Was Jesus a Space Cadet...part 9
Writer Author Jerry Lee Kay Sr.
Christian Article
:
Jesus Christ
- Fiction No
And so we take some time and look back over things said, things I have expressed, and try to get a grip on the feelings of some of the spiritual people of God I've known over the years. I must tell you, there is absolutely no end to the adventure. I am still meeting and in some cases inter-reacting with new ones. In my youth I had no control over it, I had six Fathers and six Mothers...In my preaching days I was given orders from headquarters to fellowship with some I couldn't stand. In my sunset years I am much more choosy. And I am very convinced I have earned that right.
When one has traveled the miles I have, you will stop being caught up in religious fads, and being so very adamant on personal views, and if one is maturing one will start living ones personal convictions while allowing others to progress at the pace they are capable of as the Holy Spirit leads them....Problem is many folks whether they be preacher, teacher, or aggressive layperson, set themselves up as being the one chosen to do the work that was given expressly to the Holy Spirit....Preach and live the word is what we are told to do. And I must add, preach that word with love, in a spirit of humility. One can wear the whole armor of God and have a sweet spirit while giving the devil a black eye....Come on and say Amen!
The story is told of a youngster learning to play the piano whose mother, to encourage a love for music in him, took him to a Paderewski concert. Soon after the mother and son were seated, the mother spotted a friend a little distance away and walked down the aisle to greet her. The time got a little too long for the youngster, and he wandered off, exploring the wonders of the concert hall, eventually making his way through a door clearly marked NO ADMITTANCE.
When the house lights dimmed, the mother returned to her seat, only to find her son missing. At that moment the curtains on the stage parted, and to her shock, there was her son seated at the keyboard of the impressive Steinway. Oblivious to the crowd, he began to pick out the notes to "Twinkle, twinkle, little star." Just then Paderewski came on stage, quickly moved to the piano and whispered in the boy's ear, "Don't quit. Keep playing." Leaning over the boy, the concert pianist reached down with his left hand and began filling in a bass part. Soon his right arm reached around the other side of the boy and added another part. Together the old master and the young novice transformed a frightening situation into a wonderfully creative moment. The audience was captivated.
Just so, is not God able to work through our sometimes feeble efforts, wrapping arms around us, urging us on, transforming our work into something beautiful?...My!My!My!..I said I was going to write this without getting excited...As those that read me know by now, I am not a writer, if it wasn't for a woman of God called LaVella Kraft you wouldn't be exposed to my ignorance and ramblings. She is the one that encouraged me, corrected me, and once told me, "Poppa even though you are not a polished writer, folks are more interested in what you have to say than how much you shine, keep on writing and shine for our Father". That was like saying sic em to a bulldog...So, though I am uneducated in your world, I know something about the one I write about.....Somebody give me a witness!
Indeed, God equips us to dream new dreams, He taxes our imaginations, prodding us to envision far more than we ever thought possible. I am aware that I have talked a lot about being a star gazer and one that loves to be alone, shut up in my secret place with the Father, gaining new power to run the race. Is this not the way? ..That we set aside time to allow Him to wrap His arms around us as we play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and have Him make a Masterpiece of our efforts?..That we set aside time to consider anew God's gracious gifts, time for wonder and amazement, time for mystery and growth, time to dream with eyes-wide-open. O' dear friends listen to me!..The promise is that God is with us, encouraging, upholding, challenging, renewing, recreating us that we might dream new dreams and imagine new possibilities. Possibilities of peace, possibilities of compassionate love and servanthood, possibilities of new life and vision.
I read an article not long ago about the famous actor Gregory Peck. It seems that he was once standing in line with a friend, waiting for a table in a crowded Los Angeles restaurant. They had been waiting for some time, the diners seemed to be taking their time eating and new tables weren't opening up very fast. They weren't even that close to the front of the line. Peck's friend became impatient, and he said to Gregory Peck, "Why don't you tell the maitre d' who you are?" Gregory Peck responded with great wisdom. "No," he said, "if you have to tell them who you are, then you aren't."...That's a lesson the Pharisee in Luke 18 apparently had never learned. His prayer, if it can be called that, is mostly an advertisement for himself.
Religion has always been a big machine, and it seems to me that it has escalated in recent years, or maybe Poppa has coped an attitude, or maybe this is just no longer a world compatible with old men/preachers. It seems everybody and his/her brother is suddenly spiritual and has the formula, the answer if you will, for yours and my quest. Far too many are "like the cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow." I've known, several preachers, so called prophets and a few laypersons along the way who were just about as vain as that....I knew one fellow once who believed himself to be that "One far-off divine event to which the whole creation moves." He seemed to have the idea that all of time and circumstance, up to then, had conspired to accomplish only one purpose, and that was just to get him into the world. He saw himself as creation's ultimate achievement, the apex toward which all else had forever been aimed, and beyond which nothing of any notable quality would ever appear again. He truly was/is a legend in his own mind, He and his movement only...has the message! Now don't get me wrong, I love a good positive person, unless they are positively wrong. There are educated fools in this world beloved, and some go under the disguise of religion.
I say, blessed are those that can or will admit we are all just winging it. Admit we don't really know, admit we have a measure of light but are really seeing through a glass darkly. There are many preachers that don't really like Poppa because I keep reminding them of these things.
At the western end of the Mediterranean, where Europe and Africa almost touch, stands the towering 1,400-foot mass of rock called Gibraltar. The ancient people who lived along the Mediterranean shores looked upon that rock as the end of their world. Beyond it was a mystery, the awesome and forbidding waters of the great sea of Atlas, the Atlantic. High on the Rock of Gibraltar, so it is said, someone chisled the Latin legend, "Ne Plus Ultra," meaning "Nothing More Beyond." Then one August day in 1492 three small ships under command of Christopher Columbus loosed from the port of Palos in Spain, swung into the open sea, and with sails trimmed for sailing west, disappeared into the sunset. After many months, the adventuring explorer was back with glowing accounts of other lands beyond the sea. And, so it is said, someone altered the legend on the face of Gibraltar, erasing the negative "Ne" and leaving only "Plus Ultra," meaning: "More Beyond." ....
Jesus once said, "Among those who are born of women" ..." That's a very broad statement, wouldn't you say..But this is a statement of Jesus as he offers the highest of praises to one of his associates in the dimension of truth and light. He says, "Among those who are born of women, there has not arisen a greater prophet than John the Baptizer".
What was it that was so great about John - this son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, this leather-clad, locust-eating rustic from the "hill country" of Judea? Actually, it seems to me, aspects of greatness were breaking out all over this man, the prophet who stands at this end of a long line of prophets. The last man that ever prophesied of the coming Saviour. All the others had spoken hopefully and longingly of the coming of the Messiah..but to John the lot fell to introduce him to the world....
Surely it is a high privilege to make a presentation of this kind, a privilege which, incidentally, nobody but John has ever had. Doing this, however, does not necessarily require any large measure of greatness. But John did something else which does.. he said another thing which only the great can ever say. Concerning the Messiah, he said, "One is coming after me, he is mightier than I, I am unworthy of him, I am simply helping to prepare the way for him."
It was an aspect of John's greatness that he could see himself as who he was, as standing where he stood. With no tinge of bitterness or jealousy or self-pity, he could say concerning Jesus, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30). He could see his own star eclipsed by the brighter sun, and could turn with up reached arms to welcome that more brilliant light...."Little" people usually do not make good forerunners. Most of us, of course, are forerunners of something or other.. but generally we don't know it at the time. John knew that he was, and he was willing to be. He was content to draw aside the curtain, focus the spotlight upon Another, and then step back into the shadows. There are dimensions of greatness in the character of anyone who can do that as gracefully and graciously as did John.
This man John was a different type, beyond himself he saw something else, something better, something to be cherished and looked forward to. "He who is coming after me is mightier than I," says he. It is he, not I, who will do the wonderful things the world needs to have done, he says. "His winnowing fork is in his hand," and he will put everything where it belongs, he will set things right. John had a hope, an expectation. He had an outlook. In other words, he could see out. And the view was forward. He could see beyond himself, and beyond his day, and what he saw was good.
John had a vision of the future, an image of tomorrow, and in the midst of that picture stood hope and redemption and rightness. What he saw in his vision of tomorrow gave him courage to stand by the Jordan and challenge his world from its lowest peasant to its highest king. He stood in the finest tradition of the Hebrew prophets of the Eternal, and like all who had come and gone before him...it was in the light of what he saw in his vision that he was able to see not only the moral squalor of his own day, but he also could see the condition of the church of his day. The beauty and glory of what he saw ahead of him rendered intolerable the ugliness of what he saw around him.....And so in Israel another prophet's heart was stirred and another prophet's voice was heard. And Jesus said he was the greatest of them all.
And so dear friend, here we are today, you and Poppa. What about tomorrow? What is your image of it? As you look out from within, what is it you see? What do you see out there ahead of you?..A theology Professor named Earl Marlatt, wrote what in my opinion is one of the finest Christian hymns ever written by anybody.... "Spirit of Life, in this new dawn, Give us the faith that follows on ...Give us thy vision, eyes that see, Beyond the dark, the dawn and Thee" ...
In order for you and I to survive the heat of these times, and I am not talking about the weather...We will need what the songwriter was talking about. "The faith that follows on, and the vision that sees beyond" Lets talk about that vision of tomorrow for a bit.
I was driving to preach a revival once upon a time somewhere in the north eastern part of the country when I saw a big truck parked on the side of the hiway. The driver was standing by the tractor from which a front wheel had been removed. I stopped to see if he needed any help, but the trucker thanked me and said he had already sent for help. He had burned out a wheel bearing, and another one was on its way. As I pulled away, my eyes caught the lettering on the side of the trailer, Polk Oil Co., Lubricants Division. He had burned out a wheel bearing while hauling grease....I wondered how could that happen?...I preached that whole revival based on the theme..."Without a Vision, the People Perish", maybe it should have been.."If Yew Don't Use The Grease Yer Gonna be a Goner Fer Sure."... Do I need to expound on that?....Okie dokie I shall!.....
So, I arrived at the place I was asked to come and hold the revival meeting. A nice comfy church with capacity of 500-600, with maybe 50 folks present and most of them in the choir. The music was dead and the organist overshadowed everything there, when I say overshadowed I mean you barely could hear the choir and certainly not the piano.It sounded more like a funeral parlor than a church. However I must admit, the music was appropriate, for the crowd and the pastor was surely dead. Faithful but very dead.
Regrettably, many churches are dead and just don't know it. Why? There are a hundred reasons why people stay away in great droves. Ninety-nine percent of America will not be in church next Sunday night. And it is only a little better on Sunday morning. And why should they go? Too many services are dead, dull, despondent, and depressing. Any ball game, concert, movie, or street fight has more life than the average church. One reason is the absence of vision. There is no life because there is no hope. And there is no hope because there is no expectancy. There is no expectancy because there is no vision. There is no vision because the pastor has not instilled vision, and the result is death. "Where there is no vision, the people perish" (Prov. 29:18).
Vision, like expectancy, always hopes for something better, always expects it, always believes it will happen. "Can do" is its motto, "The Impossible Dream," its theme song. I like this statement: "The difficult we'll do right now... the impossible may take a little longer."...What me and Jesus wanted, and to which I had become accustomed, was not there. I did not know what it was, but I knew what it wasn't. Night after night I hammered and preached my heart out. And was beginning to wonder if I was hammering nails in my own coffin. Something was missing, I couldn't put my finger on it." But that elusive "something" was missing.
I finally got enough of it and decided we are going to have revival or Poppa is going to the house. So I told the Pastor I didn't want any more organ music while I was there. And either he let me hold this revival the way the Holy Spirit is leading me or we can just shut it down. That word spread like wildfire throughout the community, and the next night over a hundred folks showed up, counting the 50 or so that was already being faithful. I told the choir to hang their robes up, and called a group of singers that I knew, to come there and help me, and I payed all of their expenses and fees out of my own pocket. I preached, the singers sang and gave their testimonies for a couple more days, and each night we were gaining in attendance. And then it happened! That special "something" I had missed was there. I did not know what it was I was looking for until I reviewed that service over and over again. The thing that made the difference was Expectancy!..An atmosphere of expectancy, hope, vision, and excitement, filled the church. I wasn't so much concerned with getting souls saved at that point as I was with reviving the dead. I knew if the Holy Spirit brought new converts into that place, it wouldn't be long they would be dead also.
O' dear friend you listen to me!..It started slow, but those people started blowing on the kindling and before I knew what happened the fire fell on that place and those folks came alive. Half the choir got saved and the piano player came back from the dead! She was suddenly alive and the fire of Holy Spirit was all over her!..I even let the organist come back, and she got rhythm she didn't know she had..that blew my mind, I had to ask her to hold it down and cut back on the volume. Those folks caught the vision and were convinced that they could have church!..They began to expect. They were expecting a packed worship center, souls saved, lives changed, and fire from heaven every church day.
Night after night, I told them, because we bore the Name, What Name Poppa?...Come on Now!...There is no other Name!.. The revival there could affect the whole community. Slowly it began to dawn on them that their church must be one of God's great vessels of the gospel. It must be a mighty lighthouse in that city. He had placed them there for a purpose. The vision they caught was to be "Torch Bearers of The Mighty Love of God to a Lost and Dying Generation." They began to believe it could happen. The raindrops began to fall. Faith became sight. Dream became reality. Then there was expectancy. They prayed, worked, and expected it again and again.
It is the place of the pastor to be the vision-caster....And trust me dear friend, if you are a parent, you are a pastor...He first must get alone with God and stay until he hears from heaven. Once your soul is stirred about the direction of your church, or your home call them together and share it with them. Listen to their response. Massage your dream, refine your focus, and then take it to the pulpit. It might not be popular, it might not be easy, but God will always bless the person who has a vision and follows it. If you would lead people, you must get out in front of them. Deep in the heart of every child of God is the natural desire to follow an earthly shepherd whom he believes is following the heavenly Shepherd...If God has called you as the spiritual leader of his people, then the purpose of leadership is to lead....Come on somebody and say Amen!
The front of ancient sailing ships was called the "pulpit." That small protruding portion extending beyond the bough was where the "lookout" watched for rocks and other dangers. Standing there was called "riding the pulpit." In times of danger, a volunteer allowed the captain to tie him to it. If he died, he died. But he pointed the way and gave the vision to the crew. Go to God, get the vision, "Weep between the Altar and the Porch" if need be, ask your heavenly Captain to tie you to it, and lead his people/your family by his grace...For you see beloved it is not ...."Ne Plus Ultra"...rather this thing is "Plus Ultra".. There truly is "More Beyond" O' Dear Friend, Listen to me! There is so much more beyond. And He will open the windows of heaven for you and I... if we will but seek Him....My!My!My! can you see it..."Without a vision, the people perish!"...continued..
God Bless You
Poppa
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