The Bare Soul - "Go Therefore ..." - December 28, 2008

Matthew 28:19a - Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations ...

The prerequisite of making disciples will always imply "going". As we step out in faith, God is able to disciple others through us as we also have been taught. On the 19th of December, 140 of us from around the United States converged on Reynosa Mexico for five days of outreach to the Mexican people. We came well-equipped with gifts for the 60 children of Josiah and Bethany's Children's Home as well as many Christmas gifts for the poorest folks of Reynosa. Throughout this Calvary Commission outreach, we distributed hundreds of pounds of beans and rice along with clothes and toys to the children. Of even greater importance than the material items we distributed was the love of Jesus through full gospel worship, testimony, preaching, puppet and drama shows. There was a real excitement and anticipation of what Christ was doing through the people of Reynosa as our teams (with the help of our translators) swept through the neighborhoods and invited the locals to our rallies.

Personally, I have been on outreaches within the U.S., but this was the first time beyond the American border. I was taken aback how accepting these folks were of the Gospel. Several of us made the comment that they were like "sponges", absorbing the words of our testimonials with eagerness and conviction. Typically, both outdoor and indoor services throughout the outreach attracted several hundred people. Without fail, dozens of folks would come forward during the altar calls to give their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. Many of us personally prayed with scores of people to receive the Lord into their hearts. (Note: Those who accepted the Lord as their Savior will be followed up by the church in Reynosa to help with their Christian development). Many who were in need of physical healing experienced God's restorative power as we anointed them with oil and prayed for miracles in their lives. The working of the Holy Spirit was apparent as some expressed gratitude to the Lord with tears. Others would kneel in reverence while others would be overcome by the power of the Spirit and would lie prostrate before Him.
During these days of constant ministry, friendships were galvanized among us by the Holy Spirit. Joe and Charlotte Fauss, founders and directors of Calvary Commission told us at orientation that the bonds of friendship would become evident in this short space of time by the hugs and tears as we went our separate ways at the conclusion of the outreach. They were right. As Joe Fauss and Marty Thomas led our teams throughout the five day outreach, it was evident that they were sowing seeds of love among us as they led us with a spirit of humility. This spirit of love and brotherhood permeated down from all the leadership, creating a loving cohesiveness among all the team members.

Some might think it extraordinary to give up a few days of their Christmas holiday to spend time with some of the poorest people in the western hemisphere. However, the Lord Jesus Christ never considered whether it was heroic or sacrificial or noble to give of ourselves at Christmas time or any time throughout the year -- He merely told us to "go" and make disciples . The only thing really worth mentioning regarding missionary work is that it is "normal" Christianity. It is not any more remarkable than merely living the normal Christian life on a daily basis. Those who know the Lord have all been called to "go". To not go should be the exception. Few He has called to "stay" and the vast majority of us He has ordained to carry what we have been so richly given to those who are most in need.

Postscript: Calvary Commission has been leading teams for nearly 30 years into Mexico. Every Easter and Christmas, they lead groups into Reynosa to minister the love of Jesus. If you feel called to help the poor of Mexico, or possibly other areas of the world (e.g. Romania, Peru, Israel), please explore the possibilities at http://calvarycommission.org. May the Lord bless you!

For more pictures of the outreach, go to
http://barefootrunner.org/reflections/baresoul_12-28-08.htm

The following message was delivered on Sunday morning December 21, 2008 at the Calvary Commission Church in Reynosa Mexico during the Christmas Outreach. (Thank you once again, Pastor Alejandro, for your superb translation assistance!)

Whose Fool Are You? - Calvary Commission Church, Reynosa Mexico - December 21, 2008

Your Barefoot Servant,

Rick

The Bare Soul - Precious Possessions - December 21, 2008

Psalm 116:15 - Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His godly ones.

When reading this verse, one must be careful to remove all morbidity from what God is seeking to reveal. David's theme throughout this psalm is thanksgiving for deliverance from death. On one hand, he is grateful to the Lord that his life has been spared. Yet, on the other, he also knows that God welcomes the godly man or woman into the heavenly realms with arms outstretched in love. Physical death is not be sought in this life as a Christian, but it is to welcomed when we know our life has been spent for Him. There is a deep sense of knowing in the heart of the redeemed that God the Father looks upon His children that pass from one life to the next as His most precious possession. The scriptures tell us in Luke 15:10 that ... "there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents". The love, joy, and expectation is just beginning when a sinner turns from sin and believes. The climactic eternal conclusion will be when the Father says, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master." (Matthew 25:23)

While it is unfitting and morbid to actually long for physical death, God puts a yearning within the heart of every true believer to experience another type of death even as he or she lives upon this earth. When one dies to carnality and the deeds of the flesh, then the rebirth of the Holy Spirit within our spirits can truly manifest. To be truly free from sin is nothing less than having dealt a death blow to all that controlled our lives before accepting Christ as our Savior. Even as His godly one's physical deaths are precious in His sight, so also does He delight when those who are called by His name renounce the things of this world and seek His face and His glory. This "living-death" while on this earth that brings true joy to the soul (and also to the Father's) is only a prelude to what we will experience in the life to come. For only to the degree of sanctification or "setting ourselves apart for the Lord", will we truly experience the depths of His love and joy.

Paul experienced such a depth of sanctification and oneness with Christ on this earth that He longed for the ultimate experience of oneness with Christ by giving up his life on earth to be with Him. Paul stated in Philippians 1:22-23 that he was hard-pressed from two different directions -- one, to stay and help build up the church, and two, that he might depart to be with the Lord. Paul was one of those unique believers that had experienced so much death to self on this earth that his spirit and soul longed with an intense fervor to be with His Lord. The apostle had become so much "one" with Jesus Christ that it seemed totally unnatural to be partakers of the earthly body any longer. Everything within him cried out for his own mortality to take on immortality and to be with the Love of his soul. For truly, that which we love will have all of our thought and desire. As our passions for things on this earth endure, we become more and more identified with our longings. The longer I am married to Rebecca, the more I love her and wish to please her. In retrospect, the more someone is "married" to lust or greed or pride or any any number of other things, the more they become like their object of affection. (One may look no further than J.R.R. Tolkien's example in the "Lord of the Rings" series as a fitting example. Gollum was consumed in body, soul, and spirit for his love of the ring of power which he named "his precious"!).

God's will for each and everyone of us is quite simple. As stated in I Thessalonians 4:3, Paul writes that "... This is the will of God; your sanctification ...". Only by death to ourselves and our old nature can we truly experience the Lord's will for our lives. As long as we continue to play around the periphery of sinful behavior, we will never experience the depth's of love and joy in this lifetime that He desires for us. Why would we want to wait for physical death and immortality with the Father to experience this wonderful life that He has for all who would but humble themselves in this lifetime? The pursuit of sin will continue to leave that "God-shaped" vacuum in all that would consider their rebellion against God as their privilege and right. There is only One that can give true life in this age and the age to come. He gave His life nearly 2,000 years ago that we might have life and have it more abundantly. All we need to is accept and identify with His death, burial, and resurrection, for Paul stated in Galatians 5:24 that "... we who belong to Christ have crucified the the flesh with its passions and desires". Once we accept Him and His marvelous gift, our death to sin becomes a wonderful expression of His life through us. It is only a foreshadowing of when we step beyond the veil of this earthly life into the presence of His glory. The "precious possession" that we have cared for in this life will only bring delight and joy as our Father welcomes us into His heavenly realm.

Your Barefoot Servant,

Rick

The Bare Soul - His Servants - December 14, 2008

The following is the message text and audio recording of a sermon titled "His Servants" delivered to the homeless at the Kansas City Rescue Mission Chapel on December 11, 2008.

His Servants - December 11, 2008

"Gotta Serve Somebody"

by Bob Dylan
(Courtesy of YouTube)

Psalm 119:91 - They [heaven and earth] stand this day according to Your ordinances, For all things are Your servants.

After his conversion to Christianity in the late 1970s, Bob Dylan recorded his 19th studio album titled Slow Train Coming. After the album's release in 1979, many long time fans were horrified. What happened to their free-thinking, political and social activist? Had he really lost his mind by giving his heart to the Lord Jesus Christ? Believers (including myself) praised God that He had delivered yet another from the narcissistic "me" generation of the 1960s and 70s Side one of this controversial recording featured a song named "Gotta Serve Somebody". It won Dylan the Grammy for the best rock vocal performance by a male in 1980. Probably the most striking and gut-honest words in this song are in the refrain. Clearly, these lyrics speak about how none of our lives are our own:

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes, indeed
Serve somebody
It might be the devil or it might be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody

In response to "Gotta Serve Somebody", John Lennon wrote the song "Serve Yourself" shortly before his untimely death in December of 1980. This irreverent composition was Lennon's statement against all organized religion, especially Christianity. These two songs were testaments to whom and what controlled the destiny of these two men. Ironically, both were so-called seekers after truth, yet only one attained to a true understanding of what life is really all about. Only one of these two singer/songwriters found out the truth, and that is ... IT'S NOT ABOUT US!

We have been placed on this earth not to fulfill our own self-centered destinies, but to bring glory to the One that created us in His image. Psalm 119:91 places the center of the universe and all of creation back on the Creator. Additionally, it deemphasizes the creation as existing to be subservient to its Maker. It is a glorious revelation of who God is -- and who He is not. If you're not the Creator (which none of us are, of course!) than we are the created and we have a role in that creation, which is to serve the One who created us. This twists and turns and upsets the minds and hearts of those who cannot wrap their minds around the idea that God is who He said He is. These are folks that are unregenerate, lost and without hope of salvation unless they turn and repent of their lawless lives. Of all His creation, we are the only created things with free will that can lay our dark, depraved hearts before Calvary's Cross and accept His free gift of redemption. Likewise, we can spit in God's eye and continue on in our rebellious state to the gates of hell. All things in creation know their place -- except humankind. The irony of finding our place of servitude before Him on this earth equates to ultimately reigning with Him forever in the age to come. Even if others (such as Lennon) do not seemingly find that place of servitude toward God on this earth, they will still serve God's purposes in other tragic ways.

God's Holy Word tells us that certain scriptures were written as an admonition, or as a warning to us that we might not sin (Hebrews 3:12-19). The Word is full of examples of disobedience that God uses to instruct others in the fear of the Lord, not to do similarly and likewise perish. Just as the prophets and the holy men and women of the Old and New Testament are examples of servants of righteousness, in like manner those who have disobeyed and served themselves and their own sinful passions have become servants of destruction. These continue to instruct and serve us through their past wickedness, how not to behave. They may be servants of Satan and the flesh, but in the grand scheme of things they are serving God's ultimate purposes of showing His longsuffering and patience toward these vessels of wrath (Romans 9:22). We can never truly know His grace unless we know the power of sin. There are multitudes of the servants of darkness filling up the bowl of God's wrath. In reality, they are actually the catalysts for Him to release to us more of His grace. The fifth and sixth chapters of Romans tell us that "... where sin abounds, graces does abound all the more". God is not willing for any to perish but that all would come to repentance. Unfortunately, we know that many will not make that decision for God. (However, those who know His saving grace should continue to pray and seek the Lord for His mercy for others.)

As Dylan so simply stated, we WILL serve the devil or we WILL serve the Lord. It's all about OUR choice, at least in the beginning. In the end -- when all has been said and done -- we will see how God was just and loving to call all to repentance yet not all heeded the call. Those "without ears to hear" the loving invitation of the Father will continue to think they are serving themselves, living so-called lives of self-sufficiency. They are horribly deceived. The devil believes that these who live for themselves are truly his and he has robbed God of His precious possession. To some degree this is true, but only for the time being. On that last day, we shall all witness how even the self-serving really served no other purpose but to justify the righteous actions of the Lord Most High as He condemns them to their lifelong desire of isolation with "self". There will be no defiance on that day when He passes judgment, for all will know that His judgment is true. For we know from the scripture (Philippians 2:10-11) "... that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." To bend not the knee to Him in this life will only mean bent knees and a lost soul in the life to come. Oh, to be a gloriously redeemed servant in this life rather than a tragic, hopeless slave in the life to come! Should we not be living lives as His Servants now and serving Him and others in righteousness? For all will serve Him, one way or the other throughout eternity.

Your Barefoot Servant,

Rick

"Gotta Serve Somebody"

by Bob Dylan(Courtesy of YouTube)

His Servants - December 11, 2008

The Bare Soul - An Enlarged Heart - December 7, 2008

Psalm 119:32 - I shall run the way of Your commandments, For You will enlarge my heart.

When we are saved from sin, many of us can ever imagine having the capacity to follow the first commandment in its fullness: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. Though we are in love with Jesus and His wonderful gift of salvation, doubts appear when our fleshly natures start to rear their ugly head. Our lives seem desperately selfish and focused on our own interests once the spotlight of the Holy Spirit illumines our true nature. However, as we grow in the Lord, and are obedient to His leadings we also find our capacity to love increases and broadens. There really is no correlation to the broadening of our capacity to love with how we "feel" about our sin or how we react and languish about it. Rather it is a direct result of how our faith is released by obedience (to a greater degree), thereby helping us recognize the glorious gift of salvation that the Lord Jesus has bestowed on us. It is just something that we accept with gratitude. As our faith grows, our love grows also -- not just for the Lord but for his creation -- namely His greatest creation, humankind.

The Psalmist spoke deliberately in the opening verse regarding his desire to please the Lord in obedience. In many instances throughout the Word of God, the metaphor of "walking" is used to signify the way of one's spiritual traversing. Either the humble and upright will follow the path of righteousness, or conversely, the naive and simple will stumble down the road to destruction. However, running is a different matter as outlined in several scriptures throughout the Word, both in a positive and negative light. In Isaiah 59:7 it states that Their feet run to evil, and they hasten to shed innocent blood; while Solomon declared in Proverbs 18:10 ... The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and is safe. As these scriptures suggest, there is a certain expediency in regards to running. It implies that there is an urgency to get to a desired location or end, as if there is a constraint that would be pushing the runner on to finish his or her course within an acceptable time. Solomon understood running toward the Lord as well as running away from Him. He is the quintessential example of someone spiritually "running" in extreme, diametric directions. In his younger life, he gave himself to the Lord and "ran" the way of His commandments to the point that his soul was "hyper-enlarged" with a heart of wisdom unparalleled in the annals of humankind. In later years, he allowed his heart and mind to become vacant of God's wisdom as he gave himself to "running" after the excesses of depravity. Throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, we find a man that had filled up an enormously large vacuum with the pleasures of this world. His conclusion, after he had turned back to God, was that "all is vanity" and that the wisest choice is: ... fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

In reality, we will all pursue our passions at one pace or another. Some of us prefer to walk, while others of us are compelled to run. I have always been a "runner", but not in the literal sense. My running began years before I ever ran my first mile in 1990. Years before, I too was like Solomon and "sprinted" after carnality and the lust of my own flesh. I ran with such riotous ruin, honing and practicing disobedience with such vigor that if there were a priesthood for the damned I was certainly a tenured minister. My heart had become superfluously enlarged with every evil known to man. I was doomed, until I met Jesus. When the Lord gave me a new heart, he made it right-sized again. But then an amazing thing began to occur. With every victory, He increased both my faith and love for Him as he began His glorious work as the Author and Perfecter of my faith in Him. As time passed, He continued to bless me with more faith, more hope, and the crown jewel, His Love. In time, my heart once again started enlarging, but not with the excesses of disobedience. This time it was with His grace and the very fruit of His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

Let us ask ourselves: What is my pursuit in life today? Am I walking after the "god of this world" and the lust of my flesh, or am I walking with the Lord God Almighty who is able to give me love, hope, and joy? I am convinced that if we are merely walking after the flesh and the devil or after the Lord and His righteousness, that we should be "running" in one direction or the other. For if a man or woman is running from God, they are more likely to fall as they run in darkness. THEN, there is hope that they will turn to the Most High. Conversely, if one is running with the Lord and with His commandments, there can only be one outcome -- a life and a heart that will be so enlarged with the goodness of God that they won't be able to contain it.

Lord Jesus, our Redeemer, help us to run the way of your commandments ... this day. Help us to surrender to you that you may do the work of the Master Surgeon and enlarge our hearts to give more, to live more, and to love more. In Christ Jesus' Holy Name, Amen!

Your Barefoot Servant,

Rick

The Bare Soul - Lasting Impressions - November 30, 2008

Deuteronomy 11:18 - You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

When something is touched, it is never the same. We may touch hundreds or thousands of things throughout a normal day. The change might be as slight as our fingerprint, or it might be much more profound. When we touch people, either literally or figuratively, we always leave an impression. Whether it is sub-conscious or consciously overt, we are continually changing those around us by our presence, by our words, and by our deeds. When we touch those we encounter with our words, we are either building them up or pulling them down. There is really no neutrality in what we say, for as Solomon states through the Holy Spirit in Proverbs 18:21 "Death and life are in the power of the tongue ...". There really isn't gray area in our speech -- either we are bringing healing or harm to those lives we speak into. Something that may appear neutral in our minds will always be perceived as positive or negative in either the conscious or the sub-conscious of the hearer. To explain it at a spiritual level; if our words are not born of the Spirit of God then they are born of our flesh.

God's words always bring life. Even when we may think that God is harsh and critical it is only our perception as tainted through our own flesh. If he wounds, it is only to ultimately heal. The Greek word "rhema", meaning the spoken word of God is literally a Divine Utterance that is given to provide specific direction to any given situation that an individual or an entire nation might need to hear. When God speaks, people listen, right? The Bible is full of examples including every prophet in the Old Testament that spoke forth the message of God. These are dramatic examples that might give the appearance that God only speaks in demonstrative ways to an "ancient people". In reality, God speaks daily to humans in our contemporary times and with the same clarity that He did to the patriarchs. We just need ears to hear.One example might be when a man or woman learns of their sin and its remedy. In John 16:8, Jesus said that He would send the Holy Spirit into the world to convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment. When conviction comes to a human life (which in itself is a gift from God), there is a stirring from this first impression that the Lord God through His Holy Spirit has begun to work in this soul. From this time forward, it is a matter of Divine Course that God will continue to impress on a man or woman's soul regarding their sin until there is a decision one way or the other. If the subject initially rejects the prodding of the Lord, He will continue to convict or "convince" this person of their need of Him. (Of course, there does come a time when the Holy Spirit can be "grieved away" from any further confrontation toward a human heart.) For those who surrender to the conviction of the Lord and who agree that they are indeed a sinner in need of salvation, then the Spirit can begin to have His way with this respective soul.

When a mortal accepts the grace of redemption and puts on immortality, the expression of the Divine Life should be manifested by the working of sanctification. To be "set apart for God's purposes" or to be sanctified is not the action or the responsibility of the believer. Sanctification, just like justification is merely something that only the Holy Spirit can perform in the human soul. Just as a person initially surrenders and obeys to His first impressions of sin's conviction, thereby resulting in salvation, so must we continue to surrender daily to the voice of the Lord as He woos us away from our own self-centered lives. The result is a glorious salvation -- our sanctification -- the opportunity to draw closer to Him every day. There is NO other fuel for this daily journey than obedience and surrender. Jesus said that "... if you love Me you will keep My words [commandments]" (John 14:23). Beloved, let us all follow His impressions to first love Him above all things. This manner of abandonment to the Person of the Lord Jesus will ultimately lead to His Divine Life expressed through our lives of obedience.

Lord Jesus, thank you that you speak to us daily. Thank you that you are leading us by Your impressions through the Holy Spirit. Continue to make and break us daily from our own ways and allow your Divine Life to be expressed in ours. In Jesus Christ's Precious Name, Amen.

Your Barefoot Servant,

Rick

The Bare Soul - Hide and Seek - November 23, 2008

Colossians 2:3 - [Christ] in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

It is often painful for new believers to one day experience the seeming absence of the Lord in their lives. Everyday, up to this point had been filled with His closeness and His presence. There had been a rich fellowship between the child of God and their Creator. On that particular day when the Lord seemed to vanish out of their heart and mind, it left the believer gasping for spiritual air. They had been blind-sided by something that had never occurred to them -- that their sweet fellowship would end. The irony of this situation is that God has never been closer to the believer than at this time, and He is desirous to show His child the deeper meaning of the purpose of this seeming isolation.

God never withdraws his presence without reason. Once we have deliberated that it is not sin and that we are walking in obedience to Him, then it is our privilege and honor to seek Him out once again. God will often withdraw in order to see how much we desire Him and how far we will go to seek His presence. God knows that if He leaves us in a state of sublime love and fellowship with Him that we will never grow beyond this depth of love and will most likely begin to take for granted what love we know in Him. He has given each of us the desire, along with the tools, to become "treasure hunters" of the divine order. There is nothing God wants more than when we "feel" isolated from Him but to "dig" for the treasures of His Son. Simple prayers such as in Colossians 1:9 allow us to "mine out" the true riches: "... to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding ...". I challenge all who are reading this and who are feeling isolated from God to pray Colossians 1:9-10 several times daily for a month. I assure you, God will open up a truer understanding of who He is and His divine will for those who seek Him. I cannot promise that you will have greater comprehension of God's wisdom in how He plays a game of hide and seek with us. However, I will say that there will more peace and joy around understanding that it is God's way of dealing with those He loves.

There is not a book in the entire Bible that better illustrates this coming and going, this ebbing and flowing of the bride and the bridegroom's love then the Song of Solomon. Although this book is the story of Solomon and his Shulammite bride, it is clearly the celebration in metaphor of Christ and his bride, the church. This short poetic book of eight chapters embodies the heart of the Lover, the Lord Jesus Christ, as He woos his bride in a series of comings and goings that culminates in a secure and lasting relationship that is enthralled in mutual love. At one point, the bride (the church) becomes complacent when the bridegroom (Christ) is seeking her fellowship (Song of Solomon 5:1-9). She refuses to arise from her bed when he is calling. To her horror, she next finds that her lover has departed and she must then seek him out. In her seeking, she encounters the watchmen (symbolic of the Holy Spirit) who actually buffet her and appear to abuse her. However, when one truly understands the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer, we know that He is the one who disciplines us "as sons" (Hebrews 12:6) and wounds us faithfully as "friends" (Proverbs 27:6); (Job 5:17-18).

As believers, we must never be alarmed if the Lord is hiding His presence from us. As long as we know we are doing His will, then it should be accepted and embraced just as when we are basking in His presence and sensing His fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11). The Lord will continually draw us near, for a season, and then retreat where we feel isolated and without His constant presence. Rejoice, when that happens my beloved! It is your Father in heaven, who having carefully selected and called you, has begun the beautification process that will create an eternal bride for His Son. Count yourself worthy that He has first shown His love to you and then has "seemingly" withdrawn it. Know, then, that you are truly blessed of the Lord!

Heavenly Father, we are so thankful that you are making us beautiful in spirit, soul, and body to become Your Son's Holy Bride. We totally surrender to You Lord, as You continue to show Yourself through your presence and more importantly Your "seeming" lack of presence in our lives. For only as you hide and we seek, do we learn the depths of Your Son's greatest treasure -- His love for us! In Jesus Christ's precious name, Amen.

Your Barefoot Servant,

Rick

The Bare Soul - Seeing Jesus - November 16, 2008

The following is the message text and audio recording of a sermon titled "Seeing Jesus" delivered to the homeless at the Kansas City Rescue Mission Chapel on November 13, 2008.
Seeing Jesus - November 13, 2008

John 12:20-21 - Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast; these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."

Seeing something whereas just hearing about it can totally change one's perspective. Most of us have undoubtedly heard the analogy of attempting to explain the Gospel to someone that doesn't have "ears to hear or eyes to see" -- that it is like trying to describe a sunset to a person that was born blind. Hearing about it is totally inadequate to the visual experience. While we can truly experience sensory delights through our hearing such as a loving voice of a mother or a melodic cantata performed by an accomplished ensemble, the visual experience coupled with the auditory enhances the experience ten-fold.

No other malady in the New Testament drew more derision as did blindness. In John 9:1-3, Jesus' disciples question Him regarding being born without sight. The disciples asked, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him." Later in this chapter (John 9:34), we find the Pharisees mocking this man who received his sight from Jesus saying, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?" There was a clear understanding from these texts that those born blind were considered as outcasts from the grace of God and excluded from His love. Undoubtedly, that is why John the Apostle dedicated an entire chapter to this important life lesson regarding who was truly blind and who truly could see. Jesus told the Pharisees that were following Him, at the end of this chapter (John 9:41), that ... "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, 'We see,' your sin remains." However, there is an important distinction to make regarding who truly sees and who doesn't.

In Isaiah 6:1, the prophet had a vision that would forever change his life. "In the year of King Uzziah's death, I [Isaiah] saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple." The first words out of the prophets mouth were not, "Wow, this is incredible, God! I need to go tell that corrupt and rebellious nation Israel what an awesome and glorious God you are because I have truly seen who You are. Maybe I should start a TV ministry or write a book?" No, the first thing that Isaiah dealt with was his own understanding of his utter sinfulness: "Then I said, Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." (Isaiah 6:5) A few verses later, we hear from the prophet again when he volunteers for the prophetic ministry that the Lord God has destined for Isaiah. A true vision of who God is will inevitably change the beholder, for God will never reveal Himself to someone who is not ready for the revelation and for the calling to follow. (Even Jonah, although he at first resisted, heeded the calling after the revelation of who God wanted him to fulfill to the city of Nineveh [see the Book of Jonah]).

Seeing God or Jesus is paramount in order to become truly His in this lifetime. Many will be in heaven who have never truly experienced seeing God as Isaiah did, or as those who walked with Jesus in His lifetime. However, even as the Greeks who desired to see Him (as stated in the opening scripture), we should all desire to see Jesus in this lifetime for that is the thing that will truly change us for the life to come. God is overjoyed when a sinner comes to salvation and embraces the justification that His Son bought for the entire world by His shed blood. Luke 15:7-10 states that there is joy in heaven over one sinner that turns to the Lord and accepts His free gift of salvation. Beloved, there is so much more than merely accepting His wonderful gift and hoping that this takes care of our "fire insurance" premiums! There is so much more than merely escaping hell and waiting for Glory in the "sweet by and by"! The writer of Hebrews tells us to ... "Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord." (Hebrews 12:14) Sanctification or "to be set apart for His purposes" is not implicit of just the life to come, but is available to us all here on earth. There is opportunity for us all, through obedience to His Spirit, to be set apart for His pleasure while we wait for His appearing (whether we die or see Him in the sky!). We should all desire to give ourselves totally to Him in this lifetime, not only to partake of His nature (see the fruits of the spirit, Galatians 5:22,23) but for no other reason than He is worthy of our love and adoration because He gave us everything -- that is, the death of His Son for our redemption. Our utmost desire should be that of those who sought Jesus in ancient Jerusalem, "Lord, we desire to see you!" Only as we truly see Him will our lives be changed and readied for Glory in the "sweet here and now"!

Lord Jesus, we want to see you ... to be changed by You in Your magnificent presence. Even as Isaiah was changed in a moment of revelation, give us the "spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of You". Enlighten the eyes of our hearts that we may truly behold your majesty. Then, send us forth to change the world for which you died. In your glorious Name, Amen!

Your Barefoot Servant,

Rick

Seeing Jesus - November 13, 2008