Behold His Glory

By Pastor Jim Heritage

In this book, you will be exposed,
through the Word of God, to these
seven vital areas of Gods work in our
lives through which He regularly shows
His glory. We will personally celebrate the
display of Gods power and glory in our
lives as we embrace His purpose and work
and allow Him to reshape and mold our
lives accordingly.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 27, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462896776

Book preview

Copyright © 2011 by Pastor Jim Heritage.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2011910872

ISBN: Hardcover     978-1-4628-9676-9

ISBN: Softcover      978-1-4628-9675-2

ISBN: Ebook           978-1-4628-9677-6

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

All scripture quoted within this book are taken from BibleGateway.com, which is a division of the Zondervan Corporation and is permissible by their Terms of Use Agreement

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

101520

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CONTENTS

Chapter

   Introduction

1. God’s Sovereignty

Letting God out of the Box

2. God’s Warnings

Code Red

3. God’s Authority

Submitting to the Authority of God

4. God’s Partnership

Revitalizing Your Spiritual Life

5. God’s Teaching

Becoming a Hearer of the Word

6. God’s Promises

Faith, Promises and Hope

7. God’s Mission

Getting Into The Game

   Closing Thoughts

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It Is 6 o’clock in the morning! Why am I out of bed staring hazily at my computer trying desperately to engage my mind and clear my eyesight on a Saturday morning? I could blame the leg cramps, but they only played a secondary role. They just got me awake enough for thoughts and ideas to begin to bouncing around in my barely conscious mind to implant just enough data to say; I’m not letting you go back to sleep, just give up, crawl out of bed and meet me at your computer! So reluctantly I obey, but throughout my body there is resentment and rebellion fighting to hang on to sleep as long as possible, screaming for me to go back to bed. But at last, after staring at my computer screen in gridlock for forty five minutes, the mind begins to accept the fact that you are sitting up and not laying down, the data wins, the mist at least partially clears, the body gives up its fight to go back to bed, and you are able to function at some level to deal with those thoughts and ideas which began all of this, and to begin to wrestle with the critical question, What am I going to preach on tomorrow?

Now I know there are such creatures as morning people for whom such a struggle never exists. It is an unfair advantage to life to be able to start perking, become activated, to welcome the early portions of the morning as your good friend and to actually accomplish things, and here’s the kicker, with a cheerful spirit. My cheerful spirit sleeps in every day whether I get up early or not. About 10:00 it stretches and wants to know what it missed and quickly realizes it needs to go around doing damage control to those I had contact with before cheerful chose to engage itself. However, on the other end of the day morning people are worthless and we get our chance to shine.

If it is Saturday, and you are still trying to choose a topic to preach on, you know you are cursed with not only failing to be a morning person, but your organizational skills might not have fully engaged in the past week either. There are some people who have their sermons prepared months, some years, in advance so that they are never asking such a question, particularly on Saturday morning. In fact some of them have already prepared their welcoming speech and a detailed list of questions they want to ask Jesus when the trumpet blows and we are all raptured out of here. As for me, I will most likely be writing mine on the way up; however the twinkling of an eye does not give me a lot of time. Of course it doesn’t give much time for those who have it prepared in advance to go back to the office and grab their notes either!

Well, in spite of my imperfections, of course there are a number, ok a large number, of other areas of fallibility which we will leave buried, at least for the time being, the urgency of Sunday’s sermon is a reality which must be dealt with. Yet still there is more than 24 hours before the sermon absolutely has to be ready. So in spite of urgency, there is still a lot of wiggle room and flexibility within the day before we shift into panic. Panic is when one has used up all the flexibility throughout the week and then throughout the day on Saturday. Panic overrides all else no matter how important. But this morning we are still only feeling the adrenaline of urgency, but being it is only 6 am, the day is still early and panic may still show up before the day is over.

This morning is very different than most Saturdays. The process may seem familiar, but everything about it is different. The urgency is heighten; the heart is erratically pounding; the emotions rambling from one extreme to another; the church has imploded and I have already given my resignation; I have only six weeks left to preach, whatever I want to preach. My first inclination was to use the pulpit to at least get in the last Word amidst the battle; to fire six well aimed verbal missiles to demonstrate they were wrong and scripture says I was right; just wait until you stand before the Lord . . . Ah the satisfaction of judgment. Of course, I throw myself on the mantle of mercy and grace. Whatever satisfaction that I may feel on a human, fleshly level, the Holy Spirit’s convicting ministry would soon erase any joy out of such a self serving attitude. I reluctantly realize that this might not be the most Spirit filled use of these last six weeks, in spite of close friends cheering me on.

The truth is I truly wanted to leave something substantial and valuable for my church family during those final six weeks. Getting in the last word would serve me, but not the Lord, and certainly not my church family whom I dearly loved. As I continued to wait on the Lord He graciously led me to this theme: I thought of Moses where he proclaimed he was going no further until he met with God face to face. On the mountaintop he beheld the glory of God as God passed by him. With a fresh vision of God, he was ready to lead the people to the promise land.

How desperately we all stand in need of fresh experiences where we see the person and the glory of God. How awesome it would be to Behold His Glory as Moses did! Thus my theme that ultimately became the theme for this book: How can I help my church family (and every you who reads this book) to experience the presence and the glory of God? How can I help you enjoy the privilege of standing in the midst of your life as your seek to follow and serve God and suddenly finding yourself seeing God work and you thrill as you Behold His Glory

When our walk and experience of God is fresh, not just learning about God, or reading about what He does for others, but personally experiencing the person and glory of God, displaying Himself in our lives and/or our church. When we have seen His glory pass by: life, worship, devotions, Bible Study; ministry and burden for others suddenly become highly intensified. The most significant thing I could help my church or any church ever do is to help the prepare their hearts and make straight paths to BEHOLD HIS GLORY Like Moses on the mountain basking in the glory of God as it pass found such delight and renewal in His presence, so the church needs the renewal of His glory passing by us! It is like catching the glory of a sunrise or the beauty of a sunset filled with oohs and aahs and with wows and praise to God for His handiwork. So we want to see God display His glory in our churches, a glory far more greater than the sunsets, which will fill our churches with oohs and aahs and wow and praise. Where we grab our children and our friends and with tears of wonder and amazement in our eyes we proclaim come see what God has done! Come see His Glory!!!!

I guess I should stop here and warn you that there are few people and few churches which would dare to express; No thanks, I really do not want to see God’s glory and power at work in our church; the everyday, mundane, man-made accomplishments are good enough for us. Yet in many churches, God sightings, are only slightly more frequent than UFO sightings. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying God is not in those churches or even that He is not working in those churches; it is just that God is left too often to twiddle His thumbs off in the corner of the church, kept available for anyone who is sick or has financial problems or has some anxiety over something (often like their kids) to call on Him to solve their problems or to provide them with some desired benefit to their lives. I wish I could smugly point fingers or feel some superiority, but I realize I spend much more time telling God what I want, what my needs are, what He ought to do for me; than asking God what His needs are, what He wants to do in me and through me and in and through my church; more time caring about the physical needs of people than the spiritual; more concerned about how people treat me than about what God is doing in their lives, how He might use me in accomplishing that. When was the last time we prayed for God to leave someone in the midst of their trial a little longer so that they may become perfected and complete not lacking anything at all. (James 1:2-4) Better yet, when was that last time you asked God to allow you to continue to suffer in the midst of a trial because you have not completed the learning process and growth God intended for you in that trial. It is only when we begin to focus on and pursue after God, what He wants and the work God is doing and that we will be able to see the glory of God.

That is what this book is all about. I want to help my church and to help you, even as God is showing me, to understand what we as the body of Christ need to do in order to transform our way of thinking and our behavior so that we might live and serve in such a way as to see God gloriously display His glory in our lives and churches. That we might see our lives filled with wows and ahs at the fireworks of the greatness of God.

I love going to the Fourth of July fireworks. Of course living in Alaska the fireworks are not shot off until after midnight and then it is still hardly dark enough to get a good show. My favorite place to watch fireworks was in Bandon, Oregon. We would head down to the beach along the river, enjoy the afternoon with friends; eventually build a campfire, eat dinner and get settled in, snuggled in a warn coat and bundled in a blanket for the fireworks. They never disappointed! One after another they were shot into the air from the other side of the river, back dropped by the silhouette of the lighthouse. Every explosion spray painted the heavens with color and beauty’ sparks drifting in the wind until they died out, only to have another rocket explode in splendor each unique in its display of light and wonder. With every firework there were oohs; Look at that! Did you see the colors? Wow, what a great show.

That is what God wants to do for us. He desires to display His glory, so that we would in wonderment say Wow! and would turn to one another and say, Look at that! Of course in God’s display of His Glory we are not spectators but essential participants with God in His will and His work; and in the midst of that work, God will light up our lives with the majestic display of His glory so that we will stand thrilled before God and shout about His glory to all the people around us. Did you see that?

Pack up your Bible and join me on a journey into the presence of God. Even as the disciples left everything to follow Christ, to live in His presence, being taught by Him; working together with Him, living life by His priorities and His eternal purposes, surrendering to His authority and in the midst of that partnership and relationship, saw God do amazing, unimaginable, mighty things before their very eyes.

You will find the following pages filled with guidelines and help from God’s Word. I will try to stay out of the way and simply let you listen to what God desires to say to you through His Word. Though the pathway will not be found to be easy, I pray greatly that the following chapters and pages may be a gift to you and to the congregation, a gift that is worthy of treasuring and that brings great benefit in your lives and in your church.

I want to help you be successful and be blessed and used by God. Pray as you read through each page that the Holy Spirit will impress on your heart the things that you and your church family needs to hear and grow in. May God give you fruit-filled reading. Enjoy my gift to you, which is really God’s gift to you as I am only the keyboard and I desperately seek that God be the spokesman and the writer to the individuals and congregations that fill our churches around the world. May God impact your lives and your churches to such a degree that you will stand in awe, shouting to all that will listen Come see what God is doing! Come enjoy His Glory!

Lovingly,

Pastor Jim Heritage.

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God’s Sovereignty

Letting God out of the Box

Living in the great Northwest, including Alaska has allowed us to experience hands on a kaleidoscope of the unimaginable handiwork of God within creation . . . ; the grandeur of the great mountains, rivers and valleys, the seas, lakes and waterfalls, the lushness of vegetation and the beauty of fields of flowers, silhouetted by sunrises and sunsets, alive with God’s critters and creatures, with bears, foxes, deer, moose, and mountain sheep, and birds and sea life and rainbow trout dancing at the end of my fishing line . . . nature alone proclaims loudly the majesty and glory of God before our very eyes.

In the midst of this abundance of God designed and created nature we have taken a number of tours up rivers and out into the inlets and waterways of Alaska. They all have one thing in common, the tour guide. His/her job is not only to point out the special points of interest as you come upon them, but they are also responsible to prepare you ahead of time about what you are going to see and what you need to watch for. As you read through this book I will be your tour guide. I will give you some of the special sights and sounds of the work God desires to do in your lives so that you can anticipate with great expectation the unimaginable wonders of what God is able to in you. You too can become a tour guide as you share with others what God is doing in your life and how He is able to work in their life as well. You can help the people discover and celebrate with them the God-sightings, that is the working of God, in their lives and His work in others and in your church. It is so important that we take the time to help others, especially our children and teens, see the glory of God at work in the church and its people.

Some of the GOD SIGHTINGS you will discover in this chapter include God’s creation and design of your life; God’s holy work in brining circumstances into your life, walking with you through those circumstances and miraculously working through them to produce His good plans and His purposes for your life; God’s divine workmanship in your life preparing you to participate with Him in ministries He has uniquely designed for you; and God’s handiwork through your trials causing you to grow in knowing Him and becoming like Him. It is easy to look in the mirror, deal with life, or even participate in ministry and fail to see God’s miraculous presence and handiwork; to fail to see each day as a God designed day in which God is actively displaying His glory in your life by His transforming work in you and through you in others. Ask God to open the eyes of your heart to see His glory at work in you as we examine who God is and what He is doing in our lives.

Sometimes we need people to remind us, especially in the midst of our struggles in life, that not only is God still present in our lives but He is busy working His miracles in our lives. That is what this chapter on the Sovereignty of God is all about. When we do not know what is happening; why it is happening, or when will it end; when it seems like God has abandoned us, He has not rescued us from our troubles; and we wonder if He even hears our prayers; when things turn bad and keep getting worse; when fears crowds out our hope; pain and tears wash away our joy; in the midst of those darkest hours when we things seem lost, God is at work planting little seeds of miracles that will one day blossom and enrich your life. Sometimes they are seeds of deliverance or just as often seeds of endurance to live victoriously in the midst of your struggles; they are seeds of transformation as God shows you areas of your life that need to change and creates miracles growth and life-change; some seeds bring you into a deeper knowledge and relationship with God; and other seeds opens the door to bring through you that relationship to others. We do not see the seed and its growth until it one day burst through the soil into the light. So it is with the working of the Sovereignty of God. We may not see God working in the midst of our trials but if we remain faithful in our walk with God and cling to Him by faith we will often have the privilege of seeing the work of God burst forth into the light and we will marvel at His goodness and His glory. In the darkness God is busy doing His work even though you cannot see it.

The cupboards were almost bare, unable to sell our home for a year after moving, wrongly suspected and arrested for auto theft, ice storms, volcanic dust everywhere, buying a fixer upper, wind blowing sheets of plywood into our house at 100 mph, fighting and struggles within the church (repeatedly from time to time over the years), car problems, waiting and waiting for child number one to be born, death of loved ones, house fire—home gutted, almost killed by a 10x10x30 foot beam falling on my head—had to be flown 600 miles to a hospital; our daughter was born and an hour later turned blue, we were told if she makes it the first year she will probably be alright (She did!); plagued for months by some type of illness which almost killed my wife before finding the cause, teenagers (enough said), repeated surgeries as a result of a car accident, bills, unemployment for 1 year, forced to sell our home and cabin, wrongly accused causing great problems, . . . and that is just a few of the special events in our lives. Maybe you identify with some of them as well. If fact there are many of you as you read this list who have dealt with much more difficult and destructive issues and events in your own lives. For us, in between these trying events have been 35 ½ years of a good life together as well. But when those trying times come our response to them and our walk with God in the midst of them provide a measuring tool of our understanding of and confidence in God, and of the depth of our faith in Him. Sometimes we greatly struggle in the midst of these trying