Secrecy and lies have no place among the Church.

To understand the theology of missions, we should reevaluate our concept of missions.

This realization could change your entire life.

We should be willing to do the Lord’s work even when it means we’re not in the spotlight.   ~~~   I believe that in doing the LORD’s work, you will run into people who will grow furious with you for doing the LORD’s work according to the Lord’s word. See the picture in 1 Samuel 22. David in humble cave, with men flocking to him, and him protecting them and also hearing from God. Compare that with Saul standing in a dominant, shady position, with rage in his heart, spear in his hand, hatefully shouting at his men, trying to manipulate with raw power, and the main complaint is that no one tells him anything. No one feels sorry for Saul, none rally to his cause, none want to protect and join in with his kingdom. This is the great tension in this text—Saul knows nothing. No one is giving information to Saul. His men don’t want to speak to him. And yet David has men flocking to him; he is hearing from the prophet Gad, and also from God through Ahimelech. I believe that in doing the LORD’s work, you will run into people who will grow furious with you for doing the LORD’s work according to the Lord’s word. That is important to keep that straight. Sometimes people do not mind you doing the LORD’s work according to their word. But when God’s word goes against their word, they like their word better, because in doing the LORD’s work according to their word, they get to be in the spotlight with all the power. But it never goes well for them, as we see and will continue to discover in the downfall of Saul. Don’t grow weary in doing the Lord’s work day by day according to the Lord’s will and word.

I want to encourage the person that is being called to do something that doesn’t make sense.

Loneliness has a negative effect on our health.

We must be willing to get back on track when we go astray, and to seek God’s will.   ~~~   Not only did David’s brothers and other men gather around him, but so too did his parents, because, very likely, their lives were under threat by Saul as well. So David ushers them over to Moab. And here, once again, is the providence of God working through first and second causes, setting up a refuge for David’s parents in their time of need. But what is of more importance at this point is what David says to the King of Moab—“Let my father and mother stay with you until I know what God will do for me.” It appears that David is back on track! And this is what differentiates David from Saul. David seeks the LORD, ready and willing to repent and listen and obey. And don’t you know David’s heart was done good when he saw the prophet Gad stroll down the dusty dirt road. Here comes God’s answer. God is speaking through Gad, God’s prophet, and David is quick and happy to obey. Are you back on track? Is the prayer and cry of your heart, “I must know what God’s will is?” And are you willing to hear Him speak through His word?

Sin is a stain on our heart so great, that the only way it can be cleansed is through the blood of Jesus.

We can rest in the knowledge that God controls the universe and loves us.   ~~~   Don’t you love when someone is looking out for you? You don’t feel so alone. You know someone has your back. They care about what is in YOUR best interest. It’s a good feeling. As a mom, I have my girls back. They know I am always looking out for them. Have you seen the image of a lion cub and it’s mom right behind it. That’s me. Nothing would even think about going after the cub because mama lion is scary and she has that baby lion’s back. She is never far away. Her eyes are always on the lookout for the sole purpose of protecting her cub. With the recent winter weather that swept across the country, I was glad someone had our back. My area of expertise is not the weather, but I am thankful we have meteorologists that are always keeping an eye out. They can forecast what’s to come with science and technology so they can let us know for the sole purpose of keeping us safe. With the snow, ice and record low temperatures we had, students were out of school for over a week. As a parent, I’ll keep it real and tell you I was ready for them to go back. I love my girls, but I also love when they are in school. The last day they were out they were planning to go initially with a delayed start time. That morning, the district made the call to keep them home one more day. You know what, I wasn’t frustrated in the least. I found myself grateful. They wanted my girls, as well as every other student, safe. Their eyes were on it. That’s a good feeling. It gives you peace knowing someone that knows MORE than you or someone that can see the BIG picture is watching out for you and helping guide your steps. In life, you may feel today like no one’s looking out for you. You may even be very self reliant because maybe those that were supposed to be looking out for you, didn’t. I want you to know this, you are deeply loved and there has never been a day God hasn’t had His eye on you. Psalm 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. I love this! God wants us to KNOW Him and in knowing Him we WILL know the WAY we should go in every circumstance. How many sources do we go to for counsel? Just check your latest online searches. We have questions and we take it to google before we take it to God! God sees. God knows. God will instruct you. God will teach you and counsel you. He holds the entire world in His hand and still, his loving eye is on YOU. I can rest easy knowing that today. You can too. You don’t have to worry. Choose to trust. God sees where you’ve been. God knows the conditions of the road you’re traveling today and He wants to guide you through the storm that may be coming tomorrow. That’s the truth. It’s like the song says, His eye is on the sparrow and I know HE watches me. Go check out Psalm 121 and know His eye is on you. I’m Lori Cline.  

We must put in regular maintenance to keep our spiritual lives on track.

The kingdom of God is built on the backs of the rejects and outcasts of society.   ~~~   We have been watching the personal rise of David, the newly-anointed, soon to be King of Israel, along with the personal downfall of the current, Spirit-deficient King of Israel, King Saul. And now we have come to a part of the story where David’s kingdom, his following, begins to appear. He can’t seem to find an escape from Saul’s hitmen or Saul himself, so he is on the run. His first pit stop was at Nob to talk with Ahimelech, the priest. He gains some food and some weapons from Ahimelech. And we are told that a man named Doeg was there as well. Then David takes off for the city of Gath, Philistine territory, and puts on a show of deception when he fears his life is being threatened. All of this behavior, like we said last week, is odd for David, who, up until this point had been faithful to the LORD, and dependent upon the LORD. But the beginning of chapter 22 tells us that David departs from his previous Philistine location and comes to the cave of Adullam. While there, his brothers and family, who are no doubt also being hunted by Saul, join him in the cave. And then we are told that all those who were in distress, in debt, and discontented gathered to him. It appears that there is trouble in Saul’s kingdom, so that people are growing tired of his maniacal ways, and they are looking for another option. And they see in David a better option, a better choice. They see hope, godliness, humility, strength, courage; they see the type of leader they need. The type of leader they want to follow. 400 men. The start of what would become a glorious kingdom. And David is made captain over them. Does this, perhaps remind you of another leader who attracted to himself the outcasts of society? The downtrodden, the discontented, the poor? Of course it does. We see in David and small picture of the Christ to come. Jesus, by means of his teaching, by means of his godliness, compassion, humility, and strength, attracted to himself the outcasts. He called to himself fishermen, tax collectors, political zealots, demon-possessed women, prostitutes. People of no significant influence. People who possessed and wielded little if any worldly power. And yet, it was those distressed, in debt, and discontented people that God used to form the core of what would become a powerful force and kingdom. And it was those type of people that Jesus brought around himself who would form the core and nucleus of what would become a powerful force and church, led by God’s son, empowered by God’s Spirit. Even their enemies recognized this about the church when they called Peter and John “uneducated” and common, or profane men. What was happening in seed form in 1 Samuel 22, is fulfilled among us today! Do you realize that? The revival of God’s kingdom under the leadership and kingship of God’s chosen King, was underway, and we are the continuation of that under the greater David, King Jesus. We stand in a long line of rejects. We are the bands of the discontented and distressed. We are the outcasts and have found our hope our refuge our leader in Jesus. What God could with a group of people who realized their own nothingness and leaned into dependence upon God for everything! The battles that would be fought and won. The glory that would be exhibited. You see, the church is not a sit and listen organization. It is a hear and march army. Neither is it a personal or private spiritual pick-me-up. You are joined to something larger than yourself, greater than yourself, more important than yourself. There has been a calling and commission placed upon us that we have accepted in following our King. There is a mission. And that mission is to hold out hope to others who are discontented and distressed around the world. It is to hold up our King to those who have grown tired and hurt by the current king over their life, which is their own sinfulness and idolatry. Let me ask you? Are you a church member on mission, or are you just a sit and listen member? Are you marching in the cause of raising up disciples through the school, through your home, in your own life? Are you marching to send the gospel out overseas? As we press on here? You need to know, because sometimes, sometimes, when you are committed to this mission, it means gathering in a cave. It means remaining the outcasts of the world, strangers and aliens in this place.

For children of God there is always a line to draw with anything or anyone. We belong to Him now, so our aim is to glorify Him.

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Hurry and meditation cant coexist. The definition of meditation is this. “a written or spoken discourse expressing considered thoughts on a subject.”

God places a unique calling on every person's life.

The amount of daylight we get can affect our mood.

What we see as setbacks are God’s way of setting the stage for a comeback.   ~~~   Have you ever experienced what you thought was a set back? When I was in the midst of finishing up school, I was in the final stages, writing the big thesis, the big project. When it came time to start submitting portions of that book for approval, we were leveled with a setback. The seminary emailed to tell me that there had been a new system of writing put in place, a new standard, that my current work did not fulfill those requirements, and that I had only a short window of time to get it fixed or I would have to start the program all over. I was upset, confused, stressed. I had put spent many late nights away from my family working on this thing, only to be told, “It doesn’t meet our new standard.” I wanted to quit. Write it all off as loss and just move on from there. But from great counsel from my wife, we stayed the course, and the set back really proved to be a refining moment in my life. It helped sharpen my focus on the project I was working on, and in many ways in the way I went about ministry. Many times, what we see as a set back is really God setting the stage for a comeback. Perhaps you have experienced something similar. Looking backwards in time, you see what was once thought to be a set back as a way of God orchestrating a come back. In Psalm 57, which is David’s looking back on the events of 1 Samuel 22, David prays in Psalm 57:4 “My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down amid fiery beasts—the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are shard swords.” And then he says, “Be exalted O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth.” It is a prayer, a cry, that comes from looking back into the past, and seeing that the enemy was fierce and had designs against David, yet God was glorified through it all. Perhaps you can look back over events in your life and see the same thing. The design and attack of the enemy was fierce, even successful, some might say, but now, from this perspective, you see it completely differently. You see God being exalted and His glory and plan coming to fruition. You couldn’t see it then, but you surely see it now. But if we have eyes to see, and ears to hear, and hearts and wills ready to conform to God’s word, then we will see that what we think of as set backs, even in the present or in the future, attacks of the enemy, are really God’s way of setting the stage for a come back.

God fills us with His goodness and sustains us.   ~~~   Have you ever been excited about a lemon? Well I have and I’ll tell you why! I got one for Christmas this year. It wasn’t wrapped in a box or anything, I actually picked it off of a tree. This wasn’t just any lemon off of any lemon tree. This was a lemon that grew on a lemon tree that my parents bought and planted in a pot. My Daddy was so proud of that little lemon tree. If they got at least 2 big lemons each year they were happy, because that meant at least one or two lemon meringue pies. My Daddy met Jesus face to face this past summer. Goodness how we miss him. We’re still in the year of firsts. This first Christmas without him, our family gathered. Even though Daddy’s no longer with us, he’s still everywhere around us. So much of who he was and what he loved and lived for, remains in us and in ways, in all things he left behind. One of the things he enjoyed was that lemon tree. This Christmas, it was full of lemons. Everybody got one. Round, yellow rays of sunshine in a way from Daddy. I’ve never been more excited about a lemon. Now something else you should know about me is I LOVE lemons. I am an avid lemon water drinker. I have been for a long time. So bringing one of the lemons that my Daddy loved home with me for Christmas was just about the best gift I could have gotten. I didn’t want to cut it at first. I wanted to just keep it, but I knew it would go bad if I didn’t. It was meant to be picked, and enjoyed. So I did. I sliced it up, filled a glass of water and squeezed a big slice in and let it float to the top. Do you think I enjoyed that glass of lemon water? Listen, I drank every drop. Then I filled it up again and drank all that. That wasn’t just any lemon water. That was lemon water from a fresh lemon off of a lemon tree my Daddy loved and cared for! That just made it taste that much better. It was good. I felt close to my Daddy and I was refreshed. Isn’t that the way this life is supposed to be lived? We have a father who is good. He is a giver of good gifts. He is our good shepherd and IN Him I shall not want. He refreshes my soul and IN Him I am blessed and filled up as I taste and SEE His goodness in my life. Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. When you savor something good, you want more. You can’t stop talking about it. You give five star reviews because you want people to know the goodness you’ve experienced. The Lord IS good. What I have tasted and seen in my life over and over keeps me abiding IN Him. I take refuge in Him. I am connected to the vine. He IS my portion. When I am poured out He fills me up yet again. He is ALL I need in and out of every season. When I see His moving in my life and when I simply must wait, I know He is with me working it all for my good, in HIS time. Nothing else compares to the Father’s love for me. It’s so sweet. I’m not sugar coating anything here. Life IS hard and sometimes you get lemons. But then again, sometimes you get lemons! Through it all, I can be refreshed, renewed and know He is with me. That’s the truth. Have you tasted the goodness of God? It’s good water. I’m Lori Cline.

Do you talk to your loved ones or friends with the same respect privately that you do in public?

The mission of God is evident and manifest through the entire Bible.

The love of God is upon all who are His. We must remember He sees all of it, and loves us through it.

We can be confident that we will never be put to shame with God reigning over us.   ~~~   As we think about the events of 1 Samuel 21 that we have been studying, we should also consider Psalm 34. This psalm, it is believed was written about 1 Samuel 21, in particular when David when to Gath in the latter portion of the chapter. And he is looking back on that event and saying, “It wasn’t my so called wisdom and smarts that delivered me. It was God.” In that Psalm David exclaims: Oh magnify the LORD with me, let us exalt his name together. I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look on him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all of his troubles. Oh taste and see that the LORD is good” Think about that line “their faces shall never be ashamed” and remember back to David bringing shame on himself by drooling all over his face and beard. What David ultimately realizes is that even though that may have been a foolish feat, God’s people will never be put to ultimate shame because God is a faithful deliverer.

In our most desperate times, our thoughts should still be set on Jesus.   ~~~   God is a portion and a deliverer that the fire cannot burn, the floods cannot drown, the thief cannot steal! A man can take away your goods, but he cannot take away your God. Sickness can take away your health and strength, death may take away your family and friends, government may take your liberty or your life, but none of these can take away your God! You have a Savior in God who does not abandon His people, but delivers His chosen ones in their times of desperation! Why would he redeem us, only to forsake us? So set your sights on God through Jesus Christ, even in the lonely, desperate time. Because being anywhere with Jesus is far greater than being anywhere without Him, even when that anywhere is a desperate situation. Why is that so? Because there is no greater portion, no greater friend, no greater savior, no greater peace, no greater joy, no greater contentment, no greater wisdom, no greater healer, no greater God than who we have in Christ!

The snow fell in the hills here in Arkansas, so Shaun's headed out to shoot some rabitts. But he's not the only one with the same target.

Although we do not see the big picture of God’s plan, we can trust that He does.   ~~~   Are you ready to turn the page? Yep, me too. What is it about January that at times feels like it lasts forever? It’s 31 days. There are other months that have 31 days, but why does January feel like it has 47? Needless to say, with all the winter weather we’ve had, I’m ready to turn the page into February and move one day closer to Spring! Let this season pass on by, because I can’t see any growth. I need to SEE something grow! Things burst out of the ground in the Spring and I can get OUT and GO! In Winter, everything is cold and still, including me. We’re not very good at being still are we? Does it take a layer of ice and snow or an arctic blast to force us to be still? Sometimes it does. The beautiful rhythms of time and rotation of seasons is no accident. Each one fulfills a purpose. The growth we see in Spring would not come without the rest and renewal of winter. It’s easy to forget there is purpose in a bitter cold season of stillness with no visible growth. It’s a reminder we are NOT in control and it’s in that stillness and surrender we KNOW God IS. God IS always at work. Even when I don’t see it. What God is doing in a season of winter is unique and beautiful, just like each snowflake that falls to the ground. A unique design being formed AS it falls. Beauty through surrender. It’s the same in our life. Surrender, even in a cold season of NOT seeing, IS bringing forth something beautiful in a season to come. That’s the way God works. We don’t have to see it to believe it. We TRUST and KNOW He is working through all things and there IS purpose in every divine moment. I love what Jesus said to Peter when Peter didn’t want Jesus to wash his feet. John 13:7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Peter couldn’t see the big picture. Jesus did. It wasn’t for Peter to see, he needed only to surrender, serve and follow. Today, remember you can’t see the big picture. You weren’t meant to. This season may not look the way you had hoped, it’s ok. Simply surrender, serve and follow. Trust God is in control. Trust requires letting go of wanting so desperately to SEE God move when and where and how you want Him to in your life. We can’t realize or understand what He is doing, but later maybe we will. Still we surrender, serve and follow. For now, we simply REST where we are, in THIS season. Even in the cold, even in what we can’t see. We can be still and know God IS at work and HE is the only one who brings restoration, renewal, revival and He will make all things new in the season to come. That’s the truth. Don’t question in the cold of winter, the goodness God has shown you in the Spring, Summer and Fall. His will WILL be done as we surrender, serve and follow. I’m Lori Cline.

God will use both allies and adversaries to deliver us from adversity.   ~~~   David is a fugitive on the loose, with Goliath’s sword in hand, thinking that he would be safer in Philistine territory than in Israel. I would tend to think that there were 200 very sore Philistine men, along with 10,000 widow women who would disagree about David’s safety among the Philistines. But this is what desperation does, isn’t it? It can drive us to do some pretty strange things. David enters the town of Achish, with Goliath’s sword in tow. I’m pretty sure that thing was hard to hide in the luggage. And as soon as he enters, the people recognize him, particularly the servants of Achish, who is the ruler in Gath (Goliath’s hometown), and they start to question, “Isn’t this the great one of Israel?” So David’s cover is blown and he is very afraid now. Very concerned. And he decides the best course of action, again, is deception. He pretends to be a lunatic, a mad man, someone who has gone crazy. He drools all over himself, which was a mark of shame by the way. Wars were started over the pulling of a man’s beard. It was a shameful thing to mess with a man’s beard. How much more so to defile yourself by drooling all the way down your beard. David resorted to other antics as well, such as marking on their gates. And yet, in all of this, God is the one who delivers David from the grasp of the Philistines. David here, has a sword; David is a mighty warrior, but he is too afraid to fight. He is desperately afraid. And yet, God delivers. God uses allies to deliver David, and God uses adversaries to deliver David. God is providential and uses primary and secondary causes to accomplish His will. And he does the same thing in your life. How can I be sure? Well, like we said last week, David is just a human. A man of the dirt. He was on the run, he had no place to rest his head. He was under pressure, alone, desperate. And he stumbled a bit under that pressure. We see that happen regularly in patriarchs of the faith. Abraham did it. Jacob did it. Moses did it. And now David does. But there was a moment when Jesus was under immense pressure too. Alone. Desperate. And God brought him to this moment. But in that moment, he didn’t lie; he didn’t deceive; he didn’t stumble. He simply said, “Not my will, but thy will be done.” In Jesus’ most desperate moment, God delivered Jesus over to death. God handed Jesus over to suffer the wages of sin that he did not commit. God handed Jesus over to death, and then delivered His chosen one from the grave and death so that God could deliver His people from hell, and give life and joy and peace in the resurrected Jesus, even as we walk down desperate roads. God will not abandon His chosen ones. God will provide for His chosen ones all that they need during their times of desperation. He put Jesus in the grave and then resurrected Him from the dead to make this point abundantly clear to us!

One day, God will not just renew old things, but make all things brand new.   ~~~   Do you believe that what’s been done can’t be undone? It depends doesn’t it. I can tie my shoe and then I can untie it, but I can’t go back and undo the first tie. So while I can reverse the action of tying my shoe, I can’t untie tying my shoe. Clear as mud right? To undo something you basically reverse the effect of what you did. Oh how many of us would love to reverse the effect of things we have said or done in the past. One of my favorite commands on a keyboard is UNDO! Wouldn’t that be nice to have in real life situations. What did I just do?? UNDO. UNDO. Programmers can do this when they roll back commands. It’s like they never happened. Well we can’t roll back or hit undo in life. There are consequences to our actions and our choices. We may not be able to hit the undo key, or even call for a REDO like we did when we were little, but we can try to reverse the effects or make things right. God works through us and our circumstances to redeem moments and seasons. I’m so very thankful He does. I’ve experienced that in my own life. What the enemy meant for evil or maybe something I chose to do was forgiven, grace was extended and over and over something beautiful grew as a result. What was broken was mended. What was lost was restored. God meets us in our every need, failure and fear with provision, grace and love. I love how God met Adam and Eve in the garden after they sinned. They tried to cover themselves. They tried to undo a little of their shame. God met them with tunics of animal skin to wear. Blood was shed to cover their sin. The world is still under the curse of sin, but for those IN Christ, we are now redeemed and covered by the blood of the Lamb. Jesus’ death on the cross brings us back into fellowship with the Father. What was done in the garden was undone on the cross. The good news now is that the hope we have because of Jesus, is that one day, He will come again and one day to come ALL THINGS will be made NEW. Revelation 21:1-5 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth, ”for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” This is not describing a fixer upper heaven and earth, this is a MADE NEW heaven and earth. A new Jerusalem, a new earth, no longer plagued by the powers of evil, sin and death. The presence of God will very much be WITH us and every tear will be wiped from our eyes. Can you even imagine no more death, sorrow, crying or pain? What a day that will be. That’s what all things made NEW looks like. It’s not an UNDO it’s a made new. John got a glimpse of it for us in Revelation and I’m so glad he did. Praise God for His word, because it is in fact, worthy and true. That’s the truth! If you missed any of this months broadcasts where I’ve been digging deeper into scripture around the word NEW for this NEW year, you can find them all at lifeword.org. God wants to do something new in your life! Don’t take my word for it, get into His word every day and discover the NEW He has for you. I’m Lori Cline.