This morning I'm thinking of the concept of 'sheltering people' in a crisis.
Every home has a different culture, doesn't it? Some people live very private lives. I picture the quiet couple that doesn't ever really entertain. They have a home that they live in but not many people ever see it. Then there is the family that has a home like grand central station... children... other peoples children... company that stays over... there is a closet filled with extra bedding.
Then the crisis comes. The flood, fire, war, repression or migration.
Which family opens their doors? Perhaps the decision is different for these different households.
"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also." - John 14:1-3 ESV
As far as I know there were not many, if any, people in Heaven when Jesus said this. Heaven's doors were not open to people yet. Jesus is the One who would open those doors.
When people died they went to a place we call Abraham's bosom. Jesus speaks of it below and we think of it as an actual place because Jesus uses proper names. He didn't use names in parables.
"There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.' But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.'" - Luke 16:19-26 ESV
Jesus opens Heaven. He says that to Mary in the Garden after He is raised from the dead.
"Jesus said to her, 'Mary.' She turned and said to him in Aramaic, 'Rabboni!' (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, 'Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' ' " - John 20:16-17 ESV
Jesus is preparing a place for us.
Does that excite you? It excites me.
I'm praying this morning for all the folks out there in the world who are preparing 'a place' for people because they have compassion in their hearts. The private ones and the ones who are used to feeding many mouths. Their hospitality is not unknown in Heaven. God does that also.
--
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
One Bad Choice And One Good One
I was thinking last night of the 'Law of Imputation' and how it ties in with other doctrines. It basically means that judicially one drop of sin equals a lake of sin so that one drop of Jesus' righteousness can equal all of God's righteousness.
"For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." - 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 ESV
Adam's sin killed him and because of that, all his children die also. Sin is imputed to them by association. We were born in Adam but if we die with Christ on the cross our past gets buried with Him and we get raised with Him as new creatures. Adam made one bad choice and we make one righteous choice.
Not all choices trigger an 'imputation' but only a rare few do. The choice to believe in Christ is one that sets the legal wheels in motion.
"And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." - 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 KJV
As we get older we begin to look like our older ancestors because we are 'of' them. But as we grow in Christ we begin to resemble Him more and more also. We bear the 'image' of the Heavenly. Our change seemed to be only judicial but then we begin to change from the inside out as we behold Him.
"in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality..." - 1 Corinthians 15:52-54a ESV
"But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." - 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 ESV
Our failure can't kill us the way Adam's failure killed Him. Jesus' death on the cross killed that person. The person who had sin imputed to them died. Now we who believe are in Christ and it is irreversible. Nothing can change that.
"Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me." - Isaiah 49:16 ESV
No one can wipe away that writing. God won't do it. One decision caused doom and one decision can cause a person to be sealed with the Spirit forever and ever.
Thank You, God. Imputation doesn't seem fair but it is legally sound and we are so grateful that you have provided us a way back. Help us to remember the blood that bought us... today... and in the days to come. Thank You, Jesus.
--
"For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." - 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 ESV
Adam's sin killed him and because of that, all his children die also. Sin is imputed to them by association. We were born in Adam but if we die with Christ on the cross our past gets buried with Him and we get raised with Him as new creatures. Adam made one bad choice and we make one righteous choice.
Not all choices trigger an 'imputation' but only a rare few do. The choice to believe in Christ is one that sets the legal wheels in motion.
"And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." - 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 KJV
As we get older we begin to look like our older ancestors because we are 'of' them. But as we grow in Christ we begin to resemble Him more and more also. We bear the 'image' of the Heavenly. Our change seemed to be only judicial but then we begin to change from the inside out as we behold Him.
"in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality..." - 1 Corinthians 15:52-54a ESV
"But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." - 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 ESV
Our failure can't kill us the way Adam's failure killed Him. Jesus' death on the cross killed that person. The person who had sin imputed to them died. Now we who believe are in Christ and it is irreversible. Nothing can change that.
"Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me." - Isaiah 49:16 ESV
No one can wipe away that writing. God won't do it. One decision caused doom and one decision can cause a person to be sealed with the Spirit forever and ever.
Thank You, God. Imputation doesn't seem fair but it is legally sound and we are so grateful that you have provided us a way back. Help us to remember the blood that bought us... today... and in the days to come. Thank You, Jesus.
--
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
May Contain Peanuts
I woke up this morning thinking of 'may contain peanuts' statements on food labels. An interesting thought.
God's grace has no impurities because nothing else is processed in the same place as grace. Our grace must come from God and not ourselves. Our 'processing plant' has impurities.
"And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." - 1 Peter 5:10 ESV
He Is the God of ALL grace. That speaks of purity and of sourcing. He has all of it all the time.
If we are truthful about our labeling it would say, 'Unconditional Love' but in the fine print it would say, 'may contain conditions because of my fallen state.'
"The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work." - 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 ESV
Some amazing promises there!
I must think of myself as poor in this area or better yet as a steward of someone else's goods. God has the grace. I get it from Him for myself then I have something to give.
Trying to muster up something that only God possesses leads us down a road that Lucifer went down long ago.
"How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' " - Isaiah 14:12-14 ESV
The 'son of the dawn' soon became the 'accuser of the brethren.'
We have the power to operate in the divine because we have received the God-man.
"But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, 'This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.' ') For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace." - John 1:12-16 ESV
Jesus is the 'fullness' of God. We receive Him once and we are changed forever that reception formed a connection where grace can flow. That flow can be inactive if we live in a mental self-sufficiency. Salvation isn't part of that flow. We can't ever lose our salvation but we can at times lose the experience of our salvation.
"Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." - Ephesians 4:28-32 ESV
People use passages like this to teach that our sinful actions grieve the Spirit but what is says is that our lack of willingness to proactively receive is what grieves Him. The actions become a result of not receiving.
None of us can afford to go into this day 'empty handed'. That is why we go to God 'empty handed' first and get what He freely gives us.
--
God's grace has no impurities because nothing else is processed in the same place as grace. Our grace must come from God and not ourselves. Our 'processing plant' has impurities.
"And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." - 1 Peter 5:10 ESV
He Is the God of ALL grace. That speaks of purity and of sourcing. He has all of it all the time.
If we are truthful about our labeling it would say, 'Unconditional Love' but in the fine print it would say, 'may contain conditions because of my fallen state.'
"The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work." - 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 ESV
Some amazing promises there!
I must think of myself as poor in this area or better yet as a steward of someone else's goods. God has the grace. I get it from Him for myself then I have something to give.
Trying to muster up something that only God possesses leads us down a road that Lucifer went down long ago.
"How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' " - Isaiah 14:12-14 ESV
The 'son of the dawn' soon became the 'accuser of the brethren.'
We have the power to operate in the divine because we have received the God-man.
"But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, 'This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.' ') For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace." - John 1:12-16 ESV
Jesus is the 'fullness' of God. We receive Him once and we are changed forever that reception formed a connection where grace can flow. That flow can be inactive if we live in a mental self-sufficiency. Salvation isn't part of that flow. We can't ever lose our salvation but we can at times lose the experience of our salvation.
"Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." - Ephesians 4:28-32 ESV
People use passages like this to teach that our sinful actions grieve the Spirit but what is says is that our lack of willingness to proactively receive is what grieves Him. The actions become a result of not receiving.
None of us can afford to go into this day 'empty handed'. That is why we go to God 'empty handed' first and get what He freely gives us.
--
Monday, August 28, 2017
Dunked Into The Name
I'm old enough to remember VCR tapes, cassette tapes and even fax lists as methods people used to spread ideas. The internet and social media have replaced those methods.
Someone would give you a tape and say listen (and/or) watch this and then say, 'Tell me what you think.' or you would get a fax from an unknown number and somewhere on it there would be a statement something like, 'Please send this to everyone you know.'
I don't know about you but my mailbox is still full of junk I have to sort through.
I love Jesus' prescribed method of spreading information to the masses...
"And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.' " - Matthew 28:18-20 ESV
I like this translation very much the only thing I would change is that it says, 'baptizing them IN the name' but a better translation would be. 'baptizing them INTO the name'.
Jesus said dunk them into the culture of my name (which carries the idea of character and nature). People get the information but they get it with a simultaneous dose of fellowship that has the Savior who will never leave right there in the middle of it all.
I remember hearing the Gospel and thinking that the people who gave me the information were just well-meaning simpletons. My culture and even my ethnicity excluded me from buying what they were selling. My ancestors had been killed 'in the name of Jesus' but as a group, they had something that fascinated me. Then one day as they sung their songs at the start of Church I sensed something more... a purity... a holiness... a love. As vessels of clay, they had a treasure. It was God's name on display and I was dunked in it subjectively during the song service and then objectively in the clear message of redemption.
Later, still before my rational acceptance of the message, a man who came to Church with us began mocking the Pastor by imitating him and I remember getting so angry that I confronted Him in a brutal way that shut his mouth. Even as a heathen I instinctively knew that mocking God's man was wrong. I didn't yet have The Spirit making my spirit alive in a continual quickening.
There are many causes out there begging for our attention. Many are good and many are not what they seem to be. Nothing has changed my life like the Gospel of Grace has. Jesus' cause has become intertwined in my life. He took someone who was disqualified and baptized him into the name above all names.
Perhaps this blog is my VCR tape and you are my fax list but this is no impersonal communication to get you to change your mind and funnel resources my way. This is just me talking in awareness of the great 'I AM' hoping your day will be touched by holiness from above. My God wants 'whosoever will' to taste and see that He Is good so that He can be a covering.
"...Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by." - Psalm 57:1b ESV
The 'shadow of His wings' is a refuge for you in your personal storm. May you be safe under them today and all of this week.
--
Someone would give you a tape and say listen (and/or) watch this and then say, 'Tell me what you think.' or you would get a fax from an unknown number and somewhere on it there would be a statement something like, 'Please send this to everyone you know.'
I don't know about you but my mailbox is still full of junk I have to sort through.
I love Jesus' prescribed method of spreading information to the masses...
"And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.' " - Matthew 28:18-20 ESV
I like this translation very much the only thing I would change is that it says, 'baptizing them IN the name' but a better translation would be. 'baptizing them INTO the name'.
Jesus said dunk them into the culture of my name (which carries the idea of character and nature). People get the information but they get it with a simultaneous dose of fellowship that has the Savior who will never leave right there in the middle of it all.
I remember hearing the Gospel and thinking that the people who gave me the information were just well-meaning simpletons. My culture and even my ethnicity excluded me from buying what they were selling. My ancestors had been killed 'in the name of Jesus' but as a group, they had something that fascinated me. Then one day as they sung their songs at the start of Church I sensed something more... a purity... a holiness... a love. As vessels of clay, they had a treasure. It was God's name on display and I was dunked in it subjectively during the song service and then objectively in the clear message of redemption.
Later, still before my rational acceptance of the message, a man who came to Church with us began mocking the Pastor by imitating him and I remember getting so angry that I confronted Him in a brutal way that shut his mouth. Even as a heathen I instinctively knew that mocking God's man was wrong. I didn't yet have The Spirit making my spirit alive in a continual quickening.
There are many causes out there begging for our attention. Many are good and many are not what they seem to be. Nothing has changed my life like the Gospel of Grace has. Jesus' cause has become intertwined in my life. He took someone who was disqualified and baptized him into the name above all names.
Perhaps this blog is my VCR tape and you are my fax list but this is no impersonal communication to get you to change your mind and funnel resources my way. This is just me talking in awareness of the great 'I AM' hoping your day will be touched by holiness from above. My God wants 'whosoever will' to taste and see that He Is good so that He can be a covering.
"...Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by." - Psalm 57:1b ESV
The 'shadow of His wings' is a refuge for you in your personal storm. May you be safe under them today and all of this week.
--
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Distances
"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us." - Psalm 103:11-12 ESV
Great promises.
'Those who fear Him' and 'us'.
We know the path of the moon and its distance but how far is the east from the west?
--
Great promises.
'Those who fear Him' and 'us'.
We know the path of the moon and its distance but how far is the east from the west?
--
Thursday, August 17, 2017
Some We Just Avoid
"...avoid such people." - 2 Timothy 3:5b ESV
Yes. The scriptures say this in the new testament. It is a 'seek and save' age. We love and in one sense we are sent in as sheep to the slaughter but it also says that we avoid some folks. We love them and pray for them from afar.
Here is the context.
"But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people." - 2 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV
Why avoid them? They will steal your time and resources. They will add roadblocks and confusion.
The scriptures go further.
"For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth." - 2 Timothy 3:6-7 ESV
I notice that is says, '...among them...' as if these are a subset of the previous group with attributes of that group. Not all abusive people are users but all users are abusers in some way.
God died on a cross for their sins. He loves the whole world with an intensity we can't understand but at the same time, He gives warnings.
Seducers don't show all their cards until they creep into your house but the warning signs are often there.
"Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Owe no one anything, except to love each other..." - Romans 13:7-8a ESV
Often a sense of duty will seem to be present to help or continue but don't be fooled. Jesus is the Savior not us and we listen to His voice to see what role we have, if any, in someone's life.
Some folks you have to love from far away. Perhaps even through prison bars. Mercy, love and forgiveness... God has given us those things. He also has given us wisdom.
Let's be wise.
The Apostle Paul didn't start out that way. He used to be Saul. Saul was a man to avoid. God had to blind him and knock him down a few pegs before conversion happened in his life. We don't want to meddle in that process. Paul is a man I'm looking forward to meeting... not Saul. That guy can just keep on walking.
--
Yes. The scriptures say this in the new testament. It is a 'seek and save' age. We love and in one sense we are sent in as sheep to the slaughter but it also says that we avoid some folks. We love them and pray for them from afar.
Here is the context.
"But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people." - 2 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV
Why avoid them? They will steal your time and resources. They will add roadblocks and confusion.
The scriptures go further.
"For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth." - 2 Timothy 3:6-7 ESV
I notice that is says, '...among them...' as if these are a subset of the previous group with attributes of that group. Not all abusive people are users but all users are abusers in some way.
God died on a cross for their sins. He loves the whole world with an intensity we can't understand but at the same time, He gives warnings.
Seducers don't show all their cards until they creep into your house but the warning signs are often there.
"Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Owe no one anything, except to love each other..." - Romans 13:7-8a ESV
Often a sense of duty will seem to be present to help or continue but don't be fooled. Jesus is the Savior not us and we listen to His voice to see what role we have, if any, in someone's life.
Some folks you have to love from far away. Perhaps even through prison bars. Mercy, love and forgiveness... God has given us those things. He also has given us wisdom.
Let's be wise.
The Apostle Paul didn't start out that way. He used to be Saul. Saul was a man to avoid. God had to blind him and knock him down a few pegs before conversion happened in his life. We don't want to meddle in that process. Paul is a man I'm looking forward to meeting... not Saul. That guy can just keep on walking.
--
He Became Sin
"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." - 2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV
Jesus became us. He fully identified with us and died 'as us' so we could live 'as Him'. Here is the passage in context.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." - 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 ESV
He took our hit. Adam pointed the finger but Jesus waved His hands and said, 'It was me. Punish me. I will become them so your justice can be fulfilled. Let it be my fault. I am human just like them but with no blemish. Let me be the sacrifice.'
We who believe have become God's 'good deed'. The angels look on in wonder at the grace bestowed on us. We should also.
"Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called 'the uncircumcision' by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands - remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility" - Ephesians 2:11-14 ESV
I want this truth to work on me. Jesus has removed a wall in my life that I could never tear down myself. Men like Martin Luther King did what they did and thoughts what they thought because a wall had been torn down inside them.
Blood has brought us close to Him and in doing so it can bring us close to each other also.
--
Jesus became us. He fully identified with us and died 'as us' so we could live 'as Him'. Here is the passage in context.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." - 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 ESV
He took our hit. Adam pointed the finger but Jesus waved His hands and said, 'It was me. Punish me. I will become them so your justice can be fulfilled. Let it be my fault. I am human just like them but with no blemish. Let me be the sacrifice.'
We who believe have become God's 'good deed'. The angels look on in wonder at the grace bestowed on us. We should also.
"Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called 'the uncircumcision' by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands - remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility" - Ephesians 2:11-14 ESV
I want this truth to work on me. Jesus has removed a wall in my life that I could never tear down myself. Men like Martin Luther King did what they did and thoughts what they thought because a wall had been torn down inside them.
Blood has brought us close to Him and in doing so it can bring us close to each other also.
--
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
The Elders Who Were Carried Away Captive
I'm reading Jeremiah chapter 29 again and again this morning and it is very instructive to me. This letter is to Israel and Israel is a unique nation. It isn't the Church. The Church comes from the same root but that is a different message.
We can look at Israel's cycles and see similarities to the cycles and mentalities of an individual human being. Israel is a survivor. God has caused them to survive.
"Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remainder of the elders who were carried away captive--to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. (This happened after Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.) The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters--that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace." - Jeremiah 29:1-7 NKJV
Perhaps we look at the life we had and the one we have now and wonder, 'What parts have me have survived and what parts haven't?' Our cells die and are replaced and we change as we grow. For many life has taken them captive... or it seems that way. Actually, God sends us all into captivity but it isn't to hurt us. It is to grow us up.
"Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. All those who were descendants of Jacob were seventy persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already). And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them." - Exodus 1:1-7 NKJV
Why God does this is mysterious but it clearly has to do with our free will. He wants us to choose freely but fallen people need limitations or they will destroy themselves. We need a tower of Babel as much as we need a Savior. We just don't know it. We long to be free but God sets boundaries and says, 'Live here with these restrictions.' and we fight against those boundaries.
If I kept writing today my post would be 100 pages long because there is so much here in this chapter. There are false prophets in our captivity and all kinds of obstacles but Israel was told to focus on God and the salvation that was coming.
"For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive." - Jeremiah 29:10-14 NKJV
Our salvation is a person. We focus on Him.
Survival mode comes in seasons for us. There is no shame in it. Guilt and shame have real remedies in Christ. Sin, failure and just plain falling short are resolved in Jesus' time on the cross. Shame is self hatred. None of that. No. Never. God loves us and He isn't thinking that way. His thoughts are peace.
"He has broken my strength in midcourse; he has shortened my days." - Psalm 102:23 ESV
Yes. It happens to all of us but God has a well-timed plan that we will see unfold in due season. Don't despair if you feel trapped. God will release you when the time is right and you will thank Him for all of it. Yes. All of it. We don't know what we need. God only knows that.
--
We can look at Israel's cycles and see similarities to the cycles and mentalities of an individual human being. Israel is a survivor. God has caused them to survive.
"Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remainder of the elders who were carried away captive--to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. (This happened after Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.) The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters--that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace." - Jeremiah 29:1-7 NKJV
Perhaps we look at the life we had and the one we have now and wonder, 'What parts have me have survived and what parts haven't?' Our cells die and are replaced and we change as we grow. For many life has taken them captive... or it seems that way. Actually, God sends us all into captivity but it isn't to hurt us. It is to grow us up.
"Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. All those who were descendants of Jacob were seventy persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already). And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them." - Exodus 1:1-7 NKJV
Why God does this is mysterious but it clearly has to do with our free will. He wants us to choose freely but fallen people need limitations or they will destroy themselves. We need a tower of Babel as much as we need a Savior. We just don't know it. We long to be free but God sets boundaries and says, 'Live here with these restrictions.' and we fight against those boundaries.
If I kept writing today my post would be 100 pages long because there is so much here in this chapter. There are false prophets in our captivity and all kinds of obstacles but Israel was told to focus on God and the salvation that was coming.
"For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive." - Jeremiah 29:10-14 NKJV
Our salvation is a person. We focus on Him.
Survival mode comes in seasons for us. There is no shame in it. Guilt and shame have real remedies in Christ. Sin, failure and just plain falling short are resolved in Jesus' time on the cross. Shame is self hatred. None of that. No. Never. God loves us and He isn't thinking that way. His thoughts are peace.
"He has broken my strength in midcourse; he has shortened my days." - Psalm 102:23 ESV
Yes. It happens to all of us but God has a well-timed plan that we will see unfold in due season. Don't despair if you feel trapped. God will release you when the time is right and you will thank Him for all of it. Yes. All of it. We don't know what we need. God only knows that.
--
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Three Things
"So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." - 1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV
"...remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." - 1 Thessalonians 1:3 ESV
"But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation." - 1 Thessalonians 5:8 ESV
Faith, Hope and Love
Hope in Jesus... Hope becomes a covering for our thinking.
The work of faith is combined with the labor of love to make up a protection on our heart.
These three abide (have a home) now on Earth in God's plan.
Jesus must be at the center of this and every other meditation. Grace. Mercy. What He has done and how He thinks must be central.
No striving. No outcome driven focus. Just Faith, Hope and Love abiding now.
God show us how that applies today in our interactions and planning. Not just a pie in the sky future. Our thinking dwells in Heavenly places so that we can have a place to abide here and now on the Earth in our actual provisions.
A covering for our heart and for our head. That is what we need and that is what we have.
--
"...remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." - 1 Thessalonians 1:3 ESV
"But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation." - 1 Thessalonians 5:8 ESV
Faith, Hope and Love
Hope in Jesus... Hope becomes a covering for our thinking.
The work of faith is combined with the labor of love to make up a protection on our heart.
These three abide (have a home) now on Earth in God's plan.
Jesus must be at the center of this and every other meditation. Grace. Mercy. What He has done and how He thinks must be central.
No striving. No outcome driven focus. Just Faith, Hope and Love abiding now.
God show us how that applies today in our interactions and planning. Not just a pie in the sky future. Our thinking dwells in Heavenly places so that we can have a place to abide here and now on the Earth in our actual provisions.
A covering for our heart and for our head. That is what we need and that is what we have.
--
Monday, August 14, 2017
Amen In Him
"For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory." - 2 Corinthians 1:19-20 ESV
Wow. It is a great thing to have a 'Yes and Amen'.
Perhaps 'Amen' sounds religious in some way. It did to me at first. Monks say it. Swaying crowds singing Gospel music shout it as they wave their hands. It wasn't a word in my vocabulary or perhaps I uttered a sarcastic, 'Amen brother' here or there to jokingly agree with something.
I didn't see the depth of Shalom that was in the word. 'Amen' has a universal rightness to it. It is agreeing with God. It is uttering a phrase that says, 'I am on the same page with the eternal mind.'
It wasn't in my vocabulary but neither was Jesus. In Him I have my 'Amen' and if I have half a brain I also have a 'Yes' when I hear an eternal truth and it resonates in my being.
Yes and No. Yes and No. Yes and No. People will say these two all day long. They are like the zeros and ones in a computing machine but who in the room will say, 'Yes and Amen'? Who will look at an empty cross and use their sanctified imagination to gaze into Heaven to see a risen Christ? Will take on His light burden and shed their own heavy burden? Who will join with Him in a seek and save mentality and leave behind the judgement of people in approval and disapproval?
I sit here penning a blog entry but my heart is swaying in a great multitude singing and shouting 'Amen'. I have music because of Jesus. I have glory in Him. I have a connection to the Father as a dusty human being anchored to the Earth. My Spirit is free to roam in glory.
Thank You, God. Yes and Amen to Your Son. He Is my glory. Give me words to say that come from You so others will have an Amen today. Maybe it would be their first one. Thank You, God.
--
Wow. It is a great thing to have a 'Yes and Amen'.
Perhaps 'Amen' sounds religious in some way. It did to me at first. Monks say it. Swaying crowds singing Gospel music shout it as they wave their hands. It wasn't a word in my vocabulary or perhaps I uttered a sarcastic, 'Amen brother' here or there to jokingly agree with something.
I didn't see the depth of Shalom that was in the word. 'Amen' has a universal rightness to it. It is agreeing with God. It is uttering a phrase that says, 'I am on the same page with the eternal mind.'
It wasn't in my vocabulary but neither was Jesus. In Him I have my 'Amen' and if I have half a brain I also have a 'Yes' when I hear an eternal truth and it resonates in my being.
Yes and No. Yes and No. Yes and No. People will say these two all day long. They are like the zeros and ones in a computing machine but who in the room will say, 'Yes and Amen'? Who will look at an empty cross and use their sanctified imagination to gaze into Heaven to see a risen Christ? Will take on His light burden and shed their own heavy burden? Who will join with Him in a seek and save mentality and leave behind the judgement of people in approval and disapproval?
I sit here penning a blog entry but my heart is swaying in a great multitude singing and shouting 'Amen'. I have music because of Jesus. I have glory in Him. I have a connection to the Father as a dusty human being anchored to the Earth. My Spirit is free to roam in glory.
Thank You, God. Yes and Amen to Your Son. He Is my glory. Give me words to say that come from You so others will have an Amen today. Maybe it would be their first one. Thank You, God.
--
Friday, August 11, 2017
Reclining At The Table
I woke up thinking about this passage...
"Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 'Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?' He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, 'Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.' " - John 12:1-8 ESV
We are always going to have needs. The thief says, 'What a waste. That should have been spent another way.' but it is not true.
Jesus could have said, 'Don't have this dinner to honor me. Let's just hand out the food on the street.' but He didn't. He reclined and enjoyed what was put before Him. Far from stopping Mary, He quieted Judas.
We also need to tell that saccharine goody two shoe voice that wants to stop us from enjoying God and each other to pipe down. Special times are special. More will always need to be done. The poor are always around but the visitation of God fills the room with a fragrance.
I for one like the birthday and anniversary party. I like the send off dinner and celebrating some ones return. These are rare times and we should savor them. The fire is always going to demand another log. Fires are like that. Our life with God is a life of recognition.
--
"Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 'Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?' He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, 'Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.' " - John 12:1-8 ESV
We are always going to have needs. The thief says, 'What a waste. That should have been spent another way.' but it is not true.
Jesus could have said, 'Don't have this dinner to honor me. Let's just hand out the food on the street.' but He didn't. He reclined and enjoyed what was put before Him. Far from stopping Mary, He quieted Judas.
We also need to tell that saccharine goody two shoe voice that wants to stop us from enjoying God and each other to pipe down. Special times are special. More will always need to be done. The poor are always around but the visitation of God fills the room with a fragrance.
I for one like the birthday and anniversary party. I like the send off dinner and celebrating some ones return. These are rare times and we should savor them. The fire is always going to demand another log. Fires are like that. Our life with God is a life of recognition.
--
Thursday, August 10, 2017
Study Out Your Approval
"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." - 2 Timothy 2:15 ESV
If you study you will find that God approves of you. He doesn't approve of people because they study. He approves because of Jesus. Jesus IS approved and God only sees us as hidden in Christ.
Teachers who teach God disapproves of those who walk by faith in His Son will be ashamed because they didn't rightly handle the truth.
You are approved! Your past can't change that. Your present can't. Your future can't. Study and find out what grace means. Study and prove it to yourself then teach it to others.
"...Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, 'Do not fear, only believe.' " - Mark 5:36b ESV
"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 8:38-39 ESV
Your senses are NOT going to tell you this. It must come from the Bible. It must be experienced by being with people who have studied this out also. Forgiveness is learned. This approval is based on God's justice already being satisfied by Jesus Christ.
Shun the teacher that says you don't measure up and won't unless you do a list of things. They will be ashamed.
Believe and receive. Get a PhD in that and you will have peace in crazy times. You will know how to bounce back when others don't. You will be a 'workman' that does not work for God's approval but reveals that God has already done all the work.
--
If you study you will find that God approves of you. He doesn't approve of people because they study. He approves because of Jesus. Jesus IS approved and God only sees us as hidden in Christ.
Teachers who teach God disapproves of those who walk by faith in His Son will be ashamed because they didn't rightly handle the truth.
You are approved! Your past can't change that. Your present can't. Your future can't. Study and find out what grace means. Study and prove it to yourself then teach it to others.
"...Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, 'Do not fear, only believe.' " - Mark 5:36b ESV
"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 8:38-39 ESV
Your senses are NOT going to tell you this. It must come from the Bible. It must be experienced by being with people who have studied this out also. Forgiveness is learned. This approval is based on God's justice already being satisfied by Jesus Christ.
Shun the teacher that says you don't measure up and won't unless you do a list of things. They will be ashamed.
Believe and receive. Get a PhD in that and you will have peace in crazy times. You will know how to bounce back when others don't. You will be a 'workman' that does not work for God's approval but reveals that God has already done all the work.
--
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
Ears They Didn't Have
I tell you a mystery.
"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you." - John 16:12-15 ESV
Jesus declares that He Is going away. He Is going to go to His Father and the disciples are sad. He declares that His death will be good because He Is going to send a mysterious some one but they are grieved and in that state they can't hear what He going to say with clarity.
None of these men and women are thinking of writing books at this point. They were ex-fishermen and ex-tax collectors and ex-prostitutes. After Pentecost, they would become something else.
I sometimes look at chains of events in people's lives and think, 'Could anyone have warned them off of what was coming? Would they have listened?'
Then I turn to God knowing I can be and probably am just as blind. There are things I just don't want to hear.
"Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein." - Hebrews 13:9 KJV
Grace gives us what belongs to Christ. The Spirit of Grace Is going to glorify Christ and draw us into that mix. Jesus said, 'I'm leaving.' and it vexed them even though it had to happen that way. The Spirit never says that to us. He says, 'I am staying with you for the rest of your natural life and beyond.'
"... for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' " - Hebrews 13:5b ESV
"And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." - Ephesians 4:30 ESV
Jesus couldn't tell them certain things because even though they knew who He was they couldn't fathom what that meant. Jesus could die and be raised. Jesus could go and return forever. No one else Is like Him. When the Holy Spirit Is present Christ Is fully present also and not in a way that people would like to think of other people being present after death.
"Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, 'Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.' " - Revelation 1:12-18 ESV
No one can take what belongs to God by force and in separation but He gives to those who believe freely. He sent His Spirit to minister.
This security has given us ears we didn't have. It wears down our stubbornness. It overwhelms our distrust. This voice never condemns. This voice gives and gives.
"If anyone has an ear, let him hear:" - Revelation 13:9 ESV
Yes. God wants to say things to us but we can't hear them until we are secure in His love.
--
"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you." - John 16:12-15 ESV
Jesus declares that He Is going away. He Is going to go to His Father and the disciples are sad. He declares that His death will be good because He Is going to send a mysterious some one but they are grieved and in that state they can't hear what He going to say with clarity.
None of these men and women are thinking of writing books at this point. They were ex-fishermen and ex-tax collectors and ex-prostitutes. After Pentecost, they would become something else.
I sometimes look at chains of events in people's lives and think, 'Could anyone have warned them off of what was coming? Would they have listened?'
Then I turn to God knowing I can be and probably am just as blind. There are things I just don't want to hear.
"Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein." - Hebrews 13:9 KJV
Grace gives us what belongs to Christ. The Spirit of Grace Is going to glorify Christ and draw us into that mix. Jesus said, 'I'm leaving.' and it vexed them even though it had to happen that way. The Spirit never says that to us. He says, 'I am staying with you for the rest of your natural life and beyond.'
"... for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' " - Hebrews 13:5b ESV
"And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." - Ephesians 4:30 ESV
Jesus couldn't tell them certain things because even though they knew who He was they couldn't fathom what that meant. Jesus could die and be raised. Jesus could go and return forever. No one else Is like Him. When the Holy Spirit Is present Christ Is fully present also and not in a way that people would like to think of other people being present after death.
"Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, 'Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.' " - Revelation 1:12-18 ESV
No one can take what belongs to God by force and in separation but He gives to those who believe freely. He sent His Spirit to minister.
This security has given us ears we didn't have. It wears down our stubbornness. It overwhelms our distrust. This voice never condemns. This voice gives and gives.
"If anyone has an ear, let him hear:" - Revelation 13:9 ESV
Yes. God wants to say things to us but we can't hear them until we are secure in His love.
--
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
Cast That Bread Upon The Waters
"Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth." - Ecclesiastes 11:1-2 ESV
Cast your bread upon the waters. Bread is useful. Our body needs food. What a risky way to live... or is it?
I think of Moses mother putting him in a basket on the Nile.
"The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, 'This is one of the Hebrews' children.' " - Exodus 2:2-6 ESV
This isn't a story. This is an account.
Risky. Trouble is coming. The instinct is to hoard.
Giving is risky. Grace is risky.
Cast it on the water. Cast the time you could have used on yourself on someone else. Cast the resources that could have built bigger barns. Cast the money on a missionary or send some children you don't know to Christian summer camp. Cast it. Throw it. Don't just toss it down where you can reach it. Throw it over a wall into another country.
God will repay. Let your belly rumble a little. God will fill it tenfold.
Moses turned out to be a great man. I think his mother made a good choice.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16 ESV
I know I quote this passage a lot. I try not to rehash ideas again and again but can you imagine it?? God cast His Son out on the harsh dark waters of this world. He didn't give something extra He had laying around. He gave the person most important and central to His eternal existence because He had confidence that His Son would lead a sinless life and because of that death would never hold Him in the grave. Jesus would return to Heaven again.
Can we live this way?
Will we?
It's a risky way to live... or is it?
--
Cast your bread upon the waters. Bread is useful. Our body needs food. What a risky way to live... or is it?
I think of Moses mother putting him in a basket on the Nile.
"The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, 'This is one of the Hebrews' children.' " - Exodus 2:2-6 ESV
This isn't a story. This is an account.
Risky. Trouble is coming. The instinct is to hoard.
Giving is risky. Grace is risky.
Cast it on the water. Cast the time you could have used on yourself on someone else. Cast the resources that could have built bigger barns. Cast the money on a missionary or send some children you don't know to Christian summer camp. Cast it. Throw it. Don't just toss it down where you can reach it. Throw it over a wall into another country.
God will repay. Let your belly rumble a little. God will fill it tenfold.
Moses turned out to be a great man. I think his mother made a good choice.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16 ESV
I know I quote this passage a lot. I try not to rehash ideas again and again but can you imagine it?? God cast His Son out on the harsh dark waters of this world. He didn't give something extra He had laying around. He gave the person most important and central to His eternal existence because He had confidence that His Son would lead a sinless life and because of that death would never hold Him in the grave. Jesus would return to Heaven again.
Can we live this way?
Will we?
It's a risky way to live... or is it?
--
Monday, August 7, 2017
Build Up The Walls
Reading Psalm 51 again and again this morning.
"To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me...
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar." - Psalm 51:1-10, 17-19 ESV
The picture of repentance and hope is amazing. I marvel at it. David had an understanding of grace and mercy. He saw that it needed a sacrificial system. Zion needed strong walls so that the altars would be right altars.
I don't know about you but I repent regularly. The word doesn't mean to be sorry and beat our breast. It means we turn to God and communicate. Jesus is my sacrifice. He is my only sacrifice.
As the King David saw the importance of the walls. Why does he mention them of all things in this Psalm? The walls were a continual community project. They always needed repair and upkeep. The walls meant that the temple was safe. The strength of the walls kept bulls on the altar.
Is grace taught? Where is it taught? What will keep Jesus' work on the cross preached? What are our walls and how can we strengthen them?
If no one knows that Jesus paid the price people will just be beating their breast and have no way to be cleansed. They will do what we did before Jesus came into our life. They will cover themselves with fig leaves. They will add sin to sin and sink into despair or pile on as many good works as possible to balance a scale that can never be balanced.
Do you have a Bible study or a Church or a place where the message is made known? Reason with God He will make your scarlet heart white as snow and then build the walls of the place that taught you how to do that. Build up the places that teach other how to do that.
David ends the Psalm this way for a reason. Me. Me. Me. Can't be the end of our thinking. A cleansed heart shifts to the needs of others. It contributes to the strengthening of what helps others. It starts to say, 'Hey, That wall has a crack. I'll get some mortar and you bring some bricks and let's get to work.'
--
"To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me...
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar." - Psalm 51:1-10, 17-19 ESV
The picture of repentance and hope is amazing. I marvel at it. David had an understanding of grace and mercy. He saw that it needed a sacrificial system. Zion needed strong walls so that the altars would be right altars.
I don't know about you but I repent regularly. The word doesn't mean to be sorry and beat our breast. It means we turn to God and communicate. Jesus is my sacrifice. He is my only sacrifice.
As the King David saw the importance of the walls. Why does he mention them of all things in this Psalm? The walls were a continual community project. They always needed repair and upkeep. The walls meant that the temple was safe. The strength of the walls kept bulls on the altar.
Is grace taught? Where is it taught? What will keep Jesus' work on the cross preached? What are our walls and how can we strengthen them?
If no one knows that Jesus paid the price people will just be beating their breast and have no way to be cleansed. They will do what we did before Jesus came into our life. They will cover themselves with fig leaves. They will add sin to sin and sink into despair or pile on as many good works as possible to balance a scale that can never be balanced.
Do you have a Bible study or a Church or a place where the message is made known? Reason with God He will make your scarlet heart white as snow and then build the walls of the place that taught you how to do that. Build up the places that teach other how to do that.
David ends the Psalm this way for a reason. Me. Me. Me. Can't be the end of our thinking. A cleansed heart shifts to the needs of others. It contributes to the strengthening of what helps others. It starts to say, 'Hey, That wall has a crack. I'll get some mortar and you bring some bricks and let's get to work.'
--
Friday, August 4, 2017
Two Things That The Gospel Of Grace Gives
"But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again... And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified... You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship." - Acts 20:24-25, 32, 34-38 ESV
Paul is sure that God's grace is able to give us two things. It is able to build us up and it is able to give us a joint inheritance. Now and Later are covered.
Paul knew He wasn't coming back but He also knew that the words He had spoken to these people had been about Christ. The Gospel of Grace had been given. He had explained thoroughly about Jesus in the Hebrew scriptures and about the cross. He had explained the free gift of salvation dozens of ways. He wasn't like other teachers that demanded tribute. He wasn't securing a following for himself for security or financial gain so that if he came back this way as he traveled some scholarly teaching circuit he would have connections in this city. He wasn't networking. He was loving God and working with his hands as he labored in the word.
There may be people who are only in your life for a short season. I feel that way on Saturdays when we talk to people about life, death, Heaven and Hell. I may never see them again but in a moment I (we) can give them something eternal. We don't offer a momentary smile like an entertainer does... smiles are great but they are like flowers that fade. We offer a Savior who saves and sticks closer than a brother long after we leave the scene.
Are people just in our lives so we can get something from them or is it an opportunity to give something eternal away?
Grace is able to build up. Grace is able to give an 'inheritance among all those who are sanctified' and that is precious beyond imagining.
--
Paul is sure that God's grace is able to give us two things. It is able to build us up and it is able to give us a joint inheritance. Now and Later are covered.
Paul knew He wasn't coming back but He also knew that the words He had spoken to these people had been about Christ. The Gospel of Grace had been given. He had explained thoroughly about Jesus in the Hebrew scriptures and about the cross. He had explained the free gift of salvation dozens of ways. He wasn't like other teachers that demanded tribute. He wasn't securing a following for himself for security or financial gain so that if he came back this way as he traveled some scholarly teaching circuit he would have connections in this city. He wasn't networking. He was loving God and working with his hands as he labored in the word.
There may be people who are only in your life for a short season. I feel that way on Saturdays when we talk to people about life, death, Heaven and Hell. I may never see them again but in a moment I (we) can give them something eternal. We don't offer a momentary smile like an entertainer does... smiles are great but they are like flowers that fade. We offer a Savior who saves and sticks closer than a brother long after we leave the scene.
Are people just in our lives so we can get something from them or is it an opportunity to give something eternal away?
Grace is able to build up. Grace is able to give an 'inheritance among all those who are sanctified' and that is precious beyond imagining.
--
Thursday, August 3, 2017
Making Tough Choices
Many of us don't find work to be fun. We go but it is a fight. 'Do what you love.' may not always be an option for us but we make a choice because we have weighed our options and work allows us certain benefits. It is great if we love what we do but even if that is true we likely have aspects of work that are not our favorite but they are necessary. We do what we need to do because we are adults and it is part of being a mature responsible person.
Purpose or pleasure. Which will it be? Sometimes you can't have your cake and eat it too. Sometimes you and I must just make a choice and live with that choice. It we choose in anger, exhaustion, self-justification or exasperation we may live to regret what we did because in those states we are seeking relief and are often not building on a future happiness.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." - John 3:16-17 ESV
"But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors." - Isaiah 53:10-12 NASB
God has made some tough choices because of love. We can also. Love is pleasurable but it has stages that we must tough out because we care about the end result. God gave us free will and He has had some hard days because of that choice. His hardest day was the cross but God 'was pleased' to crush His Son so that we could be reconciled. That boggles the mind.
Don't quit.
Don't throw up your hands and self medicate.
Don't choose pleasure over purpose. Let's have pleasure in our purpose because our purpose aligns with God's purpose. If we value investment and redemption all the sweat and tears will contribute to a great increase.
"Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, 'Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.' But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls." - Hebrews 10:35-39 ESV
Yes and Amen.
--
Purpose or pleasure. Which will it be? Sometimes you can't have your cake and eat it too. Sometimes you and I must just make a choice and live with that choice. It we choose in anger, exhaustion, self-justification or exasperation we may live to regret what we did because in those states we are seeking relief and are often not building on a future happiness.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." - John 3:16-17 ESV
"But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors." - Isaiah 53:10-12 NASB
God has made some tough choices because of love. We can also. Love is pleasurable but it has stages that we must tough out because we care about the end result. God gave us free will and He has had some hard days because of that choice. His hardest day was the cross but God 'was pleased' to crush His Son so that we could be reconciled. That boggles the mind.
Don't quit.
Don't throw up your hands and self medicate.
Don't choose pleasure over purpose. Let's have pleasure in our purpose because our purpose aligns with God's purpose. If we value investment and redemption all the sweat and tears will contribute to a great increase.
"Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, 'Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.' But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls." - Hebrews 10:35-39 ESV
Yes and Amen.
--
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
The New Moon
In the old testament, there were animal sacrifices pointing to the great substitutionary sacrifice of the coming Messiah. Perhaps we only think of sin offerings or offerings on holidays like the Passover but something happened every week and every new moon.
"And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD." - Isaiah 66:23 KJV
"Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day." - Psalm 81:3 KJV
"Thus saith the Lord GOD; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened." - Ezekiel 46:1 KJV
The new moon happens directly after the stage when the moon gives no light because the Earth is blocking the sun's light from reaching the moon then a small sliver of light shines from the moon. This moon that is shining again even just a little is considered 'new.'
"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:" - Colossians 2:16 KJV
Paul wrote this to believers because they had a new life in Christ. No more temple sacrifice was needed to cover sin. Personal sin had been blotted out by the blood of the lamb.
Things get dark in our lives. It comes in cycles but that is no surprise. Life is like that but are we looking for that sliver of light? Are we prepared to worship?
Rosh Hashanah is the Hebrew new year. Many cultures today wait until midnight to celebrate their new year but in Israel it wasn't a new year until that first new moon was sighted. The moon would disappear and when the people saw the first sliver of moonlight shining the trumpet would sound and everyone would welcome a new year.
"And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man." - Matthew 24:31-37 ESV
This passage is no mystery. Jesus is talking about a global new year that is coming soon to a theater near you. No man knows exactly when the new year starts. It isn't a time set on a clock. It is a confirmed sighting of a sliver of moonlight after a season of seeming absence.
Will Jesus return this Rosh Hashanah or on Rosh Hashanah? Our God is a God with great sense of humor. He could. He could come at any moment. New testament believers were freed from a lunar system of worship but God has kept Israel in the picture against amazing odds. Rosh Hashanah is still celebrated every year all over the globe and it is a reminder to us.
Every month when it gets darkest God keeps giving the world a sliver of hope that gets brighter and brighter all over again. One day a trumpet will sound and we will be gathered for a great celebration.
--
"And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD." - Isaiah 66:23 KJV
"Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day." - Psalm 81:3 KJV
"Thus saith the Lord GOD; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened." - Ezekiel 46:1 KJV
The new moon happens directly after the stage when the moon gives no light because the Earth is blocking the sun's light from reaching the moon then a small sliver of light shines from the moon. This moon that is shining again even just a little is considered 'new.'
"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:" - Colossians 2:16 KJV
Paul wrote this to believers because they had a new life in Christ. No more temple sacrifice was needed to cover sin. Personal sin had been blotted out by the blood of the lamb.
Things get dark in our lives. It comes in cycles but that is no surprise. Life is like that but are we looking for that sliver of light? Are we prepared to worship?
Rosh Hashanah is the Hebrew new year. Many cultures today wait until midnight to celebrate their new year but in Israel it wasn't a new year until that first new moon was sighted. The moon would disappear and when the people saw the first sliver of moonlight shining the trumpet would sound and everyone would welcome a new year.
"And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man." - Matthew 24:31-37 ESV
This passage is no mystery. Jesus is talking about a global new year that is coming soon to a theater near you. No man knows exactly when the new year starts. It isn't a time set on a clock. It is a confirmed sighting of a sliver of moonlight after a season of seeming absence.
Will Jesus return this Rosh Hashanah or on Rosh Hashanah? Our God is a God with great sense of humor. He could. He could come at any moment. New testament believers were freed from a lunar system of worship but God has kept Israel in the picture against amazing odds. Rosh Hashanah is still celebrated every year all over the globe and it is a reminder to us.
Every month when it gets darkest God keeps giving the world a sliver of hope that gets brighter and brighter all over again. One day a trumpet will sound and we will be gathered for a great celebration.
--
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