Ezekiel Saw the Wheel

For church on Sunday, the choir is singing the song Ezekiel Saw the Wheel. I was asked to give a brief introduction to the song and the vision of Ezekiel... this is what the Lord has laid on my heart tonight:

From the Visions of Ezekiel in chapters 1-3 and 10-11.

 Prophetic visions come to us as completely disconnected from anything that we have ever known and experienced in our lives. Descriptions of beasts with multiple faces and multiple wings, crazy looking wheels with eyes and even an attempt at describing the Glory of the Lord may and often does frighten or even confuse us. Too often we who are so far removed from anything that even resembles this type of picture of vision dismiss these baffling images as something completely irrelevant to us. I do not, however, believe that this is the case. I think that there can be some truth for us here!

 Clearly the people of Israel were not taken back or surprised by something like this for if they were the Hebrew elders would have dismissed Ezekiel with a Hebraic “what have you been smoking” statement (that I’m sure I’ll learn in next year’s Hebrew class). No, this vision meant something to them, and it is recorded in the Bible, God’s revelation to us, which means that it means something for us today as well.

 This vision comes to Ezekiel on the banks of the Khabur River which is located in Babylon. Ezekiel also says here that he was among the exiles, meaning the people of Israel that were forcibly taken from their homeland. He is a prophet, likely a priest, dwelling amongst a dislocated people. To say that in today’s context means very little as we are able to move great distances without batting an eye, but to be an Israelite not living in Israel means that you have lost everything. Their homes were destroyed. Their cities plundered and demolished. Their fields burned and animals either killed or taken. But none of this compares to the ultimate dislocation they were experiencing, their disconnect from God. You see the Hebrew people saw the presence of God as being based on a location. For hundreds of years they met God at a place, whether the tabernacle or the temple, and that place was the place of their worship; and that place was now gone. They could not go to it, and they would see that as being removed from God.

 Sound familiar? Do you ever find yourself dislocated from God? Do you think you that you are in a place where you cannot worship God, or a place that God cannot be present with you?

 This song, Ezekiel Saw the Wheel, is an African American Spiritual. Why? Because there have been many people throughout history that have identified with the exiled Hebrews, taken from all they know. African slaves were one of these people. Lost, alone, separated, and enslaved, full of hopelessness.

 But God is a God of hope, faithful and true to His people across all ages. In the midst of hopelessness God speaks powerfully and brings this vision to Ezekiel, a vision with powerful images that the Hebrews would have picked up on. So let see what they see…

 -->The Throne of God resting on fierce storming clouds, flanked by the cherubim on each side, and all placed on four wheels. These are your everyday Goodyear tires either, these wheels are unique: they are a wheel within a wheel. You see, most cars and just go forward, and to turn takes time. You cannot go just anywhere at any time, you need space to make the appropriate moves. But God’s visionary vehicle can go anywhere and everywhere and is anywhere and everywhere. With wheels that can drive both north/south and east/west at the same time, God can be anywhere and is everywhere! More than that, these wheels are covered in eyes… so not only can Yahweh be anywhere and everywhere, but He also sees all. Nothing happens by blind chance or fortune, there is no change that God did not see or foresee.

 This is what the slaves began to discover as they were introduced to Christianity. They identified with these dislocated Hebrews, taken from all they have known. But they found a God of hope that was with them in their suffering and they believed that just as God promised the people of Israel that He would save them and return them to their land, so God would act on behalf of them as slaves and free them from their suffering. They encountered a God is the all-powerful, ever-present, all-knowing God that He has always been and he is there with the Israelites in their exile in Babylon and was with the slaves in the fields of America and He is with you now no matter where you are in your life. Because we know in this Easter season that God has not abandoned us to our sin and suffering but He sent his son who died and rose again, breaking the bonds of sin and death and hell and through Him we have life forever more AMEN!

 Perhaps you are suffering in your life right now… perhaps you feel distant from God… you may not encounter a vision experience like Ezekiel, but my friends, we have a vision like that… our vision is Jesus!! Our Savior and our Lord. He is our all-powerful, ever-present, all-knowing Lord and He is there with you in your exile as well. Turn to him… He is there… no matter where you are!

The Advance...

Well, week 2 is in the books and week 3 is about to begin! Once again, this past week was very exciting... very busy... and very rewarding! I cannot begin to explain how God has been blessing me this week! New friends, new learning, deeper relationships... God is great!!

This week, one of the big things that we learned about was that of the actions of the Trinity in our lives and in our worship! This wasn't necessarily new to me, but bringing this back into my head and applying it to worship on Sunday was just so overwhelming today... It is so amazing to know that even though we go to church to worship God, God is already there and, in fact, He is the one that has gathered us there! His Spirit has prompted us to come and we worship in it's power! Christ is the bridge in which we are able to come before God. Only through His blood are we counted righteous and worthy to come before God and bring our worship. More than that though, Christ is there worshiping with us AND is seated at the right hand of God interceding for us (Romans 8:34) and perfecting our worship... presenting it to God as a perfect offering of worship! Isn't this amazing to think about? We truly couldn't worship God without God... He makes it possible for us to do that which we are created to do!!!

Outside the realm of school, work at Overisel has been wonderful! I have been blessed with such a wonderful church body and devoted praise team members! After some conversations today, I am encouraged by the directions that God is us directing us in, and that we are being open and willing to move in this direction!! I say this because of the resistance that many of us are feeling from the enemy. I often take this as a sign that we are moving with God and that God Himself is moving in this place because it has Satan upset and working against us.

If you think of it in the analogy of an army... if your army advances and the enemy ignores it because it doesn't see it as a threat, then there might be a problem with the army... but if the enemy is scared and does everything it can to thwart you, then you are considered a danger... and the enemy feels the need to try and stop you.

What does this mean for us? Well... it means that things aren't going to be easy, that Satan is going to do his best to try and move against us, and that ABOVE ALL we need to be praying hard! God is our source, our strength, and our protection... and we need to solidify that relationship, that we can draw from that power (Romans 8:31)!

It also means that we need to be upholding each other in prayer as well! I would like to ask that you be in prayer for us at Overisel, and for our leadership, as we prepare for our educational season, work on the Revolution service, and seek to reach people for Christ through our work at the church building and in our individual lives of worship and service as well. I would also like to ask you to pray for myself and for Bethany as we move forward with wedding planning while in this busy time of seminary and work and stuff as well...

I have to say that I am really excited to see what God has in store for us this school year!

As we enter this next week, I pray the truth of this blessing holds true in your heart: Jude 1:24-25, "To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen."

Week 1...

The Lord be with you...

So, I can officially say now that week 1 is in the books. Count it, check it off, and call it history! The first week of seminary has proven itself to be both exhilarating and stressful all at the same time. I am really looking forward to all of the things that I am going to be learning about, all the ways that God is going to be growing me, and for some of the major accomplishments that will be made in this first semester!

First off, before I go any further, I have to again give a huge shout out to my now fiancee Bethany, whom I love so much! She has been a great support for me in these last few weeks leading up to the beginning of this school year! Well that may be partially due to the fact that I proposed to her and she has to be, I know it is also true that she is excited for me to get started as well! I LOVE YOU SWEETHEART!! Thank You for being such a support to me! God has truly blessed me with you!

I want to try and make it a habit to share at least one thing that I have learned or has been impressed upon me throughout the week and share it on this blog. This week I have learned two really important things!

The first is that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! I have had my nose in books for approx. 3-5 hours a day in this last week... and I don't even like to read... and I'm not really quick at it either. But, by the grace of God, I have made it through, started reading faster, and have retained a vast majority of it as well! Whats more... I'm actually almost a week ahead in my reading right now!!

The second, and probably more impacting thing that I have learned this week is about how good we have it, and how much we complain about nothing! This first week in my church history class, I have been reading and learning about the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd century Christians and their struggles. First of all, these people couldn't even publicly be Christians without the fear of being dragged before a judge and forced to renounce Jesus or face torture/death, the latter being the more merciful of the two. Secondly, when they were caught and tortured, they rejoiced!! I mean things as gruesome as being forced to sit naked on a chair made of red hot iron until you denounce Christ... and we complain when church goes 5 minutes too long... I think that we as Christians often find ourselves complacent in our own little luxurious world. I don't know that I would be able to suffer whippings, beatings, or being burned like that without at least saying something bad...

That is all for now... I would like to ask continued prayers for finances for this year, and for God to continue to bless and strengthen me as I study!

Thank you for your prayers and support!

Grace and Peace...

Beginning...

The Lord be with you!

Well... it appears that Seminary has begun! Today was my first day... and a great day it was! I'm so excited to get back into the swing of things. I have a great deal of work ahead of me, but I know that the Lord will be my strength and my supply as I work, learn, read, study, write, read, and then read some more.

I look forward to writing about the many things that God is showing me throughout these next few years...

If you could please pray for me as I work on getting organized and back into the swing of things for this semester, that would be fantastic! God has shown his abundant goodness in many things leading up to this time, and I know He will continue to be faithful each and every day!

Grace and Peace...

Worship Matters

So your friend asks, “What is worship?” It seems like such a simple question doesn’t it? I think that we often think to ourselves that we have to go to church and worship… or we’re going to a worship service… or because we are singing it is the “worship part” of the service. But what is worship really? I think that the answer is much more complicated than just singing, praying, or anything that brings worship down to just one thing.

This question is a lot like if I were to ask you to explain Football, Baseball, or any other sport to someone that has never seen the sport played. You couldn’t just say “You throw/catch/run the ball” or “you have to score a touchdown/basket/run.” Neither of those would be an ample explanation for what is going on during the game. Neither could you just hand your curious friend a book and tell them to read it through so that they understand without the hassle of your explanation.

What do we do then, in response to our friend’s inquiry about what we do every Sunday morning? Could we show them a bulletin and try to explain the whole thing to them? This might help a little bit to know what is going on in that particular service. Could we just send them to a Pastor? Perhaps he would have a rather informed answer for our inquisitive friend, but I think it more important for us to know about what it is that we do when we worship… and for that we must turn ourselves to the Bible.

The Psalms seem to be the first logical choice to turn to; they seem to be overflowing with “worship language:”
Psalm 7:17 “I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the LORD Most High.”
Psalm 9:1 “I will praise you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.”
Psalm 29:2 “Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.”
Psalm 95:6 “Come let us Worship and Bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our maker…”
Psalm 109:30 “With my mouth I will greatly extol the LORD; in the great throng of worshipers I will praise him.”
Psalm 150:6 “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.”

So worship is Praise, Prayer, singing, kneeling, clapping, and even bowing? It would seem that if you look to the Psalms for direction in worship, it would suggest a very physical response to worship. In fact, the words that the Hebrews used for worship are suggestive of that as well. In fact, the Hebrews, when the Word of the Lord was read, would stand in reverence, and would bow with their faces to the ground in times of prayer.

Looking to the New Testament, Jesus, and later the Apostles, takes the idea of worship to the level that it was intended to be. Worship was never intended to be simply an event that was limited to a single day, week, festival, or celebration… worship was meant to be a way of life! Jesus points this out to the religious leaders in Matthew 15 when He quotes Isaiah saying, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”

Later, Paul talks about giving our lives to God in what has become one of my favorite verses in the Bible, Romans 12:1-2, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is true worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Worship isn’t something that we should be saving for a Sunday morning… worship is a life transforming act. When we sing songs, pray together, and hear the Word, it is to be something that changes our lives each and every day. Remember: WORSIHP IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT and just as athletes have to change their lives to train and play the game well, so we need to refocus our lives on God, read the Word, Pray, Sing, and train for our lives for worship as well!

Worship Matters

During these hot summer months, I am reminded of my times playing little league baseball and what that all entailed for my family: Pain staking, hot practices in which we practiced catching pop-flies for hours on end, practice on throwing the ball straight, and long games at night or early on Saturday morning. We put in a lot of work to get the results that we were seeking… A WIN!

I remember one other part of my short and limited baseball career, my parent’s involvement. They would be sure that I got there, my clothes were clean and on correctly, but then they would just sit there and watch while we did the work. Now, for the record, I am not discounting my parents at all… but bear with me for the sake of the topic…

My teammates and I practiced a lot and our results were team work and the ability to play together. Had my parents tried to just get up and play with the team (especially in the later years) their actions wouldn’t have really been of much benefit to our team. They were spectators, like most of us at sporting events… we come, sit, and are entertained by what is happening on the field that day (good or bad).

Sometimes I wonder how much that resonates with our church life as well. Do we come on a Sunday morning with clean clothes that are on right and then just sit in the stands and watch things happen (good or bad)? I think too often we do. We want to sit and be entertained, to get out of church what we want to hear from the pastor, to sing our songs, but not really get involved. We aren’t truly seeking life transforming worship or opening our hearts to the Spirit, it’s really all about what we want.

Is this right? NO!!! WORSHIP IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT!!

We cannot just show up and sit in our seats and expect to worship. We can’t just sing some words and expect them to affect us. We CANNOT just idly listen to the words in the sermon and expect to be changed!! We NEED to get out of our seats and get into the game!!! It’s time that we put off the things of this world that seek to distract us… It’s time that we open our hearts to the Spirit’s transforming work… It’s time that we put Jesus back at the center of our lives… It’s time that we really worship!!

In our look at the Fruits of the Spirit, Paul writes to the Galatians to “walk by the Spirit…” and implies that by doing this we will be not walking in the desires of the sinful nature. To me this implies an active, meaningful effort on our part. James writes, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” This too implies that we have to make some sort of effort.

Now, I am in no way suggesting that we can get to God by our own effort, for we all know that this is not true. We only have access to God through the Blood of Christ. However, if we are truly seeking to worship, to be transformed by the Spirit, and to be renewed by the saving power of God Himself, we need to do our best to make sure that we are in a place in which that work can be done! The words we sing need to be more than words… they need to be truth for our lives. The Word we read needs to be more than a book… It needs to be truth to our lives. Our Sundays, and every day, needs to be more than just sitting and being entertained… it needs to be active, meaningful, worship!!

WORSHIP IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT!!

Supporters!

Recently, I received a check in the mail... it simply said "For Seminary." Now, this isn't a post to ask for more of those (however unopposed I would be to getting them) but just to express my thanks. The person that wrote the check will probably never read this, but her support of me has been probably only been paralleled by my parents.

Millie Burman is probably in her 80's, very loving, tender, and wonderful elderly Christian woman. When I was in high school she approached me for the first time and told me, "Jon, I really feel like God is calling you to seminary. I'm going to pray that you go to seminary."

My initial reaction was, NO! Please God, No! Pretty much every time that I've seen her since then she has made it a point to tell me that she is still praying that I go to seminary. I even made it a point of avoid her sometimes so that I wouldn't have to hear it... but she persisted... and prayed...

Ever met one of those people that, when they pray about something, its pretty much guaranteed that its going to happen? Yeah... that's Millie. So, though it made her very happy, it came as no real surprise to her when I told her finally that I was actually going to seminary.

Now, after an overwhelming amount of prayer support (which in and of itself I'm sure will get me through the next three years) she sends me money as well.

I'm floored... astounded... what a truly wonderful person. I am so thankful for her!

I only hope that I can be as committed a prayer warrior and as giving a person as her some day...

Thank You Millie Burman! God is truly using her in many, many ways! (I told her this too, for the record, seen as she probably won't see this particular posting)

Grace and Peace...