The Bare Soul - Holy Groaning - November 8, 2009

John 16:21 - Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world.

Pregnancy is such an awesome wonder to behold. As a man, I am bereft of any real understanding regarding what a woman goes through during her time of incubating another life within her womb. (Bear with me, ladies, as I state the obvious!) The nuances of two human lives developing a relationship from the moment of conception is an extraordinary thing to ponder. However, I do know what it is like as a father to wait with expectancy as the time of birth draws near. It is an assurance of not IF it will happen but WHEN! It is a mix of excitement and tension as the exact time of birth can be hard to pin down. While I have been told repeatedly that a pregnant woman does not want to be told she is "glowing", it is a true statement whether they like the acknowledgement or not. Women seem to accept this more in the beginning of their pregnancy, but toward the end of the third trimester they are just ready to have their child. They don't want to be told that they look beatific in their maternal way, as many feel tired and "ugly", if you will. Until they shed this "precious poundage" that has dominated their lives for the past several months, there is an inner groaning and an outward discomfort until the birth of their child is finally realized.

In a very real sense (and just as a woman's pregnancy), the church is beginning to witness the early signs of a spiritual pregnancy that will culminate with Christ's return and the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23). The church is beginning to radiate a modest glow and an ever-so-slight witness, if you will, that would be demonstrative of a spiritual pregnancy. The expectant church has been overshadowed by the Holy Spirit in these latter days much in the same way as Mary the mother of Jesus was impregnated as she submitted to God's will. For this to be reality in the church collectively, it has first to be a reality in believers singularly. God has called out many saints in their respective church bodies first and foremost to become holy vessels through obedience and the fear of the Lord (II Corinthians 7:1). As set apart believers that are intent on His will, the Lord God is raising these up as intercessors who will continue to plead the Court of Heaven until the Eternal Judge sends forth both His mercy and justice upon a dying world. We are in the beginning days of God raising up a mighty team who would travail -- a veritable Garrison of Groaners that would not rest night or day until God's will is done on this earth (Isaiah 62:6-7). There is much at stake as men and women join with others to petition heaven. It is the very beginning of the end of days -- the great end-time ingathering of souls (Revelation 14:14-16).

While many believe that the Lord's return might occur at any time, I believe that this is incongruent with scripture. While there are several things that have indeed occurred that would point to Christ's return, there are just as many that have as yet to happen. (One of these, for example, is the need for the Jerusalem Temple to be reconstructed. [Acts 15:13-18; Revelation 11:1-2; Daniel 9:24-27]) The beauty of the Lord delaying His return allows His bride to ready herself, adorning her vestige with holiness which is befitting of a chaste virgin. Even as Mary told the angel Gabriel, may it be done to me according to your word (Luke 1:38), even so there are those who are submitting to the Lord for what might seem a long pregnancy. I can assure you, beloved, that this will be a gestation not of months but of years. It will require a continued birthing of prayer meetings, global prayer rooms, intercessory halls, and every other form of gathering for night and day prayer until God breaks forth upon this earth and reaps His greatest desire -- the hearts and lives of men, women, and children. However, we should not grow faint at heart in our waiting. As long as we prepare ourselves, even as the five prudent virgins in Jesus' parable (Matthew 25:1-13), then we will be full of the oil of His Spirit. The oil of gladness (Isaiah 61:3) will keep us expectant, longing with a fortitude that will not be denied no matter how long He delays.

We should all be asking ourselves particular questions if we truly believe we are in the last days. For if we are in the end time, it means our redemption is drawing near and we should be rapturous with expectation (Luke 21:28). Has God given you a joy of expectancy in your life? Have you the flush of being of pregnant with what the Spirit of God is doing in our generation? Is He brooding over you to bring forth an outpouring of His Spirit not seen since the days of Pentecost? In all honesty, beloved, I have witnessed very little of the brooding Spirit of the Holy God in our present time. Even in our respective prayer groups in the midst of the burgeoning global prayer movement, we see enthusiasm and fervor but the majority of it can often appear as repetitious rote. However, before you think I am coming down on the present day prayer movement, understand that I believe we are doing all that God is asking us to do. In the midst of our apparent deadness, there is a wonderful life that has begun to grow and to be nurtured in the very womb of His Body, the church. Its life and sustenance is the prayer room as men, women, and children groan for a birthing of Holy Ghost power the world has yet to see. The pregnancy is not noticeable on a wholesale manner, and especially to the world -- yet. However, the beginnings are already starting to reach out and arrest those God has called to become intercessors to help birth this great movement. It will take a collective body, a chaste virgin that first glows with anticipation and then groans for its completion. Shall we be counted worthy to be part of such a marvelous work? May God give us all the grace to be that man or woman to join hands with others in this joyous labor of love.

Once again and a million times over, Lord, we cry out with John the Revelator, The Spirit and the bride say come! (Revelation 22:17). May Your kingdom come as we join hands and hearts to birth the greatest awakening ever known to humankind. We humbly submit to this awesome endeavor. In Jesus' Name, Amen!

Your Barefoot Servant,

Rick

The Bare Soul - Sin's Separation - November 1, 2009

Isaiah 59:2 - But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.

Many of us who have been around Christian circles for any length of time have heard our share of sermons on prayer. A favorite saying that many preachers will interject into their message is "... God ALWAYS answers prayers. It may not be on our time-table, but God always answers prayers!" I believe this emphatically. However, I also see how this can be a cop out. It is easy to say that God always answers prayers when nothing demonstrably happens once a so-called man or woman of God pray. How often have we seen a television evangelist pray over someone and then when the miracle doesn't materialize, they simply tell the person being prayed for to keep believing in the miracle and that it will come in due time. They loose themselves from all responsibility of the miraculous occurring by putting the fault back on the one being prayed for if it doesn't happen. After all, the "pray-ee" just didn't have faith to receive the miracle, right? Hogwash! My soul feels revulsion for the lack of power in prayer by so-called healers and workers of miracles, telling those being prayed for that they must provide all the faith for the miracle to manifest. In only two instances in the Gospels were Jesus' healings contingent on the faith of those receiving prayer (Matthew 13:58; Mark 9:23-24). Preachers and healers love to quote these scriptures when there are no demonstrable results from their petitions. However, the vast majority of the time Jesus is chronicled as healing people indiscriminately, whether they had faith or not. Without a doubt, it pleased the Lord when those He prayed for possessed faith. The scriptures show several examples including the Centurion's son (Matthew 8:5-14) or the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:23-28) but it was not the determining factor in most instances. The Gospels are clear that Jesus went into areas and did "wholesale" healing, if you will, laying hands on all and healing them with His immediate touch (Matthew 4:24; Matthew 8:16; Mark 1:34; Luke 4:40; Luke 5:15).

Jesus stated in the Gospel of John: Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father (John 14:12). His promise to His beloved are works or manifestations of His power greater than what He did as a sojourner on this earth. So what is the problem? Why do we not see more immediate answers to prayer as Christ demonstrated in His ministry? Personally, I believe the answer is much simpler than most would feel comfortable believing. The scripture tells us point blank why God does not hear our prayers ... we STILL have a sin problem! I'm not talking about our position in Christ because clearly all who know the Risen Lord and have trusted in Him for salvation have died to sin, POSITIONALLY that is. Too many, I fear, have not taken Paul's admonition to heart when he instructed us to die to sin CONDITIONALLY, once and for all (Romans 6:11). As our opening scripture states, God has hidden His face from us because of sin (Isaiah 59:2). Most have not allowed God to truly sanctify them, to live lives of 100% obedience which would first mean a time of deep introspection and confession of sin. James the brother of Jesus is very clear on the progression of steps to command fervent, effectual prayer. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much (James 5:16). Beloved, first we must confess our SINS to one another. I'm not talking about SIN which was what we confessed to Jesus Christ when we acknowledged that we were sinners in need of His grace. But James is stating that we need to "clean house" and sweep away every thing that is not of Jesus. It must be destroyed. According to this scripture and many others like it, we can only find healing as we confess our sins to another human being. This will allow the Holy Spirit to come in and fill our hearts and lives as never before. Then, our prayers will begin to take on a power that we never dreamed. It is not by happenstance that James goes on in the following verses to compare effective prayer with that of Elijah. This prophet prayed for the sky to be shut up for three and half years and it happened according to his word (James 5:17-18). The apostle is not merely making a comparison here in the attempt to give a flourish to his writing, but he genuinely believed that those who live clean and obedient lives can invoke heaven in much the same way as the Old Testament prophet.

A remarkable instance of God coming in an extraordinary way through confession happened on February 3, 1970 at Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky. What was supposed to be a 50 minute chapel service on a Tuesday morning turned into a 185 hour manifestation of God's revival power -- a 24 hour prayer and praise meeting that would be the spark for the Jesus Movement of the early '70s. And, it all started from a deep sense of conviction (John 16:8) and then a confession of sin(s). Before long, students and faculty were lined up to come to the microphone, confessing their sins and testifying of the Lord's goodness through their repentance. (An account of the Asbury Revival is available on video here.) Asbury is just one example. Every revival or manifestation of God's power was predicated by a deep conviction of both SIN for the unsaved and SINS for those who knew the Savior. No matter if it was during the Great Awakening in John Wesley's day, or Charles Finney during the Second Great Awakening of pre-Civil War America, or the more recent Azusa Street Revival of Los Angeles in 1906, these all characteristically began with the Spirit of Conviction regarding sin resting on those God both moved on and through during these momentous manifestations.

Beloved, many of us who desire to see God move in our time as He has done so faithfully in the past can only concur with God's desire to move in like fashion. I say this with an assurance given to me by the inner witness of the Holy Spirit and by His holy scriptures that God will move once again on our darkened world when we cry out from hearts that are completely His. What we see in many parts of the world with the Global Prayer Movement is an awesome thing! Many of these prayer meetings have been going strong for years, covenanting with God on a 24/7 basis. God is going to move in a powerful way through prayer as it births world-wide revival. However, there must come a holy conviction first that we have yet to see in order for God's Spirit to be poured forth. Once God grants us the Spirit of Conviction that convinces of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8), THEN we will begin to see and hear the fervent and effectual prayers of righteous men and women as they invoke the fire of God upon this dying world. No longer will He be hiding His face from His beloved, but He will be rapturous with expectation along with His Bride regarding the workings of His Spirit within our midst.

Come Lord ... come and bring to us conviction of sin both to the sinner and to the saint. We confess our sins to you, O Lord, and to one another. May You move with a power and an unction we have never imagined. In Jesus' Precious Holy Name, Amen!

Your Barefoot Servant,

Rick

The Bare Soul - God's Fires - October 25, 2009

The following is the message text and audio recording of a sermon titled "God's Fires" delivered to the homeless at the Kansas City Rescue Mission Chapel on October 22, 2009.

God's Fires - October 22, 2009

Psalm 97:2-3 - Clouds and thick darkness surround Him; Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. Fire goes before Him and burns up His adversaries round about.

While fire has for millennia offered to humankind an energy source to both light and warm our respective lives, most either learn or instinctively know a safe distance to keep from its incandescent glow. A "burn barrel" set up on a cold day at a frozen lake or a snow-laden sledding hill is a pretty good indicator of the degree of daring individuals might have toward approaching its warmth. As a child, we all collected brush wood to feed the flame as we sledded or skated, returning to the warmth of the roaring fire to unthaw throughout the day. Some of us had sense to stay away from the direct flames and the heat of the 55 gallon steel drum. Others got too close and ended up either singing their hair or eyebrows, or melting a pair of nylon gloves or mittens by drying them too close to the heat. A "normal" reaction to fire should generate a healthy respect in most people. However, some might have an irrational desire to be around fire, hence they might be classified as having pyromaniac tendencies . On the other end of the proverbial spectrum are those that have a morbid fear of fire. Dictionary.com defines the word pyrophobia as "... an excessive or abnormal fear of fire". Panic-stricken individuals that run from its relatively safe illumination may have experienced a traumatic experience earlier in life that might cause them to retreat with such vehement fear. Witnessing a loved one that lost their life in a house fire can often traumatize an individual to the point of phobic episodes. While a healthy fear and respect for fire is a normal reaction, irrational and terrorized behavior toward fire are not. Phobias such as this are not easily reversed and often take years of constructive counseling to overcome. Unless, of course, God intervenes.

A normal respect for fire would include not getting too close to the flame, nor too far away in order to enjoy its comfort. God has given us all natural understanding in this regard. However, how much of His wisdom do we possess concerning the nature of God as the Living Fire to both the righteous and the wicked? For surely, scripture states that His nature is as a consuming fire to both sinners and saints (Hebrews 12:28-29). The question that every man, woman, girl, and boy must ask themselves is this: Do I wish to embrace His flame, or shall I run from it in terror? For with God's fire, there really is no "middle-of-the-road, living in the comfort of His glow" existence. One might say, "Let my preacher burn brightly for God ... that's his job, right? As for me and my house, well, we'll just enjoy the warmth of Sunday morning services. After all, don't want anyone to think I'm a fanatic or anything. That's just not my style!" Beloved, God will burn all of us up one way or another. We will either burn for Him in this lifetime, or we will burn without Him in the life to come. Certainly, there will be some saved by the skin of their teeth, so to speak. Paul talks about these in his letter to the Corinthians when he states all men's works will be revealed by fire.

Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. - I Corinthians 3:12-15

If there is indeed nothing left that is built on the foundation of Christ's redemption, then the scripture is clear that these will indeed inherit eternal life. However, on that glorious day when standing in His presence, they will have nothing to offer Him but their own selfish lives. Having resisted the sanctifying fires of His presence in their earthly existence, they are now saved only through God's mercy as He sanctifies and glorifies them on that last day. Yet, what is the price to pay if one has lived a selfish life and has in reality deceived themselves regarding their eternal position? Is warming oneself by the "fires of this world" worth the gamble of jeopardizing where they will spend eternity? His Spirit is ours today to both sanctify and purge, creating a vessel that is surrendered for His use (Ephesians 2:10).

In reality, there is far less burning for God in our present world than burning for sin's passions. There will always be one that will prevail at any given time and place in human history. Sin has been allowed to burn out of control because the church has not burned in prayer for a lost world. While homosexuals march in the streets for equal rights, and baby killers speak about the rights of a woman, God grieves that there is no one to stand in the gap and burn with a holy fervor over these blatant expressions of sin that parade through our land. For these are only symptomatic of a much deeper and deadly rebellion towards a holy God. The crux of the problem is this -- THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES! They no longer fear the fires of passion that desire to consume them in this life, nor the fires that will consume them in the one to come. Instead, they should be reverentially giving themselves to a loving God that will consume them with His holy fire in this life and cause them to burn with the brightest of the sun in the next (Revelation 1:16; Romans 6:5). If there were more saints burning for God to send revival to this earth in a global way, then we would hear the words of Isaiah the prophet once again, stating: Sinners in Zion are terrified; Trembling has seized the godless "Who among us can live with the consuming fire? Who among us can live with continual burning?" (Isaiah 33:14). Beloved, when the lost are saying in a wholesale manner once again as the Philippian jailer: What must I do to be saved? (Acts 16:30), then we will know that the Spirit of Burning has been loosed upon this world through the power of men and women burning in prayer (Isaiah 4:4).

There are defined moments for every living person to make a decision for Christ. These decisions will dictate how we are to burn for the Lord, for as stated earlier, we will burn for Him one way or another. Some may think of us as being "pyromaniac" for God, intent on burning for Him and nothing else. Many will think that this behavior is socio-imbalanced or psychotic in behavior. Others, may view those with a terror or an angst toward God as those who might be diagnosed as "Theopyrophobic" (fear of the fire of God). These could be atheist or agnostics who subliminally or subconsciously use their supposed denial of God as a cover for their deep-seated fear of the unknown. Then, there are those who try to hover between the comfort of the fires of this world and the Fires of the Lord. This is a most precarious position. While this is normalcy when dealing with natural fire, it is lunacy and a bad gamble when dealing with a God who is a consuming fire. Our first desire should be to give ourselves to Him in this lifetime -- to allow Him to purge and remove from us anything that might hinder His Spirit. Our ongoing desire should be to burn long and bright in this life for His purposes, allowing us the right to shine with Him throughout eternity.

John answered and said to them all, "As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." - Luke 3:16

Lord Jesus, May we all burn with You and for You!

Your Barefoot Servant,

Rick

The Bare Soul - The Beatitudes - Persecution - October 18, 2009

Matthew 5:10 - Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

What does it mean to be persecuted for righteousness' sake? To define Christian persecution as people ridiculing you if you have a bible on your desk at work, or that you say a prayer in a restaurant over a meal narrowly addresses Jesus' intent when speaking to His audience on the Mount. An insulting word regarding one's faith, to be sure, is a minor form of persecution. However, when one understands the true biblical definition of persecution, it is evident that we as American believers have not experienced persecution like others in various parts of the world. Many Muslim nations in Asia and Africa forbid the preaching and proselytizing of the Christian faith. It is more than just civil disobedience resulting in a fine in areas hostile to the Gospel -- the price is often the loss of life. While America was founded by those fleeing from religious persecution, we have yet to experience those who would seek our lives for living and sharing our faith in a state-sponsored manner. However, as Christianity continues to be denigrated in the United States as a supposed "right-wing" intolerant faith, the days of physical persecution may not be far beyond the proverbial horizon. (In the near future, it may be a so-called "hate crime" and a civil liberties violation to even talk about the sin of homosexuality for what it is -- a perversion of God's ordained love between a man and a woman!) American believers may experience what their brethren in many parts of the world partake of on a daily basis in short order. We too, may be harangued and persecuted as our foreign counterparts. And why should we expect differently? For as Paul stated: Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (II Timothy 3:12).

In Matthew 5: 10, the root phrase in the Greek, "who have been persecuted" is dediōgmenoi which literally means "to put to flight or to pursue". This implies a pre-meditated, calculated attempt by those in power to impede or stop those who call upon the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ in whatever means are at their disposal. As in the other beatitudes, Jesus declares a blessing on those who would be harassed and hunted like a wild beast for His Name's sake. Luke, the author of the book of Acts, uses a derivation of this word to describe the actions of Saul of Tarsus (later to be known as Paul) as he sought out Christ's followers to have them imprisoned. When Jesus asked Saul in the vision on the road to Damascus, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?", Luke chooses a form of dediōgmenoi, using the present tense diōkeis which translates "is persecuting" (Acts 9:4). Little did Saul know that up until that moment of clarity on the Damascus Road, he had been a tool of the devil and yet a catalyst of blessing to those he sought to inflict harm. However, it was not in God's Master Plan for Saul to remain in his present state. He desired to transform the Pharisee Saul into the Apostle Paul. By Jesus' declaration of who Saul was in the eyes of God, this epiphany empowered the zealous young man to be converted for the Lord's work.

So, what kind of persecution should we expect in our western civilization if we desire to live godly lives? In our present societies, most of us will not be hunted down as did blindly-zealous Saul the first century Christians. However, we should expect verbal abuse at times that is hateful toward our lives as believers in Jesus Christ. The Lord made a distinction in the verses following Matthew 5:10 marking the difference between verbal abuse and physical persecution. In Matthew 5:11-12, Jesus states: Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. In these verses, Christ mentions oral persecution twice with the implication of physical abuse just once. While verbal persecution in and of itself is not life threatening, it can quickly evolve into a physically abusive scenario. (Psychologists tell us that physical abuse nine times out of ten will be preceded with verbal abuse.) Jesus relates that to suffer insults, character defamation, lies, and evil dispersions are all cause for rejoicing. As He points out, the prophets were treated with contempt and abusive speech often years before they were martyred for His sake. And, why were they were treated as such? Because they spoke the truth and did not compromise God's message in a turbulent, idolatrous time! Do we see any of the same parallels today, beloved? Has the Christian faith become so watered-down in many churches that there is no longer any distinction whether the so-called flock is Christian or of some other eastern philosophy that panders to a belief that "all roads must lead to heaven, since all roads lead to Rome"? I tell you with sober conviction, that if we are not at the very least ruffling a few folks around us regarding our faith, I would question whether we truly have any real faith. If we are not incurring the occasional gossip behind our backs (or in our presence) or the overt insult to our face of our so-called intolerance toward others because of supposed "narrow-mindedness", then we should be crying out to God for a life of conviction that is once and for all led by His Spirit.

While we may not experience the depth of persecution that some of our global brethren may be experiencing, there is little doubt that we should be manifesting a certain joy in our present struggles in our encounters with a hateful, anti-Christ world we live in. Nobody that I know in America is currently being hunted down for their faith. However, I can assure us of this -- if one cannot endure the insults and the evil that others might say against us today, then we will not be ready to endure the persecution that may be on our very doorsteps. Do we feel blessed when others might insult us for our faith? Or, have we not garnered that type of response from others because we have not submitted ourselves to our Lord for this to happen? If we are living obedient lives full of His presence, He has promised us persecution to one degree or another. Blessed are we if we will embrace these occasions for they ensure our citizenship in that glorious kingdom above!

Father, we seek not persecution for persecution's sake, but we desire to be pleasing in Your sight. As we are insulted or abused for our faith in You, remind us that we are blessed in heaven and while on this earth for our testimony. Remind us that the kingdom of heaven is ours if we shrink not from the good news of Jesus Christ and Him crucified and resurrected. In Christ's Name, Amen!

Your Barefoot Servant,

Rick

The Bare Soul - The Beatitudes - Peacemakers - October 11, 2009

The following is a video recording and message text of a sermon titled "The Beatitudes - Peacemakers" delivered to the homeless at the Kansas City Rescue Mission Chapel on October 8, 2009.

The Beatitudes - Peacemakers @ Yahoo! Video

The Beatitudes - Peacemakers (PowerPoint)

Matthew 5:9 - Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Much has been written and stated about the peacemakers of our time. Many notables have attempted to bring about lasting peace regarding their respective spheres of influence. While all never attained to their highest ideals, some failed more demonstrably than others. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sought a peaceful solution to the rise of Nazism in the late 1930s in Europe, yet his naive appeasement only led to millions dead in the wake of World War II. Others such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. saw passive resistance as the way to join the hands of those who hate. Unfortunately, both were assassinated for their cause. Others such as President Bill Clinton who helped engineer the so-called Mideast Peace Accord of the 1990s saw the unraveling of peace nearly as soon as the pen met the paper. Throughout our present history, United Nations ambassadors have often been lost in an "ocean of dialogue" in the halls of diplomacy while lasting peace has languished amidst bloody chaos back in their own countries. While some would say that peace is a noble, humanistic endeavor that needs to be striven after and that will one day be obtained, the scripture tells us otherwise. While we may know "seasons" of truce between warring factions, there is always the slow simmer of hatred and unrest under the cloak of detente'. Millennia-old tensions and resentments await just the right catalyst to once again stoke the fires of hostility. Not only is this true with governments and cultures dating back to the dawn of time, but it is also true in an individual's life. While this is the sober state of unregenerate humanity, it does not have to be that way. There is One who is not only the Creator of peace, but who rules a kingdom where its very charter is empowered by the spirit of reconciliation.

True and lasting peace is not an ideal that carnal man can attain to in a humanistic endeavor, but it is realized in a Person (Ephesians 2:14-15). It is the embodiment of the Lord Jesus Christ and how He lived His life on this earth. Once again, we see in this beatitude (as in all previous) Jesus revealing a particular facet of Himself and of His Father in heaven. The implied definition of a "peacemaker" is someone who possesses or owns the power of reconciliation and is amply supplied within their respective character to give it to others. As the embodiment of peace, Jesus spoke with authority into people's lives (John 14:27) as well as into the creation itself (Mark 4:39). This was diametrically different than the authority others had wielded over the nation of Israel in Jesus' time. While many spoke of peace with the Romans and those who threatened their homeland, they were impotent to render a peaceful outcome. However, the Lord spoke of a heavenly kingdom and a kingdom yet to come on this earth where His peacemakers would act with the same divine authority that He possessed from the Father. Christ tells us that if we know Him and have accepted His life into ours, then we too will epitomize His vocation as peacemaker. As such, we will be unable to avoid this divine calling since we are inextricably joined with His life. And, as so, we become not only sons of God but brethren to our Lord (Hebrews 2:11). And, as sons of God we join in His labor for the Father's longing -- a harvest of souls through the ministry of reconciliation.

The Apostle Paul understood the true character of a peacemaker. Commending the ministry the Lord had entrusted to him and others, Paul instructs the Corinthian church on first comprehending being rightly related to God through new birth, and then the responsibility of every believer to bring others in relationship with the Father. In II Corinthians 5:17, Paul states a familiar passage to most believers: Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. By Paul's declaration, anyone who has identified themselves with Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection has now become a "super-naturalized" citizen of another kingdom (Colossians 1:13). Through this new birthright into another realm, Paul is telling us that we all have been given divine appointments as ministers of reconciliation. Therefore, just as Christ drew us to Himself and saved us from our sin, so also should we be drawing others from the grasp of hell into the kingdom of light by the authority and power of His Holy Spirit (II Corinthians 5:18-19). As holy ambassadors of heaven and a future redeemed earth, we are given the same power to bring lost souls into the Father's arms (II Corinthians 5:20).

Not a lot has changed in the Mideast in 2,000 years. Peace is not attained through weakness but through a confident show of strength and authority. Many say that this is the only thing Semitic and non-Semitic Middle Eastern cultures understand. As Jesus spoke and acted with authority, he garnered the common people's respect and the established religious-political authorities' ire. Similarly today, if we speak out in the name of Jesus as ambassadors of His peace and His salvation, then we will encounter resistance from some but also respect and gratitude from others. As Christians, we must stand up for truth because, at the end of the proverbial day, we will know that we are laboring with God as peacemakers. By our testimony of His love and salvation, we are seeking to restore the broken relationship between a lost man, woman, or child with a loving, forgiving God. While the work of Chamberlain, or Gandhi, or King may have been noble for this lifetime, we must seek a higher calling of closing the chasm between humankind and God the Father. As peacemaking is commendable between nations, cities, communities, and individuals, the loss is much more incalculable if peace is not brokered between a man and His God. It is only by trusting in our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, that we may first have peace for ourselves (Romans 5:1) and then are equipped to give it to others.

Father, we thank you that Your Son gave us all the ministry of reconciliation through the gift of salvation -- that we ALL can be peacemakers of a righteous kingdom that will one day fill the earth, even as it does heaven. Help those of us who know You to draw from Your Spirit as we bring others to you through your spiritual diplomacy. Allow us to participate as holy ambassadors for the great work of peacemaking between heaven and earth. In Jesus' name, Amen!

Your Barefoot Servant,

Rick

The Bare Soul - The Beatitudes - Purity - October 4, 2009

Matthew 5:8 - Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Cultures throughout the millennia have valued purity in one way or another. Precious metals such as gold or silver have always carried more value depending on their degree of overall purity. As such, gold and silver are refined in the smelter's heat to bring greater value to their owner. The purification process may go through several refinements until that state of 99.9% purity is obtained. However, no matter how much refining might be done to precious metals such as gold or silver, there is nothing on this earth that can be made 100% pure. Likewise, honey is refined by heat and gives off a translucent glow when under the refiners fire. Yet, even though this sweet product might be advertised as "pure honey", it will always possess traces of unrefined substances that are impossible to extract during the purification process.

In this beatitude, Jesus knew that his audience understood the difference between the pure and impure. Undoubtedly, many in this crowd either worked as smelters or they knew relatives that worked with metals such as copper, bronze, silver, and gold. They understood the painstaking criticality of heating the furnaces to just the right temperature and the art of not over-heating the molten metals. An inexperienced smelter might ruin a batch of precious metal by not applying the right amount of heat at the critical moment. However, the artisan metallurgist knew the precise moment to remove the liquefied batch from the oven. In so doing, he ensured a purity that only the experienced could render.

Throughout the Old Testament, God has spoken through His prophets regarding the refiner's fire and His desire to purify a people that would walk after His own heart. In Malachi 3:2-3 the prophet states: But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the LORD offerings in righteousness. Through this scripture and many others (see also Psalm 66:10; Jeremiah 9:7; Daniel 12:10; Zechariah 13:9), we see that God is the purifier, not us. We have no power within to purify ourselves, no more than the gold or silver has the ability to purify itself. We, like the crude ore that is mined from the earth, must submit ourselves to God, allowing Him to "smelt" us in the Furnaces of His Desire. Personal purity, or sanctification if you like, comes in no other way than by obeying God in every instance of our lives and granting Him total permission to form us according to His will. Unfortunately, most flinch or cringe under this type of "burning" from the Lord. Beloved, God will always come as a fire when He desires to make us His own. Many wish to experience His Holy Ghost fire as He manifests Himself in signs and wonders -- divine healings, prophetic words, et al. However, to experience His supernatural outpouring of signs and wonders through the fire of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, one must first experience the fire of His Divine Furnaces. It cheapens God in our day and time when men and women pray over souls for a baptism of fire in their lives, when they themselves have not first experienced a baptism of obedience! They are trying to impart to others the very Spirit they themselves are yet to receive, and it's all because of their carnal knowledge and love of this world (II Timothy 3:5). To the degree that a man or a woman has emptied themselves of their own self-serving ways, is to the degree that God can come in with His Holy "Flame Thrower" and bring this man or woman to their knees in repentance for their sinful disobedience. Then, God will have purified vessels that He can send anywhere in this world -- under any circumstances -- knowing that these will never waver in the face of the Flesh, the World, or the Devil. They have become Christ's ambassadors, filled with a Holy Ghost unction born in the Furnaces of Obedience to the Lord.

Most believe that the Lord, like the inexperienced smelter, will ruin them if they totally submit to the Holy Fire of His love. They may not say that in words, but they say it in their actions. Otherwise, there would be many more who would give themselves unreservedly to the Holy Smelter of our hearts. Most believe, by their actions, that God could never love us the way that He claims. For if we really understood that He loved us with a love that was eternal and infinite as He is, then we would trust Him to immerse us time and time again into the Fire of His Holy Desire until we came out that purified vessel of honor. Beloved, without a doubt, we will all be glorified someday and will be pure as we stand before His throne and see Him face to face. However, there is so much of heaven that we can live here on this earth. Purity of heart is not just for the "sweet by and by". It is to be embraced NOW, as we submit to the Flames of His Love. Do you desire to see Him? It should be the most normal thing for a Christian to experience on this earth. For as we give ourselves to the Master Purifier, He will allow us to see Him as we never thought possible in this lifetime. And, oh, what sweetness that will provoke for a lifetime of seeing Him both now and in the age to come! Glory be to God for His gracious Gift of Burning. May we embrace it with a trust and a love that can only come from Him!

Heavenly Father, Lover of our souls ... take us this day and have your way with us. Help us not shrink from your fire, for only from Your Furnace of Love comes true life that is pure. As we are refined by Your love, may we see You in all Your fullness. Oh Father, thank you for your Son who has shown us the way. In Jesus' Name, Amen!

Your Barefoot Servant,

Rick

The Bare Soul - The Beatitudes - Mercy - September 27, 2009

The following is the message text and audio recording of a sermon titled "The Beatitudes - Mercy" delivered to the homeless at the Kansas City Rescue Mission Chapel on September 24, 2009.

The Beatitudes - Mercy - September 24, 2009

Matthew 5:7 - Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Through this devotional glimpse of the Beatitudes over the past few weeks, we have seen Jesus define the very Nature of God. If Christ were a politician, one might say that the Beatitudes we have discussed and the ones remaining are his political platform, of sorts. Quite literally, these define the Man and where He stands on the Nature of God versus the fallen nature of man. Using another political metaphor, one might say that the Beatitudes are Christ's "Declaration of Independence" from the world and His utter dependence on the Father. In the remainder of chapter five and the entirety of chapters six and seven, Jesus explains the particulars or the out-workings of this "declaration" in the Sermon on the Mount. If the Beatitudes are Christ's Declaration of Independence from the world, then His Sermon on the Mount is truly the Constitution and the "Bill of [no] Rights" toward the believer. Christ tells us in this manifesto of Divine living that we really have no rights to our own way if we choose to follow Him, bearing our respective crosses through this life. (Ironically, though we may be dying daily (I Corinthians 15:31) and living as aliens on this earth, we are heirs of the eternal kingdom where we will one day live and reign.)

In our previous look at the Beatitudes, we have seen the opposite or a juxtaposition of the affects produced by the respective effects of blessedness in a believer's life. For instance, to be "poor in spirit" or to possess a spirit of poverty toward the lusts of this world produces a richness in heaven. Or, by mourning over sin and for the blessed appearing of our Savior, one will therefore be comforted. Unlike its predecessors, this particular character attribute of the Divine Nature is valued both by those on earth and in heaven, by both the unregenerate and the redeemed. By its value, mercy's blessing is different than those of other beatitudes. As a person sows mercy, that is what they will also reap. In other words, rather than an opposite creating an opposite as in previous instances, Jesus is describing a facet of Godly nature that creates more of the same. Jesus tells us that the act of showing mercy will beget more mercy for the giver. More than that, He tells us that if we nurture the character of mercy where we become known as merciful human beings, than our lives will continue to reap mercy as a constant inflow and outflow of our lives. This is very much in tune with the law of reciprocity in all areas of giving. If one sows sparingly, then one will reap sparingly. If one sows abundantly, one will reap an abundance. If we show acts of mercy on occasion with randomness, then the mercy we are able to receive from God and man will be occasional and random. However, if we live lives of mercy toward others and are by nature merciful people, mercy from both God and man will flow into our lives like a torrent. So, how does one initially come to a true understanding along with a true desire to live as a merciful person toward all? Mercy, as we shall see, has a critical counterpart that fuels its proverbial engine.

Christian philosopher and writer C.S. Lewis is quoted as saying: Mercy, detached from justice, grows unmerciful. In order for there to be a manifestation of God's mercy in the spirit of a man or woman, there must first be a recognition of God's righteousness and the justice due as the penalty of sin. The ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies of the Hebraic tabernacle gives us a word picture of the requirements to receive God's mercy. First of all, one must recognize God's righteousness and the penitent's lack thereof as typified by one of two cherubs overarching the Mercy Seat as it reached out toward its counterpart. This cherub is named Righteousness. Secondly, one must understand that a holy, righteous God cannot excuse sin but He must judge it. For Him to do otherwise would nullify His holy and just Nature. Hence, the name of the other cherub -- Justice. The great undoing of this dilemma for humankind is that in which the cherubim overshadow -- that glorious Mercy Seat -- a foreshadowing of the heavenly article where Christ offered up His blood to the Father once and for all as the propitiation for all sin for all time. In ancient Israel, God "passed over" the sins of His people once a year by the sprinkling of the blood of the Passover lamb during the Feast of Passover. Jesus Christ became the Eternal Lamb that once and for all gave His blood to obtain eternal mercy for humanity on that heavenly Seat of Mercy in the tabernacle not made with hands (Hebrews 9:11-12). By the death of Christ, mercy became something that did not need renewing year after year. It became a transferable, definable characteristic of God the Father through His son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It was now part of the very nature of God given to every born again believer -- the ability to live a merciful life with power toward others.

Through the typology of the ark of the covenant, God has graciously given us the secret or an equation, if you will, to first receive and then to be people of mercy. In John 16:8, Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit comes that He would "... convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment". Beloved, if we have known the Spirit's convicting power in our hearts regarding our sin ... if we have seen His righteousness and how our "filthy rag" righteousness (Isaiah 64:6) cannot compare with that of a holy God ... and if we TRULY understand that we all deserve judgment, then those elements will produce a cry for mercy that only a merciful God can give.

Jesus said that "... those who have been forgiven much, love much" (Luke 7:47). According to the scripture, one might rightly judge those who claim to be Christians yet lack love and forgiveness toward others. Have they truly met the Risen Lord if they lack mercy toward their fellow man? As the heart of a man, woman, or child is convicted or convinced by the Holy Spirit of its need for salvation, and one accepts God into their lives, the Nature of the Divine One ultimately acts and reacts with the same mercy toward others as it did toward this penitent soul. If the Divine mercy is not at work in a so-called believer, perhaps they did not believe at all. Mercy will beget mercy, just as love will produce love. We can only give mercy away when we have first TRULY received it. Once we begin this purposeful adventure, the Lord will continue to enlarge our hearts until we see and further embrace the workings of His will toward His greatest desire -- broken lives that are transformed into glorious sons and daughters of His kingdom!

Heavenly Father, thank you for your mercy. Thank you that Jesus, Your Son, presented His blood once and for all that we might obtain eternal mercy. Help us to give and to keep giving Your mercy to others for it can never be exhausted. For as we give, we receive. We praise You. In Jesus Name, Amen!

Your Barefoot Servant,

Rick