GLORY WORKS

            Whatever you teach or preach you are tested on. 

            A few months ago I was preaching a sermon series based on the great doxologies of the epistles.  I had preached Ephesians 3:20-21 one Sunday and called it “The Middle Praise”.  The idea behind the title was that in the middle of things, when we can’t see the ending and when we see anything but the glory of God being worked out, we should give Him glory.  This is not because it is magic or an automatic process, but because it gets our focus changed. 

            Two nights later I was challenged on this very issue.  I overheard a comment which really discouraged me.  I was very down about it for close to an hour.  Then, I began to think about what I had preached just that Sunday, and I decided that I needed to live up to it.  So, in the car I started saying good things about God.  They didn’t have anything to do with the negative I was trying to overcome, but were only about His goodness.  I put my experience out of the picture, and filled it with God. 

            It was amazing, but the moment I started in that all the weight went off my heart.  Glory works, not because it is an independent power, but because it brings you to God who is the great worker of all. 

            When you are down or have a need or are in the middle of something with no end in sight, say something good about God.  His glory will do something for you.  Glory works. 

GETTING OFF THE DIME

            I had a friend at one of my early churches who was in charge of a missile program at Vandenberg Air Force Base.  He would fly all over the country going to places like Congress, seminars with people like Werner Von Braun, factories where missiles were made and other sites connected with the program.  He was the man who knew how to push the button and see the rocket fly.  He was used to operating in a program where anything less than the best could be a disaster. 

            He once told me about a meal he had at a restaurant in Huntsville, Alabama with one of his colleagues.  The service was horrible.  Of course, you could just leave nothing as a tip under such a circumstance, but he and his friend wanted to make a large statement about their disapproval of the service.  So, they cleared all the dirty dishes, silverware, napkins and menus to one side of the table, leaving a clear field in the center.  There they placed a single dime for the waitress, after which they went and paid the bill. 

            When God doesn’t serve us as we wish to be served, do we simply give Him a dime to show that we know He was there, but displeased us? 

            We need to get off the dime with God.  We need to quit giving Him a token of acknowledgement, and go for what is the most commensurate resources available out of our means.  We need to do something for Him, and not wait around for Him to do something more for us.  Jesus gave His all.  What could we give that would begin to compare? 

MR. EXTRA

            We only saw him once.  I don’t even know if he’s still alive, and yet decades later we’re still talking about him. 

            We used to go to a restaurant in Southern California called Norm’s.  They had a lot of early bird specials, and because we ate early, we would cash in on those.  On one occasion there was a fellow sitting over at a table a little ways away.  Without many other people in the restaurant we could hear him give his order. 

            “I’d like iced tea to drink with extra sugar.  Give me salad with bleu cheese dressing and extra dressing and extra croutons.  I’ll have the country fried steak with extra gravy and extra potatoes.”  It went on even more in that vein clear down to dessert.  Even if I hadn’t titled this article with the name we gave him, you could have guessed it.           Whenever we are in a situation where we want more or where what we have is not enough, we invoke the memory of “Mr. Extra”.  He wasn’t content with what came off the menu, but wanted more. 

            We should not be those content with the bare minimum when it comes to spiritual things.  Some people want just enough church going, just enough time in the word, just enough prayer, just enough fellowship, just enough singing and praise, just enough Christianity to feel good about. 

            BUT, our God is not a God of just enough.  He is the God of extra helpings.  He always has more that we can know about Him, learn from Him and grow by.  Don’t be content to get by; ask for extra.  He can do exceedingly abundantly beyond all you ask or think.  (Give yourself ten extra points if you know where that comes from.) 

NOW OPEN

            Early one morning I drove past two places on the same street.  Though they were completely different types of businesses, they both had the same sign outside.  It read “Now Open”.  The problem was, they weren’t. 

            Oh, I knew what they meant.  They were letting people know that they were in operation.  But, they weren’t open when I drove by.  What if I had needed them? 

            When God says that heaven is “Now Open”, He means it.  With Him, the present tense is always present.  His ears are always open to our prayers.  We never find a sign stating hours God can be reached and directing that we come back later if we are not within those hours.  We are not forced to take a number and wait for millennia in a million mile long line.  While the Bible does not teach that every answer is instantaneous, it is possible to get an instantaneous answer.  I had that borne in to me recently.            

            I couldn’t find my fingernail clippers.  I kept trying to figure out where they were.  I can’t stand to lose anything.  So, finally, I prayed.  “Lord, please don’t let me waste my time searching for these anymore.  Just let me lay my hand on them.”  I didn’t even have time to say “In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”  My hand was in the other pocket that I don’t normally keep them in, and I felt them down there.  That’s a fast answer. 

            Oh, I know I would have eventually found them, but the answer was in locating them at the time I wanted to know where they were.  God is concerned to restore misplaced fingernail clippers.  He is concerned about even more in your life.  Are you concerned enough to ask Him to look into matters for you?