Locked Doors

So I fully intended to come back after worship (and a little free time *grin*) and give my camp update of what has been happening here the last month and a half or so. That was the plan before worship. Then I went to worship, and the plan changed. I love it when that happens...sometimes Jesus just has a different agenda for our hearts and minds--and how messed up would we be not to follow in line at His feet and say YES SIR!!
Our proclaimer this week is a man named Adrian Despres (sp?...pronounced Doo-Pray). He is hands down one of the most amazing evangelist I've ever heard in my life. The message this evening wasn't specifically from this particular passage, but when Adrian rested here for a minute, the ears of my heart perked up and my toes got stepped on.

The address is Ezekiel 8. The subject, idolatry in the temple. The Lord leads Ezekiel to the temple in Jerusalem "to the entrance to the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes to jealousy stood" (v.3) How true is that? How many times do our idols spring out of jealous admiration of THEIR___________ or THAT____________ that's not ours, but that we desperately want. Toe #1, ouch.
Verse 6..."Son of man, do you see what they are doing--the utterly detestable things the house of Israel is going here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary?" How many times have I cause the Lord to want to turn from His dwelling place within my heart because of my SIN that disgusts Him? Toe #2.
(Cont.) "But you will see things that are even more detestable".
After digging through a hole in the wall, Ezekiel comes to a doorway (v8). At this point Adrian posed the option that maybe this doorway would have been locked because of the seriousness of what was going on behind it. Something about that idea just clicked with me. And on the other side of the doorway Ezekiel found...

"...I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things and detestable animals and all the idols of the house of Israel. In front of them stood seventy elders of the house of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing amount them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising. [The Lord] said to me "Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? The say 'The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.' Again, he said, "You will see them doing things that are even more detestable."

All toes bruised.

This was one of those nights where you come face to face with Christ, and there is no denying the straight up JUNK in your life. The crawling, detestable idols and sins you THINK are hidden in your life are revealed before the cross, and you have no choice but to say I'M SORRY to the great I AM...humbly accept his grace...and repent.
Sometimes we keep things hidden behind our own "locked doors" thinking as long as they stay there, and we own the key, we can hide our secret lives and no one will know that we are still struggling to get it right...not even God.

NEWSFLASH. HE KNOWS. And you're not the only one with a key to that door. Every time you and I enter into our secret areas of lies and deception the Almighty SEES, and He KNOWS. One of my favorite Beth Moore illustrations is from her study on Jonah where she describes Jonah's mission to go to Nineveh and tell the people to repent. She compares their situation to someone who, in the middle of their darkest hour receives a letter from God that says something like, "I just wanted you to know, I KNOW. I know about the sin. The wickedness and depravity. I KNOW."
Can you imagine? Caught in the act. The moment your sin is nailing Christ to the cross, God just leans down and says, HELLO, I CAN SEE YOU. AND I KNOW.

What is behind your "locked door"? Tonight I came face to face with some areas that I needed to hand over the key to...including the extra copy I hid underneath my pillow in case I needed to take the back way in or out. It's time to hand over your key, say "I'm sorry", accept the grace freely given you, and repent like your life depends on it...cause it does.

PS...Then get up and throw a party cause Jesus loves you like no other and you are a new creation in Him. :)