Tag: Living for Jesus

Our Rejection of God: How Dare We Call Ourselves Christians? Jeremiah 7:16-26.

It is so endearing at times to see little children in a big supermarket or shopping mall. They come in crying with mom or dad, but as soon as they see something interesting—toys, candies, pets, or anything else that moves—their moods are in change mode, they go their own way and forget everything else around them.

And then at some point, suddenly, they look up and look around and realize that their mom or dad are not there anymore. They look mystified, turn around, first carefully walking, then running and checking out places. and then when they cannot find their parents, they start shouting, crying, “Mommy!!! Daddy!!!”

And when even that doesn’t help, you see their faces change from hope to fear and then to a sense of rejection. They think that they will never see mommy or daddy again. The result is a heart-rending crying that won’t stop until their parents have found them, or someone from the store comes to comfort them.

Eventually, there will be a message over the store’s call system asking the mom and dad to return to the customer service area – “that someone very special is waiting for them there.”

Mom and Dad are also likewise in a high state of fear because they cannot find their child. Of course, we know they would not ever reject their child just like that – the child not rejecting mom and dad, “wanders off” after some candy!

Eventually, Mom and Dad and Child are re-united, and everything is all “hugs and kisses, smiles and “don’t worry (_____), Mommy and Daddy love You!”

All is as it should be! The store is happy! Family is back together again!

And life in the “big city” “small town” neighborhood can go on as before.

All is bliss and blessed ……

The Good News is Mommy and Daddy did not reject their child after all.

Perhaps the Better News is their child did not reject their Mommy and Daddy when they were reunited.

Parents will give the best years of their lives to their children.

They give whatever they can, sacrifice their time, their strength, their resources—everything—in order to give all of their children all the best possible in life.

But then, when they in turn start being in need of their children, they may just find a stunning lack of gratitude, a stunning lack of a “return” commitment.

They are just expected to understand that the children have a life of their own.

They need their privacy. They need time and energy to develop their careers. They now have children of their own that take up so many of their resources.

And the parents try to understand, I am sure.

They explain to others with an air of pride how their kids are so busy, because they have such a responsible job and are taking so good care of their own kids.

But deep down inside, there may just be the maturing, searing pain of rejection, too great and too deep to describe, too shameful to freely share with any others.

It is certainly not true in all families –

But it is true is many families and too often goes un-noticed – except by God.

but here also lies an injustice – the rejection of our God, who is our Father!

We can call ourselves Christians, go to church, give our tithes, etc. and yet have rejected God effectively.

The picture God’s Prophet Jeremiah gives of life in Judah comes close to our life in the Christian West, with several gods competing for our loyalty.

Jeremiah 7:16-26Amplified Bible

16 “Therefore, do not pray for this people [of Judah] or lift up a cry or entreaty for them or make intercession to Me, for I do not hear you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes for the [a]queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods that they may offend and provoke Me to anger. 19 Do they offend and provoke Me to anger?” says the Lord. “Is it not themselves [they offend], to their own shame?” 20 Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and [the fire will] not be quenched.”

21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat the meat. 22 For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. 23 But this thing I did command them: ‘Listen to and obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, so that it may be well with you.’ 24 But they did not obey Me or bend their ear [to hear Me], but followed the counsels and the stubbornness of their [own] evil heart (mind), and [they turned and] went backward instead of forward. 25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have [persistently] sent you all My servants the prophets, sending them daily, early [and late]. 26 Yet they did not listen to Me and obey Me or bend their ear [to hear Me] but stiffened their neck; they did more evil and behaved worse than their fathers.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

God is like a rejected parent.

Jeremiah 7 reveals to our souls the “anger” which “burns inside” a God who has been repeatedly rejected by his people—their Father in heaven whose children have repeatedly let him down, repeatedly turned their backs on him.

There are some seriously dramatic words in Jeremiah 7—even shocking—when God speaks to Jeremiah:

“Don’t pray for this people! Don’t offer any plea or petition for them! Don’t plead with me, for I will not listen!”

Wow! That’s tough language, isn’t it? Jeremiah is told that he is no longer allowed to pray for the people of God. And if he does, God will simply put his fingers in his ears, so to say, and make sure he does not hear a single word.

Have you ever seen parents doing that to their children? I have.

My father did that to me several times – he just turned off his hearing aids. If I tried to carry on our conversation or our arguments – he reached up to his ears and he simply, one by one, removed both of his hearing aids from his ears.

Again, we need not go further than the supermarket to see it happening all the time. Kids find their way to the candy department and start begging for candies.

Mom and dad will answer with a firm “no”.

“Today is not candy day. Some other time.”

But kids are not good at taking “no” for an answer.

So, they keep on asking, they insist, they become stubborn and impossible to handle. Everyone is now at a place where they all need to have “their space!”

And that is where many parents lose their patience.

It doesn’t mean that they stop loving their kids.

It doesn’t mean that they stop caring for them.

It doesn’t mean that they don’t want to give their very best to their children.

It only means at that point they come to the conclusion that their kids now need a firm foundational teaching on the need to hear, listen, respect their parents.

They need to understand that sometimes “no” really, truly, fully means “no”. They need to “straighten up,” obey their parents and accept their authority.

Jeremiah lived in a time when the people of Israel had turned away from God.

They did not think of him any longer as “the” God of Israel. At best, he was “a” god—one among a lot of colleagues and competitors.

For Israel, God’s law and parental authority had become “highly negotiable.”

People felt they were no longer dependent on him.

After all, they could always turn to other gods who were more amendable, more apt to condescend, to compromise, simply adjust to their needs and demands.

Look, for example, at how Jeremiah 7 describes life in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem:

(Verse 18) “The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger.”

What we see here is this: The people of Judah had broken faith with God.

They had committed spiritual adultery with other gods, which they had adopted from the cultures around them.

They still went to the temple to bring petty sacrifices.

They had a little time set apart for God. But it was not quality time. Their offerings did not come from the heart. They were just a routine ritual.

They thought by going through the motions of ritual, they could make God happy; They could make God believe they still loved and respected him.

But when the duties in the temple were done with, the families gathered together for quality time—a sort of barbeque party, you could say.

The kids went to pick twigs and branches for the fire. Dad lit the fire—after all, that was the man’s job. And mom was in the kitchen baking delicacies.

The cakes she made had the form of a woman.

It was the goddess Asherah, the “Queen of Heaven”.

You may have read that after the reign of king Solomon, the Jewish nation had been divided into a northern kingdom, Israel, and a southern kingdom, Judah.

By the time that God called Jeremiah, the northern kingdom of Israel had already ceased to exist.

Almost a century earlier, the Assyrian army had come and conquered the nation.

Many of the people had been killed or taken into exile, and groups of Assyrians came and settled in Samaria.

That should have been a clear warning sign for Judah in the south.

But everything shows that Judah had not learned its lesson. How come?

Why was it so hard for the Jews to stay faithful to the God who—as they firmly believed—had led them out of slavery in Egypt, given them the Promised Land?

Why did they ever so eagerly embrace other gods—the Queen of Heaven, the Assyrian goddess of the family; or Mammon, the Aramaic god of wealth and trade; or Baal, the Canaanite god of agriculture?

Why did they reject their own God Yahweh, the Creator of heaven and earth?

When I look at the life of Israel, from the moment they left Egypt to the time of Jeremiah and even beyond, I can come up with two answers.

First, their God was “too limited.”

And second, he was “too demanding.”

Let me try to spell that out for you.

Throughout the history of Israel, God appears as a very patriarchal God.

He was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, not the God of Sarah, Rebekah, Leah and Rachel. He was the God of Moses and Aaron, not the God of Miriam.

The creation story depicts God as inherently both male and female.

But in the history and tradition of his people, he seemed to communicate primarily from man to man, and take sides with the men.

He assigned all worship duties to male Levites and priests.

God seemed to endorse a strongly patriarchal society, where women were owned by their father or husband.

In the law he gave to Moses, women were given lesser rights than the men, even though, we must admit, in Israel women were treated with far, far more respect and equality than anywhere else in the Middle East.

But of course, they did not know, nor would they ever come to acknowledge it.

At times, God threatened to abandon his people in the desert.

At other times he threatened to wipe them from the face of the earth altogether.

He was distant.

They couldn’t see him; He would not allow to have pictures or statues made of him.

They couldn’t hear him, because he would only “speak through his prophets.”

To make things worse, he put a lot of demands on the people.

I don’t mean the ritual worship and sacrifices.

I mean the demands for moral integrity, for love and respect for one another and even for the foreigners living among them or traveling through their land.

God demanded that they take care of the needy, especially the widows and orphans, since there were no institutional social services.

God demanded at regular intervals debts were cancelled and slaves set free.

In short: God demanded the highest form of personal integrity and social justice.

But for those in power—the kings and tribal chiefs, the landowners and those who had made a fortune in trade—these demands were appalling.

The idea one day out of seven they were not allowed to do business or make their slaves and hired hands work on the land felt like a terrible waste of time and resources.

No wonder, then, that the people grew tired of God.

No wonder, then, that they looked for alternatives.

There was an obvious demand for a woman god—a goddess—who was more empathetic, easier to approach, and closer to the life of the family—a goddess with whom particularly the women could identify.

There was an obvious demand for a god who blessed business and trade and allowed a great measure of moral freedom, as long as you made money.

I believe in that respect our time is not so different from the time of Jeremiah.

Our Christian Church is not so far removed from the Jewish nation in Jeremiah’s time.

In the west, New Age spirituality has mixed with the faith of many Christians.

People go shopping, as it were, to fill their religious shopping cart with a nice religious mix that they feel good about.

These are the obvious forms of idolatry—the obvious ways in which God is being rejected as the one and only true God.

But there are also less obvious parallels between Jeremiah’s time and ours.

Every Christian knows the Great Commandment:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.”

But how many of us are really serious about this?

Oh, I know, it is easy to come to worship on Sunday and sing or pray: “Oh, Lord God! How Great thou Art! How I love you! Oh Lord Jesus! or How I adore you!”

But when it comes down to all the choices and decisions we make Monday through Saturday, to the way we deal with our family and friends,

with the people at school or at work, in the bus or the metro; with the beggars in the streets or the customers on the phone

… can everybody see that our lives are maybe not so much actually, genuinely driven by steadfast, immovable commitments to the Great Commandment?

Look at the way you spend your time and your money.

Look at the friends you choose and the friendships you neglect.

Look at your priorities. Listen to your words when you are angry or excited.

What do these tell you, others about your love for God and for your neighbor and for yourself? That is a question we should all ask ourselves—every day!

I see yet another parallel in the way we respect or disrespect the authority of God in our lives.

The simple truth is that God’s won’t necessarily always coincide with ours.

More often than not there seems to be a conflict of interests between God and us.

Just like the little kid in the supermarket, who is determined that she must have an ice cream right now.

To her great disappointment, she may find that her parents have a very different, and most disagreeable view on the matter.

God speaks with authority through the Bible, which we often call the Word of God. Luther called the Bible the supreme authority in matters of faith and living. That does not mean that everything we read in the Bible is normative.

Not everything that is normative is unambiguous and self-explanatory.

Not everything that is unambiguous and self-explanatory is independent of time, place or culture.

But it doesn’t really matter.

Isaiah 6:8-12Amplified Bible

Isaiah’s Commission

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” 9 And He said, “Go, and tell this people:

‘Keep on listening, but do not understand;
Keep on looking, but do not comprehend.’
10 
“Make the heart of this people insensitive,
Their ears dull,
And their eyes dim,
Otherwise, they might see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
Understand with their hearts,
And return and be healed.”

11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered,

“Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant,
And houses are without people
And the land is utterly desolate,
12 
The Lord has removed [His] people far away,
And there are many deserted places in the midst of the land.

The question is: when we recognize God speaking to us through the Bible, do we try to “genuinely” hear Him, “actually” listen to Him, to respect his authority?

Is it our heart’s desire and our will’s determination to seek to obey him?

Or are we selective in applying only what we are comfortable with and what we feel good about?

Think of the events in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3.

Adam and Eve heard God loud and clear: “Don’t eat from that tree.”

But they chose to ignore him and disobey what they knew was God’s command.

First, there was doubt creeping in: “Did God really say that?”

Then, there was distortion of God’s command: “He said we cannot touch the tree.”

It all stems from a hugely distorted image of God as a stern and bossy and unreasonable God who wants to make our lives miserable by denying us the good side of life, and who demands the impossible from us day and night.

As individual believers, and as the Body of Christ—the Church in God’s own neighborhood, and, if possible, as a society built upon the foundation of the Christian faith and tradition—we should take God’s authority seriously.

We should pay heed to his voice crying out in a broken world against social injustice, various forms of abuse and exploitation, discrimination and racism.

And it is not enough that we just refrain from going along with them.

As Christians, we should echo that voice and obey it.

We should encourage one another to live our lives the way God meant our lives to be (Philippians 2:1-4).

And perhaps, the best way to do so is to be imitators of Christ: to love like he loved, to care like he cared, to heal like he healed, and to sacrifice ourselves for others the way he sacrificed his life for us. (Ephesians 5:1-2, 1 John 4:7-21)

We can call ourselves Christians, go to church, give our tithes, etc. and yet have rejected God effectively. The picture Jeremiah gives of life in Judah comes close to life in the Christian West, with several “gods” competing for our loyalty.

Psalm 2:1-3Amplified Bible

The Reign of the Lord’s Anointed.

2 Why are the [a]nations in an [b]uproar [in turmoil against God],
And why do the people devise a vain and hopeless plot?
2 
The kings of the earth take their stand;
And the rulers take counsel together
Against the Lord and His Anointed (the Davidic King, the Messiah, the Christ), saying,
3 
“Let us break apart their [divine] bands [of restraint]
And cast away their cords [of control] from us.”

Three Consequences of Rejecting God’s Authority

If you’ve ever been on a road trip with a toddler, you’ve probably experienced the struggle of trying to keep them buckled in their car seat for hours on end.

They don’t have the necessary maturity to understand that the restraints are keeping them safe, and that ultimately, you love them and know what is best.

So it is with mankind and their Maker.

From the beginning of creation until now, people have tried to cast off every restraint placed on them by the loving hand of God.

Not willing to yield to the perfect will of the Father, nations have rejected God’s authority again and again.

Though the Lord remains faithful, He also maintains justice, and there are consequences to rejecting His authority. Here are 3 of them listed in the Bible:

1. They get what they ask for.

They soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert. And He gave them their request but sent leanness into their soul. Psalm 106:13-15 NKJV

Nations that disregard God’s counsel in favor of their own lusts eventually get what they ask for. Sadly, though their flesh is satisfied, their soul is parched like a dry and thirsty land with no water.

Let us come to the Fountain of Living Water—to the well that never runs dry—and drink to the full of God’s goodness and mercy! (John 4:10)

2. They suffer unnecessarily.

Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom will ascend like dust; because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 5:24

The horrendous aftermath of a wildfire may be an accurate word picture of the consequences that a nation without God will suffer. Consumed by their own falsehoods, those who reject the Word of the Lord will suffer unnecessarily.

However! The Lord is faithful and just to forgive. (1 John 1:9)

He longs for us to return to Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength.

He longs to cover us with His mighty hand and be our Protector.

Let us repent and humble our hearts before Him that He might come and heal our land! (2 Chronicles 7:14)

3. They are left to their own devices.

Of the Rock of Ages who begot you, you are unmindful, and have forgotten the God who fathered you. (Psalm 139:13-18, 23 and 24)

And when the Lord saw it, He spurned them, because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters.

And He said:

‘I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faith. Deuteronomy 32:18-20 NKJV

Rejection of the Lord’s sovereignty and provision only leads to a desolate ending.

Without faith in the One who made us, we are empty, lacking, and ultimately left to our own devices.

Let us turn back to our Rock and remember our Maker.

Just like the father, who was waiting at the window for the return of his prodigal son, so the Lord is waiting for us to return to Him!

“In an acceptable time, I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.”

Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:2 NKJV

Psalm 34:8-11Amplified Bible

8 
O taste and see that the Lord [our God] is good;
How blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who takes refuge in Him.
9 
O [reverently] fear the Lord, you His saints (believers, holy ones);
For to those who fear Him there is no want.
10 
The young lions lack [food] and grow hungry,
But they who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing.
11 
Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you to fear the Lord [with awe-inspired reverence and worship Him with obedience].

Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

The Hebrew word for “fear” in this expression refers to a loving reverence and awe of God, coupled with our own actual and genuine willingness to obey him, knowing that he always wants what is best for us.

Our relationship with the Lord is built not on terror but on appropriate respect and awe for our Father.

A healthy respect and understanding of God as loving Creator, faithful Lord, and righteous Judge is the foundation of wisdom. (Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7.)

People who lack reverence for God are like children who do not honor their parents.

They throw a tantrum to try to manipulate God into giving them what they want.

When that fails, they storm off defiantly to do their own thing, ignoring the wisdom and authority of their Father God.

Of course, we are all inclined toward such childish rebellion.

On the cross Jesus paid for our sin of dishonoring God.

And when we accept the gift of his death for our sin, we enter into a new and intimate relationship with ABBA, the Father.

But God is not our pal. He cannot be outsmarted, used, or tricked.

God is the Creator of the universe, infinite, eternal, and all knowing.

The very essence of his being, though, is love (1 John 4:8).

Are you growing to know your loving Father?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

ABBA, Father, teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your Holy Spirit lead me on level ground. I see your faithfulness and goodness in what you have done for me throughout my life. I think about these things, and I thirst for you. Let me hear of your unfailing love every morning, for I am learning how to listen, learning the blessings of trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you. Keep me on firm footing for the glory of your name. Amen.

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“Life is Not Fair at all!” Social Justice, Social Conscience, the Body of Christ.

Awhile back there was an article which appeared in a newspaper which read:

“I used to think I was poor. Then they told me I wasn’t poor, I was needy.

Then they told me it was self-defeating to think of myself as needy, that I was culturally deprived.

Then they told me being ‘Culturally Deprived’ was a very bad image, that I was, instead, underprivileged.

Then they told me that ‘underprivileged’ was abused and overused, that I was actually and in ‘reality’ only disadvantaged.

I still don’t have a dime to my name, but now I have a great vocabulary.

Only now, someone needs to either put the money in my tin cup so I can buy one, or they need buy me a good dictionary for me to know who I actually am.

Why must this be true that my life is just so completely unfair to me.”

Ecclesiastes 4:1-6Amplified Bible

The Evils of Oppression

4 Then I looked again and considered all the acts of oppression that were being practiced under the sun. And behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and they had no one to comfort them; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort them. 2 So I congratulated and thought more fortunate are those who are already dead than the living who are still living. 3 But better off than either of them is the one who has not yet been born, who has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

4 I have seen that every [effort in] labor and every skill in work comes from man’s rivalry with his neighbor. This too is vanity (futility, false pride) and chasing after the wind. 5 The fool folds his hands [together] and consumes his own flesh [destroying himself by idleness and apathy]. 6 One hand full of rest and patience is better than two fists full of labor and chasing after the wind.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Solomon is troubled by the unfairness of life.

But he was the ‘wisest’ king – why didn’t he just legislate away injustice and punish all the wrong-doers, give away some his vast wealth to feed the poor?

Why wouldn’t that work?

In Ecclesiastes 4, the ‘Wisest of the Wisest’ King Solomon deals with an ancient issue which has been continually frustrating so very many people in our world.

It’s the issue of “unfairness”.

That things just aren’t always right and fair in this life.

Solomon was reflecting on this truth when he wrote:

“Again, I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed— and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors— and they have no comforter.” Ecclesiastes 4:1

Inside each one of us is an inner voice that tells us that all things should be fair.

That’s why we have referees in sports games and judges in courtrooms:

we have an innate sense of right and wrong.

And we serve the God of the universe who continually, continuously tells us there is most definitely a right and there is most definitely a wrong.

But then we see oppression, tragedy and sorrow.

And inside of us there’s this inner voice that says:

“That just not right”

“This shouldn’t be happening!”

“How could we possibly fix this great injustice of life?”

The problem is that there are always and forever these two most annoying, and conflicting truths about life’s unfairness which never fails to drive us all nuts.

The first truth is that – no matter how hard we try – we’re never going to fix the problem.

Life is always going to be unfair.

For example, Jesus said: “You will always have the poor among you…” John 12:8

Have you ever heard that?

Of course, you have… and He DID say that.

Now, there are those who look at what Jesus said there, and they just feel like throwing up their hands and just walking away.

After all, if the poor are always going to be with us… why should we bother to try to help them to begin with? It’s not going to do any good anyway.

That may have been one of the motivating factors in the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus that Jesus told. He said:

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.

At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

“The time came when the beggar died, and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.

In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So, he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.”

Luke 16:19-25

Now, why was the rich man not sharing anything with Lazarus?

Well, the Bible doesn’t say, but I personally think he was thinking:

• Why doesn’t that guy go out and get a job or something?

• He’s always out there every day asking for food. It’s really annoying!

• If I gave HIM food, it was just encouraging all the other beggars to come annoy me.

• And besides, we’re always going to have the poor with us, so my little bit of food won’t make a dent.

The point of Jesus’ story was – DON’T GO THERE.

Don’t you go making excuses for why you don’t help the poor.

The rich man ignored Lazarus’ hunger… and we all know where HE went.

And that brings us to our 2nd truth:

Yes, life is always going to be unfair.

But God says it doesn’t matter. He calls His people to work at “fixing it.”

ILLUS: The story’s told of a man who’d seen an injustice in his city, and in frustration he prayed to God “Why aren’t you doing something about this?”

And God’s voice came to him and said:

“I did do something. I sent you.”

You know I learned something new when preparing this devotional message.

Did you realize that when Jesus said “you’ll always have the poor among you”, he was quoting the Old Testament?

Yeah – it’s true.

In Deuteronomy 15:11 God declared:

“There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore, I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.”

That’s the verse Jesus was quoting.

You’re always going to have the poor among you, THEREFORE help them.

That’s the command of God to His people.

In fact, this is a constant theme throughout Scripture.

In Proverbs God says:

“… blessed is he who is kind to the needy.” Proverbs 14:21

And “a generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.” Proverbs 22:9

In fact, this is such an important matter for God that He promises:

“He who is kind to the poor LENDS to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.” Proverbs 19:17

ILLUS:

A man just took truck over to his Mechanic to have the power steering fixed.

He looked it over and said it was going to cost $400… but it wasn’t worth it.

The truck had nearly 240,000 miles on it, it needed too many more repairs that would cost more than the truck and it’s time (he said) to get another vehicle.

So, the man went down to the Credit Union where he had an account, and they said they would loan him the necessary amount of money for another vehicle.

That “Credit Union” said they were willing to loan him some amount of money!

Wasn’t that nice of them?

So, next week he’ll be going to his local dealership to look around and maybe to buy another car with the money they’re willing to give him.

But once he borrowed that money, what are they going to expect him to do?

PAY IT BACK.

And more than that, they expect their money back with interest.

So, what God promised us in Proverbs 19:17 was that when you help the poor, you are LENDING to Him.

Do you and I know what God’s saying there?

He’s saying that you and I can expect Him to pay us back… with interest.

That’s how important helping the poor is to God.

BUT on the other hand, though… God is also very clear:

“If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.” Proverbs 21:13

If you turn your back on the poor… God will turn His back on you.

Now, in my mind’s eye…

I can visualize Solomon sitting there in his vast treasury thinking about this.

He sees people in poverty and being oppressed and misused.

And he’s seeming to be very frustrated about this.

But now… wait a minute!

What is Solomon’s job description?

What does he do for a living?

Well, he’s the king, isn’t he?

If he’s the king, he should be able pass some laws to fix all this. He should be able to punish wrongdoers and oppressors of the poor. Why isn’t he doing that?

And, on top of that, Solomon is wealthy beyond the dreams of avarice.

Why doesn’t he just give away money to the poor?

Well, I think maybe Solomon did do all that.

I think Solomon had worked hard at removing all the oppression he could.

And I’m thinking he did give money to help the poor.

But it’s like he’s barely scratching the surface or making a dent.

Even if he gave EVERYTHING away, people would still be poor.

And it bothers him enormously.

So, part of his discussion here in Ecclesiastes 4 is telling us

WHY even the ‘ wisest of the wisest king ever’ says he can’t fix it all.

In verse 4 he says

“I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” Ecclesiastes 4:4

Do You or I actually know what enviousness is all about?

Envious people look at what their neighbor has, then looks at what they have, they shake their heads, and it makes them DISSATISFIED with what they have.

So, their labor and achievement are always about their getting more and more still of what the other guy has.

And because that is their driving passion, envious folks generally end up hurting themselves or others in their covetous blind pursuit of “more.”

They were being driven with ever greater momentum by envy, and envy can make you poor because you end up doing major stupid stuff like coveting. And King Solomon realized that was part of the reason for poverty and oppression.

But Solomon realized there was a 2nd reason that led to poverty:

Some people were just plain lazy:

Solomon wrote: “The fool folds his hands and ruins himself.” Ecclesiastes 4:5

In Proverbs, Solomon put it this way:

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.” Proverbs 6:10-11

So, Solomon is looking around and he notices that many poor people are poor because they’re too lazy to get off the couch.

They’d much prefer a hand-out to a workout.

Now, that that should NOT be seen as an excuse not to help folks who are struggling.

That’s not Solomon’s point!

Solomon is simply pointing out that you can’t fix everything in life.

You can’t remove all the poverty in the world.

There’s way too much greed and envy out there

– and there’s just way too much laziness – to fix it all

Unfairness, poverty and oppression are just part of life.

And we’re never going to change that completely.

Some of the hardships of life will be our own fault.

But some of those hardships will be the fault of others.

As Solomon said in the first verse of this chapter:

“I saw the tears of the oppressed— and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors— and they have no comforter.”

Solomon was disturbed by this reality.

And he’s not the only one

Over the years, there have been a number of church goers who have dedicated themselves to dealing with injustice and oppressors by engaging in something called “Social Justice”.

Social Justice is the idea that churches should focus primarily on poverty, slums, ghettos, poor nutrition and education, alcoholism, crime, and war.

Now, those are not bad things in and of themselves.

Christians SHOULD BE concerned with poverty/ slums/ and the all the rest.

We should seek to find ways to confront those who hurt others in this world.

But the problem with the Social Justice crowd is they generally get everything out of whack. They are over-zealous and way off-balance in their approach.

The problem with social justice is that its adherents tend to believe that they need to change the culture of a people before you can talk to them about Jesus.

Where does the Bible say that?

Where did the man, Master Rabbi Jesus say that?

Jesus dealt directly and decisively with ‘healing’ the people ….

Churches should always attempt to deal with poverty and hunger.

Rabbi Jesus understood very clearly -it’s hard to preach to someone dying of hunger – but if you give them enough bread, enough manna, enough fish ….

But if churches get in the habit of feeding people without talking to them about Jesus, they can eventually get into the habit of talking about Jesus altogether.

I remember a bit of church history.

Several years ago, when I was trying to better understand “social justice,” I read about this church at the turn of eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

For the better part of the 1900’s there was a powerful church in Manhattan. It was called Broadway Presbyterian Church and they were committed to reaching out to people for Christ. One of the tools they used was to have food kitchens.

They would bring the poor in off the streets, have a prayer for the food, talk about sin and the need to change lifestyles. And it worked. Folks changed their lives and even began coming to church and digging their way out of poverty.

But later on, from the 60’s to the 1990’s a subtle change began to take place.

In the soup kitchens, prayers were not offered over meals because they were afraid that they’d offend the poor. AND they no longer emphasized trying to convince the homeless to turn unto God and to repent of their past sins. That such an act might just drive away the very people they were trying to feed.

But over time they found that the same people were coming through the lines year after year, and there was no change taking place in their lives.

The “socially conscious” congregation of the once mighty church gradually slipped from membership from 1000 people down to 120 and a once mighty congregation sat with a nearly empty building in need of unaffordable repairs.

You see, that’s one of the major drawbacks of the Social Justice Folks.

For God’s sake, they do not want to offend people that they want to help.

They don’t want to talk about SIN.

They don’t want to go on record as being against abortion or homosexuality or living together because that might offend the people they are trying to help.

Trying to somehow cancel the presence, sovereignty of God from His Kingdom.

You know I just noticed something while I was pondering this devotional which I had never seen nor noticed before.

You remember I quoted Jesus saying, “you’ll always have the poor with you”?

Well, embarrassingly, I had never really looked up that verse.

I just knew it was there and took it for granted that was all Jesus said in that verse.

But I was wrong.

That’s not ALL He said.

THIS IS WHAT HE SAID:

“The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.” Matthew 26:11

You know, when people quote Jesus about the poor from that verse, they never seem to mention the 2nd part of His comment.

And as I read that verse, I wondered and pondered: why did Jesus say that?

Well, the scene was in a man’s house just a few days before Jesus will be arrested, beaten, crucified and buried in the tomb. A woman hears that Jesus is there, and without invitation, comes and pours expensive perfume on His head.

When they saw this, Jesus’ disciples (especially Judas) were upset.

They each complained that the perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor.

And so, Jesus said:

“The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.” Matthew 26:11

You know what was Jesus saying?

He was saying there are PRIORITIES in our mission.

Helping the poor was admirable, but service to Jesus was even more important.

When the resurrected Jesus appeared to His disciples on a mountain, just before going into heaven He gave them their marching orders.

He told them what their priorities were to be.

He said:

“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

Do you see or read anything there about helping the poor?

Do you see anything there about working for social justice?

It’s not there is it?

Not that those things aren’t important.

I mean, in the first part of this devotional effort we pointed out that one of God’s highest priorities IS to help the poor and the oppressed.

But that priority is secondary to the command Jesus gave His disciples that day.

Jesus said that our primary mission as Christians is to

1. Make disciples

2. Baptize them into the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

3. Teach them to obey everything Jesus had commanded.

That’s it. That’s the prime directive.

And, you know, when the disciples went out to do that – when they preached about Jesus and made disciples and so on… they often offended people

Peter stood before Sanhedrin one time.

These were the rulers of the nation, and they were furious.

They said:

“We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name… Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.” Acts 5:28

Do you think maybe Peter had offended them?

Yeah, pretty sure he had.

Peter had preached about sin… and the need to repent of that sin.

He spoke truth to power.

And it made folks angry.

Then there’s Paul. In one of his letters to the Corinthians he talks about having been thrown in prison, flogged, whipped, beaten, stoned, and run out of town.

Do you think maybe he’d upset some folks?

Sure, he had. That was part of his job description.

That is a part of our own job description – even in 2022!

You know, the ancient world of that time was NOT a fair and just place to be.

There was poverty and injustice and oppression that was as bad or worse than anything we might see in our day.

And, you know, Jesus lived in a time like that.

And the disciples preached in a day like that.

And Jesus’ command to those disciples was still this:

1. Make disciples

2. Baptize them into the Father/ Son/ Holy Spirit

3. Teaching them to obey everything Jesus had commanded.

And you know why the early Christians followed those orders?

They did it because that was the only way they could change the hearts of men.

When Christ changes the hearts of men – cultures change – into Christ’s Image!

When you change the hearts of men… you give them true freedom.

A freedom from sin and guilt and shame.

A freedom from a mindset of “everything is always unfair 100% of the time?”

Questions for Personal Reflection

For the Joy of the Lord which is now and forever my Strength ….

For the Joy which was ever before Savior Jesus when He endured the Cross ….

  1. What can we do to be more biblically engaged in social justice?
  2. What can we do to understand the perspectives of our neighbors?
  3. What can we do to be more of a service to our neighbors? Acts 6:1-6
  4. What can we do to be kinder and inspire and encourage kindness in others?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

God of yesterday, today and tomorrow,
we call to mind your presence within us and around us.

Open our ears that we may hear your Word.
Open our hearts that we may understand your Word.
Open our mouths that we may speak your World.

Inspire us with the Gospel message,
that we may celebrate all that is life-giving,
restore hope where it has been lost,
and work to bring about change where it is needed.

May we live the Gospel with courage,
constancy and love.
May we be open to the challenge
of your call to true freedom.
May we be faithful to you in our daily choices and decisions.
May we make your love known
through our words and actions.

May the triune God reign in our hearts, now and forever. Amen

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Social Justice, Civil Disobedience, Unity. The Bible and the Body of Christ: “I am the Church. You are the Church. We are the Church together.” Isaiah 1:10-17.

There is no shortage of issues dividing our country and our church today.

Here is a list.

Feel free to add to it: gun control, abortion – pro-life and pro-choice, vaccines – my body – my choice, climate change, drug legalization, gay marriage, equality, immigration, transgender rights, universal healthcare, policing, death penalty, racial inequality, income inequality, required masks, tax cuts, poverty, justice of every sort and every description, mass incarceration, women’s ordination.

Should we, as Christians get involved in these issues?

And to what extent should we get involved?

What does the Bible teach?

Let’s see.

Isaiah 1:10-17Amplified Bible

God Has Had Enough

10 
Hear the word of the Lord [rulers of Jerusalem],
You rulers of [another] Sodom,
Listen to the law and instruction of our God,
You people of [another] Gomorrah.
11 
“What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me [without your repentance]?”
Says the Lord.
“I have had enough of [your] burnt offerings of rams
And the fat of well-fed cattle [without your obedience];
And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls or lambs or goats [offered without repentance].
12 
“When you come to appear before Me,
Who requires this of you, this trampling of My [temple] courts [by your sinful feet]?
13 
“Do not bring worthless offerings again,
[Your] incense is repulsive to Me;
[Your] New Moon and Sabbath [observances], the calling of assemblies—
I cannot endure wickedness [your sin, your injustice, your wrongdoing] and [the squalor of] the festive assembly.
14 
“I hate [the hypocrisy of] your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts.
They have become a burden to Me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 
“So when you spread out your hands [in prayer, pleading for My help],
I will hide My eyes from you;
Yes, even though you offer many prayers,
I will not be listening.
Your hands are full of blood!

16 
“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Get your evil deeds out of My sight.
Stop doing evil,
17 
Learn to do good.
Seek justice,
Rebuke the ruthless,
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the [rights of the] widow [in court].

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

In Jesus’ long list of rebukes and woes against the Pharisees and teachers of the law (Matthew 23:13-36), he rebukes them for neglecting “the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy and faithfulness” (v.23).

There it is first in a list of the top 3.

Jesus was essentially quoting Micah 6:8 in which the prophet says what the Lord requires of us is to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.”

In the Hebrew (Old) Testament alone, “justice” is mentioned hundreds of times in reference to the systemic oppression of vulnerable populations (widows and orphans and the poor and impoverished) at the hands of the rich and powerful.

Here is a very small sampling:

“Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.” (Isaiah 1:17)

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free…” (Isaiah 58:6)

“This is what the Lord says: Do what is right and just. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.” (Jeremiah 22:3)

“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his own people work for nothing, not paying them for their labor.” (Jeremiah 22:13)

“There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts…But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5:12, 24)

From these verses it seems clear to me that the Christian should protect the vulnerable and oppressed.

But to what extent?

Are these commands given for me to carry out as an individual? Are they given for the church to carry out corporately? Are they given to the government to carry out? If so, should Christians work politically to compel the government.

There is strong Biblical evidence that each of us is to individually care for the vulnerable and oppressed.

Jesus story in Matthew 25:31-46 about the sheep and the goats and caring for “the least of these” it is pretty clear.

There is strong Biblical evidence that our church should care for the vulnerable and oppressed.

In Acts 4 the early church members donated, the church cared for those in need.

In Acts 6 the early church was caring for so many widows the apostles did not have time to preach. Our church should care for the vulnerable and oppressed.

Do these commands apply to governments?

On that question the evidence is less clear.

In Biblical times the idea that governments would help the vulnerable and oppressed was non-existent.

There is no Bible text that says,

“And Peter and John formed a political action committee to raise money to run ads in the Jerusalem Times and to lobby the Sanhedrin to care for the poor.”

So, we need to look at the principle behind these texts and see if we can apply it to our time.

Is it enough for me to help orphans and widows I personally, see?

My wife is a widow – so perhaps there is something biblical to consider here.

What we should see in these passages is not just a clear concern for vulnerable populations, but also that they are identifying large scale, systemic issues that are not solved by way of mission trips, church service projects, or benevolence.

These verses and many others mention relevant things like wages, taxes, greed among the rich, corruption of all levels and measures and degrees and bribery.

Many Christians say individuals and churches are supposed to help the poor and needy, but never make an effort to do so through political processes (separation of church and state) of nor impose, coerce, demand, that the government do so.

This ignores the critical context of these Bible passages and the problems they mention. Injustices caused (and propagated and maintained and sustained) by political forces cannot be easily, quickly remedied by individuals and churches.

Following the logic of these verses, it rather seems clear to me that the Bible commands Christians to personally protect the vulnerable in their sphere of influence and allows the Christian to convince others and the government to protect the vulnerable and oppressed…

So, take another look back at your list of divisive issues.

Circle all the ones that deal with protecting the vulnerable and oppressed.

Those are the issues the Bible commands Christians to be personally involved in and allows Christians to “work” to convince others, including the government.

What if the Christian works to convince and not enough people listen?

Should the Christian go even farther and engage in “acts” of protests or civil disobedience for this or any just cause?

How clear is the Word of God for the Children of God on this critical question?

Romans 13:1-7Amplified Bible

Be Subject to Government

13 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God [granted by His permission and sanction], and those which exist have been put in place by God. 2 Therefore whoever [a]resists [governmental] authority resists the ordinance of God. And those who have resisted it will bring judgment (civil penalty) on themselves. 3 For [civil] authorities are not a source of fear for [people of] good behavior, but for [those who do] evil. Do you want to be unafraid of authority? Do what is good and you will receive approval and commendation. 4 For he is God’s servant to you for good. But if you do wrong, [you should] be afraid; for he does not carry the [executioner’s] sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an avenger who brings punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be subject [to civil authorities], not only to escape the punishment [that comes with wrongdoing], but also as a matter of principle [knowing what is right before God]. 6 For this same reason you pay taxes, for civil authorities are God’s servants, devoting themselves to governance. 7 Pay to all what is due: tax to whom tax is due, customs to whom customs, respect to whom respect, honor to whom honor.

To give proper historical context, when Paul wrote this the emperor of Rome was Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, also known simply as Nero.

The emperor was not known for being a moral and ethical person, to say the very least.

In AD 64 the great Roman fire occurred, with Nero himself suspected of arson.

In his writings, the Roman senator and historian Tacitus recorded,

“To get rid of the report [that he had started the fire], Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace” (Annals, XV).

“To prevent Rome and the Emperor from breaking down your door – keep a civil tongue in your head – live in peace by giving to Nero what is Nero’s.”

Even under the reign of a ruthless and godless emperor, Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, tells his Roman readers to be in subjection to the government. Moreover, he additionally states no authority exists other than that established by God, and that rulers are serving God in their political office.

Mark well this exchange between Pilate and Jesus and “Government Authority.”

John 19:9-11Amplified Bible

9 He went into the Praetorium again and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus did not answer him. 10 So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” 11 Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me at all if it had not been given to you from above. For this reason, the sin and guilt of the [a]one who handed Me over to you is greater [than your own].”

Peter writes nearly the same thing in one of his two New Testament letters:

“Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil but use it as bondslaves of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king” (1 Peter 2:13–17).

Both Paul’s and Peter’s teachings have led to quite a few questions from Christians where civil disobedience is concerned.

Do Paul and Peter mean that Christians are always to submit to whatever the government commands, no matter what is asked of them?

Yes, IF that was all the Bible said on the matter.

But the Bible says more.

What do these people in the Bible have in common:

Hebrew midwives defying Pharoah, Rahab, Saul’s soldiers, Obediah, Jehosheba, Vashti, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abendigo, Peter, James and John and all of the original Apostles have in common?

They broke the law of the land.

Let’s look at some examples of civil disobedience in the Bible and see if we might both discover the principle of when civil disobedience is appropriate.

In Exodus 1, the Egyptian Pharaoh gave the clear command to two Hebrew midwives that they were to kill all male Jewish babies.

An extreme patriot would have carried out the government’s order, yet the Bible says the midwives disobeyed Pharaoh and “feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live” (Exodus 1:17).

The Bible goes on to say

the midwives lied to Pharaoh about why they were letting the children live; yet even though they lied and disobeyed their government, “God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, and became very mighty. Because the midwives feared God, He established households for them” (Exodus 1:20–21).

Its Biblically OK to nonviolently break laws that require you to kill someone.

In Joshua 2, Rahab disobeyed a command from the king of Jericho to produce the Israelite spies who had entered the city to gain intelligence for battle.

Instead, she let them down via a rope so they could escape.

Even though Rahab had received a clear order from the top government official, she resisted the command and was redeemed from the city’s destruction when Joshua and the Israeli army destroyed it.

Its Biblically OK to non-violently break laws to bring down evil governments

1 Samuel records a command given by King Saul during a military campaign that no one could eat until Saul had won his battle with the Philistines.

However, Saul’s son Jonathan, who had not heard the order, ate honey to refresh himself from the hard battle the army had waged.

When Saul found out about it, he ordered his son to die.

However, the people resisted Saul and his command and saved Jonathan from being put to death (1 Samuel 14:45).

Its Biblically OK to non-violently break laws capricious laws that kill people

Another example of civil disobedience in keeping with biblical submission is found in 1 Kings 18.

That chapter briefly introduces a man named Obadiah who “feared the Lord greatly.” When the queen Jezebel was killing God’s prophets, Obadiah took a hundred of them and hid them from her so they could live.

Such an act was in clear defiance of the ruling authority’s wishes. Its Biblically OK to non-violently break laws to prevent the innocent from being killed.

In 2 Kings 12. Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, began to destroy the royal offspring of the house of Judah.

However, Joash, son of Ahaziah was taken by the king’s daughter, Jehosheba, and hidden from Athaliah so that the Davidic bloodline would be preserved.

Its Biblically OK to non-violently break laws to prevent the innocent from being killed.

Esther 1:10-12, “On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on. But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s commandment by his chamberlains: therefore, was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him.”

Its Biblically OK to non-violently break laws to protect your modesty.

Daniel records a number of civil disobedience examples.

In chapter 3 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow down to the golden idol in disobedience to King Nebuchadnezzar’s command.

Chapter 6 where Daniel defies King Darius’ decree to not pray to anyone other than the king.

In both cases, God rescued His people from the death penalty that was imposed, signaling His approval of their actions.

Its Biblically OK to non-violently break laws that force you to worship false gods.

In the New Testament, the book of Acts records the civil disobedience of Peter and John towards the authorities that were in power at the time.

After Peter healed a man born lame, Peter and John were arrested for preaching about Jesus and put in jail.

The religious authorities were determined to stop them from teaching about Jesus; however, Peter said, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19–20).

Later, the rulers confronted the apostles again and reminded them of their command to not teach about Jesus, but Peter responded, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

Its Biblically OK to non-violently break laws that prevent you from spreading the gospel

One last example of civil disobedience is found in the book of Revelation where the Antichrist speaks, commands all those who are alive during the end times to worship an image of himself.

But the apostle John, who wrote Revelation, states that those who become Christians at the time will disobey the Antichrist and his government and refuse to worship the image (Revelation 13:15) just as Daniel’s companions violated Nebuchadnezzar’s decree to worship his idol.

Its Biblically OK to non-violently break laws that require you to worship false gods.

What conclusions can be drawn from the above biblical examples?

The guidelines for a Christian’s civil disobedience can be summed as follows:

1, Christians should resist a government that commands or compels evil and should work nonviolently within the laws of the land to change a government that permits evil.

2, Civil disobedience is permitted when the government’s laws or commands are in direct violation of God’s laws and commands.

3, If a Christian disobeys an evil government, unless he can flee from the government, he should accept that government’s punishment for his actions.

4. Christians are certainly permitted to non-violently work to install new government leaders within the election laws which have been established.

Back to my original question.

Should Christians engage in civil disobedience to convince the government to care for the vulnerable and oppressed?

I personally struggle with this one because there are so many significant issues of injustice, mankind’s inhumanity to man, which I am quite passionate about.

Government laws and policies may not protect the vulnerable and oppressed, but the laws and policies do not require the Christian to break God’s laws and mankind’s laws and commands, so the Christian should “subtly” obey them.

(S)He should keep ministering to the people whom God has placed before them in their neighborhoods, to work to change laws, yet to obey them, nonetheless.

Should the Christian engage in political protests?

The Bible does not prohibit it, peaceful protests are not against the law of the land or God’s law.

Christians should not, however, ever engage in violent or destructive behavior.

Such protests damaging property are in violation of the eighth commandment.

Protests that injure police officers or other individuals violate God’s commands to, “Love the Lord your God as you Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

While working for justice for the vulnerable and oppressed is important to the Christian, I believe there are factors that lessen the Christian’s involvement.

One limiting factor may be priorities.

In Matthew Jesus says the second command is “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

What is the first command? It is to, “love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul.”

Loving God is more important than loving your neighbor.

We must take care of our relationship with Jesus first. If our involvement in justice for the vulnerable interferes with our own relationship with Jesus, we reconsider our #1 priorities relevant to the fight for justice in God’s Kingdom.

First things first, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God…”

Matthew 6:33Amplified Bible

33 But first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right—the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be given to you also.

Another limiting factor may be gospel effectiveness.

In I Corinthians 8 Paul talks about not being a stumbling block to the weak.

Even though there is nothing wrong with eating meat, Paul says, “Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.”

And in the next chapter, “To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.”

It is our right to work for any just cause.

But if exercising those rights cause some to be physically or economically or socially harmed (lose their businesses, their jobs, cancelled out by culture) and we ourselves do not heed to the Gospel Truth, then we have made a mistake.

John 13:34-35Amplified Bible

34 I am giving you a new commandment, that you [a]love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love and unselfish concern for one another.”

We must ask ourselves, “Will my involvement in this cause harm to so many people that I cannot, with the mind of Savior Christ, witness for the Gospel?”

Justice now is not the primary goal, saving people eternally is.

Definitely, absolutely, there were many enormous injustices in Jesus’ time: slavery, income inequality, racial inequality, torture, corrupt government.

Jesus did not spend a lot of time fixing those ills.

John 3:16-17Amplified Bible

16 “For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] [a]only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him.

He did, though, spend 100% of his maximum effort drawing people to Himself.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Father, you have given all peoples one common origin.
It is your sovereign will that they be gathered together
as one Body of Christ, one family shaped into your image.
Fill the hearts of mankind with the Holy fires of your love
and with the desire to work and labor, ensure justice for all.
By sharing the abundance of good things, you give us,
may we work and labor to peacefully secure an equality for all
our brothers and sisters in our neighborhoods, throughout the world.
May there be an end to socio-economic political division, strife and war.
May there be a genuine Christ Minded dawning of a truly human society
built only upon thy grace and mercy, love and forgiveness and thy peace.
We ask this in the name of Immanuel, Jesus, our Risen Lord and Savior.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Summer Vacation and Sharing the Gospel: Having fun and Overcoming Spiritual Shyness. 2 Timothy 1:3-12.

Shyness and Invitation

There is a song whose lyrics go something like this,

“Shyness is nice, and Shyness can stop you from doing all the things in life You’d like to… Coyness is nice, and Coyness can stop you from saying all the things in life you’d like to. So, if there’s something you’d like to try. If there’s something you’d like to try. Ask me, I won’t say no, how could I?”

Rather cute lyrics, to a lovely and funny and very interesting song.

…I love the people who are courageous enough to ask me…

But where are the people who are courageous enough to ask me?

Summer Vacation? It is that long awaited time and season of the year.

Spread all over the globe.

Spread all over God’s creation having their own special and unique kind of fun.

We are never shy about our having our fun. We want and need our family time.

Yep! We are never shy about having our fun. We earn our fun – are entitled to it!

“Shyness is nice, and Shyness can stop you from doing all the things in life You’d like to… Coyness is nice, and Coyness can stop you from saying all the things in life you’d like to. So, if there’s something you’d like to try. If there’s something you’d like to try. Ask me, I won’t say no, how could I?”

Rather cute lyrics, to a lovely and funny and interesting and intriguing song.

…I love the people who are courageous enough to ask me…

But where are the people who are courageous enough ……

To ask me about MY SOUL and the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?

2 Timothy 1:3-12Amplified Bible

3 I thank God, whom I worship and serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayer’s night and day, 4 and as I recall your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I remember your sincere and unqualified faith [the surrendering of your entire self to God in Christ with confident trust in His power, wisdom and goodness, a faith] which first lived in [the heart of] your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am confident that it is in you as well. 6 That is why I remind you to [a]fan into flame the gracious gift of God, [that inner fire—the special endowment] which is in you through the laying on of my hands [with those of the elders at your ordination]. 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of sound judgment and personal discipline [abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control].

8 So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord or about me His prisoner, but with me take your share of suffering for the gospel [continue to preach regardless of the circumstances], in accordance with the power of God [for His power is invincible], 9 for He delivered us and saved us and called us with a holy calling [a calling that leads to a consecrated life—a life set apart—a life of purpose], not because of our works [or because of any personal merit—we could do nothing to earn this], but because of His own purpose and grace [His amazing, undeserved favor] which was granted to us in Christ Jesus before the world began [eternal ages ago], 10 but now [that extraordinary purpose and grace] has been fully disclosed and realized by us through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus who [through His incarnation and earthly ministry] abolished death [making it null and void] and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher [of this good news regarding salvation]. 12 This is why I suffer as I do. Still, I am not ashamed; for I know Him [and I am personally acquainted with Him] whom I have believed [with absolute trust and confidence in Him and in the truth of His deity], and I am persuaded [beyond any doubt] that He is able to guard that which I have entrusted to Him until [b]that day [when I stand before Him].

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Personal Shyness can be excruciating debilitating at times.

It has definitely affected and impacted my life negatively over the years. How many times has shyness stopped me accepting the invitation of life, too many?

Some folks might find this hard to believe, but I can be embarrassingly shy. It takes me time to feel comfortable enough to be myself in new environments.

There is a very definite and palpable shyness about me.

I’m better than I used to be.

Or at least I like to believe I am ….

Or maybe I am still playing myself for the king’s fool ….

Doing better or doing worse?

Some days it is almost impossible for me to tell myself there is a difference.

I’m sure folks who see me in my day-to-day stuff find this hard to believe, but it is true all the same. It takes me time to feel comfortable in my own being, in new company, with my neighbors and new situations. Thank God though that, by His Grace alone, these days it rarely leads me to turn down the invitation.

There have been times when I have hidden myself from view, literally hidden my face, afraid to pop my head above the parapet for fear of being shot down.

My mother and my kindergarten teacher knew this and saw how different and silent I was towards my fellow students on my first days at elementary school.

She took us all to school on our first days, but I reacted differently from my siblings who just so easily ran and freely joined the other children. I did not,

I walked through the doors of my new classroom, swallowed hard and sat down in the corner utterly overwhelmed and bewildered by it all. I did in time adjust and found a level of comfort in the crowd, but it took time. It has been the same throughout my life. I do eventually become a part of the whole, but it takes time.

I do not seriously believe I am alone in these feelings; in fact, I know I am not.

We all experience shyness in some form or another, especially when invited and take the first steps into something new, particularly if is something that might be wonderful, but will definitely make them feel uncomfortable and vulnerable.

By the way we are always uncomfortable, vulnerable, that is the nature of life.

Think about the first time and that last time you walked into a new community, a new neighborhood or a new school or new classroom you became a part of. It takes time to feel you belong and can be wholly yourself. I know it does for me.

For those about to go to college, away from home, for the first time, far away in another state or in another state – you are moving into the university’s dorms, about to move in with another human being who will be your roommate for the four years or even more – yes! shyness can be good – In the beginning of it all.

Shyness is a beautiful thing, so long as it does not stop or short circuit us from doing those things our hearts and our souls’ desire. It’s ok to feel the trembling excitement of shyness, but it can become unhealthy if it burdens, enslaves us.

The Irish Poet David Whyte writes that “Shyness is the sense of a great unknown, suddenly about to be known. It is the exquisite and vulnerable frontier between what we think is possible and what we think we deserve”.

This is an exciting feeling actually. Yes, there is fear there, but perhaps also an excited kind of anticipated joy too. It is not in and of itself a negative feeling.

To me these feelings are the essence of the spiritual journey, which is not a safety-first way of living and breathing by the way.

No, it compels us to deal with powerful feelings and discover new ways of being in the world. This can feel quite daunting at times but should not cause shame.

It is natural, healthy and necessary actually. To just brashly step into anything without any shyness can lead to problems not only for ourselves but others too.

These uncomfortable feelings are needed as we explore the great new mysteries life is offering us. This is the invitational nature of life and the Gospel of Jesus.

That said we are not alone in these feelings, no matter how alone we might feel, this is why it is so vital, so critical, to be a part of a community that journeys on through these adventures, inviting us onto the great unknown that is our lives.

2 Timothy 1:7-8 Amplified Bible

7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of sound judgment and personal discipline [abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control].

8 So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord or about me His prisoner, but with me take your share of suffering for the gospel [continue to preach regardless of the circumstances], in accordance with the power of God [for His power is invincible],

Timidity: https://www.blueletterbible.org/rsv/2ti/1/7/t_conc_1126007

Timidity: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g1167/rsv/mgnt/0-1/

Spiritual shyness is that uncomfortable feeling or sense of anxiety that grips you and me when we have an opportunity to talk with someone about the Lord.

We have all been there, haven’t we?

The opportunity presents itself, even on vacation, but we choke under pressure.

We are on vacation to have fun, relax, decompress from all the stress of work.

We need to be with our family and our friends to quite simply: max out our fun!

Most everyone we encounter – campers etcetera, are there to do the very same!

We are the last ones who want or desire to interrupt our fun and someone else’s.

We do not want, nor do we desire to be a “killjoy” of someone else’s fun times.

We kind of tell God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit “its ok to take a break, find Shalom, take several Sabbath Days or weeks of rest from having to deal all of the time with all of our moaning, groaning, perpetual bent towards sinning.”

It is okay, God! Take Your Rest! Because that is exactly what we are going to do.

We take our rest! We seek or Shalom! and gave God permission to seek His Rest!

So, we then unexpectedly encounter that “stirring deep within our souls.”

Our hearts subtly, suddenly, become “strangely warmed” by a close encounter.

It is God who refused our “invitation” to go on His much-deserved vacation.

God is whispering into our pursuit of Shalom:

“HOW IS IT WITH YOUR SOUL?”

“HOW IS IT WITH “YOUR NEIGHBORS” SOUL?” sitting alone with their drink at the bar, with their feet propped up on the ottoman by the nice warm fire?

And we effectively – DO NOTHING to respond to the stirring within our souls.

Spiritual shyness afflicts all of us at times.

In these situations, we never quite get around to asking someone “the big question” about their soul or offering “the invitation” to come, seek Jesus.

Matthew 10:40-42Amplified Bible

The Reward of Service

40 “He who receives and welcomes you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. 41 He who receives and welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives a righteous (honorable) man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 And whoever gives to one of these little ones [these who are humble in rank or influence] even a cup of cold water to drink because he is my disciple, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.”

Back in the early 1900s, Henry Ford purchased a large insurance policy for all his employees. A newspaper got wind of the story and publicized the details.

One of Ford’s close friends, who was an insurance salesman, read about it and became quite upset. He called Ford and asked why he hadn’t purchased a policy from his company. Henry Ford simply replied, “Because you never asked me.”

How many of our family, friends, coworkers, and acquaintances could say to us, “I never believed in Jesus because you nor anyone else never dared asked me to?

“I never joined God’s family because you never invited me to.”

What is our vacationing God trying to communicate to us about our neighbor nursing their drink all alone at the bar or with both their feet up, by the fire?

Paul reminds us “God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power.”

God is the One who can be on vacation and at the same time “tame” our fears about whatever it is we are fearful of or whatever it is we believe we are being shy about. With prayer and discipline, we can vacation as an effective witness.

“Shyness is nice, and Shyness can stop you from doing all the things in life You’d like to… Coyness is nice, and Coyness can stop you from saying all the things in life you’d like to. So, if there’s something you’d like to try. If there’s something you’d like to try. Ask me, I won’t say no, how could I?”

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Here we are again, Lord, 

At thy Invitation, we are here again ……

With much timidity and with much trembling ……

on our knees, trying, pleading, seeking thy Face,
Crying mercy.
Mercy for our souls,
Mercy for one another,
Mercy for our churches,
Mercy for our nation,
mercy for our world.

Here we are again, at thy invitation,
Standing in your presence
in awe of you your holiness,
your otherness,
your mystery,
and your incarnation

With much Timidity and with much Trembling,

seeking Your Holiness,

seeking to be more like You

and less and less like our true and embarrassingly timid selves,

Acts 1:8 Amplified Bible

8 But you will receive power and ability when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses [to tell people about Me] both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.”

From my wholehearted timidity into and unto thy resurrection courage ……

Give “thy teeth” today unto, into my prayer and my affirmation of faith ……

A Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition

I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside by thee.
Exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
Let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.

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Searching for a Miracle. Considering the Power of Salvation. “If I could but touch the hem of His Garment.” Mark 5:25-34

People today are searching for many different things.

o Some are looking for love

o Some are looking for money

o Some are looking for opportunity

o Some are looking for answers

o Some are looking for fulfillment

o Some are looking for physical and spiritual healing

o Some are looking for a touch of humanity

0 Some are looking for acceptance and belonging

To state the obvious, some are just looking for a miracle – ANY miracle!!

Whatever the reason, they are facing certain situations seemingly beyond their control, beyond their human resources to cope, their only answer is a miracle.

Webster’s defines a “miracle” as: an event that appears to be contrary to the laws of nature and is regarded as an act of God

You may find yourself at a place where you cannot solve your problem on your own, you have tried everything, you have looked everywhere with no success.

Through your struggle you have failed to look to the One who can do what no other can do.

We serve a miracle working God and nothing is beyond His power.

Just think for a moment about some of the miracles that Jesus has performed in the Gospel …

He:

o Turned water into wine

o Healed the Nobleman’s son

o Cast out demons

o Healed Peter’s mother-in-law

o Healed many of the sick in the city

o Cleansed a leper

o Healed the Centurion’s servant

o Healed a paralyzed man

o Healed the man with the withered hand

o Raised the widow’s son

o Spoke unto nature itself and calmed the raging storm.

As we come to our selected text we find one miracle being interrupted by another miracle.

First look to Mark 5:24 “And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him”

We arrive in the midst of the story of Jairus and his sick daughter.

She was 12 years old and at the point of death, in fact she did die.

Jairus went to Jesus for a miracle and that is exactly what happened, Jesus raised the little girl from the dead.

As they are headed to Jairus’ daughter, Jesus is interrupted by the lady that we read about in verses 24-34.

She is described as a “woman with an issue of blood”

She is a lady who is searching for answers …she is searching for a miracle.

Today, I want to devote our time and attention to the subject “Searching for a Miracle”

In this coming encounter between Jesus and this lady we see certain elements of our lives today which may come in the life of one who is searching for a miracle.

Mark 5:25-34Amplified Bible

25 A woman [in the crowd] had [suffered from] a hemorrhage for twelve years, 26 and had endured much [suffering] at the hands of many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but instead had become worse. 27 She had heard [reports] about Jesus, and she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His outer robe. 28 For she thought, “If I just touch His clothing, I will get well.” 29 Immediately her flow of blood was dried up; and she felt in her body [and knew without any doubt] that she was healed of her suffering. 30 Immediately Jesus, recognizing in Himself that power had gone out from Him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched My clothes?” 31 His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing in around You [from all sides], and You ask, ‘Who touched Me?’” 32 Still He kept looking around to see the woman who had done it. 33 And the woman, though she was afraid and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. 34 Then He said to her, “Daughter, your faith [your personal trust and confidence in Me] has restored you to health; go in peace and be [permanently] healed from your suffering.”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Mark 5:24-34 tells a story of a woman who had suffered a tremendous amount.

It had been twelve long years of suffering.

This disease was only getting worse, every dime she had had been spent in an effort to find a cure, there was none.

No physician or amount of medicine of the day was helping or would help.

All hope of any help was beginning to fade, and the future looked bleak.

The Bible does not tell us her name or her back story.

However, from the little information that we are given, we know that she had come to a point in her life where she was beyond desperate and out of options.

This is a story of not only suffering, but faith and courage.

This woman seeks out her last possible miracle of hope from the one whom she has not only heard has healed many but believes them all to be genuine, true.  

Her beyond desperate pursuit of the power of Jesus Christ gives us a picture of what it means to be driven forth by our faith, to hang on to God’s faithfulness.

There are three main lessons I wish to highlight from this miraculous story.

  1. To be desperate for God’s help
  2. Our faith is to be rooted in Christ’s power to work out any trial we face
  3. God lovingly welcomes us when we come to Him.

Come to God in Desperate need of Him

Scripture tells us that she had gone through all the options that one had to find a cure to her disease. The account in Mark 5:25-26 says she had

“suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.”

Miracles… we get really skeptical in a really big hurry when we hear that word.

Even Christians roll their eyes when you speak about God working a miracle.

We fail to realize miracles still happen today just as they did in the time of Jesus.

It is one thing for an unbeliever to be skeptical about a miracle, but if you are saved you’ve already experienced the greatest miracle of all time SALVATION!!!

Some people have to reach a devastating situation first before they are willing to open their eyes and see the power of God is their only hope and to see that the power of God unto Salvation can, will work a miracle in their life, even today.

Look at this woman’s situation for a moment:

A. The Sickness – v25a And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood

“An issue of blood” – speaks of hemorrhaging, or bleeding, from some part of the body.

This woman endured a continual flow of blood.

Due to her constant blood loss, she would have been incredibly weak, anemic.

She would have been pale in appearance and would have had no energy at all.

Do you know what it is like to have no energy at all?

It is frustrating and discouraging.

We can assume as a result of her physical ailments, she may have experienced much more than physical weakness but too, depression and discouragement.

B. The Span – v25b “twelve years”

– Not only did she face serious health problems, but she also found no relief.

She had endured this disease for 12 years …over a decade of sickness.

This woman would have been considered severely unclean, even untouchable according to the Law.

This would have resulted in social isolation:

Leviticus 15:25 And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she shall be unclean. 26 Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her separation: and whatsoever she sitteth upon shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation. 27 And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.

Could you imagine 12 years of continuous unyielding isolation and separation?

What a sad existence.

C. The Suffering – v26a And had suffered many things of many physicians,

She not only suffered the effects of her disease, but she suffered as a result of those whom she has hoped could heal her.

For a long time, this woman had been looking for answer but to no avail.

The Doctors were no help at all; you can read into this verse that they did more harm than good for this woman.

D. The Spending – v26b and had spent all that she had, – The doctors and their useless remedies had not helped her.

But they apparently took her money anyways.

After all of her searching and trying and suffering now she had spent everything she had. Here she is, sick, separated and desperately broke – but still spending!

Yes! I would absolutely say she is in a place of severe desperation!

Oh, but it still gets worse!

Notice:

E. The Ceaseless Spiral – v26c and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,

– After 12 years and many doctors, after hoping and repeatedly praying that the next remedy would finally, ultimately be the one to cure, to heal her, things just get worse (as if she needed worse) …literally her life was draining out of her.

During this time period, it was common practice for those who were diagnosed with difficult medical cases, to consult with numerous different doctors.

They would undergo many forms of treatments and the supposed cures were often very abusive and would lead to the patient feeling worse than before.

This woman was so desperate that she not only went to so many different doctors but spent all of her money to find a cure.

The account in Luke 8:43 suggested that the woman could not be helped because her condition was incurable.

She was left feeling hopeless, untouchable and desperate to find an answer.

There was literally nothing that could humanly be done to help her and from a human standpoint, she was out of options.

It was only until she had heard about Jesus coming that she became aware that this would be her last try at a miracle, and final attempt at being made well.  

“She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment.”

The passage tells us that there was a large crowd of people.

This woman, on the point of physical and spiritual death, who was most likely physically and emotionally exhausted, pushing her unyielding hopelessness and weaknesses aside,

“came” through the crowd of people to “draw near to Him.”

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g4334/kjv/tr/0-1/

There was a “quiet” “unnoticeable” sense of desperation to get to Jesus because of her quiet faith that only He could bring her the hope that she was looking for.

Her eager attempt to “quietly” push her way through the crowd was a true picture of someone who is in desperate need of Christ.

The true lesson is not in our own ability to bring a solution to the trials we face, it is in our coming to the power of God with a heart which longs and yearns for the power of Salvation in Christ ALONE to come and to enter in and fill the void, of our untouchable measures, seasons of sadness, hardships we all go through.

It is crying out as the Psalmist did in chapter 63:1.

“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

This is a cry of desperation and longing for the miraculous power of God.

Furthermore, a desperate heart, beyond desperate for the miraculous power of God, hangs on with every imaginable amount of energy to the truth found in

Psalm 62:8 “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.” We know that when we come to God, desperate and open, we can also trust Him fully with our lives and find rest in the one who is our true refuge. 

As I mentioned, sometimes folks come to a place of “severe desperation” before they are willing enough to look to the power of Jesus for a miracle.

You may be here reading this devotion and spiritually you are in much the same situation as this woman.

You are suffering desperately with a desperately unclean disease …SIN!

You are looking for help, hope and happiness

You have searched everywhere with no success

You have looked to other people, and they couldn’t help you

You have spent entirely much money trying to buy things that will provide you with happiness …it didn’t work

You have dedicated yourself to your career goals and now you are desperately miserable; without the needed resources, you have a void that cannot be filled.

You thought a new “brand” of relationship might solve your problem

You thought that maybe more material goods, money would make life better

You may be turned to drugs and alcohol, crime, to numb the pain you face.

You have tried it all AND NOTHING IS WORKING!!

YOU ARE MISERABLE AND YOU NEED HELP NOW!

You my friend are at a place of “Severe Desperation” and that may be the best place for you to find the answer that you need!

This woman was at that point in her life too and she sought, found the answer… but how?

That is the next thing I would like for us to see.

Consider:

Our Faith is to be desperately rooted in Christ’s power to work out any trial we face

Verse 28 tells us that her faith was so deeply rooted in Christ’s power to save her from her trial,

“For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well”

II. The Specific Information Involved

– v27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. 28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.

Notice the phrase -“When she had heard of Jesus”

How did she hear of Jesus?

o She didn’t have a Facebook account

o She did not have a Twitter or Tik Tok account

o She didn’t have any Internet or Wi-Fi services

o She did not have ZOOM or Tele-Medicine

o She did not have any Cable television to watch the Health News.

o There was certainly no Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

o There were definitely no Libraries at any National Institutes of Health.

She heard of Jesus because there were some excited people in the area talking about the man who had done so many miracles.

We have already reviewed the miracles of Jesus thus far in the Gospels.

It is possible that she has had a first-hand encounter with one of the people who were healed.

Maybe she had heard from or spoke with someone who witnessed one of the previous miracles.

Maybe she heard from someone who heard from someone who witnessed the miracles by actually and genuinely receiving the miracle.

I can’t prove this, but I would think that instead of any 3rd or 4th hand info, she may have heard an actual 1st hand account …a personal testimony, of someone who was radically changed by the powerful touch of Jesus Christ.

Here is why I believe this – Notice her statement “If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.” That statement alone shows extreme faith…

Somebody, face to face, soul to soul, shared powerful testimony with this lady!

“It is no secret what God can do”

“What He’s done for others, He’ll do for you”

“With arms wide open, He’ll pardon you”

“It is no secret, what God can do!”

Regardless, we know somebody told her of the healing power of Jesus Christ!

The one and only true source of where our faith can truly be placed, is in Christ.

As a human, the common thing to do when you’re sick, is turn to medicine and make a doctor’s appointment.

We go there expecting a clear answer to why we are feeling sick and a cure to our ailment. There is almost a sense of hope that is placed in the doctor.

I am not the least against modern day medicine at all, I come from a family that is filled with Professional Nurses – Myself, my late Mother, a RN for 40 years.

I have repeatedly witnessed the miracle of modern medicine through the skilled hands of many surgeons as both of my wife’s have been replaced giving her the ability to walk pain free and her arthritic back has been surgically reenforced.

I have the utmost respect for the men and women of our health care services.

The point here is that ultimately despite her diagnosis, this woman’s faith was set on the ONLY one who knows her biological make up better than any doctor.

God is the creator of our human bodies and knows exactly what we need.

This woman recognized despite her best efforts to get help from many doctors, Jesus Christ was the true source that could help her through this difficult trial.

Whenever we are faced with that beyond desperate situation that seems almost impossible to face, we are sometimes driven by our desperation to look to other “material” “worldly” things to bring us a solution, a peace to our circumstance.

This woman’s faith was so strong that notice how in verse 28, she mentions touching his garments, not even Christ himself.

She believed that in Christ’s unlimited power that her words held no doubt that if she “touched” the hem of Christ’s garments, she WOULD be made well.

If she was able to even slightly “… to fasten one’s self to, adhere to, cling to …” the hem of his garments, she WOULD IMMEDIATELY be MADE WELL.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g3916/kjv/tr/0-1/

MADE WELL … Open this link to see the deeper meaning of this phrase!

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g2476/kjv/tr/0-1/

The main lesson here does not lie in the outcome of her faith.

This woman could not foresee the future.

The Bible does not tell us that her faith predicted the future.

What scripture does tell us is that her faith was so strong that she knew her answers lied with the power of Salvation through Jesus Christ ALONE.

The end goal was to turn to Jesus Christ and look to Him for strength regardless of the outcome.

Unfortunately, too many people today are keeping secret what they should be shouting from the housetops!

People need to hear the specific information concerning what Jesus can do in their lives!

When people experience “Severe Desperation”, and they are given the “Specific Information” then there may be a “Supernatural Transformation”

III. The Supernatural Transformation Involved

– v28 … For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. 29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.

What do we see in verse 29? …A MIRACLE!!!

This woman exhibited great faith in her determination to get to Jesus.

In past miracles the people were healed by the words of Jesus Some were healed when Jesus reached out and touched them.

This woman says, “All I need is to touch a piece of His clothes and I know I will be healed”

Her determination is also seen in the fact that she fought her way through the crowd to get to Jesus.

v30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? 31 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? 32 And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.

There was a great crowd gathered around Jesus.

This weak, frail, sickly and desperate woman fought through the crowd with what little strength she had.

She finally gets to where Jesus is, and risking quite literally everything she had left within her, she reached out and quietly touches “the hem of His garment”

We are told that “immediately the fountain of her blood dried up.”

The miracle that she had been looking for and longing for had happened.

The thing that she had spent so much time, money and effort on was wiped away in an instant.

This woman who was deemed unclean by the law is now clean because of Jesus!

WE CAN RELATE TO THAT!!!!

Listen to what Paul said in

– Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

When it came to the Law, we were helpless and hopeless.

We were deemed unclean!

Just like this woman we did not possess even the minimal ability to solve our problem, but praise God through the touch of Jesus Christ we’ve been healed!!

This woman with her physical disease sought Jesus, when it came to my own spiritual disease Jesus sought me

Who He was and what He did

How He loved and Who He is

Jesus is the miracle to me

What could be more miraculous?

That God Himself would come to us

Jesus is the miracle to me!

God lovingly welcomes His Children

When confronted by, with the fact Jesus had asked who had touched Him, He wasn’t asking because He didn’t know, He was beckoning her to come to Him.

Jesus is all knowing and sovereign, yet He still wants us to come to Him with an open heart and a burdened soul. He wants to hear us pour out our hearts, it is a clear indication that we’ll trust Him when we come with our burdens and joys.

Her approach to Him is described as being fearful and notice how the text says that she “fell down before him and told him the whole truth” (vs 33).

Her admission to touching His garments is so much deeper than the physical.

It also shows us a picture of what a true, repentant sinner looks like when being convicted of their sin.

She makes no excuses, she does not try to run, she comes and surrenders it all to Him.

Surrendering our sin, anxieties and worries about life is not a natural human reaction.

We tend to come kicking and screaming before God, as a last resort because our own attempts have failed.

Regardless of our attitude, when we finally plead for God’s help, His response is always filled with Grace towards His children.

Here he looks at this woman and lovingly says,

“Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed for your disease”

She is not only cleansed physically but, in that moment, has experienced the miraculous healing power of salvation through Christ ALONE in her life.

You and I too have that same opportunity to come before God and surrender it all to Him.

Like this woman, you and I will desperately try and live life in our own ways, rejecting that there is a God who has been there along.

The God who loves you and paid the penalty for our sin by dying a painful death so that we would not have to.

If we miraculously choose to place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, the one who has the miraculous answer to life’s struggles and our reason to experience joy. He also miraculously looks at us and in the same way miraculously says;

“Daughter or Son, your faith has made you well”.

What HE did for this woman He can and will do for you!

A woman one day Tried many physicians

But daily grew worse in the bible were told

But when she had heard of this man called Jesus

She found what she needed for her body and soul

She said: If I can just touch the hem of his garment

If I could just touch one part of his robe

I know I’d be healed my sins all forgiven

If I could just touch him I know I’d be whole

One day I sat by the wayside begging

But nobody could help me down life’s weary way

Then my Jesus passed by, and He heard my sad crying

And He Reached down His hands and he saved me that day!

Do you need a special touch from the Lord today?

Are you “searching for a miracle”?

You have a choice; you can “bump into Jesus” like so many in the crowd that day or you can reach out and literally risk everything, touch Him with purpose.

AND MIRACULOUSLY BE MADE WELL AND LIVE!

You can find a miracle today!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Perform miracles in my life Lord to display your power and glory. Increase my faith to trust in you. May my whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless to the end. Through the miracle of salvation in Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.

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Moving forward into Ministry: Trust, Faith, a Living Hope, after a Tragedy. Job 13:13-18

I have been asked several times how we can have trust or faith after tragedy.

Considering the scope and the magnitude of our recent events – several mass shootings, I took it as God’s Spirit moving me today to write this devotional.

As with a host of countless others, I have been through a few tragedies in my life and never genuinely thought of myself as a trauma survivor until I was trained as a Professional Registered Nurse in the field of Psychiatry.

I have never in my life experienced the scope of the tragedies from those events.

The closest: My father was a two-tour combat veteran of the Korean Conflict. I lived my life as a first-generation male child born from his combat experiences.

My Father was 100% Service Connected for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. I as the only male child, bore the full brunt of his experiences on those battlefields.

His mental health issues and his alcoholism created enormous challenges for our relationship as father and son. I was constantly, desperately trying to cope.

These struggles and challenges shaped and reshaped each of my career choices.

I tried engineering like my father wanted me to except the math was too hard. I flunked out of college trying everything I could do to make him ‘happy’ with his career choice for my life. I learned to fear what might happen if I indeed failed.

Instead, I followed my RN mother into Nursing and became quite successful.

I got a position as a Psychiatry – Mental Health Counselor for a new Homeless program serving a diverse population of long-term Homeless Veterans, from both peace time military service and military service in a combat zone.

Part of the introductory speech was to be sure you identify yourself as a trauma survivor, if in fact, you were. One identified this way out of maximum respect. I myself am a veteran of both the Navy and Army serving sixteen and a half years.

As that Professional Counselor, I was able to see how people handled their grief and the impact of that tragedy and grief impacted their outlook on their faith.

How you trust, have faith and develop a living hope after a tragedy may be in direct correlation to how you faithfully trusted in living hope prior to tragedy.

Indeed, in good times it is easy to trust, have faith and a living hope and our trust, faith, hope may be a bit shallow and naive, immature and uninformed.

When all is well there is very little to trust since there seems to be so much evidence of God being good and good to you.

Seldom do we genuinely trust that God would ever allow any tragedy or sorrow to come our way. Yet, that is not consistent with what the Word of God teaches.

Job 13:13-18 Amplified Bible

Job Is Sure He Will Be Vindicated

13 
“Be silent before me so that I may speak;
And let happen to me what may.
14 
“Why should I take my flesh in my teeth
And put my life in my hands [incurring the wrath of God]?
15 
“Even though He kills me;
I will hope in Him.
Nevertheless, I will argue my ways to His face.
16 
“This also will be my salvation,
For a godless man may not come before Him.

17 
“Listen diligently to my speech,
And let my declaration fill your ears.
18 
“Behold now, I have prepared my case;
I know that I will be vindicated.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

We may quote that verse from the oldest book of the Bible at times and even think we have that kind of trust, but we do not want it tested.

Indeed, all of us would fail that test.

I suspect very few people have suffered as much tragedy as Job.

He lost his wealth, his ten children and his health in a very short time.

The trauma of it all so devastated his wife that she encouraged him to curse God and die. Sometimes folks are hard on Mrs. Job as if she was being heartless.

Indeed, she may have been seeking relief for his suffering and hoping God would kill her as well to stop her pain.

During the many times of war and plagues since then people have had some Job moments.

Still, Job said God could kill him and still he would trust God. Is it any wonder God pointed to him as a man of God and the devil wanted to destroy him?

We tend to forget that we are in a sin cursed world because of Adam and Eve.

Everything was in perfect peace and balance in Eden.

Once they chose to opt for being like God all of that changed and in essence man was in charge of a world he could not control or fix as it deteriorated.

Mankind also began deteriorating so that here we are in the last spasms of the Earth with men and women of minds and souls so depraved that we are seeing indescribably lethal, and unbelievably violent horrors almost on a daily basis.

Indeed, the song “This Is My Father’s World” is accurate in the title, but not in theology.

While God owns the universe, He gave the Earth to man who gave it to the devil at the Fall.

Now that man is cursed and influenced by satan more so than God it is being destroyed like a bad renter who breaks everything and allows animals to use it as their bathroom while never cleaning allowing the place to be infested by roaches and rats. (Apologies for the brooding anger behind that description).

One day God will come to repossess the world and after a thousand years he will destroy it and build new.

In a sense, since man has chosen the devil over God this world is our father, the devil’s world.

Unfortunately, due to some bad theology many people lose their trust or faith after a tragedy because either they have not read the Word, or someone taught them that God wants His people to always be healthy and wealthy.

If you pull some Scripture out of context you can come up with many errors that will blast your brain, your trust and faith and hope when they do not prove true.

3 John 1:2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

Many use this passage to teach health and prosperity is a right.

Yet, John only wished that they would prosper and be in health.

It is not a guarantee any more than when we wish someone to have a good day and stay safe.

Note that John wants it to be in direct proportion to their soul maturing in the grace and knowledge of Christ.

Many immature Christians cling to this as a promise and when they lose their job or their health or worse, then they lose their faith in God and the Word.

If our health, wellbeing and wealth were truly tied to the prosperity of our soul many of us would be in near total poverty and near death. Grace is wonderful.

2 Timothy 4:20 Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.

Philippians 2:25-27 25 However, I thought it necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, [who has been] my brother and companion and fellow soldier, who was also sent as your messenger to take care of my needs. 26 For he has been longing [a]for all of you and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. 27 He certainly was sick and close to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow.

We believe in divine healing and yet God does not always heal as some teach.

Some healers say if you are not healed it is because you did not have faith.

Paul had enormous faith and yet, for some reason he could not instantly heal Trophimus like he did others.

Epaphroditus nearly died and it appears that God did not use instant healing in his case, but still healed him without Paul.

I would easily suggest that all three of men had far more faith or trust than the average “Christian” today, but they suffered, one even to the brink of death.

If you believe that God always heals and must heal every time prayer for healing is made you are going to have a crisis of faith after that loved one died that you had on twenty prayer lists and had them anointed three times.

You are going to be extraordinarily angry with God and throw the Bible on the shelf or in the recycle bin and declare you no longer believe or trust God. Your faith was based and cemented in bad doctrine, your emotions instead of God.

How so many good and bad and horribly bad people can believe the saved are somehow surrounded by an iron dome keeping us free from sickness, poverty, persecution, oppression and death is beyond me when so many in the World did not have a life like that and we are even warned about what we will experience.

Tell that to many believers around the world today who suffer great persecution and yet love the Lord to the max and take great risks to worship and evangelize.

John 16:32-33 (Amplified Version) 32 Take careful notice: an hour is coming, and has arrived, when you will all be scattered, each to his own home, leaving Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. 33 I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.” [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.]

Jesus said we would have tribulation!

The word is literally ‘pressure’, but is also translated as persecution, anguish and affliction.

No promise of exemption from it, just that He has overcome and so will the saved though they will have to bear up through heavy burdens or tragedies.

1 Timothy 3:10-13 10 Now you have diligently followed [my example, that is] my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, steadfastness, 11 persecutions, and sufferings—such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, but the Lord rescued me from them all! 12 Indeed, all who delight in pursuing righteousness and are determined to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be hunted and persecuted [because of their faith]. 13 But evil men and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

Paul had listed some of the trials and persecutions he had gone through and is saying this is not just my issue or legacy.

You live godly and the ungodly are going to persecute you.

There is a connotation of fleeing your pursuer in the Greek.

It begs the question that if I am not being persecuted am I living a godly life?

I believe it was Menno Simons who said something like a church that is not being persecuted is not a true church. Ouch! So, if everything is peachy keen maybe we should be in prayer asking why instead of asking why when it is not.

Romans 8:16-21 16 The Spirit Himself testifies and confirms together with our spirit [assuring us] that we [believers] are children of God. 17 And if [we are His] children, [then we are His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His spiritual blessing and inheritance], if indeed we share in His suffering so that we may also share in His glory.

18 For I consider [from the standpoint of faith] that the sufferings of the present life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us! 19 For [even the whole] creation [all nature] waits eagerly for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration and futility, not willingly [because of some intentional fault on its part], but by the will of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will also be freed from its bondage to decay [and gain entrance] into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

Christ said that the student was not greater than the teacher and if they hated Christ and called him of the devil ultimately crucifying Him what do you think they will do to you if they can?

The “if so be that we suffer “is not saying you might not suffer with Him, but more that it is our lot to look forward to being glorified with Him because we suffer with Him indicating He is near us when we suffer. It comes along with the divine bloodline. If we have to suffer, fine, because we will be glorified.

Romans 8:34-39 34 Who is the one who condemns us? Christ Jesus is the One who died [to pay our penalty], and more than that, who was raised [from the dead], and who is at the right hand of God interceding [with the Father] for us. 35 Who shall ever separate us from the love of [a]Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 Just as it is written and forever remains written,

“For Your sake we are put to death all day long;
We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter.”

37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors and gain an overwhelming victory through Him who loved us [so much that He died for us]. 38 For I am convinced [and continue to be convinced—beyond any doubt] that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present and threatening, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the [unlimited] love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul would not go through this list if there was no possibility of these tragedies happening to saints making them wonder if they were separated from Christ.

Jeremiah 29:10-13 10 “For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years [of exile] have been completed for Babylon, I will visit (inspect) you and keep My good promise to you, to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call on Me and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear [your voice] and I will listen to you. 13 Then [with a deep longing] you will seek Me and require Me [as a vital necessity] and [you will] find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

Some of you may have been wondering how in the world does all of this square with Jeremiah 29:10-13.

Israel was in captivity because of sin, but then God promised an end to it and great blessing.

Yet, they suffered and when you tie in the next verses the key to 11 is 12 and 13. When they seek Him with all of their hearts and pray in earnest then He will hear and set them free. That goes for us as well.

How do we trust after tragedy?

It boils down to do we really believe what we often glibly ask. “Is God good all the time and all the time God is good or not?”

If He is, then we can believe that in His omniscience and omnipresence He has opted to exercise or withhold His omnipotence for the greater good or to bring us closer to Him because we have strayed away or because it is just part of this sinful world to lose a loved one because we are in a world of death.

If Christians never died or became ill, disabled or unemployed or financially distressed, then everyone would want to be a Christian to escape those things.

Both believers and unbelievers need to see that we do not ever escape the pain, but we have Jesus Christ who 100% gets us through the pain because He is good.

If He were not good, nothing good would ever happen because both He and the devil would be bringing evil to us.

We always question why bad things happen to good people when really the question is why good things happen to bad people since no one is righteous.

We will never know (why should we want to know?) exactly how bad our lives could be or could have been without the faithfulness of God until we get home.

I have had tragedies in my life, but still He has been faithful and so good to me.

God’s thoughts towards us are not evil.

The devil on the other hand has no good thoughts about us.

He wants to steal everything we value.

He wants to kill all of us and if our good God did not thwart his desires, we surely would all be dead and everything we have sought to build in our lives destroyed; marriage, children, testimonies all gone.

Too often we create our own tragedies.

Free will can cause our greatest pain when we do what God said not to do or not do what He told us to do.

The worst tragedy is running from God instead of to Him.

No one or nothing else will heal your pain and offer your life that is abundant either in quantity, quality or both even when you had to pass through the valley of the shadow of death to get to those green pastures.

2 Corinthians 1:4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

It also comes down to it not being all about us.

God will comfort you, if you allow Him.

When you are ready. Be still and ask Him to take the pain, bring comfort and ultimately peace and joy.

He may never explain why the tragedy was not averted.

We may not know until we get to Heaven and then that puzzle piece with the question mark on it will fit perfectly, but we will not care then.

Listen to Him.

Read the Word.

Fervently Pray even when it seems useless to the maximum.

Let Him change your theology, if necessary.

Parents do not always outlive their children.

People are not always healed.

Not everyone will be rich, but through His Holy Spirit working in you it can be a life rich in many more things than money.

Peace with God and a ministry to use your gift is worth all the material wealth in the universe.

You cannot trust a person until they have been proven trustworthy.

God is the only one you can 100% trust and often you will not fully believe that until He has proven to you that He is in the time of trouble.

Open your hands, your heart and your soul to Him.

Tragedy does not have to define the whole or any single place of your existence

You can be healed of your tragedy, your pain and you can and WILL trust again.

Maranatha!!!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Lord, we pray for those who have been utterly devastated by recent tragedies. We remember those who have lost their lives so suddenly and without cause. We hold deep within our hearts and souls the families forever changed by grief and loss. By Your mercy, Bring them to their Shalom, their consolation and comfort.

Surround them with our prayers for strength and healing. Bless those who have survived and likewise, in Your own way, in Your own time, heal their memories of trauma and devastation. May they have the courage to face the days ahead.

Help us as compassionate human beings, to respond with generosity in prayer, in assistance, and in comfort to the best of our abilities. Keep our hearts focused on the totality of needs of all the community. We ask this in Jesus’ living name. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu9VC-i4Gv4

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Ordering our First Steps. Moving Forth into Mission and Ministry. Proverbs 9:10

Perhaps each and every one of us has our own nuanced version of this story.

A little boy comes to his father: “Daddy, I cannot get these two pieces of my model airplane to fit together. I know they come together somehow, but no matter what I try or how I try it, they just will not come together for me.”

The father walks his young son back to where he was working on his model. He sits down with his son and looks over the table where the model is now laid out.

The father picks up the directions which came in the box with the model, and he carefully looks over and through them – occasionally looking back at the pieces that were laid out on the table. He moved the pieces around a couple of times to try and make sense and match up the individual pieces to the written directions.

He calls his son over to the table and together they now both starts looking at the pieces, then at the directions, then back to the pieces arrayed on the table.

Then together they both discover the problem was that both of the parts should have been brought together s few steps sooner in the model building process.

Dad and son now look at each other with giant smiles plastered on their faces. In the next several hours, both Father and son complete the model as it looked on the box. They put the completed model next to the box – it all came together!

See what happens? The father asked the son. “They tell you to put these pieces together early because they know it will be way more difficult to do so later.”

Lesson being, sometimes when it seems that life’s pieces do not fit together, it maybe because we skipped over the first step because we thought it was all too obvious what that first step was supposed to be. We skip over the first steps.

We seem to “automatically” skip over the first essential steps – then we cannot figure out why all those later steps just do not work the way the directions read.

The first step to any project – big or small – always and forever start with God.

Proverbs 9:9-12 Amplified Bible

9 
Give instruction to a wise man and he will become even wiser;
Teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning.
10 
The [reverent] fear of the Lord [that is, worshiping Him and regarding Him as truly awesome] is the beginning and the preeminent part of wisdom [its starting point and its essence],
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding and spiritual insight.
11 
For by me (wisdom from God) your days will be multiplied,
And years of life shall be increased.
12 
If you are wise, you are wise for yourself [for your own benefit];
If you scoff [thoughtlessly ridicule and disdain], you alone will pay the penalty.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

“What to do first and then what to do next?”

Who is ordering our steps – giving us our directions – step by step directions –

Adam and Eve, evicted from the Garden to cultivate and toil the soil – where did the very first step of those very first step-by-step instructions come from so to even begin what had not been previously known – the cultivating of new soils.

Whose wisdom first taught and then guided Adam on those very first “best gardening practices” how to till and cultivate the previously unworked soils?

Patriarch Noah and God’s command to build the ark. Such a vast and seemingly impossible building project.

What skill sets did Noah possess to even begin such a magnanimous project?

Where did the “blueprints” come from? Who drew them up and hands them off to Noah alone? Blueprints are truly complicated and detailed drawings – who drew, detailed the plans for the construction of the Ark?

Where did Noah begin? Genesis 6:13-17 Amplified Version

It began with God’s command –

13 God said to Noah, “I intend to make an end of all that lives, for through men the land is filled with violence; and behold, I am about to [a]destroy them together with the land. 14 Make yourself an [b]ark of [c]gopher wood; make in it rooms (stalls, pens, coops, nests, cages, compartments) and [d]coat it inside and out with pitch (bitumen). 15 This is the way you are to make it: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits (450’ x 75’ x 45’). 16 You shall make a [e]window [for light and ventilation] for the ark and finish it to at least a cubit (eighteen inches) from the top—and set the [entry] door of the ark in its side; and you shall make it with lower, second and third decks. 17 For behold, I, even I, will bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy all life under the heavens in which there is the breath and spirit of life; everything that is on the land shall die.

How would Noah know what the first and most essential steps would be? The first step in any project is always the most essential step to get “exactly right.”

Such a vast and previously untried and seemingly impossible task as building that very first and specifically “God-detailed, God directed, God measured,” mission minded and ministry-oriented project to be finished by man’s hands.

Genesis 12:1-7Amplified Bible

Abram Journeys to Egypt

12 Now [in Haran] the Lord had said to Abram,

“Go away from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;
2 
And [a]I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you [abundantly],
And make your name great (exalted, distinguished);
And you shall be a blessing [a source of great good to others];
3 
And I will bless (do good for, benefit) those who bless you,
And I will curse [that is, subject to My wrath and judgment] the one who curses (despises, dishonors, has contempt for) you.
And in you all the families (nations) of the earth will be blessed.”

4 So Abram departed [in faithful obedience] as the Lord had directed him; and Lot [his nephew] left with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. 5 Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had acquired, and the people (servants) which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the [great] terebinth (oak) tree of Moreh. Now the [b]Canaanites were in the land at that time. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” So, Abram built an altar there to [honor] the Lord who had appeared to him.

Consider the scope and magnitude of the task God placed before Abram –

How did it all begin – “The Lord said to Abram …

The Lord commanded a polytheistic man who had not ever heard God before.

The Command – Verse 1

“Go away from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;”

Can we presume that Abram would automatically know which ‘land’ God was talking about?

Can we presume Abram already knew exactly where that ‘land’ was located?

Can we presume that Abram knew the exact route to any and every ‘land’ God might have in mind to ‘blindly’ send him to?

What maps did Abram possess as there certainly was no Garmin GPS system?

Read that first and last line again – “Go! … To the land which I will show you …”

This incomprehensible mission and ministry project began with God’s Wisdom.

Verses 2 and 3

It outlined the promises of “if you, Abram, follow me step – by – step …” then the rewards of your fullest obedience to “MY step – by – step …” instructions.

It moved to Abram’s obedience – Verses 4 – 6

Verse 7: It concludes with Abram’s praise and worship for God’s step – by – step directions. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” So, Abram built an altar there to [honor] the Lord who had appeared to him.

In fullest possible obedience to God’s carefully detailed, specific step – by – step directions, Abram obeyed! Let God order each of Abrams’ steps and his journey.

The Reward – God made Abraham the Father of “Many Nations.”

Genesis 17:1-5 Amplified Bible

Abraham and the Covenant of Circumcision

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the [a]Lord appeared to him and said,

“I am [b]God Almighty;
Walk [habitually] before Me [with integrity, knowing that you are always in My presence], and be blameless and complete [in obedience to Me].
2 
“I will establish My covenant (everlasting promise) between Me and you,
And I will multiply you exceedingly [through your descendants].”

3 Then Abram fell on his face [in worship], and God spoke with him, saying,

4 
“As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you,
And [as a result] you shall be the father of many nations.
5 
“No longer shall your name be Abram (exalted father),
But your name shall be Abraham (father of a multitude);
For I will make you the father of many nations.

Everything we have received, everything we have right now in life, everything we will receive in the future always came arrived and will always and forever come to us, will come to us from God, the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, with the already fulfilled and forever promise of “new beginnings.”

The word ‘beginning’ can mean either “the first part” or “the main part.”

In both cases, the eminently practical message is exactly the same.

The absolute most essential “first step,” and the continual first and foremost priority, in fitting all the parts of life together is to glorify, to honor, to revere, and to worship God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Why?

Because all knowledge, and all wisdom and all truth comes first from God!

And in obedience, we must absolutely first seek our answers only through Him.

If we find ourselves stumped with a part of our life that completely refuses to fit together no matter manners and methodologies, we try –

Revelation 1:8 Amplified Bible

8 “I am the [a]Alpha and the Omega [the Beginning and the End],” says the Lord God, “Who is [existing forever] and Who was [continually existing in the past] and Who is to come, the Almighty [the Omnipotent, the Ruler of all].”

#1: THINGS WITH GOD!

THEN END ALL THINGS WITH GOD!

Revelation 22:12-14Amplified Bible

12 “Behold, I (Jesus) am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, [a]to give to each one [b]according to the merit of his deeds (earthly works, faithfulness). 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End [the Eternal One].”

14 [c]Blessed (happy, prosperous, to be admired) are those who wash their robes [in the blood of Christ by believing and trusting in Him—the righteous who do His commandments], so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Lead Me on Level Ground Prayer,

God, my Creator, God, the Author of the entirety of my life, teach me to do your will, for you are my only true God. May your Holy Spirit lead me on level ground. I see your faithfulness and goodness in what you have done for me throughout my life. I think about these things, and I thirst for you. Let me hear of your unfailing love every morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you. Keep me on firm footing for the glory of your name. Amen.

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I am reaching for the unquestionably great promise of now unquestionably living the unquestionably great life of Christ – seeking God with my WHOLE heart, my WHOLE soul. Acts 2:37-39

The first Pentecost after Jesus’ death and resurrection was the birthday of Jesus’ church.

The Holy Spirit moved in Jesus’ apostles; they suddenly proclaimed the good news to people from many parts of the Mediterranean area (Acts 2:8-11).

Thousands were baptized, forgiven of their sins, and given the Holy Spirit as God’s gift.

But even in the unquestionable greatness of that day, there was the promise of more unquestionably great days to come.

The promise of God’s forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit are for all whom the Lord calls, including us and others he will call.

Like all unquestionably great stories with unquestionably great promises of an unquestionably great future attached to it, they must all begin with a minimum of at least one someone somewhere who will take the risk to jump in with both feet with at least a minimal degree of belief it will actually, absolutely be true.

Someone, somewhere, somehow must dare to question the “truth” of such an unquestionably great promise – it must somehow be proven if it is to continue.

Life must be lived – but we have that choice to determine how we should do so.

“Nothing Ventured – Nothing Gained”

“Go for the Gusto or Just plain Go Away.”

Live as if it is only according to the principle of “maintaining the Status quo.”

Live as if there is the possibility that the unquestionably great promise being offered of unquestionably great things coming your way – if you’ll take a risk.

“As a guiding principle, life shrinks, and life expands in direct proportion to your willingness to assume risk.” Casey Neistat

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_Neistat

The Holy Spirit moved in an unquestionably powerful way that first Pentecost Day.

Unquestionably remarkable and unquestionably miraculous events took place in the thousands of lives of those who had gathered Jerusalem that day.

Lives were unquestionably changed.

Unquestionably a great promise had been fulfilled by God to come among them.

Now, how would these people respond to such an unquestionably great event.

A shrug of the shoulders and the maintenance of “Status Quo?”

Somebody “girding their loins” learning how to get trained up in the operation of the Gospel Train of God – because now people could know – that God is now completely on our whole life’s train track – and there’s no stopping God now!

Peter makes a promise for all those everywhere who will turn their hearts to God and submit themselves to him in baptism, fully trusting in Jesus as their Lord and Savior!

They will be filled with God’s Spirit and forgiven of their sins because of the mighty name and gracious work of Jesus Christ.

This whole passage (Acts 2:33-47) demonstrates that Peter and the apostles had begun fulfilling Jesus’ Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20):

they were making disciples by going, baptizing, and teaching people to obey what the Lord commanded.

Like those early disciples, let’s accept the challenge, share this grace so the whole world can unquestionably know Jesus is not only our Lord, He is also unquestionably Savior and King for all who hear God’s call and trust in him.

God’s great promise of Holy Spirit guiding, getting our whole life on His track!

This unquestionably great promise of God is extended too literally everyone!

Without exception – one promise for literally everyone to come to and “LIVE!”

If that first person would dare to come forward out of the crowd – and prove it!

By the power of the Holy Spirit, have you or anyone you know ever shared this life transitioning message of promise, forgiveness, and power with others?

Acts 2:37-39Amplified Bible

The Ingathering

37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart [with remorse and anxiety], and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what are we to do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent [change your old way of thinking, turn from your sinful ways, accept and follow Jesus as the Messiah] and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ because of the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise [of the Holy Spirit] is for you and your children and for all who are far away [including the Gentiles], as many as the Lord our God calls to Himself.”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

The Bible says in Acts 2:38 

“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost”.

The word repent is to express sincere regret, remorse one’s wrongdoing and sins. Repentance is the action we ourselves choose to exercise of turning away from that wrongdoing and sin and our choosing not to partake in that again.

The thing we really need to understand is that repentance is not a one-time event that one does to receive salvation.

True repentance causes a person to say,

“I want to live in Christ, prove it with a 180-degree change of their direction.”

Repentance requires true brokenness.

It is NOT asking our God for forgiveness with the intent to sin again, but is an honest, regretful acknowledgement of sin with a true and total commitment to change – to choose between sin’s “status quo” and freedom in Christ Jesus.

I remember some years ago while I was still young in “my Christianity” we had a Pastor at our spiritual retreat, and I remember him saying to us one Sunday:

“We all need to change every day therefore we need all to repent everyday”.

I was then still in the ‘young’ mind-set that repentance was something just for salvation until I found myself having to repent not committing some atrocious sin prese but omitting something, like not studying like I should, not fasting in the “prescribed biblical way” and when I was or was not praying like I should.

Since God was dealing with my “youthful Christianity” as the first partaker with that message, I had to repent because I began to see what I was omitting and falling short of the glory of God in my life personally (Romans 3:23).

I began to be like David and pray like he did in Psalm 51:6-10 

“Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me”.

Now before someone gets the wrong impression, I am not talking about my committing a sin that is punishable with Hell’s damnation, but I am talking about realizing your personal short comings, being totally pleasing unto God.

There’s a saying that confession is good for the soul. It comes from an old Scottish proverb, which said in full, “Open confession is good for the soul.”

There is biblical truth in that!

When John the Baptist was preparing people to meet Jesus, his first advice was to repent.

Peter then on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:38 said

“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost”.

I remember being handed a two-sided bookmark for my Bible which had this prayer printed on its front and its back –

A Prayer for Daily Repentance

Dear Lord, thank you for your forgiveness. Thank you for not abandoning us to our mistakes, but for reaching out instead to bring us home. Help convict me of sin and help me accept your mercy without shame. Thank you for the love you have poured out for me and all your children. Help me live out of that love today. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

That was almost seventeen years ago, and I believe I still have that bookmark.

I truly believe my “Christianity” has grown up and matured just a bit in these intervening years since my long weekend attendance that spiritual retreat.

But sometimes I find that my premise of a “more mature” Christian life being tested by the unquestionably life changing events of these last several months.

We have experienced unprecedented life events that leave us bewildered at best.

The truth of the matter is that these past two years have changed society as a whole and will continually and continuously change many of us personally in ways unlike any we could not have even imagined, for many more months.

For many, the old pattern of life has been broken, and a new one has come into play. Social distancing has changed the way we will each choose to interact with people probably forever. Hand shaking and the ever-popular hug except for our close family members will if ever done again will be done with extreme caution.

When we look back over the last two years, we have been inundated with events, information, rather good or bad, racism played out to the fullest, hatred spewed from the mouths of leaders both political and spiritual, never before imagined acts of gun violence being done in the United States carried out by Americans.

We see the War in the Ukraine.

We have seen hospitals pushed to the limits; deaths reaching and seemingly passing Biblical proportions. We have experienced seismic paradigm shifts in politics, life and religion, today is so majorly different then it was only a year ago. In the prophetic, immortal words of Marvin Gaye “What’s Going On”. 

I can honestly say for myself and maybe for a lot of you I haven’t watched CNN or other major news stations as much as I have these past two years in my life.

I, like many of you, am completely inundated by my television set with all the bad news, all the intrigue, killings, politics, civil uprisings, unbelievable reports of increasingly lethal mass shootings, deaths, panic, Breaking News Headlines.

I saw this statement that said there are more televisions in the average home than there are people. And this does not include other electronic devices upon which television shows and programming can be watched.

I believe it can literally be blamed that the increase in violence, unrest, hatred, and godless upheaval being seen in our society today is a direct result of what is coming across our computer and television and other social media outlets.

The Bible says it like this in Galatians 6:7 “Whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.”

“We must reap the change which only comes from living Christ to the fullest.”

For 20 years, I “grew and matured in my faith” in the church and I know for a fact many times this scripture will be used when it comes time for the offering.

However, today I am going to deal with something different because we need to understand we reap what we sow more today than probably any time in history.

We are sowing not so much monetarily into a ministry or church organization, but we are sowing and having sown more than you realize into your spirit. We are allowing things to affect us in ways more than we normally would. Many of us have developed new patterns and habits that we did not have just a year ago.

Now is the time that we need to be cognizant of the influences of our lives and what is being sown into our spirit.

Proverbs 4:23 says “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life”.

In the Old Testament the word “heart” is used more than 800 times, but more than 200 times it deals with one’s thoughts, emotions, and the wellsprings of the choices we make about living life, those things that motivate and mold us.

Solomon says in Proverbs 23:7 “For ah he thinketh so, is he?” WHY – Because this will control the rest of your life. What you think is what you are.

Your thoughts rather positive, negative, good, or bad control your attitudes.

Your attitudes are the sum of your thoughts.

Your attitudes lead to your actions.

That is why we must guard our hearts and be careful with what we allow to be sown or what we sow into our spirit.

It is so easy to be influenced by what we see on T.V., the internet, read in the paper or are texted across and upon the whole host of social media outlets.

Luke 22:31 says “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired [to have] you, that he may sift [you] as wheat”.

That means to continually and continuously confuse and poison your heart.

Don’t be confused by the manipulation of people.

The devil wants to continually and continuously contaminate and corrupt your WHOLE heart. You must guard your heart against contamination from jealousy, philosophies, traditions, speculation, arrogance, pride, lies and everything else.

God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit wants your heart for Himself.

It was the basis of your original union with Him.

God didn’t appeal to your intellect; He asked for faith.

The enemy despises your heart because it is with your heart that you believe unto righteousness. 

Romans 10:10 says “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation”

Reaching for the promises of God, the unquestionable truth of abundant life in Christ, we must live to fully protect our hearts from being contaminated at all.

We must guard our hearts from anything that is contrary to the Word of God.

When you realize how much is sown into your heart by the avenue of your eyes or your ears, then unquestionably, we need to pray, ask God for a clean heart.

I’m not asking for high men to know my name, I’m not asking for fortune or my “15 minutes of fame” but give me ‘Lord a clean heart and I’ll follow thee.’

The best way to guard your heart with all diligence is to seek God with your whole heart.

Seeking God with All Your Heart!

The Bible promises that if you seek God with all your heart, then you will find Him.

If you seek to know God in real and personal ways with all your heart, then you will get to know God by Him revealing Himself to us.

I believe this is called Progressive Revelation!

When I say progressive revelation, I believe it is a move originated from God, not man which God brings us through spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity.

It is a growing process that is done by the planting of good seed.

This is what the devil is trying to stop from happening in your and my life at any chance he can. 

Luke 22:31 says “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired [to have] you, that he may sift [you] as wheat”.

Meaning of Seeking God

In the Bible the words for “seek God with all your heart” means to: to seek the face of God, the glory of God and not just His hand.

It is to desire Him more than one desires oneself.

Psalm 42:1 says, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God”.

It is fixing our conscious and focusing our attention and our heart’s affection on God.

This setting of the mind is the opposite of mental coasting.

It is a conscious choice to direct the heart toward God.

This is what Paul desires for the church in 2 Thessalonians 3:5 “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ”.

It is a conscious effort on our part.

To seek God with all your heart is all about having a love and desire to know Him.

Paul said in Philippians 3:10 “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death”. 

1 Chronicles 22:9 says, “Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God”.

Understand this is not some emotional aspect of seeking God like He is lost, God is not lost, but striving to find that which has been hidden. 

Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter”.

There is always something through which or around we must go to meet God spiritually, emotionally, and consciously.

It is this going through or around is what seeking is.

Paul said I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God.

The woman with the issue of blood came in the press to “just touch the hem of His garment.”

My own repentance was due to the fact that I was unquestionably letting things block me from seeking His face like I should have but the honor was my own making the living choice, searching Him out in the midst of what was going on.

Please Understand there are always going to be obstacles which we so need to avoid, seeds that are trying to be planted that bring nothing but weeds in our lives that try to block out our sight of God, that try to slow or stop our maturity. 

Matthew 13:25-26 says, “But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also”.

We must be aware of the tricks of the enemy and know the things which causes us to become insensitive to God and the try to block us from seek Him with our whole heart.

That is, unquestionably, what unquestionably seeking God with our whole heart and unquestionably our whole soul is all about.

Isaiah 55:6 says, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near”.

The Lord is always near – Acts 2:1-13

Job 8:5 says, “If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty”.

This is what David was doing in Psalm 51:6-10 

“Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me”.

and what I did this week. WATCH THIS:

– Unquestionably seeking God involves my calling and pleading unto the Lord.

“O Lord, have mercy on me, open my eyes, my ears, my heart to be sensitive to you Lord. Unquestionably remove anything that is not like you, unquestionably cleanse me from all unrighteousness for I want to unquestionably know you Lord. “

This is humility which is essential in seeking God. 

Psalm 10:4 says, “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts”.

We must avoid pride in order to seek God with our whole heart.

Remember in the beginning of this devotional we talked about reaping what we sow. We guard our ever-questioning hearts, and we can seek all of God with our whole heart by unquestionably reducing the trash that we put into our spirit.

Guarding your heart is more about feeding your soul than avoiding sin.

When our heart is strong, we can resist the temptations that cause many to stumble.

Minimize the trash in will reduce the trash out.

Unquestionably guarding your heart includes unquestionably seeking God, but we cannot ignore the instruction to strive to minimize the trash from our lives.

Some trash is easy to identify. Moral corruption, perverse sexual behavior, evil towards others. Other trash is more difficult to discern and to remove.

A lack of faith, unforgiveness, materialism, pride, hatred, racism, bigotry envy, strife. Trash, big or small, is still, unquestionably, nothing but stinking trash.

Hebrews 12:1-2 says

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God”.

Unquestionably guarding your heart is unquestionably critical to experiencing all that God unquestionably desires for your life.

God in His infinite wisdom knew that we would have problems with guarding our heart with all diligence, so He created us and made it impossible to be able to focus on more than one thing at a time.

So here is a little secret on how to unquestionably guard your heart, seek God.

Philippians 4:8-9 unquestionably says to our questioning hearts and souls,

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do and the God of peace shall be with you!”

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Praise to you Almighty and gracious Father. You have given me hope when there was none. You have given me unquestionable strength when my questionable resolve was gone. You have unquestionably blessed me with grace and poured your love into my heart through your Holy Spirit, your gift from above. For your love, grace, forgiveness, salvation, and Holy Spirit, I praise you. In Jesus’ name. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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ACTS 2 – PENTECOST! GOD FULFILLS HIS PROMISE! THE HOLY SPIRIT IS POURED OUT UPON THE CHURCH.

How often do we really seriously pause and meditate upon God’s desire to be close to us and among us? It should be an important part of our understanding of God. After all, God created us all to love, serve and communicate with him.

The God of the Old and New Testaments is a Triune God who wants to be with and among His creation and His children in such a way as to celebrate them.

That’s us! So, He moves in his spirit as close to us as we will allow him to come.

In the beginning, when God created the heavens, the earth and then us, God came down and walked and talked to us, with us and among us in the garden.

God was exactly that close. God was interested in being “talking and walking” close to us, exactly because God wanted to be “talking and walking close to us.

Even after we somehow managed to get ourselves into serious trouble with sin, separated ourselves from his presence, he continually “stayed home.” He never gave up on us, let us out of his sight. God rescued humanity over and over again.

And Scripture tells us that in the fullness of time, God came to earth where the sin problem was, and still is. Jesus, the word became flesh and lived among us.

This was certainly something new, God becoming flesh! God coming among us.

Nothing, whether political, social, moral, economic or spiritual would ever be the same again. Yet although this looked different, it turns out to be the same story. It was God wanting to be among his people and to restore us to his image.

That very first Pentecost marks and celebrates the powerful beginning of a global movement of the power of God’s presence sweeping across the earth.

As we again read the account of what happened as the Spirit descended with power on God’s people, place yourself in their midst. Imagine for more than just this one Sunday’s day of Worship, what it would look like, sound like, and feel like to witness firsthand such a powerful movement of God’s Spirit.

Pentecost means so much to us as believers. The day of Pentecost changed everything for us. Today we will celebrate! Today we’ll explore walking with the Holy Spirit and how he affects our daily life so much. May your heart grow in gratitude and friendship with the Spirit today as a result of your time with him.

Today, as we gather, may there be a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit upon you!

Acts 2:1-13 Amplified Bible

The Day of Pentecost

2 When the day of [a]Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place, 2 and suddenly a sound came from heaven like a rushing violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 There appeared to them tongues resembling fire, which were being distributed [among them], and they rested on each one of them [as each person received the Holy Spirit]. 4 And they were all filled [that is, diffused throughout their being] with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other [b]tongues (different languages), as the Spirit was giving them the ability to speak out [clearly and appropriately].

5 Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout and God-fearing men from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound was heard, a crowd gathered, and they were bewildered because each one was hearing those in the upper room speaking in his own language or dialect. 7 They were completely astonished, saying, “Look! Are not all of these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears in our own language or native dialect? 9 [Among us there are] Parthians, Medes and Elamites, and people of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and [c]Asia [Minor], 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and the visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes (Gentile converts to Judaism), 11 Cretans and Arabs—we all hear them speaking in our [native] tongues about the mighty works of God!” 12 And they were beside themselves with amazement and were greatly perplexed, saying one to another, “What could this mean?” 13 But others were laughing and joking and ridiculing them, saying, “They are full of sweet wine and are drunk!”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

The Holy Spirit is our greatest gift.

When the disciples received the Spirit, they began living as Jesus did.

They believed in the promise of God to always be with and among them. They finally began believing in themselves. speaking to, healing, and transforming a “conquered” world that had known no restored relationship with their Creator.

And Scripture makes it clear that our lives are to follow their example.

We have been given the same Holy Spirit as those first disciples, the same Holy Spirit who moved so powerfully in the Creation Story, revealing to us our loving heavenly Father to a world in desperate need of relationship with their Creator.

What a glorious vision comes to my soul of God quite literally; “among us!”

With that vision clearly before me, I feel there are three areas in which the Spirit would anoint us more powerfully today as he did the disciples at Pentecost.

Let’s boldly seek out all that the Spirit would do in our hearts and lives today.

The first act of the disciples upon being filled with the Spirit at Pentecost was to come out from behind the Upper Rooms “locked” doors to ‘speak’ to all who had gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate God’s long covenanted Day of Pentecost.

All who had gathered to worship God in the Temple, who had brought their required sacrifices of “first fruits,” a captive audience” to be blessed of God for a good harvest and a prosperous life that year, who would ‘listen,’ to the Priests and scribes explaining all the powerful acts that were going on around them.

Except, this harvest celebration was immediately recognized as being different. It was not the Priests nor the Scribes nor the Elders of the Temple speaking and preaching and teaching them. It was no longer “Temple Business” as usual.

It was a complete newcomer – Peter, it is an uneducated Galilean fisherman!

And this complete newcomer’s words were speaking mightily different words to them. Words they’d undoubtedly never heard spoken before and much to their surprise, the were words they could understand and be mightily inspired by – in every one of their own native tongues and dialects of their own native lands.

And with the preaching of Peter several thousand listeners accepted the free gift of salvation in the name of someone whom they’d probably never met nor had ever talked to nor walked side by side with nor shared a meal with or heard on any street corner nor transacted any business with – Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

In these 21st century days, we too will gather amongst people whom we have seldom or never met, whom we never or seldom shared meals with, or heard on any street corner, nor ever seriously thought to share in any celebration of God with. We are now that world community gathered outside the Temple that day.

Like those first century thousands who gathered in Jerusalem, we too, who are marked by the Spirit’s presence are disciples who move forth the power of love. 

Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 

The Spirit longs to use us to proclaim the goodness of God’s love to this lost and dying world.

The Holy Spirit longs to fill us with the desire to love this world the way he does. 

1 Corinthians 16:14 says, “Let all that you do be done in love.” 

Galatians 5:22-23 Amplified says,

22 But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23  gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.

And in Mark 12:31, Jesus says that the second greatest commandment is, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 

Is your life marked by love for others?

Does our life “bear good fruit” for God’s Kingdom in the name of the Father, the Son, Holy Spirit?

Or does it bear “bad fruit” “sour wine” for ‘worldly’ consumption, drunkeness?

Do you live your life in service to your heavenly Father and his children?

Seek out a fresh encounter with the Holy Spirit today.

It’s the Spirit who bears the fruit of love in your life.

You cannot love nor serve others on your own, for true love and service comes solely from God.

But the Spirit longs to fill you with a desire and anointing to love and serve all others around you that they might better know the love of the heavenly Father.

The coming of the Holy Spirit also brought powerful unity to the disciples. 

Acts 2:44-47 Amplified says,

44 And all those who had believed [in Jesus as Savior] [a]were together and had all things in common [considering their possessions to belong to the group as a whole]. 45 And they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing the proceeds with all [the other believers], as anyone had need. 46 Day after day they met in the temple [area] continuing with one mind, and breaking bread in various private homes. They were eating their meals together with joy and generous hearts, 47 praising God continually, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord kept adding to their number daily those who were being saved.

Only the Spirit can bring unity between broken, competitive, and needy people.

Only through the Holy Spirit do we have the ability to love and accept others regardless of our differences and unite toward the common goal of loving God and others wholeheartedly.

Paul writes in Ephesians 4:1-3 Amplified, 

Unity of the Spirit

4 So I, the prisoner for the Lord, appeal to you to live a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called [that is, to live a life that exhibits godly character, moral courage, personal integrity, and mature behavior—a life that expresses gratitude to God for your salvation], 2 with all humility [forsaking self-righteousness], and gentleness [maintaining self-control], with patience, bearing with one another [a]in [unselfish] love. 3 Make every effort to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the bond of peace [each individual working together to make the whole successful].

In and amongst our own generations, can we genuinely say we too are a disciple marked by a desire to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace?” 

In and amongst our own generations, can we genuinely say before God, we too are a genuine Christian marked by grace-filled love for your fellow believers?

In and amongst our own generations, we all absolutely and desperately need to seek out, with all vigor, a greater anointing, desire from the Spirit toward unity.

We cannot be selfless in our own strength.

We need the help of the God of perfect love to pursue unity through humility.

In and amongst our own generations, seek out a desire and anointing to be a person who works tirelessly toward the goal of unity instead of division today.

In and amongst our own generations, we absolutely need to spend time in God’s presence together allowing him to transform our hearts to look more like HIS!

Lastly, Pentecost filled the disciples with the ability to connect directly to God through the avenue of the Holy Spirit.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:6-10 Amplified,

6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those spiritually mature [believers who have teachable hearts and a greater understanding]; but [it is a higher] wisdom not [the wisdom] of this present age nor of the rulers and leaders of this age, who are passing away; 7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom once hidden [from man, but now revealed to us by God, that wisdom] which God predestined before the ages to our glory [to lift us into the glory of His presence]. 8 None of the rulers of this age recognized and understood this wisdom; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; 9 but just as it is written [in Scripture],

“Things which the eye has not seen, and the ear has not heard,
And which have not entered the heart of man,
All that God has prepared for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, who obey Him, and who gratefully recognize the benefits that He has bestowed].”

10 For God has unveiled them and revealed them to us through the [Holy] Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things [diligently], even [sounding and measuring] the [profound] depths of God [the divine counsels and things far beyond human understanding].

Acts 15:27-29 Amplified says,

27 So we have sent Judas and Silas, who will report by word of mouth the same things [that we decided in our meeting]. 28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to place on you any greater burden than these essentials: 29 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from [consuming] blood, and from [eating the meat of] things that have been strangled, and from sexual impurity. If you keep yourselves from these things, you will do well. Farewell.”

These first century disciples knew God’s desires, received revelation from him, were steadily being inspired, transformed into the likeness of Christ through fellowshipping with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

We as disciples are to be marked by direct connection with the Holy Spirit.

Paul and Peter had no special human ability to talk to God.

Prior to the coming of the Holy Spirit, Peter was an uneducated fisherman. Paul was zealously persecuting the followers of the very God he was trying to serve.

Peter chose his own personal safety over the very life of Jesus, who had shown him such an immeasurable degree of wisdom, forgiveness, love and grace.

It was only with the Holy Spirit that these men were able to connect to God so deeply, and we can have that same connection today.

So, in and amongst our own generations, are you a believer who is genuinely marked by direct connection with the Holy Spirit?

In and amongst our own generations, can we genuinely say before God, we all spend quality time and abundant energy, seeking his presence, his wisdom, his truth, his counsel, and his fresh “every single day of our lives,” anointing?

In and amongst our own generations, let’s be children of God who pursue deeper connection with our heavenly Father today.

In and amongst our own generations, let’s seek the face of God as the early disciples did and be believers marked by relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Spend time during guided prayer pursuing all that the Spirit would do in you.

Open your heart and mind to be transformed by his love. And commit to living your life with direct connection to the God who dwells within you.

In the name of God, the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

1. Meditate on the Spirit’s desire and ability to anoint us with the power and desire to love others. 

Ask him to show you how to better love others today. Ask his forgiveness for any way in which you have been hurtful to those whom he loves. And receive the anointing to love people from his heart and strength rather than your own.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8

“Let all that you do be done in love.” 1 Corinthians 16:14

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Mark 12:31

2. Now meditate on God’s desire to use you to bring unity to his children. 

Confess to God anyone who annoys you or angers you. Confess anyone whom you have a hard time loving. Ask him for his heart for that person. Ask him to fill you up with a supernatural ability to love those who are difficult or different. Ask him to help you be a person who pursues unity.

“And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” Acts 2:44-47

“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:1-3

3. Now seek after a direct connection to the Holy Spirit. 

Ask him to guide you into the knowledge of his presence. Ask him to show you the overwhelming love, grace, and anointing he has for you today. Seek out answers to any questions you have of him. May you discover a wellspring of friendship in the Holy Spirit today.

“But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.” Psalm 73:28

“These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:10

“And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.” 1 Corinthians 2:13

Go

It’s crucial that we as children of God seek out all that he longs to give us.

Relationship with God is meant to be anything but stale, stagnant, and weak.

The disciples demonstrated that those filled with the Spirit of God are to be marked by adventure, mystery, and the miraculous.

God has a story for the ages written with you in mind.

He has a plan beyond what you could ever imagine if you will seek him out, trust him, and follow him.

Rest today in the fact God loves you enough to lead you away from a mundane life. Pursue his plans and watch as he fills your life with adventure and wonder.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Absolute Joy of Heaven, we are so blessed that You came to dwell in each of us on Pentecost, when Your church was born. Surely, through Your Spirit, we have died to sin and are alive to holiness. May we each serve You faithfully, in praise, prayer, and loving service to others, as we are changed from glory to glory. May we each walk as children of the light, in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Did The Holy Spirit Only Empower 12 Disciples on The Day of Pentecost? Acts 1:4-8

There is a teaching in the church that on the Day of Pentecost, only the 12 Disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, and not all of the 120 who were in the Upper Room, including Mary, the surrogate mother of Jesus.

There are those people use the term “ghost” from the King James Version of the Bible to refer to the third person of the Trinity.

However, the word is an improper translation of the Greek word ‘pneuma’ which refers to the Holy Spirit, wind, or the breath of God.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g4151/nasb95/mgnt/0-1/

The English word “ghost” refers to the spirit of the dead or a phantasm.

The Greek word translated as ‘ghost’ is ‘phantasma’ and is never used in reference to God.

Creator God chose to send the Holy Spirit during the Jewish national holiday, known as Pentecost, the Feast of Harvest, which was 50 days following after the crucifixion of Jesus.

It was the celebration of the wheat harvest and was intended to remind all of the people of their harshest time spent in Egypt and it marked the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai.

They were to bring offerings to God to celebrate with great rejoicing in music and dance because they had been delivered from their bondage. Everyone was invited to this harvest feast, including Levites, servants, sons and daughters, the fatherless, the widow, and even strangers (Deuteronomy 16:9-12).

Pentecost was so incredible that it affected the entire human race and their relationship to God.

The Holy Spirit was given as a gift from the Father on that day as the truest confirmation that the New Covenant of grace – paid for by the shed blood of Jesus, and now written on the heart of every Christian – is more effectual than the Law given at Mount Sinai that was written on stone (2 Corinthians 3:3-18).

It also confirms that those who place their trust in Jesus find true deliverance and healing from the penalty of sin. There is no better reason to all peoples to gather together, celebrate with great rejoicing in music and dance on that day!

Acts 1:4-8New American Standard Bible

4 [a]Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for [b]what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; 5 for John baptized [c]with water, but you will be baptized [d]with the Holy Spirit [e]not many days from now.”

6 So, when they had come together, they began asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time that You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” 7 But He said to them, “It is not for you to know periods of time or appointed times which the Father has set by His own authority; 8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.”

The Word of God for the People of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit

It was during the Last Supper that Jesus gave farewell instructions to the Apostles.

He declared to them

(John 14:12 NASB): 12 Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I am going to the Father.

The promise was the sending of the Holy Spirit, “the Counselor… from the Father” who would “testify” or prove, affirm, and demonstrate that Jesus is Lord so that all those who would put their trust in Him would “receive power” to be His “witnesses…both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (John 15:26; Acts 1:8 NIV).

This was not a new promise.

The gift of the Holy Spirit had been promised in the Old Testament:

“…for with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people. To whom He said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing…” (Isaiah 28:11-12 KJV)

The difference between the Old and New Testament ministries of the Holy Spirit is that, prior to the Day of Pentecost, His power came upon spiritual leaders at particular times but did not take up residence within them.

Before a person becomes Born-Again and transformed at the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit is WITH them to draw them to Jesus, but this is not the same as being IN them.

Jesus promised the Disciples before He was crucified and resurrected that He would “ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor” who would not just live with them but would take up permanent residence within them when they become a Christian (John 14:16-17).

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit takes place at the moment a person becomes Born-Again.

It is this baptism which makes the Christian complete in Christ.

All that the Father is, Jesus is.

All the “fullness of the Godhead bodily” dwells in Jesus (Colossians 2:9 NIV).

This means that Jesus is the physical presentation of all that the Father is.

A person can’t be a Christian and belong to God if the Holy Spirit is not 100% fully living inside them because “if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ” (Romans 8:9-11 NIV).

From within the text from His High Priestly Prayer, we read Jesus prayed,

“… that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me, and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:21-22 NIV)

The Gospel is essentially the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

It is obtained by faith and faith alone, plus absolutely nothing. Through the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Christian is placed in Jesus because they “have been crucified with Christ… and…Christ lives in” them” (Galatians 2:20 NIV).

When Jesus died, the Christian died in their position with Him.

In the same way, when Jesus was buried, they were “buried with Him by baptism,” and just as Jesus was raised from the dead, they are “risen with Him” (Colossians 2:9-12 NIV).

After a person is converted and becomes Born-Again by repenting of their sins and receiving Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they each receive all of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

There is no partial filling.

They are now “baptized into one body (the Church), whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been made to drink into one Spirit” and placed “in” Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13 NIV).

The Christian is made “complete in Him” and immediately they enter into the “the kingdom of God” because they received “Christ,” “the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27; 2:10; Luke 17:21 NIV)

They are now a child “of God” and are given the power to overcome the enemy “because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (Romans 8:15; 1 John 4:4 NIV)

The Bible says every Christian has “been baptized into Christ” and has been “clothed…with Him” (Galatians 3:27 NIV).

When a person comes to faith in Jesus, they receive all the blessings that are in Christ.

These blessings are not received one day in the future once they reach some self-assumed place of ‘real’ holiness.

God’s blessings are entirely the possession of the Christian because they have already received them through Jesus.

The blessings are received when they first called upon Jesus to forgive them of their sins and become the Lord of their life.

There is absolutely nothing that can be found outside of Christ that has any eternal value to it!

Like a Mighty Wind

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” (Acts 2:1-4 NIV)

“All,” not just a few, of the people there were “filled with the Holy Spirit.”

In the Bible, the wind is often a picture of the “breath of the Almighty” that releases creative power and “gives me life” (Job 33:4 KJV).

https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/job/33/4/t_conc_469004

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h7307/kjv/wlc/0-1/

In the Hebrew text, “wind,” “spirit,” and sometimes “breath” are the same word (ruwach).

The Bible declares that at the beginning of Creation, God first breathed His breath upon the waters of the Earth “…And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2 NIV).

God formed human beings “from the dust of the ground and breathed into it the breath of life. And man became a living person” (Genesis 2:7 TLB).

It took His breath to create the Universe; “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth” (Psalm 33:6 NIV).

At the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, He read from the Book of Isaiah to declare that the “ruwach” of the Lord God was upon Him (See Luke 4:17-21).

God promised He would “pour out” His “Spirit on ALL people” (Joel 2:28 NIV – emphasis mine).

After His resurrection, and before the Day of Pentecost, Jesus re-generated ten of the Apostles when He “breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven” (John 20:22-23 NIV).

At that moment, they were Born-Again because they received the Holy Spirit.

A person cannot receive salvation by becoming Born-Again unless they are 100% filled with Him (John 3:3-4).

However, those 10 Apostles were not yet endued with power until the Day of Pentecost. For them, that was an entirely separate and distinct experience.

The other 110 Disciples who were with them in the Upper Room were still not yet regenerated/born from above through salvation.

They believed in Jesus, but they had yet to receive Him and become Born-Again.

Believing that Jesus is God is not the same as receiving Him. Even “the demons believe that and shudder” (James 2:19 NIV).

This is also the case with the people of Samaria, Ephesus, and those at Cornelius’s house who were not yet Born-Again because they had not yet received the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14; 10:44; 18:24).

Tongues of Fire

The tongues of fire were a sign to the Jewish people God was exceedingly pleased with those who had received Jesus, the promised Messiah, as their personal Lord and Savior.

God showed the people their sins were forgiven through the death of Jesus, and He was stopping the plague of sin’s eternal consequence, showing those who become Born-Again are now His dwelling place – His temple, the new Holy of Holies.

On at least three previous occasions, I found that God sent fire from above to consume a sacrifice because He was pleased (1 Chronicles 21:26; 2 Chronicles 7:1; 1 Kings 18:36-39).

Each time this happened, He was making an important point.

In David’s case, God forgave his sin, halting a plague in Israel and choosing where the future temple would be built.

In Solomon’s case, God consecrated that location as the place where His name would dwell forever (2 Chronicles 7:16).

The people’s reaction was to worship the Lord and say, “He is good; his love endures forever” (2 Chronicles 7:3 NIV).

God was telling the crowd of people at Pentecost that those who become Born-Again by receiving Jesus as the promised Messiah become consecrated for His glory. He would dwell within them forever.

In Elijah’s case, God shamed the prophets of Baal, whose god sent no fire, and claimed His rightful title as Lord God of Israel.

The people on Mount Carmel “fell prostrate and cried, ‘The LORD – he is God! The LORD – he is God!'” (1 Kings 18:39 NIV)

God showed the people on the day of Pentecost that He alone is almighty and deserves to be worshiped, honored, and praised forevermore.

The Power of Pentecost

Acts 2:14-21New American Standard Bible

Peter’s Sermon

14 But Peter, taking his stand with the other eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, [a]know this, and pay attention to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you assume, since it is only the [b]third hour of the day; 16 but this is what has been spoken through the prophet Joel:

17 ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says,
‘That I will pour out My Spirit on all [c]mankind;
And your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
And your young men will see visions,
And your old men will [d]have dreams;
18 And even on My male and female [e]servants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days,
And they will prophesy.
19 And I will [f]display wonders in the sky above
And signs on the earth below,
Blood, fire, and [g]vapor of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned into darkness
And the moon into blood,
Before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.
21 And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

After the Holy Spirit was poured out, the crowd was amazed at what was happening.

Peter stood up before them, along with the 11 Disciples, and spoke to the “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem,” including women and children.

The word “men” was a common term used in addressing a company of people, and could include women and children, not just men alone.

Peter then quoted the prophet Joel and told the crowd that the giving of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost was for ALL people, both male and female, and not just the 12 Disciples.

Both men and women are baptized in the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation to receive the power to spread the Gospel (Acts 2:17-18; also 1 Corinthians 11:4-6; 14:3,31).

Pentecost was the birthday of the Church universal.

It began the ministry of the Holy Spirit who is now the agent and executive of God on earth to carry on the work of Jesus (Acts 1:2-8; 5:9; 8:29,39; 10:19; 11:12; 13:2-4; 15:28; 16:6; 20:28; 21:4-11; 1 Corinthians 2:1-14; 12:1-30; 2 Corinthians 3:8; Ephesians 2:22; 3:5).

The Sacred Secret of God Revealed

On the day of Pentecost, something else happened that was incredible and had never happened before – the Holy Spirit came to reveal the sacred secret held hidden for all of eternity past, the new covenant of grace.

He came as a love gift from the Father to dwell within those who receive Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.

“Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.” (Ephesians 3:2-3 NIV)

There are two Greek words used in Scripture for the word “mystery” They are ‘kruptos’ and ‘musterion.’

The Greek word ‘kruptos’ is where the word “crypt” comes from.

It was used when something was secret or hidden away (Matthew 6:3-4, Luke 8:17, Romans 2:16, 1 Corinthians 14:25).

The English word “mystery” means something incomprehensible, unknowable, and beyond understanding.

The Greek word “musterion” was only used for secrets in the religious realm, including mystery religions.

In the Bible, they are sacred secrets.

A secret is something that can be known, but every person does not know it.

The things of God are not mysterious or impossible to understand. They are secret only to those who don’t take the time to study God’s Word, the Bible.

When Jesus taught a Parable, He spoke with a facet, or portion, of the sacred secret of the kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 13:10-11). However, now it is no longer a mystery (Romans 16:25,26, Colossians 1:26, also Ephesians 1:9).

The enemy and the hordes of Hell didn’t know this secret.

If they had, they would have never allowed Jesus to be crucified.

No human eye had ever seen, no ear had ever heard – no mind had conceived what God had prepared for those who love Him because they were hidden until the Cross (1 Corinthians 2:6-10).

When the Holy Spirit came upon a person in the Old Testament, they often gave a word of prophecy.

In the New Testament – the Church Age of the sacred secret – when a person gives their life to Jesus, they receive the Holy Spirit and the right and privilege to receive the manifold sacred secret of Heaven.

The Holy Spirit indwells and seals the Christian at the moment of salvation and gives them the daily anointing with power for the work of ministry.

Before Pentecost (excluding the 10 Disciples in John 20:22), a person could not be Born-Again and receive eternal life.

The Facets of the Father

God intended that through the church:

“… the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ephesians 3:10-12 NIV).

The word “manifold” means ‘many-faceted,’ and the wisdom of God’s sacred secret was revealed after the Cross.

Starting from the creation of Adam and Eve until the Day of Pentecost that was spoken of in the book of Acts, God had dealt with humanity as a master would to an indentured servant.

However, that changed because of the blood sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross.

The Church is one Body with Jesus as the Head because of the Cross.

The Father chose to lavish His great love on those who would receive Jesus and willfully choose to become a Christian (1 John 3:1; 1 Peter 1:23).

Every Christian is a child of God and a member of His body.

They are spiritually identified with Jesus.

Christians are partakers of the divine nature and are now a new creation (2 Peter 1:4; 2 Corinthians 5:17).

Jesus has anointed and set His seal of ownership on them and placed the Holy Spirit in their hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Nothing can separate them from God’s love! (Romans 8:38-39, 12:4-5, 1 Corinthians 10:17, 12:12-27, 2 Corinthians 1:21-22,5:22, Ephesians 1:14, 2:16, 4:4; Col 3:15)

When Jesus was crucified, the Christian was crucified.

When He died, they died.

When He was buried, they were buried.

When He was raised, they were raised.

When He ascended, they ascended.

When Jesus sat down at the Father’s right hand, they sat down as well! (Romans 6:4,6,8; Ephesians 2:6)

The sacred secret revealed that God is now working through His Church – each member of His Body – to do those things that He did directly before the Cross.

Every Christian has been given power and glory, unlike anything that has existed on the face of the Earth before.

It is their covenanted responsibility to make God’s wisdom known by living naturally in that glory and power, teaching the truth, and turning people from darkness to light through the love and goodness of God.

The Age of Grace

“For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you” (Ephesians 3:1-2 NIV).

The Church has now entered into the age of grace.

The Law that dominated the Old Testament was a “ministry that brought death” (2 Corinthians 3:7 ESV).

The all-encompassing sacred secret is that the Church has entered into a new age which is much more glorious than the Law because it brings righteousness (2 Corinthians 3:3-10).

This truth was hidden, but now it has been made known.

The administration of the grace of God is the administration of the multi-faceted sacred secret.

It is now the covenanted responsibility of every Christian to live in the power and glory of what God’s wisdom has revealed.

“For it is by grace you have been saved through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV)

CONCLUSION – Empowered to Serve

“Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.” (1 Corinthians 14:1 ESV)

Salvation makes the Christian “complete” in Christ. ALL that the Father is, Jesus is. “All the fullness of the Godhead bodily” dwells in Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit dwells within the Christian (Colossians 2:9-10 NKJV).

Because Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, all of His promises and spiritual gifts have never changed, nor will they ever change.

Every Christian was “given the one Spirit to drink” and is positioned “in” Jesus, and He is “in” every Christian (1 Corinthians 12:13 NIV).

Over 100 verses in the Bible describe the Christian as “in” Jesus.

Because the Christian has Jesus living in them, they possess and have access to all of His promises and the spiritual things of God because He is the giver of the gift of the Holy Spirit who helps them to do “greater works” than Jesus.

The “greater works” are far more than just evangelism.

The Father anointed Jesus with the power to do good works and to bring healing (Acts 10:38).

It goes hand in hand with His first public declaration to:

“…bring Good News to the poor.”… “…to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.” (Luke 4:18-19 NLT)

The Apostle Paul declared:

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV)

The word “power” is the Greek word ‘endunamoo’ which means to empower.

It is a compound word from the Greek word ‘en,’ meaning within, and ‘dunamis,’ meaning power.

Words such as dynamite, dynamo, and dynamic come from ‘dunamis.’

The understanding of this word in Greek is to receive power within.

Christians are to depend upon God’s power because they are weak without Him.

God desires that His children move naturally in power He has given to all Christians beginning on the Day of Pentecost.

Jesus offered the rebirth by the Holy Spirit on the day of His resurrection (John 20:21-22).

The apostle Paul prayed that the Church would come to know:

“… the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power.” (Ephesians 1:19 NIV)

Paul also declared that this power was the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.

“But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” (Romans 8:11 KJV)

The Holy Spirit has not stopped operating in the life of the Christian because the canon of Scripture is now complete – and neither have the spiritual gifts.

The active use of the supernatural gifts does not undermine the finality and sufficiency of God’s Word – instead, they serve to validate and complement the Scriptures.

The Church has been living in the end times since the day of Pentecost.

God has yet to pour out His Spirit on all flesh thoroughly.

There is no absence of miraculous gifts in church history since the first century.

Walking naturally in the supernatural should be the normal spiritual state of the Christian.

Sadly, far too many never experience it, and many never maintain it, primarily due to immaturity and pride, but mainly to a lack of knowledge.

“Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly — mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?” (1 Corinthians 3:1-4 NIV)

The gift of the Holy Spirit, who was poured out on the 120 Disciples on the Day of Pentecost, was promised to each and every one, without exception, who truly repents of their sin and receives Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

There is “neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 3:28 ESV).

When we SEEK the Holy Spirit we will find the Holy Spirit, when we KNOCK on the doors of heaven with our prayers for the Holy Spirit that God will open up to us the wonders of knowing Him.

And when the Spirit comes, He’s coming with POWER! Yes!

  • Power to walk uprightly in a world given to sin.
  • Power to avoid the temptations of the flesh.
  • Power to resist the devil.
  • Power over drugs and alcohol.
  • Power over anger and sexual sin.
  • Power to understand the word of God.
  • Power to teach and preach God’s Word.

But not only that, when the disciples received the Holy Spirit they were given

  • power to speak the word of God with boldness even when their lives were on the line.
  • They were given POWER to speak in languages they had not spoken in before and to interpret those languages.
  • God confirmed their testimony with miracles, signs and wonders (Heb. 2:4).
  • The sick were healed.
  • The dead were raised to life.
  • The blind received their sight.
  • They prophesied.
  • They casted out demons.
  • They served one another with a love and concern they had never expressed before.
  • And those who sat in darkness saw the light of the glory of God and the veil which Satan had placed on the hearts and minds of unbelievers was ripped away as they trusted in Jesus for their salvation (2 Corinthians. 4:3-4).

I invite every single reader to join me at the altar – let’s get on our knees and ask God to give us that power to accomplish his purpose.

Ask for the Holy Spirit to be evident in our life…

Seek him in the area that He’s placed on your heart.

Knock on the doors of heaven for God to open up to you the gift of His Spirit.

In order for the Promise of the Holy Spirit to be fulfilled in our lives we have to believe the promise of salvation.

Because sin entered our world God the Father sent God the Son to save us from His wrath against sin.

Jesus lived a perfect life unlike anyone else and He died in your place.

He was crucified on a cross for YOU.

He was buried in a borrowed tomb for YOU.

And on the third day He rose from the grave by the power of the Holy Spirit of God for YOU.

Because He loves you, He is offering you forgiveness for your sins an eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

Our heavenly Father says that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13).

The Promise of the Father begins with Jesus.

He is the Author and Finisher of our faith.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Heavenly Father, thank You that You have not hidden the truth from us but have revealed it in the perfect truth of Your Living, Life Transforming Word.

Thank You that I am part of that great cloud of Church-age witnesses to the truth of the glorious gospel of grace – which was started at Pentecost, and which has spread to every nation and tribe, every people and language.

Thank You that I have been born again by the power of the Holy Spirit and baptized into the body of Christ, which had its beginning in that special room, on that first day of Pentecost, when Holy Spirit was sent to be the permanently, indwelling Helper for all Christians – Thank You in Jesus name AMEN.

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