Altar Prayer...

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to visit a different church. At one point in the service, the pastor called for everyone who would to come forward for "Altar Prayer." For those who may be reading this and don't know what exactly I am talking about, allow me to take a moment and explain. It is truly a wonderful thing.

It is a time when anyone who wants comes forward, usually just after the opening worship songs, and gives prayer requests. Everyone stands there huddled around the Altar, usually a wooden table with the words "This do in remembrance of Me" written on it. After prayer requests are given, someone is called on to "lead" the prayer. Everyone kneels at the Altar of the Lord and waits for the person called on to begin praying. When they do, everyone begins to pray. Out loud. When the prayer time is over, the last person praying simply says, "Amen" and everyone gets up, goes back to their seats, and the service proceeds. Altar Prayer usually happens in what many refer to as "Traditional" or "Old Fashion" churches, but some still observe this time.

When I got to experience this again, I took a moment and just allowed the Lord to speak in the mist of everyone else praying. Almost the entire church kneeling before Jesus, lifting up each other, the lost, the sick and others in prayer. All these people saying what each needed to say to Jesus. Some praising. Some praying for themselves. Pretty much all out loud. It was incredible.

Now, I know you can pray anywhere. I know Jesus is always listening. I also know that it is a blessing to me to hear others pray in the name of Jesus Christ. I know that it is powerful when multiple people come together in prayer. In the book of Revelations, the Bible describes the prayers of the saints as "gold bowls filled with incense." (Rev. 5:8) Since that is the case, this must have been a wonderful, refreshing smell to God.

In Christ,

jon walton

Little Reminders...

I am currently reading through Leviticus and there is a phrase that keeps coming up. Throughout Leviticus, God is telling Moses what to tell the Hebrew people what they need to do, and what not to do, in order to be Holy. After almost every command, God says, "I am the LORD." This struck me as odd. Why does God keep saying this? He continues to say it over and over. Is Moses that forgetful? This is God Almighty talking to him, how can he be forgetting who this is?

I wanted to see why God said this over and over. In the original Hebrew, the word for "LORD" here is "Yahweh." Yahweh is the most personal name God gives Himself in the Old Testament. It is the name God gave to Moses when setting up the covenant with the Hebrews. It is an intimate name. What does this mean? It means that it is at this point that God is revealing more of Himself to His chosen people. It means God is drawing the people of Israel into a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with Him.

So, again, why does God repeatedly say, "I am the LORD(Yahweh)?" If you think about it with that name in place, Yahweh, and with what He is telling Moses and the Hebrews, this is what you must do or not do to be Holy, it is as if God is telling His people, "I want to be your personal, intimate God. I want a relationship with you. I want to be the most important thing in your life because I know everything. I know where you are going, where you have been. I know what will make you happy, I know what will make you miserable. I know what will give your life meaning and fulfillment, I know what will destroy you and make you hollow. I LOVE YOU. I want the best for you. I am the LORD. Yahweh. Your personal, intimate, caring, loving, involved, active, perusing, never failing, always faithful God. I will not dwell where sin is. I will not work where the people refuse me. I do not force myself on anyone. Here is how to be Holy. It is for your benefit. Do this, so that I may have an intimate relationship with you, my people. I am the LORD."

It's as if God is sending these little reminders to the Hebrews. He doesn't want them to forget who He is and that He wants the best for them and to be with them.

God wants this for us, too. In fact, God wants this so much that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to cover our sins. God can not dwell in the lives of people who are full of sin(Hab. 1:13). God saw that people could not live perfect, holy lives. He saw that we would have sin in our lives. That we needed a savior. That's why Jesus was sent here. So that God, through the sacrifice of the perfect Lamb that covers our sin(Rom. 3:24-25), could have an intimate relationship with us.

So what little reminders is God sending your way? Are you listening?

In Christ,
jon walton

Prepare...

This Friday night, two of my best friends are coming in from KY to just hang out and spend some time together. I can't wait! I have been excited about it since we talked about it a couple of weeks ago. However, with people coming to our house, that means we need to "prepare" some things...

We have cleaned like crazy the past couple of days. The living room, bedrooms, counters, outside, the fish tank, just about everything in our house. And there is more besides cleaning, Missy, my wonderful bride, has been cooking already. She made a wonderful looking cheesecake that I can't touch till they get here, she has been going though recipe books to find just the right meals, and she has still kept up all the general housework like laundry and dishes while working a full time job.(Man I love her!) Isaiah, our 4 year old son, has been preparing too. He has told me about how he is going to show all his cars to them when they get here.

So all this got me thinking. This is my best friend coming in and I am spending all this time "preparing" to be with him and his wife(Who is a great friend too), but how much time do I prepare myself to come before Jesus Christ, my Lord? Do you prepare before you enter into prayer time? Bible study time? I think one of the great things about Jesus is, I don't have to prepare to be with Him. He is ready to spend time with me whenever I will. However, out of respect to Him, I want to prepare. I want to be in the right mind set when I come before my Lord. I want to be sure that I am not coming into the throne room disrespectful. He deserves all glory, honor, and praise. I want to be prepared to give it to Him.

In Christ,
jon walton

Um… could you NOT tell people you are a Christian?

I performed my first wedding last Saturday. It was odd to be on the other side of it all. I have been a groomsman, best man, and a groom before, and I can honestly say they are each and everyone different. The wedding was beautiful and as I married these two, I prayed that God would strengthen their marriage.

The wedding made me think of another one I was a groomsman in. Particularly the bachelor’s party. When my best friend got married, we took him to his favorite restaurant, Buffalo Wild Wings. There were about 30 men invited to this meal as we were each giving advice to him about what we have learned about marriage and what the Bible says about marriage. Now, 30 men in a restaurant all being loud, laughing, and generally having a good time tends to make a scene. The waitress, who was a nice, attractive young lady, asked, “What are all of you celebrating?” “It’s this guy’s bachelor party” I said motioning to the groom. “Oh great! So are you guys all going to the strip club after leavening here?” She asked.

Now, I guess this is the kinda the worldly view of what everyone does at their bachelor party, but the group of men gathered there were all Godly men who I have the utmost respect for. The highest to this day being the groom whom I have known for quite sometime. So my response was, “No, we are all Christians.” The words that came out of her mouth next flat out shocked me.

“So am I, but I still go to strip clubs all the time.”

Let me give that a minute to set in…………….

For a moment, I was speechless. For a moment. But for any of you who know me, I could not just let that go! “Um, excuse me miss” I said after re-gathering my thoughts, “why do you go to a strip club?” I guess I still like to believe that people are inherently good. “Oh, my friend works on stage there, and when I go she gets me free drinks.” Ok, that dispels the first thought I had at least. “And you don’t see a problem with that?” I asked. “No.” She replied. So I just shook my head and she moved on to the next person’s order.

I looked at the guy sitting next to me, who had laughed all the way through our conversation, and said, “Um, could you not tell people that you are a Christian?”

There are tons of people who claim they are Christians, but the reality is they don’t have a clue. And when you say you are a Christian, what do you mean? Let’s define “Christian” shall we? The root of the word is “Christ,” so we can see that it is actually centered around Christ. Now, the only “Christ” I know is Jesus Christ. The suffix “ian” means “like, related to, or belonging to.” So, to say you are a “Christian,” means you are Christ-like, or related to Christ, or that you BELONG to Christ. But just because someone says they are, doesn’t make it so. Look at what Jesus said:

You'll recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can't produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that doesn't produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So you'll recognize them by their fruit.

-Matthew 7:16-20

So how are you presenting yourself? Do people look at you and say, “That person really loves Jesus!” Or do people look at you and think you’re fake? Whether we like it or not, there will always be people watching. What message are you sending? Are people saying behind your back, “Um, could you not tell people you are a Christian?”

Wanna talk? jon@crossroadsnewport.com

Choose for yourselves today...

Now, I don't mean to rant, but there is something that has just really gotten under my skin. It has been eating at me for a while and it has all kinda came to a boiling point here as of late.

I am so tired of people who say, "I'm a Christian. I follow Jesus Christ. I live to serve Him." But then their lives reveal something in direct contradiction to it. Their openly crude language, their pride in sleeping around with people, their bragging about how drunk they got. It just doesn't line up! I wrote a while back about my experience with a waitress who said she was a Christian, yet was going to a strip joint later to get drunk! My words to her? "Could you please not tell people you are a Christian."

Pastor Rick has been preaching about this for some time now and he is not the only person who has faced it throughout history. Joshua faced this same problem. Joshua 24 begins by Joshua bringing together all of Israel's elders, leaders, judges, officers, anyone who said they followed the Lord. He told them all the Lord God had done for them, then told them.

Therefore, fear the LORD and worship Him in sincerity and truth. Get rid of the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and worship the LORD. But if it doesn't please you to worship the LORD, choose for yourselves today the one you will worship: the gods your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my family, we will worship the LORD."

- Joshua 24:14-15 (HCB)

God had told Joshua to tell the people this. It's the same thing God says in Revalations 3:15-16, "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth."

If you believe Jesus Christ is who He said He was and that He did what He said He did and still does, then choose today who you will serve. There should be a difference in how you live your life people! We shouldn't look like the rest of the world who says they don't believe in Jesus Christ!

So who will you serve? Jesus? Some other god? Yourself? Choose.

P.S. I love you. That's why I tell you the truth.

In Christ,

jon walton