The story in Acts 3 is challenging to say the least!  The Day of Pentecost had come, all were filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter had preached a soul-stirring message, 3,000 had been saved, the believers were devoted to teaching, fellowship, communion and prayer.  Signs and wonders were being done, sharing was the practice of the day and many were being added DAILY to their numbers.

Peter and John were on their way to the temple at the hour of prayer (they didn’t stop going to prayer meetings just because they now had the fullness of the Spirit within!) and on their way they saw a lame man being carried  to his favored spot.  This man was lame since birth and DAILY he was carried to “his” spot by the Gate Beautiful.  I think perhaps he was a common fixture.  We don’t know his age but he must have been around a long time.  Probably unnoticed by many because he was always there.  How often we pass by those in need around us because “they are always around” … we are used to seeing them, we have grown callous to their needs!

Lame Beggar Man did what was normal for him, something he had to do every day … beg for money.  It was all he knew.  There were no welfare systems, no food stamps but at least he had family or friends who carried him to his coveted spot to beg.

Here sits Lame Beggar Man as Peter and John walk toward the church door.  Lame Beggar Man cries out for money because he thinks that is what he needs … money to buy food, to pay rent, new clothes maybe a new video game.  But Peter and John “see” Lame Beggar Man perhaps for the first time.  Or at least this time they realized they had what this man really needed!

Peter engaged Lame Beggar Man and fixed his gaze on him.  Instead of giving him money Peter said, “Look at us”!  Lame Beggar Man looked expecting to get money.  I love what Peter did next … again Peter’s eyes were fixed on Lame Beggar Man and says, “Silver and gold have I none” (Sorry bro, I have no money) “but what I do have I give to you …” What did Peter have?  The Healer!

Peter continues, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”  Do you think Lame Beggar Man hesitated?  I don’t think he had a chance to think or to doubt because Peter took him by his right hand and raised him up … he HELPED him to stand.  Immediately … get that?  IMMEDIATELY his feet and ankles were made strong.  He began to leap … jump with joy!

He didn’t just stand up but he began to walk (I guess he didn’t even have to learn how to walk/run!!) and entered the temple with Peter and John all the while walking, leaping and praising God!  What a commotion he must have caused!  I would love to have seen it.

No longer Lame Beggar Man but Healed Formerly Lame Beggar Man … new name!

Here’s the point …

People around us think they know what they need.  They don’t!  They think money, love, possessions, job, spouse (fill in any blank) will take care of their problems, give them happiness and peace.  It won’t.  They are asking us to give them!  They are asking for our help!  But they are asking the wrong question.  Money, sex, fame, a change of spouse … won’t satisfy and certainly will not fill their need!  But we DO HAVE what they need … they need Jesus and the Holy Spirit!

Peter didn’t even give the man a sermon.  We don’t need to give them opportunity to argue or debate  … just give them JESUS!  The real crucified and risen Christ.  He is the ONLY answer to the needs of men and women today.

Are we giving them Jesus?  Or are we giving platitudes and “how to’s”?  Are we seeing miracles not just of salvation but also of physical needs being met?  Or are we passing them by holding Jesus in our hearts but not giving Him to the needy that are dying without Him?

When I was a very small girl I was terribly afraid of storms.  I did not like thunder and lightening.  Then one night I was staying with my dear Grandma Kopp, sleeping on the sofa in the living room, when Los Angeles got one of those RARE storms.  The thunder was LOUD and the lightening was BRIGHT and it seemed I was off the sofa and into grandma’s room before the lightening stopped.  I remember very vividly grandma talking to me about the storm and then praying with me that I would no longer be afraid.  From that night to this I have never been fearful of thunder and lightening again!  At a young age I learned JESUS is my shelter in a time of storm.  It was a valuable lesson that I have applied spiritually many times.

When talking about storms you can conjure up all types of images of dark clouds, heavy rain, fierce winds, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, etc.  We don’t have to go back vary far in our own history to be reminded of Katrina or Hurricane Andrew or other terrible storms even here in Southern California that have taken a toll in loss of life.

The Bible mentions storms … Noah’s flood being the first.  The disciples and Jesus were in a boat on the Sea of Galilee when a sudden storm came up.

Storms can be predicted (as when the television weatherman tells us a storm is coming) and we can run out and by supplies … be prepared.  Storms can also be sudden and we are caught unprepared.

How do we prepare for the storm THAT WILL COME and how do we ENDURE the coming storm … how do we find that place of refuge and shelter and STAY there.

Difficult times will do one of two things … drive you TO God or AWAY from God.

Isaiah 25:4 says, “YOU have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.”

We will find that ONLY in Christ Jesus will we find refuge/shelter. There is a scripture that I wish wasn’t in the Bible … at least the first part of it!  I don’t like it … I guess it could even be called a promise!   The second part is wonderful and gives me hope for the first part …

John 16:33, (Jesus is speaking) “In the world you WILL have tribulation (a storm to be sure!); but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world …”

So my outline is simple … In this life you will have tribulation (so what else is new?)

Our storms are varied … and you will have more than one!  They can be marital, our children, employment, depression, grief …

None of us look forward to storms (unless you are one of those storm chaser people!) especially the personal kind. So I don’t feel I need to spend time on this one.  Some of you are in a storm RIGHT now and wondering how you will make it through or even if it is worth fighting to stay above water!

What you want right now is to find that refuge or shelter to hide.

If you are caught in a pelting rain storm what is the first thing you do?  Put up your umbrella (a small shelter to be sure!) or run for the nearest building to wait it out.  If in an earthquake we want to be someplace where we will safe.  This is natural.  None of us like threatening storm.

I looked up “shelter” in the dictionary; “something that covers or affords protection; a means or place of protection; the state of being covered and protected”.  “refuge”; shelter or protection from danger or distress.

So here is the part that gives me courage …

“Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (peace in crisis).  JESUS is speaking here … HE is telling us to “be of good cheer” … in the middle of your storm because HE has “overcome the world”.  HE IS our peace in crisis …. HE IS our shelter/refuge IN the storm.

Just look with me (or write these down) a few (there are SO many) references to our shelter …

• Ps. 14:6    …the Lord is their refuge.
• Pro. 14:26    He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge.
• Ps. 94:22    But the Lord has become my fortress, and my God the rock in whom I take refuge.
• Ps. 119:114    You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.
• Is. 46:4    Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you.  I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

WOW!  HALLELUJAH!

These are GREAT scriptures of encouragement.  But when we are caught in a storm how do we overcome them?  How do we APPLY them?

There is another scripture here that I want to go to … I have been in quite a few storms in my life.  I would not have chosen any of them!  Yet as I look back on my life I can see how the “little” storms I went through as a young Christian helped to prepare me for the bigger storms that I would face later … and I am still in a storm and I am sure I will face more until I get to heaven!

The “little” storms (although they don’t seen little while going thru them) help us to grow deeper into Him to prepare us for the “bigger” storms that WILL come.  It would not be until years later that I would be able to look back and see what God had been doing in my life to prepare me.

But some storms came as a whammy and surprise!  And here is the scripture I want to share with you …

I Samuel 30:6, “but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”

Big strong upbeat mighty warrior leader David was caught in an unexpected storm!  He was a fighter, had been praised for his victories, yet he returned to his temporary home town and as they neared home they smelled the smoke and found their homes totally destroyed by fire and their wives, children and livestock taken captive (none of them were killed however!).  Then David and his 600 mighty fighting men cried until they could cry no more.  Then to add insult to injury … David’s mighty 600 men who had been with him thru thick and thin turned against him.  Even tho they had all been in this together David was the leader and now they wanted to kill him.

Notice David didn’t turn again them nor did he run off and hide and beg God to deliver him.  Verse 6 is a very important principle to learn … “but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”

David didn’t wait for someone to come to him with a “word of encouragement” or “I’m praying for you sister” or run across the street to weep on someone else’s shoulder or wait for a word from his pastor or pastor’s wife or fly off to get a word from a “prophet”
… but he ENCOURAGED HIMSELF IN THE LORD HIS GOD.

That is the first thing we should do before & after we cry (‘cause women … we WILL cry!). I can picture David getting away for a few minutes or hours to contemplate some of the psalms he had written (just as we should learn to go to the Word of God!) …

• Ps 4 …the Lord will hear when I call unto him …commune with your own heart …Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us
• Ps 7 …in thee do I put my trust
• Ps 9 …I will praise thee, O lord…And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee; for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them     that seek thee.
• Ps. 56…Be merciful to me…when I am afraid I will trust in you…I will trust in you … I will not be afraid.
• Ps. 57…Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me …in you my soul takes refuge…I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed

So many others that talk about not being dismayed but HOPE thou in God!

Perhaps he even got out his zither (guitar, accordion, piano!) and began to sing praises unto the Lord!  Music is a great encourager!  Worship unto HIM!  What do you listen to?  The latest rock & roll or pop tunes or music about and to Him?  When the night hours set in and you begin to meditate on your problems … do you stay there and lose sleep or begin to sing praises to Him?

What do you meditate on?

Then David came away from that time seeking the counsel of God as to what to do!  He called for the priest to bring the ephod.  Notice he didn’t go to his church board or even the women’s council, his friends or some committee!  He called for the priest to inquire of the Lord.  How blessed we are today to be able to enter the presence of God for ourselves!  After we spend time in worship and reminding ourselves of God’s presence and involvement in our lives, the times He has rescued us before, the memorial we have established THEN we ask for His help.

David inquired of the Lord for his next step and the Lord answered, … “pursue, for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.” (v 8).

This portion of scripture has a very special meaning to me … when I was at a critically low point I heard a message on this passage and it was confirmed to me two other times and I know that my prayer will be answered!

It is important to keep our focus on Jesus and NOT on the problems … look at Mark 6 … the disciples had just been with Jesus during an incredible miracle when Jesus fed over 5,000 people!  Now, Jesus wants to be alone to pray so He told His disciples to get into the boat and cross to the other side knowing they would encounter a storm!!!!  So during the night He sees the disciples in the boat working hard to stay afloat during the storm!   Their fear is not unfounded.  They are in great danger.  They could be killed!  They could all drown.  It is not so easy to be courageous when “in the storm”.

What does Jesus do?  He comes walking to them even before they cried out “and would have passed them by” (v 48) but the disciples see what they thought was a ghost and THEN cried out.  Can’t you just picture them?  Now they are really scared (nights are always the worst!) … they are toiling and striving, see a ghost and are scared and cry out! Where is Jesus when you need Him?  Right there!  You just have to recognize Him!  But then Jesus says to them, “Be of good cheer (yeah right!) it is I; be not afraid”.

Sometimes in our storms Jesus is already on His way to answer us but we are so fearful we don’t even recognize Him coming to save us … we don’t recognize that He is coming with our answer until it is almost too late!

In another storm Jesus was with His disciples but He was asleep.  They may have tried at first to bail water, to do what they COULD do to stay on top of the situation, to “fix” things but when they see they can’t keep ahead of the storm and are in mortal danger then they awaken Him.  “HELP” they cry out … “save us, we’re going to drown!” He rebuked them for not having enough faith and then He asks them “why are you afraid?” (Matt. 8:26).  He wants us to trust Him in the MIDST of the storm.

Have you ever been in a situation where you have said, “God where are You when I need You?”   One of the writers of the Psalms even wondered that in 44:23, “Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.”

We get in situations where we think God doesn’t care about us or has forgotten us.  But Jesus wants us to get to a place where we will not live in fear but in trust and confidence during our storms that HE IS THERE!  He can still the storm with one authoritative word and also He wants to assure us that we need never be afraid.  Even when God appears to be asleep, He is wide awake, watching over His people.

Hey, we’ve ALL been there!  Brewing storms or sudden storms – panic hits, adrenalin rush, heart palpitations, hot flashes, sweats …

Bottom line … we WILL face storms.  They start out small but that is how we learn to TRUST Him. (Chorus:  Only trust Him, only trust Him, only trust Him now.  He will save you, He will save you, He will save you now.”)

Learn to encourage yourself in Him…mediate unto His Word…worship Him…KNOW that He is God, that He is always faithful, He will never fail…fill yourself with music that is uplifting and glorifying to Him…read hymns as prayers if need be.  As you drive, as you lay down at night to sleep and can’t … meditate upon the Word – apply it to your life, how does it fit, etc… especially Ps. 23!  There have been times in my life when my storm was so prolonged I couldn’t even pray anymore and I would lay on the sofa at night and just listen to scripture CD’s or music and sometimes I even took a hymnal and read the hymns as prayers!  But God was there even when I didn’t see Him or feel Him!
I recognized that however I felt … I needed to stay in the Word, I needed to stay “connected” through worship even when I felt totally alone.

Here’s a hymn written in 1880 … “A Shelter in the Time of Storm” …

The Lord’s our Rock; in Him we hide,
Shelter in the time of storm;
Secure whatever ill betide,
A Shelter in the time of storm.

A Shade by day, Defense by night,
A Shelter in the time of storm;
No fears alarm, no foes affright,
A Shelter in the time of storm.

The raging storms may round us beat,
A Shelter in the time of storm;
We’ll never leave our safe retreat,
A Shelter in the time of storm.

O Rock divine, O Refuge dear,
A Shelter in the time of storm.
Be Thou our Helper ever near,
A Shelter in the time of storm.

Chorus:
O Jesus is a Rock in a weary land,
A weary land, a weary land;
O Jesus is a Rock in a weary land
A Shelter in the time of storm.

A shelter brings protection … but we, humans that we are, may still feel unsure, be frightened by the noise and wind … but that is when we meditate on Psalm 91 …

1) He who DWELLS in the secret place of the most high SHALL ABIDE under the shadow of the Almighty.

2)  I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

This whole Psalm is awesome!

Ps. 107:29,  “He calms the storm, so that it’s waves are still.”

Is. 25:4, “You have been a … shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.” This is a praise to the Lord!

Here is a fabulous verse … Is. 4:5b & 6 …  “…over all the glory will be a canopy.  It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.”

Has anyone ever come up to you asking, “I love your perfume (or after-shave/cologne for you guys) … what are you wearing?  What is the name of it?  Where did you buy it?  I’d like to get some!”

It’s a compliment when someone likes the way we smell!  It is also a BIG turnoff when we don’t smell good. 😦

I love the story of the woman who anointed Jesus with the costly oil and wiped His feet with her hair.  It’s a story with which we are all familiar.  We’ve heard many sermons on this story but there is something about this story that intrigues me.

The spikenard oil was very costly and used only for very special occasions.  This woman loved Jesus and wanted to show her love by washing His feet with this perfume.  Look at the picture with me …

The men are reclining around the table enjoying a wonderful meal.  Mary’s heart is stirred with her love for Him and she goes to get her special stash of expensive oil.  She kneels at His feet, breaks open the jar and pours it on His feet.  Yes, she could have used water but it would not have cost her anything.

Then as she cleans His feet and prepares to dry them, she unties her hair, it falls over her shoulder and she uses her hair to dry His feet.

The fragrance from this oil fills the room.  Everyone became aware of her worship.  As she slips out the door again the fragrance lingers.

The point that sticks I my mind is this … the aroma of her worship also stayed with her!  Can’t you just imagine as she walked by others on her way to the store, in her workplace, as she walked down the street … that others stopped, looked around and asked, “What is that I smell?  It is SO good!  I would like some of that.”

When we truly worship Him, worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, giving Him our all, worship that is costly to us … when we leave our time of worship can others tell that we have been in His Presence?  Can they tell by our demeanor, our lifestyle, our attitudes that something is different about us?  Do people turn as we walk on the streets saying, “I wonder who that woman/man is?  There is something about them! Something different and unusual!  I would like to know that person!”

Or do we leave our “place” of worship acting, smelling, being the same person we were before?  If so, then our worship didn’t mean much!

Obviously not everyone will like our worship … too long, too loud, too strict, too … costly.  Judas was one of those.  He was indigent about what he considered “waste”.  Some will ridicule you saying you are wasting precious moments or even your life.  However, Jesus praised her for anointing Him for burial.

Our worship should change our lives!  Worship is not just raising our hands in song in the corporate meeting with other believers.  Worship changes us!  There is a verse in Psalm 96:9, “Worship the Lord with the beauty of holy lives” (LB).  Worship should be done all day, every day, all the time.

Do our lives cause people to be drawn to Jesus by the way we “smell”? Or does our “smell” cause people to turn the other way and reject the Christ we say we love?

Here’s my point … we should love and worship the Lord so extravagantly that it changes US and causes others to question what (or rather Whom!) makes us smell so good!

How do you smell today?  What is the fragrance that surrounds you?

Jesus said in Matthew 16:24, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

Jesus had told His disciples that He must suffer and that He was ready and willing to do so.  Here He is showing them that they also must be ready and willing to suffer also.

What is your cross?  IF you are following after Him, then you are to carry a cross … the cross designed for you not someone else.

Does this mean to pick up a literal cross and carry it?  Is it enough to wear a gold one around your neck, one in each ear, tattooed on your back?  No.  How do we know what our cross is?

It’s different for each one of us.  A private pain?  A public shame?  A difficult choice that put you on a different path?  Choosing God over public opinion?  Rejection you live with?  A spouse’s desertion?  An unsaved mate?  Children that have walked away from God?  Sickness?

How do you carry your cross?  With a solemn expression and a downcast soul or with joy knowing “this is my cross”?

I dare say Amy Carmichael’s cross was a sick bed for years.  Would she have chosen that?  Would Paul have chosen his “thorn in the flesh”?  Would Peter have chosen prison? Would Corrie ten Boom chose a death camp?

We don’t get to choose our cross.  It is most often one that we have to pick up and carry whether we want to or not!

It’s interesting in the verse above that there is a sequence …

Our choice, a deliberate one, is do we want to come after Him, to follow Him?  There will be a price to pay!  It’s a serious decision.  Following Christ wholeheartedly is not for the faint hearted!  Follow means exactly that … FOLLOW … not lead!  If we do sincerely want to follow, then we …

Deny ourself.  Of what?  Could be from making our own decisions!  Jesus is the leader, not you!  I could make a whole list of things that perhaps we would have to deny but for each of us it would be different (there are SOME things in scripture that would apply to all however!)  The Amplified Bible says regarding deny, “disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own interests”.  Self denial goes against the flesh and in so doing we crucify the flesh daily.

We take up the cross!   If we really truly want to follow Him and deny ourselves of whatever He is asking of us to give up, if we are allowing Him to be our Leader then we willingly pick up the cross to follow Him.

Follow Him where?  Wherever He leads!  Carrying a cross is difficult but we must look to Jesus and take encouragement.  HE will help us!  He will not give us more than we can carry.

An old chorus comes to mind … “Where He leads me I will follow.  Where He leads me I will follow.  Where He leads me I will follow.  I’ll go with Him, with Him, all the way.”

Your cross may be persecution (by family, by political correctness, by friends) suffering, sickness … no two carry the same cross.  Mine is mine and yours is yours.  Just because mine is different than yours doesn’t mean it isn’t as heavy or painful.

The cross Jesus carried was not beautiful.  Rough, splinters, heavy, jagged.  He was bloodied and bruised and carrying it was both heavy and painful.  Yet He did it for me, for you.  It was a part of the price He paid.  What price are you willing to pay?

“Follow, follow, I will follow Jesus.  Anywhere, everywhere I will follow on.  Follow, follow, I will follow Jesus.  Anywhere He leads me I will follow on.”

In 1922 Alfred H. Ackley wrote the following song:

I walked one day along a country road,
And there a stranger journeyed, too,
Bent low beneath the burden of His load:
It was a cross, a cross I knew.

Refrain:
“Take up thy cross and follow Me.”
I hear the blessed Savior call;
How can I make a lesser sacrifice,
When Jesus gave His all?

I cried, “Lord Jesus,” and He spoke my name;
I saw His hands all bruised and torn;
I stooped to kiss away the marks of shame,
The shame for me that He had borne.

“O let me bear Thy cross, dear Lord,” I cried,
And lo, a cross for me appeared,
The one forgotten I had cast aside,
The one, so long, that I had feared.

My cross I’ll carry till the crown appears,
The way I journey soon will end
Where God Himself shall wipe away all tears,
And friend hold fellowship with friend.

Lastly, we don’t go around showing our cross, bemoaning our cross, trying different ways of getting rid of our cross, succumbing to long faces and joyless living.  No, Jesus is the JOY of living!  He gives us grace to put on a smile, to close our mouth to complaining and murmuring.  He will put joy in our hearts in the midst of our pain.

Malchus was getting dressed for work and tonight it was the graveyard shift.  This was his favorite shift as it allowed him to be with his children in the evening, in the morning after he came home from work and then he could sleep during the day while they were schooled or playing.

For some reason tonight he was a bit apprehensive.  He had heard rumblings that tonight they were going to be looking for a criminal.  He was hoping all would go well and he could be home in time to see the children before getting some sleep.

By the time he got to Caiaphas’s house they were getting their instructions for the night.  The entire guard was to gather their torches, weapons and lanterns and head out for the garden by the Kidron Valley.  It had already been arranged with Judas (who was one of this man’s followers) that he would point out the one they were to arrest with a kiss.

It was interesting to Malchus that the whole group of them didn’t know by sight who it was they were going out to arrest.  If this was such a bad dude wouldn’t he have been watched? Tracked? Have a record?

Line up and march!  Get to the garden as quickly as possible and lay in wait.  Suddenly as they arrived a man stepped out of the darkness and asked “who are you looking for?”

It just goes to prove they didn’t know him!  They did answer the question and said, “Jesus from Nazareth”.  Jesus said, “I am He.”

WOW!  When He said that Malchus found himself on the ground.  In fact ALL of them fell backward including Judas!  It was a miracle they didn’t start a brush fire with their lanterns and torches or fall on one another’s spears!

Malchus didn’t have any idea what happened. When Jesus answered the question it was as if the simple revelation of Who He was/is overwhelmed everyone there! He hurriedly gets up, brushes the dirt off his uniform and grabs his weapon to be ready for a standoff.

In the melee that followed, Peter, one of the followers of the man they were to arrest, whipped out his sword and began slashing it through the air probably hoping to get someone’s neck.  Because of the aftermath of Jesus declaring “I am He” and seeing all the men on the ground, Peter must have thought he could add to the drama and help protect Jesus.

However Malchus, seeing the sword coming for him, ducked just in time to save his life but he lost his right ear.

Now Malchus grabs the side of his head as blood flows down his tunic.

Just as quickly as it happened, Jesus reprimands Peter and tells him to put his sword away, and then, wonder of wonders, Jesus picks up Malchus’ ear and puts it back on the side of his head!!!

I see Malchus pulling on his ear … yes it is tight!  No fresh blood.  Yes, he can hear.  What is going on?

Question … what do you think Malchus talked about when he got home the next morning to have breakfast with the family? He had a “wound” but experienced a “miracle” on either side of the wound.

Did he yell and scream and talk about the abuse he suffered at the hands of a “Christ follower”? Or did he talk about when Jesus said, “I am He” that at the revelation of His person they were unable to stand in His presence?  Or how, following his injury, this man Jesus picked up his ear and healed him?

Let me ask you … what would you have talked about?

We are all surrounded by miracles.  There is the miracle of life.  Just the fact that we are still alive is a miracle.  Healings from disease. Those of us who have experienced salvation … that is a miracle. Watching the birth of a baby, another miracle.  The sun coming up every morning.  The tide washing in.  The stars staying in place.  Miracles ALL around us.

But on the other hand none of us can go thru this life without being hurt or wounded.  Impossible!  Betrayal or battering by a spouse.  Sexual abuse.  Abandonment by a parent.  The loss of a job promotion. Divorce.  We could make a long list but the wound always hurts worse when made by a “Jesus follower”.  We expect more of them.

When we look around at our life there are far more miracles if we would look for them as there are wounds but so often we live in the world of the negative and dwell on all that’s wrong instead of all that’s right!

I want to believe that when Malchus arrived home he gathered the family around him and said, “I must tell you what happened to me last night.  We went to the garden to arrest a man called Jesus.  You may have heard about Him around town and the miracles that He has done and that He preaches repentance and to get right with God.  Having never seen Him, we didn’t know what He looked like so when we saw this man in the garden He asked us, ‘who are you looking for?’  Someone in the group said, ‘Jesus’ and He answered, ‘I am He’.”

“You won’t believe this but when He revealed Himself every single one of us fell backward to the ground!  It was truly amazing.  It was almost like His persona was so powerful that we couldn’t stand! Then one of His followers thinking that he could defend Jesus from being arrested, whipped out his sword and it was coming right for my neck when I ducked but he got my ear and sliced it right off my head!”

By this time the kids eyes were as big as saucers, his wife gasped but he quickly reassured them, “Hey, don’t panic!  Look, it was this ear.  I’m pulling on it, I can hear and you know why?  Jesus stooped over, picked it up, put it back on my head and healed me! He HEALED me!”

“I forgave the dude who did it to me because he was just doing what he thought he had to do.  He was one of Jesus’ guys but Jesus reprimanded him for doing wrong and then healed me.  It was just incredible!”

What are you talking about?  Are you rejoicing in the miracles surrounding your life or do you constantly relive your wounds and scars? Do you run people off because all you can talk about is the negative?

My challenge to you … forgive those who have hurt you.  Begin to live in the realm of the miraculous.  Don’t live in the world of hurts and wounds.  Let Jesus bring healing to your life and to your emotions.  Give up the negative and live in God’s positive!

Let the scars just be a reminder to you of the healing Jesus brought to your wound.

(Matthew 26:51-56; Mark 14:43-52; Luke 22:47-54a; John 18:1-14).

(THANK YOU to my husband, Ronn, for his original sermon on this account of Malchus … I have used it many times!)

There is a question in the Old Testament that amazes me and in fact makes me smile a bit … King Ahab finally meets his nemesis, Elijah, after a three year absence and says to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?”  (I Kings 18:17).  Hello?  Who is the “troubler”? Who started this mess?

It wasn’t Elijah … it was the king!  Let’s back up in the story a bit …

Ahab was king of Israel and he was a BAD dude!  In fact, I Kings 16:30 says of him, “Now Ahab … did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him.”  He was NOT a good guy.  The Bible also says that it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, he took an evil wife, he served Baal, worshiped him and he “did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings who were before him” (v 33).

Society had digressed rapidly.  Worship of God was nearly non-existent.  The temples and altars of God were in disrepair.  Children were being sacrificed.  Sexual immorality was rampant and sexual orgies took place in the temple of the pagan gods.  The people bowed down before these “pretend” gods giving false worship.  The worship of pagan gods was on the increase.  Few true believers of Jehovah were left.

When we walk in disobedience to God, when we lead others into sin and to rebel against the Lord God … there will be hell to pay!  Pay day was a comin’ for Ahab and Israel.

There was a prophet … one who was in communication with the Almighty God.  He was bold, confident, assertive, confrontative and unafraid.

The prophet Elijah meets the king and has the courage … the audacity … to tell the king that it is NOT going to rain nor would there be dew upon the ground until he (Elijah) says so!  WOW!  Do we have any of those kinds of prophets today?  I know we have many so-called prophets and I know that the office of the prophet is one of the five-fold ministry gifts … but I also know that the office and the title have been misused in our day.  I’m looking for a PROPHET of the Lord who would dare to be used OF GOD to approach our national leaders (and leaders of other countries as well) and say, “Mr. Leader (whomever it may be) … it is not going to rain (or whatever!) until you turn back to God and lead your nation to do the same”.  Is it possible?

Obviously it would HAVE to be a God-thing!

The land was so parched.  The soil was packed hard.  The farmers could hardly make a hole to plant a seed and even if they did it wouldn’t root and grow.  Famine was wide spread.  I would imagine food was probably coming in from other countries but the cost would have been high and many would not be able to afford it.

Of course, the king had the means to get what he and his family needed but it was getting harder and harder to come by.  What he wouldn’t do for rain!  What he could do, he would not do because he had to keep peace with his wife.  And well, he wasn’t responsive to God anyway and so far her god had seemed capable.

But it had not rained in almost three years!  He was getting desperate. During the previous three years he had searched long and hard for Elijah but could not find him.

At this writing we won’t go into the good things the Lord did for and through Elijah during those years but finally it was time for Elijah to once again confront the king.

The meeting is set up and Ahab greets Elijah with the question previously stated, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?” Yeah, right … oh Ahab … you brought it on your nation and yourself by your own doings!!

I love Elijah’s response, (I Kings 18:18), “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed the Baals.”  Oh yes sir, Ahab, you are the troubled one!

What follows next is one of the most exciting stories in the Old Testament.

Elijah (not the king!) set the conditions.  He told the king to gather all Israel plus the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah on Mt. Carmel.  Then Elijah says to all the people, “How long will you falter between two opinions?  If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.”  Elijah threw down the gauntlet!

The people answered not a word.  I guess maybe the people thought they were going to  see a good show.  Perhaps they thought there would be no way one man could stand against 850 “prophets” so no one stood up for righteousness.  Let me say here, indecision IS a decision!

Elijah further states the terms of the sacrifice …
two bulls (one for each side)
cut it in pieces
lay it on the wood
put no fire under it
call on the name of your gods
Elijah would call on the name of the Lord
see which god (God) would answer by fire

Bigger team gets to go first.  They cried out to Baal for SIX hours.  Nothing, nada, zip, zero … not one thing happened.  In fact, Elijah even taunted them!  “Cry a bit louder, he might be busy or on a trip, maybe he is meditating or perhaps he is sleeping”.  (The Living Bible even says that “maybe he is on the toilet”!)

The priests of the false gods cry louder, they cut themselves, blood gushes out and around the bull and the altar “but there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention.” (v 29).  Where is their god when they need him?

Time’s up.  It’s God’s move now.

Elijah calls the people to himself and he repairs “the altar of the Lord that was broken down”.  Oh … that is step number one.  Looking at our nation today it saddens me to see how the altars have disappeared … our Biblical foundation has eroded and to see God answer our cry we need to repair the altars of the Lord!

Look what Elijah did … he took 12 stones (one each for the 12 tribes of Israel) and rebuilt the altar.  Then he dug a deep trench all around the altar.  Next he put the wood on the altar, then he cut the bull and laid it on the wood.  What he did next rendered the sacrifice useless unless God performed a miracle … he had 12 barrels full of water POURED over the whole thing!  So much water that the sacrifice was soaked, the wood was soaked and the trench was full!

I wonder what the people were thinking!  I’d love to know.  Especially when they saw him pour 12 barrels of precious, maybe even hoarded water on the altar!   Water that was needed.  Water that was priceless at this point.  The people probably thought that Elijah is CRAZY … he is using water up our reserves!

Now the good part … everything’s ready … Elijah shows no angst or fear and whereas the false prophets had HOURS to cry out to their god, Elijah says a very short prayer … “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word.  Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”  Only 63 words  (NKJV)!  Short, sweet and to the point.

Suddenly … bang! … I don’t know if it was a bolt of lightening or a pillar of fire that came down from above (it had happened before with the children of Israel in the desert) but the fire of the Lord hit that altar and “consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench” (v 38).

WOW!

The response?  When the people saw the fire they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, He is God!  The Lord, He is God!” (v 39).

I love to hear Ronn preach this story … he makes it come alive and these are his thoughts on the consuming fire …

We can understand why the Lord took the sacrifice of the bull.  It was what he had commanded in the beginning.  But why burn up the wood, the stones, the dust and the water?

The wood?  You usually need wood, or kindling, to build a fire … get’s it going.  So the wood represents our methods of organization which becomes consumed by the fire of the Lord.

The stones?  Remember there were 12 stones for the 12 tribes?  Well, that way no one tribe could say “O look, there is the Judah stone … top right!  Levi couldn’t say … “Ah, there’s ours, top left.

Likewise, the Baptists can’t say, “We are the center stone” or the Assemblies of God are unable to say, “Look, there we are, bottom right, the cornerstone.”  When the fire of God comes we are all united by His power and become one in Him!

The dust?  That’s an interesting one … anytime you build something with stones you will have dust from building them together. Masonry is very messy.  When we as believers start to come together there will be disagreements, dust will be made, but it does not have to separate or irritate … it will all go up in the fire of God!

The water?  When water was poured on top of it all, it was rendered useless!  Wet wood does not burn!  We are useless to anybody or anything without the fire of God!

When the world sees the real and the powerful fire of God THEN they will cry out … “The Lord, HE is God!  THE LORD, HE IS GOD!”

In this hour of crisis in the Church and in the world, God’s people need to cry out for FRESH FIRE!

“Lord, send us prophets today who are not afraid!  Prophets who will speak out before the rulers of our nations.  TRUE prophets who hear from God!”

We grew up eating leftovers.  Mom didn’t throw much out!  As a young wife and mother I did the same.  In fact I remember one night specifically … it was a Wednesday night and the “planned overs” were all warmed up and we were waiting for my husband to come home from the church office.  When he did, he walked in with the guest speaker for the night … none other than Nicky Cruz!

I was sooooooo embarrassed.  Even if he had called to warn me I couldn’t have changed the menu!   Nicky put me right at ease as I was offering my apologies.  “Everywhere I go I am served fancy meals, all the chicken and ham I can eat … now this is like home!”

Now whether that was entirely true or not I’ll never know but I’ve often thought back to that occasion with a smile.

What got me thinking about leftovers?  Reading the story of how Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes and had 12 basketfuls (Matthew 14:20) leftover … what happened to the leftovers?  Did Jesus give one basket to each disciple?  Did they give the baskets back to the boy? If so how did he get them home?  He couldn’t sell any to the folks attending Jesus’ meeting because they had already eaten to the full!  What excites me about this story is that AFTER the miracle there were leftovers!!!!

Oh my, if it had happened today I can hear the TV commercial … “Prepackaged food miraculously blessed by Jesus.  Send in your $77.77 right now and we will send it to you … call in the next 7 minutes and we will send you two … you will only need to pay double shipping”  OK, that’s bad!

Did you know that God uses leftovers?

The children of Israel ate leftovers every seventh day for 40 years!  In fact, if they didn’t collect enough to do so … they went without!  I sure hope those women were able to come up with a new recipe every now and then!

Somehow as we enter our senior years we think (I guess I’m admitting I’m getting up in years!) our years of doing anything for God or much of any thing useful has passed us by.  We feel “leftover”.

Hey, that wasn’t the case with any number of people in the Bible.  Moses had his greatest ministry after 80!  Caleb pursued his inheritance after 80.  Samson missed God’s calling most of his life but left to rot in a prison he was finally called out and obeyed God even in his death.

I’ve always been amazed at Joshua and Caleb.  They had a call of God but couldn’t fulfill it because of the unbelief of their congregation.  They had to wait 40 years for the old folks to die off before they could get on with their calling and ministry.  At the same time they had to keep their vision alive and also alive in the hearts of those under 20 who would enter into the Promised Land with them.  WOW!  Have you kept your calling and vision alive for 40 years or longer?

What about the story of Elisha’s bones in II Kings 13?  Elisha had been dead for a YEAR! Leftover bones! A funeral procession is on their way to the burial grounds, they see a band of raiders coming, the procession wants to get out of there QUICKLY so they throw the dead man in the tomb of the year long dead prophet and whammo … dead man awakes and stands up!  Wouldn’t you like to know the reaction of the people in the procession when they see their friend coming home??

Oh, then there’s the story of the widow woman in I Kings 17 who was going to make her last cake, fed her son and then lay down to die.  Only the preacher came by and said, “feed me first”.  The nerve of some preachers!  BUT she did and talk about leftovers … the oil and flour kept coming until the famine was over.

I think one of my favorites is the story in II Kings 7:3-20. The Syrian army was camped outside the gates of Samaria just waiting for the opportunity to strike.  The land was in famine and the people inside the city walls were starving.  There was no food. There were four lepers at the gates who were as hungry as those inside the walls.  So they decided to head for the enemy camp to see if they could beg food.  They figured the enemy just might give them something or kill them it didn’t much matter because they were going to die anyway.  BUT God had another  plan.  They got to the enemy camp and it was deserted.  Yes … DESERTED!

God made the enemy to hear what sounded like an army, the enemy ran and all was leftover!  The four lepers ate their fill, ran back to the city and told their tale.  The leftovers from the enemy provided food for Samaria!

Zacharias & Elizabeth were old. No chance of having a child.  Their age made them think they were leftovers.  BUT God had another plan.  He promised them a child in their old age and God did what He promised!  Baby John the Baptist was born.  Of course there is the story of Abraham and Sarah and their miracle baby born in their leftover years too.  (Hope that never happens to me however!)

Look at the story of Simeon and Anna in Luke 2.  They were both up in years passed by for heavy ministry BUT God had a plan.  They were both in the right place at the right time and held baby God in their arms.  Image that!  Holding God in their arms … literally!!

Do you ever feel that your usefulness has passed?  That you are too old, too worn out, rejected, leftover, no talent, what in the world could I do for God? Have you failed God at some point and think He can’t use you now?  Your usefulness has passed?  Have you repented?  Have you returned to your first love?

Just tell God that you are available for whatever!

When Jesus uses leftovers you end up with more than you had in the beginning … He specializes in what others would throw away.