Remember the story Hagar represents the Law. Ishmael–Abraham’s attempt to “help God out” represents the flesh. Sarah represents grace. Legalism will always persecute the person who is living in grace and enjoying the free gift of salvation. Just as Ishmael taunted Isaac, those who are trying to be religious mock those who celebrate liberty in Jesus, calling them shallow, immature, and undisciplined. You will find this to be true, Not only will those around you mock you, but a voice will well up within you, saying, “Look what you are doing, real Christians don’t do that. In addition to the voices around and within you, Satan himself will condemn you day and night. Contrary to our natural inclination, the solution to all of these accusations is not to get more religious, try harder, vow more earnestly or work more diligently. The solution is to cast out the bondwoman. To get rid of the promises, the pledges, the commitments, and the rules. They are all Ishmaels. Cast out Hagar and Ishmael and cleave to Sarah–to grace. When we realize that the work is done, and that the price has been fully paid, we can exchange the legalistic relationship we had with God for a loving relationship. I must say, “away legalism”; away cynicism; away, works of the flesh. I choose to cleave to Sarah. I will celebrate Grace.
When someone says, “I’m not sure God loves me,” say “God proved His love for you in that while you were sinning, rebelling, and couldn’t care less about knowing Him, He became a Man, was pinned to a Cross, and died for you specifically. He proved His love for you not when you were going to church, trying hard, being good, but when you were terrible. So you must now know that you’re starting to get it together a bit, now that you want to be washed by the water of the Word, now that you’re wanting to know Him, He loves you all the more?”
The water and blood that flowed when a spear was thrust into Jesus’ side as He hung on the Cross was indicative of a broken heart. He cares about you so dearly and loves you so deeply that even when you were sinning and rebelling, His heart burst for you.
Lord, “I want to be an object of beauty to you”, We Say. ”All right”, He Says–and proceeds to send winds of adversity, not to blow us out, but to make us beautiful; not to sink us, but to strengthen us. the hot winds of tribulation cause us to sink our root systems deeper in soil of scripture, to ground and root us in faith. That’s why Paul says we are to rejoice in tribulation.
Tribulation and testing are what God uses to take the dings and dents out of our body. Its not during the party when strength is developed, when beauty is born. Its when the wind is howling and the sander humming that God is doing His finish work. Paul makes the point, saying, “Don’t only rejoice in your peace with God your access to God, or your hope in God. Rejoice also in your present difficulty because it’s working beauty in the God of Wonders.”Continue reading →
Oh my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer, but I find no rest. When you cannot hear God–sometimes He has trusted you in a very intimate way. Absolute silence not of despair but of pleasure- He saw you could withstand even bigger revelation. In Love – silence can be a sign of intimacy.
Summer is over- The boys are in school and its my first time to blog in a while. I was riding bikes with my boys– 2 days ago. I asked Paul – What is the definition of a Godly man? He answered Dad– a Man is 1) A spiritual leader 2) a real man accepts responsibility, 3) a real man is courageous 4) a real man expects God to do great things in his life. (It is the working definition I have taught my boys). It is something I wish I could have understood when I was young. I hope to blog on these 4 areas over the next few days. The Word of God’s power and the power of His Word are perhaps seen nowhere more clearly than in Psalm 119. Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart. The Psalmist declares that blessed, or happy, is the wan who keeps the Word. If a person is depressed or defeated, it is usually because he is not in the Word. I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. Psalm 119:7 Who will praise the Lord fervently? The one who learns his righteous judgments, His Word. Reading the Bible allows you to discover the nature, the character, and the goodness of God, which creates a heart overflowing with praise. How can a young man keep his way pure? Psalm 119: 9-11 The only way for a young man to cleans his ways is to be in the Word. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. Keep reading your bible. Keep studying the scriptures. Your life will be held together to the extent that you are in the Word.
Genesis 1:1 says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In Hebrew, verse 2 goes on to say the earth was “tohuw va bohuw.”–without form and void. We see this phrase again in Isaiah 45:18, where we read that God created the heaven and earth not in vain–not “tohuw va bohuw. Now if Isaiah says God did not create the earth tohuw va bohuw, but Genesis 1 says the earth was “tohuw va bohuw, whats going on?
Along with many Bible scholars, I believe an event took place between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, described in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, where an archangel named Lucifer launched a rebellion against God and was kicked out of heaven. Along with one-third of the angels who followed him in his rebellion, he came to earth, where he would become “the god of this world”. So great was the impact, in a sense, hell hit earth–What was this great catastrophe? (God has not given us all the details) What ever it was it caused the earth to become without form and void, perhaps killing any pre-Adamic creatures on this earth and ushering in a Ice age.
So it is, that even from the very beginning of time, we see a dismal dark mess. Then “the Spirit of God moved.” the word for “moved” means brooded, like a mother hen broods over her little chicks. He brooded upon the face of the waters. The Holy Spirit began a ministry here which we see him doing again and again. It is regenerating! In Exodus 20:11 it reads “for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them …” There is nothing in that verse about creating. It says “made”; God is taking that which is already formed and in six days He is not “creating” but He is remaking or regenerating. He is working with matter which already exists, out of matter which He called into existence billions of years before. He comes onto this scene and He recreates. That is precisely what He does for us. Not only does God re-create the world around us but also creates the world within us.
Two men guilty of cursing the same Lord, they are dying the same death. We see them on the cross next to Jesus. They are the same distance from the Lord, both close enough to talk to him through the shouts of the crowds. They were equal in every way except one: One would be lost, the other saved. Here is the great mystery. How did the man on the right recognize who Jesus was? How did he understand the Lord’s kingdom was eternal? How did He get saved? The only answer is the sovereignty of the Father.
Paul goes back through the tunnel of time and points to Jacob and Esau. Before they were even born, God declared that the elder would serve the younger because, “Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated” People have difficulty with this, wondering how God could say He hated Esau before Esau was even born. I have a problem with it too–not with the fact he hated Esau, but that he loved Jacob, that He could save anyone, that he would choose me. The longer I walk with the Lord, the more I realize how far I am from his standard of holiness.
Was God right in his choice? Read the story of Jacob and Esau, and you see that Esau was a man who cared noting about spiritual life. Jacob, on the other hand, although he had all kinds of problems, desired to be blessed by the Lord to the point that he wrestled all night with the angel of the Lord in order to obtain His blessing. So when I read Genesis, I realize God made the right choice–Righteous and true are His judgments. He always makes the right choice.
One might protest by saying, “Because I am not elected does that mean I have no hope”? “No possibility of getting into the kingdom”? How do you know you are not elected? They may reply “because I am not saved”–Well, get saved today, and you will find you are one of the elect.
It is God who works all things to accomplish His purpose for you in time, in space, in history–even as he put the criminal right next to Jesus on Calvary.
I just finished reading “The Tower of Geburah” by John White to my boys. In this book the children had to make a choice between two kingdoms. My boys easily could see the comparison—Every man is in one of two kingdoms on this earth: the kingdom of light and love, which is the kingdom of God–and the kingdom of darkness and death, which is the kingdom of satan. No one is neutral, for Jesus said, “He who is not for Me is against Me.”
Satan loves darkness. Most crimes are committed at night. The period in history when people did not worship God is called the Dark ages. How are men freed from Satan’s Grasp? You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free, said Jesus. ”What is truth?” Pontius Pilate asked. ”I Am”, Said Jesus. Jesus said, ” I am the Light of the world”. Therefore, when a man or woman opens up his or her heart to Christ, the light of the Lord drives out the darkness of satan.
Men’s eyes are opened and their lives are turned by the power of the Spirit–not by programs or procedures. It is the power of the Lord that works change in a person. It’s God’s one-step program: Get saved, let the Spirit direct your life–and you will be free.
PRAISE: The Hebrew words translated are enlightening ”halal” is used almost 100 times in the Old Testament it literally means to laud, to celebrate, or to boast. The second most common word translated “praise” is “yadah” meaning to worship with extended hands. God desires our praise to be with extended hands because the extended hand is the expression of friendship, surrender, and need. Parents, think back to the first time your kids reached out to you. So too, our heavenly Father loves to see us reach out to Him.
A third word translated praise is “barak” which means ” to declare God as the origin of power for success, and victory.” The forth most common translation is “shabach“, to shout or commend loudly.
We can witness the Angels shouting joy of praise in Job 38:
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Repentance says, I change my mind about who Jesus is. Repentance is a return to the Lord, a change of thinking, and a change of direction, which results in a change of heart. If you have been resisting the Spirit’s tug at your heart, change your mind about who you think Jesus Christ is, and give your life to Him. If you have been grieving the Spirit, change direction and deal directly with the sin you know He is speaking to you about. If you have been quenching the Spirit, change direction and pursue Him instead of being apathetic toward Him.
Then we can experience times of refreshing in our lives. Remember David when he finally dealt with the issue of his sin. Nathan the prophet came to David and said, David we have a problem. Within your kingdom, there’s a rich man who owns many sheep. Wanting to give a visitor a leg of lamb, he went to his next door neighbor’s house. Now, his neighbor was so poor that he had only one little lamb that he treated as a pet. But the rich man took the poor man’s single lamb and fed it to his guest. What? thundered David. The rich man ripped off the poor man? He shall surely die! Nathan then said, David you are the man. It’s you. The story relates to your sin–you will always know your in sin when your harsh with other people. Stealing a lamb was not a capitol offense, yet David was treating it that way. Sin– its a funny thing, it allows us to find fault with others making us feel a little better about our own sin. You might say didn’t David sin against Bathsheba and Uriah but the psalmist rightly declared that he had sinned against God. Sin is always only against God because no matter what we do to someone else, and no matter what someone else does to us, its less than what we or they deserve. Were all sinners and we all deserve to be wiped out, destroyed, and consumed. But God? He is perfect and holy, loving and gracious, patient and kind. He is the only One unfairly hurt by the consequences of our sin.
David went on to say “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach sinners your ways and sinners will return to you.” I have learned my lesson Father–Restore me.
God has clearly said that the one who is meditating in the word will bring forth fruit,will never shrivel up, and will prosper in all he does. The Scriptures are all-sufficient, for they speak of Christ, point to Christ, and bring us to Christ. Stay in the Scriptures. Read your Bible. Lets look at Psalm 19 six descriptions and six effects of the Word of God in one’s life:
The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting or restoring the soul. The law speaks of totality of the Word. From where does emotional or mental restoration come?
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The word sure means solid. The word simple means open-minded. Thus the Word of God gives solid footing to those who would otherwise sink in sand of open minded innocence. How solid is the Word? Peter declares it is even more sure, more solid than the voice of God
The Statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. Studying the Word of God will make your heart happy. Jeremiah said, Your words were found, and I ate them and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart.
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The commandments are pure–without flaw. They are workable, understandable, and powerful. How does one see clearly? Through Gods word
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The Word of God is not based upon a passing fad or humanistic understanding. It is clean-pure, easy to grasp and last forever.
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous. We know in our heart of hearts that the Word is true. Our spirit confirms its accuracy.
My mother in law died today at 1:05 pm. It was the first person I have ever actually seen die. She was surrounded by family and friends–Death itself is an amazing process. The thing I noticed most or will remember about this experience –My wife’s comment– Did you noticed the room change. With her last breath it was as if a vacuum had removed something from the room. This was a saved women who loved the lord very much.
God declares that “all souls are Mine.” “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you”. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. God says, All souls are Mine and I am able to make them stand. God looks at death entirely differently than we do. We look at death as the absence of brain waves or heartbeat, separation of soul and body. God sees death only as the separation of a soul from Him (i.e when that soul has rejected him.) To the believer there will never be the separation of a soul from God. In other words, people can live their lives as dead people. God has no pleasure in death. That is why He sent His son to give us the gift of eternal life.
God bless you Bonnie and happy death day. Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise, He will wipe every tear from your eyes, and death will be no more, neither shall there be mourning, crying, or pain.
You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess. (Deuteronomy 5) I want to bless you. I want it to go well with you. I want your days to be prolonged in the land I’m giving you. I want you to live–really live, “God declares.
Jesus said the same thing when He said, “I have come that you might have life abundantly.” (John 10). God’s plan and desire is not abundant life only presently–but on into eternity. In Genesis 5, we see the story of a man who walked with God quite literally.When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enochwalked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enochwalked with God, and he was not,for God took him. (ESV)
At age 65, Enoch began walking with God. For three hundred years, he walked so closely with the Lord that it was if one day, the Lord looked at him and said, “Enoch, we’re closer to My house than yours, so why don’t you just come on up and stay with Me? Enoch never died. He was just raptured, translated, and snatached up into heaven, where he is living to this day.
You see, walking with God has benefits not only in this life but in heaven–where all things will be right, where every tear will be dried, where every question will be answered, where every problem be solved.
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wifehid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3 ESV) God not only declares that man should walk with Him, but He desires that man would walk with Him. That is, our walking with God is not only for our benefit but for His enjoyment. We see this in Genesis 3, a story we know well. After Adam and Eve rebelled against the Lord in the Garden of Eden, when Adam heard God walking in the cool of the day, he hid himself because evidently, God and Adam had a habit of walking together at that time. God showed up for His appointment, but Adam hid because now they were no longer in agreement.
God desired that man would walk with with Him. But man started doing His own thing–even though sin entered us, God did not give up on us. God sent His Son to be slain for our sin, to take away the disharmony, the disagreement, the barrier between us and God.
Jesus walked in perfect harmony with the Father. As people watched Him walk, as they listened to the words He spoke, as they saw the deeds He did, they followed Him. Why? He lived life the way it was meant to be lived. There was a quality, a vitality, an attractiveness about Him that caused people to want to know what He said, to travel where He was going. Jesus asks the question that needs to be asked of every individual who has ever lived: what are you seeking? What are you really after?
Jesus declares that what you do in secret, the Father sees and will reward openly. If I want my sons to be Bible lovers, I have to love the Bible myself. I have to develop a deep devotional life personally and privately. What we do in secret will inevitably impact what our children end up doing in their own lives. The Bible says that we ought to be men with strength and certainty– a house that will serve the lord.
My son Paul recently had asked, “Why he could not watch a certain cartoon that his classmates watch.” I was trying to explain that I am responsible for him, I would not allow things to pollute his mind, and that my goal was to raise him in a way that will be beneficial to him in the days to come. It was not an answer that he cared for much at the time:)
Children are like video camcorders, there always running, and always recording. I have to remember, what do I want to be on the tape of my child’s soul and mind.
I am just finishing up the Story of Samson with the boys. Samson was a man with unparalleled potential. He was born into a godly home. He was dedicated to God from the day of his birth. He was called to ministry even before he was born. But in the end his life might have been described as a life of mediocrity. Even though Samson might be described as mediocre, in Hebrews 11 God describes Samson as a man who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised. This is a big time quality for God– that of overcoming through faith.
This story forces me to look at myself– I know that I am a man of mediocrity. I have blessing, potential, and opportunity that God graciously entrusted me. But I have messed up. I haven’t followed through. Like Samson I have missed the mark, I hear the voices of the Philistines as they say ”your supposed to be a Christian? Your supposed to be a godly man? Your supposed to be a leader, a servant? How can that be ?
Then Jesus comes, “My King” I remember when he cried on the cross, “it is finished”, He brought the house down and silenced our enemies. He took Satan out, He paid the price for all of our sins and all of our mediocrity. There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. Their sin and iniquity I will remember no more.
I recall the great words of SM Lockridge, “Do you know him (Jesus)? He is the greatest phenomenon that ever crossed the horizon of this world, He’s God’s Son, He’s a sinner’s savior, He’s the centerpiece of civilization, He’s unparalleled, He’s unprecedented, He’s the loftiest idea in literature, He’s the highest personality in philosophy, He’s the fundamental doctrine of true theology, He’s the only one qualified to be an all sufficient Savior.”
Samson’s moment of greatness came not in the life he lived, but in the death he chose. Jesus said, ” If any man come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me”. Let go, give up, watch what will happen. The sooner we die, the sooner there will be resurrection.
My Boys are going through the story of Judges at school this week. What amaze me – is how into the stories they are. The Book of Judges speaks of judges not in the judicial sense, but rather in a super hero sense. These Judges were deliverers. The twelve men and one woman whose stories are told in this book were the instruments through which God judged those who had wandered away from Him, and through which He delivered those, who were held captive, yet sought Him.
We see a cycle that is repeated seven times, a cycle which is very similar to ones which might be in our own life. We see the people of Israel serving God, then turning to sin, being enslaved by sin, they are sorry for their sin, and finally saved from their sin.
If there’s one message to be found in the Book of Judges, it’s that sin dosen’t pay. Sin will wipe you out and trip you up.
The good news, is that although the people stumble into sin and become enslaved by sin you can also be delivered from sin, when you call upon the Lord.
The resurrection of Christ is of paramount importance for several reasons, many admit the necessity of the death of Christ who deny the importance of the bodily resurrection of Christ. Paul shows that everything stands or falls with Christ’s bodily resurrection. If Christ has not risen, preaching is vain, the corinthians faith was in vain, the apostles were false witnesses and the Corinthians were yet in their sins, those fallen asleep in Jesus have perished. The resurrection is clearly an essential part of the gospel. God raised him up and exalted him to his own right hand that he might be the head over all things to the church. It was necessary for him to rise before he could baptize the believer in the Holy Spirit. He must rise to be a Prince and Savior, to give repentance and remissions of sins.
We have demonstrably sincere eyewitness testimony. Early Christian apologists cited hundreds of eyewitnesses, some of whom documented their own alleged experiences. Many of these eyewitnesses willfully and resolutely endured prolonged torture and death rather than repudiate their testimony. This fact attests to their sincerity, ruling out deception on their part. According to the historical record most Christians could end their suffering simply by renouncing the faith. Instead, it seems that most opted to endure the suffering and proclaim Christ’s resurrection unto death.
A second line of evidence concerns the conversion of certain key skeptics, most notably Paul and James. Paul was of his own admission a violent persecutor of the early Church. After what he described as an encounter with the resurrected Christ, Paul underwent an immediate and drastic change from a vicious persecutor of the Church to one of its most prolific and selfless defenders. Like many early Christians, Paul suffered impoverishment, persecution, beatings, imprisonment, and execution for his steadfast commitment to Christ’s resurrection.
A third line and fourth line of evidence concern enemy attestation to the empty tomb and the fact that faith in the resurrection took root in Jerusalem. Jesus was publicly executed and buried in Jerusalem. It would have been impossible for faith in His resurrection to take root in Jerusalem while His body was still in the tomb where the Sanhedrin could exhume it, put it on public display, and thereby expose the hoax.
The inspired Word of God guarantees the believer’s resurrection at the coming of Jesus Christ for His Body (the Church) at the Rapture. Such hope and assurance issues in a great song of triumph as Paul writes in, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?” How do these concluding verses relate to the importance of the Resurrection? Paul answers, “…you know that your labor is not in vain”. He reminds us that because we know we will be resurrected to new life, we can suffer persecution and danger for Christ’s sake, just as He did, and just as the thousands of martyrs through history who gladly traded their earthly lives for everlasting life via the resurrection.
Palm Sunday is the day we remember the ” triumphal entry” of Jesus into Jerusalem, Exactly one week before His resurrection. Zechariah(500 years earlier) had spoke to the nation of the coming of their King riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey. This was not the normal manner in which kings arrived, for they usually came as conquerors riding on horses. A colt was a symbol of peace.
The disciples got the animals, threw their garments on them to make saddles, and people in the large crowd spread cloaks and tree branches (palms) on the roads. Most of these people were pilgrims from Galilee on their way to Jerusalem to celbrate the Passover. They were familiar with Jesus and the many miracles He had performed. As the people walked along some before Jesus and some behind Him they were probably singing some of the psalms.
Matthew noted that they shouted the words, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. To Him they shouted, Hosanna to the Son of David. Hosanna - Save us, we pray–It became a note of praise as well as petition.
While the crowd did not fully understand the significance of this event, they acknowledged that this One is the promised Seed of David who had come to grant them salvation. Both their actions and words bestowed honor on this One coming into the city, at last presenting Himself publicly as their King.
As Jesus entered Jerusalem, the entire city was moved and asked, Who is this? Since Jesus had usually avoided the city, its inhabitants did not know Him. Those accompanying Jesus from out of town kept answering, This is Jesus, the Prophet from Nazareth in Galilee. As the Prophet, He is the One promised by Moses. Luke recorded that Jesus wept over the city and told the religious leaders that the day was a significant time for the nation: “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace–but now is is hidden from your eyes.” This event marked the official presentation of Jesus Christ to the nation of Israel as the rightful Son of David.
1 Chr 29:11 (NRSV) Yours, O LORD, are the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is yours; yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.
Job 13:10-11 (NRSV) He will surely rebuke you if in secret you show partiality.Will not his majesty terrify you, and the dread of him fall upon you?
Job 37:22 (NRSV) Out of the north comes golden splendor; around God is awesome majesty.
Psa 29:4 (NRSV) The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
Psa 111:2-3 (NRSV) Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them. Full of honor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever.
Psa 96:6 (NRSV) Honor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
Heb 1:2-3 (NRSV) but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
