Dane's Blog

Are You Being Transformed or Just Fascinated?

Dane Gressett — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:26:25 GMT

All over the world people are making resolutions and promises, setting new goals and hopes for self-improvement. Hopefully everybody can realize that growth and change are needed by us all. Certainly, the Gospel of the Kingdom is about change!

But how one attempts the changes is very critical. Hear Oswald Chambers on this subject:

"All our vows and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to carry them out." (My Utmost for His Highest, Jan. 5)

Someone might disagree with Chamber's statement that, "we have no power to carry them out." They can point to results and successes they've had. Others can readily identify with Oswald's statement. In the same essay Chamber's spoke about when Christ first called Peter to follow Him. He suggests that Peter quickly launched out to follow Jesus because, "the fascination of Jesus was upon him." But fascination would not be sufficient to carry Peter through the heat of the day. When the troubles came, just as Jesus had predicted, Peter denied His Lord with oaths and curses.

So much for Peter's earlier resolution based upon fascination.

Fascination is like a new fad. We see something cool, something creative, something with "spiritual" bling, and we think, "I want that. That must be awesome, it looks so cool. I'm going to go for that." And we set out with real human energy. And if we can convince others that this is what they need too, we can actually pick up some real human momentum.

This is basic Madison Avenue philosophy.

And I am afraid that much of the "creative church buzz" around American Christianity is little more than this. We would be wise to be very careful lest we confuse fascination with a new thing to become a substitute for God's real transforming power. Peter was able to function in the human energy produced by fascination for more than three years. And who knows, if Christ had not allowed Satan to sift him, he might have stayed in that deception his entire life! That's scary. Please don't think any of us are incapable of being deceived in like manner.

After Peter's big failure, he had a much more accurate and humble view of himself. No more would he dare to make big promises and big resolutions and ride the waves of human energy based upon fascination. He could no longer trust himself. Little did he know that this was a prerequisite to God's real power! After Christ was crucified and risen from the dead He gave Peter another opportunity to follow Him. But this time it would not be based upon fascination. This time it would be based upon transformation. Peter's trial had dealt a fatal blow to his self-assertiveness and selfish ambition and produced a sweet brokenness. Now God could trust him to really be "the Rock".

Remember: Babel was built by the energy of fascinated people. Christ's Church can only be built by Spirit-transformed people who have experienced the Cross of Christ.

(For a related essay, click here.)

The Truth, tender and terrible

Dane Gressett — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 11:46:59 GMT

"Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, according to Your word:
For my eyes have seen your salvation, which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES, and the glory of Your people Israel."

And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him.

And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, "Behold this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed - and a sword will pierce even your own soul - to the end that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." (Luke 2:29-35)

This is an incredible prophecy. The appearance of baby Jesus in the temple created a prophetic swirl. The Holy Spirit desires to unfold to us the Person and purposes of Christ. And He does so on so many levels. Consider the following profound truths revealed in just a moment in the temple:

1. The old man Simeon had been holding on to a promise from God that he would not die until he personally saw the Savior. When Jesus arrived as an eight day old baby, Simeon was filled with joy and recognized God's gift. The old man was able to die deeply satisfied and at peace.

2. Mary and Joseph already knew the Baby was special, but now God is faithful to give even more details. Total strangers came up to them in the temple to tell them about the incredible destiny of the Child. This added to the great joy they were already experiencing.

3. The prophet speaks about the pain and trouble that will come. The incredible joy of the moment is now tempered with the reality that the Child has a destiny to be rejected by men and to become the scapegoat for all of us. His cruel murder will be witnessed by His mother. God is so kind to already be preparing the woman for the challenges of the distant future. Additionally, does Simeon exclude Joseph in these comments because he is not Jesus' real father or because Joseph will already have died before the troublesome events come to pass? I think the latter is the case. Mary is being warned ahead of time that she will face tremendous suffering and that without the comfort of her beloved husband.

I find that there is something in each of these prophetic facts that are applicable to each of us today as well.

1. God still speaks personal promises to His people. The Bible is the story of God speaking personally to people through out the ages. He is still a God who speaks to His people. But be warned. Be careful to always connect God's personal promises to you with His big promise in Christ. If you separate the two you may find yourself disillusioned when inevitable troubles come or when the promise tarries. God will make good all of His promises in the Person and work of His Son. Never separate your experience from the great narrative of Christ.

2. The Holy Spirit always has more of the wonder and glory of Jesus to reveal to each of us and this is calculated to bring us unimaginable joy. Don't settle for today's level of understanding only. Expect God to unfold even more of His heart and His plans to you. Revelation is progressive because the focus of revelation is an infinitely glorious Savior. As we come to know Him more deeply our joy will equally increase.

3. Prepare for temporary suffering that always yields eternal joy. "In this world you will have trouble", was a promise Jesus gave His disciples. But He followed with, "But be of good courage for I have overcome the world." This is why everything that happens to us must be processed through the paradigm of the big story of Christ Jesus. Yes, there are at times swords that pierce our souls and crosses that darken the way. But every sorrow and every grave must give way to glorious resurrection for those who have trusted Christ. Suffering helps us anticipate the future God has promised and prepares us for that greater joy. This is a reality greater than any earthly fact.

So in this season of reflecting upon the earthly birth of our Lord, let us remember that God is still revealing Himself to us through His Son today. God is as real and present with us as He was with Mary and Joseph and the shepherds in the field. But hold on to everything in this earthly realm loosely. Suffering is bound to come to remind us that everything must soon give way to eternity's call. Jesus has prepared the way for us. He's waiting on the other side, insuring our safe passage.

Joy Cometh!

Dane Gressett — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 10:03:02 GMT

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:10-11)

The angels were excited to announce it. The Promised One had arrived, a Savior for all people, Christ the Lord. And what was the promised effect of this Good News? Great joy.

This is so incredibly relevant to everyone. You were created for joy. God hard-wired you for it from the beginning. The ancient Psalmist had tapped into this glorious reality when he penned,

In the presence of the Lord there is fullness of joy; at His right hand are pleasures forever. (Ps 16:11)

The fullest possible joy is found in God's immediate presence. And this is what was happening when Jesus appeared the first time on earth. God's presence came to us when we could not and would not draw near to Him!

In His goodness and generosity, God has filled even this fallen world with a thousand lesser joys. The joy of human love, of romance, of having children, of victories over injustice, of personal accomplishments, of medical breakthroughs...and on and on. But these are always fleeting joys. Because they relate to things that are destined to perish. And in the perishing there is almost always sorrow.

But the joy that Jesus brings does not perish. It knows no end in quantity or quality.

Years ago I was deeply entrenched in finding happiness only in the "lesser" gifts. I was actually avoiding God's presence and running from the claims of Jesus. Why did I run? Because I believed I would be happier living my own way. I was convinced that living independently (and defiantly) of God would result in a life of greater pleasure and happiness. Like most people I simply removed God from the picture of my life. But as time passed I begin to feel the emptiness. My joys were shallow, fleeting, even disappointing.

Then God began drawing me back to Himself. As I began to respond to Him I had to get honest about my life. I was a good person by the world's standards. But by biblical measures I was deeply compromised. I knew there were sinful issues in my life. It was in struggling through into the light in these areas that I learned a great lesson.

By holding onto sin I was forfeiting greater joy.

At one particular point in my journey God was dealing with me about my deep tendency to "spin the truth" to make myself look good in the eyes of other people. God has another name for this: lying. Why was that so hard to admit? It was hard to admit it to myself and even harder to confess it to others. During this season the Holy Spirit convicted me of lying to a man. I knew the Lord wanted me to go to the man and confess that I had lied to him. I felt miserable. I wanted the sense of guilt to go away. But God wanted me to trust Him and obey. So finally I called the man and kind of confessed. Actually I just spun the truth again - just a little less severe this time. As I hung up the phone I felt sick! I had called to confess a lie and had told another lie in the process!

Why was I so in bondage to fearing what this man would think? Because I had for most of my life believed that it was critical to my own joy to have others think highly of me. So I lived to impress people. If they were impressed then I had a sense of accomplishment, of pleasure. I felt like a winner. But it was always a temporary euphoria. So it is with every joy that is not coming from Jesus.

The Holy Spirit pressured me until I surrendered and called the man back again. Even while dialing the phone my mind was giving me fits! Thoughts were flooding my mind like, "If you just straight out tell him you lied he'll think you are an idiot. He'll lose any confidence he has in you and think you are a big hypocrite." I had to fight against my own thoughts until the man answered the phone. At that point I made myself confess the sin in humility and truth: "I feel very embarrassed to be calling you again. But the truth is that God has been dealing with my heart about how wrong it is to place other's opinions above God's opinion. God has been dealing with me about misrepresenting the truth to you a while back. I feel so bad about this, but I have lied to you on two occasions now. I believe it is sin. I believe God has forgiven me but I am calling to confess this to you and to ask you to forgive me as well."

The gentlemen was gracious and immediately expressed his forgiveness. After a minute of small talk we hung up. But I had not calculated what would happen next.

No sooner had I hung up the phone that I was immediately overcome by a sense of God's manifest presence. My soul was so filled up with a sense of joy that I began to weep. It was like liquid love flooding my mind and feelings. I found my heart and lips rising in praise to God: "Oh God, is this what I have been fighting against? I have been avoiding this joy? What a fool I have been. Thank you Lord for enduring my pride and unbelief and for bringing me into this great joy." That was an incredible day. It was a great lesson. I have had many similar experiences through the years.

We were wired for joy. Sin is an enemy to this joy, but incredibly deceptive. Paul referred to sin as "the lusts of deception".

God's will is not an attack on your pleasure. It is a mercy to free you from counterfeits and bring you into that which cannot be taken from you.

This is what Christmas means. God has come to earth in the person of His Son - to restore us to His joy.

But will we come out of the shadows? Will we trust Him?

Are there many "paths" to God?

Dane Gressett — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:21:54 GMT

"He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him..." John 1:11
"I was found by those who did not seek Me, I became manifest to those who did not ask for Me." Romans 10:20

I am just back from a couple of weeks of ministry in southeast Asia. It is always challenging, humbling, and therapeutic for me. It amazes me and bolsters my faith to learn how people who have lived their entire lives outside of the knowledge of Christ are finding Him and being transformed by His love and power!

During this trip I met a man who has now been a born-again Christian for four years. He was born into a high caste Hindu family and was the only son. As an adult he was a severe persecutor of Christians, often pursuing them from town to town. He was an fanatic Hindu and a devotee of lord Rama and felt it his duty to cleanse India of these foreign influences. But his life was slowly unraveling. He experienced business failures, family breakdown, health problems, and a crisis in his faith system. He could not find peace or hope in any of his Hindu rituals or gods and goddesses. At last a Hindu priest said, "You must now seek the Living God. He alone can help you." But this man did not want to abandon Rama or his Hindu heritage. One day he picked up a scrap of paper off the ground that had a verse from Luke's gospel on it. Two days later he saw the same verse painted on the side of a wall in another town. Feeling that this might be a heavenly sign he spoke to a Catholic nun telling her about all of his problems. The nun told him that his only hope was to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. He was very aware of his need but also very proud of his ancestral traditions. He told the nun that he was willing to accept Jesus as "one of the gods" he worshiped, but that he would never allow Jesus to displace his Hindu gods. The nun told him that Jesus would never share His glory with idols.

The man's desperation only increased after this. One night he finally surrendered. He prayed, "Jesus, if you are God alone and You care for me and can help me, I will serve You alone if you will come to me." The man said that suddenly his room seemed to fill with light and a tangible presence of peace filled his heart and mind. Jesus came to the man and he was instantly "born-again" . He knew he was changed. Suddenly the hopelessness was gone. The fear was gone. His entire outlook was changed. He had met Jesus face to face. All the other gods were dethroned. Now the man travels from town to town preaching openly that Jesus is the only path to salvation.

The amazing thing about this story is how little it had to do with preachers or religious rhetoric. Jesus Christ pursued this man and saved his soul. The man had sought salvation and peace in various ways and through various faith pathways. But none of them worked. None of them removed the guilt he carried. None of them lifted the pain, shame, and loneliness he felt. But Jesus actually saved him.

Last week here in the States, I saw a television anchorman interviewing a Christian pastor. The interviewer was mocking the pastor's claim that Christianity is the exclusive path to real peace with God. He read quotes from several contemporary "experts" who said that there were "many paths to God" and told the pastor that it was just close-minded to think that everyone must come to God through Jesus Christ. That Jesus is just "one of many paths to God" is clearly the favored philosophy in our culture. People feel very self-righteous and self-sure about this belief.

Meanwhile our culture continues to slide into more and more violence and perversion and so-called Christians of this emasculated belief system live in shame and powerlessness but somehow go on denying it. Materialism seems to be sufficient to numb the deceived mind of the American public, hiding the reality that such pseudo faith does not work.

Americans who live in a land where the gospel of Jesus Christ has been openly preached for several hundred years seem hard pressed to find Him. But those who live in lands with little gospel light are finding Christ and gloriously being liberated from sin and hopelessness! This seems counter-intuitive! But it actually is a pattern we can see down through time.

The Jews in Jesus' day are an example of this pattern. People with the longest exposure to the Truth are often the ones most hardened against it. And God in His mercy is revealing Himself to people in our world with little or no former exposure to the gospel. This shows us that salvation is exclusively God's business. And God is exclusively revealed through Jesus Christ. This is what Christmas and Advent are all about. God has gone public in His Son Jesus Christ...alone.

He will not share His glory with any other idol or philosophy. This is the truth.

(If you are interested in hearing more about this subject, click here to download an audio teaching.)

Grace for Confronting Sin

Dane Gressett — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:52:35 GMT

Brethren, even if someone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. (Galatians 6:1 NASBu)

If any man see his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask, and God will give him life for them that sin not unto death... (1 John 5:16 ASV)

One key characteristic of those who have truly met God is that they love the people of God. John said that, "We know we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren...and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren..." (1 John 3:14,16)

Sometimes love requires us to confront others who are caught in a pattern of sin. We often fail to realize that this is one way Jesus "laid down His life" for us. The Cross is not just a revelation of mercy. It is God exposing sin in all it's wickedness. When God confronts sin He is inclined toward mercy and desires restoration. We see this in Christ's attitude and words from the Cross: "Father, forgive them..." How different this is than the self-righteous criticism of a fault-finder!

Paul tells us that spiritually mature people have a responsibility to gently confront those caught in patterns of sin in hopes of restoring them to right-standing with God and His people. John tells us that when we see other believers caught in sin that we should take up the task of intercession for them.

I find an amazing promise in John's command to pray for those who are caught in sin. Did you see it in the second verse above? John says that when someone prays for those caught in sin that "God will give him life for them..." I have experienced this on many occasions. So much so that I typically assume it is not God's leading to confront someone until I have been given life for them; that is, until I have experienced something of the Lord's love and power toward them. This comes only by prayer. The Holy Spirit will impart grace to you so that you know what to do. He will give you His heart for that person and His wisdom for that person. Only then do you truly know how to proceed.

One time a person spoke up during a church service and said something that was clearly not in keeping with the heart of God. It was more the tone than the content that was off. It felt out of order and seemed to place a damper on the meeting at that point. It was obvious to me that the person spoke out of a rebellious heart and needed correction. But the Lord would not let me do so at that point. He seemed to say, "Wait." So I continued to pray for that person, asking God to do a good work there.

A number of months later I had become a much closer friend to this family and they considered me their "pastor" by this point. One evening at their dinner table this person began to express brokenness before the Lord and said, "Dane, my life seems so out of step with the Lord and I am unhappy. If the Lord ever shows you something about me that needs addressing, you will tell me, won't you?"

What happened next can only be blamed on God. There was a spontaneous flood of grace from within my heart toward that person. I suddenly remembered the problem that had occurred almost a year earlier. It was obvious that this sin was an ingrained pattern in this person. I was able to gently but directly address the issue that evening after dinner. There was sweet grace all around and this person repented and prayed to God and experienced real restoration and refreshing from God. This kind of result cannot happen without God's Spirit being in full control.

Sadly, ministry does not always have such a happy ending. John tells us that there is a "sin unto death" and that we are not to pray about this. Sometimes people have hardened their hearts and will not receive correction. They will not humble themselves. They will not admit their sin. God does not restore unrepentant people to Himself.

So let us purpose to be believers that faithfully pray for others, desiring to see them draw nearer to the Lord, being even willing to confront should the Lord lead. But let us also be willing to accept correction from those who love us enough to confront us with the truth. Amen.

Violence continues in India. But why?

Dane Gressett — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:31:11 GMT

J. Lee Grady of Charisma Magazine reports about the ongoing persecution against Christians in the southeastern Indian state of Orissa.

What we are witnessing in India today is the unraveling of a vile system of oppression. And our brothers and sisters there are paying a high price for their newfound spiritual freedom.

Radical Hindus believe that keeping Dalits at the bottom of the social structure is a fundamental part of their religion. It is the Indian way—and members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and other radical Hindu groups are proving today that they will kill and maim people and destroy property in order to keep their religion dominant.

My good friend Sujo John, an Indian evangelist who lives in the United States, says the attacks in Orissa and Karnataka are a clear attempt to silence Christians.

Says John: "In the last 12 years there has been an incredible surge of Christianity in India. It was very silent at first, but now the people who control the social culture realize that Christians are emerging in society. [Some radical Hindus] feel they are going to lose the culture. So they are twisting the laws. In some places they have banned conversion, and many are engaging in violence."

Click here to go to Grady's article.

The impact of one life

Dane Gressett — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:14:04 GMT

Today I am grieving the loss of a dear friend, Bill B. Hart, of Eastland, Texas. Bill was a founding board member of First Fruits Ministries and served until his death on September 14, 2008.

Bill’s accomplishments in life were many. From being a decorated Air Force pilot in WWII, to serving as a County Judge and City attorney, to teaching Sunday School and singing in the church choir. He was a faithful husband and a loving father. Though 85 years old, Bill was still practicing law and going to the office daily. Bill never talked about his military exploits or his career accomplishments. Each time we visited he had only two passions. He loved God and was serious about God’s interests. And Bill loved his wife and family and was always watching over their souls in prayer. I don’t think there was a time that I went to his office that he did not ask me to pray with him for his family.

Bill impacted my life in many ways. His passion for God, his expectation of the power of God, and his love for people have marked me. I cannot count the times I sat in his office and listened to him recount the most recent providential encounters he had had with people he was able to share Christ with. He saw his Law office as a missionary field and regularly counseled and prayed with his clients. He was intentional about this. He believed the gospel and he believed that all people need Christ. His life clearly proved his faith.

I have such a profound sense of loss today.

I think it is rare to have such a close friend who is more than 40 years your senior. I respected Bill’s wisdom and experience, but he also respected mine. We were close friends who shared our secret struggles and fears with each other.

Sometimes you don’t realize how much another person has impacted your life until they are gone. I hope you have or have had such a friend and brother in the Lord as I did in Bill. And I hope that you are seeking to be such a person to others.

I pray to God that regardless of how long I live, that there will be men 40 years younger than me who feel the weight of the impact of my life when I’m gone. Our prayers and thoughts go out to Bill’s darling wife, Gaye. She is a true specimen of grace! Her character and faith were shining like the sun at the funeral last week.

My friends, only Jesus can produce lives like these. If we want our lives to mean something and to really carry an eternal weight of glory, then we must be passionate about loving and following Jesus - like Bill Hart. May he rest in peace.

Seedless Fruit?

Dane Gressett — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:17:14 GMT

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what Idesire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)

The season for watermelons is all but over around here. Yesterday at the grocery store the only watermelons they had were the little "personal" watermelons. I was amazed as I read the label stuck to the outside: "Your personal melon...may contain an occasional seed..."

Anybody who loves to eat watermelon (like me) knows that it is definitely more convenient to eat the seedless kind! No picking out or spitting seeds! You can eat it fast and free. It is definitely convenient. And we're all into convenience, aren't we?

But seedless fruit is terminal.

God created the watermelon to produce seed after its own kind. That means that encoded in the DNA is the capacity and expectancy to reproduce. Our genetic engineers have conveniently tweaked the DNA to remove the bothersome seeds. We now can enjoy fruit with absolutely no concern or plans for future generations or harvests. Somebody else can bother with reproduction.

Seedless fruit is one-generational.

Can a Christian or church be of the seedless variety? In reality, no. But in philosophy and practice, yes! Businesses and organizations can also be seedless. Perhaps a more accurate way of describing it would be that of "eating all your seed". It is quite possible that today's successes and harvests can blind us to the reality that we are consuming all of our seed. We are not intentionally setting aside top quality seed for planting to secure future harvests. When we use all our resources for our present needs and no longer consider the responsibility to reach out and multiply, then we are eating all of our seed.

God through Isaiah said that when His word is at work in our lives that there will definitely be both "seed for the sower" and "bread for the eater." A church that focuses only on "bread for the eaters" will sooner or later succumb to death. If we seek to keep all of the people we attract and use them for our "personal" in-house needs, then we've abandoned the vital role of sending, planting, and multiplying.

I call this the Esau-mentality. Esau gave up his birthright for immediate gratification. He had a pressing need. And he sacrificed the wonderful opportunity to contribute seed to the eternal purposes of God! He could have been the father of the Jewish nation! He could have been a progenitor of the Lord Jesus Christ!

But the Bible says that he "despised his birthright". He consumed all his resources on himself. He was terminal.

And this is what God says about it: "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated."

Let's stop consuming all of our seed. It's time to invest in God's larger purposes.

Uh oh, there's a skeleton in Palin's closet: She's a Pentecostal!

Dane Gressett — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 11:56:53 GMT

You've probaby already seen this stuff all over the web and tv:

Wasila, Alaska (CNN) -- For more than two decades, vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin was a practicing Pentecostal.

Sarah Palin asked church members to pray for $30 billion natural gas pipeline in Alaska.

She belonged to the Wasilla Assembly of God church in her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska. But though she attended the church from her teenage years to 2002, the Alaska governor hasn't talked much about her religion since joining the Republican ticket.

Palin's former pastor, Tim McGraw, says that like many Pentecostal churches, some members speak in tongues, although he says he's never seen Palin do so. Church member Caroline Spangler told CNN, "When the spirit comes on you, you utter things that nobody else can understand ... only God can understand what is coming out of our mouths."

Some Pentecostals from Assembly of God also believe in "faith healing" and the "end times" -- a violent upheaval that they believe will deliver Jesus Christ's second coming....

The McCain campaign says the governor doesn't consider herself Pentecostal.

So there it is. Better keep your eye on her. She might speak in tongues. (Though no one has actually seen her do it - thank God). Sure glad the Apostles Peter and Paul didn't try to run for political office! Those guys even raised the dead. Talk about faith healing.

Let's face it: the supernatural claims of the Bible are laughed at by mainstream political society today.

However, if you are a true Christian, by biblical definition that is, then you believe that not only did a man, Jesus Christ, die on the Cross for your sins, but that God raised this man from the dead and he is now sitting on an actual throne in heaven, in a glorified human body, and He will come to earth again and judge everyone. Whoa.

That's what real Christians believe. That's pretty much supernatural, don't you think?

Don't apologize for it Gov. Palin. It'd be better to keep your testimony than to sit in the Whitehouse. Maybe it's possible to do both. We'll see.

Repentance: Preparing Your Heart for God's Presence

Dane Gressett — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 08:30:01 GMT

"Therefore, repent and return to God, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord." (Acts 3:19)

We had a flat on the van yesterday morning before leaving for church. Life seems to be filled with little hindrances! Before I could change the tire, I had to remove several boxes of stuff in the back of the van so I could get to the tire tools and spare.

In a similar way, to get to the place of worship there are almost always moral and spiritual issues and hindrances that need to be effectively dealt with. Later, during the worship service, we sang the song, "Prepare the way for our Redeemer...Make ready your heart, make ready your home, make ready the people of God...Prepare the way!" While singing I was struck by the fact that there is a divinely ordered protocol to experiencing the presence of the Lord in true worship. He has set the rules for approaching Him! I had the sense that there were many people in our midst whose hearts were not prepared. They were attempting to worship Jesus without submitting to the divine protocol.

It's like we want to worship God but try to bypass the fact that there are spiritual flat tires and boxes of clutter in the way. We hope that we can sing for a while and feel God' presence and then move on...without dealing with the stuff. I think that this is what often happens in the setting of "corporate" worship. Many people feel the "glow" of group worship, experiencing some level of release and peace, all the while sidestepping the fact that their consciences are not truly clear before God. They have been rude and unkind to people in the preceding week. They have sinned in their thoughts. They have lusted, lied, or been jealous or spiritually lazy. But they have not truly acknowledged this. They may have even yelled at their wife or kids on the way to church! And now they are standing in the sanctuary desiring to worship God. But they try to do so without addressing the need of repentance and cleansing from sin!

Worship can be spontaneous and easy if the heart has been set right with God. A heart that has humbly acknowledged and repudiated it's own evil, can easily receive the times of refreshing from God's presence. The gentle dove of the Holy Spirit bears witness to the humble and believing soul. But the hard heart that refuses to deeply recognize it's sin has to really work hard at producing the emotions of worship. And I wonder if these emotions are truly spiritual.

I'll never forget when a casual church attender named Claire walked into church one Sunday. Her face seemed to be glowing. It was so obvious that she was experiencing something of the presence of the Lord even before "church" started. I commented on what I saw. She answered by telling me how she had met God in a new way a few nights before. In a nutshell, here's what happened. She had been keeping her sin bottled-up inside. She was not really wanting to acknowledge and confess her many sin issues to God, being content to blame others and hide behind self-justifications. But she had been becoming increasingly miserable in her overall life. Finally one sleepless night she crawled out of bed and got on her knees and started acknowledging her sin to God. One by one she confessed her sins. Every sin that popped into her mind she openly and even verbally confessed and renounced before God. She said this went on for ten to fifteen minutes until she could think of nothing more. At that point she said there was an amazing peace. She had "prepared the way of the Lord" through repentance.

What happened next blew her away. She said that it was like the roof of her apartment was removed and God's glory came down in her bedroom. She was instantaneously filled with a joy so full that she wanted to jump and shout. And this lady was NOT a Pentecostal and had never been around overly emotional expressions of worship. To keep from waking the children she went outside in the middle of the night and actually verbally expressed her spontaneous praises to God as tears of joy streamed down her face. Times of refreshing had come from the presence of the Lord. The Holy Spirit was bearing witness to her spirit.

Sunday after Sunday I greet people coming to worship. I see on their faces that they are morally compromised. Some have been arguing with their spouses on the way to church. Some are full of resentment and unforgiveness toward family members or coworkers. Others have compromised their integrity by viewing inappropriate things on the internet. Our sins are too numerous to list here. The good news is that Jesus came to save sinners! But the bad news is that you have to own your sin. You have to admit it, confess it to God, and call it what He calls it. This is how we "return to the Lord." But the reward for truly returning to God is worth it all! And don't thing that this is just for people who have not really met Jesus yet. This is a spiritual discipline that even the oldest saints need to practice regularly.

Have you ever experienced times of refreshing from the Lord after a time of repentance? I'd love to hear about your experience. Drop me a note.

Few Miracles for Nazareth

Dane Gressett — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 08:26:24 GMT

And He said, "Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up fro three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow." (Luke 4:24-26)

I'm often asked why there seems to be a much wider occurrence of the miraculous in far away lands like India and China. Having been privileged to be involved in missionary church planting among formerly unreached people groups, I have personally witnessed miracles of New Testament proportion, including a boy born blind being healed immediately after arising from the waters of believer's baptism. I have sat among first generation Christians in remote regions where more than one-half of the converts testified of coming to Jesus because of a miraculous healing or deliverance.

I have wrestled with the question of why these types of testimonies are so rare in our land. After almost twenty years of pondering this issue I've concluded that there is not a single answer. There are many reasons. But there is probably no greater reason than the issue Jesus Himself confronted in His hometown of Nazareth.

In the Gospel of Mark we read, "And He could work no miracle there...And He wondered at their unbelief." (Mark 6:5-6) Their years of familiarity with Jesus had "inoculated" them, making them "immune" from expecting anything special from Jesus and thus leading to a general attitude of dishonor and unbelief. God Himself, in the person of His Son, lived among these people in Nazareth for 30 years...and they never perceived who He truly was. Even when He was mightily anointed by the Holy Spirit after His baptism by John, the people in His hometown seemed unwilling to view Him beyond their previous experiences.

Jesus compared His apparent lack of miracles in Nazareth to the experience of Elijah several hundred years earlier. Elijah was also a man anointed with the power of the Holy Spirit and who worked numerous miracles. In the days of the famine, Elijah was sent to help a Gentile widow (this in spite of the fact that there were thousands of widows in Israel). This comparison deeply angered Jesus' contemporaries. They got the point. He considered them backslidden and unrepentant just like the people who worshiped Baal during the days of Ahab and Jezebel.  Nazareth would largely miss God's miracles because they were sinning against great light.

This does not mean that every widow in Elijah's day or every person in Nazareth was equally guilty. Even in Elijah's day there was a holy remnant that had not bowed the knee to Baal (at least 7,000 people). Nonetheless, because of God's chastisement upon the nation as a whole, even the holy remnant suffered to some degree.

OK, so what's my point? I believe America is very much like the Israel of Elijah's day. We have sinned against hundreds of years of Gospel light. We have turned our back on the God of our forefathers. We claim to be a Christian nation but are the most materialistic on earth. We are the greatest exporters of moral filth in our world. God have mercy on us. The moral standards in God's Law are not welcome here. We put the Ten Commandments out of our Courthouses. Even when religion is tolerated, the exclusive claims of Jesus are either laughed at or openly ridiculed. Any "Elijahs" among us often must go to far away places to minister God's power among those who are humbly coming to Christ.

And if America is like Israel, then the Church in America is like Nazareth in Jesus' day. Jesus was right there in the midst of the synagogue for 30 years, but not truly recognized and not worshiped. There was traditional religion and cultural religion and social happenings going on. But even when the anointing of the Holy Spirit was upon Jesus and available for great blessing, these people found supposed fault with His claims!

A number of years ago while establishing a new church in my hometown I was criticized by a professing Christian man who was a leader in that community. He said that I was "too charismatic", apparently referring to our practice of free worship and praying for the sick.  The man had never attended any of our meetings and this was before online audio. Yet somehow he felt he had the authority to make such a judgment. A very sad thing happened several years later. After his wife contracted terminal cancer, and traditional medicine had failed, they unsuccessfully sought the help of a psychic healer in a distant city.

While I can understand that desperate conditions require desperate measures, I find it sad that the man would ridicule Christians who practice biblical healing prayer as being "too charismatic", and then when facing a terminal disease seek supernatural help outside the church only. I am not claiming that the lady would have been healed if she had been brought to the church for prayer.  Many people we pray for are not immediately healed. I am not promoting some triumphalistic faith doctrine here. I suppose I am simply grieving over the state of apostasy even among Evangelical Christians.

Things around the church in America are not much different than in Nazareth. May God help us realize that the Mighty One is in the midst of us. And may there again be a testimony of great purity and power in the Lord's church here as well as abroad. Amen.

Lakeland Revival Leader Steps Down

Dane Gressett — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 21:05:07 GMT

Some have asked my opinion of the Lakeland Revival meetings in recent months. I have refrained from public comments and have responded only in private, mainly because my exposure to the meetings and people involved have been very limited. However, over the last week some sad things have taken place and Todd Bentley has stepped down from the ministry, after admitting he's been "emotionally involved" with a female staff member. This information comes directly from his own ministry Board members and can be found at the bottom of the home page of their website..

Now that the Lakeland Revival has apparently dissolved, I think we should consider some of the lessons involved. What follows are simply my thoughts upon observing a number of the worship services at Lakeland via the internet and upon reflecting upon relevant Biblical passages.

1. There were on several (many?) occasions displays of arrogance and spiritual pride by various speakers and leaders on the platform. It was often grievious to me to see the way some of the leaders carried themselves, sometimes strutting about like proud roosters. Some of the speakers at times seemed to have a mocking attitude toward anyone who questioned the "revival". To be fair, I have also seen the same arrogance in some of those who have spoken out loudly against the Lakeland Revival. God is not impressed with arrogance anywhere. While the anointing of the Holy Spirit often brings great boldness and liberty in ministry, it does not make a person arrogant!

2. Though the Fresh Fire people believe that they only preached Jesus, I'm afraid that the focus was more clearly on manifestations and anointing and "revival". When signs become the goal, we've forgotten that signs are supposed to point you somewhere! The sign points you up the road to the desired end: Christ Himself! Sadly, the preaching of the Jesus and the Cross were radically missing at Lakeland.

3. I believe that some of the claims of healing were legitimate, but many were exaggerated. Lakeland has no monopoly on this tendency. Hype is the American way. It's how we market our products. But it is not God's kingdom. Sadly, the church often looks very much like the world in this.

4. Signs and wonders and spiritual experiences were sought as an end in themselves and repentance was not widely preached or demonstrated. Jesus denounced the cities in which most of His miracles were performed because they did not repent. The goal of signs and wonders is to so demonstrate the glory and authority of Jesus Christ and His care for mankind (most clearly shown at the Cross) so that people will turn away from their sins and trust Him. The sad end of this almost four month series of meetings is the main leader's sin being found out.

5. The true anointing of the Holy Spirit will sometimes operate through men and women who are willfully living in sin. God only has imperfect vessels to operate through, this side of Heaven. But it's quite another thing to be willfully involved in secret sin and presume that since the anointing is flowing that God must not be too concerned. This a very dangerous state to be in. Even wicked King Saul experienced the power of God and prophesied by the Spirit of God, though already rejected as king and though he was turning to sorcery. The anointing is not necessarily the endorsement of a person's message or character. Sometimes it is simply the mercy and power of God flowing forth to bless needy people...in spite of the vessel being used. Usually, God will not long allow this hypocrisy and mockery to continue. Samson is a great example of how God's anointing will sometimes flow through unholy vessels for a season.

6. Therefore we should never endorse a preacher, a doctrine, or an apparent move of God based solely upon the fact that the anointing of the Holy Spirit is present. Jesus said that you know a tree by its fruit. That means character is more important than charisma and anointing. Anointing can promote a person to great prominence, but only Christlike character can keep him/her there. It's very dangerous and sometimes disasterous when ministries that have not been properly tested are given a large platform. No one should lust for such a platform.

7. Todd Bentley's moral failure does not mean that everything that went on at Lakeland was of the devil or of the flesh. But it does serve to warn us that sin is always serious and often disasterous. In the end sin never pays off, but rather pays up.

8. To his credit, Todd Bentley has apparently submitted to a group of spiritual men and has cancelled all ministry appointments and is working through repentance and restoration with his wife. May God grant a deep humility and repentance to him. May he learn more deeply the importance and power of the Cross of Christ and the need to preach the Cross and stay near the Cross in humble self-denial. May God teach all of us who call ourselves "Spirit-filled" that sin is always devastating and God will not be mocked. He has judged sin in the past and He will judge sin now and in the future. Grace is not a cover up for sin. It's a prescription for it. (Additional note: Today [8-26-2008] I was made aware that Todd is NOT seeking to be restored to his wife and that the affair he had with a staff member went on for a long time and that staff members who knew were sworn to secrecy. The sin now appears to be even more serious than first thought.

We are told in the Scriptures that if we see a brother caught in a sin we should go and humbly and lovingly confront him. But that we should be careful and not be prideful, lest we also fall into sin. Let none of us think that what has happened to Todd Bentley is not possible for each of us. Unless we walk humbly before our God, trusting deeply in Christ and the Cross, we too may one day fall into sin and bring reproach to the great name of Jesus. May God Himself sanctify us through and through and preserve us blameless until the coming of the Lord. The One who called us is faithful and He will do it. Amen.

(For a very clear take on all this from a respected Charismatic theologian, Dr. R.T. Kendal, click here.)

Praying Expectingly for Special Opportunities

Dane Gressett — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:03:00 GMT

Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word...Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. (Colossians 4:2-5)

What comes to mind when you think of Paul the Apostle? I think: master communicator, brilliant theologian, church planter extraordinaire.

But in reality some other things ought to rank high on the list: a man acquainted with weakness; a man who succeeded through the prayers of the saints; someone who depended on God for everthing that matters...

When was the last time you asked God to "open a door for the word" for the preachers and pastors in your church? When was the last time one of these preachers asked you to pray that a door be opened for the word? When was the last time you prayed that God would give you wisdom so as to make the most of every opportunity to reach outsiders with the love of Christ?

I'm asking myself the same questions.

We have not because we ask not.

Let's start asking and believing! Let's start praying for open doors for the word and for eyes to recognize the opportunities. Let's ask for hearts that are inclined with mercy toward outsiders.

"Yes, Lord, we ask You to do what only You can do! We ask that you open up special doors of opportunity for making Christ known among outsiders."

Healing Oppression

Dane Gressett — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:36:20 GMT

You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. (Acts 10:38)

Most Evangelical Christians do not realize that they live in the same world as Jesus did. I'm not talking about culture, institutions, or ethnicity here. I'm talking about the cosmic order of things.

There is only one world. The world of Jesus is the world we live in. People are still oppressed by evil spirits, even to the point of sickness. And the demons do not recognize geographical or philosophical or political borders! In other words, just because your world view does not include evil spirits does not mean they are suddenly make-believe or somehow hedged out of your universe.

I read a statement of a pioneer Pentecostal preacher regarding the verse above. He said that this verse shows us that "all sickness is oppression from the devil." I don't agree with his assessment. The verse doesn't actually even mention sickness (though it is implied). The problem in view is demonic oppression. Jesus very specifically came to overthrow the hard and oppressive control the devil seeks to gain over the lives of men and women.

All sickness is not caused by demonic oppression. Most sickness is purely natural in causes. But all demonic oppression makes people sick in some way or another: spiritually, emotionally, relationally, socially, or even physically sick. And Jesus is still healing those who are oppressed by the devil!

How can a Christian know whether he/she is oppressed by the devil? Though there are several biblical clues, the main fingerprints of demonic oppression are chronic harassing and condemning thoughts. Satan wants to hide the glorious work of the Cross from your conscious thoughts. He wants you to live as if your sins are still held against you. In the Bible He is called "the accuser of the brethren" (Rev. 12:10). People who are chronically harassed by fears that they have "lost their salvation" are very likely experiencing demonic oppression. People harassed by deep and chronic thoughts and feelings of hopelessness and suicide are likely oppressed by the devil. The devil does not play fair and he despises all of God's creation.

Oppression from the enemy almost always begins with a lie. The Bible says that we can overcome these "fiery darts of the devil" by taking up the "shield of faith" (Eph 6:16). No believer is immune from satan's fiery darts. These are thoughts and accusations launched into your mind from from demonic sources without. And if we allow these darts to lodge in our thoughts, they can result in oppression. You don't have to believe every thought that comes into your mind! And you certainly should never believe any thought that comes from the devil! Satan's power to oppress you is almost solely based upon the foothold he can gain in your thoughts.

This is why "taking up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" is so important to maintaining your spiritual victory (see Eph 6:17). Even Jesus used the word of God to combat Satan's lies (see Matthew 4:4). It's ignorance or pride to think that you can win the spiritual battle for your thought life without filling your mind and mouth with God's word. Too many Christians are passive about this. Somehow they think they can win in this battle without actually suiting up for conflict!

Lot's of things have changed in our world over the last 2,000 years. But some things haven't. There is still an unseen spiritual realm and an enemy of our souls. And there is still a Savior on the Throne in heaven who knows us each by name. He is interceding for us. He is still healing all those who are oppressed by the devil. And He is present now to help you - if you will call upon Him and lean upon the truths in His written word.

If you are under spiritual attack and are not being successful dealing with it alone, then get some support from the body of Christ. Call a mature Christian friend or pastor and openly share your struggles. Satan's lies cannot long exist in the light! You may also be interested in reading a very helpful and practical book on the subject, The Bondage Breaker, by Dr. Neil T. Anderson.

The Power of God's Affirmation

Dane Gressett — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:19:22 GMT

Greetings oh valiant warrior!

That’s exactly how the angel of the Lord greeted Gideon while he was beating out wheat in a wine press in order to hide it from the Midianites (see Judges 6). The angel called him a valiant warrior. Gideon didn’t see it that way. Gideon was discouraged because of the oppression of the enemy. He was hiding his harvest, seeking to keep it from the enemy. He was definitely in a fearful and defensive posture.

But God was about to change everything by making a very firm promise to Gideon - a promise that if believed and embraced, would transform his outlook and life:

“Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.” (Judges 6:16)

There is something powerful about recognizing that the Lord is FOR you and WITH you. When you are fully assured of this you are undefeatable. When you doubt it you can succumb to the slightest accusation and fear.

The writer of Hebrews tells us that Enoch was “taken up so that he would not see death…for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.” (Heb 11:5) Have you ever noticed what precipitated Enoch’s translation to glory? It was the witness he obtained from God that he was pleasing in His sight! He literally went to a new level when he found out that God was for him and with him.

So how did Gideon and Enoch come to a confidence that God was for them and with them? By simple faith. They had to believe the good news. Period. If the gospel you believe has yet to bring you into a major turning from sin to Christ, resulting in a deep confidence that you are pleasing to God, then either you have not fully believed the truth or else your conception of “gospel” is not the real gospel! The writer of Hebrews tells us that we can boldly enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus (Heb 10:19). Boldness comes by believing in the power of Christ’s atoning sacrifice for our sins. This and only this has the power to set us into right-standing with God.

Through the good news that was proclaimed to Gideon he came to view himself in a different light. It didn’t all happen overnight. It was a process. Gideon took small steps at first. But God was patient with Him. Thank goodness God is patient with us! Are you taking steps to increasingly embrace the good news of the gospel? Or are you still living in the shadow lands of fear and unbelief?

Are you seeking God or just His plan?

Dane Gressett — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:51:57 GMT

"You have no business to find out where God is leading, the only thing God will explain to you is Himself." (Oswald Chambers)

Jesus said, "Follow Me....and I will make you fishers of men." The directive is "follow Me" (a Person), and the derivative is "and I will make you..." Our attention is to be the pursuit of Christ. This is my primary business! God, then, in His time will produce the ministry through us.

Jesus said, "Come unto Me...and I will give you rest..." The directive is "come to Me". The derivative is "and I will give you..." So why do we reverse the order? We are so focused on the "what" that we miss the "Who"!

The Lord really made this clear through Jeremiah. This is an often quoted passage, but the deepest implication is often missed:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope... (Jer 29:11)

Be careful to note that this is the derivative! He speaks here of his "good" plan for us. Everybody wants to know this! "God I just need to know what your will is for my life!" But it often seems so elusive. Here's a hint: read the next sentence! God wasn't done talking to you yet!

"Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord...(Jer 29:12-14)

Okay. So do you see it? The next sentence gives us the directive! God says, "I know the plans I have for you.." (He's not saying that you know them or that you need to seek them!) Then He gives us the directive: "So seek Me with all your heart!" We need to pursue the Lover of our souls! We need to go after our heavenly Father. We need to seek the Lord Himself!

He promises that He will let us find Him if we will truly look for Him! But He does not promise to reveal Himself to those who primarily seek His plan and not His face! Again, I think Oswald Chambers nails it:

"You have no business to find out where God is leading, the only thing God will explain to you is Himself."

Once you've encountered Him and start being conformed to His character and image, the work will appear. The fruit will come to those who are abiding in Christ. So make Him your holy pursuit. Christ is the goal of the Law and the object of our faith!

Operating from Acknowledged Weakness

Dane Gressett — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 10:39:22 GMT

The poor widow put two pennies into the Temple treasury. Jesus pointed out her extravagant gift to His disciples, saying, "She put in more than all the rest, for she gave from her poverty all she had to live on. But the others gave from their surplus." (Mark 12:41-44)

Isn't it much easier to give from areas where we have a surplus?

Jesus told a parable about a man who had a visitor at midnight (Luke 11:5-13). As a good Jew, the man was responsible to provide lodging and food to this traveler. So he took the man in - even though he didn't have even a slice of bread to offer him. He then immediately went next door and tried to wake up his neighbor to ask for bread. The neighbor was asleep and didn't want to get up. But the man's persistent asking was finally successful and he received bread to take home to his visitor. Jesus said that this is how prayer often is. We must pray persistently to God and He will give what we need.

I wonder if I would have said "yes" to the challenge of hospitality at midnight? Maybe not. I might have just sent the visitor next door, saying, "Hey guy, I'm really sorry, but we're really not resourced for this kind of need. I don't even have a sandwich to offer you. The guy next door is better equipped to help you. Best of luck and good night."

There's quite a bit of pastoral literature in recent years that says that ministers should focus on their strengths and "staff to their weaknesses". While there is value in recognizing our strengths and weaknesses, and in team building and shared responsibility, I feel we are in danger of only serving from what we perceive to be our own surpluses. This we usually do without even sincerely needing to pray. The average pastor prays five minutes a day.

When we only do what we know we can do, people see our good work. But when we attempt what only God can do, people have an opportunity to see God Himself at work. Then it is that we can say (with Paul), "We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power will be seen to be of God and not of us," and again, "When I am weak He is strong."

There are hundreds of excuses we use to avoid facing vulnerability and weakness. We might call this practical wisdom or "playing it safe." But the Bible calls it something else. It is trusting in the arm of the flesh. It is unbelief. It is robbing God of the glory that could be His and ourselves and others of the good that could be ours.

If only we would give our five loaves and two fish to Jesus. Never mind that the critics (always close by or within!) clearly point out how insufficient this is for such a great need! If Jesus is pleased He can feed thousands - and all he needs from us is weakness and the opportunity we give Him by trusting Him.

After all, He created the universe out of nothing. It's just the way He is. He's actually very good at it.

Mercy Triumphs

Dane Gressett — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 12:42:24 GMT

    And He told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt:
    "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself; 'God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.'
    But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!'
    I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18:9-14)

   God's mercy was an unknown (and seemingly unneeded) quantity to this Pharisee. Actually, it's unknown to all of us, until certain things happen that bring it into focus. A.W. Tozer's definition of the mercy of God is helpful here:

    As judgment is God's justice confronting moral inequity, so mercy is the goodness of God confronting human suffering and guilt. Were there no guilt in the world, no pain and no tears, God would yet be infinitely merciful; but His mercy might well remain hidden in His heart, unknown to the created universe. No voice would be raised to celebrate the mercy of which none felt the need. It is human misery and sin that call forth the divine mercy. (from The Knowledge of the Holy)

One of the characteristics of mercy is that it is undeserved goodness poured out in compassionate love. By very definition, then, mercy cannot be understood without a backdrop of failure, sin, and guilt. One cannot perceive God's mercy extended to you personally, or enjoy its many benefits, until you begin to humbly understand how little you deserve it. And for some of us this involves a hard road.

The prodigal son left his father's house because he didn't deeply know his father (see Luke 15). Like Adam and Eve he had convinced himself that life outside the father's close care and control would be more satisfying somehow. After some rough times he "came to his senses" and returned home to his father. He fully expected his father to be angry and so he had a plan to appease the father. He would humbly own and confess his sin, but would also forfeit any claim to sonship. Perhaps under these conditions his father would let him return as a simple slave.

But the father he met in the road was not the man he thought he knew. The prodigal's father was full of mercy and treated him far better than he deserved or could have dreamed. The older brother was offended by the outpouring of mercy from the father upon the rebellious younger son. This shows that the older brother really didn't know his father's deepest heart and motives either!

But how could they have known? How could they percieve the depths of their father's merciful love and compassion without a backdrop of sin and misery to illuminate it's great depths? If both boys had continued to dutifully serve their father, without any personal sense of failure or guilt, would they not have considered their inheritance more as a right than a gift?

What if God's great love revealed through extreme mercy is the crowning attribute of His glorious Being? What if the greatest part of our inheritance as God's children can only be found when we come to really know and experience His extravagant mercy? Wouldn't God be cruel to keep it hidden from us?

A precious lady recently asked me why God, though being all powerful and all knowing, would allow sin and suffering to ever enter His world in the first place. I think every thinking person has asked this question.  Let me share a question in response:

What if the highest life and the most joyful existence can only be had as we come to know God in more of His fullness? And what if human sin and the suffering it has caused was necessary to bring us to deeply understand the heigth and depth and length and breadth of God's most glorious and enduring attributes, like mercy and love? Would it be worth it?

Perhaps the words of the apostle Paul take on a deeper meaning now: "For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all." (Romans 11:32) Did you get that? If I understand Paul correctly, he is saying that it is because of God's mercy that He has allowed sin to enter the world and to infect and affect each of us. Now that's a paradigm shift for most of us!

I don't pretend to understand all of this. But that which I have come to know and experience of God's mercy tells me that it is worth it all. Even in a world filled with sin and suffering God can be deeply trusted to have our best interests in mind - and that from before time began! Jesus Christ's death on the cross was not "plan B". It was (and is) the crowning revelation of God's mercy to man.

As I contemplate these things this morning, my soul is filled with wonder and awe. I must be the happiest man in the universe. Though God is not "safe", He is merciful and kind and has always had our ultimate best interests in mind. I hope you too are learning to turn to Him more fully and to trust Him more deeply.

The Power of Crying Out to God

Dane Gressett — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 12:20:45 GMT

"...a blind beggar named Bartimaeus was sitting by the road...When He heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!'..." (Mark 10:47)

The Bible is full of references to people calling upon the name of the Lord. Amazing deliverances, healings, and rescues are attributed to God as He responds to the cries of His needy people.

Bartimaeus overcame the censorship of the crowd and cried out until he gained an audience with the King. For Bartimaeus (and everyone else at that point in history), the process of getting into the immediate presence of Jesus wasn't something you could do simply by going into your prayer closet and "closing" the door. Jesus was in only one place at a time, and that for a limited time. You had to go to where the action was.

Bartimaeus had to cry out to be heard above the crowd, above the agendas of those surrounding Jesus. Today our crying out is not so much to be heard in the crowd but to overcome our own unbelief and self- centered control. But we need to be careful lest we turn this biblical principle into yet another method of man trying to manipulate God.

The goal of Bartimaeus' crying out was to gain access to Christ's immediate presence. This is really the issue. We cry out to Him, we call upon His name, for the purpose of gaining a conscious awareness of His mercy and nearness. This is what Bartimaeus appealed to: "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.."

Bartimaeus was not quoting a proof text or demanding that Jesus fulfill a specific promise. He was appealing to Christ's mercy and hoping to be ushered into Christ's immediate presence. Hallelujah. This is where miracles happen. I've studied the miracles of Jesus, and I've yet to note a single one that did not involve someone gaining an immediate audience with Jesus. His presence came before He released the miracle.

So what's the significance? Bartimaeus got into Christ's presence by calling upon His name. Once in the presence of the Lord, Bartimaeus was able to hear words from Christ's lips! Bartimaeus then responded accordingly.

Another man in the New Testament requested Christ's intervention. From prison, John the Baptist sent his disciples to the immediate presence of Christ. John charged them to ask Jesus if He was truly the Messiah or should they expect someone else. It is sad but kind of comforting to see even a great man of God like John having some major doubts. John knew what the Old Testament said about the Messiah. He knew his own role as the forerunner, the one called to prepare the way of the Lord. There is no doubt he also knew by heart much of what the Bible predicted or promised about the Messiah. And I believe that John was struggling because Jesus wasn't meeting all of his immediate expectations. Let me explain.

Jesus sent word back to John, saying, "Go tell John what you hear and see: the blind recieve sight and the lame walk...the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me." (Matt 11:3-6) In these words Jesus is sending back to John "biblical" proofs of His Messiahship. There were many prophecies that proclaimed the Messiah's miracle ministry. Promises like Isaiah 42:7, "...to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon and those who dwell in darkness from the prison." Or like the very text Jesus read during His first sermon in Nazareth: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners..." (Isa 61:1)

If you're not blind or in prison, these specific promises regarding Messiah's ministry might not catch your attention. But its hard to imagine Bartimaeus and John missing these references!

But here's the difficulty. Jesus fulfilled the promise to open blind eyes...for Bartimaeus. But He did not fulfill the promise to free the prisoners...for John. At least the promise was not fulfilled in John's earthly life. And Jesus sent word to John, "You will be blessed if you don't take offense at Me when I fulfill these promises immediately for some and only in eternity for others" (my paraphrase).

Both men gained an audience with Jesus (Bartimaeus directly, John via his disciples) and both men heard words from Christ's lips. One got an immediate miracle. One got an exhortation to endure without offense. And so it is for us as well. Crying out to Jesus, drawing near to God through Him, in a humble yet bold faith, gives us direct and immediate access to God. In His presence we can expect Him to speak. He will give us what we need. Yes, we will be required to exercise the faith that comes through that encounter. And by that faith we can live - or die! Either will be glorious, because we will be doing it with Him.

Many Christians live their lives without radically drawing near to God, rarely sensing His voice with clarity. Could the problem be that we are not crying out? That we are not truly calling on His name? That we are willing to live without regularly experiencing His presence? Remember the awesome promise:

For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord with be saved. (Romans 10:13)

Call on the name of Jesus. Expect His merciful presence. Draw near to God from your heart. Jesus has opened the way through His blood at the Cross. He's waiting for you. But be careful about loading the encounter down with lots of preconceived ideas. Because God may or may not come the way you expected. Listen to Him. Respond to Him. Believe Him. But let God be God.

Living From the Inside-out

Dane Gressett — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 15:32:20 GMT

Pretty wierd, huh? This catfish found in Lake Conroe (near Houston, TX) kept bobbing up to the top of the lake! Just can't keep a good fish down!

The ball must have looked like something yummy. The big fish thought he was getting a meal and found out that the meal got him! He literally bit off more than he could chew! This is like sin in our lives. We may think it's something from the outside that we can take or leave at will. While sin sooner or later shows up on the outside, Jesus taught us that it actually begins and proceeds from the heart:

"For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, sexual immorality, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man." (Mark 7:21-23)

Jesus taught that to really overcome sinful issues in our lives we must begin at the heart of the matter. Trying to deal with sin as an exterior issue alone is like trying to keep several beach balls all underwater at the same time. You will get exhausted trying to stay on top of the battle.

The victory Christ offers us is one that also begins on the inside. In the same way that sin has ruled us from the inside, so now "in Christ" a new life principle and power can empower us from inside. It's not an outside-in religiosity, but an inside-out resurrection life principle.

The Bible teaches that the very same life that raised up the dead body of Jesus Christ now dwells on the inside of those who have believed on and received Him as their Savior! (see Romans 8:11) If God's Spirit can raise up a totally dead body, it can make some major changes in your's as well!

Our major problem is this addiction to doing it ourselves. We think that we will overcome sin by our own grit and hard work. It is possible to modify outward behavior by sheer will power. But this is far from victory over sin. One sinful behavior if "eliminated" through will power alone, will usually show up as some other form of sin! It is true that we must soberly and sincerely engage in this battle against sin, but our weapons in this fight are not of our old natural selves. We must learn to allow the new life of Christ to flow forth from our hearts.

This can only consisently happen when we are regularly abiding in Him and communing with Him. Jesus said, "If you abide in Me...you will bear much fruit." Drawing near to Him in prayer and worship and opening up our hearts to His dynamic presence will result in far better results than relying upon our own strength and abilities. After all, the real essence of sin is the inner tendency to do it alone, without God. Trusting ourselves and our own wisdom above God and living at a distance from Him is the real underlying issue of sin. Returning to Him and His presence is key.

But remember that it's a process. Succumbing to sin from time to time does not mean that you aren't saved. It does mean that you have somehow stepped away from the primacy of your inner relationship with Christ. When you do sin, rather than making guilt-driven promises to improve yourself, simply ask for His mercy and forgiveness and draw near to His presence again. This is sometimes a very difficult thing to do! We do not feel worthy of His presence. We do not feel like we will be welcomed there, considering our failures. But the good news of the Gospel is that Jesus has removed the guilt of our sin! The quickest route back to victory is the one that proceeds directly to God's merciful presence! This is where all victory begins, proceeds, and finishes.

(Click here for an audio teaching on this topic)