A Fresh Encounter with Jesus

Posted on February 5, 2018 by dkoop

Are you facing an overwhelming problem?  Throughout life there are times when we need a special experience with God. A deep sense of loneliness, discouragement, depression, emptiness, or purposelessness; some accident, disease, or death; some severe problem, difficulty, obstacle, or loss—many things—can create a desperate need for a special time with God. When a need strikes, our task is to get alone with God just as we will see Joshua do. God will meet us if we will just get alone and seek His face. God will help us and meet our need. He will give us His presence and power and guidance. God will be our helper in time of need.

Joshua was off alone surveying Jericho (Joshua 5:13-14). Obviously, he had walked some distance away from the camp, close enough to Jericho so that he could survey the land surrounding the great city. As with any military commander, he was sensing the strain of the upcoming battle, the pressure and tension, the stress and heaviness of the burden of war. He knew that war involved wounds and spilt blood, maiming and crippling, the loss of limbs and disfigurement, injuries and severe pain. He knew that war involved death and the loss of loved ones, terrible grief and suffering for wives, children, parents, and relatives. Obviously, he was sensing a desperate need to get alone with God, to seek His sustaining grace and strength. He needed a very, very special time alone with the Lord to pray and plan. While praying, note that his head was apparently bowed. When he looked up, he was face-to-face with a man who had a drawn sword.

Look at Joshua 5:13-15 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?” 14 So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?” 15 Then the Commander of the LORD’S army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.

As Joshua was lifting his eyes and looking towards Jericho, the next great challenge they would face, he saw a MAN. No ordinary man. This was the “Commander of the Lord’s army,”  Joshua heard the same words that Moses heard back in Exodus 3:5 at the burning bush when God told Moses to remove his shoes for he was standing on holy ground.

In this situation, Joshua was looking upon the very face of Jesus Christ. This was, as theologians describe, a Christophany. This was an encounter with Christ to give His people the encouragement they need to carry on.

Jesus was the Burning Bush that was not consumed in Exodus 3:14, describing himself as the “I am” and Moses went from being a hired hand in hiding to the liberator of God’s people. Jesus confirms that He is the same “I am” in John 8:58

Jesus appeared to Abraham in Genesis 14:18-20 as a high priest named Melchizedek bringing bread and wine, a future symbol his body and blood.  He blessed him in his victory and pointed him to a new level of worship as Abraham gave him a tenth of everything.  Hebrews 7 confirms that this is Jesus.

Here in Joshua 5, he is described as “the commander of the Lord’s armies.”  The same description of Jesus found in Revelation 19, who is riding a white horse leading the armies of heaven.

Before this encounter Joshua must have been asking the question, What am I going to do now? I’m looking at this place called Jericho. This obstacle seems so big.  How are we going to overcome it? And so, God in all His wisdom, decides that Joshua needs another pep talk. Joshua needed a fresh encounter with Christ.

He wants to give us that encouragement that we need to carry on. He knows we’re asking questions of ourselves. Questions like How? Why? What Do I Do Now? He knows exactly what we’re going through, and He doesn’t want us to go through it alone.

God appeared to Joshua here to give him encouragement, to give him direction, to help him see how and why to carry on. God gave Joshua the comfort of knowing that God would deliver Jericho into their hands. That He would deliver them through the days ahead. And, God wants to do the same for us.

Joshua was standing in the presence of Christ. This was an opportunity to see what God had in store.

Jesus has a fresh encounter for you. He may not show up in a burning bush or in the middle of the road talking to us as he did for Moses and Joshua.   We probably won’t see an angelic, glorified Man standing before us. But we can have a Fresh Encounter all the same.

The kind of encounter that Jesus has for us is just as personal, just as powerful, just as meaningful as Moses and Joshua had.  In college when Christ was calling me to ministry I had several encounters with Jesus making it clear that I was supposed to go in that direction. Life changing decisions like whether to marry Niki, to become a pastor, to plant the church to add additional staff, additional locations, and taking new directions as a church all required that I surrender, seek Christ, fast, pray and have a fresh encounter with Jesus.

Christ desires for us to have a fresh encounter that can continue throughout the rest of our lives. God had a great plan in store for Joshua. He knew that Jericho would be conquered. He knew what the end result would be, and He needed Joshua to follow through. To encounter God, to experience His power, His encouragement, His presence. And then, Joshua would be ready for the task ahead.

In our lives, in our challenges, in our problems, we can be sure that God has a great plan in store for us. God knows what lies ahead for us. He knows the victories that we will experience. He knows what we will be able to accomplish in His power and in His presence.

We all stand in the face of these adversities and ask ourselves, “Why is this happening?” How will I get through this obstacle?”  God wants to begin to provide for us in a new way, a way that we’re not used to, a way that we couldn’t have imagined. A way that will meet every challenge, that will meet our every need.

He wants us to see Him in all of his glory and know that He will lead us, He will guide us. He will direct our steps. He wants us to see that God is not finished with us. He has great things in store for us, great victories in store, great days ahead.

We can have a fresh encounter with Jesus. He wants us to be moved by His presence and power. To take hold of His hand and allow Him to deliver us through any challenge we face.

If you are in a situation where you’re asking why? If you’re facing one of those life-changing trials, one of those valley experiences that knock every bit of the air out of you then you are ready.   Overwhelming problems help us be ready to pray and seek the face of Christ. Large obstacles help us be ready to obey what Jesus says.

In our next post we will see how to have courage to follow God’s instructions even when they do not make sense.

Darrell

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Courage to Accept My Leadership Role

Posted on January 31, 2018 by dkoop

You are a leader in some area and leadership is overwhelming.  Have you ever felt overwhelmed by what you have to do? As a parent I remember experiencing this feeling the first time I brought our son home from the hospital. I instantly loved the little guy with every molecule in my body, but as I considered the challenge of feeding, clothing, and parenting that child for the next 21 years, that staggering responsibility made me felt completely inadequate. I could not conceive of how I was going to find the parental wisdom and patience and energy and money get this all-important job done. And trying to take care of his newborn’s needs on 4 hours sleep a night only magnified this feeling.

Maybe there have been times when your job has made you feel overwhelmed. The constant work, the late hours, the business trips, the ever-increasing demands, all this combined to make you feel like you’re drowning.

Maybe you’ve felt overwhelmed by your finances. No matter how carefully you budget, the bills always threaten to overwhelm your income. And it seems like only a matter of time before you will begin to lose ground.

As a student you feel overwhelmed as you face final exams. That week-long pile of huge, make-it-or-break-it tests can feel like a tidal wave that towers over you. You don’t know how you are possibly going to cram enough information into your head and keep it there long enough to get the grade you need.

I could go on and on because life is indeed full of things that can make us feel overwhelmed-parenting, career, finances, difficult relationships, health issues, the list is almost endless. And if you can relate, then you can relate to a book of the Bible that deals with a man who I believe experienced this feeling in the incident that is recorded in today’s text.

His name is Joshua and we can learn from his example.

1  After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: 2  “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them…

As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6  “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them…

7  Be strong and very courageous….. 9  Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.“ Joshua 1: 1-9 (NIV)

We all need a pep talk from time to time and God give Joshua one here.   Did you sense Joshua’s fear? In case you missed it let me point out that three-times God had to encourage him to, “Be strong and courageous.”  I think that at this moment Joshua is so overwhelmed that he feels like a frightened little boy. In fact, it seems to me that in verse 9 God speaks to him in Father-to-son terms and says, “Don’t be terrified Joshua; don’t be afraid; don’t be discouraged. All this may seem overwhelming but don’t worry, I’m going to be with you every step of the way.”

So, it’s clear that Joshua was feeling overwhelmed at this point in his life. He was afraid. Reminds me of a story I heard of about a sergeant in a parachute regiment. He was a seasoned jumper and one day he found himself sitting next to a lieutenant in the plane who was fresh from jump school. The Lieutenant looked a bit pale so as they approached their jump zone the sergeant leaned over and said, “Are you scared, sir?”

The lieutenant replied, “No just a bit apprehensive.” The sergeant asked, “, what’s the difference?”

And the lieutenant replied, “Apprehensive means I’m scared with a university education.”

Whichever word you want to use, Joshua was it.

When we face leadership challenges I believe deep down each of us asks three questions:

Why me?  What if I fail? Do I have what it takes?

I believe God gives the answers to each of these questions.

Why me?   I can have courage because God has called me.  The spouse you have, the kids you have, the job you have the place where you live, the relative you have all these have been given to you by God.  I believe that God brought me my wife Niki.  If I ask “why me?” the better question would be “why not me?”  Will I step up to love, serve and commit myself to Niki or do I want someone else to?  Do I want to parent my three children or do I want the state to?  Do I want to do my job or do I want someone else to?   You are on this planet at this moment to do what God placed you here to do, but God knew that you were to best person for the job he gave you.

“Moses is dead.  You are the leader Joshua.  I have called you.”

What if I fail?  Honestly, we will.  We are human, but to be as successful as we possibly can God will equip us.     I can have courage because God equips me.

We see that God equips Joshua with the word of God. How? The answer to these questions is in verse 8 where God says to Joshua,

“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”

In other words, Joshua’s strength for the task he faced would come from the written Word of God. He would get the power and the courage and the guidance necessary for dealing with the overwhelming responsibilities that faced him every morning by reading, studying, and believing its promises. The precepts and principles found in “The Book of Law” would give him the wisdom he needed to get this job done.

Now, of course Joshua didn’t have our Bible-most of it had not been written yet-but he did have the first five books of the Old Testament. Most Biblical scholars believe the entire five Books of Moses-Genesis through Deuteronomy-comprised this the “book of Law” that is referenced in verse 8. You see, during the years of his leadership, Moses had kept a written record of God’s words and acts. Deuteronomy 31:9 tells us he had committed this record to the care of the priests.

And please note it wasn’t enough for the priests to carry and guard this precious book. No, Joshua was to take time to read it daily and make it a part of his inner person by meditating on it. And to deal with our own times of fear we need to do the same thing.

What if you ignore God’s laws and decide to lie, steal and cheat? That’s a sure way to lose everything!  God’s law shows us the ways to be successful. If we follow God’s words we will be “prosperous and successful.”

But remember prosperity and success are not to be measured by the standards of the world.  Prosperity and success may not be riches, a fully funded 401k and keeping us with the Jones.  Here’s the questions to ask yourself, and if you can answer “yes” to these three questions then your will be successful in the eyes of God regardless of what the world says,

  1. Did I follow the word of God?
  2. Did I depend on the spirit of God? (Did I do it all in my own strength or did I pray for God’s help, strength and guidance?)
  3. Did I do it for the Glory of God? (Am I building my own kingdom for my selfish purposes or do I see myself as God’s servant building His Kingdom?)

The last question we often ask as leaders is, “Do I have what it takes?”   The answer is, “probably not”, but that’s ok.

However, I do have what it takes because God is with me!  I can have courage because God is with me.

Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.“ Joshua 1: 1-9 (NIV)

God promises to be with us!

The Bible is so full of God’s promises, that it is not really possible to count them. Some people have tried and come up with about 3000. Others have counted 7000. Herbert Lockyer wrote a book called All the promises of the Bible and claims to list 8000.

Do you know what the most frequent promise in the Bible?

“I will be with you.”  See Psalm 23:4, Psalm 139:8, Matthew 28:20, Genesis 28:15, Hebrews 13:5, Deuteronomy 31:6  to name a few!

In good times, in bad times, in pleasure, in pain, at the side of the hospital bed or casket God is with us.  In parenting, in marriage in our job in hobbies, at the highest mountain or the depths of the sea God is with us!

I can have courage because God called me, God equips me with His Word and God is with me!

You can have courage too.

Darrell

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What Faith Looks Like

Posted on January 26, 2018 by dkoop

Rear view of young businessman looking at faith door

This Sunday we will look at the life and the book of Joshua which will deal with our fears and inspire us to great levels of courage.   But before Joshua could do what God called him to do, Abraham and Sarah had gone before him leaving a powerful example of faith.

So, what can Abraham’s example teach us about faith? There are three aspects of faith we’ll examine:

  1. God’s People Have Faith, even without all the answers.

1  The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.  Genesis 12:1

When I use Google Maps, I type in my destination and it gives me answers like, how many miles, how much time, which route is best, which route is fastest and which route has tolls where there might be delays and more.   God is not like that, he says “go.” And I’ll show you later, not all at once.

Abraham obeyed God and left home for a far place, not knowing “Where” he was going.   He didn’t get the “How” or the “When” or much of the “Why.”

Faith has that quality to it—not knowing quite where we are heading.  If you’re the type of person who needs to plan every move, get ready . . .
. . . for stepping into the unknown. We haven’t seen where faith may lead us. Faith often carries with it an element of adventure.
. . . for becoming more of a pilgrim than a tour guide. Each day faith will stretch our vision.
. . . for following close to Jesus. In faith we follow his teaching and example, and through faith we grow to know him personally.

That’s faith—always heading out. Jesus knows the way, and that’s enough for us to take the next step

We can take heart from Abraham’s example of faith. God may ask us to give up secure, familiar surroundings in order to carry out his will; he may ask us to do some difficult tasks.  Abraham’s questions were not all answered; he didn’t have all the details but had faith anyway.

Abraham as we mentioned in the last post was 75 years old and barren.  He didn’t have faith in himself, he had faith in God.   Our faith is not about the quality of our faith or the quantity our faith. Our faith is about the OBJECT of our faith, God.

  1. God’s People Obey, even without knowing where it will lead.

4  So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.

Abraham Left.   What will you leave behind to journey in faith?

God may be trying to lead you to a place of greater service and usefulness for him. Don’t let the comfort and security of your present position make you miss God’s plan for you.

When we decide to follow Jesus Christ in faith God expects us to leave our old pattern of living to go to new life.  Abraham’s faith required him to leave the idol worshiping and unbelief behind and started him toward a new land and a new life. As God works in our hearts he desires a total willingness to leave behind everything that is not pleasing to Him. He cannot lead us into new ways of living until He leads us out of the old. We should respond, “I don’t know what You are going to do with me, Lord, but I’m going to leave all those old things. I don’t know what You’re going to substitute for them, but I’m going to let them go.”

Here’s a lesson that I have learned: Comfortable Christianity is the opposite of faith.  They don’t exist together.  Do you know what happens when you mix bleach and vinegar?   They create a toxic gas!  They literally destroy each other.   Trying to be a comfortable Christian and live a life of faith does not go together.  Giving financially to God’s work is not comfortable. Forgiving those who hurt us is not comfortable, serving instead of sleeping in is not comfortable.  Faith is often uncomfortable.

  1. God’s People Trust, even without seeing the entire outcome.

This is one is difficult for me.  Abraham lived by faith throughout the rest of his life, continuing to trust God as he lived in the land God promised him. This land was to be his “as an inheritance” yet Abraham never possessed the land. Instead, he lived in “his” land like a foreigner, living in a tent. (Hebrews 11:8-9)  He was promised the land, but never possessed the land!

Abraham waited patiently for the really valuable things. He never saw God’s promise fulfilled; he just waited and waited and waited. Often the hardest times for us as believers are the in-between times, the times of waiting. Abraham spent a great deal of time waiting. He waited 25 long years for the son of promise, who was finally given. He waited all his life for the land of promise, which was never given. Yet he waited and watched and worked in the patient belief that God is faithful.

If we knew that Christ would be coming in a month, we would give full attention to forsaking sin, praying, witnessing, serving, and to all the other things of Christ. To devote a whole month entirely to the Lord would not be so hard if we knew that it would all be over that soon. But to be about His business month after month, year after year, with His promises seemingly no nearer being fulfilled than when we were first saved, takes patience.

It is discouraging to pray and trust and work and see no results. A mother may pray for 15, 20, or 30 years for the salvation of a child, and never see him come to Christ. Does that mean she didn’t’ have faith? No, a minister may serve in a church faithfully for ten years and see little evidence of spiritual growth.  Does that mean he didn’t’ have faith?  No, Noah worked for more than 100 years on the ark, preaching all the while. Progress on the ark was unimaginably slow and success in witnessing was nonexistent. Yet he continued to build and to preach until both were finished.

Faith may not bring the results we want in the time we want.  We may not see the results of our faith in our own lifetime!  Faith is faith because we trust God with the ultimate results.

In the New Testament book of Hebrews it summarizes Abraham’s faith and legacy well:

12  And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.  Hebrews 11:12

Faith is not easy, but faith is powerful.

Faith sees the invisible, hears the inaudible, touches the intangible, and accomplishes the impossible.

 I commit to live by faith in Christ will you?

Darrell

 

 

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A New Beginning for God’s People

Posted on January 24, 2018 by dkoop

“If the other planets are inhabited,” quipped George Bernard Shaw, “then they must be using the earth for their insane asylum.” We may chuckle at that statement, but it reminds us of a sad fact: The world is in a mess, and it does not seem to be getting any better. What is wrong?

It all goes back to events recorded in the Book of Genesis. Except for the account in chapters 1 and 2, the first eleven chapters of Genesis record one failure of man after another, failures that are being repeated today. The first man and woman broke the one rule God gave them and moved out of the Garden (chap. 3). Cain murdered his brother Abel and lied about it. Then Lamech marries two women and boasts about killing two men! (chap. 4). Humanity became so corrupt that God cleansed the earth with a flood (chaps. 6-8). Noah got drunk and exposed himself to his son Ham (chap. 9). In their defiance men built a city and a tower to reach God; and God had to send confusion to end the rebellion (chap. 10).

Murder, disobedience, deception, drunkenness, polygamy, nudity, rape and rebellion sound pretty up-to-date, don’t they? If you were God, what would you do with these sinners, men and women you had created in your own image?. “I’d probably destroy them!” you might reply; but that’s not what God did. Instead, God called a man and his wife to leave their home and go to a new land, so that He might give humanity a new beginning!

Because of God’s call and their obedient faith, Abraham and Sarah ultimately gave to the world the Jewish nation from which would come the Bible, and our Savior, Jesus Christ.

So, God didn’t give up on the human race, no.  He continued His grand vision of community with mankind by establishing a spiritual community, a special group of related, like-minded people intent on knowing God as much as He wanted to know them, a spiritual community full of people who would be committed to sharing God’s redemptive plan with the rest of the world.

In coming weeks in Joshua and Judges we’ll study the struggles that came with the building of God’s people.  They were a lot like us today!

As we begin Genesis 12—a thousand years have passed since the flood. The genealogies that fill chapters 10 and 11 set the scene for the arrival of a very important person named Abram…a descendant of Noah’s son, Shem. Abram would be the Father of this chosen nation of God. God did not choose to build his people so that He could bless them.

God chose his people because He had a task for them to do. It was blessed to be a blessing.   If you know God, you are blessed to be a blessing. This nation that Abram was to found was to be an instrument to return the fallen world to God.  Anne Graham Lotz says, “God’s plan for Abram’s life would be the beginning of the solution…the solution to all the problems that had swarmed out of the Pandora’s box of sin, affecting the human race since the Garden of Eden. The world would never be the same.” In short, Abram or as he would later be known, Abraham, would be the beginning of the end for Satan and his curse of death upon the human race.

But who was Abraham? Abraham was from Ur—the region of the world where the Tower of Babel had been built, which means he grew up and lived in a pagan society that thrived four thousand years ago. Abraham was most likely well-educated and cultured. Archeologists have excavated UR and found it to have been a place where society was very advanced much more advanced than historians originally thought. For example, they found a great library there with clay tablets bearing the records of thriving commerce, literature, and religion. They found the foundations of huge structures….homes, palaces, and public buildings that rival those we make today.  It was a great civilization indeed.

Ur was a port city—situated in the fertile area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what later became known as Babylonia. The people were religious—but pagan. Their priesthood offered human sacrifices…and Abraham would have been very familiar with this because his father Terah was deeply involved in the false religion of the area. (Josh. 24:2)

For some reason, God chose this well-educated but pagan man—Abram—to found His chosen people—the nation of Israel.   “The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Gen 12)

He left his culture with all its benefits and headed out to a place he didn’t know!  This pagan man would never again sleep under a roof, he would be a tent-dweller. But there are other problems with God’s choice of the father of His chosen nation.  It wasn’t just the fact that he was a pagan that makes us question God’s choice. When God called them to this task Abraham and his wife were old. He was 75 and she was ten years his junior. Sure 75 is the new 40, but Sarah was also barren and childless. So God picked a pagan, childless couple who were reviewing retirement home fliers to found this chosen nation.

I personally find this humorous; God used an old, pagan, barren couple to start a Godly nation!

If God can use an old, pagan and barren couple he can use you too!

God will do this kind of thing over and over and over again. We’ll see that our Heavenly Father prefers to use the least likely people to accomplish His purpose and to tell His story. Let’s review some of the shakers and the movers in God’s story and you’ll see what I mean. Abraham was old. Isaac was insecure. Jacob was a con-man. Leah was unattractive. Joseph was a slave and a brat as a kid. Moses stuttered and was a murder. Gideon had anxiety attacks. Samson an arrogant womanizer that needed a haircut. Rahab was a prostitute. David had an affair and murdered the husband.  Elijah was depressed and suicidal. Jeremiah was depressed and cried a lot. Jonah was disobedient and suicidal. Naomi was a widow. Mary was a poor teenager. John the Baptist ate bugs. Peter was impulsive. Martha was a worry wart. The Samaritan woman had five failed marriages. Thomas had his doubts. Paul executed Christians for a living. Timothy was timid…and the list goes on and on—a list of the unlikely people that God used in powerful ways to tell His story. It’s not what you would expect. It’s not who we would choose. But nevertheless that’s what we’ll see.

The question is, “Why?” Why does God prefer to use imperfect misfits to accomplish His purposes? Why would He pick an elderly infertile couple to populate an entire nation? God made this choice—He makes these kind of choices—to display His power and glory. He does it so there will be no doubt that He is the source of the miracles that come, that He is the giver of every good and perfect gift. He does it this way because His strength is made most visible in our weakness.

If you feel unqualified to be a part of the story God is writing. If you feel, “It’s too late for me. I’m too old. I’ve made too many mistakes. I’ve had my chances and I blew them. I don’t have their resources or the gifts. I don’t have the right talents.” If you feel this way, you can look at Abraham and Sarah and all the others and know that God uses weak, imperfect people like that. He uses people like you and me.  It may not make the most sense on paper but it gives God an opportunity to be glorified which is what the story is ultimately about.

But there was something very special about Abraham—and I’m referring to his faith. Abraham’s entire life is a story of faith.   Fourteen chapters are devoted to the telling of his life story, plus he is mentioned 160 times in Old Testament and 71 times in the New Testament. When you put it all together it’s a story of FAITH.

In the next few posts, we’ll examine what faith looks like.  God’s people are called to live a life of faith which is not an easy task.

Darrell

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