A Curb in Bakersfield, California

Almost forty years ago, a man named Keith sat with me on a curb in Bakersfield, California and explained the grace of God to me. I took Christ at His word, believed in Him, and received Him as my Savior.

Recently, Judy and I reconnected with another couple from those Jesus Movement years in Bakersfield. Like Judy and me, Keith had touched their lives for Christ.

Since then, Judy and I have raised a Christian family and pastored three churches. God has privileged us with opportunity to equip many saints who have had worldwide impact for the Lord Jesus. The scope of our friends’ service for the Lord Jesus is enormous. Millions have been introduced to the grace of God through their ministry.

But it all started with Keith, the high school coach who found Jesus and decided to dedicate His life to telling others about Him.

Keith is in his eighties now, but he hasn’t slowed down. The last time I saw him he was excited about his recent mission trip to Africa, his ministry in his local church, the opportunities God was giving him through the Gideons, and his volunteer service every summer at a Christian Camp—as their gardener!

News in Heaven

You may have never heard about Keith Osborn until now. He never made the nightly news on earth, but he’s been making news in heaven for forty years.

In this day when Christians are flocking to seminars and devouring books trying to find self-worth, Keith’s life reminds us of our deeper need as Christians: Life-worth!

It really doesn’t matter if you’re a corporate lawyer or a stay-at-home mom, a high school teacher or a fireman, a church deacon or a mega-church pastor, your life-worth increases every time you tell someone about the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

“But my life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about God’s wonderful kindness and love” (Acts 20:24, New Living Translation).

Clyde Cook: Larger Than Life

A few years ago I wrote these words from one of my favorite places on earth—Cannon Beach, Oregon.

Judy and I walked the beach on a Monday morning with heavy hearts. One of the most important men in our lives—Dr. Clyde Cook, President Emeritus of Biola University—had died suddenly Friday evening.

The breathtaking beauty of Cannon Beach and its spectacular Haystack Rock seemed a fitting backdrop to our prayers for Clyde’s beloved Anna Belle and their children. Clyde Cook was one of those Christians whose dedication to the Lord Jesus made him larger than life.

As we neared the majestic 235-foot tall monolith filled with nesting seabirds, I thought about the moment of Clyde’s transition from his life here on earth to his forever life in heaven. Dr. Cook was 73 years old when God called him to his home in heaven where he will now spend eternity.

73 years here, forever there.

73 years of faithful service here, forever years of rewarded service there.

Standing in the shadow of that great rock, I picked up a pebble from the sand and compared the two. The pebble is small; it fit in my hand. Haystack Rock is enormous, its dimensions almost beyond my comprehension.

For my friend and mentor, Clyde Cook, the pebble represents his whole life here on earth—73 years.

The great rock corresponds to the life he passed into last Friday evening—His eternity with the Lord Jesus.

And though my heart is sad and I will miss this great man of God, I smile when I think of his coming reward. The Lord Jesus Christ promises to reward His faithful followers, and few have been more faithful to their Savior than Clyde Cook.

Dr. Cook was more preoccupied with the world to come than he was with this world. He knew that His few years here on earth were his opportunity to invest in his heavenly reward.

He lived for the rock, not the pebble.

I’m asking God to use this dear saint’s tremendous example to move me to live for the world to come. Will you join me? I promise you we will never regret it.

“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward will be great in heaven!” Jesus Christ, Luke 6:23

Question: Are you living for the rock of the pebble?

God, I’m Confused Here!

Have you ever moved forward in faith, sure that you knew what God wanted you to do, only to encounter trial after trial, roadblock after roadblock?

In January of 2005 we celebrated our 90^th Anniversary by raising over $600,000 to begin transforming our campus. We knew God wanted us to build on this beautiful piece of property. A new worship center seemed like the logical choice. So we initiated a capital campaign, and started planning our construction.

Every month we poured ourselves into the project. We estimated the scope and cost, and announced it to the congregation. And then, something would happen and we would have to rethink and re-plan, and re-report the revised plans and figures to our people.

By the time we had our big Groundbreaking Ceremony under a tent over three years later, we were sure the construction was just a few days off. But it all fell apart again. Finally, we told the church that we needed to move forward with a new construction team and timeline, we would “get back to them” as soon as we had a clearer picture.

I Can’t Build a Doghouse

Since I can’t build a doghouse, I have no idea if we could have planned this better. I do know that we were on our knees every step of the way and always told the church exactly what we knew and all that we knew.

Though the Bible says nothing about how to transform a campus or build a worship center, it has a lot to say about how to lead a church—by building loving, mature trust on the leadership team and between the leaders and the people. And that is what we have dedicated ourselves to with all our heart.

At our Thursday elder meeting before the event we knew the business meeting could get dicey. The building was going to cost a lot more than we originally thought and we weren’t absolutely sure where all of the money was going to come from. But we were confident that this was where God wanted us to go.

We did know that God had blessed us with deep unity. The years of building a strong, loving bond of trust between the elders and the flock had led us to an amazingly healthy place. And so, we just decided to risk it before God—to risk God’s glory to this community under the Headship of the Lord Jesus.

And the Count Is…

When the ballots were counted it was unanimous: 159 for moving forward, 0 against.

If you’ve been around churches for more than a few months, you know that this degree of unity is more than remarkable—it’s supernatural. Our joy over the Spirit’s deep work in our lives was so strong, the chairman of the elder board forgot to vote!

We’ll have to amend the minutes at our next congregational business meeting from 159 for and 0 against to 160 for and 0 against!

It was a mighty work of God—He did His part. He always does. And though our part was small by comparison, it was critical. As shepherds, we did what He told us—we made disciples as we built a loving community.

You may be in the middle of a lengthy trial right now, or feel like the Lord is delaying your dream. You might even wonder if He has forgotten all about you.

Could it be that you’re worrying about God’s part while neglecting your part? I’m sure that if you spent some time in prayer and asked a few mature Christians for some guidance, God would clearly point out your part in all of this. And once you’ve discovered that, you’re in the good place of trusting Him for the rest!

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledged Him, and He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Cancer Waiting Rooms

From late 2000 to 2008 I gathered with a group of people in a place none of us wanted to be—the waiting room of the USC Norris Cancer Center’s Outpatient Clinic. What we had in common was our deadly diagnosis, and our bandaged arms from the blood test our oncologist was about to read.

I remember well the first time I took my seat in that room. So weak I could barely walk and so embarrassed by my grotesque appearance, the emotions of actually being a cancer patient overwhelmed me. Judy had to support me—both physically and emotionally—when I tried to cross the street from the “regular” hospital to the cancer hospital.

Surveying the room over the years, I could see the despair in the eyes of the first-timers. They were still either reeling from or resisting the idea that they belonged there with people like me—people with cancer or lymphoma. They never imagined life could be so hard, so hurtful, so hopeless.

I always want to tell them about the One who sits next to in these rooms of despair—the same One who sat with me eight years ago and every visit since. The One who is always with me whispering words of comfort and hope into my life.

His name is Jesus.

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“For all the people have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have tempted me now these ten times, and have not obeyed me, they will by no means see the land that I swore to their fathers, nor will any of them who despised me see it” (Numbers 14:22-23). 

Numbers contains the records of two generations, two censuses (numberings, chapters 1-4; 26), and two sets of instructions for enjoying the “rest” of experiencing God’s blessing in the land of promise. The book opens with Israel’s 11-day march from Sinai to Kadesh (Numbers 1:1) and ends almost 40 years later (Deuteronomy 1:3). Only a year has passed since the exodus of Egypt. In spite of God’s merciful and bountiful provision, the dissatisfied people murmur and complain (11:1). This attitude undermines their faith in the goodness of their God and leads to disbelief and disobedience (14:22-23). The descendants of Jacob had learned that they were God’s special people (Genesis); they had experienced the delivering power of their redeeming God (Exodus), and they had learned that He is a holy God (Leviticus).

Now, in a dramatic test within sight of the Promised Land, they will fail to trust Him enough to do what He says. Numbers, the book of missed opportunity due to disobedience, contrasts the faithfulness of God with the fickleness of His people. God will discipline the Exodus generation to purge their unbelief from His people (1-25). Then, He will return the new generation to their place of testing—poised once again at the doorstep of the Promised Land (26-36).  The account is selective according to Moses’ purpose “to compel obedience to Yahweh by member of the new community by reminding them of the wrath of God on their parents because of their breach of the covenant; to encourage them to trust in the ongoing promises of their lord as they follow him into their heritage in Canaan; and to provoke them to worship of God and to the enjoyment of their salvation.” (Ronald B. Allen, “Numbers,” in Genesis-Numbers, vol 2. of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, p. 662)

Numbers is the book of wanderings. Two generations receive instructions on how to enjoy intimacy with God in the land He promised them. One mistrusts Him, disobeys, and does not enter the “rest” of the blessing of obedience. The next is told to learn from the 40-year object lesson of the discipline of their parents. The theme of Numbers is the correlated truths of grace and devotion: God makes covenants of grace with His people, but to experience the full blessings of His grace demands wholehearted devotion. The object lessons for God’s redeemed people of the church age are clear: The pattern of Israel’s frequent failures to trust and obey God is set at Kadesh. During times of trial and testing they complained and disobeyed—focusing on their circumstances rather than their God. Consequently God postponed the blessing. Most generations of Israel will never enjoy the benefits and blessing of God’s promises to His people:

Numbers is a map for God’s people of every generation to follow during the wilderness experiences of life.

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It’s About Capacity, Not Desire

Being around professional ballplayers during Spring Training a few years ago reminded me of one of the toughest lessons I had to learn growing up: I will never play for the Dodgers.

My problem wasn’t that didn’t dream of playing for the Dodgers. That was just about all I thought about during my little league years. I took extra infield practice, worked on my hitting, and may have been the most enthusiastic and dedicated little blossoming first basemen ever.

But, by the time I went to high school, it became very obvious. I would never play first base for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Shoot, I couldn’t even play first base for the South High Rebels.

I didn’t have a “want-to” problem. I had an “able-to” problem—a capacity problem.

Watching the Dodgers take infield practice and batting practice at Vero Beach, it hit me again. As much as I love baseball, I’m just not very good. On my best day I could never do what those guys do every day.

Why I Love Following Jesus

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“Sir, I’m in 27A.”

I couldn’t believe I was really boarding a plane headed for Vero Beach, Florida. All my life I had been talking about meeting a lifelong friend to see our beloved Dodgers in their spring training home—Dodgertown!

I was telling the Lord how thankful I was to be finding my seat on the overcrowded plane when I saw a man sitting in my window seat.

“Sir, I’m in 27A.”

“I know, would you mind switching seats with me. My son and I are headed to spring training and he’s afraid to sit alone.”

“No problem,” I assured him. And I really meant, “No problem”—that is until he told me that his assigned seat was a middle seat.

I argued with the Lord about what to do. I knew it was the right thing to do and I even wanted to. But a middle seat?

“You enjoy the ride with your son. I’ll take the middle seat.

As I fought back up the aisle for my miserable middle seat I couldn’t help thinking about the fact that the man and his son were Red Sox fans.

I hate the Red Sox!

When two beefy guys piled in on both sides and I felt like I couldn’t breathe, the Lord brought Esther’s story to mind.

When Mordecai challenged Esther to risk her life by going before the King of Persia to expose Haman’s evil plot to kill all the Jews, he put her rise to queen in perspective: “Who can say but that God has brought you into the palace for just such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)

We should always be looking for the spiritual and eternal reason God has ordered our lives in the way He has. He is never surprised, never overwhelmed, never without purpose. His hand is the one that moves historic world events and the “smaller” events and circumstances of our lives—like sitting in a middle seat.

All of the noble and eternal reasons God wanted me to sit in the middle seat ran through my mind. Maybe I would have an opportunity to lead one of my portly row-mates to Christ. Maybe I would see this man and his son at the Dodgers-Red Sox game tomorrow and they would ask me why I was so nice. I’d then have an opportunity to tell them that I’m a Christian and causing them to think about the kindness of God’s people.

For almost three hours the guys on both sides fell asleep and leaned their massive body weights in on me so that I could barely move. One of them snored loudly in a way that made me happy that they don’t serve meals on planes any more.

When we walked off the plane in West Palm Beach, the father never even said, thanks.

My point? Most of the time we will never connect the dots of the difficult assignments the Lord asks us to take in His name to His eternal purposes.

If we’re telling Jesus that we’ll do the hard things only when He makes it clear why we should, He’ll just start handing out the really significant assignments to His more willing and trusting followers.

So, what is your middle seat? What are you telling God you won’t do unless He guarantees that it all makes sense?

Only those willing to sit in the middle seat when they don’t know why will discover the joy of His intimate guidance.

When most people think about sin and God their first thought is, “If you want to be with God, you better do something about that!”

This may be a popular religious idea, but it’s not what God says.

God never asks us to take care of our sin because He already has. 

That’s why He sent His Son, Jesus Christ–to die for our sins.

It’s always been that way.

Even in the Old Testament God didn’t ask the Israelites to “take care of their sin” to approach Him. He did ask them to admit their sin and trust Him to cleanse them from the penalty when they sacrificed an animal. The blood of the animal atoned for their sin (Leviticus 17:11).

In the New Testament we discover that even after trusting in Christ’s blood to pay for our sins at salvation, there’s an ongoing need to admit our need for the ongoing cleansing power of Christ’s shed blood (1 John 1:5-10).

God’s not asking us to take care of our sin. He’s already done that.

But He is asking us to admit it if we want to have intimacy with Him.

That’s the big idea of Leviticus: God is holy, but sin is horrible. If we want to have intimacy with Him, we need to trust in His provision for our sin.

Question: Is there something God is asking you to admit? 

“Therefore, tell the Israelites, ‘I am the Lord. I will bring you out from your enslavement to the Egyptians, I will rescue you from the hard labor they impose, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.’”

(Exodus 6:6)

Exodus begins where Genesis left off. Seventy descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are living as aliens in Egypt under the protection of Pharaoh who favored Joseph (Genesis 46:27; Exodus 1:5). But soon after recounting the unprecedented growth of just a handful to a nation within a nation, Moses (Mark 7:10) explains the necessity of the Exodus with the foreboding words, “Then a new kind, who did not know about Joseph, came to power over Egypt” (Exodus 1:8). The account is selective according to Moses’ purpose to encourage the Israelites assembled on the Plains of Moab (Exodus 16:35) by celebrating God’s great and gracious deliverance of His people from Egyptian slavery to the freedom of living in covenant relationship and intimacy with Him.

The events Moses records in Exodus cover a period of about 400 years from the arrival of Jacob and his family in Egypt to the erection of the tabernacle in the wilderness. The chapters naturally divide into two sections. The first section (1-18) documents the dreadful plight of Israel in Egypt and their dramatic deliverance from slavery. The second section (19-40) deals with God preparing His people to worship Him intimately.

Most of the book (chapters 3-40) focuses on only two of those 400 years—the year before and the year after the Exodus from Egypt. The Exodus is obviously the central event of the second book of the Pentateuch. Exodus is the most cited book in the rest of the Old Testament, and only the books of Psalms and Isaiah are referred to more than Exodus in the New Testament.

The two-fold theme of Exodus is redemption and relationship:

Redemption means liberation because of a payment made. The Passover is the greatest picture of redemption in the Old Testament. The story of the birth of Israel illustrates the three basic ideas of biblical redemption. (1) People are redeemed from something—slavery in Egypt. (2) People are redeemed by something—the blood of the Passover lamb. (3) People are redeemed to something—freedom to serve God through the obedience that comes from continued trust.

Relationship with God carries the glorious opportunity to dwell with Him intimately. The God of Israel clearly states what this intimate relationship with Him involves. As they learn to trust and obey Him, He will dwell among them and they will be His people:

Exodus dramatically contrasts God’s gracious choice to bless Israel with deliverance, adoption, and His abiding presence with Israel’s consistent ingratitude and rebellion.

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If you were to survey 100 people, including a lot of people calling themselves Christians who claim to speak for God and ask the question, “What must I do to have a relationship with God?” Most of the answers you would receive would go something like this:

If you want to have a relationship with God, you have to begin by making some changes. Stop sinning, or at least sin less (meaning sin about the same amount that I sin), get your life together, be more holy, go to church more, care more for the poor, be more compassionate, care more for justice in the world. And then, once you’ve turned your life around, once you’ve decided to be better and do better for God, then you can think about having a relationship with God.

I want to demonstrate from the book of Exodus why this is wrong, terribly wrong; in fact, it’s absolutely backwards to say, “Change your life and then maybe you can have a relationship with God.” It’s never been that way with the God of the Bible. From the very beginning it’s been the other way around: “God will change you by liberating you from slavery, then, and only then are you set free to enjoy a relationship with Him.”

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