When the Cheering Stopped

Woodrow Wilson was the 28th president of the United States, from 1913 to 1921.  He was a democrat and leading intellectual of the "progressive era."  Upon the end of World War I, people firmly believed that the last war had been fought.  The world would finally be safe and freedom would ring throughout the world.  When President Wilson made his first visit to Europe, huge crowds greeted him everywhere he went.  He was more popular than the greatest war heroes.  He was viewed as the great icon of hope.

When all was said and done, the cheering lasted for almost one year.  Then, the cheering stopped.  Over time, the political leaders in Europe become more interested in their own private agendas.  The pursuit of a lasting peace began to become a distant memory.  The European people began to lose hope.  In America, President Wilson met strong opposition in the senate.  One of the most important issues he designed and fought for was the Versailles Treaty, containing the Covenant of the League of Nations.  He pleaded with the senate, "Dare we reject it and break the heart of the world?"  The senate dared to reject it and it was never ratified. It not only broke President Wilson's heart, before long it broke his body.  Against his doctor's advice, his fight to mobilize his cause left him exhausted and he eventually suffered a devastating stroke.  Only two years prior, everyone cheered him.  In his final days, all of the cheering stopped. 

During this Lenten Season, we recall that on Palm Sunday, as Jesus approached Nazareth, He was greeted with cheering from the great crowds who were there to greet Him.  However, we also know that it would not be long before the same crowds who were cheering Him would soon be booing Him and calling for Him to be crucified.  How did this happen?  Why did the cheering stop?  They didn't understand His purpose.  They didn't understand what He was bringing to them.  The people wanted a Messiah who would set up a powerful earthly kingdom and drive out the Romans.  Jesus wanted to bring them a spiritual kingdom not based on violence but on love.  They didn't understand and the cheering stopped.

Has it ever happened to you?  By that, I mean has the cheering for Jesus ever stopped in your heart?  When things go our way, when God does what we want, when our prayers are answered, isn't it easy to cheer for Jesus?  But what happens when things don't go our way?  When bad things seem to happen.  When we're not happy.  Do we lose heart?  Does the cheering stop?  In the 6th chapter of John, Jesus explains to His disciples what communion means.  When they don't understand what Jesus is trying to say, the disciples start to complain.  Even though they had seen Him perform miracle after miracle and divine healing, the Bible says, "many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more." Jesus than asked His twelve apostles, "Do you also want to go away?"  How would you answer that question?  Has the cheering stopped for you?  Or will you answer the question as the apostles did, "We have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

During this Easter season, let us return to our first love.  Let us love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength.  May the cheering never stop.  

World View

In the movie, "Wall Street,"  the actor Michael Douglas addresses the stockholders of Teldar Paper and says, "I am not a destroyer of companies.  I am a liberator of them!  The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good.  Greed is right.  Greed works.  Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.  Greed in all its forms, greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind.  And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."

  Our nation and the world is currently reeling under that view point.  Greed and lack of integrity by some financial and political leaders has created a nightmare that is not saving anyone.  How does one develop such a world view?  A world view is how one views the world and that view is almost impossible to change.  In the last presidential election we witnessed this in action.  The Republican and Democratic Parties demonstrated almost opposite viewpoints.  On TV, e.g., MSNBC and Fox,  you see two entirely different viewpoints to the same events unfold and come to such different conclusions and wonder how people see things so differently.

When psychologists administer psychological examinations one important question is, "How does this person see the world?"  For example, does the person see the world as safe?  Or does the person see it as threatening?  "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?"  Or "survival of the fittest in a dog eat dog world."  Each person had their own view of the world and was convinced it was true.

Ethics is the study of moral values but who decides what is moral?  Some people believe you can sacrifice morals for the sake of justice but who decides what is just?  What is your world view?  Where does it come from?  Is it anchored by a parent?  A teacher you once had?  A movie star?  A particular political party?  A union boss?  A Pastor?  

Jesus said in John 3:16:  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  But He also said these words in John 3:17:  "For God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but the world through Him might be saved."  As followers of Christ, how do we help save the world?  What is our world view?  Jesus says in John 15:13:  "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends."  Here is a world view that is the very opposite of greed.  It involves giving, not taking.  When we ask Christ to come into our lives we allow Him to mold us into the person we were meant to be.  He becomes our anchor for what is moral and just.  Here is a world view that will help you to make the world a better place to live.

Temptations of Christ in the Wilderness

For the past 1500 years the church has begun the Lenten Season by reflecting on the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness.  Luke 4:1-13 teaches us what happened there.  The Bible points out in this passage of Scripture three major temptations.  The first one happened after Jesus had spent 40 days praying and fasting.  When they had ended and Jesus was extremely hungry, the Bible tells us the devil came to Him and said, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."  But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God."  What would be the sin if Jesus turned the stone into bread?  Jesus and Satan both knew He could turn the stone into bread instantly.  It would be a sin because He would have demonstrated that He did not trust God to provide for His needs.  He would have trusted in Himself.  He would have misused the power given to Him by God for His own personal needs rather than listening and obeying His Father, God.

The second temptation followed, "Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him, 'All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.' " Jesus answered the devil by saying, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.' "  What would be the sin here?  It would be a sin if Jesus were to accept this authority and power because the Bible tells us that to worship before Satan would be to deny the one and only true god.

The third temptation followed, "Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, 'If you are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.  For it is written:  'He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you, and, in their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.' "  And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, You shall not tempt the Lord your God."  What would be the sin here?  It would be the sin of presumption which suggests an overstepping of bounds.  The devil had quoted Scripture to Jesus from Psalm 91:11-12, however, he left out "in all your ways" which is translated "in all your ordinary ways."  Jumping off the pinnacle of the temple and landing safely would be about a 350 foot fall which would not be considered "in all your ordinary ways."  That would clearly be extraordinary and supernatural.  The word tempt basically means to put to the test, to try, to prove.  It is God's privilege to test human beings.  It is not the right of human beings to test God.    

Jesus quoted Scripture to the devil when He was tempted.  He used the word of God as the sword of the Spirit to do battle with the adversary.  Hebrews 4:12 tells us:  "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

To live by the word of God and to be able to use it as an instrument against evil is to understand that the word of God is our daily bread.  It is our manna from heaven.  The word of God, the Bible, is for us to read every day and digest the living word of God so it becomes alive in our heart.  That's why we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread."  God keeps all His promises and He promises that if we stand firm in the power of the word that He will be with us always.  We do not battle evil on our own willpower.  We just stand on the word and let God do the work.  That is how we use the word of God for our healing, our hope, our nourishment in life, and how we engage the enemy in spiritual warfare.  We stand firm in the word of God.  We quote Scripture the way Jesus did and the adversary will be defeated.  

Minor Inconvenience

Good Evening All,

     Pastor Al asked me to come over and post that he is still down from his surgery. He is in considerable pain and promised his doctor he would take it easy. So he will not be posting any new blog entries at the moment, but rest assured he will be back to writing soon and I am sure his posts will be better than ever.

     Please be sure to keep him in your prayers this week for a speedy recovery.

Thanks,
Danna King

"Stairway To Heaven"

"There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold and she's buying a stairway to heaven.  When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed, with a word she can get what she came for."

These are the opening lyrics of the number one requested rock and roll song of all time.  The group, Led Zeppelin, wrote "Stairway To Heaven" about 40 years ago.  Robert Plant, group vocalist, wrote the song and said that it concerned "a woman getting everything she wanted without giving anything back."

Perhaps the lyrics are a reflection of the "me" generation of years gone by.  For most of us, we can't get everything we want but as Christians we have been assured that we can get what we need, especially when we are willing to give back to others.

In the 28th chapter of Genesis is the story of Jacob encountering the stairway to heaven.  Before this encounter, Jacob was on many occasions a person who took without giving anything back.  He is now running for his life because he stole his brother's inheritance and blessing and is fearful that Esau will track him down and kill him.  Exhausted from running, he lies down and falls asleep.

The 12th verse tells us:  "He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it."  In the dream God said He would watch over Jacob, provide him with many descendants and riches, and be with him forever.

"When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, 'Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.'  He was afraid and said, 'How awesome is this place!  This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.'"  (Genesis 28:16-17).  Jacob was amazed that the Lord was there all the time and he was not even aware of it.  Bolstered with new confidence and conviction in the Lord, Jacob made the first vow recorded in the Bible.  He said, ". . . the Lord will be my God . . . and of all that You give me I will give You a tenth."

The Bible tells us that as Christians, the Lord is with us.  Unfortunately, as is the case with Jacob, we don't always recognize His presence.  Perhaps that is because we don't look for Him.  In this new year of 2013, may our greatest resolution be to look for and anticipate the presence of God.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus encourages us not to worry about food, clothing, shelter or the things of life that stress us out.  "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."  The stairway to heaven is for those who seek the Lord and His righteousness.

"Put Work Clothes On Your Dreams"

Everyone knows what they don't want.  It's what a person wants that is hard to discover.  What makes you happy?  What gives meaning to your life?  What is it you really want?

This is the season of Lent which began on Ash Wednesday.  It is a tradition in the Christian Church that has lasted over 1500 years.  It is a reflection on the temptations of Jesus which lasted 40 days.

The significance of Ash Wednesday comes from Genesis 3:19 which says, ". . . for dust you are and to dust you shall return."  A result of disobedience to God.  We are to set aside a period of 40 days for fasting and repentance to turn back to God.  Christians since the 19th century have marked their foreheads with ashes as a sign of repentance.  

During this Lenten season I would like to also recommend, besides a period of fasting, a giving up of a word we are all familiar with:  procrastination.  Webster's New World Dictionary defines procrastination this way:  "to put off doing something unpleasant until a future time."

This would be something very constructive to give up during this season of Lent.  If you have to clean your whole house, do it one room a day.  If you need to get your office cleaned up and put away, do it a section at a time.  Those people you have been meaning to write a thank you letter to - do it now.  Those who you need to say you love - do it now.  Write down what you need to do.  Sigmund Freud once said, "that which we don't want to do, we forget to do."  

This will be a great time to simplify your life.  Strive for balance in your life.  Too many projects may actually end up being just projects that never get done.  Set whatever goals you want to achieve and pray for the resolve to do it.  Instead of dreaming about things you want to do - put work clothes on those dreams.  

"Silver Threads and Golden Needles"

In 1956, Jack Rhodes and Dick Reynolds wrote the song “Silver Threads and Golden Needles” first sung by Wanda Jackson.  Recording artists such as Skeeter Davis, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn made the song a top seller.  However, everyone still came to the same conclusion:  Even silver threads and golden needles cannot mend a broken heart.  But is that really true?

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine scientists have discovered that “emotional shock can trigger sudden, reversible heart failure that is not a classic heart attack.”  Emotional shock such as realizing the unexpected death of a loved one can result in the release of enormous amounts of catecholamines into the blood stream along with other breakdown products and small proteins.  These chemicals can temporarily be toxic to the heart and cause symptoms normally associated with a typical heart attack including chest pain, and shortness of breath.  They have called this “Broken Heart Syndrome” and it can mimic a real heart attack.  It is not a real heart attack but feels like it.  

Sometimes the loss of a loved one can feel like our heart has broken in two.  Most people try to offer sympathetic advice such as time heals all wounds.  However, time does not always heal a broken heart.  The question than becomes, “Who can mend a broken heart?”  Can friends mend a broken heart?  Can a new lover mend a broken heart?  Can Dr. Phil mend your broken heart?   

Sometimes, broken hearts cannot be mended by human intervention.  Our heart will need to be repaired by the One who gave us our heart.  The One who said these words from Psalm 147:3:   “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”  In Luke 4:18, Jesus says He was anointed to, “heal the brokenhearted.”  

The Lord will never turn away a broken heart.  When we humble ourselves before God with raised hands toward heaven and cry out to our Lord Jesus Christ, He will hear our words and feel our tears.  Can a broken heart be mended?  Yes it can.  “For with God nothing will be impossible.”  Luke 1:37