Why Do We Mourn? 

“Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:4).

In earlier days the Bible was maligned by even the religious establishment.  The church itself was against the translation of the Bible into languages of the people.  There were some who wanted the Bible, the Holy Scriptures, for themselves, for their own personal reading.  This evoked bitter and awesome persecution.  This privilege was denied the people for hundreds of years.  Martin Luther was a grown man when he said, “I have never seen a Bible,” and he had been in church all the days of his life.

John Wycliffe translated the Bible into the language of the people.  He wanted it to be possible for anyone who wanted to know the Word to have it.  He said, “I’m going to make it possible that a plowman will know more of the Word of God than the priest himself, than the king himself.”  John Wycliffe died before men could burn him and try him.  But even after his death they exhumed and publicly burned his body, then cast his body as ashes upon the River Swift.  If anyone was found with a Wycliffe Bible , the Bible was hung around his neck and he was publicly hanged and burned.

What the English inquisitors did not realize was that when they burned the body of Wycliffe and scattered his ashes on the River Swift, that river flowed into the Avon, and Avon flowed into the sea, and the sea loved the shores of the continents of the world, including the new land of America.  Wherever the sea carried the ashes of John Wycliffe, there God scattered the truth of the Word of the Living Lord.  Isn’t that glorious?  Over the whole face of the earth the Word of God has traveled.  That’s God!

“And I looked and, lo, a Lamb stood on Mount Zion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads” (Revelation 14:1).

In the previous verse the Bible speaks of a beast and his number is 666 — man pretending to be God.  Unless the people of that day (and I believe it to be soon) repent, they will take the seal of the beast which will enable them to settle down in the world to buy and to sale.  Therefore they will accept the seal of the beast which will be their doom.

Though the man of sin will stand out in that future day he will not stand too long.  John sees the Lord Jesus Christ standing at the Temple Mount in the city of Jerusalem at a time in the future.  And alongside of the Lord Jesus and His return will stand those who have the mark of the Lord in their foreheads.  The Lord is saying, “These are Mine. Hands off!” These are My 144,000.”  Throughout these years of tribulation, they will be witnessing and testifying boldly about the Lord Jesus in the integrity of the Lord.

You and I are not to take up the lifestyle of today.  These that are sealed are saved, sealed, and spotless men and women, those to whom lived for Christ in their generation.  These are those who will have an impact on their times.  You and I are to live with impact.  During these days of lies, deception, immorality, and violence we are to be truth-filled disciples; during our short days on earth we are to live the same.  If our mouths are filled with lies, if our lives are lacking in morality and integrity, then no one will listen to what we have to say about the gospel or the Lord Jesus.

“Father, thank you for the seriousness of this chapter.  You have mapped out a plan that will ultimately bring glory to Your name, and we realize we must fit in Your plan.  May we bear the message and the fruits of repentance and godliness.  We commit our lives to You, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.“

“In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength” (Isaiah 30:15).
“In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” Eight words. Two qualities. One result. This is how to decode life. When we are rattled we can become loud. When we become loud and rattled, we’re weak. No wonder the world is in the state of confusion as it is today. A heavy truck rattles, an unlatched gate beats against the gate post, but a silent river runs deep, and a quiet and confident person stands out like a giant tree among the pines.

What is the tale behind the text? What did the prophet’s pen mean as he wrote? Isaiah saw an envoy of men headed down to Egypt to broker help. Israel was afraid of the impending invasion of different countries. Isaiah told the people in his sermon that God owned them and cared for them. He said to them to return back to their Creator, Redeemer and He would watch for them. Isaiah demonstrated, “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.”

The last phrase of the sentence is stunning–“but you would have none of it.” The people of Israel would not listen to the “seer”. They rejected God’s vision for safety and security, for they were hell-bent on their own agenda.

God has spoken these words to our nation and to our souls. He promises quietness and rest if we would repent and return. To rest in Him is our hope, to trust in Him is our strength, and to turn back to Him is to find quietness for our souls. Quietness is horizontal; it’s our attitude toward circumstances and difficulty. Confidence is vertical; it’s our trust in God. When the horizontal and the vertical come together, it becomes our inward strength.

“Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all” (I Tim. 4:15).

Over the years, our understanding of discipleship has changed — and not always in a good direction.  Discipleship has shifted — from an ongoing process over the course of one’s life to a class you sign up and hopefully complete.  Usually after some time the class that started with twenty dwindles to eight or ten.

I grew up on the tail end of the “training union” of the late 1960s and early 70s.  But even in this the shortcomings were felt.  Again, it was based upon this premise…you come and sit, I’ll teach.  You and I ought to be dissatisfied with mediocrity.  God has placed in each of us the desire to minister and develop through others.

Discipleship should not be left to chance.  The Lord Jesus was intentional and calculative from the beginning.  In fact, as Jesus discipled the twelve men who would change the world, He gradually released them into ministry through a definitive four-step process.

First, Jesus ministered while the disciples watched.
Second, Jesus allowed the disciples to assist Him in ministry.
Third, the disciples ministered with Jesus’ assistance.
Finally, Jesus observed as the disciples ministered to others.

If Jesus had a model and a plan, shouldn’t we have one?  If discipleship was then, should it not be for today?