What is the Great Story?

Given at Cross Points Church

Shawnee, Kansas

Missions Conference Dinner

November 2024

 

Tonight, I’m going to talk to you about story. The idea of story. The concerns that stories bring. The pleasures and mystery that is story. 

When I was a kid in Prairie Village, my mother would ask my brother and sister and me about a problem in the house and who caused the troubled situation. Each of us would report our side of the events, and my mom would look me in the eye and say, “Now don’t you story to me!” By that, she meant don’t lie. 

I’m not talking about story in the sense of lying. Today I’m talking about story-- we could say--a narrative. There is the backstory to an event and by that we mean all the circumstances that led the characters, especially the protagonist in view, to be the kind of person he’s become.

Stories, whether in front of us, or the backstory-- what is it about them that makes us sit up, turn on the television, read the novel, go to the movies, especially the sequel, just what makes us notice a good story? 

Peter Kreeft is one of my favourite Christian authors. He’s a professor in Boston and a CS Lewis devotee. Kreeft believes that the human story is told by God, who “uses crooked lines to tell the story straight.” Kreeft also believes that myths are stories about individuals, but they are also examples of universal archetypes. And he emphasises problems as very important to any story.

Let’s say, I have a story to tell. And it’s a story that includes religion and freedom and encounters and troubles. Does that sound interesting to you? Maybe it does. But the moment I say ‘religion,’ some folks are turned off. Puh-lease, they would say; I had enough of that when it was shoved down my throat as a kid. Others hear words like ‘freedom’ and wonder if I’m speaking about a political party with which they disagree. Or when I say ‘troubles’ they don’t want to hear it because they have enough troubles of their own. 

But if Kreeft is right, and a story is not a real story unless there is conflict, then my story and the God story we all believe here at Cross Points is one that has significance and which gives us hope and endurance. 

You see, we are at the annual missions conference. And many of us in this room are missionaries. So there must be a story about that. A biblical story. And I plan to share that with you. But here’s a problem.

The word ‘mission’ or ‘missionary’ is not found in the Bible. Nope. Mission is not there. Of course, neither is Trinity or toothpaste, but we all hold to the truth of God as Father, Son and Spirit, and we all wish everyone would bring and use their toothbrush after meals. But ‘mission?’

We Kansas City folks know about Shawnee Mission, don’t we? We drive on the Parkway, we swim in the park, and use the hospital or public school system bearing the name Shawnee Mission. But do you really know the story of the mission?

The mission itself was for what now are called native Americans. It was established before the Civil War as a manual training school attended by children from Shawnee, Delaware, and other Indian nations from 1839 to 1862. If you want a full history on Kansaspedia, check the bit.ly/ link here: https://bit.ly/missionshawnee

The mission was run by Christians and they saw themselves as missionaries. It’s a great history. Although I must say that ‘great’ might be a bit much for antebellum, pre-Civil War re-education of Indians and the views held by the elite in those days. 

So mission was in the heart of the Methodists who worked there for years.

Here’s more of note. The word mission is in the vocabulary of the modern Western business world, so almost every company has a mission statement. What is it that drives the company? What is its purpose in the world?  But did you know that even some companies like restaurants have mission statements, although it should be fairly obvious that they exist for food for their customers? 

Is that how we at Cross Points use the term? 

What about wartime missions? That is, when a general sends his fleet of aircraft on sorties, those missions are designed to accomplish the demolition of the enemy or at least to protect the ground troops. This may be a good time to see the double use of this word.

The activities of the pilots on mission are part of the overall mission of winning the war. Both enterprises can honourably be titled ‘mission.’

Closer to home, the activities of the Chiefs’ coaches at Arrowhead, in running offensive or defensive linemen through their drills, along with the kickers and punt returners working on their warmups all week in practice, are useful to the overall mission of winning the game tomorrow. And that winning tomorrow is part of the overall mission of winning the Super Bowl. See how this works? A mission is either a component or an overarching purpose.

With all that in mind, I think that’s how we as missionaries, all the 25 or 28 of us here tonight, view this week. We have met with you in small groups, in connect groups, after or before church, on the phone, and in so many ways to share stories of our work, so that you get the small AND the large picture, so that you walk with us in our mission, be it in Latin America or France, in the UK or Africa, where I’ve been working in Australia for 26 years, or here in the US.  Our mission however is not the big picture at all.

For that we have to look at the Bible, and even closely look at the heart of God. What is God up to in 2024? What did God want of his people in 1725? Or in the reign of King Solomon? Or in the beginning? 

After all that introduction, let me clearly state what I believe to be the mission of God. God, from the beginning, wanted a people of his own who would dwell together in Paradise with him. When sin entered the world, God’s mission involved ridding the world of evil and making us to be a new creation. And that mission is told and retold and wonderfully retold via story. The story of the Older Testament and in Yeshua our Messiah and throughout the Newer Testament. The story is the mission unfurled.

So then, what should be our mission statement? Not our organisation or our church. What is the mission of God for us as his people? Our mission is no different than it was in Genesis 1, to be fruitful and multiply and to care for the natural world. Really, that’s it, you say? Yes, that’s it, if we understand what fruitful and multiply means.

Fruitful relates to character and it springs from a seed. The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace (James chapter 3.18) and has its reward in fruitfulness. 

Listen to these Bible texts:

Amos chides the people of God in chapter 6:12     

“You have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,”

Paul the apostle uses these words in chapter 5 of Ephesians, “The fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth”, Eph. 5:9

Again we read Paul to the Philippians, 

 “having been filled with the ^afruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” (Phil 1.11)

And finally in Hebrews we read, 

“All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” Heb. 12:11

God wants fruit to grow in us and on us and through us. That involves being planted in us and letting it have its perfect result. Righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

As many of you would also count, fruit in modern parlance involves the number of believers who convert to the Gospel which may be indicated in Paul’s Romans letter chapter one. Each of us on the mission field have been met with the question, “How many converts have you seen this year?” and we often ache. Many of our missions involve discipleship and not evangelism. Some are training leaders and not being out front in Gospel presentation online or in public. We do have to go beyond fruitfulness as evidenced only in conversions.

Fruit then is character and it is numbers of believers and it is growth. God wants that for each of us and for his church. Without character, what’s the point of growing? 

Peter ended his second letter with this

2Pet. 3:18 “ grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Back in Genesis, what did God say about our mission? Fruitful and multiply. That sounds like numerical growth. And God promised it to Abraham. He told him that his descendants would be as numerous as the sands on the seashore and the stars in the heavens. And although the Jewish people have never been more than a couple of dozen million on the earth, the sheer population of the planet today is over 8 billion, with a b. 

Now, beyond the human population, what is the population of the community of faith? And does that even matter? You bet it does. Every place God wants us to make a difference in the lives of others, we need the resources of people. To look after the children or to care for widows and orphans in their distress. To teach others how to live and to stand with folks in their discomfort and pain. I think it takes much more than a village; it takes the church!

Yes, God can work with 12, or with the inner 3. Yes, little Rhoda in Acts chapter 12 was the main believer in the release of the apostle Peter from prison. God can and does use the individual. Hallelujah! At the same time, he wants us to learn from Jesus and to bring others along into his fold. “Come and see” was the phrase that Jesus told the boys on asking where he was staying, in other words, asking if they could join him.   Come and see is still the phrase we should tell folks, as I did with my waitress at IHOP yesterday and as I did with a couple of Jewish couples this morning at synagogue. It’s how we begin to multiply. But the real multiplication happens when we all add our weight to the proclamation of the Gospel. One by one is done by one at a time; multiplication happens when we all invite our one-by-ones and numbers pour in. Think back to the 1970s when a little former Baptist minister got filled with the Holy Spirit and South 42^nd street in KCK was never the same. Explosion happens now and then, and it’s a good problem to have. May we here at Cross Points experience it soon, in light of the 30,000 goals in the three years in which we find ourselves. 

But, you might ask, what about the creation? We are to subdue it and to care for it and represent the Creator to his planet. Why? Because we are participants in this story. We are not outsiders reading about history and others and studying for an examination. We are reading about our family and our family home and carrying on the family legacy and story. We are actors in the great story and we have a mission, some say a Great Commission. 

By the way, the phrase “The Great Commission” was first coined by Hudson Taylor about 1890. And I wonder if we limit God’s mission when we only speak of evangelism and soul-winning as the Great Commission. 

The story of the Bible is God on mission. Blessing all nations, first through Abraham and the Jewish people, then through Jesus the Messiah. Blessing to result in redemption and a hope that does not disappoint. 

When I came to faith in Jesus in 1971, I found my Redeemer and my Saviour. I was the recipient of eternal life. It was a Monday night in Leawood, May of 1971. First thing I did was to go home to my parents’ home in Prairie Village and tell them what I had done, but honestly, to tell them of God’s love for them. God had a mission for me and for my folks. He wanted to repair our lives. Unfortunately, I was the only one who heard it. I was 19 years old. That story, that mission is still God’s heart for Jewish people and for Gentiles in Shawnee, for Latinos in the Argentine and Koreans out at 105^th and Metcalf. 

But remember what Peter Kreeft said. A story is not such a good story without conflict, suffering or opposition. Think of every Disney story you know. There has to be a villain, the Big Bad Wolf, Javar, Cruella de Ville, Gaston or Captain Hook. Without opponents, we have a fairly dull story. 

So the story of God’s mission for him and for us includes the main opponent Satan, and little opponents along the way. Those might include our own laziness, our own self-satisfaction, our own sins. But I trust in the Lord and surrender to him so that his victory is ours. We win when he wins, and this is the victory, even our faith. Honestly, our surrender is our victory.

Friends and fellow actors in the story of God on planet Earth, whether you are a paid missionary or paying to support missionaries, we are together in the Great Story. The paid missionaries here at the Missions Week conference want to say thank you to each of the donors and supporters who are here. We owe you each day. We are your hands and feet on the ground among the people to whom we are sent. Please hear me when I say, “We love and thank you.” And we invite you to continue to participate not only in our story but also in the Great Story of God’s love and redemption here in Kansas City and to the ends of the earth. 

Every person we help to be fruitful and to multiply, each soul who is brought near, every man, woman and child who now is partnering in the Great Story also sends their thanks. 

Let us exalt the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Amen?

 

A Biblical Theology of Mission

 This sermon was given at Cross Points church in suburban Kansas City (Shawnee, Kansas) on Sunday 17 November.  For the video, click on this YouTube https://www.youtube.com/live/BzOA3g5d_HM?si=JfqmbmzRM10nmjtI&t=3517  

 

Shalom. Thank you, Pastor David and Pastor Mark, for this privilege to address Cross Points Church this morning on a very significant day in the church calendar. 

Today I want to give each of you, as Brother Ernie used to say, some machine gun Bible texts in a rapid-fire manner that together tell a story, the story of God’s heart for the peoples of the earth. A story that began in the beginning and ends, in a world that doesn’t end. His story is our commission, that is, we are part of his story that is told this year in 2024 and each day of our lives. We are actors; we are participants in the Great Story of God’s love and redemption of all mankind.

Let’s listen to these, and I hope you will stay with me.

1)         Genesis 12.1-3,  Abraham receives the call of God to leave his family and go to a place he doesn’t know, and God promises him a three-fold blessing of seed, bounty and a land and what did he do as a result? Gen 12.5 He took his wife and possessions which would have included slaves and all his household goods, and the Bible says he took “the souls” he gathered. The rabbis teach that those ‘souls’ were converts to the Abrahamic religion. Abraham heard from God and immediately gathered others to follow this God. Being a disciple includes gathering souls.

2)         Exodus 19.5-6  The scene is at Mt Sinai, 3 million Jewish people have just left slavery in Egypt. We are about to receive the Ten Commandments. God tells Moses that the people of Israel are special. Called to be a Kingdom of priests. Great. Wait a minute; Whom do priests serve? Themselves? Not at all. Priests serve others. If Israel is to be priests, the nations must be in God’s view.

3)         Lev. 19:9-10   ‘^aNow when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the LORD your God.”  Corners of the field are for others. Don’t be selfish; let others gain from your prosperity. Lev. 19.27 You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads nor harm the edges of your beard.

4)         Numbers 15.37-40  Wear tassels, fringes on the Corners of your garments. God is reminding the Jewish people saying Don’t forget the four corners of the earth. It’s not a private religion I’m creating; the garments you wear are to remind you to extend. The beard you grow is to remind you. Extend. Look beyond your borders. Four is the biblical number of universalism in contrast to particularism. Particular is about Israel; universal is about the world. It’s not about you, Israel, it’s for everyone. Abraham understood that and gathered folks.

For time’s sake, let’s jump ahead…

5)         Jonah… You might remember him. A prophet, but a failure, dismal failure. He goes to Ninevah, the capital of the Assyrian empire, to tell the pagans of God’s love and it works.  Jonah 3.7-9    The mayor (Bible says, “King”) of Ninevah repents, and demands the entire country to join him in proclaiming Yahweh their king. Jonah is a successful missionary, at least for Ninevah, but Jonah is not happy.  But, backup in the story, Jonah 1.3  Jonah left a little seaside village named Joppa, skipped town, tried to avoid the whole God thing, and that didn’t work out so well for him. He ended up being successful in his preaching to “those people’, the dreaded enemies of the Jewish people, so that they repented and became followers of the God of Israel, but his end is dismal. Jonah 4.1 He was angry. Can you imagine the And Jonah 4.3, Jonah 4.8, Jonah 4.9 three times in the final chapter he said he would rather be dead than to live if that’s the way God was going to treat those evil and foreign Gentiles. 

6)         If I may, two more scenes, and for many of you, the more comfortable side of the Bible. Look at the Newer Testament, in the book of Acts chapter 10, the scene with Cornelius, the Roman centurion who was a good guy, and we will see the apostle Peter. Cornelius is a military leader and had donated to the Jewish people under his charge. (Acts 10.5) In a dream God told Cornelius to dispatch men to Joppa, to find Peter, and to invite him back to his place.  OK, no problem.  At about the same time, Peter is down in Joppa (which, by the way, is wrapped around by modern-day Tel Aviv) and has a noon-time dream. Acts 10.11 A vision with a four-cornered sheet filled with unclean foods for Jewish people. Four-footed animals, and things we can find on Metcalf, like Red Lobster shrimp and bacon double cheeseburgers and such.            Acts 10.13 A voice tells Peter to “Rise, kill and eat” Peter reminds God that he’s Jewish and so doesn’t eat such things. God answers him Acts 10.15 saying “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unclean.” 

This dream came to Peter three times and you would think that Peter got it. After all, he had walked with Yeshua, with Jesus, for years. He had preached for 9 chapters and probably about 10 years by this time. Acts 10.17 “Peter was greatly perplexed in mind as to what the vision which he had seen might be”  That means, even though he understood so much of God, the Bible says he didn’t get it. But overnight, God answered his query, and Peter answered the invitation, really a subpoena by the military Roman, and went to Caesarea. He travels the 54 kilometres north to tell Cornelius about the Lord, and Cornelius has gathered many in his home to hear God’s word. Some of the missionaries here in church today will tell you that in some Latino or Asian villages where they travel, a person will do just that, invite neighbours and others to hear the missionary speak about God. Those are awesome moments for each of us.  Acts 10.28 may be a Bible verse you want to memorise if you are not Jewish, as it’s a significant reminder of who got you into this. There in his sermon, Peter tells the gathered, “God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean.” The four-cornered sheet vision was not about lunch for Peter, about those unclean foods. It was about people like folks in Rome or in Shawnee who eat those foods. The vision was about Gentiles being made clean in the same way Jews can be made clean. Titus 3.5-6 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. 1 John 1.7  It’s the blood of Jesus that cleanses us and makes us right with God.  God has done it all for each of us. Every Jew in this sanctuary ought to praise him; every Gentile in the sanctuary ought to shout Hallelujah! Amen!

7)         Revelation 5.9-10 In the final book of the Bible, and we could find many of these themes in so many of the books, but again, for time’s sake, we narrow our focus. We read, “Worthy are You to take the ¹book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation .(Four again) You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth.” God is saying that the redeemed are to be a kingdom and priests. A repeat of the call to Israel in Exodus. A reminder that the four corners of our robes or even of the facial hair, of the fields we harvest, everything about God is the extension of his rule over the planet. He wants us, as participants in this drama, to be kings and priests, to take his message, his love, his care to Lackman Road, to the 30,000 folks in our radius, to the ends of the earth. And to be happy about doing so. 

Remember Jonah, although he was a success he was a racist, and didn’t want those undeserving Gentiles to hear about God. Oh, did you notice that Jonah and Peter were both in the village named Joppa. Both received the call to take the message of God to others. And the others were the dreaded enemies of the Jewish people? For Jonah is was Assyria. For Peter it was Rome. Both were military occupiers of the land of Israel. Both were enemies of the Jews. To each God wanted to share his love and care. And God chose a person to go to them. Jonah was reluctant but eventually went, and won them over, but failed due to his hatred of the Assyrians. Peter won the folks at Cornelius’ house, and won Romans 5.5 because the love of Jesus has been poured out into his life, and we can say, into our lives. 

Abraham gathered foreigners and went to the Promised Land. Each missionary in this sanctuary and the others whom you will support today, and all year by your donations, gather souls to the Lord. That includes my work among the Jewish people of Australia and in Middle Tennessee, or Curtis and Mei Lin of Hong Kong and around Asia, or Bill and so many in Latin America, and each of the teams of YWAM around the globe, and all the unnamed but powerful emissaries you send. 

I’m thinking of Adam in Western Australia, of another Andy in Sydney, both about 40 years old, both Jews, now both followers of Yeshua because we were there when God called them. We had the funds. We had the spiritual energy. God opened their eyes to the Gospel. I’m thinking of Michael, a very observant Jew in Sydney who found us on LiveChat and gave his life to the Lord with me a couple of years ago. He is now married, has a new baby, and loves his new life in the Lord. And Philip, my former dentist, now retired, for whom I was there at his time of spiritual hunger, so that now he’s following our Messiah. The list goes on and on. And we’re not done. The work is ever-expanding and ever-replicating, as God’s mission is our mission.

Dear saints at Cross Points, we missionaries thank you. We owe you. We honour you for the lavish grace you pour out on us. May I mention specifically the teams that care for us on the field, the prayer nets like the one that Wolfgang and Betty Jo lead in their home and on Zoom? Those nets are deep and powerful and keep us on the field and in the Spirit. 

I’ve tried to show you that this drama, this story of God and the people of the earth began in the beginning and won’t end until Jesus returns and puts his foot down in Jerusalem, establishing his kingdom and rulership. Revelation 11.15 The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His messiah. Until that day we missionaries work. Until that day, each of us watching online or here in the sanctuary, who are disciples, want three things. We want 1) to be with Jesus, 2) to become like him, and 3) to do what he did.  

God’s mission is our mission. 

The people of Shawnee, of Johnson County, of Missouri and Kansas, of the US, and the people of the world await God’s mission. 

Will you join him? 

If you are not yet a believer in and follower of the Lord, I invite you to hear these words and to receive them. I’m speaking to you, perhaps a visitor for the first time to this building today, or even watching much later on the internet. God wants you to know him and to follow him, to bring others along with you to him, to be with him and to do what he does. He is reaching out among the peoples of the earth to share his care and peace in a turbulent and troubled world. Even your world. 

I implore you to say ‘yes’ to Yeshua, to Jesus, and to become his disciple and follower. Learn of him. He is gentle and lowly and loves each of us. Thank God his arms are open to you, today, just now. Be forgiven of your sins, repent, and turn from them, be baptised and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The promise is for you and yours and all who are far off. Thanks be to God for his immeasurable gift.

Thanks to the pastors, the staff, the elders, the musicians, all the volunteers, and each of you, members of Cross Points, who make this place a City on a Hill, a light, a beacon of hope for the area. Let’s keep being about God’s business until Jesus returns. From me personally, after receiving 45 years of continued care and love, please hear my sincerest gratitude.

Shalom.

A New Day: Message given at Aglow

 

Some Conference takeaways: A New Day

 

Given at Aglow National Conference

Sunday 10 November 2024

Dallas, Texas, USA

By Bob Mendelsohn

 

Shalom to the sisters and brothers here in the Hyatt this morning, and to those of you watching on the Livestream or later in one of the options to share at home or abroad. Shalom means hello, it also means goodbye, and ‘complete’. I suppose the old line still works, we say ‘shalom’ on coming or going because we don’t know if we are coming or going. Listen, if you understand the long history of the Jewish people being chased from one country or another, exiled in biblical times and in the last Millenium from England, Spain, Italy, and in Europe’s most complete attempted annihilation of my people in the Holocaust, then you will understand that we often don’t know if we are coming or going. 

All that to say, you at Aglow International have forged a weapon of love and care for my people that is without equal on the planet. Your weekly prayers and lavish grace extended on tours of Israel are not only seen and noted, but also heralded across the Jewish community as a ‘new thing.’ Ask Jewish people 100 years ago what they think Christians think of Jews and with one voice they would say ‘enemy.’ Christians blamed the Jews for the death of Jesus; Christians had regular prayers for the perfidious Jews, lost in their decay. On certain days of the year, on the streets of Berlin and New York City, of Boston and Buenos Aires, Jews were often beaten and mocked, simply for being Jews. That’s the world of Jewish and Christian relations only 100 years ago. 

But you are making a massive difference in such relations. Jews know they are loved by Aglow. After 1800 years of wrong interrelations, to change this takes a massive turnaround, and you are doing just that. For that new thing, I say thank you.

My friend Jane asked me last night if I could share some thoughts, some takeaways with you from the conference and how could I say no to our general?

First, a couple of correctives. And by that, I am not a naysayer to the way things are going. In fact, I’ve had a fantastic few days with y’all. But as a missionary for 45 years with Jews for Jesus, first in the US in New York and DC and other cities, and the last 26 years serving in Sydney, Australia, I’ve learned a few things from the Bible that when I hear them explained, dare I say, wrongly, it causes me to wince and if I get a chance to amend it for the hearer, I usually try to do so.

ISSUE NUMBER ONE: New Wineskins

With that understanding, let me say that the phrase Jesus used about new wine in old wineskins is a simple and direct way of saying something in particular. Luke places the teaching in his gospel account between the healing of the paralytic dropped down through the roof, the call of Matthew or Levi and the challenge by some religious leaders of Jesus not complying with the standards the leadership had set. 

In that context in Luke 5, Jesus says,

“No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise, he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. ³⁸ “But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. ³⁹ “And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough.’”

What does that mean? Jesus is looking for people who will receive his teachings. It means that those who want to critique and set his words to the side are old wineskins and Jesus is looking for teachable people, and he has found them in the 12 and in scenes throughout the land of Israel and Judea. New wineskins are for the fresh wine of the Gospel, and you and I and the multitudes who have said, “YES” to the Lord are the wineskins who receive the fresh new wine. 

I appreciate some try to make the imagery useful in explaining new situations and new things, but in context, the term refers only to people. 

ISSUE NUMBER TWO: Traditions

OK, here’s another one. You may not know this, but I’m a musician and play several instruments. My last name is Mendelsohn, after all. And I love rhythm. The keys and guitars and drums of our musos have delighted me this whole conference in that regard. The band has taken me to new heights in my own rejoicing before God, and that’s not an easy task. Thanks to each of you who lead us. 

Rhythm touches my soul. And you have it as well, don’t you? This is November. Beyond elections and autumn’s colours, now we move to the calendar with Thanksgiving and its commensurate turkeys and celebrations. Macy’s parades and football games. Even Aglow National US conference. It’s part of the rhythm of US fall. 

Then comes Christmas and Advent and parties and family and church gatherings. They are part of our rhythm. And January brings the bills and invoices for all the presents and that ache is part of our rhythm of life. 

I grew up an Orthodox Jew in Kansas City, and the calendar of the Jewish people, most notably listed in Leviticus chapter 23, lays out the weekly and annual cycle of appointments with the Almighty that give me a circadian sense, a way to negotiate life and to embrace time with God and my people, that gives me a way to move forward. 

From what I’ve read, they say that women who live in the same household often begin having their monthly periods in the same week as each other. 

Rhythm, whether with holidays or weekly Sabbath thinking and reading and resting, all give us a sense of peace and calm. And it’s God’s idea. If you look at the world, most visibly in Asia, you will see that no day stands out in their work week. 7 days’ work is normal. The normal is that no one observes a day of rest in China or Thailand. African tribal peoples take no such Sabbath.  God’s new thing, God’s new day idea is different. Nothing in nature says 1 in 7. We have 10 fingers. A month observed in lunar cycles is 29 or 30 days or so, and that doesn’t divide to 7 at all naturally. Only God established the 6 days on, 1 day off rhythm. And it’s long ago set, and it works. 

That’s my tradition; that’s my religion. 

So, when I hear us sing the phrases, “shake up the ground of all my tradition, break down the walls of all my religion, your way is better” I don’t know whether I agree with that. Each of us has many traditions and religion. And I guess it’s that some of us have found Jesus and the baptism in the Holy Spirit outside the ordinary church and religion in which we grew up, so it’s only natural to take a punch at the words, and perhaps at the institutions that gave us less than we found at Aglow or at the conference in New Orleans in 1987 or at a neighbourhood revival gathering last year. When we say “God’s way is better” I’m 100% in agreement that His ways are not our ways. That said, if he established his ways and I’m honouring and observing those, whether Passover or Shabbat, or the traditions of turkey on Thanksgiving or singing “Hark the Herald angels sing” on Christmas Eve, I’m not so keen to dump the tradition for what the song might say “is better.” 

You do know that the Old Testament is over 2,000 years old, and some would point to its being old and thus to be dumped. But the Newer Testament is about 1,900 years old, and that sounds old to me. 

I guess I’m saying, please be careful that in your desire for newness, we don’t dump the very thing that God gave us which for eternity is a new thing.

Here’s another one. 

ISSUE NUMBER THREE: Pray without ceasing

In Exodus 30, God tells Moses information about the incense in the Tabernacle. 

Ex. 30:1   “You shall make an altar as a place for burning incense; you shall make it of acacia wood. ⁶ “You shall put ¹this in front of the ^3amercy seat that is over the ark of the testimony, where I will meet with you. ⁷ “Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it; he shall burn it every morning when he trims the lamps. ⁸ “When Aaron ¹trims the lamps at ²twilight, he shall burn incense. There shall be perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.”

Morning and evening, two times each day, Aaron is to trim the lamps. What’s the purpose? So that the incense is perpetual, in Hebrew TAMID.  In modern Judaism you will see the ‘eternal light’ above a part of the sanctuary, that is ever burning or electronically continuous. It is the perpetual of the Tabernacle in modern days. The ‘ner tamid.’

I tell you that because you are told in Thessalonians that you are to pray without ceasing. And for most of us, that’s a bridge too far. How do we accomplish this? I recommend the traditional practice of trimming the lamps in the morning and the evening so that it is perpetual. That is, pray in the morning and pray in the evening so that your life is continually in prayer. Does that make sense? It is our communion with the almighty that is in view, so touch base, check in with Heavenly headquarters at least twice a day so that your communion is substantial all day and dare I say, all night.

That’s part of my traditional biblical rhythm in today’s ‘new day’ practice. 

The Big Idea: Newness itself

You see, what makes today a ‘new day’ is not anything necessarily brand new. We are still going to carry on the traditions of calling singing ‘praise and worship’ even though worship is lifelong, and praise happened already when we saw the sunrise today. We will have some songs and then a word or two and then Jane will speak and then we will dismiss and … well you get it. A new day is not a brand-new day. It’s often the repeated day. BUT It’s the freshness and presence of the Almighty that makes a day new. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies are perpetual, they never come to an end. They are new every morning. (Lam. 3.22-23) Mercies are new every morning. What are mercies?

Mercy is not getting what we deserve.

Grace is getting what we don’t deserve.

Mercy keeps us from hell; grace opens heaven to us. 

Mercies are God’s kindnesses, from his heart, his bowels (as KJV once said), from the innermost being. Mercies are new every morning, why?

Because if we are honest with God, with another human being and certainly with ourselves, we will know that we fall short of God’s standards in life, even yesterday. 

We sinned. 

And yet. Oh, how I love that phrase. And yet. I have a pastor friend down in Houston who loves a similar one: But God. It’s the same. 

No matter what we deserve, due to our failures to act or our failures not to act, God makes a way. He extends mercy, and mercy upon mercy.

Those are the mercies of the Lord. Hallelujah! Great is thy faithfulness!

Jews for Jesus Update for encouragement

Now a quick update from my work in ministry. This last week I was in London with 70 of the leaders of Jews for Jesus International at our annual summit. I heard story after story of God’s mercies being extended in Israel among our 50 staff, in Budapest in the midst of serious antisemitism and hostility, and in Sydney where our Jewish engagement numbers are off the charts. So many Jewish people are finding Messiah, I’m wondering if we aren’t that much closer to the return of our King Messiah. Come on Lord!

One by one Jewish people are listening and engaging with our workers around the world: it’s humbling and exciting. If you want, feel free to find Jews for Jesus on our website and sign up to hear from us; it’s our joy to share his mercies to encourage you in our mutual faith. Click this link: Bob page

You might watch the YouTube video channel named “So Be It” with Jeff Morgan in Israel where millions of folks have watched him evangelise man-on-the-street style in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and listen to the testimonies of the Jewish doctor in New York City or folks in other cities around the globe. So Be It is the name of the channel, and it will bless you. (https://www.youtube.com/@SOBEIT32AD ) 

Yes, Jewish people since the 7^th of October are fearful; they are exposed as we saw in Amsterdam over the weekend; they are disturbed and scared. And into that situation, our teams in France and Russia, even in Ukraine3 are speaking and finding open hearted folks. PLEASE pray for them to find eternity, to find God’s mercies, new to them, new to each of us every morning. 

Even this morning?

Last night, may I commend each of you who responded to Jen’s message with finances? I had not seen such an explosion of generosity since 1987. On that day at the messianic Jewish conference over which I presided, we had upwards of 1,000 folks in the ballroom at our hotel and the room only held about 700. When the offering buckets began to be distributed, I thought it would take about 5 minutes. 20 minutes later the buckets were full and finally returned, as people kept popping up to add to the offering. It was just like that last night. Awesome response.

Friends, the men of Issachar prayed this morning together; we shared healing stories and prayed for healing in Israel and in each other and took communion together. 

This has been an enormously powerful weekend for me and hopefully for you as well. 

If you are still waiting for God to make today new, right where you are, please close your eyes, and open your heart. Consider Jesus and his love. 

Consider his care for you and the mercies he wants to extend to you. They are new this morning. And each day until he returns. 

 

Jane, you know, we have known each other for 39 years, and I’m the better for that knowing. You live what you believe and beyond all the public statements, your faithfulness to our awesome God and his plans for you and Aglow are substantial. I never tire of reading your weekly emails and watching the regular videos from headquarters. The ladies of Aglow and the Men of Issachar are a tribute to your tireless and humble acceptance of future leaders in Generations and allowing them to guide this organization, this movement, this weapon of the Lord into the next day, the next year, the next station of life. 

May the Lord Yeshua continue to give you favour. May his grace be yours in celebrating this conference long after the return to Washington. May you rest in his power and kindness. May you know shalom in your coming and in your going. I’m a better man for knowing you, and since this is Texas, I’m a better man for knowing y’all. 

Shalom!