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Being Broken by invot
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Why have faith? by Darth B'strad
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The Unmistakeable God and His Unmistakable Word by invot
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Being Broken

Posted on September 14th, 2009 by invot.
Categories: Ethics, Philosophy, Creative Writing, Religon, education, Christianity, Comedy, Sermons.

• The Philosophy of Brokenness

So how many of you have heard the cliché…”if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”…?

Most people tend to abide by that with the exception of boys between the ages of 2 and 6.

I discovered this a few years back while helping my girlfriend at the time, Heidi, babysit. Her younger step-siblings were bouncing about in front us us, demanding every ounce of our attention, while we tried to prepare dinner for the four of us.

Because I’m the smartest man in the universe, I thought it would be a good idea to distract them with whatever shiny objects I could find. I gave little Corinne a toy convertible that was lying around. Then I reached into the drawer in front of me, looked at 5 year old Dylan, and handed him a fillips head screw driver. Go me!

Well, Dylan walked away with the screwdriver, and from seeing his dad around the house, Dylan knew exactly what to do with it… or should I say… he at least knew how to operate it.

Dylan took his new found friend and started going around the house in search of something to turn with it. Door knobs, toys, toilet seats… on and on.

When dinner was ready, Heidi walked over to Dylan’s room, but quickly returned with a doorknob in her hand and a look on her face that said “I still love you, despite this…”

We found Dylan in the garage, standing on a chair removing all the screws to all the garage door brackets that he could reach. One click of the garage door opener and the whole door would have collapsed onto the ground.

You see, Dylan’s philosophy was …”if it ain’t broke…then break it”

“if it ain’t broke…then break it” think about that for a minute. Do you realize how utterly God-like that is?

The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
The righteous man may have many troubles,
but the LORD delivers him from them all.
- Psalm 34:17-19

You see, God wants us to break. He promises to be “close to the brokenhearted,” to be our source of power, courage and wisdom, helping us to get through our problems. This is when he can show us how great he is and how much we have to learn..

Oswald Chambers said this about brokenness:

When God gets us alone through suffering, heartbreak, temptation, disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted desires, a broken friendship, or a new friendship—when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are totally speechless, unable to ask even one question, then He begins to teach us.

• The Method of Brokenness

So let me tell you about another member of Heidi’s family, her youngest sibling, Corinne. When Corinne was real young, she had this pillow-like stuffed animal that she referred to as “Puppy.” It was really just a cheap pillow. The material was thin, the colors faded rather quickly and it really wasn’t something that you were proud of when you went out with her and she would want to take ’Puppy’. Countless times while babysitting we tried to bribe her into leaving it in the car. Never happened. She was as proud of her Puppy as anything. If you knew Corinne you knew Puppy. They might as well have been sewn together.

Then one day, while I was again helping Heidi babysit, the “Puppy” had a run in with the “Dog.”

Needless to say, the Dog won. Puppy was strewn from one end of the house to the other. There was stuffing everywhere. I never knew that Puppy had so much in her. And of course, before we could pick up Puppy’s remains, Corinne walks in and finds Puppy’s tattered corpse lying by the couch. But being the trooper that she was, and much more adult-like than either Heidi or myself, Corinne picks up Puppy and brings it to her big sister….still leaving a trail of stuffing behind. She holds Puppy up with big blue, wet eyes and simply says… “Puppy’s bwoke.”

And that would have been fine if both of us didn’t burst out laughing. Which instantly caused Corinne to run to her room and slam the door. What then emerged was a tug of war between Heidi and her sister over Puppy. After going on for what seemed like days, Heidi finally looked down at Corinne and said:

“I can’t fix her till you let go of it.”

And she let go. And through the years she gained a lot of experience with letting that thing go, because poor Puppy had to be fixed a lot. If it wasn’t an animal tearing it up, it was her brother pulling the puppy’s tail off, or the dryer burning a hole in it’s cheap fabric.

“I can’t fix her till you let go of it” isn’t that what God is telling us too?

If it ain’t broke….then break it….but let go of it when it breaks.

• The Problem with Brokenness

We need never be ashamed of our tears,
for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth,
overlying our hard hearts.
- Charles Dickens

In our age of disposable everything, what do we normally do with something that is broken?….we throw it away and get a new one. It’s easier that way isn’t it?

Well God does things a little different. God is in the restoration business, so rarely does he give us an easy road to take. He wants to see us repaired, instead of replaced. He wants to see us turn to Him, instead of ourselves. He wants us to get down to the point that we can confess those parts of our lives that are painful and hurting, those parts that are not perfect an don’t measure up. God knows that when we get there, our humanity and it’s frailties will become instruments of healing if we allow it to lead us to confessing to God. He wants us to know that our dependence on Him will set us free.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. - 1 John 1:9

Letting go of it. This is where Bryan can tell you I have a major struggle. I’m one of those classic types that much prefer to suppress my feelings and hurt than have to share it with anyone. I always rationalize it by saying that it’s easier that way. I just try and bury it all and think that it won’t affect me nor will it affect others. However, doing that never works very well, now does it? Bryan can tell you about many a times where my emotional bottle broke, and everything torrents out over a hysterical phone call.

I know that some of us are much like that. It’s usually the quiet types, but sometimes it’s the outgoing ones as well.

But I learned something very valuable about all that: You see, those hurts you are feeling are the beginnings of a brokenness. Call it a crack if you will. But what I, and maybe some of you, tend to do is to try and take some emotional cement and try and patch that crack up. And that may work for a little while until that crack happens again. Stuff starts to seep out and it begins to affect your relationships.

So we may take that cement and try and patch over the patch. And it may work a little while until it starts to crack again. We repeat this process over and over and each time it works for a shorter duration. Finally one day the patch no longer works and most the gunk we kept putting in there, finally explodes out.

It is written in the Psalms that tears are like seed and weeping is like the sowing of that seed in prayer. (Psalm 126:5-6)

God will never plant the seed of his life upon the soil of a hard, unbroken spirit. He will only plant that seed where the conviction of His Spirit has brought brokenness, where the soil has been watered with the tears of repentance as well as the tears of joy.
- Alan Redpath

• The Strength in Brokenness

Is this brokenness? That depends on your next move. You see, you still will have bits of that patch on top of the crack that hindered all the gunk from coming out. And if your next move is to try and patch it again yourself, it will remain the weakest part of your heart and the whole process is destined to repeat itself. I know this because I’ve been there and done that many times.

However, if at that point, you turn to God and ask him not to throw in a quick-fix or replace it or simply hide it away, but to restore it, then you have reached brokenness and true healing can begin.

This is His plan for you.

God wants you broken so that you turn to him for help. Then God wants to restore us and make us stronger. But how, you ask, is something stronger once it is broken?

Lets look at the word restore. That word comes up over a hundred times in the Bible. The word itself back then, was a medical term that meant, “to set a broken bone”. And as a Christian, when we fall into sin, it’s much like a broken bone that affects the rest of your body…it needs restoring. When you break your leg, you normally end up on crutches and then your arms and other leg must then support the weight of the injured leg until it heals or is restored.

And once that broken bone is set, it actually heals and becomes much more stronger than the surrounding bone.. Almost as if nature were determined to fortify herself against another attack.

And look at other examples of something becoming stronger after breaking.

Immunities…you’ve heard of developing immunities against a sickness before. Like the bone, your body will become more resistant to illness, the more you have them.

A piece of steel can break, but once welded, the weld itself is many times stronger than the surrounding steel.

Also, a piece of steel becomes harder and stronger when you temper it. This is a process of heating and cooling it many times, thus breaking down its internal structure to become stronger. Tempered glass is much the same way. It is breaking down its internal structure to produce something 5 times stronger.

The incision that is made into a heart during open-heart surgery, if properly cared for and allowed to heal, becomes the strongest part of the heart muscle.

If it ain’t broke…… then break it….you’ll become stronger.

• The Greatness of Brokenness

So then how does God use something that is broken?

In Judges 7, we see that after Gidean’s army was whittled down from 32,000 to a mere 300. God equipped them with only a trumpet, and a torch inside an empty jar. But when they broke those jars and blew their horns, the Midianites were thrown into chaos from all that racket and turned on them selves.

Could you ever ride a horse that has not been broken? A broken horse makes a great companion, but a stallion out of control is dangerous. A horse does not give up its strength or power when it is broken, but rather it is just brought under the control of its owner. Kind of like us and God don’t you think?

Countless times, God has restored a broken heart to achieve greatness.

- Before Abraham became the father of many nations, his wife suffered from a barren womb.
- Before Joseph ruled Egypt, his brothers sold him into slavery.
- Before Job’s estate was doubled, he lost everything he had, including his family.
- Before Moses led Israel out of Egypt, he was a fugitive running for his life.
- Before Samson crushed the Philistines, he met Delilah.
- Before David was anointed king, he was rejected by his family.
- Before Hosea became a powerful spokesman for God, his wife betrayed him and returned to prostitution.
- Before Peter preached 3,000 souls into the kingdom, he denied his Savior three times.
- Before Paul brought the gospel to the Gentiles, he was blinded on the Damascus road.

Before these ministers here have brought you a message, they were all broken.

These men experienced brokenness before greatness ever became them. Breaking is a good thing. God established a pattern long ago of preceding greatness with brokenness.

If it ain’t broke….then break it…..greatness will follow.

• The Call to Brokenness

I want to share one more example of brokenness from the bible, which I think will hit us all close to home.

Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is–that she is a sinner.”
Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
“Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven–for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”
Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
- Luke 36:48

This sinful woman became broken in front of Jesus and all else there.

You would not be pleased with sacrifices, or I would bring them. If I brought you a burnt offering, you would not accept it. The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit. A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise. - Psalm 51:16-17

My question to you tonight is this: How can we, be more like this woman? How can we break our hearts for God?

The Puritans, a group of people I personally have much respect for, are known historically for actually calling themselves “repenters” rather than Christians. Can we say the same? Can we call ourselves “repenters”? Can we submit to a life filled with repentance and brokenness, just like the sinful woman in Luke 36?

For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation… - 2 Corinthans 7:10

God is close to the broken hearted. And you know why?…because the broken have discovered what is really important in life.. The broken have learned the difference between what is real and important, versus what is fake and unimportant.

However, you can’t choose how you will be broken. Puppy didn’t choose the encounter with the Dog. God uses all sorts of methods to break us. It may be a friend-of-a-friend that you don’t particularly like, an event you don’t want to attend, or circumstances that may seem unfair. At some point you will need to stop asking “why is this happening”? and then turn to God and say….”so what do you want me to learn”?

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. - Matthew 5:3

You are the only one that can surrender to brokenness. God may bring you to that point over and over, but he won’t push you through it…he won’t beat you into submission. You have do it yourself.

And if you refuse to be broken in this life, well… you won’t have any choice in the next.

He can’t fix you until you’re broke….and he can’t fix you until you let go.

So if it’s not broke….then lets break it…..let it go…….become stronger…..and let the greatness God has in store for you….. come through.

2 comments.

Why have faith?

Posted on August 27th, 2009 by Darth B'strad.
Categories: Ethics, Philosophy, Religon, Christianity, Cultural, Sermons.

My little bible study group and I are going down to Crestone, Colorado this weekend having a little camping trip down there. Crestone is a little town about half way between Durango and Denver but one of the interesting things about this town is that it is a religious town with many different Faiths building up beautiful temples and churches around that city. At a time like this, it’s easy to ask why do we do all these things. We fight and struggle to try to please this God that we have never personally met. We try to be good and obey His commandments. But what real right to we actually have to clam that Christianity is the only true way to reach God? Doesn’t it seem quite arrogant of us to say that all these other religions we have around us in this town are all wrong when in reality we really don’t have any proof of our claim. Now we do have a lot of evidence to suggest that we are right and that’s mostly due to the fact that we are telling a story that quite frankly was too crazy to make up! What sort of person makes up a God who is said to love us more than we could possibly love Him back so much so that He would make Himself flesh so that he may walk among us. But the story gets even more crazy when we say that this guy also choose to die so that we may live. What kind of crazy story is that? Why would someone possible need to die for us human beings! What could we possibly need saving from? Being bad people? Well that’s actually quite absurd because Christians are no better a group of people than of any other religion, we still go through as many divorces and commit as much sin as the rest of humanity. Not to mention that all the other religions have just a good a moral code as Christianity does. I have a friend a work named Mohamed and just like his name implies he is a Muslim. Now if I were to get overly religious on this guy then he wouldn’t be my friend, he’d be the enemy because he believes something different. He’s the enemy because he thinks differently than I do. And most certainly he does! Most of Christianity preaches that the ideal of life is to have only one spouse and this guy has three! But yet he is one of the nicest and kind guys that we have in the shop and he’s fun to hang around. So again what right do I have to tell this guy that he’s headed straight to hell when I find that some of my fellow Christians act far worse than this guy does!

The problem
So we Christians are faced with quite a problem here: we go around saying that we have the answer to everything but we don’t act how we preach and yet these are the same people that get really self righteous and preach the hardest at people. So they’ll start with the idea that their right and you’re wrong. And so they’ll do everything that they can to tell you how wrong you are and force you to think the why they do. But yet that sort of mindset is exactly the same thing that Jesus preached against when he says in Mattew 5:21-22:

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

Now Raca is a Aramaic word that essentially means empty, or that you’re calling someone here empty headed. So this would be just the same as one of us saying that someone is retarded or stupid today. So Jesus is telling us that if we even say that someone is stupid then we are in danger of going to hell. Well why would Jesus be so extreme? That’s because this is a horrible thought to get caught up in. As history tells us the Nazis thought they were right in everything that they did and the Jews were the people causing all of the problems of the world. So they killed six million of them. So thinking you’re right and everyone else is wrong will lead you to murder as you let that grow in your heart.

So then some people will react to that and do the opposite, a sort of masochistic line of thinking that I’m quite famous for. So this one says you’re right and I’m wrong. Well that certainly stops you from condemning anyone else! In stead of saying it when someone does something wrong you go around and say your in your head that you’re even more horrible than them and have less to offer than they do. But in the end is that really any different than what the first person was thinking only now you’re calling yourself empty instead of them. Wouldn’t that still lead to murder only this time it’s yourself rather that someone else? Jesus also said in that same sermon:

Matthew 5:13
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

So Jesus is saying that if you don’t believe that you have anything good to say then what good are you? You’re salt that has no saltiness and that’s completely worthless. So we also can’t be going around thinking that everything we say is worthless.

So if we can’t condemn others and we can’t condemn ourselves then that must mean we have to be the live and let live types, right? So now this one is I’m right and you’re right. So everything is just ok and we can just go around singing Kum By Ya and everything will be just fine. Why worry about what’s happening in this world? All good things come to an end so just live a good life and let it be. But yet that’s not what Jesus was saying either. In that same sermon Jesus says:

Matthew 5:17-20
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Now the Pharisees were the best of the best here! They knew everything and had all of the right answers and you couldn’t trap them. They were like Billy Gram on crack! You couldn’t surpass their goodness, their righteousness. You couldn’t out teach them the law, they were the experts on the law! So isn’t this all completely contradictory and nothing here can be done because no one on the earth is that good. Who among us can possibly keep every bad thought out of our minds? Who among us can possibly keep from any kind of lust like Jesus told us to. Who among us can keep every single thing about us completely pure? We can’t! We fall sort of that! So we have a big problem here. How can we preach our religion when we can’t hold up to it’s own standard?

Why believe?
So in the end the real true answer is that we have to say I’m wrong and you’re wrong. That nothing in this world is right and everything is completely messed up in this world! But isn’t that just a little messed up here to be saying that nobody has life right here! That everybody lives their life wrong in this world! Well yes we can say that and mean it and it is true. Why? Because we all die. If we really could work a way into God’s favor then why would we all have to die someday? That’s the one truth that none of us can deny: we will all die someday. Back in October I had lost a good friend of mine and I do keep on bringing him up because I don’t want anyone to forget him. His name was Jon Hutchinson and if you ever want to see a life well lived he’s most defiantly a good example. He was always a joy to be around and you always saw a smile in his eye. He was just happy to be living and went out to grab life. He went on a lot of missions trips and gave all that he had to give. And the wonderful stories about this man are endless from the people who knew him best. He was afflicted with brain caner a few years back and he beat it twice but it still came back a third time and he died from it. Now if there was anyone who could have possibly earned his way out of death and straight into heaven then most certainly it would have been my friend. But he still died young at the age of 24 from a horrible disease that he most certainly didn’t deserve to have. I never had somebody close to me die like that before so his death hit me very hard. In the year that followed was by far one of the hardest that I ever had to live through. I saw every little dream and hope that I had be shattered one by one until everything that I hoped for was gone. And I had sat there many nights wishing that I had switched places with Jon. That I had gotten the brain caner and he had lived on, that just seem to be much more fair to me. But it just wasn’t so.

The real hope
A little more than month back, I was having horrible nightmares but I couldn’t remember any of them. I just knew they were bad because I would wake up extremely tense and petrified so I knew they were filled with evil thoughts. I talked to Invot about it and he did suggest that I should start praying over my dreams too. So then the next day I prayed for God to let me have a dream that is pleasing to Him and to let me see that lived out in life. I had a dream that day and I saw a woman who I had never seen before in my life. In the dream I walked up and kissed her and then at that moment I knew that she was pregnant and her name was Molly. Weird dream and it was a nice drem but I had no idea why God would give me this dream. So I just went along with life as usual until one day I just deiced to just go up to the mountains. I went up to rocky mountain national park just driving along the stop off points to take pictures. But then I came to another one of the stops and I saw her there. She was there with her husband and she was pregnant and even more crazy was that I did hear her husband call her Molly. In God’s own unique way, that only He could possibly do it, He stopped me right there and reminded me that He is pleased with life. That He is pleased with a new child coming into this world. When they found Jon they said he had a smile on his face. And why would he have a smile on his face? He knew he was dieing! He had a smile because he knew that he already won victory over death. Because Jesus came to this earth, the one true and perfect human being on this planet, who had never sinned one bit but yet still choose to die anyway to take our sins. Yet, He still rose up from the grave a changed man being perfect in spirit and in physical body to prove to us that He did win victory over death completely. So now Jon rests with that smile on his face knowing that his death is a temporary thing because Jesus said: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) And that’s why we do what we do! We don’t go out there to say that we’re right and you’re wrong. No! We go out to boldly proclaim that Jesus is right, that Jesus has the answer to this world and that Jesus won victory over death. Jon was a great man because he lived out a life grateful to God for giving him his life. That’s what this life is all about! It’s easy to get caught up in all of the worries of this world and let them take your attention off of God but we have to try to keep focused on God. Jesus said: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8) If you’re seeking out Jesus, you’ll find Him. If you’re looking for new life, you’ll find it. If you’re looking for God to redeem you, He will. And you can find Him in prayer, in His holy word, and in His believers. And so I conclude with Jesus’ great commission:

Matthew 28:18-20
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

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The Unmistakeable God and His Unmistakable Word

Posted on August 6th, 2009 by invot.
Categories: Political, Philosophy, Christianity, Cultural, Sermons.

Imagine, after nine long months, having a child; and imagine that your son had been born with some serious complications. The doctors, unsure if he’ll make it another hour, put him in this large rooms and every 10 feet are these clear plastic boxes, and in each one of these are tiny babies… some of them hardly weigh in at 3 pounds.
Imagine standing over that clear plastic box, watching your son battle for his life, and he’s got these tubes and wires coming out of his chest and his stomach and his mouth and his nose, and imagine the kind of prayer you’d pray, asking God to heal him. And, what if… he didn’t make it?
Ask any doctor and they’ll tell you: that kind of thing happens every day.
I had a friend who I’ve known for a while, and she told me that her mother had just been diagnosed with this rare bone condition and that not very many people survive the first few months. So the family all started praying, and then they took her in for another round of tests, and after that round of tests the doctor said to the family that, somehow, he couldn’t find anything wrong with her… she’s healed.
What do you do with That? I mean does God answer some prayers, but not all, or sometimes, but not all the times, or does God always answer prayers it just sometimes God says, no?
Have you ever heard people say, “We prayed and then God just showed up and did a miracle.” Well then where was God the rest of the time? was God somewhere else doing something else, and then apparently decided to show up here and do something that hadn’t been done, but should have been done, then God all of a sudden at the last minute decided to do?
I mean no wonder prayer gets… confusing. And other people say “well, you just have to understand, that God is going to do what God is going to do”. Well then, why pray? and others say “well, you don’t understand, God can do anything!” Well then why doesn’t He?
And I don’t think now would be a good time for me to mention those people who pray to God for a parking space…
Many of us have experienced situations where we’ve prayed and it felt like God wasn’t listening. Many of us have been confused by God and His apparent absence in our lives at the times when we needed Him most. And, if you really think it through, does it ever seem like all these answered, and unanswered, prayers are simply… (don’t strike me with lighting for saying this, but…) are they simply mere chance?

The Bible says this:

“Call to me, and I will answer you; I will tell you wonderful and marvelous things.” (Jeremiah 33: 3)
“If any of you lack wisdom, you should pray to God, who will give it to you.” (James 1: 5)
“We have courage in God’s presence, because we are sure that he hears us if we ask him for anything that is according to his will.” (1 John 5: 14)
“Now, will God not judge in favor of his own people who cry to him day and night for help?” (Luke 18: 7)
“If they pray to me and repent and turn away from the evil they have been doing, then I will hear them in heaven, forgive their sins, and make their land prosperous again.” (2 Chronicles 7: 14)
“everything you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive” (Matthew 21:22)

When God is silent, what do we do with that?

I don’t know about you, but I want to know a God that is real. Or, more precisely, a God that makes Himself real in my life today. When I read these things, and God isn’t bursting down the door, pulling rabbits out of His hat and turning water into wine, I start to wonder if God is all that real. I start to wonder why we worship a God who keeps making himself out to be completely indifferent. And this BIG question begins to bubble up in my soul: Can God even hear me?

For me to reach my point here, I’ll need to switch gears for a second. Everyone knows that Jesus says the darnedest things in the Bible.

Jesus says in Matthew 12:39 AND 16:4 “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign. . . ,”

Now what was going on when Jesus said what he did in Matthew 12? That is explained in a bit more detail in Luke 11:

And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the multitudes marveled. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.” Others, testing Him, sought from Him a sign from heaven.
- Luke 11:14-16

This was repeatedly demanded by the Pharisees, and what they probably meant was some spectacular wonder, without moral value, which would cater to human curiosity. Jesus never allowed himself to be maneuvered by such evil requests. Not only were the Pharisees incapable of judging such signs, but they were already the sworn enemies of the Lord, intent on killing him, and they would likely have rejected anything that even the Son of God might have done. A sign in the skies, or from above, would have been no more convincing than raising the dead or walking on the sea. As a matter of fact, Satan’s destruction of Job’s sheep (Job 1:16) was explained by some as “The fire of God is fallen from heaven”; but it was no such thing; it was a lying miracle of Satan. Furthermore, their conceit that some sign in the sky was necessarily from God was erroneous. Satan caused fire from heaven to fall on the animals that belonged to Job. Jesus would indeed give them a sign; but it would be of his choosing, not theirs.

And the amazing thing is this: The utter unreasonableness of the Pharisees is demonstrated by their demand for a sign when they had just witnessed one. Did anyone just notice that they did that? He just finished casting out a demon, and then they ask for a sign!

We see in the Bible that Jesus performed some pretty amazing miracles. He fulfilled prophecies like nobody’s business. He changed lives. He said these amazing things that nobody has ever heard before. And those who followed His ways were in no way doubtful of who He really was. In their minds, Jesus makes it unmistakably clear that He was the one that the prophets talked about. He was God in the flesh. The One who will come and cleanse us of our sins, set up a new kingdom of righteousness that He will reign over forever.

For those who believe in Him, follow Him, seek Him out, Jesus gives you reason to believe, reason to follow, reason to seek. Jesus delivers. As our relationship with Christ strengthens, He becomes more and more unmistakable. He enjoys making Himself known to those who will believe in Him!

The Bible says this:

“Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.” (Psalm 9:10)

“I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.” (Proverbs 8:17)

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. Do not be like the horse or like the mule, Which have no understanding, Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, Else they will not come near you. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; But he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him.” (Psalms 32:8-10 NKJV)

“Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.” (Psalms 34:8-10 NKJV)

“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalms 46:10 NKJV)

“Evil men do not understand justice, But those who seek the LORD understand all.” (Proverbs 28:5 NKJV)

“I will go before you And make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze And cut the bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden riches of secret places, That you may know that I, the LORD, Who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel . . . I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, that they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting, that there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other;” (Isaiah 45:2-6 NKJV)

God likes to tell people who He is. He likes to make himself known and He likes to effect those who are willing to be effected by Him.

Nowhere in the Bible is this more apparent than in Matthew 17. Jesus really pulls out all the stops here. Verses 1-7 say this:

Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him! ” And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.
- Matthew 17:1-7

So, would you say Jesus was beating around the bush here? Is Jesus simply alluding to His divinity?

If the disciples were looking for a sign, this is pretty much it, isn’t it? It’s pretty clear who the Son of God is by this point -Jesus is the Son of God!

Not only that, but right afterwards, Jesus removes a demon from a possessed child. Two chapters before this, He performs another exorcism, feeds four thousand people with seven loaves of bread, and heals a huge crowd of people.

Jesus likes to heal. He likes to feed. He likes to free us from darkness. He likes to show us just how awesome He is.

But… why, then, is He silent? You may find yourself asking: Where is God in my life today? Where are the miracles? Where are the signs and wonders? Where is the interaction? The connection? The relationship?

How can I receive a sign?

How can I get to know Jesus today, in the same way that the disciples were able to know Jesus two-thousand years ago? Is that even possible?

“And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, ‘Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?’” Matthew 11:2-3

John’s uncertainty is understandable. He had publicly identified Jesus as the Christ; but the Saviour’s Messiahship was not being proclaimed with the dogmatic certainty yet, which John might have expected; therefore, he did with his doubts what every true believer in Christ should always do, that is, he brought them to Jesus who answered and relieved them. When God’s children are in doubt, they should search the word of the Lord. If John, instead, had taken his doubts to the Pharisees, he would have been confirmed in his doubt, not in his faith; and the same is true today of many religious leaders.

Here is my BIG, FANCY, FINALLY REVEALED, point: Maybe, just maybe, we’re worshiping a God who isn’t there, and the real God had been silenced by everything else we’ve crowded our lives with. Maybe, just maybe, the true, I AM who I AM God, Yaw-weh, Adoni, God of Jacob and Abraham and all of Israel, is being spoken for.

Maybe all of our misconceptions of God have replaced who God really is. We have taken hold of a God prescribed to us by the modern American Evangelical Church. A cut-and-paste doctrine kind of God who thrives off of easy answers and quick fixes.

Just like the Pharisees, our idea of who God really is has been distorted, our hearts have been deceived, and we just keep eating the poisons that our culture is feeding us, because to seek God out for ourselves is way too time consuming and difficult. We’d rather take the easy route and believe what we’re told is tried and true without testing it ourselves.

Deuteronomy 32:16-17, 20 says this: “They made Him jealous with strange gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger. They sacrificed to demons who were not God, To gods whom they have not known, New gods who came lately, Whom your fathers did not dread . . . Then [God] said, ‘I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end shall be; For they are a perverse generation, Sons in whom is no faithfulness. ”

In Deuteronomy 32:30 God is wondering if His people can even recollect His miracles as He asks “How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, And the LORD had given them up?”

Have you ever been driving in traffic and spotted someone you know in the lane beside you? I don’t know about you, but when this happens to me, I start waving and honking like a madman. I’ll do whatever I can, short of crashing, just to extend a quick “hello! I see you!” simply because I’m so excited to see someone I know beside me in traffic.

Nine times out of ten, though, I am left unnoticed. My horn is drowned out by the other person’s radio, or my waves are not seen through the tint on the glass.

And maybe, just maybe, that’s how God is feeling towards us today. Just trying to say hi, but He’s completely drowned out by misconceptions, distractions, and idols.

“Did the priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’ And those who handle the law did not know Me; The rulers also transgressed against Me; The prophets prophesied by Baal, And walked after things that do not profit.” (Jeremiah 2:8) …Sounds a lot like today, doesn’t it?

And here we are asking for a sign… demanding God to hears us, and to let us know, by our terms and in our ways, that He hears us.

Jesus says that “a wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign.” (Matthew 16:4)

The best way to know the true God and to avoid deception is to read and know what His Word, the Bible, says. Anything outside of this or contrary to it may be a deception. Just because someone wrote a book and Zondervan published it, doesn’t make the words inside of it true. The Bible is truth. That’s it. And other books can only gleam truth from it… but the Bible is the source.
The Bible says this:

“The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8)

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)

What I’m trying to say here is that there is no simple answer to finding an authentic relationship with Christ. If you want to know who He is, if you want to experience Him authentically, then you have some reading to do. You have some praying to do.

Because it’s all to easy to simply say that God is working in your life. It’s easy to mistake indigestion for the Holy Spirit when you’ve forgotten the real thing.

When the true God, the God of the Bible, the God who wrote the Bible, takes a back seat to all the deceptions you’ve come to believe, then you start saying things that make everyone want to puke.

“…and then God just showed up and did something amazing!”

“…I prayed and I prayed and then the perfect parking spot just opened right up!”

“…and you just have to understand that God’s going to do what God’s going to do!”

If you want to see Him active and alive in your life, there’s a lot of work involved. You can’t just start things off demanding a sign. You can’t pretend that everything you see and experience is a sign, because that’s selling God short.

Signs come to those who wait. Signs come to those who can be trusted with them. Signs come to those who seek Him, and obey Him, those who meditate in His Word and worship Him alone.

You can’t expect or demand Jesus to perform for you. Especially when your heart is in the wrong place.

Maybe, just maybe, your idea of what’s best isn’t God’s idea. Maybe, just maybe, there’s idols in your life, tying you down and keeping you from hearing what God has to say. And maybe, just maybe, what God is trying to say to you right now, today, personally, lovingly, desperately, is to soften your heart and let in his truth. Let in His word. And let out all the spoon-fed answers you’ve been given about Him that have ultimately led you to an understanding of Him that has been repetitively letting you down.

We have to remember: God delivers!

We have to remember, that when it comes to a relationship with Christ, we are not on the altar. Christ is. And we serve Him. And when we’re in His will, things will happen to glorify Him. Not us. And His glory will bring us joy!

We are to rejoice in His holiness! We are to mock His holiness! We are to be changed by His Holiness day in and day out in our every situation, not because of our situation.

Jesus says that “a wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” (Matthew 16:4)

Don’t let that be us. Don’t be the one refusing to hear God. I pray that tonight we soften our hearts to His unique voice. His unmistakable voice. The voice He used to speak the entire universe into existence.
And others may write books and host television shows proclaiming some other God that gets you rich, makes you friends, pulls you out of addiction in ten easy steps, but you have to remember that your God, thankfully, is not their God.

Paul writes to the Corinthians this:

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.
-I Corinthians 1:18-31

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