If the Christian walk is more like a marathon than a sprint, a second-wind is a welcome feeling.  The moments just prior to the second wind, not so much. 

But there’s nothing like a crowd of supporters to cheer a person on when running a race.  It’s better than having a shot of espresso or an adrenaline rush which get in to power your system until past the peak and then oh, what a letdown.  A crowd of supporters cheering in an ongoing encouragement don’t peak and valley.  Their encouragement is as perpetually inspiring as the crowd itself.

Such is the case with this great cloud of witnesses the author of Hebrews mentions.   Those witnesses in heaven testify to us forever the power of persevering to the end of earthly life and into the promise of the next. 

It’s encouragement to peel sins off our lives and throw away their burdensome weight that keeps us down and holds us back.  The Christian is forgiven of these things and there’s no need to hold onto them anymore.  The chains have been broken and we can run shackle-free.

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Thinking again on our topic of absolutes:

1. Christians, are you weary of all the political?  Pray to align yourself with God, then vote, and then you can throw it off.  A whole heaven of witnesses endured the political of their day and are encouraging your eyes to have a laser-like attention on Christ all the way to the eternal finish line!
2. Christians, are you sick of the attack ads?  Throw them off and see how Jesus kept His complete focus to the very end, even against opposition, and won the prize for us!
3. Christians, are you exhausted by the constant negativity?  Throw it off and see that Jesus died so that you could be positively free! Completely free!  Absolutely free!

That great cloud of witnesses will still be there.  Yes, even after these midterm elections with their tendency to draw our collective gaze away from our Savior.  Yes, the cloud of witnesses will still be cheering, still testifying, and still standing with absolute encouragement, calling you to endure too! 

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Gracious Father, thank You for the cloud of witnesses who have suffered and died for the sake of the Gospel of Your Son Jesus Christ!  Thank You for preserving Your saints throughout the generations in all times, even ones that have been highly-charged political times in world history.  Thank You for Your goodness and mercy, the forgiveness of Your Son Jesus!  Help us to see our sins for what they are, for how much they grieve You, and grant us the strength to do what glorifies You.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

God is a straight-down-the-middle kind of God.  He gives the Truth and He expects obedience to it…straight down the middle.  Take the narrow way, centered on Christ.  With the Law, obey it all.  Don’t flavor it right or left.  Don’t massage it to make it more hawkish or pacifist.  Don’t make it more capitalist or socialist.  Don’t radicalize it or weaponize it.  Obey it…just as it is…straight down the middle. 

Unadulterated Truth.

In our compromiser-culture, this just doesn’t choke down all too well. 

It kind of sticks in the ol’craw. Negotiate a better middle ground between your truth and my truth.  Walk across the aisle, or if that doesn’t work, yell f-bombs at the other side, spit in their faces, and intimidate the bejesus out of them until they knuckle under.  (What a world.)

Into such chaos and darkness, God shines a light, calling us to faithfulness, and He gives us the boldness to do it.

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Joshua 1:7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.

It’s interesting that when God commissioned Joshua (Joshua 1:1-9), He commanded strength and courage, over and again.  It’d take that to obey God’s Law when faced with a pagan culture.  It’s no different today.

Returning to our idea of absolutes, think about this:

• What does compromise do to the Truth? 
• What does a compromise on the Truth do to faith? 
• What does compromise of God’s Truth and our faith do to our success?  If you have time, go back to the link of Joshua 1:1-9 and look at all the absolutes.    
• Think back on this past week with Pastor Brunson being freed from captivity in Turkey.  What resources did God give to Pastor Brunson, his family, our President, and each of us to remain faithful? 
• How should we react when facing a culture demanding constant compromise or embrace of what others believe in the name of tolerance?

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We praise You, Lord, for the release of Pastor Brunson and his safe return to the United States.  We pray for Your Holy Spirit to shower his whole family with Your grace as they transition to being reunited and the inevitable challenges after time away.  We praise You, Lord, that Your Name was lifted in the Oval Office in the White House, in our Nation’s Capitol, for all the world to hear and see. We ask for Your strength and the courage which comes from Your Holy Spirit to keep us safe, our eyes fixed upon You, to witness to Your goodness and Truth in the days to come.  Protect us by the power of Your Might.  Keep us centered and grounded in Your Truth now and always.  Amen.

Be on your guard;  stand firm in the faith;  be men of courage;  be strong. (1 Corinthians 16:13)

If there ever was a time to be on one’s guard, to stand firm in the faith, and to be men and women of courage who remain strong, it’d be the age in which we’re currently living.  It’s a time of division, violence, anger, and unrest. 

Since the time of Christ, we’ve been in such a period of conflict.  Jesus says, Luke 12:51 “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52 From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” 54 He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. 55 And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. 56 Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?”

It’ll stay that way until Jesus returns.  That’s what the Bible says anyway.  For now, let’s do as Jesus says and interpret this present time.  Do you see what is happening in our culture, right now, this week?  Like many of you, I’m bracing for more unrest as things intensify to the midterm elections in the never-ending political cycle.

This week, we have a new Supreme Court Justice.  Irrespective of our political leanings, the Supreme Court is not supposed to be a political body…but a judicial one of fairness and equality in the eyes of God and the Law.  For that reason, all Christians should praise God when a man or woman who reveres the Lord is seated on the bench.  Yet we have divisions in the culture because Jesus brings division and the dividing line is that of His truth.  Our culture–with its firmly held belief in relative truth–doesn’t like that. 

To some in our culture, there is no higher authority than the Supreme Court, and that’s why control of it was so important.  (That’s really sad, isn’t it?)  For Christians, however, we know there is a Higher Authority we cannot control and to Whom every Supreme Court Justice must answer.   Our Lord and Judge is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and before Him every knee will bow in heaven and on earth.

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Today’s Encouraging Verse to Lift Your Eyes and Touch Your Spirit is a timely reminder to stand firm because every day is a battle until Jesus returns and that Day of Judgment happens.

Think about it with respect to absolutes of truth and faith: 

• What does it say when we elevate politics over faith?  If that is the case, then why do many people do it? 
• How does a 24-hour news cycle and a never-ending political cycle serve to reinforce culture over faith? 
• What would happen if we had a 24-hour faith cycle, worshipping God all day, every day? 

Praise God for His immeasurable grace and love for us which allow us to stand, by faith, in His presence…to worship Him for His holiness and goodness.  Praise God that He holds the hearts of kings and rulers in His hands and directs them like a watercourse!  Thank You, Lord that our obligation is merely to pray…to seek Your will in all things, and then watch for where You work in order to join You in the work You set before each of us!  Thank You, Lord, for being our strength and our refuge, an ever-present help in times of trouble.

Psalm 100:1 A psalm. For giving thanks. Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Do you know grace enough for thorns?  I know thorns.  They’re easy to find.  The pain shows you the way to where they irritate and poke your flesh.  Leave a thorn there long enough and the entry point will become inflamed, infected, and become a chronic reminder that the thorn is there, until you remove it, and even then, it hurts for a while.

In today’s passage, Paul had thorn. He couldn’t get rid of it.  His was a “messenger of Satan” and God wouldn’t take it away.  The thorn had a purpose: to teach Paul about grace enough for thorns.

 2 Corinthians 12: 7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

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The pain and hardship in our lives can be a gift. 

Whether it’s the pain and hardship we bring on ourselves or that which we find chasing us down the street uninvited, it can be a gift.  Even when we are unable to shake ourselves free from it, we can embrace the gift.  The pain was great for Paul, and he pleaded three times, a number symbolic of completion.  Paul wanted the thorn gone, gone, gone.  God instead said “Grace, grace, grace…sufficient…as a gift, gift, gift…to show whose power is really at work.”

The best and brightest among us, and Paul was certainly among that group, can suffer from the delusion that our successes are self-created…we are self-made men and women who get where we’re going through hard work and great competence. 

God allows thorns to keep us grounded,

a grim and glorious reminder that we are dust,

and His grace is enough to see us through.

Returning to our idea of absolutes, think about it: 

• Why would God give amazing revelations yet allow the perfect corrective of a thorn? 
• Why is God’s power made perfect in our weakness? 
• Does God give us 95% of the grace we need and expect us to manufacture or scrounge up the other 5%… or does He give all we need…100%?

Praise God for grace enough for today, for tomorrow, and the next.  Praise God that He sustains us one day at a time!  Praise Him for His wisdom and for the training we receive through our difficulties.  Praise Him for not giving us what we want, but exactly, completely, thoroughly, and absolutely everything “we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.”  Amen.

How can we possibly be strong and courageous?  Haven’t you looked at what’s going on in today’s world: resist, oppose, mean-spirited, lying, accusation, assault, evil’s rise, and its impending darkness?  Yes, I am seeing the same world that you are, but I know what God has told me…and what God tells me is the truth.

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. (Deuteronomy 31:6) 

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The truth is that circumstances of this world will pass away.  The same God who says He’ll be with us, that He will never leave us, He will never forsake us, is the same God who holds it all in His hands and tells us the truth about whom to fear. 

Matthew 10:26 “So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Wise Christians know that evil may seem to win a few battles now and then, but the war’s outcome was determined back on the Cross as evidenced by the empty tomb of our Risen Lord, and that final outcome of victory in Christ is assured by the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Think again about absolutes:

• Does God coddle our earthy fears and tell us we can be slightly afraid?  It’s okay if it’s just a tad…or are we commanded not to be at all afraid of this world, not even a smidgen?
• How is the absolute nature of God and His absolute faithfulness encouraging in that regard?
• How is the Risen Lord able to go with each of us at the same time by our faith in Him?
• With respect to absolutes, when God says to “be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell,” how serious is He about that fear and that destruction?

We praise You, Lord, for Your supreme faithfulness and for Your eternally encouraging Word.  For any who struggle today with fear, we ask Lord, that You would be with them, reminding them of why You are entirely faithful, reliable, trustworthy, and true.  We ask, Father, that You would give us Kingdom vision, so we would see things as You do…in which evil melts away and is destroyed by purifying fire in Your presence so nothing remains but goodness and truth.  We ask for courage where courage is needed, boldness where nothing but boldness will do, and for Your grace to remind us we are dust, saved only because of Your Son Jesus Christ, our Savior.  Remind us daily to “be strong and courageous” and not to be afraid or terrified because of anything this world can bring…and that’s because the LORD our God goes with us; He will never leave us nor forsake us.  Praise God for that!

The Apostle Paul—man, that guy knew how to pray.  I like the Apostle Paul.  He was a word guy who wrote long sentences, deep in meaning, precise in exposition, and with his passion evident in every word.  His ministry was launched with Jesus’ saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4) and the equally amazing Acts 9:16 “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”  Not the commissioning most of us would want.

Yet because Paul suffered, even to the point of a mysterious thorn to keep him humble (2 Corinthians 12:7), he lived his post-conversion days in awe of the love of Christ, the grace of Christ, the forgiveness and mercy of Christ, and he is arguably the most influential man this world has ever known, apart from Jesus.

Today, I’d like to look at one of his prayers in Ephesians in which he lays out a series of absolutes we can count on to encourage our hearts and touch our spirits.

Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge– that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Returning to our idea of absolutes, think about it:  Look at all the absolutes and supremacies listed by Paul in the Scripture above. 

• In what ways do we participate in these absolutes? 
• In what ways does love surpass knowledge?  What are the implications of that? 
• How big is God’s love? 
• How long does this relationship of love last?

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Praise God for His calling us forth to know Him more and more!  Praise Him for His power!  Praise Him for His indwelling Holy Spirit who teaches, admonishes, and guides!  Praise Him for the enormity of His magnificent love shown to us in Christ Jesus!  Praise Him and glorify Him on earth as He is glorified in heaven!  Praise Him all creation!  Praise Him all saints and all generations!  O Praise Him!

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)

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Absolutely no fear.  Absolutely with His people.  Absolutely no dismay.  Absolutely no other God.  There is no qualification on His strengthening or help.  No caveats to His upholding our righteous cause. 

Lord God, when our confidence is shaken; when there is fear of the unknown all around us; when the waves keep crashing and the wind keeps blowing; and when the ground feels unsettled beneath our feet as if we are sinking deep into the mire, keep reminding us of the absolute nature of You. 

You are God, there is no other (Isaiah 45:18). 

You are love, unconditional and pure (1 John 4:16). 

You are our peace (Ephesians 2:14). 

Our shalom, our rest and our refuge (Psalm 91:1-16). 

You are our strength and our song (Psalm 118:14). 

You are our salvation!  We trust in You. 

We will not fear for we know (Psalm 46:1-7) in Whom our confidence rests. 

You are righteous.  You are holy. 

You are completely trustworthy and we praise You, Lord, we praise You! 

Amen.

I’ve been asked “How do you pray for what’s going on with the Senate hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh?”  My reply, “Early and often” maybe isn’t what people actually want to know.  What they’re really asking is how you even begin to pray for such a situation. 

Scripture, my friends, Scripture.

Brett Kavanaugh is a devout Catholic and irrespective of some evangelicals’ view of Catholicism, I believe that Christ-followers can be found in Catholicism, in the Protestant Church, and in some of the most unlikely places.  The litmus test isn’t what denomination (since every denomination has its pretenders and many people who should know better are falling away at present), but whether the Holy Spirit indwells the individual by faith. 

That’s rock solid from God’s perspective, the only perspective that counts.

For those of you who have never had the pleasure <sarcasm warning> of being hated and slandered, let me tell you that it hurts and it’s most hurtful coming from who you think are your own, fellow Christians, fellow travelers in your line of work, even family members.  What you thought was a connection, a bond of trust, is suddenly and shockingly broken.

To Judge Kavanaugh, my brother in Christ, I would remind him of the words spoken by our brother Jesus, Matthew 10: 16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. 17 “Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you… 24 “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!”

Be encouraged, Judge Kavanaugh, Jesus tells you not to worry.  Remain faithful and God will do the speaking.  Stay strong in your weakness, Judge Kavanaugh, for like the Apostle Paul, a hero of the faith, 2 Corinthians 12:10 “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  You’re sharing in the sufferings of Christ and you will be a better Supreme Court Justice for it.

You’re in good company, Judge Kavanaugh—they did it to Jesus too.  Matthew 26:59 “The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. 60 But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward.”  Jesus knows about witnesses, both true and false, and He knows exactly what happened 30+ years ago for you.  He knows better than anyone what’s going on now. 

In eternity’s balance and on its scales of justice, facts and His truth rule the day, no matter what happens here on earth.

So, my brother Brett, my sister Ashley, here is my prayer for you and your family.

Lord God, our Father in heaven, we praise You for the wisdom of discipline for Your children, for Your forming deep channels of trust in You so we might know where Your peace surely rules, where the water is completely still under Your powerful hand.  We praise You for joy even in suffering because we know that You have walked this road ahead of us and have made eternal life with You possible. 

We thank You, Lord, for how knowable You are in the midst of stress, turmoil, sadness, and persecution.  Thank You that You are near to the brokenhearted, having mercy and compassion upon us.  We thank You, Lord, that the Truth triumphs in the end.

We lift Brett and Ashley Kavanaugh, as well as their daughters Elizabeth and Margaret, up to You, Lord, for Your protection.  Your comfort.  Your wisdom.  Your strength.  May they rest in the sure knowledge of Your unconditional love for them and that You have called Judge Kavanaugh to this place in history.  May Judge Kavanaugh see the years of preparation You have given him for such a time as this. 

May he be comforted by the fellowship of believers across this nation and around the world who are lifting him in prayer to You, Father, for You alone know all things.  You alone are powerful.  You alone hold history in Your hand.  You alone know the bigger battle is occurring in a realm we cannot see.  May our weapons of Your Truth, Your righteousness, Your Word, and Your Gospel protect and preserve the Kavanaugh family as they persevere. 

Bless them, Lord, with unmistakable knowledge of Your love for them.  Shelter the Kavanaugh family and give them complete rest in Christ, even in the presence of those arrayed against them.  We trust You, Lord, to do what is right, for You are holy.  We trust that no weapon formed against You will stand and we praise You that nothing can separate us from Your love in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

Other Scriptures I’m praying include matters of testimony and allegation, promises of comfort, and on benefits of suffering. Deuteronomy 19:15-21, Psalm 34:18, Psalm 23:4-6, Matthew 18:16, Romans 8: 26-39, 1 Peter 4:12-19, 1 Timothy 5:19-21

Why is it so hard oftentimes to move forward…to feel like we’re making progress?” 

Well, that’s something I ask myself frequently.  One day when I was reading this passage, a thought occurred to me. 

Philippians 3:3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh– 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. 7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ– the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Suddenly I knew: I can’t move forward dragging the weight of everything God has told me to drop, to let go, or to leave behind. 

Don’t get me wrong.  I’ve learned The Powerful Beauty of a Closed Door and I know better now than to try to keep doors open when God is closing them.  If I know something is sin, I have plenty of reasons to let it go and with God’s help, I can drop that, too.  But… 

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What’s hard is letting go of things I really like.  Things that make me feel important or needed.  Accomplishments or work that has borne fruit.   

It’s like that scene from the movie Baby Mama when Kate Holbrook is interviewing her potential surrogate Angie: 

• Kate: You have a God-given ability that I just don’t have. 
• Angie:  I know I could be good at this. 
• Kate: I think you could, too. 
• Angie: And, you know, it’s nice to feel…
• Kate: Needed?
• Angie: Yeah. Needed.
• Kate: Important, useful?
• Angie: I like all those words.

Don’t we all like to feel that way: important, useful, like our lives matter because of what we do? Isn’t it hard when God says, “Let it go. Time to move on” and you’re stuck with letting go of what you love (to be obedient) or end up holding on to what you love and rebelling against God? 

Yet, the Apostle Paul reminds us to travel light as we head heavenward.  To let go of everything in order to cling to Christ and follow Him. 

Going back to the thought of absolutes. Think about it: 

• Look at verses 3, 8, and 13-14.  What is absolute about them?
• What did Paul put behind himself?  Is he talking about sin or confidence in himself, his credentials? 
• Anything we cling to which separates us from God is an idol.  Whether it’s what’s in your wallet or what’s in your closet, if it’s in the way of obedience, will you let it go, and leave it behind in order to head heavenward in Christ Jesus? 

Praise Him for His wisdom and His perfect plan!  Praise Him for His admonition to let it go, to keep us from thinking we can earn His love!  Praise Him that He loves us unconditionally!  Praise Him for this heavenward call to love and righteousness!