Separated from God?
It’s fair to say that disagreements between people tend separate them from one another. The conflict in the relationship sometimes is so deep that permanent separations occur.
“Irreconcilable differences” is the term used to describe this situation in marriages.
“Difference in philosophy” often describes business partnerships breaking up.
“Lack of results or personality conflicts” describes people leaving their jobs.
The point is that people were not seeing eye to eye on the critical issues to maintain their relationships.
Do you think this sort of thing can happen with God? That the differences between humans and God are so great that it would cause a separation? Some would argue no. They base their answer on the knowledge that God is loving God so to separate himself from those He created is not possible.
Certainly, God is loving. The Bible tells us that He is love (1 John 4:8). But to leave it at that misses the point of the conflict. God demands that we should be perfect just as he is perfect. We are not. This is what separates us from God. Here’s how the Lord puts it:
“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” (Isaiah 59:1-2 ESV)
The problem is not with God, rather with us…you and me. We are the ones that run from his love. We reject his grace. We try to usurp his power and authority and replace it with our own. Our desires do not match his desires, our motives are not his motives, nor do our actions reflect his actions. This is precisely what separates us from God.
For many, the difficultly with this issue lies in the perspective in which they choose to look. They are looking at the universe through their eyes rather than through God’s. They see the world as revolving around their worldview rather than seeing the world through God’s worldview. They see God owing them something rather than owing God something.
Admitting that you are wrong is one of the most difficult things to do in life, yet with God it is the most liberating things you will ever experience.
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By David Zook, Pastor Morningside Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, AZ.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Are You Reflecting This Aspect of God’s Image to Others?
This is the very definition of mercy. As we draw closer to God and He pours more and more of Himself into us, there will come a point when we start reflecting many of God’s attributes including His mercy. As we see how undeserving we are in times of great need and how God meets where we are, we experience His mercy.
Some get a sense of mercy when they throw themselves at the mercy of the court. They have been convicted of a crime, know that they are undeserving of escaping punishment, and are in great need of relief. Before the judge, they plead with him to reduce or waive the sentence. They are at the judge’s mercy.
Likewise, a child is at his/her parent’s mercy when they get caught red handed doing something that they are not suppose to do, then the child pleads and cajoles begging for the parent’s mercy.
The Bible has several instances in which people reflect God’s image of mercy upon others. Joseph granting mercy to his brothers is such an instance. Joseph’s brothers were in a real pickle. Driven by famine they left their home in Canaan and went to Egypt to buy grain.
Unbeknown to them, Joseph was in charge of grain sells and when they showed up, Joseph immediately recognized them. Joseph could have vindicated himself by refusing to sell grain to them because his brothers sold him into slavery and told their father that Joseph had be torn into pieces by a “fierce animal” (Genesis 37:33 ESV).
But Joseph didn’t choose revenge, rather he showed his brothers mercy and sold them the grain and eventually invited his entire family to Egypt to preserve the family, the remnant of Israel, and bloodline that led to Christ.
Is there someone in your life that you have been riding hard? Is there someone that you won’t extend the time of day? Is there someone in your life that doesn’t deserve your kindness?
Reflect this aspect of God’s image into their lives by being merciful to them. Tough to do? You bet. Think of it this way, God has a beef with man. We don’t live up to his expectation of perfection and He has every right to release His wrath on us as He did when He turned Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt for disobeying Him (Genesis 19) or struck dead Annanias and Sapphria for lying (Acts 5) as punishment for not being perfect.
Yet, he doesn’t…”the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.” (Psalm 145:8-9)
Let’s follow His lead and reflect His greatness to the undeserving.
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By David Zook, Pastor Morningside Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, AZ.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )The Only Sure Fire Way to Conquer the Things That Haunt You.
Sanctification is akin to holiness. Its essence means to be set apart. God sets us apart, that is He sanctifies every part of us, when we trust Jesus. Remember that on the cross Jesus gave us His perfect life and assumed every bit of our imperfect lives with every bit of its sin, so that God would pour out His wrath on Jesus, not us.
Because of this once and for all substitution, (“For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” Hebrews 10:14 ESV) God’s wrath is completely satisfied and when He looks at those who have trusted His Son, He sees His Son’s perfection covering them, not the stains of sin underneath. “…that they may receive the forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” (Acts 26:18 ESV)
This is why the Bible refers to those who have trusted Jesus as holy ones or saints. (Ephesians 1:1) They have been sanctified.
Being sanctified means that you have been completely and irrevocably set free from the slavery of sin and now you are able in to live rightly. (Romans 6:18)
This one aspect has immense implications. Being set apart gives you the ability to say no to the actions and thoughts that harm you and say yes to the actions and thoughts that are good for you. The power of sin has been broken. You have been set free.
With this new found power fueled by the Holy Spirit and the armor issued by God (Ephesians 6:10-20) you now have the ability to battle and conquer the things that haunt you.
Now to be sure these battles will be extremely difficult and there will be many times that you lose the upper hand and get knocked down. Yet as you draw closer to Jesus through these battles, He will draw closer to you resulting in you becoming more like Him and less like yourself.
As you stay close to Him, over time your thoughts will become more like His thoughts, your motives will increasingly reflect His motives, and your emotions will be in line with His Word.
As Jesus was praying to His Father he said, “sanctify them in your truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17 ESV)
I might add may He completely sanctify you…head, heart, body, and soul so that you may conquer the things that haunt you.
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By David Zook, Pastor Morningside Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, AZ.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 6 so far )Here is one thing that is your responsiblity, not solely your Pastor’s.
One of the pitfalls of having professional pastors (people who get paid to do ministry) is the false assumption that they are the ones that do “ministry” because of their gifting and calling.
Sure pastors do ministry, but effective pastors teach others to do ministry including teaching the Bible and Jesus to others.
To be clear, you do not need to be gifted in teaching to teach the Bible to others. Let me explain.
If you can read a story out of a children’s Bible to a child, you are teaching the child about the Bible.
If you have a one-on-one conversation with a friend about an issue affecting him/her and talk about God’s grace, quote a verse, use biblical principles you are teaching them about the Bible.
When you share how you trusted Jesus and your walk with Him, you are teaching people about how Jesus came into your life and turned it around.
Teaching does not always occur behind the pulpit our in a Sunday School class.
We are just one to two generations away from Christianity being marginalized into obscurity. The Old Testament teaches us that lesson. How many times did God turn over His people because they were not worshiping Him and teaching others about Him? Multiple. In one instance, when Ezra returned with the Jews to Jerusalem after a 70 year exile, only a few of the Jews in Jerusalem knew God. If it happened then, it can happen now.
That is why Paul exhorts Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2 teach others about God’s Word. “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (ESV)
Jesus’ parting words to his disciples before ascending into heaven were
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20 ESV)
This is a empathic command. He isn’t declaring, suggesting, or asking. He is commanding His people (at the time his disciples; now it’s us) to make disciples through evangelism (baptizing) and discipleship (teaching).
All of us regardless of our gifting can explain to others what the Bible is about and who Jesus is…even if that means nothing else but our personal story to how He has affected and transformed your life.
Be encouraged…for you have been given the spirit of boldness, not timidity (2 Timothy 1:7), in part to teach others about the greatest book ever written with a hero who will never let you down.
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By David Zook, Pastor Morningside Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, AZ.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 3 so far )Who Is Number One in Your Life?
The essence of worship is ascribing worth greater than yourself to something. Worship takes many forms. For the kid in us how could we not worship Michael Jordon, Mickey Mantle, Tiger Woods, Carrie Underwood or any of the other stars that we greatly admire. They are able to do things that we can only dream about. We want to be like them and do the things they do.
We see this in our kids. I will never forget our oldest when he just turned three grabbing my wife’s pocket sized bible and after placing on the ottoman and opening it up, he preached from it, just like his daddy.
Just this morning our youngest son wanted to wear tennis shoes that laced up because his big brother was wearing his.
We were built to worship. If that is the case, does God then instruct us where to cast our affections? Does He tell us what to worship? You bet he does.
He commands in Exodus 20:3 to have no other gods before him; Isaiah prophesies in Isaiah 52:13 that God’s servant meaning Jesus should be “high and lifted up”; there is an image of angels painted in Revelation 4:8 singing, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.”
God is very specific in terms of casting our affections on things. We are to cast all of that on Him and His Son. We are to lift up Jesus each time we worship publicly or privately. For He is the most worthy person history.
Who else turns water in wine? Walks on water? Raises His friend from the dead? Never makes a mistake in thought, action, or motive?
Who can make heavenly angels bow down to Him and sing His praises? Save people from their sins by voluntarily dying and being raised from the dead?
Who else makes nature do what He commands? Makes evil spirits shutter in His presence? Comforts you as no other can? Has the ability to come down from heaven to cast Satan into hell?
No one. This is why He is worthy to worship…this is why we lift Him high. For no one compares to Him.
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By David Zook, Pastor Morningside Evangelical Presbyterian Church and its newest ministry visio dei in Phoenix, AZ.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 3 so far )Husbands: Here’s a Vital Habit to Keep Your Marriage and Sex Life Strong
Conflicts are bound to happen. Disagreements are a part of life. Anger, disappointment, unmet expectations, being let down, not communicating properly are all things that happen as sure as the sun rises in the east.
If you are alive and breathing, these things are an inescapable part of life. We live in an imperfect world with imperfect people so imperfect things will happen. (see here for more on imperfection.) If we run from these things, they will follow us and haunt us.
I have met many people who have run away from dating relationships because of a disagreement or conflict without reconciling. They just leave with hard feelings and all. Without fail, they take their hard feelings and open wounds into the next relationship and that new relationship rarely has a chance of succeeding because of all the baggage brought into it.
I have met a few divorced people who do the same.
I have also met a few people still married, but their relationship is so deeply damaged because there hasn’t been any reconciliation, that their marriage remains miserable, joyless, and sexless. All they can see is the faults and hurts of their spouse. If you think being single is lonely, then talk to a person who is in a miserable, joyless, and sexless marriage, that’s lonely!
Men, if you want a strong marriage with good and joyful sex you must make it a habit to keep short accounts with your wife. If you have an argument, if at all possible (caveat: some hurts will take some time to work through like adultery), settle it before you go bed. “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.” (Ephesians 4:26 ESV)
Your wife has little desire to give herself to you if you are not reconciled after a fight, so reconcile. Remember, conflicts in marriages gives us opportunities to play who wants to be a Christian. (hat tip to David Wayne)
Will you rise above all the stuff and work through the conflict to become united again? Or will you take the path of least resistance, not do the work and ever slowly drift further apart? It takes a godly man to do the former and a weak kneed, excuse ridden boy to do the latter. Remember that God is with you and will strengthen you to be that godly man. Lean on Him during these times…He favors the humble and opposes the proud. (James 4:6 ESV)
Also remember, that it gives the devil great joy to mettle in and weaken our relationships. He wants to neuter us so we do not threaten his work here on earth and one of the ways he does that is through your relationship with your wife.
Keep the devil at bay and your marriage and sex life strong by reconciling with your lovely wife in a timely manner.
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By David Zook, Pastor Morningside Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, AZ.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )
The Only Way to Beat Obsessive Desires
Tucked inside this poll question and the way you have answered it, reveals a bit about the state of your heart. The heart generates desire, motive, intention, and passion among other things. All of these are good and necessary until you begin to focus too much on them, then you become a slave to them. They will own you and soon the way you spend your time, money, and arrange your priorities to reflect your pursuit.
The result is an obsessive or an unhealthy desire for something that you do not have. You covet and envy. These very things that we obsess about so that we may have joy actually rob us of our joy. How many people have you heard of that “have it all” because of their unhealthy drive, have nothing because of that very drive? Many of the wealthiest people are also the most miserable people.
I think that is why God wrote about coveting as the 10th commandment (Exodus 20:17). He knew how our hearts could become imbalanced because of the drive and desire that we have so He wanted to protect us from harm by commanding us not to have obsessive desires. He knew that when obsessive drive kicks in nothing is ever enough. Not enough money, possessions, men, women; not enough victories, not enough “highs”. Not enough of not enough.
But God in His infinite wisdom, didn’t leave it at that. He wrote a prescription to this ailment found in Philippians 4:11-12.
Paul reveals the presciption this way, “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.” (Philippians 4:12 ESV)
That secret is found in verse 11 when he tells the Philippians
that he has learned to be content in any situation that he finds himself in. “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” (Philippians 4:11 ESV)
That is to say that he does not envy or covet anything because he can do anything through Christ who strengthens him. (Philippians 4:13)
What an encouragement to us!
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By David Zook, Pastor Morningside Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, AZ.
Four Tips to Become More Loving and Devoted to Your Husband.
The essence of this statement is do you love your husband more today than yesterday? How about more this year than last year?
Marriage is difficult even in the best relationships. Differences as trivial as the leaving the toilet seat up or down to the more significant ones like child rearing or career choices have the ability to drive wedges into our marriage vows.
Couple those differences with the pressures of time (honey, I got to work late) which can lead to neglect and lack of romance from your husband, and over the years weeds grow into your garden that will choke out the love that was so evident on your wedding day.
This is the heart of Solomon’s lover’s statement in the Song of Solomon 2:15, “Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards for our vineyards are in blossom.” Life presents all sorts of stuff to take us of keeping the main thing the main thing. Ask God to remove those from your life and help you establish a lifestyle that will bring you together closer, rather than tearing you apart.
The Song of Solomon in the one book in the Bible that focuses exclusively on romance, sex, conflict, and relationships. It is an epic poem broken into the various stages of a relationship from dating to growing old together.
Near the end of the book (chapter 7) after a series of conflicts, we find the lovers reunited and extolling the virtues and attributes to one another of what caused them to fall in love in the first place. (chapter 4).
Here are a few suggestions to keep the flame burning through the twists and turns of life:
1) Stay close to the Lord. He is not the author of confusion or deceit in relationships, but of clarity, comfort, and wisdom.
2) Keep short accounts with your husband. Repentance melts away hard hearts more than anything else.
3) Forgive your husband. Though this may take time depending on the situation, reconciliation brings unity, strength, and a deeper love.
4) Intentionally spend time with each other. You did a fabulous job of this prior to marriage and kids so continue it after marriage and kids. Go on a date and spend time with your hubby. It works.
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By David Zook, Pastor Morningside Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, AZ.
Discover God’s Sole Reason for Forgiving Man.
One of the most astounding things the Bible claims is the fact that there is nothing of merit that man can do to get to heaven. Man can only enter heaven claiming Jesus’ record as his own.
Now, for many this sounds very extreme and narrow minded. After all, people are generally good and do good things, I mean they are not child molesters or axe murderers. God should be pleased with them for their good works and allow them into heaven.
That sounds good until you read the Bible and discover what it claims. The Bible claims that you have to be perfect, that is to say that you never ever make a mistake in thought, action, or motive. (read more here)
If man can’t make it to heaven on his own, then how will he make it to heaven?
Through the perfect life and the conquering of death by Jesus. The Bible tells us that Jesus was perfect in His life on earth and through this perfect obedience to His Father “many are made righteous” (Romans 5:19 ESV)
Through His death “he bore our sins in the his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24 ESV)
Through His resurrection he conquered death which is the ultimate payment for our imperfection (sin). (Romans 3:23) The Bible says that Christ was put to death “for our trespasses (sin) and raised for our justification.” (Romans 4:25)
These are very tough words for many in this world, yet rightly understood they ought to be the most comforting.
Knowing that there is nothing you can do merit wise to gain entrance into heaven ought to take a tremedous pressure off your back.
Knowing for certainty that there is a plan to get you to heaven without you trying to figure it out through trial and error ought to give you assurance and peace.
Knowing that someone has already done what you could never do, then give it to you freely, without demanding money or work for it, is absolutely amazing. It’s amazing grace.
And it is available to those who seek it today.
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By David Zook, Pastor Morningside Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, AZ.
Helpful Tip on Time Management
Of all the things in the world that give each of us a competitive advantage over others (intelligence, discernment, energy, passion, gifting, vision, work ethic, etc.), there is one thing that equalizes everyone: time. Everyone has 24 hours in a day and that’s it. So how do you spend your time?
And does the Bible have anything to say about it? You bet it does. Like your talent and treasure, time is a stewardship issue. God calls us to be good stewards of everything we have in life. After all it’s all His and He graciously gives everything to us including time. None of us have the slightest idea when we will draw our last breathe, only God does. At that point in time God will call us into account for our lives spent on earth. (Romans 14:12)
Scripture also exhorts us to make “the best use of time because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16) You see there is a spiritual war occurring between God and the devil. The devil wants to distract us and keep our focus off the Lord so that we will not do His work, but the devil’s.
Those of you who have read Steven Covey’s work know his suggestion of running your life not by what is urgent, but what is important. Urgent and the non-important drain away time from the important things of life…like going to your kid’s soccer practice or game, or deciding not to spend time with the Lord because something more urgent or less taxing has come up. When the urge arises to forgo the important for the unimportant, resist it! Ask the Lord to help you maintain your focus.
Lastly, God designed us to industrious, not lazy. From cultivating the garden in Genesis to Paul exhortation to his friend Timothy to finish the race, God has wired us to keep busy doing the important stuff of life. Contrast that to Proverbs 26:14 (ESV), “As a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard on his bed.” Though it is a vivid picture, it is not a flattering one.
We don’t know when we will leave this earth, but what we do know is that every second is a gift our gracious Father has given to do the important stuff in life. Let’s not get overwhelmed and side tracked with the non-important stuff.
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By David Zook, Pastor Morningside Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, AZ.
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