defeating death. I ask now that your Holy Spirit would come into my heart and fill me to overflowing, and that you would change me and lead me in the way of faith. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of faith. I would encourage you now to pick up a Bible and read the Gospel of John to learn more about your newfound faith, and that you would find a Bible-believing church in your community to attend.

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Last week, I made a brief mention of the number one psalm, psalm 119 and a brief mention of the number three psalm, but focussed our time on number two, which was Psalm 51 and learned a valuable lesson about moving past the mistakes in your life.

We learned that when you repent and seek forgiveness through Jesus, the crust can come off you, so to speak, and you can be washed clean.

This week I want to focus on the fourth most popular psalm in the Bible.

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To begin, I want to take you back to a time you felt the most secure in your life. For me, it was when I was a very little kid, playing in my backyard. My house may have been very small growing up in the east end of Toronto, but that backyard was great.

Dad and Mom had barbecues back there. We had a badminton net back there. Dad froze it in the winter so had my brother Larry and I had an ice rink to learn to skate and play hockey. We played GI Joe back there, or Marvel super heroes — you name it.

But then there were times I had to venture out of that backyard into the world. But it was still okay. If I was walking to store, or taken to a shopping mall, I’d still be safe, even though I was out there in that scary world, because Mom or Dad was there to hold my hand.

I know not everybody had a childhood like that. I was blessed. But perhaps there was another time you felt secure if you’re childhood wasn’t so great. Maybe it was with your friends, or when you were first married, or a time you were raising your child and felt the warmth of family time in your own little family on a Saturday night.

But that feeling of security can also be elusive, can’t it? Because life with all its challenges can get in the way. It could be your health, or your finances, or a relationship, a friendship, or job or retirement security.

So question is, is there way you can feel secure? Like in that backyard, like when my parent held my hand? Psalm 139, says yes, no matter what your home life was like, that security is available through your heavenly Father.

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Some background on this psalm. Like last week’s, it was inspired by God but also written by King David and, as it did last week, this psalm delves deeply into a part of his life.

David had great victories, militarily, personally, and spiritually. But he also had stunning defeats and incredible stresses — King Saul out to get him, armies always coming at him, dealing with that horrific sin he committed that was described last week.

And as you read this psalm, it feels like David is reflecting on his whole life — good times and bad times. But because the Bible is timeless, it also speaks to you and me today. You can know for sure that though David wrote it for his time, God so inspired the writing that it is for all time, for the times you and I live in.

You can also know that this psalm can once again be filtered through the reality of Jesus’ birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension to heaven

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So let’s read through it now with that in mind:

O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.

You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.

If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. — Psalm 139:1-24 (NIV)

So when it comes to security in your life, here’s a key thought God wants to ingrain in you this week:

Psalm 139 identifies four ways God holds you:

1. God holds you in his mind.

I’m sure you’ve said this to people when you’re really swamped with life: “I can’t think about that right now; I’ve got too much on my plate.” Well, God’s got the world on His plate, but still puts you prominent in His mind.

Verse 2b says:

…you perceive my thoughts from afar. — Psalm 139:2b (NIV)

And David was so taken with this, God inspired him to say in verse 17a:

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! — Psalm 139:17a (NIV)

And what David means by this is not only thoughts God has about he, David, but thoughts God has about you, too. He’s thinking about you, constantly. He’s thinking about you individually even though God has billions of thoughts about other things as verse 18b tells us. David is inspired to write that God’s thoughts:

…outnumber the grains of sand. — Psalm 139:18a (NIV)

He’s thinking about you. Why? Remember the Bible verse God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah:

I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. — Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV)

But God not only holds you in His mind: There’s a second way God holds you, so that in any circumstance you can be assured you are not alone:

2. God holds you by His secure hand.

In verse five it says:

You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. — Psalm 139:5 (NIV)

That word hem can also be translated hedge or boundary. It’s like what you might find in your backyard. But even when you venture out in the world, God has you in His “spiritual” backyard, safe and secure with Him.

But there’s more. God inspires David to say in verse 10b:

…your right hand will hold me fast. — Psalm 139:10b (NIV)

God is not only keeping you in his spiritual backyard even when you venture out in the world, but He’s also symbolically extending His “hand” of security to you.

How does He do that? Through the gift Jesus gave you when He ascended to heaven, through the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is going to hold you no matter what goes on in your life. That’s the implication from verse seven:

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? — Psalm 139:7 (NIV)

You and I have all had times when we wanted to flee. When the pressure at work is too great — hey, that’s the reason Jimmy Buffet wrote It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere! It can also happen when the illness beats you down: “I just want to crawl off in a hole somewhere.”

It happened to my friend Billy. Billy was my constant companion on the Tanzania mission trip I took back in 2019. We became like best buddies. Billy and I had lot in common. We had remarried; at the time we had both lost a spouse to death, me after 31 years of marriage, and Billy after 30 years.

As we talked about that one night, Billy told me that when his first wife died, he wanted to leave his job at the post office, wanted to leave the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania region where he lived, and just wanted to move to California somewhere. And Billy told me that at the time, he went down some dark roads.

When David says in verse 8b…

…if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. — Psalm 139:8b (NIV)

…the literal translation of depths from the original Hebrew is Sheol, like a graveyard. Billy felt like the dark roads he went down were like a graveyard. But then he felt something. God still holding his hand.

Just like when you are in the depths of despair, when you feel like you’re being buried alive. you’ve got to know God is still holding your hand, still hedging you in, by Holy Spirit

It brought Billy back, and made him think, “I need to reconnect with Jesus.” I pray that for those of you who need to hear that, that it brings you back, too.

We’ll talk more about that in part two of this message. Until then, go in peace; go in love; and smile, and walk, and sing and dance with Jesus today. And all God’s people said, “Amen.”

In every message I write for this publication, I am aware that there are those who are reading it who have either drifted from their faith, have been exploring issues of faith, or have had no faith at all. To all you, if you have felt any stirring in your heart while reading this, that is Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart. My prayer is that you will open that door by believing and then saying something like this: “I don’t know and understand all of this. But I am coming to believe that you Jesus are God come down to earth; that you died on the cross to bridge the gap between you and me, due to my sin; and that you rose from the dead, defeating death. I ask now that your Holy Spirit would come into my heart and fill me to overflowing, and that you would change me and lead me in the way of faith. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of faith. I would encourage you now to pick up a Bible and read the Gospel of John to learn more about your newfound faith, and that you would find a Bible-believing church in your community to attend.

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God inspired King David to write this psalm after his dual sins of adultery with Bathsheba and arranging the murder of Bathsheba’s husband. In part one of this message, we explored two truths this psalm brings to light.

The first truth is sin can become a “crust” that hardens your life. Sin, as with David, can start off small but then become a real mess.

But as we filter this Old Testament psalm through the lens of Jesus death, resurrection, and ascension, we learned the second truth is Jesus is the Divine Dishwasher. Jesus can clean up and blot out your sins, paraphrasing the words of Psalm 51.

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So as we move now into part two this week, let me ask you a question: do you want to move past what’s crusted you up in life? Do you want to be clean and fresh and renewed? Then I want conclude this message with four invitations that Psalm 51 points to, that Jesus wants you to partake of.

1. Own up to sin in your life and its effects.

David realized his sin wasn’t just against the people involved, it was against God. He says in verse 4a:

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight… — Psalm 51:4a (NIV)

He also realizes that apart from God working in His life, it is part of his nature:

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. — Psalm 51:5 (NIV)

He also realizes its effects. He not only feels crusty, hardened in life, but he also feels crushed inside:

Let the bones you have crushed rejoice. — Psalm 51:8b (NIV)

And this leads to the second invitation that Psalm 51 points to:

2. Admit you can’t live up to God’s standards.

The Bible says trying to be the best person you can be on your own is impossible. Here’s the standard, Jesus speaking:

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” — Matthew 5:48 (NIV)

God inspired David to imply the same thing:

Surely you desire truth in the inner parts. — Psalm 51:6a (NIV)

And this leads to a third invitation:

3. Open up your heart to the cleansing power of Jesus.

How you do that is you repent.

I’ve come understand that repentance means you want change your heart and change your mind. “I don’t want be this person any more. I’m sick of him or her.”

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Then be aware of what Jesus has done for you: He’s wiped you clean, washed you, removed the crust of sin. In verse 9a David wants God to:

Hide your face from my sins…— Psalm 51:9a (NIV)

Through Jesus, God the Father doesn’t see your sins anymore. His face doesn’t even look at you that way. God’s too busy looking at His Son Jesus. And through Jesus, God does another thing David requests:

Restore to me the joy of your salvation…— Psalm 51:12a (NIV)

Jesus can take away the crust and restore your joy, and I’m not talking about the old Joy dishwashing liquid.(!)

I’m talking about an invitation Jesus gives after His ascension to all who believe in Him as the only sacrifice for sins, the only way to heaven:

4. Observe the Holy Spirit change you from the inside out.

David pleads in verses 11 and 12b:

Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me…and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. — Psalm 51:11, 12b (NIV)

That’s what Jesus does. When you repent and invite Him in your heart, He doesn’t take the Holy Spirit from you, but when you become a believer and follower of Jesus, He gives the Holy Spirit to you, and He changes you to be more like Him. Paul writes in 2nd Corinthians:

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. — 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)

The veil of separation between you and God has been removed, like the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the old Jerusalem temple. Thanks to Jesus He tears it apart, and changes your spirit through the Holy Spirit. He places in you His glory, that same glory that was present in the Holy of Holies in that temple.

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He takes away the crust of your life and gives you the cloud of His presence, the cloud of His glory. He makes you a better person. The image used in this psalm, in verse 18, is that He’ll rebuild your walls. And He’ll make you want to share the work He’s done in you, to impact the lives of other people:

Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. — Psalm 51:13 (NIV)

Those of you with smart phones, take a moment to hold it in front of you. You know what makes your smart phone able to work? It’s purest white sand found anywhere in the world.

It’s actually a type of quartz, the purest white sand quartz found only in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. It’s used make the silicon, which makes those micro computer chips, which powers your smart phone.

Jesus can make you work. He made David work. His sacrifice is the pure white sand in your life. He moves you past your mistakes to put a white-as-snow sense of Him inside you.

In the New Testament, He helped the apostle Paul move past His mistakes, and when Paul saw who Jesus was, and became a Christian, the Bible records this in the Passion translation:

All at once, the crusty substance that was over Saul’s eyes disappeared and he could see perfectly. Immediately, he got up and was baptized. — Acts 9:18 (TPT)

Jesus can remove the crust. And move you past your mistakes. And use you to help someone else see crust in their own eyes. I guess that’s why Psalm 51 is the second most popular psalm all the Bible.

To God be the glory. and go in peace: go in love; and smile, and walk, and sing and dance with Jesus today. And all God’s people said, “Amen.”

In every message I write for this publication, I am aware that there are those who are reading it who have either drifted from their faith, have been exploring issues of faith, or have had no faith at all. To all you, if you have felt any stirring in your heart while reading this, that is Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart. My prayer is that you will open that door by believing and then saying something like this: “I don’t know and understand all of this. But I am coming to believe that you Jesus are God come down to earth; that you died on the cross to bridge the gap between you and me, due to my sin; and that you rose from the dead, defeating death. I ask now that your Holy Spirit would come into my heart and fill me to overflowing, and that you would change me and lead me in the way of faith. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of faith. I would encourage you now to pick up a Bible and read the Gospel of John to learn more about your newfound faith, and that you would find a Bible-believing church in your community to attend.

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Like some of you, I’m one of those guys who primarily reads the Bible on my smart phone. I got a printed Bible when I first became a Christian, and I still use it, though some of the pages are coming out, and a leather cover is what keeps the whole thing from falling apart! But for a quick reference, I tend to go to Bible apps on my phone more than anything else.

One Bible app I’ve used for years is the YouVersion, originally developed by LifeChurch TV out of Oklahoma. And this is where the message series idea came from.

Back in 2013, YouVersion celebrated its 100 millionth download of its app. And to do that, they put together a list of their top five psalms based on what people accessed from their app. And so I thought, “Let’s do a series based those top five and — here’s a creative title for you — let’s call the series The Top Five.

The Top Five begins with Psalm 119, the longest psalm of Bible. If we looked at that one in depth, it would take multiple weeks! It’s sectioned off with subtitles that correspond to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and one of those sections contains one of the most famous phrases in the Bible about the Bible:

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. — Psalm 119:105 (NIV)

The third most popular psalm contains another famous expression of how you can be nurtured from the Bible:

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. — Psalm 1:1-3 (NIV)

But where the Holy Spirit led me to focus in on for these next three weeks are the second, fourth and fifth of the Top Five psalms read around the world. This week’s focus is going to be on the second most popular psalm, Psalm 51.

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Now my hope is that you’ve found in your own life what God inspired the Apostle Paul to say to his protege, Timothy, that all Scripture is God-breathed, and useful for teaching, correcting, and training in righteousness. And my prayer is that that is what this psalm is going to do for you this week.

My title for this message is Moving Past the Mistakes in Your Life, and it’s a reflection God inspired King David of Israel to make after he made a series of horrible mistakes in his own life.

Let me set the stage for you. Back in ancient times, when nations like Israel were at war, they generally didn’t fight in the winter; the battles took place in spring when the weather was nicer. And that was the occasion recorded for us in the Old Testament book of 2 Samuel:

In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army… But David remained in Jerusalem. — 2 Samuel 11:1 (NIV)

David doesn’t do what kings did back then: march out with their troops. So he’s idle and has time on his hands. Which was not good. I love how one translation of Proverbs 16 puts it:

Idle hands are the devil’s workshop…— Proverbs 16:27 (TLB)

And so David finds himself out on the flat roof of his house one night, not an uncommon thing to do in the Middle East, and he looks across at another house and sees a married woman, Bathsheba, bathing.

And he just stares and stares, I imagine, and the Bible records that he starts to lust after her, and soon arranges a way to sleep with her, and right out of script of a movie or soap opera, Bathsheba gets pregnant.

David’s got a problem. And the Bible tells us who Bathsheba’s husband is, Uriah, one of the “mighty men” of Israel recorded in the book of 1st Chronicles.

So what David does next is have Uriah taken out of battle — a pretty devious guy this David — so Uriah would sleep with his wife and everyone would think it’s his baby. Only Uriah won’t do it. He’s a loyal soldier and won’t go off having fun while fellow soldiers are fighting.

So then David takes it to a sinister level. He arranges things with one of his commanders so that Uriah is placed in an area of the heaviest fighting against the enemy, and then at right moment, Uriah’s fellow soldiers are ordered to pull back, leaving Uriah by himself.

Uriah’s killed. David has arranged his murder. And so David marries the now widow Bathsheba and they have a son, and it looks like David’s going to get away with it. But God has a prophet in Israel, someone through whom the Holy Spirit speaks, a man named Nathan.

In dramatic scene in 2 Samuel, the prophet Nathan confronts David, and now the Holy Spirit convicts David. He realizes he has committed the twin sins of adultery and murder. And that leads to God inspiring David to write Psalm 51.

There are some beautiful heartfelt words in this psalm, and if you’ve got the Holy Spirit inside of you thanks to Jesus, they reflect what you and I feel when we sin.

But they also provide hope, especially if you filter these Old Testament words through the reality of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension to heaven. Here’s a key idea for you in applying this psalm to your life:

And that leads to the first of two truths for you:

1. Sin can become a crust that hardens your life.

I don’t know your household habits, but I’m going to guess that at least some of you don’t always do the dishes or load the dishwasher right after you eat. But there’s also some of you, like Joanna and me, the moment you’re done eating, you’re in the kitchen cleaning up. But you know, I can understand how in busyness, some people let them pile up.

Now, don’t get me wrong: dirty dishes are not a sin. But isn’t it true that if you don’t take care of them eventually, you’ve got a real mess on your hands, as the plates and dishes and pots develop crusted-over food on them?

Sin be like that, in a way. Like a bunch of dirty dishes, it can be something that starts off small, but then becomes substantial.

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For David, his sin started gradually. Not being a king who marched out with his troops like the kings of his time did. And that led to the nighttime roof gazing at Bathsheba, and then adultery with her. And pretty soon he had a real mess on his hands.

And like food on dishes that have piled up unwashed, adultery with Bathsheba made him hard and crusty. His conscience became hard, and he found it easier next to cover things up by manipulating Uriah, and then he got even more crusty, more hardened, when he actually arranged Uriah’s murder.

That’s how sin can work in people, maybe even some of you. For example, fascination, excessive staring at other people not a person’s spouse can put a spiritual crust on the staring person. And it leads them perhaps to linger on websites where they look at others not their spouse. And that in some cases leads becoming addicted to porn.

Or, I think of the person who have bought into the lie of this culture that there is no God, and so they look to something to deaden the pain in life, and get hooked on drugs. And this “crust” in their lives becomes even harder.

I knew couple who attended a church I served, who got hooked on heroin and it caused them to steal from her grandparents to support their habit, which then lead to an even bigger mess. Eventually they tried to break in and steal a safe from a convenience store, got caught and went to prison.

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What is the sin that has the danger of causing a hardening in your life right now? Galatians chapter five gives a list of possibilities:

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. — Galatians 5:19-21 (NIV)

I saw effect of witchcraft in that list when I did mission work in Tanzania — a woman who literally got possessed by demons.

But I want you to notice the other sins listed here, that can also build up and harden like a crust in your life.

Stirring up dissension is one. I’ve seen “religious people” practically ruin churches because of dissension. And it can harden them to love of Jesus, and make them an enemy of the very church they are thinking they are helping.

Look at hatred and fits of rage. They have the effect of smoldering out the love God is trying to ignite it your heart. My suggestion this week is to take look at that list, and ask and pray about what sin might have the danger of becoming a hardened crust in your life?

But I thank God God didn’t leave David there, which means He doesn’t leave you and I there either. God sent Nathan the prophet to convict David of sin, to take the crust from his eyes, so to speak. And God sent His only Son, Jesus, to do the same thing for you and me, plus much more.

That leads to a second truth:

2. Jesus is the Divine Dishwasher.

The only thing that is going to take that crust off of dishes that have piled up is to run them through a dishwasher on the heavy load cycle. Then detergent and heat dissolve the crust away.

David knew when He saw the sin in himself he needed to be washed clean, too. David says in verses one and two of Psalm 51:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. — Psalm 51:1-2 (NIV)

And that word blot out is a Hebrew word also used, yes, for wiping a dish clean. David goes on to say in verse seven:

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. — Psalm 51:7 (NIV)

Hyssop was plant used by priests in the ancient Israelite tabernacle and then the temple. It was used for sprinkling the blood of sacrificed animal in order to purify an area, like an altar, or to purify a person, like a priest being consecrated.

And all that was a set up, a foreshadowing of what Jesus does for you and me.

Jesus in that respect is the divine dishwasher in your life. When Jesus went to the cross, the heat of his death, the cleansing power of His sacrifice took away the crust of sin in your life and mine.

He blasts it away with power, such power that when He died an earthquake shook the earth, and the six-foot thick veil of the curtain in temple which separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple, was torn in two.

And that symbolized you and I now having direct access to God the Father through Jesus. Jesus can be your earthquake. Jesus can blast away the dirt.

No matter how heinous your sin. No matter how far gone you think you are, Jesus can blast it away. He sprinkles you metaphorically with the hyssop that contains His blood, and He declares you as a believer in Him, clean.

I don’t care how bad the mistake you made in life is, the truth of Psalm 51, the truth of Jesus is that you can move past the mistakes in your life, and start new, start clean.

We’ll explore more of this, plus four invitations that Psalm 51 points to, in part two of this message.

In the meantime, go in peace: go in love; and smile, and walk, and sing and dance with Jesus today. And all God’s people said, “Amen.”

In every message I write for this publication, I am aware that there are those who are reading it who have either drifted from their faith, have been exploring issues of faith, or have had no faith at all. To all you, if you have felt any stirring in your heart while reading this, that is Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart. My prayer is that you will open that door by believing and then saying something like this: “I don’t know and understand all of this. But I am coming to believe that you Jesus are God come down to earth; that you died on the cross to bridge the gap between you and me, due to my sin; and that you rose from the dead, defeating death. I ask now that your Holy Spirit would come into my heart and fill me to overflowing, and that you would change me and lead me in the way of faith. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of faith. I would encourage you now to pick up a Bible and read the Gospel of John to learn more about your newfound faith, and that you would find a Bible-believing church in your community to attend.

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Having talked about having a servant’s heart and a sacrificial attitude, the final message in the series, from the Gospel of Mark chapter 12, has looked your need and mine to demonstrate a relationship with God in how you live your life. In our text for the week, we identified five decisions you need to make.

The first is to not get swept up in rituals. The Pharisees of Jesus’ time did, and those of us who were raised Catholic can think being connected to God comes down to things we are supposed to do — like saying so many Hail Marys after going to confession.

But we also talked about how a ritualist sense can happen in Protestant churches, too. It occurs when going to church on Sunday becomes just another chore, something you check off the box with very little emotional investment.

The second decision we looked at is to recall how much God loves you. The challenge, we discussed, is that you can so swept up in life sometimes that you forget that.

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That brings us today to the final three decisions for what you need the most, a dynamic relationship with God through Jesus. Here’s decision number three:

3. Love Him back just as much.

Jesus responds to the scribe’s question that we read in part one by saying this:

“…you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” — Mark 12:30 (NRSV)

Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy chapter six from the Old Testament to show this religious leader that despite the fact He Jesus is there to show whom the Old Testament really pointed to, namely Himself, He also knows the words written in it. I mean, He should; He inspired people to write it!

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But let’s break down what Jesus says here and make it really practical, so you and I can move away from stale ritual, just mailing it in, to something more.

a. “With all your heart”

The heart is the wellspring of all your thoughts, words and deeds. So the idea is to think about how Jesus first loved you.

Think about how He set you apart for saving faith in Him, how He atoned for your sins, and guided you to a lifelong relationship with Him.

b. “With all your soul”

The soul is the emotional center of who you are. The idea here is to visualize, to picture what Jesus did.

Maybe watch The Passion of the Christ. I understand in a year or so a new movie, also by Mel Gibson, is coming out about the resurrection. But let your emotions get carried away. Think of how lost you were maybe, and how found you are now.

c. “With all your mind”

This is your intellectual center that thinks through things. With your mind, keep growing in the knowledge of God’s plan as revealed in the Bible. This means regular times in the Bible, maybe journaling.

d. “With all your strength”

Put legs to your love of God with the things I just talked about in the previous message in this series. Look for where you can serve with a sacrificial attitude.

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This involves a fourth decision you need to make:

4. Reflect His love by loving others.

That’s the connection Jesus makes when He says this in verse 31a:

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” — Matthew 16:31a (NRSV)

You can do the exact same thing with your neighbor, friend, relative, person you work with, or go to school with, or shoot hoops with, or knit with, or play cards with — you name it. How do you love them?

a. Heart

You really think about them. You really think things like what’s going on in their lives; where are they hurting, where can you help, how can you pray.

b. Soul

You really feel for them. You empathize with what they are going through.

c. Mind

You let your mind drift to how you can help people for whom you are thinking and feeling.

d. Strength

You again put legs to faith by serving them sacrificially.

And isn’t it interesting how one flows from another. As you love God with heart, soul, mind and strength, His Holy Spirit flows into you and helps your heart, soul, mind and strength be there to love and serve others.

But of course, to do this, for any of this to take effect, for you to have the power to make all this happen, requires a fifth decision on your part:

5. Begin by trusting Jesus.

The scribe in these verses agrees intellectually with what Jesus said. He says in verses 32 and 33:

“You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself,’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” - Mark 12:32-33 (NRSV)

But there is still something missing. Jesus points it out in verse 34:

When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” — Mark 12:34 (NRSV)

What does He mean by not far?

What this scribe still needed to do was acknowledge Jesus as God come down to earth. What he still needed to do is to say that Jesus’ prediction about Himself, Jesus, was going to come true; that Jesus was going to be an atoning sacrifice, a once for all time bridge for you and me from what separates us from God, namely our sin.

This scribe needed to acknowledge that what the entire Old Testament system of sacrificing animals in the Jerusalem temple ultimately pointed to Jesus.

And that’s what you and I need the most, too.

If you want to get away from stale ritual that doesn’t mean anything; if you want to know how much you’re loved; if you are going to be able to love Him back and love others, it’s going to take the Holy Spirit working in you to convict you deeply that Jesus is who says He is, that He did what He said He did, and that He is the only way to heaven.

Can you say that?

I learned a long time ago that just because a person goes to church dutifully, it doesn’t mean they have transferred their trust to Jesus exclusively to pay the penalty for their sins and to pave the way to eternal life through the cross and His resurrection.

Some believe they need to work their way to God; or that because of mistakes in their past, or because they walked away from God, they think He wouldn’t want to rescue them or welcome them back, as the prodigal son was welcomed home by his father.

When ritual became a relationship it all opened up for me. When ritual becomes a relationship with Jesus, your life journey is just beginning, no matter hold old you are, because you will have put the Proper Person on the throne of your life.

And that is Jesus. He is the way, the truth and the life. When you put Him in control, when you put Him on the throne of your life, well that’s when you truly start living…and loving…as Jesus did. And that friends is what real life is all about. To God be the glory.

Go in peace; go in love; and smile, and walk, and sing and dance with Jesus today. And all God’s people said, “Amen.”

In every message I write for this publication, I am aware that there are those who are reading it who have either drifted from their faith, have been exploring issues of faith, or have had no faith at all. To all you, if you have felt any stirring in your heart while reading this, that is Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart. My prayer is that you will open that door by believing and then saying something like this: “I don’t know and understand all of this. But I am coming to believe that you Jesus are God come down to earth; that you died on the cross to bridge the gap between you and me, due to my sin; and that you rose from the dead, defeating death. I ask now that your Holy Spirit would come into my heart and fill me to overflowing, and that you would change me and lead me in the way of faith. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of faith. I would encourage you now to pick up a Bible and read the Gospel of John to learn more about your newfound faith, and that you would find a Bible-believing church in your community to attend.

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Our text for this week occurs just after Jesus is tested by the Jewish religious leaders. These leaders included the Pharisees, who were a kind of Guardians of the Galaxy when it came to Old Testament Jewish laws and regulations. They also included the Sadducees, a group from which the high priests came. They believed in God but didn’t believe in a resurrection from the dead — talk about a sad worldview — no hope of eternity whatsoever.

This group had approached Jesus with the express goal of tripping Him up and finding a means of arresting Him, because they believed Jesus’ thoughts and views were impinging on their power base.

So, Jesus answers them, in the compelling way that you’d expect from God come down to earth. And that leads another religious leader, a scribe this time — one who copied, studied, interpreted and taught the Scriptures — to approach Him.

Only this guy seems genuinely curious, not out to get Jesus. He suspects, I think, when it comes to Jesus being the predicted Messiah — the prediction of a Messiah made throughout the entire Old Testament — He suspects Jesus might be the real deal.

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And so we wrap up the Game of Thrones series — asking the question who or what is on the throne of your life instead of God — with this God-ordained encounter in Mark 12:

One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself,’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question. — Mark 12:28-34 (NRSV)

The region I live in now, the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania region, is known to have a large Catholic contingent, (maybe that’s why I fit in!) Some of you, or maybe relatives of yours, may have been raised in the Catholic tradition. Me, I raised in Our Lady of Fatima in the east end of Toronto.

One of the challenges that some of us have had with Catholicism is that connecting with God sometimes seemed like it was based on a lot of rituals.

You cuss out a guy at school — say three Hail Marys. You want an intense time with God? Go around and pray the stations of the cross. But even back then when I was a kid, I got a sense that the rituals felt stale; what I really wanted was to know God and feel Him in my life, in other words, to have a relationship with Him.

Well it turns out, that’s what God wants too. That’s why He came to earth as Jesus. That’s why Jesus ascended and gave the Holy Spirit we talked about a couple weeks back to dwell inside you and me. Because God wants a real relationship with you.

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So far in this message series we’ve talked about how that relationship plays out. Having a servant’s heart like Jesus had toward you. Going the extra mile to help God’s children by having a sacrificial attitude.

This week in parts one and two of this message, we’re going to conclude the series by talking about what you and I need the most — to demonstrate a relationship with God, to put Him on the throne of your life, to shine His life and light into the lives of others.

Using our Bible passages from Mark plus others, it’s my prayer that you see that what you need the most is to make five decisions based on this Scripture. Here’s the first:

1. I won’t get swept up in rituals.

That’s what the Pharisees did.

In researching this message, I found those folks thought there were 613 separate commandments in the first five books of the Bible: 248 things you had to do, and another 365 you had to avoid doing.

For example, if you were a shepherd and carried a staff, they said you couldn’t do it on the Sabbath Day. But you could if you were also serving in the temple, as long as you washed a certain way.

Okay, a little different, for sure. But then the Jewish leaders of that day, so you wouldn’t sin, built rules around those rules. Jesus went so far as to call all these rules and rituals heavy loads. Here’s how Jesus is translated saying it from the Message paraphrase of the Bible:

“Instead of giving you God’s Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn’t think of lifting a finger to help.” — Matthew 23:4 (MSG)

What I found in my Catholic upbringing was that some of those rituals I had to say were stale and lifeless. They didn’t mean anything.

I still remember something from the Catholic liturgy:

“The Lord be with you. And also with you. Let us praise the Lord. It is right to give Him thanks and praise.” Nothing wrong with it in that it points to God. But it was so ritualistic it was said — I said it — in monotone like reading a recipe card.

No wonder the spiritually curious scribe asked Jesus in verse 28:

“Which commandment is the first of all?” — Mark 12:28 (NRSV)

Of all the stuff I’m supposed to do, which, he is in effect saying, which is the most important?

Now don’t get me wrong. A lot of the Catholic ceremony is beautiful and points to the mystery and majesty of God. But when it becomes ritual for rituals sake, that’s when I found it lost meaning.

And the same thing can happen in Protestant churches. If worshipping God on Sunday becomes a chore you have to do, something expected, something to check off the list, something Grandma or Grandpa did so I must do too, then it also loses all meaning.

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As I was studied this passage, I believed God wanted me to share it in order to break the mold, to break any throne of ritual in your life and replace it with something God wants, God desires, and God would be so overjoyed if you do. I pray it leads to a second decision you need to make, what you need the most and what God desires:

2. Recall how much God loves you.

I know what it can be like. You get so swept up in just doing life, going from this activity to that, going to work, or traveling here to there, or dealing with family stuff, you lose track of just how much God loves you.

In one of my quiet times in the word, I was reading Psalm 139. The descriptions of how much God cares for you, is close to you, and loves you is right in there. And it just blows you away:

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. — Psalm 139:1-2, 7-10, 15-16 (NIV)

And then there’s this from the Old Testament:

…the Lord appeared to him from far away. “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” — Jeremiah 31:3 (NRSV)

But it’s not just words, it’s actions, what Jesus is all about:

“For 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.” — John 3:16 (NIV)

And you can substitute the word you in there for world. He loves you so much, more than you will ever know.

It is so easy to get away from this notion, the truth that God loves you, when feel beat up by the world, or circumstances, or get too swept up in the mistakes you’ve made.

You say, “The way the world treats me, I guess God doesn’t love me, if there is a God.” Or you say about the circumstances you are going through, “It can’t be God that loves me and yet allows me to go through this.” Or you say, “I’ve made too many mistakes; He couldn’t possibly love me.”

But don’t let your actions or what takes place in a fallen world until Jesus returns make you think that. He loves you so much that if you were the only person on the planet, He would have come down and done the same thing just for you. You are the one sheep Jesus leaves the 99 to go after.

More about this in part two of this week’s message, coming Thursday.

Until then, go in peace; go in love; and smile, and walk, and sing and dance with Jesus today. And all God’s people said, “Amen.”

In every message I write for this publication, I am aware that there are those who are reading it who have either drifted from their faith, have been exploring issues of faith, or have had no faith at all. To all you, if you have felt any stirring in your heart while reading this, that is Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart. My prayer is that you will open that door by believing and then saying something like this: “I don’t know and understand all of this. But I am coming to believe that you Jesus are God come down to earth; that you died on the cross to bridge the gap between you and me, due to my sin; and that you rose from the dead, defeating death. I ask now that your Holy Spirit would come into my heart and fill me to overflowing, and that you would change me and lead me in the way of faith. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of faith. I would encourage you now to pick up a Bible and read the Gospel of John to learn more about your newfound faith, and that you would find a Bible-believing church in your community to attend.

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First was to examine the “crown jewels” of your life. We identified those crown jewels as comfort, convenience and a me-first attitude.

This led to a second approach, to practice a sacrificial attitude. Reading several commentators on Matthew 16:21-28, our passage for this week, what I learned is it really comes down to what jewels you could be placing in Jesus’ crown. That is going to be the focus on part two of the message.

What are those jewels? They are the following:

a. Self-denial

b. Sacrificing your time, money and convenience

c. Witnessing

These are what Jesus means in this week’s passage by picking up your cross. Yes, it’s different from what you and I usually think about when we hear this term. We usually think it has to do with the stuff you have put up with in life, like illness, or listening to another lecture about “good old days” from Aunt Ruth.

Those things — okay maybe not Aunt Ruth — are stuff you deal with in living in a fallen world where there are diseases and people doing nasty things. But in reality, picking up the cross is taking the servant’s heart I talked about in the first message in this series and going the extra mile in putting yourself out there.

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Here some examples for you:

Self-denial. You put yourself out there in areas where you could be shut down. You intervene with a friend with a drinking or drug program. You lovingly confront them, even though you know it could cost you your friendship.

Sacrificing time, money and convenience. You do like some doctors and dentists I met during my time in ministry. They shut down their practices and sources of income for a couple of weeks to work in medical brigades every year in a remote village in Honduras. I watched my former PCP Rob Potter do this over a decade, and do so with a smile on his face.

I remember after one brigade he worked at, he said at dinner that night, “That’s what practicing medicine is all about. No paperwork, no insurance companies.”

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Witnessing. You take the time to share your faith, why Jesus gives you hope, and then the basics of who Jesus is, what He did, and why He is the only way heaven. And you do it, even though you might be rejected for it, or looked down upon by a friend or co-worker. Who might God laying your heart today that you need to witness to this week?

Putting yourself out there like that, giving yourself away as the expression goes, having a sacrificial attitude, has the benefit of tapping you into real life, real love and to use an image from part one of this message, it’s going to cause your soul to expand. And that sets up a final approach to knowing why must have a sacrificial attitude:

3. Exchange inconvenience for eternal rewards.

Bible scholar James Montgomery Boice asked a question in his commentary of this passage. With all this sacrifice, he asked, is a sacrificial attitude a good investment? You be the judge, based on Jesus’ own words from our passage this week:

For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done.” — Matthew 16:27 (NRSV)

It is a reality that one day, all of us, are going to die. You’ll be in heaven based only on your belief in Jesus, and the transfer of your trust to Him and Him alone to rescue you from the gap of separation between God the Father and you.

As Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one can come to the Father except through me. But once in, that’s where V27 comes into play.

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Your assignment in heaven, your degree of responsibility you have, will be based on how sacrificial you were here on earth. As one Bible scholar put it, there’ll be degrees of glory in heaven.

And Jesus hints at that degree of glory. He says in V28:

“Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” — Matthew 16:28 (NRSV)

Right after the events described in this passage, Jesus lets James, John, and Peter get a hint of degree glory they’ll experience when Jesus takes on His heavenly appearance in that event known as the transfiguration.

And all this makes sense, if you think about it. As Boice says, do any of us really believe that in the end you will come out on the short end of the stick in eternity by following Jesus, by having a sacrificial attitude?

Like me, you may not have a green thumb when it comes to plants. I can’t even seemingly touch them without them shriveling up, and being less than they are capable of being.

But you can make difference with your own soul. You can keep it from shrinking and shriveling.

So my encouragement to you is to take hard look at some of those crown jewels in your life. They may be the source of shrinkage. Then pray about and practice having a sacrificial attitude. It’s going to make you feel more fulfilled in this life, and prepare you for a degree of glory in heaven that you can only dream about.

Make cooperating with Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit in you one of the crowns of your life. Cooperate with the King of kings and Lord of Lords in having a selfless nature. To God be the glory.

Go in peace; go in love; and smile, and walk, and sing and dance with Jesus today. And all God’s people said, “Amen.”

In every message I write for this publication, I am aware that there are those who are reading it who have either drifted from their faith, have been exploring issues of faith, or have had no faith at all. To all you, if you have felt any stirring in your heart while reading this, that is Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart. My prayer is that you will open that door by believing and then saying something like this: “I don’t know and understand all of this. But I am coming to believe that you Jesus are God come down to earth; that you died on the cross to bridge the gap between you and me, due to my sin; and that you rose from the dead, defeating death. I ask now that your Holy Spirit would come into my heart and fill me to overflowing, and that you would change me and lead me in the way of faith. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of faith. I would encourage you now to pick up a Bible and read the Gospel of John to learn more about your newfound faith, and that you would find a Bible-believing church in your community to attend.

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Now again, the series is not called that because I loved the old HBO series, but because the title gets to the heart of what we want to talk about in this series: who or what might occupy the throne in your life, instead of God.

Again, the key idea here is inspired by my friend, the late Pastor Jeff Leake:

If I let God control my life, I get what His leadership can provide. If I insist on controlling my own life, I get what my leadership can provide.

Which is not always adequate.

This week’s reading from Matthew’s Gospel takes us to a heated encounter between the Apostle Peter and his beloved Master:

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

“For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” — Matthew 16:21-28 (NRSV)

I want to begin this week with a confession for you. I am a plant killer. Now not deliberate, not premeditated — not some kind serial plant killer who goes out there stalking rhododendrons. It’s just that I don’t have a green thumb; it’s not my gift. If you leave me to take care of your plants, they’re probably going to shrivel up, and become less than they are capable of being.

Well the same can be true for you and me as human beings. Left to our own devices in this life, we may think we’re doing the right thing as you and I live this life, go to school, seek your career choice, grow your career, raise your children or grandchildren, or pursue retirement.

But on our own you and I don’t have spiritual green thumbs. We can actually cause lives — ours and others — to shrivel up and become less than they are capable of being, in the eyes of the One who created us, Almighty God.

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But your heavenly Father doesn’t want that for you. That’s why He gives us passages in the Bible like what we are looking at this week in Matthew. God designed you to be so much more. He designed you to be like our Messiah, Jesus, and to live lives that are the richest and most fulfilled.

But to live lives that are the richest and most fulfilled, it’s paradoxically going to involve giving them away, having a sacrificial attitude. This is more than having a servant’s heart, as we learned about a couple of weeks ago, having an orientation to help other people.

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This actually involves putting yourselves in positions that are inconvenient, positions that might cost something in terms money, prestige, or maybe even life as you know it. What it is going to involve, as we take a closer look at our text in parts one and two of this message, is three approaches; three approaches to discover why you need a sacrificial attitude. Here’s the first approach:

1. Examine the “crown jewels” of your life.

By crown jewels, I mean what makes you feel important, secure, in charge — in other words, those things that make you feel like king or queen of your own life and in control.

We find out what was important to the Apostle Peter after Jesus explains that He as Messiah must be arrested, must suffer at the hands of Jewish religious leaders, must die and be raised again.

Peter would likely have been walking behind Jesus, and when Jesus uttered the words recorded in Matthew, you could picture him — very emotionally which would be typical Peter — you can picture him grabbing Jesus as he reamed Jesus out in front all the rest of the disciples:

“God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” —Matthew 16:22 (NRSV)

It is likely Peter’s crown jewel, the thing most important to him, was that Jesus would be a military Messiah who would overthrow Rome. Jesus dying as Jesus described didn’t fit in with what have been Peter’s dream of comfort. He wanted Jesus to have the crown without the cross, without having to sacrifice anything.

This was the same thing Satan tempted Jesus with in the wilderness when Jesus began His ministry. Peter was so much a mouthpiece of Satan in this instance Jesus had to point it out:

But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” — Matthew 16:23 (NRSV)

That leads me to ask, what are the crown jewels of your life?

If you’re like most of us, it usually comes down to three crown jewels in our lives:

a. Comfort, convenience and a me-first attitude

Ask anyone some of the basic things they want out of life. A comfortable home, a comfortable job that pays well, a relaxing or fun place to go on vacation. Now these aren’t bad goals to have, but they shouldn’t be the only thing.

And then when it comes to convenience, most people can’t stand to be inconvenienced. Ever threw your hands up in the air at a traffic jam? Yeah, you and I don’t like to be inconvenienced.

But then it can start going to extremes. It’s too inconvenient for me to pray to my Creator — I’ve had a long day. It’s not convenient to read the Bible because I got too much on my plate this morning. It’s not convenient to serve my church and help people I know are in need.

What can develop is a me-firstism.

I suffered this big time when I worked that job at Discovery Toys. I was fortunate when I started as a creative writer for the company that the way I wrote sounded very similar to the way founder and president Lane Nemeth spoke.

And so as I started to get better and better assignments, it became all about me. I didn’t help out the person I reported to, but rather did anything the president asked. Helping out the boss who hired me wasn’t convenient.

My late first wife Susan used to call me Golden Boy in that company, but over time, before Jesus got hold of me, I didn’t realize this golden boy was headed straight for hell.

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Jesus captures the danger of having the wrong crown jewels when He says in verses 25 and 26:

^“For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?” — Matthew 16:25-26 (NRSV)

Living life just for comfort and convenience — for yourself — can cause your usefulness and happiness in life to shrink and shrivel, like a plant in my opening illustration.

And don’t forget, you are more than just a body; you are also a soul too. If life is just about your own comfort — just about you — it’s going to cause your soul to not expand but shrivel up, so to speak. I was climbing the corporate ladder but experiencing the shriveling of my soul before Jesus got hold of my heart.

God doesn’t want that in your life. Maybe that’s why He has you reading this message today. He doesn’t want your life empty. Instead, He wants you to experience yourself a second approach to knowing why you need a sacrificial attitude:

2. Practice a sacrificial attitude.

Why should you do this? Well for one thing, practice makes perfect. For another, because that’s what Jesus did. That’s what was behind the statement Jesus made to the disciples that got Peter so riled up in the first place:

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. — Matthew 16:21 (NRSV)

So how do you and I practice this, this same sacrificial attitude? Jesus opens up the conversation with His statement in verse 24:

“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” — Matthew 16:24 (NRSV)

Reading several commentators on this passage, what I learned is it really comes down to what jewels you could be placing in Jesus’ crown. We’ll explore that in part two of this message. Until then, go in peace; go in love; and smile, and walk, and sing and dance with Jesus today. And all God’s people said, “Amen.”

In every message I write for this publication, I am aware that there are those who are reading it who have either drifted from their faith, have been exploring issues of faith, or have had no faith at all. To all you, if you have felt any stirring in your heart while reading this, that is Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart. My prayer is that you will open that door by believing and then saying something like this: “I don’t know and understand all of this. But I am coming to believe that you Jesus are God come down to earth; that you died on the cross to bridge the gap between you and me, due to my sin; and that you rose from the dead, defeating death. I ask now that your Holy Spirit would come into my heart and fill me to overflowing, and that you would change me and lead me in the way of faith. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of faith. I would encourage you now to pick up a Bible and read the Gospel of John to learn more about your newfound faith, and that you would find a Bible-believing church in your community to attend.

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4. He gives you gifts and abilities.

As you all know, when you are born, God naturally bestows you with certain gifts and abilities. Paul Scenes was born to throw a baseball better than most guys on the planet. Mozart was a prodigy composer as a young boy. But them, to fulfill His purpose, God will also give gifts later in life. Like He did in the time of Moses, when the tabernacle needed bo be built:

Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts— to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship.” — Exodus 31:1-5 (NIV)

The Apostle Paul wrote about some of the gifts God gives for using out there in the world:

We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. — Romans 12:6-8 (NIV)

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And with those gifts, with those abilities, as you live life in in the world, with your families or friends, working or in your business, there’s a fifth reason why you need the Holy Spirit:

5. He guides and directs you always.

A nationally-known pastor once described how one day he was in an airport running to catch a plane. And as he was sweating and puffing, a man to his right was taking easy steps but moving faster than the pastor was. That’s because he was on a moving sidewalk.

The point? When you and I walk through this life guided by the Holy Spirit, He comes underneath us and bears us along. We’re still walking, but like with a moving sidewalk, we’re walking dependent on Him.

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The Bible speaks about that. The Holy Spirit guides you in life, as He did with Israel as they were making their way to the Promised Land:

In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. — Exodus 40:36-37 (NIV)

Sometimes as we talked about the other week, that guidance means protection, as with Israel and Red Sea:

Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. — Exodus 14:19-20 (NIV)

Of course, the Holy Spirit always guides you through God’s special revelation to you: the Bible.

Thinking of how the Greek and Hebrew words translated Spirit in the New and Old Testaments also mean breath or wind, it’s important to know that God used the Holy Spirit to inspire the entire Bible, which is there to guide you:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. — 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)

The Holy Spirit guides by nudges when you read particular lines of Scripture, but He also guides you when you pray. He will also use other people, whom the Holy Spirit influences, to speak into a situation in your life.

This happened to the Apostle Peter when the Holy Spirit guided some men to tell Peter that he and his fellow new believers and followers of Jesus needed to reach out to Gentiles, not just fellow Jews:

While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.” Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?” The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to have you come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” — Acts 10:19-22 (NIV)

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And that guidance the Holy Spirit gave to Peter leads to a sixth reason you need Him:

6. He enables you to proclaim Jesus.

I have found in life — I don’t know if you have too — but I have found when I’m meeting someone to counsel, or dealing with a crisis situation; I’ve found that if I pray in advance for the words to say the Holy Spirit will do it.

I remember once meeting a doctor from a former congregation, who was very discouraged in her career at that point. And as I prayed before I met her, the Holy Spirit did give me words to say, which she told me at first really bothered her, but later on she discovered were exactly the challenge she needed to hear. That wasn’t me in my wisdom — my wife Joanna will tell you about my wisdom! — no, it was the the Holy Spirit giving me the words that doctor needed.

He’ll do same thing with you, and more importantly, when God places you in the path of a non-believer — someone in your family, a friend, someone you work with — the Holy Spirit will give you the words to share your faith.

There is an Old Testament prophecy that Jesus fulfilled during his earthly ministry, but when you read those words in light of your calling and mine to share our faith, it is easy to see those words were meant for us as well:

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion…— Isaiah 61:1-3 (NIV)

How can you share your faith? I have often heard it said, and believe that it is true, that your own personal testimony about the difference Jesus has made in your own life can be the most powerful one of all.

That’s what you can do in this life, but you and I need to not forget that this life is not all there is. And that leads to the final reason why you need the Holy Spirit:

7. He Himself is your hint of hope.

I love how Lexham Bible Dictionary puts it:

Because the fullness of God’s promises still lay in the future, the promised coming of the Spirit served as a foretaste of the future world.

The Apostle Paul put it this way:

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. — 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 (NIV)

The Holy Spirit inside of you is a hint of the closeness you’ll have with God the Father and Jesus the Son — guaranteed — when you leave this world, and meet Jesus face to face.

When I think all we talked about this week, all reasons why you and I need the Holy Spirit, whom we celebrated Pentecost Sunday, I think of Corrie Ten Boom, a profound Christian writer in her day, who survived the Holocaust; I think Corrie encapsulates it best:

She said, “I have glove in my hand. The glove cannot do anything by itself, but when my hand is in it, it can do many things. True, it’s not the glove, but my hand in the glove that acts. We are the gloves. It is Holy Spirit who is the hand, who does the job. But we have to make room for the hand, so that every finger is filled.”

You need Him. I need Him. We all need the Holy Spirit. To God be the glory.

Go in peace; go in love; and smile, and walk, and sing and dance with Jesus today. And all God’s people said, “Amen.”

In every message I write for this publication, I am aware that there are those who are reading it who have either drifted from their faith, have been exploring issues of faith, or have had no faith at all. To all you, if you have felt any stirring in your heart while reading this, that is Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart. My prayer is that you will open that door by believing and then saying something like this: “I don’t know and understand all of this. But I am coming to believe that you Jesus are God come down to earth; that you died on the cross to bridge the gap between you and me, due to my sin; and that you rose from the dead, defeating death. I ask now that your Holy Spirit would come into my heart and fill me to overflowing, and that you would change me and lead me in the way of faith. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of faith. I would encourage you now to pick up a Bible and read the Gospel of John to learn more about your newfound faith, and that you would find a Bible-believing church in your community to attend.

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