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Necessary Adjustments and the Soil of Your Heart

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Ezra 1:1-2 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia [almost seventy years after the first Jewish captives were taken to Babylon], that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might begin to be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing: 2 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has charged me to build Him a house at Jerusalem in Judah.

Imagine a cataclysmic event occurring in the United States in which every citizen is forced to relocate to Russia and live for seventy years. Then, following this time period, picture the prime minister of Russia proclaiming that their country would pay for every American citizen to return. All expenses paid. What would you do? What changes would have taken place in a persons life in those seventy years? One way to make this more pertinent is to visualize turning back the clock in our nations’ history seventy years. This would place us in the year 1955. I was born in 1963. Since that time I have graduated from High School, College, and Seminary. I’ve been married for 40 years, and have two married adult children, and three grandsons. All of my life would have been lived in Russia. English would not be my heart language – Russian would be. My parents were born in 1944 and 1945. That means my Dad would have been eleven years old when he was forced to move to Russia. My parents’ parents would have been in their early thirties. Their parents would have been in their sixties. That’s six generations of family members impacted by the move.

Now imagine the prime minister of Russia asking you to go rebuild a church back in America. What would you do? From the book of Ezra we can see that only three tribes responded in faith to the invitation. Out of twelve tribes only three chose to return: Ezra 1:5 Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites, with all those whose spirits God had stirred up, to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. One fourth of the people chose to act in faith. Only one fourth of the people understood God’s call on their lives. Only one fourth of the people were willing to uproot their way of living and return in faith to God’s Word; His Promises; and His Prophetic Declarations.

We often criticize and judge the unbelief of the Jewish people. It’s no coincidence that in Jesus’ Parable of the Sower, or the soils, only one fourth of the soil bore fruit. Is there a correlation between Israel and the Modern day church? John 14:23 states that we are building God’s House with Jesus and the Father. But how is the soil of our hearts receiving the seed of God’s Word? Are we so entrenched with our families, and our way of life, that when the King summons us to build we choose to remain where we are, and as we are? You cannot stay the way you are and go with God. You cannot stay where you are and go with God. You must make the necessary adjustments in order to join God in what He is doing.

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Thursday, October 31, 2019

Would you respond to an invitation to meet Jesus and get to know Him? Are invitations limited to only special people or have millions been sent out already? How close have you come and didn’t even realize it? Is it even possible to get to know Jesus? 

In the book of Matthew we discover one such invitation that was almost missed: 

Matthew 15:21-26 Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.” But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.” But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”

You may ask the question, “How was this an invitation?” My reply? It was an invitation hidden within a test. The test was to see if she would bypass her own prejudices, and offenses in order to see her daughter healed. Praise God for His grace! She passed the tests with flying colors securing her daughter’s healing and deliverance. What the world, and many church attenders do not realize is that these tests are handed out on an ongoing basis. They aren’t simply limited to the Bible. Truth be known these tests exist in the form of the church people quit going to because it was full of hypocrites. The test of the Bible being too difficult to read so thousands refuse to read it. The test of unanswered prayer so people quit praying, some even fall away in unbelief. These tests are handed out daily often in the form of offenses. The question is, Will we pass these tests in order to respond to the invitation from the Lord? 

I call them invitations because of the many examples of offense found in Scripture that can only be settled through interactions with the Lord. Interestingly enough just as there are several examples of these invitations there are a million more examples of those who chose not to respond. Consider Luke 19:44 And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation. 

Jesus prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem and the diaspora of the Jewish people simply because they stumbled over the offense. We are foolish to believe that we are better than these. Only a remnant chose to overcome the offense of a suffering Messiah and respond to His invitation to know Him. Hidden in that statement is an indictment regarding the millions, if not billions of people who have attended church Sunday after Sunday never knowing Jesus personally, experientially and intimately. They did not think He was worth the knowing and chose instead to not prepare for the Wedding of the Lamb.

Being in the ministry for over 30 years has lent a unique position of observation. I have watched as God began working – doing what only He could do – and people stumbled over their offenses. The older I get the more my heart is grieved as I watch people walk away from God’s invitation. Sad to say but they are usually clueless. Sadder still will be the day when they will know as Jesus knows (1 Cor 13:12) realizing all the times they missed the hour of their visitation. People say there is no crying in Heaven. That’s not entirely true. Revelation 7:17 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. 

The prophet Isaiah records that there will come a day when we will invite people to come and be taught of the Lord. Isaiah 2:3 And many people shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us His ways and that we may walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 

You may be tempted to say, Robert, that’s not until the millennial reign of Christ. That has yet to happen. When it happens I will respond. Really? 1 John 2:27 states: As for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit–just as it has taught you, remain in Him. 

Could it possibly be that the reason most are not experiencing the fulfillment of this promise is they have yet to respond to His invitation to abide in Him? I’ll let you be the judge.