September 25th, 2007 by Pastor Matt

Just to let you all know, I’m still absolutely loving reading the OT. I’m not sure what happened to me, but a few months ago it just clicked. I used to hate reading the OT and commonly spoke about how boring it was to me. How wrong I was! I’m glued to those pages as I read them now!

So last night I was reading my absolute most favorite story in the OT. It’s above all the others for me, and I’ll explain why later. It’s found in 1 Kings 18:20-40. The story of Elijah’s Mount Carmel butt-whoopin of the prophets of baal. If you already know the story well, go ahead and skip on down; for those who don’t know it… you’ve got to check this out:

20 So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. 21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word. 22 Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. 23 Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. 24 Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.”
So all the people answered and said, “It is well spoken.”
25 Now Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.”
26 So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, “O Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they had made.
27 And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 28 So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. 29 And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention.
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. 31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name.”^[b] 32 Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, “Fill four waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.” 34 Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time; and he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. 35 So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.
36 And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “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. 37 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.”
38 Then the fire of the LORD fell 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. 39 Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!”
40 And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there.

There are a few reasons that I absolutely love this story. First of all, Elijah is totally bad here (if you didn’t get the memo… bad means good; really good… and cool; really cool). He flat out stood up to the king and literally lays his life on the line. At this point the king is blaming Elijah for the drought that is upon the entire nation; let’s just say he (and his wife) wasn’t too happy about it. He then stands up against 850 prophets (450 of baal, 400 of asherah) and challenges them; then mocks them; then defeats them; then executes them. Let’s listen to the play by play as Al Micheals & John Madden would have said it:

Al: We’re here today as Elijah takes on 850 false prophets in a fire starting competition to the death.
John: Whoever loses here today is going to die.
Al: The false prophets step up to the alter first, notice that they have no flint, they have no matches.
John: They’ve got nothing there to start a fire!
Al: The false prophets are running around, screaming as loud as they can. Their god does not appear to be responding to their calls.
John: They’re knockin’, but nobody’s home!
Al: Elijah seems to be making fun of the prophets as they cut themselves and dance. Saying to them that perhaps their god is sleeping or on vacation.
John: I bet he’s using the bathroom!
Al: Elijah now steps up to the alter and surrounds it with 12 stones. They’re pouring water all over the bull and into the trench surrounding it.
John: If you want something to be wet putting water on it is a great idea.
Al: Elijah now appears to be praying to his God…
John: Boom!
Al: Fire has fallen from the sky and has completely devoured the entire bull, wood & water.
John: Now what happened here is that the fire came down just like this, right there from the sky. It landed right on the bull there and Boom! everything was gone.

Yeah… I had a little fun with that.

So I said all of that to say this.  I’m so glad that our God is a God who is always there for us.  Whenever we call on His name we know he is there for us.  When we serve that kind of God, it gives us the boldness to stand for Him.  I want to do something Elijahish today.

September 19th, 2007 by Pastor Matt

Yesterday I was all caught up in the Passion that David was showing to the nation of Israel when he danced before the Lord.  When Passion is behind us, we will likely conquer whatever is in front of us.  Passion is a character quality that most successful people display regularly.  That’s because it’s easier to be excellent with Passion.  Just think of these names here and you’ll know what their passion was: Bill Gates, Sam Walton, Walt Disney, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Benjamin Franklin.  None of these people started off thinking to themselves, “I want to become rich and famous!”  They all started with a passion.  Bill Gates wanted to create the easiest to use and understand operating system possible (the new windows are getting more complicated and guess what, they’re selling less! Passion is no longer driving the company!) Sam Walton wanted to offer a one stop shop.  Walt Disney loved animation and knew it could be improved (other companies were 20 years behind Disney in animation, they are just now catching up!).  Henry Ford wanted to build the best vehicle, Thomas and Benjamin… need I say more.

The point is, excellence is driven by passion.  The hardest part of excellence is being driven by passion but driving our passions.  Do you allow God to decide what your passion will be, or do you allow other things to get in the way?  David was a man after God’s own heart, so he was absolutely allowing God to influence his passions.  He was doing an excellent job too, until he forgot to go to war in 2nd Samuel 11:1.

1 It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

Now Ammon had just taken David’s servants and shaved their beard and cut apart their clothes.  They were incredibly ashamed by the Ammonites.  David however does not go into the battle.  Where is the passion?!  Why was David not just plain ticked off by the Ammonites?  I truly wish I had the answer for that question; if you’ve got any ideas let me know!  I do know this, when David’s passion wasn’t where it was supposed to be, it was somewhere else.  That somewhere else just so happened to be taking a bath on a rooftop.

September 18th, 2007 by Pastor Matt

You want to see someone who is looking rather undignified? Find someone who has a baby and then walk around with that baby. Try as hard as you possibly can to forget that you have a baby in your hands and then just look at people as they talk to that baby. Whew! Some people just get going when you put them in front of a baby. I am one of those people, so don’t think I’m talking bad about you if you’re one of those people too. The point I am making though, is that you don’t see people being undignified very often.

What is it about todays society that causes people to look down at others? I don’t know, but apparently the same thing was happening back in David’s day:

20 Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, “How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!” - 2 Samuel 6:20

Now David had just been out in the streets dancing in front of the entire city as the Ark of God was brought into the city. Up comes this “dignified” pretty princess (Saul’s daughter), Michal, to throw sarcasm and ridicule to the king! This is someone whom Ed Young would call a vision vandal. You see, David was modeling to the entire country that God was worth worshiping; even if it meant that he looked silly. If you want something to be important to those around you, you must model it. Michal obviously missed the point, but David made his point in verses 21 & 22:

21 So David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the LORD. 22 And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them I will be held in honor.”

Saul was a man of dignity, and we may think to ask Saul (as Dr. Phil would say), “How’s that working out for you?” It was not David’s action that people saw, but the passion behind the action. The passion that David had for God made him appear undignified in his worship, but that just made his passion more noticeable. Never be afraid to get undignified in your children’s ministry (or anything else you’re passionate about). It will only make your passion for kids more noticeable.

September 17th, 2007 by Pastor Matt

The chain of command. That’s an interesting phrase isn’t it? We all must follow the chain of command, even kings have to follow it. Just look at Saul and his inability to follow the chain of command. He was the king of Israel, placed in charge by God to rule the entire nation of God’s chosen people. However, lets look at what happened:

3 Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”

There in Samuel 15:3 Saul is instructed to destroy all that is in Amalek, but let’s take a look at what happens when he attacks in verse 9:

 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.

Saul broke the chain of command! God specifically instructed him in this matter and Saul disobeyed. You see, when he broke the chain God’s link did not break, therefore we know that Saul’s link of the chain broke. Since his link is now broken, it won’t be long before the links connected to him fall away as well. As we know his own son Jonathon ended up “linking up” with David, this would not have had to happen if Saul’s link was still strong.

Remember, if you break the link with God it won’t be long before the followers below you begin falling off of your broken link!

September 10th, 2007 by Pastor Matt

A few days ago I wrote about Jeremiah, and how his leadership style was different than Moses’.  Jeremiah was the man at delegation! He had excellent officers under him whom he had impowered.  He was obviously a good leader, just look what the Bible says in Joshua 24:31a:

Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua

Wow! How incredible that the entire nation served God for all of the days of Joshua.  He was even such a good delegator that this is what the next part of verse 31 says:

and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua,

So the Bible tells us that the nation of Isreal served the Lord for all of Joshua’s days and all of the days that those he delegated to were still alive.  However, what happens next?  Well, to put it simply, Judges.  After Joshua and his officers passed on there was nobody left to carry the torch properly.  If we do not duplicate ourselves into someone else, there will be nobody left to pick up where we left off.  Moses failed to delegate, but he succeeded to duplicate.  After Moses, there was Joshua, after Joshua, there was Judges!  Delegate is great short term, duplicate is great long term.

September 4th, 2007 by Pastor Matt

When you’re thinking about leaders in the Bible many names come to mind. Moses was obviously one of the most miraculous men to ever walk the earth, and he was one of the best known leaders in the OT. What about Joshua? One thing that I’ve always been interested in were the leaders who followed leaders. The men who learned from someone great and then succeeded them in leadership. Most often you’ll find that they lead in a different way than their successor. Think about Joshua and the way he lead compared to Moses. Moses lead a very up front ministry. To put it simply, Moses had the stick. He had to be advised by Jethro before he gave responsibility over to other leaders around him. Joshua on the other hand was constantly doing different things. That means that he wasn’t always doing the same thing! Joshua gave responsibility (not to mention power and respect) to other leaders around him. Look here in verse 10 of the first chapter:

Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, 11 “Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess.’”

Notice that Joshua commanded the officers to pass through and command the people. Many many many times Moses spoke to “the people” but not to officers and those whom he had given responsibility and power (Ex. 13:3, 14:13, 17:2, 20:20, 24:3, 32:20, and many more in Numbers and Deuteronomy.

We all must make sure and lead the leaders around us. Allow them to control responsibility and power, enable them to become all that their potential allows.

August 30th, 2007 by Pastor Matt

Ya know something really crazy about the Bible, all of the stories in it ACTUALLY HAPPENED!  Now that doesn’t sound like a big deal or anything, but as me and a friend of mine were sitting down for lunch yesterday that’s what we were talking about.  Sampson was one of the stories I mentioned.  If you don’t know the story I’m referring to then you seriously need to read it.  This man who was blessed of God really went out and grabbed 300 foxes.  He really killed 1000 men with a donkey jawbone.  Maybe I’m the only person who previously felt like they were reading a fiction novel when they were in the OT, but it’s great knowing that I don’t feel that way anymore.  When you think of some of the things that believers were doing in the OT, it makes what I’m doing today look like a cake walk.  Children’s Ministry really isn’t all that tough, especially when I consider being thrown into a flaming furnace as one of the other options!

August 29th, 2007 by Pastor Matt

When my wife and I were studying last night we chose to take a look at the first few chapters of Jeremiah. The first thing that popped into my mind was, how many more books were supposed to be in the Bible? How many Jeremiah’s should there have been, but they failed to answer the call of God. Jeremiah was so bold to answer this call!

6 Then said I:
“ Ah, Lord GOD!
Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”
7 But the LORD said to me:
“ Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’
For you shall go to all to whom I send you,
And whatever I command you, you shall speak.
8 Do not be afraid of their faces,
For I am with you to deliver you,” says the LORD.
9 Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me:
“ Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms,
To root out and to pull down,
To destroy and to throw down,
To build and to plant.”

Jeremiah was just a youth at this point in his life, and in verse nine God tells him that he has put him over the nations and over the kingdoms. That’s a huge area of responsibility! However, God had touched his mouth and given him the ability to fulfill his calling, and he’ll do the same for you. “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the children and over the babies!”