Charles Colson was Richard Nixon’s Hatchet man.  

On March 1, 1974, he was indicted for conspiring to cover up the Watergate burglaries.

His pursuit of doing “anything to win” landed him in prison, lead to Richard Nixon’s resignation, and fueled the greatest political scandal in United States’ history.

Colson was chasing after “the wrong god”.

When corruption and evil rule the day, it grieves the heart of God:

Matthew 7 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

People are broken on their own accord.  And when you combine that with a Satan-influenced hatred of God, you get chaos and every kind of evil.  It can rear its ugly head today and we have seen it throughout human history.

There was a time that it was so rampant that God regretted making us.  When we turn so far into darkness that we would blame the light for not being able to see, we get what we had in “the days of Noah”.  We get a world that isn’t worth keeping.

Genesis 6 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth–men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air–for I am grieved that I have made them.” 8  But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

But this writing is NOT about what we are not.  It is about what we could be.

As I have mentioned before, the simple phrase “but Noah” changes everything.  It changes the very core of what is going on.

What was different about Noah?  What made him so great?

I believe that Noah was able to GET REAL with God.  He wasn’t perfect, he wasn’t without sin, and he certainly wasn’t changing nations.  But he was REAL.

And that is the “us” that God so badly wants to see.

It is the only way that He will accept us.

The series “The Chosen” shows a great perspective on Nathanael- crying out under the fig tree.  And Jesus LOVES that because He WANTS TO KNOW US.  HE WANTS US TO GET REAL.

John 1 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote–Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”  46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked “Come and see,” said Philip.  47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.”  

48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.  Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”  49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”

Nathanael got real with God, and God showed up.

And we should know that God doesn’t show up (most of the time) uninvited.

Our God is a gentleman.  He waits for the invitation.  He stands and literally waits.

Yes, He will prompt us … or “knock”.

Revelation 3 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

But the invitation to be our God is what He desires.

David also answered that call:

Psalm 139 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

And so is the offer for us.

After time in prison, Richard Nixon’s hatchet man GOT REAL with God.  He found that he wasn’t as powerful and amazing as he thought he was … and he found the Lord because of it.

In 1994, Charles Colson wrote:

“Where is the hope? I meet millions of people who feel demoralized by the decay around us. The hope that each of us has is not in who governs us, or what laws we pass, or what great things we do as a nation. Our hope is in the power of God working through the hearts of people. And that’s where our hope is in this country. And that’s where our hope is in life.”

Make a point to GET REAL this week.

GET REAL with yourself.

GET REAL with your friends.

But … above everything else … GET REAL with God.

Because if you GET REAL with God, the rest of your stuff will come together.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J