January 26--Fire!

Exodus 2:11-3:22 Matthew 17:10-27 Psalm 22:1-18 Proverbs 5:7-14

Fire!
See the Fire, Hear the Call, Here I am!

The smoke was still coming from the charred, wire-wrapped sticks and cloth as he held up the smoldering cross in his hand. "Open the door!" he yelled from my doorstep as I peered fearfully through the top of the front door of my house. I was a skinny 18 year-old. He was a big guy wearing leather and chains and holding a still-burning cross in his hand. The smoke from the cross, the fire in his eyes that cold New Year's night and his booming voice got my attention. I opened the door.

In today's reading from Exodus, we encounter the story of Moses and the burning bush. God sure got Moses' attention when he called to him from within that fire! Moses saw the fire, heard God's call and said the right thing, "Here I am." God went on to give Moses the challenge of his life, sending him back to Egypt to confront Pharaoh and lead the people from slavery to "a land flowing with milk and honey." Moses would have to risk his life and put into practice the compassion he had shown at the beginning of today's reading when he killed the Egyptian. This time Moses had God's promise, "I will be with you."

When I opened the door that night, I knew I was risking my life. Yet I was moved by compassion. I was also a born-again Christian and I knew God was with me. It turns out that some KKK members had lit a cross in my neighbors' front yard just because they were black. The man at my door wanted revenge. As I opened that door and listened to him, his girlfriend spoke up like an angel from the shadow of the front yard tree and told him very firmly how my mother regularly read to their little girl after school there in my living room. When she said, "Leavem alone. Let's go." He left. I never forgot it and have always been deeply committed to seeing racial justice in our nation. Moses, it turns out, was called by God to a mission of racial justice, to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, out of slavery. God wants racial justice and He wants so much more! He wants justice and righteousness, freedom from all types of bondage for all people. He is calling us to respond today. Now, like then, he promises that we can do great things because He will be with us as we serve Him.

In our reading from Psalms we see foreshadowed the price Jesus would pay for our lives, "A band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing" (Psalm 22:16-18). In other verses from Matthew for today, we see that Jesus knew of what was to come. He said, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life." Jesus faced torture and death for us, for our salvation, but more than that, he gave his life for us to have the power by the Holy Spirit to see God's Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus was faithful to the call on his life, and He calls us to be faithful, even in the face of potential suffering as we take up our cross to follow Him.

Right now, God is moving powerfully at Hillcrest Church! The bush is on fire! God is speaking to us from within the fire. In the past days, we have seen miracles of healing in numbers that we might have thought impossible. We have seen the Holy Spirit show up and minister to us like the fire of Pentecost. The previous few months have been dry--like the desert where Moses was tending sheep. Yet God has heard the cry of His people today as He did then. God wants to see salvation, healing, deliverance, transformed lives. He wants to see you and me bringing people to Him like never before. God wants us to have the faith to heal people and drive out demons. As Jesus said in our reading for today, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you" (Matthew 17:20-21).
Have we seen the fire? Have we heard the call? Let us be prepared to say, "Here I am!" As we enter into God's presence, as we hear Him say, "I will be with you." then we will see Him do mighty things through us. The problems of our present and past may look like mountains today, but nothing will be impossible for us. Join me in saying to God right now, "Here I am! Here I am! Here I am!"

Pastor Paul