Volume 8 Number 2 - October 2000
WHEN BUSHES NO LONGER BURN
And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. Exodus 3:2
Most of us are quite familiar with the story of Moses' 40 years on the backside of the desert. We could retell the story without looking at our Bibles.
Essentially, when Moses fled Egypt, he had been trying to do much the same thing God wanted him to return to do – he was trying to relieve the pain of his people, but by himself. Those long 40 years watching sheep in the intense heat of the desert was a serious training time for Moses. As I read biographies and listen to life stories, I discover it is not uncommon for God to place a person on the backside of their desert for an extended period of time to prepare them for the task He has chosen for them.
The question comes to mind, why did Moses have to spend 40 years waiting to be called to return to the land of his birth? Moses was well trained and a remarkable person in the court. That, however, was not enough. He needed time to reflect on what had happened in his life. He needed opportunity to mature in his sense of purpose and the calling God had placed upon his life. He needed to discover, at great personal depth, at least a glimpse of the greatness of God.
When the time was right, God chose a very dramatic event to set the stage for the task for which He had been preparing Moses. The bush burned, but it was not consumed. Not only this, but a voice out of the bush called Moses by name. That is enough to get most anyone's attention.
What was there about this burning bush? For one thing, the bush burned, but was not consumed. Most people who take the teaching of the Scripture seriously see this as a miracle. Though Moses had been in the desert for four decades, he had never seen anything like this.
When Moses' attention was sufficiently aroused, God instructed him to take off his shoes because he was standing on holy ground.
What is it that can make ordinary ground holy? It could not be the quality of the dirt. This is the desert and none of it would be considered good ground. It was not a temple where people were expected to treat the place with unusual respect and awe. The garden-variety ground where Moses stood became holy when God honored it with His holy presence and purpose. It became holy when God used it as the place where Moses was to encounter God's call for his future.
What good would it do to take off his shoes? The people of the east, even today, see the removing of their shoes as an act of reverence and respect. If you could stand on the temple mount in Jerusalem, you would see a series of circular fountains where the Muslim worshippers wash their feet. They then proceed to the mosque, deposit their shoes outside the door and enter the mosque to worship Allah. God impressed Moses with a startling experience to reveal His greatness and His holiness.
One wonders why God couldn't just talk to Moses without all the dramatics? The task to which God was calling Moses was great and difficult. Moses needed to see something of God's holiness and omnipotent power. You may remember that Isaiah saw God in the temple, high and lifted up. He became aware of God's holiness and realized his own tarnished character.
When God called Moses to the impossible task of leading Israel out of Egypt, He also gave Moses a promise – He promised to give the people the land that had been promised to Abraham before he left Ur in the Chaldees.
God called Moses to an impossible task of gaining release of Israel from Pharaoh and leading them back to the land God had promised Abraham centuries before. God called Moses to a difficult life of humility and servanthood. In the burning bush and the encounter God made with Moses as he stood there, God was preparing His frightened servant to do what everyone knew was impossible.
Unfortunately, most of us have never seen a burning bush that was not consumed. We have not heard God call our name from the midst of such a miraculous burning bush. Virtually no one in the church even expects God to shock them by burning a bush without consuming it. Why, that would be considered impossible. It isn't reasonable for a burning bush to not be consumed. Unfortunately, also, most of us have not heard God speak to us out of that miraculous bush telling us to remove our shoes because this was holy ground.
God said, "I am the Lord, I change not." I believe that God is changeless. What he was for Moses, He must continue to be if He is God. If God changes, then the Old Testament is just interesting history with no impact upon our lives whatsoever.
O God, burn another bush in the presence of Your people. In congregations busy doing the possible, call upon chosen servants to do the impossible in your name. Stand us on holy ground and command us to remove our shoes so that the Pharaoh's of our world may recognize the purity of your holy power and bow humbly in your awesome presence. Amen
In His grace,
Bill Cooper
ACHIEVING OUR GOALS
One
of the goals of Logos Ministries is to provide books for ministerial students in
third world countries. As you can
see on this picture, there are eight boxes containing 140 copies of the book
DISCOVERING THE MESSAGE OF SCRIPTURE ready for shipping to the seminary in
Allahabad, India at no cost to them. This
book teaches a person how to do inductive Bible study.
Bill will go to Allahabad to teach them how to do this Bible study.
It will, from now on, be a required course in the seminary.
It is anticipated that the faculty will also take the course and a
faculty member will teach the course in the future.
This is the second seminary to adopt this book as a required course of
study. The seminary in Almati,
Kazakhstan is translating the book into Russian and already has a professor who
can teach this course. Again, it
will be required for both the Russian seminary and the Kazak seminary that are
in Almati. These seminaries are
both at the same site and Bill teaches in both of them.
ANOTHER GOAL ACHIEVED
Not
too long ago we received a request for a book from a prison in Indiana.
Someone had told an inmate about the book on inductive Bible study and he
wrote asking for a copy. Soon a resident from a different prison facility in Indiana
also wrote requesting a copy of one of our books.
We do not know who it was that told these residents about our books.
We sent the chaplains of these two facilities a copy of our order form
and asked them to indicate which books they could use.
They returned the order form indicating that they could use all 14 books
on the list. In this picture you
can see the two boxes with over 30 books each to be sent to each prison
facility. God has blessed us in a
wonderful way and we are deeply grateful for this opportunity to participate in
the discipling of these men who live under extreme pressure to abandon their
faith.
TRAVEL SCHEDULE
We would like to share Bill's travel schedule with you in the hope that you would remember this part of the ministry in prayer. First, It is sometimes difficult to get a visa to enter some of the countries where he teaches. This is further complicated because often there is little time to get the visa between the time he returns from one trip and when he must leave for the next. Here is a list of the dates and places to which Bill will go before the end of the year 2000.
September 28 – October 15: teaching in Moscow
November 24 – December 17: teaching in Allahabad, India.
There are a number of things that make these trips difficult, i.e.- the food, the weather, the medical conditions foreigners face there, just to name a few. There is also the serious language difficulty. Bill must teach in English, and his messages must be translated into a language that the students will understand. This can be difficult to say the least.
SPEAKING OPPORTUNITIES
In the month of November, Bill will be the guest speaker at two spiritual life conferences. November 2-5, he will conduct a spiritual life conference for the Illinois River District of the United Methodist church in Pekin, Illinois. The topic will be "Imitators of God."
November 19-21 he will conduct another spiritual life conference in Holyoke, Colorado. The topic of this conference will be "THE IMAGES OF INTIMACY WITH GOD."
We hope you will remember these conferences in prayer. There is a real longing for spiritual growth among the laity in many churches. This is an opportunity to minister to that need in a very powerful way.
TEACHING IN HONG KONG
Negotiations are underway for both Ruth and Bill Cooper to teach at a brand new seminary in Hong Kong, China. This has not yet been confirmed, but it would require that they be in Hong Kong for a period of several months. The Chinese government has granted permission for the seminary to be started, but have also detained the opening of it from September 2000 to September 2001. There are many delicate negotiations that must be carried out if this opportunity is to become a reality. Please join us in praying for this excellent opportunity. We should know more by the time you receive this newsletter.