Message: Glory, Honor, Power, is Our Lord!
Sometimes, I can’t help but think about the ongoing lessons we receive in life from God. We receive them directly from Him, in His Spirit through discernment, and from His word in scripture. We also receive them from His Body, also known as our Church family, or Family in God. All combine to provide us with a balanced diet of instruction. And it’s an enduring education we are going through you and I, as we struggle through an ongoing display of lessons learned in our lives, one day at a time.
Sometimes the Lessons are painful, and that is a demonstration of just how much God loves us as we struggle sometimes to get the point of His instruction. I am reminded of the New Testament letter to the Hebrews and the lesson provided in God’s Discipline. Reading Hebrews 12:5-8;
5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”
*Compare to; Prov. 3:11,12 in the Septuagint to show God’s consistency. Continuing now;
7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.
Even when its painful, our Lord is putting our welfare first. God knows the cause of our struggles due to unbelief, weak faith, and the remedies for them. That for most of us, there is a real need for rededication of our hearts to Him, from time to time, to fully realize that; Glory, Honor, Power, is Our Lord! And that’s just the beginning…
In my case, I would say that I need a daily regimen of rededication to the Lord each time I rise in the morning. That for me it’s a constant challenge to stay on track and to keep the Lord as my focus. Since there are so many things that exists to distract the dyslectic me, I need to practice listening to the voice of God, in order to be ready to respond on the fly when He calls. All of this is wrapped or woven throughout today’s Call to Worship, where we have the Lord explaining to the cynics, and wayward know-it-alls, who He is. Reading again from John 10:22-30;
22 Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24 The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
*Side Note; The rededication of the Temple is what we call Hanukah, and it’s a renewal of the polluted condition that the Temple was rendered because of the Syrian oppression and sin forced on Israel. The Maccabees Took back their country, just as we are called to take back our lives from the sin that weighs us down. This renewal is a constant battle for many of us in life.
Paul Gives us some practical instruction on how to overcome our challenges in his letter to the Romans. Reading from Romans 12:1-2
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
And I might add, know His voice when He calls… Jesus continues now, back in our Call to Worship at verse 25;
25 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
It is our choice of weather we want to be in the Lord’s flock, a part of His family, or to go it alone. If you are choosing to go it alone, the longer you go the harder it will be to know His voice calling you to join Him. So many people who have gone years of doing their own thing, putting their selfish desires first, have a hard time at first when they have decided to follow Jesus, because they are not used to listening, or being disciplined by the Lord.
In other words; its hard to know what real love is if you don’t have any practice at it. This might be, because you have been blowing it off, for greener pastures, that turned out to be only gangrene to your sole. But that’s what selfishness, ingratitude, nastiness, and fear are like. Gangrene. My very being rotting on the vine, because I have not nourished my sole, or consented to join in something greater than myself. God’s family.
Once we actually go down that road with the Lord, and fully let Him into our lives in a real relationship, full of its ups and downs, and committed, really committed for the long haul, then the Lord takes ownership. Immediately after the Lord moves in, it’s like when you move into a new place, regardless most of us are cleaning and repurposing the space. The Lord will do this in your life with you as well, and at first its uncomfortable, because we are not used to a loving Father’s discipline, and a Lord’s compassion through a Holy Spirit, that dwarfs everything else.
What is happening, is like so much of the adversity in our lives, the Lord is preparing you for the next big thing. With each challenge, we grow a little stronger when we are in and with Him who can grow us, as we individually, and as a family, continue to rise to each new occasion. Just think about what John was able to witness about our future in the Lord. Returning again to today’s Message Reading, Revelation 7:9-17;
9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”
*Side Bar; Let me say from the git-go, I’m in!… By the way that multitude just mentioned, seems like a whole lot more than a mere 144K. Perhaps we need to let the determination, and the judging on who is in and who is not, on the creator that knows all, because He created all.
I am reminded of another place where God instructs us through John and that is in the beginning of the Gospel of John where we read, John 1:1-5;
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
I think I’ll put my energies on the one who has been there from the beginning and who died and then lived for you and me. Our Lord Jesus Christ, where our lives and light resides… I want to be a part of the praising, glorifying, and magnifying of His Holy name in His Heaven. Continuing now with Revelations 7, verse 11;
11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying:
“Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!”
**Cutting in Again to Say; never has falling down on my face seemed so appealing as it does in our future with the elders and living creatures of Heaven. By the way, the accurate translation is living creatures and not the unfortunate translation of beasts. And we get to some day experience even more of God’s incredible creation!…
13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”
14 I answered, “Sir, you know.”
And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
**Side Bar Again; I believe its key to your own life to keep in mind, that there is always someone out there going through even greater tribulation than you. And the Lord has placed you here at this time and place for His good purposes, and reasons. He will walk whatever it is you are going through with you, if you will allow Him in.
Blood is the answer to the death that comes from sin. Your sin and mine. From the beginning to the end, the death that humanity has been dealing out goes much deeper than the mayhem you watch on the news each night. Only our Savoir, our creator, and sustainer redeemer can save us all through His incredible gift of eternity for all who accept the invitation. For you will learn to hear and recognize His voice, and you too will proclaim with the Angels in Heaven;
“Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!”
Resuming now at verse 15;
15 Therefore,
“they are before the throne of God
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne
will shelter them with his presence.
16 ‘Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them,’
nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne
will be their shepherd;
‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’
‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”
My thought, and again its for you to do the heavy lifting of prayer, study, and thinking with your Lord. My thought is that if we are serving God by serving others we already have a sense of just how incredible serving day and night in His presence will be.
Right now, in this reality, there are those in this room who are having a blast helping and serving together with other people those God had placed in our lives. When we finally figure out that we don’t have to have all of the answers, all of the resources, but just care for and from time to time be there for others, life becomes uncomplicated. Kind of like how Heaven might be in our future. Now that I have uncomplicated my thoughts, life is really easy because it’s now about others instead of me!
If you are struggling with addictions, attitudes, and relationships, maybe it’s time to let go of what’s been getting in the way and to put your hope, energy, and faith in the one that will always be there. Your Lord! God is not asking you to be something that you are not, just to be better at who you really are, and then we will be confident in proclaiming; Glory, Honor, Power, is Our Lord!
My hope and prayer for you this week is that you will declutter all the things that keep you from trusting and then relying on God. Little by little as you do, may you start to have a blast just being with Him, and His incredible family who reside in and outside this room. God bless you,
Amen!