Tag: The Word of God for the Children of God

How might our Church Respond to our God’s Sovereignty over its Life: “Mold Me and Make Me, This is what I Pray?”

I have always been told there are several ways to do things.

There are “always” several ways to “get things done” by the “right way.”

There are always several ways to get things done by the “legal” way.

By My Way!

By Your Way!

By No One’s Specific Way!

By Everyone Else’s Way!

By Any and ‘All’ ‘Legal’ Means Necessary!

By the Highway!

By the Churches Way!

By the Book – step by step by step!

By the Manufacturers Manual!

By the “Bosses” Manual! (Who is the ‘Boss’?)

By the “hands on” Way which is generally found somewhere in between!

There is the way of man defined and shaped and molded by their own hands.

Then there is the Master’s Way ….

The Master’s Way which is(?) held to be Sovereign above all other ways.

So, now we have the place where resistance and conflict inevitably collide.

Just who is “The Master?” “Who is Sovereign?” “Who is it who holds sway?”

Deep Questions … Shall a Mighty Debate now Ensue between “the Master’s?”

Or should one “Master” simply recognize their sovereignty is as nothing?

We are aware there is a well-known hymn entitled, “Have Thine Own Way.”

The first line of this hymn says,

“Have Thine own way, Lord! . . . Thou art the potter, I am the clay! Mold me and make me after Thy will, while I am waiting, yielded and still.”

When Adelaide Pollard wrote the words to this hymn she was speaking of the ancient biblical imagery of God as the Master Potter, which is used many times throughout the length and breadth and width and heights of God’s Scriptures.

The prophet Isaiah used the imagery of the potter to stress God’s sovereignty.

For example, Isaiah 29:16 says, “Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; for shall the thing made say of him who made it, ‘He did not make me?’ Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding?’”

God’s Prophet Isaiah was saying that people have no perception of the ways of God, and to question Him is foolish, for we are just weak and fragile vessels.

Romans 9:21 The Apostle Paul used the imagery of the potter when people were complaining that God is unjust.

He asked, “Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?” Paul was saying, “Who are we to question God? He can do whatever He wants with our lives!”

From our biblical text today, we are going to look at how Jeremiah used the imagery of God as the potter, as he was trying to communicate the Lord’s sovereignty concerning his life and our lives.

Let’s pray we can see what our Sovereign God led Jeremiah to share with the people of Judah, or southern Israel, and let’s try to apply it to our lives today.

Jeremiah 18:1-6 Amplified Bible

The Potter and the Clay

18 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will make you hear My words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house and saw that he was working at the wheel. 4 But the vessel that he was making from clay was spoiled by the potter’s hand; so, he made it over, reworking it and making it into another pot that seemed good to him.

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” says the Lord. “Look carefully, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

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

Jeremiah went to the potter’s house as the Lord commanded him, and while he was there, he saw a potter spinning his wheel and molding a piece of clay.

The potter’s wheel in that ancient day and time was actually two wheels linked together by a pedestal. The potter would spin the bottom wheel with his feet, while the clay spun on the upper wheel to be moistened, shaped by his hands.

Jeremiah was standing in awe as he watched the potter fashion a piece of clay.

He saw the potter’s fingers ever so naturally and gently glide along the slippery clay, shaping and molding it with the slightest touch.

The potter with his vision, only had to touch the tip of his finger against the clay, and its shape would be changed. Jeremiah said that the clay was marred in the potter’s hand, and he made it again into another vessel that pleased him.

If a potter is displeased with the shape of the clay he is molding, all he has to do is squash it flat and start over again.

Jeremiah realized that this is a picture of our lives. Our lives are as fragile as wet clay in the hands of a potter, and the Lord has the ability to reshape our lives.

The potter uses several implements, or tools, to bring the clay to a place where it is usable:

First, he uses a shovel.

This is the tool he uses to dig the clay from the earth.

This is a picture of the Spirit of God who comes to where we are in sin and speaks to us in convicting power and draws us to Jesus.

Secondly, he uses a mallet.

After the clay has been cleansed and processed, it is laid on a table and beaten with a wooden mallet.

The potter does this to remove any air bubbles that might be trapped in the clay.

If he doesn’t, the air bubble will form a pocket that will produce a weak spot and cause the vessel to be fragile and unusable.

This is a picture of the trials . . . and chastisements of life that tend to work together to mold us and to shape us into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thirdly he uses the wheel.

Jeremiah saw the wheel turning constantly, bringing the clay against the potter’s hand.

The wheel stands for the turning circumstances of our life, under the control of the Potter . . . As our life is being shaped and molded by the Great Potter, it is the circumstances of our life, the wheels of circumstance . . . which bring us again and again under the Potter’s hand, under the pressure of [His] molding fingers.

Fourthly he uses his hands.

While the clay spins around on the wheel, it is never out of contact with the potter’s hands. He is in constant contact, molding, shaping and bringing the clay along through his loving guidance.

If the potter were to ever remove his hand, the clay would spin right off the wheel and would be splattered everywhere in the room and lost. Therefore, he stays there, in contact with the clay . . . until it become what he desires it to be.

As the Great Potter, God’s desire is to make us into a beautiful creation that is useful to Him. The key we must remember is that the Lord can only shape us if we stop “naturally resisting,” submit to His loving hands, allow Him to do so.

You Can Be Remolded (vv. 5-10)

Jeremiah 18:5-10Amplified Bible

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” says the Lord. “Look carefully, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. 7 At one moment I might [suddenly] speak concerning a nation or kingdom, that I will uproot and break down and destroy; 8 if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will [a]relent and reverse My decision concerning the devastation that I intended to do. 9 Or at another time I might [suddenly] speak about a nation or kingdom that I will build up or establish; 10 and if they do evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will reverse My decision concerning the good with which I had promised to bless them.

Judah had been disobedient to the Lord by worshipping other gods.

Through Jeremiah, the Lord informed the people of Judah that if they didn’t repent, they would be destroyed. While people are in God’s hands, meaning under His shaping influence, it is much easier to humble oneself and repent.

Proverbs 16:1-3 Amplified Bible

Contrast the Upright and the Wicked

16 The plans and reflections of the heart belong to man,
But the [wise] answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
2 
All the ways of a man are clean and innocent in his own eyes [and he may see nothing wrong with his actions],
But the Lord weighs and examines the motives and intents [of the heart and knows the truth].
3 
[a]Commit your works to the Lord [submit and trust them to Him],
And your plans will succeed [if you respond to His will and guidance].

In other words, beloved Children of God, brothers and sisters in Christ, when God asks us to repent, we had better do so before we decide to go our own way.

Pay close attention, dear Body of Christ, God’s Church in God’s Neighborhood,

Once He allows us to make our own choices, then our way leads to destruction.

The late Country Music singer John Denver said,

“The potter’s wheel takes love and caring, skill and patience fast and slow. The works it makes are easily broken, once they survive the potter’s throw.”

What he meant is that when the clay survives the throwing and molding process on the wheel, and then becomes fired in the kiln, at this point it is easily broken.

If someone drops a pot that has been hardened as glass, it will so easily shatter.

While clay is still wet in the potter’s hands it has a chance to be reshaped, made into a new creation, but once it has been set and fired in the kiln and made hard, it cannot be reshaped.

The only way it can change its shape after it is dried is when it’s thrown on the ground and shattered into tiny pieces, which not a shape to be desired.

In Isaiah 30:14, the prophet told the people of Israel that if they failed to repent, then God

“shall break it like the breaking of the potter’s vessel, which is broken in pieces; He shall not spare. So, there shall not be found among its fragments a shard to take fire from the hearth, or to take water from the cistern.”

If the nation of Israel became set in her ways and did not listen to the Lord, then she could no longer be molded.

The nation would soon be dropped and broken into countless pieces.

If the Lord is speaking to your heart this evening to accept Jesus Christ, then you had better do so before it’s too late.

If you continually deny Jesus, then your heart will become hardened to Him, like a pot that has been fired in the kiln. If you harden your heart to Jesus, then you are no longer moldable by the Great Potter. You are heading for a great fall, and when you hit the ground, you will break! It’s not going to be a pretty sight!

You Must Repent Now (v. 11)

Jeremiah 18:11Amplified Bible

11 Now then, say to the men of Judah and to the citizens of Jerusalem, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am shaping a disaster and working out a plan against you. Turn back, each of you from his evil way; correct your habits and change your actions for the better.”’

God spoke through Jeremiah and told Judah to repent. He said that if Judah didn’t turn from her evil ways immediately then she was heading for destruction. When God said, “I am fashioning as disaster and devising a plan against you,” He was telling Judah that He was getting ready to drop her on the ground to be shattered to pieces. We know the outcome of this situation. Judah was indeed shattered and broken to pieces when her people were taken captive by other nations and separated like a glass jar that has burst apart and its pieces scattered abroad.

Revelation 2:25-27 Jesus says we should be faithful to Him until the very end.

He says of those who are unfaithful,

“They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels.”

If you have not given your life over to Jesus Christ, then you are headed for destruction. I encourage you to give your life to Him now, before it’s too late.

Jeremiah said everyone then and ergo, now, is to

“return now from his evil way.”

To “return now” means this very minute.

You see, we don’t know for certain if we have another minute left to live.

We could die as we leave for work or shopping today, or Jesus could return to take His people home. We are not guaranteed another minute, so we should accept Jesus Christ into our hearts right now. Paul said, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2b).

Time of Reflection

What Jeremiah has revealed to us is that the Lord continually and continuously loves us and desires for us to be in contact with His loving hands at all times.

He wants us to drop our natural resistance, welcome His touch, connect with His entire vision for our lives, be sensitive to the shaping forces of His fingers.

If we are choosing to remain naturally insensitive and go our own way and do our own thing, “shape our own vessels” then we are saying that we don’t need His sovereign guidance. We are saying we are already in our preferred shape.

If we fail to give our lives to the Master Potter, then He will let us be whom we desire.

We may be some ugly, deformed pot and not even know it, but the Lord will send us to the kiln to be fired as we are.

If we do not innately turn our lives over to the Potter and remain in His hands to be continually remolded and made anew, the Lord will stop shaping us, and He will let us alone. When He lets us alone, we are in a very fragile state. One wrong move could send us unceremoniously crashing, shattering all over the ground.

If you have never known God in an intimate and personal relationship, then you need to allow the Potter, Jesus Christ, to make you anew.

Hearts of stone to hearts of flesh. From our death, raised unto new life, He will come into your heart and give you a newfound joy if you will allow Him to do so.

He who has Ears – let them Hear!

He who has Eyes – let them See!

He who has a Mouth – let them Speak!

He who has a Voice – let them Sing!

He who has Hands and Feet – let them Serve!

He who has THEIR OWN ‘SOVEREIGN’ WAYS …. What do you do NOW?

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

Let us Pray,

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 for 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

https://translate.google.com/

God’s Message for God’s Church. God is at His Wheel: It’s always a Time of New Beginnings inside the Potter’s House.

Many of the Bible’s images are challenging for us to understand because we live in a culture which is so radically different from that of the ancient Middle East.

But here’s an image that doesn’t need much translation.

Even young children who make finger bowls from clay at home or in an art class or in Camp can identify with and feel the force of this image in their fingertips.

Both young sculptors with their Play-Doh and master sculptors in their studios are intimately involved in their creations’ beginning. This is hands-on work.

And that tells us something about God our Creator. The biblical image of the potter challenges us not to picture God as an aloof or isolated figure, but busy.

No, when God deals with an individual, a nation, a people group, a community, a neighborhood or a church, he engages in some intimate, hands-on creativity.

Picture God as the ‘busy’ One who molds and shapes your community of faith.

Picture God as the One who sometimes chooses to remold and remake that community into something that no one would have ever guessed possible.

Considering the state of our churches right now, how can we live as good clay?

For starters, we can be pliable, flexible, moldable. Brittle clay is almost useless.

Miraculously, we can also somehow figure out how to actually begin living in hope and expectation, full of wonder about what God is forming us to become.

Jeremiah 18:1-6Amplified Bible

The Potter and the Clay

18 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will make you hear My words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house and saw that he was working at the wheel. 4 But the vessel that he was making from clay was spoiled by the potter’s hand; so, he made it over, reworking it and making it into another pot that seemed good to him.

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” says the Lord. “Look carefully, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

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

The prophet Jeremiah lived at a very difficult time in Judah’s history.

The revivals led by King Josiah were a distant memory.

Idolatry and immorality plagued the nation.

They were following in the footsteps of the Northern Kingdom and soon the judgment of God would meet them – walk right into their faces and slap them.

In Jeremiah chapter 18, God issues a very solemn, yet fruitless plea beckoning His people to return to Him.

History tells us they refused to repent and would not return to the Lord.

As a consequence, Jerusalem was destroyed, and the people were taken captive by the Babylonian Empire.

From that tragedy, however, the beauty of this passage (chapter 18, verses 1-6) worthy to be noted: that God while God’s own judgement is upon them, is also God who is yet busy reaching out unto His people –even well into the 11th hour!

The message God had for Jeremiah was a poignantly visual sermon at the potter’s house.

From the visually nondescript impact of outside the potter’s house, to in the potter’s house, God is busy offering His people a fresh start – a new beginning.

We all want a new beginning. We have all said something or acted in a particular way and afterward wished we could take it back or do it differently. We have all had times, happy times and wonderful memories that we would like to re-live.

We are the Body of Christ – the Church – God’s Church in the year of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – 2022. Could we be anymore broken and or fractured?

Our brokenness and our division and chards of controversy are perpetually at our feet – piled chard by chard miles and miles high – like the Tower of Babel.

We raise them ever higher as “altars of our own self-righteousness” unto our grieving God in the undeniably vain hope our altars will be ‘more’ acceptable than those altars being raised by those we have great and growing contentions.

Contention? Whose ‘altar,’ whose “Tower of Babel” is more “self-righteous?”

The arguments go on and on – and their “self-reported” unobstructed views to the Potter’s House becomes more and more distant, more and more obstructed.

Both declare their steadfast belief their “view” and “vision” of the outside of the Potter’s House – is the most accurate and correct, ‘viable’ representation.

Meanwhile, somewhere, who really knows from where anymore, is God’s Word of Judgement upon His church from HIS Weeping Prophet Jeremiah Chapter 18. 

The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will make you hear My words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house and saw that he was working at the wheel. But the vessel that he was making from clay was spoiled by the potter’s hand; so, he made it over, reworking it and making it into another pot that seemed good to him. 5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” says the Lord. “Look carefully, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

But, amidst all of the rancor and contention, the ‘altar’ and ‘tower’ building, who is actually paying attention to the Word of God, wondering about whether or not the Potter is still at His house, working clay into His image of the church?

When was their last visit to the Potter’s House to see the Potter at work at the Potter’s Wheel? When did they last try to knock on the Door to His House to see HIM at work? Do they see all the “empty” wheels waiting for HIS new students?

Do they see The Master Potter at work? Do they see that they are the ones being shaped and reshaped, molded and then molded, moistened and remoistened?

Do they see it is their “so called,” “self-reported” “self-righteousness” altars, towers sitting on top, in the center of all things on the Master Potter’s Wheel?

Do they hear the whirring of the Master Potter’s Wheel calling them to account?

Hearing the “Not so Silent” invitation of the Master Potter – “Please sit down?” (Isaiah 58 Amplified)

58 “Cry aloud, do not hold back;
Lift up your voice like a trumpet,
And declare to My people their transgression
And to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 
“Yet they seek Me day by day and delight [superficially] to know My ways,
As [if they were in reality] a nation that has done righteousness
And has not abandoned (turned away from) the ordinance of their God.
They ask of Me righteous judgments,
They delight in the nearness of God.
3 
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You do not see it?
Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’
Hear this [O Israel], on the day of your fast [when you should be grieving for your sins] you find something you desire [to do],
And you force your hired servants to work [instead of stopping all work, as the law teaches].
4 
“The facts are that you fast only for strife and brawling and to strike with the fist of wickedness.
You do not fast as you do today to make your voice heard on high.
5 
“Is a fast such as this what I have chosen, a day for a man to humble himself [with sorrow in his soul]?
Is it only to bow down his head like a reed
And to make sackcloth and ashes as a bed [pretending to have a repentant heart]?
Do you call this a fast and a day pleasing to the Lord?
6 
“[Rather] is this not the fast which I choose,
To undo the bonds of wickedness,
To tear to pieces the ropes of the yoke,
To let the oppressed, go free
And break apart every [enslaving] yoke?
7 
“Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry
And bring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the naked, that you cover him,
And not to hide yourself from [the needs of] your own flesh and blood?
8 
“Then your light will break out like the dawn,
And your healing (restoration, new life) will quickly spring forth;
Your righteousness will go before you [leading you to peace and prosperity],
The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9 
“Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
You will cry for help, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away from your midst the yoke [of oppression],
The finger pointed in scorn [toward the oppressed or the godly], and [every form of] wicked (sinful, unjust) speech,
10 
And if you offer yourself to [assist] the hungry
And satisfy the [a]need of the afflicted,
Then your light will rise in darkness
And your gloom will become like midday.
11 
“And the Lord will continually guide you,
And satisfy your soul in scorched and dry places,
And give strength to your bones;
And you will be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.
12 
“And your people will rebuild the ancient ruins;
You will raise up and restore the age-old foundations [of buildings that have been laid waste];
You will be called Repairer of the Breach,
Restorer of Streets [b]with Dwellings.

As much as we, the Body of Christ, the Church, in God’s neighborhood, all would like to turn back time to re-live a happy moment or take back hurtful words, forget the debts and sins of the people against us –we do not, cannot.

You and I, the Body of Christ, the Church, in God’s neighborhood, are at this very exact moment the complete sum of every decision we have ever made.

No matter how much to sit down in Pottery School with the Master Potter – (Isaiah 2:2-4 Amplified)

2 
Now it will come to pass that
In the last days
The mountain of the house of the Lord
Will be [firmly] established as the [a]highest of the mountains,
And will be exalted above the hills;
And all the nations will stream to it.
3 
And many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house (temple) of the God of Jacob;
That He may teach us His ways
And that we may walk in His paths.”
For the law will go out from Zion
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 
And He will judge between the nations,
And will mediate [disputes] for many peoples;
And they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not lift up the sword against nation,
And never again will they learn war.

Verse 4 (for “our” “contemporary” Church)

And He will judge between the CHRISTIANS,

And will mediate [disputes] for many CHRISTIANS,

And they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

CHRISTIANS will not lift up their swords against FELLOW CHRISTIANS

And never again will they learn war ….

As much as we may profess that want to make a brand-new beginning for ourselves – rewrite Isaiah 2:1-4 for our “modern contemporary church,” it is probably next to, if not, virtually impossible in the mindset of too many.

Too many “self-righteous,” “humbled” “Christians” from all the theological spectrums are standing too far distant, too far apart from the Potter’s House.

Too few dares to look for or dares to explore, discover, see a need to get closer.

The good news is: “with man it is 100% impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). God is able to keep His wheel moving, give you and I, a fresh start! That is the message our God is preaching unto His Church today.

This visual message has but three main contributors. Consider them briefly.

The Master Potter

Perhaps Jeremiah had seen this particular potter before.

No doubt Jeremiah was familiar with the work of pottery as it was very common in that day.

In fact, the Hebrew Testament uses no less than 30 references to this skill in conveying spiritual truth.

But on this day, it was radically different for Jeremiah.

This day, God was preaching to him.

At the potter’s wheel we see the potter’s ability.

Not everyone can make a piece of clay into something desirable. And even smaller number of people are able to create a piece of artwork that is highly sought after by museums and collectors. The potter is a man of ability.

At the potter’s wheel we also see his sovereignty.

That wheel is the potter’s universe in a sense, and he is in complete control of whatever is taking place within. The speed of the wheel; the shape into which the clay is molded and shaped and worked –all are completely subject to him.

These are valuable lessons for Jeremiah to learn.

Because the potter he was learning about was no ordinary potter.

The master potter in this poignant sermon was not the man in the shop.

The Master Potter has a different identity. Consider Isaiah 64:8

“But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.”

The Master Potter is GOD the LORD.

He has infinite ability and sovereign in all things.

The Marred Clay

It takes 9-12 months to prepare the clay.

As it is found, it is completely unsuitable for the potter’s wheel. The clay is dug out and goes through a detailed process of filtration and refining to remove all the unwanted debris. The clay is trodden under foot to increase its plasticity and then it is left to weather for months. So much care is given to preparing the clay.

Even though such attention is given to its preparation, sometimes small rocks and other debris remain in the mix.

These go completely unnoticed until placed upon the potter’s wheel. As the potter begins his work of shaping and molding, suddenly the rubbish is brought to the surface and in a moment the new creation is marred. A deep groove is cut into the vessel and the smooth surface is suddenly out of shape.

I heard of a man who was stuck in the mud at the bottom of a steep hill and needed to be towed to the top. At the top of the hill, the driver of the tow truck said, “I didn’t think we were ever going to make it to the top that hill.”

The driver in the other car replied, “Neither did I, so I kept both of my feet on the brakes to keep us from rolling backwards!”

That may sound silly, but you and I behave that way more times than we would like to admit. God desires to mold us and shape us and make us after HIS will, but as God looks forward, we are “stomping on the brakes” looking backward.

The apostle Paul, said,

“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” in Philippians 3:14.

But before he could press forward, in verse 13 he declares: “This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before.”

Let go of the past, relinquish your plans and yield yourself to the hands of the Master Potter! Sometimes the clay is marred –not because of a mistake of the Potter, but because of a bit of debris left-over from the former life still in it.

The Miracle on the Wheel

What happens when God finds a little rubbish in the clay?

It’s obvious. He annihilates it. Utterly destroys it and casts it away. Right?

No. He does the exact opposite.

Note again Jeremiah 18 verse 4.

“And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.”

The Master Potter did not throw the clay away.

He started over with the same lump of clay!

We have all made a mess of things at times. Attitudes and actions of the old man, the sin nature, comes to the surface and we lack wisdom to do anything.

But God in HIS grace and HIS mercy, with tender hands removes the rubbish.

As we confess our sins to Him and miraculously yield to His plan,

–He enters the breeches in the walls, He rebuilds and restores OUR ruins.

John 3:16-18Amplified 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. 18 Whoever believes and has decided to trust in Him [as personal Savior and Lord] is not judged [for this one, there is no judgment, no rejection, no condemnation]; but the one who does not believe [and has decided to reject Him as personal Savior and Lord] is judged already [that one has been convicted and sentenced], because [b]he has not believed and trusted in the name of the [One and] only begotten Son of God [the One who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, the One who alone can save him].

God has a definite plan in mind for HIS Church.

2 Timothy 2: 20, 21

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

We are embarking on a brand-New time and season in the church. In many ways it is a clean slate –a fresh start. We cannot tell what 2022 will hold for us.

We do not know what challenges we will face, what mountains we will climb (other than God’s) or what hard lessons from deepest valleys we will endure.

But I do know this: God is still God, and His ways are perfect.

I know that He is still at work at HIS wheel and His hands do not rest.

The wheel of time continues to turn and as I will yield to the Master Potter, He can make something beautiful within me and in you and within HIS CHURCH.

I know that I am prone to failure,

I know you are prone to failure,

I know the Church is prone to failure.

But the Good News is this: God will not throw the clay away.

God will continue His work; day by day, making and remaking me into a vessel that is fit for the Master’s use.

God will continue His work in and within the Church, day by day, making and remaking, shaping and reshaping, molding and remolding, it into a vessel that is 100% fit for His Son, Jesus, to return to one day and reclaim as His very own.

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

Let us Pray,

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle in us the fire of Your love.  Send forth Your Spirit and we shall be created.  And You shall renew the face of the earth. 

O, God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy Your consolations. 

​Through Christ our Lord. 

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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In the Potter’s House, at the Potter’s Wheel: God, our Creator, is not even close to being finished with You and I and His Neighborhood. Jeremiah 18:1-11

God is like a potter, and we are like clay. In his work of spiritual formation, God constantly molds and shapes us. This can be a slow process of gradual growth.

Or, at times, an encounter with the living Christ through his Word will infuse us with grace that moves us quickly to a new level of devotion and commitment.

At other times, the potter must stop spinning the wheel. look carefully at their work, decide if the shape of the pot is as they had originally envisioned it fits the original purpose for which the potter originally intended. Sometimes, break the pot down and then start over again because the clay has become misshapen.

Through each effort at reshaping the vessel, our spirit, each of these types of spiritual formation shows a different way God deals with us. If I can no longer be molded, I need to repent and experience the shattering grace of God’s love.

If I somehow believe I have somehow reached a spiritual plateau, achieved a measure of spiritual maturity where I do not feel or know where my spirit can mature in God anymore, I need to begin a process of discover by God’s Spirit into the unknown and undeveloped and woefully underdeveloped areas of my personality or giftedness that God knows need his powerful touch. And if I’m then gradually growing, I need simply to rejoice and increase my thanksgiving.

A process of discovery! What concrete ways do we see the Potter at work in our lives? A new biblical perspective might have to be developed, new directions set, moral values instilled, old habits broken, positive attitudes fostered, deeper commitments chosen and cherished, a family reunited, emotional hurts healed, a serious crisis resolved, spiritual gifts utilized, and new ministries started.

As God, our Creator, continually and continuously shapes you and me, (is God ever finished?) and His neighborhood, life all around us is being transformed.

God’s neighborhood is not transformed into the vision we desire or believe is best for what greater “more politically correct” purposes we set aside for it.

It is, after all, when all is said and done, God’s neighborhood and not ours.

Jeremiah 18:1-11Amplified Bible

The Potter and the Clay

18 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will make you hear My words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house and saw that he was working at the wheel. 4 But the vessel that he was making from clay was spoiled by the potter’s hand; so, he made it over, reworking it and making it into another pot that seemed good to him.

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” says the Lord. “Look carefully, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. 7 At one moment I might [suddenly] speak concerning a nation or kingdom, that I will uproot and break down and destroy; 8 if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will [a]relent and reverse My decision concerning the devastation that I intended to do. 9 Or at another time I might [suddenly] speak about a nation or kingdom that I will build up or establish; 10 and if they do evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will reverse My decision concerning the good with which I had promised to bless them. 11 Now then, say to the men of Judah and to the citizens of Jerusalem, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am shaping a disaster and working out a plan against you. Turn back, each of you from his evil way; correct your habits and change your actions for the better.”’

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

God is Not Even Close to Being Finished with Me Yet!

God is Not Even Close to Being Finished with You Yet!

God is Not Even Close to Being Finished with Anyone in HIS Neighborhood!

I’m going a bit off-script this day.

Lately, I have been spending a great deal of time reading and studying and pondering and writing these devotions from the Gospel and New Testament.

However, today, and probably for a few more days hence, my spirit felt lead to the Hebrew Testament Prophet Jeremiah.

The night before, God woke my mind up in the middle of the night again. It was with the clear message this biblical reading is meant to be timely for us today.

Pondering and praying about it throughout yesterday, I realized sometimes we need spiritual encouragement. God knew that. Jeremiah knew that, and he told the story of a potter’s wheel. I hope this devotion today can be inspiring for this coming group of readers – and that together, with God, we can all know it too.

Hear what the prophet Jeremiah said some twenty-six hundred years ago again:

The word of the Lord said to Jeremiah, “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So, I went down to the potter’s house, and there he worked on the wheel. As he worked on a piece of pottery, it crumbled in his hand. Then he made it into another piece that pleased him more.”

The prophets used analogies and images to teach essential spiritual lessons.

This text is an example of storytelling to show Israel God’s mercy.

The imagery of as a pottery maker in his house illustrates God’s patience.

I know I have read this passage dozens of times, I’ve listened pastors preach it, and I’ve preached it through the lectionary cycle before. But there’s something I have somehow missed until yesterday as I pondered, prayed, this devotional.

One scholar said that the “potter’s house” was not a single person. Rather, all of Jerusalem’s pottery came from one area considered “the house of pottery.”

That neighborhood was outside the city walls. Jerusalem rested on a hill.

To reach the potter’s house a person had to go out the gate, thorough the valley of Hinnom, and up the hillside.

The valley is where Israel burned their garbage, and they called it Gehenna.

The kings of Judah sacrificed their children by fire in the valley, so the ancients believed it a cursed place.

Our notion of hell comes from this valley of burning: the abode of the dead.

The prophet walked through the people’s sin’s, their garbage, and even what they believed dead before he saw the potter.

I’m the same way: I’ve had to confront my fears, my doubts, and walk-through memories of loves and hates I thought dead before I reached the potter’s house.

After Jeremiah waded through the trash heap, he then made it to God’s pottery wheel. He saw God with dirty hands that were dried and blistered and cracked from the weight of the clay, the pottery wheel and the intensity of the fire.

The vision of the potter taught Jeremiah a lesson about Israel: God is always at work. God would continuously collect their misshapenness, continually remold and reshape it, and make them into people with hearts of flesh instead of stone.

So, my devotional writing today is along those lines: God’s not finished with us.

God didn’t give up on Israel. God will not give up on us.

Years ago, before my wife and I were married, we were looking for gifts for wedding parties. We were looking for wine goblets for our reception table.

We found a pottery shop where we introduced to the owner and the “master potter.” He took us on a tour of his classroom where he gave both children and adults of all ages both beginner, intermediate and advanced pottery lessons to.

He sat down at a pottery wheel and showed us how to mount the clay on the wheel and how to use our hands to begin forming and shaping the pottery.

At first, the force he used with the clay surprised me. Then, as he taught us that clay is not ready for the wheel until it goes through the pressure of shaping, I realized the necessity of preparation.

He carefully, but ever more forcefully, worked the wheel with his foot, worked the clay with his hands, kneaded it, squeezed it, and saturated continually with the water it to prepare it for whatever the potters’ vision was of its final shape.

It didn’t have form immediately. It needed time and water before it looked like a water pitcher. I noticed the clay would crumble if it didn’t have adequate water.

Life is a process of kneading, water – our baptismal identity, and shaping by the potter’s hands before we become “whole.”

Genesis says that God formed us in his image and molded us into his likeness.

Some of the earliest images of God in Genesis is a potter, with muddy hands, creating human beings.

God’s still working on us, shaping us toward wholeness.

God is not even close to being finished with anyone of us yet.

There were times I wanted to give up on dreams, relationships, and desires.

As I frequently take the time to reflect on my relationship with my wife, what it has been before we were married, after we were married, and what it is right now, and what I fervently pray it will be for all of our remaining tomorrows,

I see in my married life where God has been continually, continuously at work. He has been at work both with and within both of us to shape and reshape our marriage into His image and not ours. Somehow, miraculously God is at work, shaping me and my wife, pushing the mud into position to create a new vessel.

Our lives are messy at times, yet we both desire the perception that everything is okay. We know people who portray the ideal life and a perfect family on social media. But deep down inside we know something is missing. We both feel like a warped piece of bit pottery instead of the perfect piece on display in a museum.

After frequent searches through Scripture and in both individual and corporate prayer sessions, we finally accepted there’s nothing wrong with imperfection.

These days we are striving for vulnerability instead of perfection. God didn’t give up on Israel because of imperfection, and God will not give up on us either.

That leads me to another point I notice in this text:

It’s never too late to work together with God to begin being reshaped again.

In any relationship, in any covenant of marriage, there are always areas where more shared and mutual growth and maturity into God’s image are necessary.

Again, we can both envision God, in His Potter’s House, at His Potter’s Wheel.

The final thing I learned at the pottery studio was a spiritual lesson still informs my theology of my marriage to both God and to my wife who are my whole life.

“Living Life in God’s neighborhood happens because there is no perfect clay.”

Then the potter taught us what happens when ‘life happens,’ clay falls apart.

The clay pitcher he had carefully made, spun in perfect balance on the wheel until he moved his fingers ever so differently and gently into the clay. The clay gradually caved in on itself and became misshapen, spun lopsided on the wheel.

Sometimes when the pressure of life pushes us, we cave in on ourselves and spiral out of control. But then he said, as I can envision God is saying to us now; “When the piece you’re carefully making falls apart, you can always start over.”

The prophet Jeremiah saw a broken piece of pottery on God’s table.

He said God selected the moment, selected the brokenness, reformed it, and put the clay back on the potters’ wheel, created something new from broken pieces.

That should give us confidence. Even when our hearts shatter into a million pieces, God can take our pain, our fears, our guilt, and our grief, and transform the broken pieces of the self into a new creation. The prophet said the broken pottery became better than it was before the fall on the ground and shattered.

There’s never any perfect clay (relationship, family, ideal, dream, job, vocation, ministry or mission…). But it’s never too late to appreciate the beauty of flaws.

Conclusion

There’s an art in Japan, kintsugi, that is a unique way to fix pottery.

In Japan, people often inherit pottery from family members.

When a meaningful piece breaks, they do not discard it. Some cultures are like God; they do not throw things away just because of blemishes or brokenness.

They collect the pieces and repair the pottery.

But they do not use invisible glue that makes the pottery appear flawless.

They leave it with visible vulnerabilities.

They understand that scars can be signs of refinement.

The gift of imperfection is credibility.

The artist collects a special tree sap and mixes it with gold.

Then they carefully join the separated fragments together with gold.

The gold and the sap make the piece stronger at the cracks than it is elsewhere.

When they finish, the pottery is a one-of-a-kind heirloom with bright gold lines giving it a unique beauty and character it did not have before the fall.

Hear the words of the prophet again, “The first piece crumbled in the potter’s hand, but he made it into another piece that pleased him more.”

With God, our Creator, scars, imperfections, and brokenness, become inspired stories of triumph and grace.

They are stories where God turns lead to gold and things become greater than we ever dreamed possible. Remember, when we put hopes and dreams in tombs when we mourn them, and when we assume they are dead, God raises the dead.

The Tomb is STILL empty!

Jesus is STILL ALIVE ….

— God is not even close to being finished with anyone of us yet.

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

Pick up a lump of clay and mold it in your hands

Think about the creation of the world—

the touch of God’s hands on the very substance of the universe

As you change the appearance of the clay with the touch of your hands,

think how the world you live in has touched and changed you…

Think of how your hands have touched other people –

in love, in anger, in sorrow and in joy…

Think of the things and people who have touched your life

and molded you into the person you are today…

“Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.

We are the clay; you are the potter.

we are all the work of your hand.” (Isaiah 64:8)

Prayer

Look, Lord, on an empty vessel that needs to be filled.

In faith I am weak—strengthen me.

In love I am cold—warm me and make me fervent

so that my love may go out to my neighbour.

I doubt and am unable to trust you completely.

Lord, strengthen my faith and trust in you.

You are all the treasure I possess.

I am poor, you are rich,

and you came to have mercy on the poor.

I am a sinner, you are goodness.

From you I can receive goodness,

but I can give you nothing.

Therefore I shall stay with you.

(Martin Luther)

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The Gospel in a Nutshell: The Son of Man Came to Serve. Mark 10:35-45.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are all on top of the world! The glittering prizes of “our wealth and honor – our fame and fortune – of intellectual prowess our great importance” is highly prized in today’s world system but can too often bedazzle the eyes of believers as well, and even Christ’s own disciples were not exempt.

How petty and self-serving can we get? How petty and self-serving were these two disciples – James and John? They wanted special favors from their Rabbi.

They were arguing about who was to be the most important in their little group and were jostling for the highest and best position in Christ’s coming kingdom.

James and John? They thought more highly of themselves. But what a shocking silence must have descending on each person, when Rabbi Jesus stunned them into silence with these head scratching words: that even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life -as a ransom for many.

SELF-SERVING

How are the decisions we make impacting those around us?

Rabbi Jesus said that we should seek to love others as we would love ourselves (Matthew.22:39). Nothing could be more central to that command than for us to spend more time considering how our plans, actions, and words will either serve us or serve others, help, hurt, hinder, the people in our circle of influence.

As Christians we no longer “live to serve ourselves” (Romans14:7)—or at least we shouldn’t. God’s will for us is to see our lives as instruments of Christ to aid, build up, positively enhance the well-being of all the ‘neighbors’ in our lives.

Having been called by the humility of our Savior Jesus, to no longer simply look out for our own interests, but also for the interests of others (Philippians 2:4), we should instead be driven to carefully ponder how pursuing our desires in that purchase, this move, or that meeting is going to affect and benefit others.

The world will continue to tell us to “Look out for number one!”

I’m all for that—as long as we remember that we’re not number one! Christ is.

And he has directed us to look out for the interests of the people with whom he has sovereignly surrounded us. Yes, every day we will make decisions for our own good, but they should all be evaluated with a willingness to modify them or even abandon them as we prayerfully consider their impact on others.

Sometimes we allow ourselves to think we are the centre of the universe. We get so wrapped up in our own world and issues of daily life, we forget about others and their struggles. The incredibly little word ‘me’ becomes most important. We somehow think all of ‘everything’ revolves (or should revolve) around ourselves.

All too often we think all of our feelings and ideas are the most important in all of the world. But guess what: often times, others probably have better ideas than we do. Life has a habit of jolting us into reality, and a lot of things don’t work out as we expect them to. We need to learn we can be wrong sometimes.

Some people love to talk, mainly about themselves, and can be quite dismissive about the point of view of others.

They are not all that interested in what you’ve got to say—they have already worked out their response before you can say too much.

You know people like that?

Does my opinion matter? Probably not.

The New American Webster Dictionary has a really great definition for selfish people: 

“they are much too busy absorbing their whole selves into themselves.”

It’s like everything revolves around them, and no-one else. It’s all about me, myself and I. The self-centered person loves no-one else except themselves.

James and John, Sons of Thunder, tried to bargain with their Rabbi for quite the most prominent places in the Kingdom Jesus is leaving behind, for themselves.

James and John, sons of Thunder, were in pursuit of all the wrong things – and even after they heard the words of their Rabbi, could not begin to understand the staggering implication of His words: “Give my Life as a Ransom for Many!”

Mark 10:35-45Amplified Bible

35 James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You.” 36 And He replied to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?” 37 They said to Him, “Grant that we may sit [with You], one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory [Your majesty and splendor in Your kingdom].” 38 But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism [of suffering and death] with which I am baptized?” 39 And they replied to Him, “We are able.” Jesus told them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. 40 But to sit on My right or left, this is not Mine to give; but it is for those for whom it has been prepared [by My Father].”

41 Hearing this, the [other] ten became indignant with James and John. 42  Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their powerful men exercise authority over them [tyrannizing them]. 43 But this is not how it is among you; instead, whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wishes to be first and most important among you must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a [a]ransom for many.”

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

We are going to take a step back in time today to conceptualize, contextualize what Jesus meant when He asked Bartimaeus: “Come. What Can I Do for You?”

Jesus was asking Bartimaeus, “How will you, then, serve the Kingdom of God?”

When Bartimaeus receives his miraculous healing from Jesus – whom will he be most grateful to, whom will he follow and serve – His Savior God or himself?

45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Here is the heart of our Lord and Savior, Jesus, given in one simple statement.

The foundation and basis of servanthood is giving – and Jesus gave His life as a ransom for all who believe in Him.

No one “took” His life – He willingly gave it up. 

Jesus, with all of His power and might did not come to be served as He deserves, but by His love and grace, came down to serve us. 

He served us by giving us a way to spend eternal life with Him even though we do not deserve it, nor can we earn it on our own merit. 

He gave His life freely so that we might have eternal life. 

He served us by being the payment for our sins.

Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death, but Jesus paid the price for us. He was our “ransom.”

The word “ransom” refers to the price one paid in Jesus’ day to release a slave.

We are slaves to sin, but Jesus’ life became our ransom that set us free from the bonds of sin.

To be a servant of Jesus, as Jesus himself modeled servanthood, means we must be willing to give up all rights to our life and to do anything God wants us to do.

When we look at Jesus’ ministry, we can see how Jesus served others, just as the disciples had seen Him do: they saw Him touch those that were unclean.

Without any partiality or bias, they saw him heal the sick, deaf, blind, and mute.

Without any partiality or prejudices, they saw Him raise people back to life.

Without any single thought given as to how they were different from him, they saw their Rabbi Jesus feed thousands with just a small amount of bread and fish.

Without biases or prejudices, knowing all their hearts down to the most finite of details, even knowing who would betray him, they saw Him wash all their feet.

They saw Him beaten and nailed to a cross.

Face to Face, Eye to Eye, Soul to Soul, Heart to Heart;

they quite literally watched Him die – for them.

Over and over again Jesus – the only Son of God – for the JOY, which was before Him, placed Himself in humble service to others – even death on a CROSS!

After he was arrested in Gethsemane, Jesus told Peter after Peter had struck the Temple Servant, Malchus:

“He had ten thousand angels at His disposal if his true intention was to call them down to ultimately “Subdue, and then Lord Himself over his Captors.”

He was in the Beginning! He was the Creator of the world!

He shared in the glory of the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Yet He gave up all of Heaven to come to earth, born to a poor virgin girl in a stable with only an animal feeding trough for a bed.

He gave up his own majesty for the humility of needing his diaper changed. 

For JOY, He willingly accepted the humiliation and torture of the cross.

And we esteemed Him not?

And He went to the Cross ANYWAY?

Luke 16:15 AKJV 15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

Romans 5:8-10 AKJV 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Why would He do that for you and me?

Why should He do that for you and me?

Why did He do that for you and me?

His only reason for doing so, was to utterly and completely minister, utterly serve all of humanity throughout all the ages through His willing sacrificial death in our place so we could all one day spend eternity in Heaven with Him.

The greatest servant of all gave us the greatest gift of all because of His greatest expression of unconditional love for us. (Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34)

We often talk today about our desire to utterly and completely “serve” God.

And certainly, we should be completely obedient to do what He asks us to do.

But we also need to remember Jesus did not come to earth to be ministered to.

He came so that he could utterly and completely minister unto us.

He still wants to utterly and completely minister to us today.

We don’t have to do life on our own.

He ready to utterly and completely help us.

When we are utterly and completely exhausted or anxious or fearful,

He tells us to cast all our care on Him because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).

When we need wisdom, He tells us to ask Him for it and He will give it to us generously (James 1:5).

When life gets busy and overwhelming, Jesus says, “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10).

Whatever it is we face in life, Jesus utterly, completely, stands ready to minister to us.

If He utterly and completely loves us enough to die for us, you can bet it all He stands completely ready to help us through every single moment of our life.

How utterly humbling it is to know the Son of God longs to serve one like me.

“Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45

Jesus is speaking in broad terms as he describes what people in power can be like. They can freely coerce, intimidate, bully, threaten, and seek to control.

In contrast, Jesus says, we are called to live differently.

We must not follow the way of the world with its structures of riches, privilege, race, class castes, culture, nationalities, influence, politics, or religious elitism.

Jesus says we are to be counter cultural servants, following HIS example. He came not to be served but to serve and “to give his life as a ransom for many.”

All our relationships—parent-child, wife-husband, pastor-congregation, teacher-student—need to be refreshed from tendencies to control and manipulate. Instead, the focus should be on serving others, helping people to flourish, and empowering everyone to honor, worship, and follow Christ.

Are you a servant in the example of Christ in your circles of influence?

In what ways are you serving others as a neighbor, friend, spouse, parent, family member, teacher, or church member?

We are children of the heavenly Father and disciples of Jesus, who did not consider glory a thing to be grasped, but who humbled himself to die on a cross (Philippians 2:5-11).

Christ’s life was the exemplary witness to the truth of these words.

He was the eternal Son of God – the King of kings and Lord of lords.

All power in heaven and earth had been entrusted to Him, but He did not demand the service of others but knelt to wash His disciple’s feet.

The One before Whom all creation will one day bow in humble adoration, came to be Servant to all…

and His final act of Service to the children of men, was to become the pivotal point in the history of the universe –

when for the JOY which was before Him, He gave His life as a ransom for many.

Because of Jesus, we offer ourselves as living sacrifices so that the name and kingdom of God are made known.

His words must be our legacy. His example must be the pattern for our lives.

By His death and Resurrection, Jesus bought us out of Satan’s grasp and brought us to an everlasting freedom through the ransom price he paid.

We are now called to follow his example and live his life in our world. We are to serve and sacrifice for others. Living to serve others is the Jesus-way of life!

May we, in these radically challenging contemporary times we must navigate, be endowed with the mind of Christ – for although He was the Son of God,

He learned obedience by the things that He suffered – and humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, to pay the price for the sin of humanity – and to ransom ALL of those who trust in His name.

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

Let us Pray,

Jesus, thank you for you dying in my place so that my sins could be forgiven. Help me to live my life so that it brings honor and glory to you. May I learn from your example of servanthood to serve others that you have placed in my life so that your love shines through every act of service and every spoken word. Help me, please, Holy Spirit so to remember you stand ready to serve, to minister to me in every situation, I face in life. 

Lord God, Author of my life, I pray for wisdom and grace to know how to suffer with You in this life and to give my life in service to others and to You. Keep me from my hankering after every glitz and glamour of this world and may I, like Christ humble myself, become truly obedient to Your word, selflessly follow in Your footsteps – so that Your name may be glorified, in Jesus’ name I pray, Alleluia! Alleluia! AMEN.

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God, our Creator and Our Emotional Health. Connecting our whole selves with the Word of God. Mark 12:28-34

There is an African – American Spiritual which declares to each of us today,

There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the sin-sick soul

Sometimes I feel discouraged
And deep I feel the pain
In prayers the holy spirit
Revives my soul again

There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the sin-sick soul.

Let’s take a feeling test this morning.

Let Me Ask each of us these questions:

What are you and I feeling now?

What all did you and I feel yesterday?

What do you and I hope and pray you and I will feel tomorrow?

Who felt loving, happy, sad, hateful, angry, joyful, thankful, disappointed, depressed, jealous, ambitious, surprised, convicted, hopeful and who felt as though God’s love wanted to use them to make a difference in someone’s life?

Today we are going to take a brief biblical look at emotional health.

That is how to deal with how you feel.

Yesterday we talked about the heartbeat of love and hate.

“I Hate to Love!” and “I Love to Hate!”

Today we are going to begin looking at how to manage your emotions.

Moving into a “GOD” direction of “I Love to Love!” and “I Hate to Hate!”

I am pretty sure we all know the answer to this question …

When has anyone of us here ever had a change, good or bad, take place in their life because they did not keep your range of Love and Hate emotions in check?

We are going to look at what the Bible says about our emotional health and how to perhaps, even hopefully and prayerfully, successfully manage your emotions.

In the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, how to deal with how you and I feel.

Mark 12:28-34 Amplified Bible

28 Then one of the scribes [an expert in Mosaic Law] came up and listened to them arguing [with one another], and noticing that Jesus answered them well, asked Him, “Which commandment is first and most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The first and most important one is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul (life), and with all your mind (thought, understanding), and with all your strength.’ 31 This is the second: ‘You shall [unselfishly] [a]love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 The scribe said to Him, “Admirably answered, Teacher; You truthfully stated that He is One, and there is no other but Him; 33 and to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to [unselfishly] love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he answered thoughtfully and intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that, no one would dare to ask Him any more questions.

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

Mark 12:34 … Young’s Literal Translation

34 And Jesus, having seen him that he answered with understanding, said to him, `Thou art not far from the reign of God;’ and no one any more durst question him.

Today we will begin to explore how emotional health and trust are linked.

Truth is, thanks be to God, we are all emotional beings and how we are doing emotionally (positively and negatively) affects all of us on a regular basis.

God our Creator, the Author of our entire Life has something to say about yours and mine emotional health, and it is my fervent hope you, the readership, are and become greatly encouraged and feel the touch of just one of the tears Jesus cried for you and receive a fresh anointing from the Holy Spirit, come to know how deeply you and I are loved by the Lord as we focus in on this truth today.

Do you know that God cares deeply about your emotions?

Gospel Truth is this: Your heavenly Father longs for your life to be marked by emotional joy, fulfillment, satisfaction, and peace. He longs for your emotions to be rooted and grounded in his steadfast love and goodness.

Our Savior is an emotional Savior. He is not void of feelings.

We feel because he feels.

We have emotions because we are made in his image.

For much of my Christian life I thought my emotions had to be based on my circumstances.

I felt happy or sad based on others’ opinions, the pressures of life, and opportunities I had or didn’t have.

As a result, I was on a constant emotional roller coaster following the ups and downs of this shaky world. I found myself controlled by the things of the world rather than the foundation of love laid before me by the sacrificial love of Jesus.

Scripture continually describes a link between emotional health and trust.

Isaiah 26:3-4 says, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.” 

Psalm 56:3-4 says, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?” 

And Psalm 33:21 says, “For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.”

We are robbed of having our emotions rooted in God whenever we take on more pressure than we are meant to carry.

Our emotional health is directly linked to our level of trust.

We feel pressure at work when we look to our job and co-workers for our provision, identity, purpose, and fulfillment.

We feel pressure in our relationships when our worth isn’t based on God’s perspective but the opinions of others.

We are robbed of peace when we try and plan our own steps rather than following our Good Shepherd into the green pastures and still waters.

In John 14:27 Jesus says, 

“Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” 

God’s heart is to fill you with peace.

He longs for you to have all the fruit of the Spirit dwelling within you.

He has consistent, constant peace available to you.

But you must trust him in every area of your life.

You must hand over the reins of your relationships, job, identity, and plans to your Good Shepherd.

You must love and trust that he will guide you perfectly into an abundant life.

Mark 12:29-30 Jesus says this

“The most important commandment is this, You must love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength.”

Do you understand the emotion involved in this passage?

If this verse had said, you must love your favorite football team, or favorite singer, or favorite actor with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength,

what imagery comes to your mind?

How are you going to act at the game, at the concert, or at the movie?

Would people think you were a little radical, a little nuts?

God is saying, I want to have an emotional relationship with you, where you throw everything, you have into it.

God even complains when we don’t do it.

He says, these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

Have you ever seen somebody do something, and though they did it right, you could tell their heart just wasn’t in it.

God wants us to be emotionally involved in our relationship to him.

Look to your heavenly Father for peace.

Find rest in his abundant love.

Find your self-worth in the fact that God so desired relationship with you that he laid down his own life to have it.

UNDERSTAND MY EMOTIONS

Let me give you some truths about your emotions before we get into this.

1. First, Our Savior has emotions.

Jesus was God in the flesh.

Can you imagine the whole range of emotions he went through riding on the back of the foal as he entered the city gates of Jerusalem?

“Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna!” “Save us we Pray! Save us we Pray!” the crowd of people joyously shouted at the top of their lungs as Jesus recalled his destiny

He was happy to see the people turn out in large numbers.

He was thankful for the praises of the people.

He was disappointed that the Pharisees could not see what was taking place.

He was angry that religious leaders wanted him to silence the crowd.

He was so angry when He entered the Temple grounds, he turned over tables and yelled above the raucous din and activity of the “marketplace” inside.

He was sad that the people didn’t understand their true need.

He cried because he knew the destruction the Roman army would inflict on some of the people there.

He felt rejection because he knew the cross was still less than a week away.

Our Savior Jesus has emotions.

The only reason you have emotions is because you’re made in God’s image.

If our Savior was not an emotional Savior, we wouldn’t have any emotions.

We would not read: “Jesus Wept!”

2. My ability to feel is a gift from God.

Your emotions are a gift from God.

They may not always seem that way.

But even the negative ones have a role in your life.

God can use them to show you your need for him.

Emotions are a great asset.

They’re the one thing that make you and me human.

If you and I didn’t have emotions, you and I would just be a robot.

How many of you would want to be married to a robot?

It is our emotional ability that allows us to love and create and to be faithful and loyal and kind and generous and all the range of the emotions that are attached to both the good and bad and catastrophic things in life.

One of the most astounding verses in the Bible is 

Genesis 1:26 “Let us make man in our image.”

In OUR Image.

As I said the only reason you have emotions is because God gave them to you.

And you were made in his image.

3. There are two extremes to avoid.

There are two extremes you need to avoid in dealing with emotions.

One is called emotionalism and the other is called stoicism

Emotionalism means all that matters is how I feel.

Emotionalism is the extreme of saying the only thing that matters in life is how I feel.

It does not matter what I think, it doesn’t matter what’s right or wrong, it doesn’t matter what’s popular or unpopular, good or bad.

What matters is doing and responding to what you feel.

If it feels good, do it.

If I am full of Emotionalism, my emotions, they control my life, they dominate my life, they run my life and I am a very emotionally centered person.

Stoicism – feelings aren’t important at all. Stoicism is the exact opposite. It basically says feelings aren’t important at all. The only thing that matters is the measure of your intellect and your will – your volition and your intelligence.

So, the stoics say emotions are not part of life; feelings do not really matter.

We lean one way or the other and have a tendency to marry someone on the other end. One of us wants to tell the whole story with all the drama, and the other one just wants to hear the basic facts.

Like Joe Friday, from Dragnet, we say “the facts mam, just the facts.”

Actually, both of these are extreme positions.

And the happy medium is where you really want to be.

It’s not emotionalism or stoicism.

You want to know how to worship God with your emotions as shown by the facts of the truth of the Word of God.

God gave us our emotions for a reason.

God wants us to worship him emotionally.

God wants us to feel it.

In fact, God complains in the Scripture many times you’re just worshiping with your lips but not with your emotions, not with your heart.

You don’t really feel it.

By the way the word “emotion” isn’t used that often in the Bible because the Bible uses the word “passions” or “affections” or the number one term for emotions is “heart.”

We still use that today.

When you fall in love, what part of your body do you symbolically give to the person to show it.

You say, “I give you, my whole heart.”

Heart is the symbol of love and emotions.

Even today we say, “I love you with all my heart.”

In the bible, the word of God, the mind represents the intellect and the heart represents emotions. Both of them are involved in the worship of our God.

We come to church to learn about God and to feel the presence of God. That’s why our praise and our worship is as important as hearing the preached word.

We now know that those are actually two different circuit systems in your brain.

Your emotions have an amazing system as well as your thoughts do.

Some things you just react emotionally without even thinking about it.

4. GOD GAVE US THE PSALMS IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND OUR EMOTIONS.

If you have a hard time with some emotions in your life you need to spend a lot of time in the book of Psalms.

Psalms has every emotion known to man in it – the good ones and the bad ones.

The positive and the negative.

You read some of those psalms and you think,

“Why is this chapter in the Bible?”

It’s there to teach you about even those negative emotions.

Because not all psalms are about praise and thanksgiving.

There are psalms of anger and there are psalms of complaining and psalms of lament and sorrow.

There are psalms of arguing with God.

Every emotion known to man is in the Psalms and God is saying all of these are legitimate.

I give these Words to you.

Psalm 127:1 Amplified Bible

Prosperity Comes from the Lord.

A Song of [a]Ascents. Of Solomon.

127 Unless the Lord builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the Lord guards the city,
The watchman keeps awake in vain.

Psalm 100 Amplified Bible

All Men Exhorted to Praise God.

A Psalm of Thanksgiving.

100 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.
2 
Serve the Lord with gladness and delight;
Come before His presence with joyful singing.
3 
Know and fully recognize with gratitude that the Lord Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, [a]not we ourselves [and we are His].
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

4 
Enter His gates with a song of thanksgiving
And His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, bless and praise His name.
5 
For the Lord is good;
His mercy and lovingkindness are everlasting,
His faithfulness [endures] to all generations.

Psalm 70 Amplified Bible

Prayer for Help against Persecutors.

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.

70 O God, come quickly to save me;
O Lord, come quickly to help me!
2 
Let those be ashamed and humiliated
Who seek my life;
Let them be turned back and humiliated
Who delight in my hurt.
3 
Let them be turned back because of their shame and disgrace
Who say, “Aha, aha!”

4 
May all those who seek You [as life’s first priority] rejoice and be glad in You;
May those who love Your salvation say continually,
“Let God be magnified!”
5 
But I am afflicted and needy;
Come quickly to me, O God!
You are my help and my rescuer;
O Lord, do not delay.

In Psalm 70 we read today, in just those first five verses, we found desperation, frustration, anger, encouragement, confidence, humility and hope AND GOD!

So, we’re going to take some quality time at how to deal with how WE feel.

It is important for us to learn how to deal with managing our emotions and how to deal with an unwanted devotion.

Your Father counts you worthy of the death of his only Son.

Trust him today.

Place your entire life in his capable hands.

And experience God’s abundant life in the area of your emotions, rooting and grounding yourself in his unconditional, available love.

May your life be marked by increasing emotional health as you grow in trust.

Tomorrow, we’re going to try and examine why we must take quality time with God in our shared efforts to learn how to in Jesus’ name, manage our emotions.

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

Prayer

1. Meditate on the link between trust and emotional health. Allow Scripture to stir up your desire and willingness to trust God with every area of your life.

“For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.” Psalm 33:21

“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?” Psalm 56:3-4

2. Where are you not experiencing abundant life in your emotions? Where are you feeling void of peace, joy, passion, and purpose?

3. Ask God to help you discern what part of your life you are not trusting to him. Hand over that area to him and find peace and rest in his trustworthiness.

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.” Isaiah 26:3-4

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

“Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” John 14:27

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What Does the Bible Teach us About Sexual Orientation? What is our God’s Answer for the Complex Question of our Sexual Orientation? Genesis 1:26-28

When a baby is born, the first thing usually said is, “It’s a boy!” or “It’s a girl!”

The sex of a child is based on biology-anatomy and chromosomes. But, for some individuals, their sense of gender does not always match their sex.

That mismatch was brought to our attention in 2015 when Olympic superstar Bruce Jenner announced that he no longer wanted to be Bruce. Several months later he was introduced on the front cover of Vanity Fair as Caitlyn Jenner.

That same year, same sex marriage was legalized in all fifty states on June 26, 2015, by an act of the United States Supreme Court.

Who would have thought that momentous decision was possible but just a few short years earlier?

But the speed at which our culture’s view on gender and sexuality has changed with lightning speed.

I remember reading that the Facebook in the U.S. used to list over 50 gender alternatives, if the word ‘alternatives’ are the right terminology whereas in the United Kingdom. a person has over 70 gender alternatives!

However, I believe that now one is able to custom list one’s gender preference throughout social media. So, I do not know how many options there are today?

When I was praying and considering what topic my devotional time to today, I felt directed to this one on Sexual Orientation and what God has to say about it.

I believe this extraordinarily complex topic was important for us to examine in light of the current socio-cultural conditions.

Not only is there real divisive pressure in the contemporary culture to accept modern conceptions of sex and gender, but children are also being taught that at school too. “Drag Queens” are reading books to children in Public Libraries.

Where young children are involved, parents become, rightly so, very protective.

While I could write a multitude of sessions on this topic, I am going to cover it in only one session.

Therefore, this devotional will be necessarily cursory.

However, I believe, at least I pray I believe, it will be sufficient (by the grace of God) to give a biblical answer to the issue of sexual (and gender) orientation.

I have become aware of the book; The Gospel & Sexual Orientation by Michael Lefebvre (2012) and I am going to my Kindle to read it to better educate myself.

I have also become aware of the book; Gender as Calling: The Gospel & Gender Identity (2017) and I am going to my Kindle to read it to better educate myself.

I encourage my readers to read them to better educate and inform themselves.

I should also mention that I have no University Degrees, expertise in medicine, biological sciences, or any branch of social work or psychology or counseling.

My perspective on this is this – 40 years ago, the circumstances of my life required me to “fight this battle of intimacy and orientation” with my soul.

I fought it very privately for the first twenty years with no thought of God other than extreme anger and even stronger feelings of the absolute worst betrayal.

Then, circumstances changed drastically, and I accepted Christ as my Savior.

I spent the next eight years privately trying to sort things out with God and then in 2008 I met the woman who in 2010 became my wife of twelve + years now.

There are reasons and rationales galore why I remained a bachelor for 48 years.

God alone knows them all.

God alone collected and recorded in His Book, every single one of my tears.

Psalm 56: 8 Amplified.

You have taken account of my wanderings;
Put my tears in Your bottle.
Are they not recorded in Your book?

It’s only but by the Grace of God, My Savior

– I fought the wars, I ‘bled,’ carried the scars, cried the tears and then

ULTIMATELY GOD WON!

I leave the details, for obvious reasons, strictly between my God and Me and those I have learned by time and tragedy and betrayal to implicitly trust.

I also will point out that I have no Seminary training nor Ordination license.

My training is “limited” to what I try to read and grasp in God’s Scriptures.

And so, I believe my approach to this topic is more theological and pastoral.

My concern in this devotional is what the Bible teaches about this topic, and also how we as Christians and as the Body of Christ – the church should help, counsel, those wrestling with issues related to sexual and gender orientation.

As the Body of Christ, God’s Church in the world, it is a very righteous effort to rigorously and vigorously examine the Word of God as it relates to such issues.

“One God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – One Faith – One Baptism.” Amen!

God is absolutely Sovereign over His own Creation.

God is the Author of all life – Psalm 139:13-18 Amplified.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace

Genesis 1:26-28Amplified Bible

26 Then God said, “Let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in Our image, according to Our likeness [not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness]; and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, and over the entire earth, and over everything that creeps and crawls on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 And God blessed them [granting them certain authority] and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subjugate it [putting it under your power]; and rule over (dominate) the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living thing that moves upon the earth.”

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

Let me briefly define a few terms so that we are thinking about the same thing:

* Sex-refers to the biological classification of a person as male or female based on physical features.

* Gender-refers to the social and psychological classification of a person as male or female based on personal perception.

There are a few instances in which a person’s physical anatomy is different from his or her chromosome make-up. That is very rare, and very difficult emotionally, very difficult pastorally, and beyond the scope of this writing.

Historically, a person’s physical sex and social gender were regarded as unified.

So, a physical male was also a social male, and physical female was also social female.

Today, however, this historical view has been challenged.

A person’s sex and gender are no longer regarded as necessarily matching.

Today, a physical male may be gendered as a female, or vice versa.

That is where the term transgender comes in: a transgender is a person whose sex and gender do not match.

Lesson

What is God’s answer for the issue of sexual orientation?

Let’s use the following outline:

1. Current Concerns about the Issue of Sexual Orientation

2. Culture’s Answers to the Issue of Sexual Orientation

3. God’s Answer to the Issue of Sexual Orientation

I. Current Concerns about the Issue of Sexual Orientation

First, let’s look at current concerns about the issue of sexual orientation. Why do we even need to examine this issue?

Sexual orientation and gender identity are at the forefront of today’s culture. A tremendous amount has been written about it. Laws have been changed. The media accepts that sex and gender do not need to match for people. And as I said, even social media, like Facebook, allows people to self-identify.

People who wrestle with sexual orientation and gender identity issues often struggle very deeply, and very privately although admittedly not all do.

A Transgender Remembrance Day poster stated,

“34% of trans people attempt suicide. 64% are bullied. 73% of trans people are harassed in public. 21% of trans people avoid going out in public due to fear.”

If these numbers are accurate, even if they are not close, that is sad testimony.

Our culture has been pressing very hard, especially in recent years, to accept whatever sexual orientation or gender identity a person chooses.

However, as we consider issues of sexual orientation and gender identity, we must be sure that any answers are in complete agreement with God’s Word.

We must not capitulate to “political correctness,” social media posts, medicine, science, or psychology unless its propositions are consistent with God’s Word.

Second, notice culture’s answers to the issue of sexual orientation.

One current view promoted is sexual orientation is determined by our biological make-up. They say sexual orientation is akin to eye color or left-handedness.

And with regard to gender, transgender activist and entertainer, Chaz Bono, said,

“There’s a gender in your brain and a gender in your body. For 99% of people, those things are in alignment. For transgender people, they’re mismatched. That’s all it is. It’s not complicated, it’s not a neurosis. It’s a mix-up. It’s a birth defect, like a cleft palate.”

The Question is being asked, researched and only relatively briefly studied:

Is Homosexuality in our Genetic make- up? I have no Idea whatsoever.

Is there a “Homosexual Gene?” Again, I have no Idea whatsoever.

It is far beyond my expertise ergo I can give no answers, nor I can offer one.

I suppose it is possible that future science will more thoroughly demonstrate that the biological factors associated with such conditions are truly causative.

I suppose that even the opposite may eventually be scientifically demonstrated.

Eventually it may even be discovered that there is indeed a “gay gene,” so that even homosexuality can be said to be congenital.

Again, this is beyond my expertise, and I leave it to the scientific community to do all of the necessary research and studies and the certainly inevitable debates.

The answers to these questions are extremely important; however, I believe they do not in and of themselves call for any reform of the church’s historic doctrine of man, of human sexuality, the undeniable impact of original sin.

Another current view promoted is that sexual orientation is determined by psychological and environmental factors.

Alfred Kinsey eventually stated,

“I have come to the conclusion that homosexuality is largely a matter of conditioning.”

Perhaps this is why sex authorities Masters and Johnson emphasized,

“It is of vital importance that all professionals in the mental health field keep in mind that the homosexual man or woman is basically a man or woman by genetic determination and homosexually oriented by learned preference.”

There are people who have “same-sex attraction” (SSA).

And there are also people who have what is known as “gender dysphoria,”

which is defined as an experience of clinically significant distress due to a “marked incongruence between one’s experienced/expressed gender and assigned gender, of at least six months duration.”

Our culture’s answers to the issue of sexual orientation and gender identity are inadequate. The vast majority of people dealing with these issues still struggle.

So, then, the question: what is God’s answer to the Body of Christ – HIS Church?

Matthew 28:18-20 Amplified Bible

18 Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority (all power of absolute rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [help the people to learn of Me, believe in Me, and obey My words], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually—regardless of circumstance, and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.”

Matthew 10:16Amplified Bible

A Hard Road before Them

16 “Listen carefully: I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; so be wise as serpents, and innocent as doves [have no self-serving agenda].

So, what is God’s answer?

III. God’s Answer to the Issue of Sexual Orientation

Third, let’s examine God’s answer to the issue of sexual orientation.

Biblically, a person’s social gender is identified with his or her anatomical sex.

People are created by God with a male or female anatomical sex, and that sexual identity marks the person’s gender identity.

(There are, however, a very small number of people born with ambiguous anatomy, but that is echelons beyond the scope of this devotional message.)

The Bible’s foundational statement on sexual orientation and gender identity is Genesis 1:26-28:

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'”

Note this passage of text introduces God’s design for humanity as “male” and “female.”

These two categories are not merely descriptive of all humans; they are prescriptive.

These are not the two outer ranges, with a gradation between them.

No, there are only two categories: male and female.

This passage of text also conflates sex and gender.

The biological classification is exactly the same as the social classification.

The reproductive and social duties of the man is presented within the same gender, as it is for the woman.

Lefebvre notes,

“Nowhere in Scripture are men or women exhorted to question their gender identity based on tastes or mannerisms-let alone their sexual orientation.”

Modern proponents for the sexual revolution say the Bible does not condemn homosexuality when it is properly understood.

They say that homosexual promiscuity in the Bible related to cultic prostitution or to rape or to pederasty.

They argue that the Bible approves of homosexual relationships, if they are true committed, life-long, monogamous relationships.

The theological problem is Scripture simply does not teach what they assert.

There are a number of passages in Scripture dealing with the complex issue of homosexuality.

These are: 

Genesis 19:1-29 (the account of Sodom and Gomorrah), 

Judges 19:1-30 (the Levite’s concubine), 

Leviticus 18:22; 20:13 (the Mosaic prohibitions), 

Romans 1:26-27 (Paul on unnatural desire), 

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (Paul’s list of defilements), 

1 Timothy 1:8-11 (Paul’s application of the Ten Commandments), 

Jude 5-7 (Sodom and Gomorrah remembered).

We don’t have time to examine each of these texts, but I do definitely invite readers to do their own process of discernment and independent studies.

God’s answer, however, must also, by necessity, be given pastorally.

First, the Bible clearly teaches that there are only two sexes: male and female.

There are two genders, and these genders correspond to our biological sex.

Second, if you are experiencing sexual orientation or gender identity issues, please find qualified professional help, talk with someone whom you trust.

Third, grace is available to all.

All of us deal with sin and suffering in our lives.

Paul struggled with an unnamed affliction that God never removed from him (2 Corinthians 12:8-10). But God did promise that his grace was sufficient for him.

Fourth, the gospel provides the only hope for us to fulfill the Great Commission.

Luke 18:9-14 Amplified Bible

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

9 He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves and were confident that they were righteous [posing outwardly as upright and in right standing with God], and who viewed others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple [enclosure] to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood [ostentatiously] and began praying to himself [in a self-righteous way, saying]: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like the rest of men—swindlers, unjust (dishonest), adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing at a distance, would not even raise his eyes toward heaven, but was striking his chest [in humility and repentance], saying, ‘God, be merciful and gracious to me, the [especially wicked] sinner [that I am]!’ 14 I tell you, this man went to his home justified [forgiven of the guilt of sin and placed in right standing with God] rather than the other man; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself [forsaking self-righteous pride] will be exalted.”

God promises the total redemption of our whole man in Christ Jesus, our Savior.

In this life, we must continually make humble use of the means of grace, gifted to us by God, to Scripturally deal with our sin, grow, mature in Christlikeness.

John 8:1-11 Amplified Bible

The Adulterous Woman

8 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning He came back into the temple [court], and all the people were coming to Him. He sat down and began teaching them. 3 Now the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery. They made her stand in the center of the court, 4 and they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the very act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women [to death]. So, what do You say [to do with her—what is Your sentence]?” 6 They said this to test Him, hoping that they would have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and began writing on the ground with His finger. 7 However, when they persisted in questioning Him, He straightened up and said, “He who is without [any] sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Then He stooped down again and started writing on the ground. 9 They listened [to His reply], and they began to go out one by one, starting with the oldest ones, until He was left alone, with the woman [standing there before Him] in the center of the court. 10 Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” 11 She answered, “No one, Lord!” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go. From now on sin no more.”]

2 Corinthians 5:17-21Amplified Bible

17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life]. 18 But all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ [making us acceptable to Him] and gave us the ministry of reconciliation [so that by our example we might bring others to Him], 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting people’s sins against them [but canceling them]. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation [that is, restoration to favor with God].

20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us; we [as Christ’s representatives] plead with you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. 21 He made Christ who knew no sin to [judicially] be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we would become the righteousness of God [that is, we would be made acceptable to Him and placed in a right relationship with Him by His gracious lovingkindness].

Finally, let us be a fellowship of God’s people who love all people, regardless of the issue with which they are struggling.

It grieves my heart greatly when I hear people make off-color comments about those struggling with sexual orientation gender identity issues.

May we celebrate and love others as God first celebrated and loved Us. Amen.

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

Let us Pray,

Heavenly Father, thank you that nothing is impossible for you. Hear my prayer for a miracle. Fill me with faith that you can answer. What seems impossible to me is within your power. When I can’t think of a solution, you are still able to act. Please help me believe that nothing I face in life can compare to you. You are the God of the impossible. Neither death or life, angels or rulers, things present or future, height or depth, or anything else in all creation, will be able to separate me from your love. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Alleluia! Amen.

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Happy, Blessed, Highly Favored are those whose Strength is in the Lord: The Secret of Usefulness. Psalm 84

At the end of the celebration of Passover, in Jewish homes scattered throughout the world, the parting toast is, ‘Next year in Jerusalem!’

The sentiment echoes a common consciousness, a deep restlessness if you will, which is forever drawing God’s people back from “the near uselessness of their place of exile” towards “the usefulness of their roots in the land of their forefathers.“

The Psalmist was one of those who had been familiar with the days of worship in the tabernacle in the holy land.

Immediately prior to the building of the Temple by Solomon, the tabernacle had been situated in the City of David, just below the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

It has been suggested that Psalm 84 was written by King David when he left Jerusalem during the rebellion led by his son Absalom.

David belonged seated on the Throne of Israel. That is where God placed him. This is [place where King David was the most useful to God and His Kingdom.

But David’s fatherly judgement became severely impaired. Absalom took great advantage of that and by force of Arms, compelled David to leave his throne.

A King not seated on his throne – in “exile,” in “hiding’ was of no use to God.

David could not wield his Kingly power – becoming essentially useless to his people, to his nation and too his God – there needed to be a significant change.

The progression:

Useful to Self – Useless to God – then in Christ, 100% usefulness to God.

Psalm 84Complete Jewish Bible

84 (0) For the leader. On the gittit. A psalm of the sons of Korach:

2 (1) How deeply loved are your dwelling-places,
Adonai-Tzva’ot!
3 (2) My soul yearns, yes, faints with longing
for the courtyards of Adonai;
my heart and body cry for joy
to the living God.

4 (3) As the sparrow finds herself a home
and the swallow her nest, where she lays her young,
[so my resting-place is] by your altars,
Adonai-Tzva’ot, my king and my God.

5 (4) How happy are those who live in your house;
they never cease to praise you! (Selah)
6 (5) How happy the man whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are [pilgrim] highways.

7 (6) Passing through the [dry] Baka Valley,
they make it a place of springs,
and the early rain clothes it with blessings.
8 (7) They go from strength to strength
and appear before God in Tziyon.

9 (8) Adonai, God of armies, hear my prayer;
listen, God of Ya‘akov. (Selah)
10 (9) God, see our shield [the king];
look at the face of your anointed.
11 (10) Better a day in your courtyards
than a thousand [days elsewhere].
Better just standing at the door of my God’s house
than living in the tents of the wicked.

12 (11) For Adonai, God, is a sun and a shield;
Adonai bestows favor and honor;
he will not withhold anything good
from those whose lives are pure.

13 (12) Adonai-Tzva’ot,
how happy is anyone who trusts in you!

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

“How lovely is your tabernacle, O LORD of hosts,” he intoned (Psalm 84:1).

Not that God dwells in tents or buildings or any other human habitations: but nevertheless, our soul is only ever satisfied (as Augustine of Hippo is often quoted as saying) when it finds its rest in the LORD (Psalm 84:2).

In fact, our ultimate rest is only found in Jesus, the Word who became flesh and dwelt (tabernacled!) among us (John 1:14).

The Psalmist compares his soul to the sparrow, and to the swallow, little birds that are forever flitting around seeking a home (Psalm 84:3).

Not that either of these could ever safely nest on the altar of sacrifice (!) – but his soul has found its rest in the altars (plural) of the LORD of hosts.

Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins (Hebrews 9:22), and his rest and ours is found first in the altar of burnt offering, where the sacrifice is presented (representing to us the Cross of Calvary) and next in the altar of incense, where the risen Lord Jesus lifts our prayers, mingled with His, up to the LORD.

The Psalmist calls the LORD of hosts, “my King and my God” (Psalm 84:3).

The Christian faith is deeply personal, a relationship rather than a religion.

Blessed are those who abide in Christ, and He in them (John 15:4; John 15:7):

THEY “shall ever be praising Him” (Psalm 84:4), and THEY ‘shall have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming’ (1 John 2:28). “Selah.”

Think on this.

Pray over and upon this,

“Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, in whose heart are the ways” (Psalm 84:5).

So reads the Hebrew, without adding any extra words into the translation.

The word for “ways” here speaks of a prepared way, as for when a ruling monarch is approaching on their royal tour (cf. Isaiah 40:3-4; Matthew 3:1-3).

So, ponder these questions for just a few moments, what kind of person is able to genuinely say, ‘my strength is in the LORD’ (cf. Psalm 84:5) or ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’ (Philippians 4:13)?

It is a person whose heart has been prepared by the Holy Spirit, that they may ‘repent’ (meaning ‘change their mind about God’)!

The light of God has shined into their hearts (2 Corinthians 4:6), and they are made new people in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Not only are we made new people, but now we are enabled to “walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11) upon the path of righteousness.

We have a new purpose, a new direction, a new usefulness in our lives. ‘This is the way, walk ye in it,’ says the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 30:21).

When we are walking in God’s way, it is the LORD who leads us (Genesis 24:27).

When we face trials in “the valley of tears” (Psalm 84:6), we can each be 100% assured that the LORD knows our way, and will not only bring us through, but will bring us out better (Psalm 23:4; Job 23:10).

In all these things we are made ‘more than conquerors through Him that loved us’ (Romans 8:37-39).

The pilgrimage of this life may well be for us a vale of tears, but nevertheless we go on from our strength to His strength, our uselessness to His usefulness and will at last appear before God (Psalm 84:7; cf. 2 Corinthians 4:17; Romans 8:18).

‘In this world you shall have tribulation,’ said Jesus, ‘but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world’ (John 16:33).

In our sin, we are essentially useless to God.

Lives lived in a “never-ending” state of being called: complete uselessness

The promise of Hope: “But be of Good Cheer; I have overcome the World”

Translation: Jesus overcame our sin and has made us 100% useful to God!

God lives – We live and our sin dies – crucified with Christ! (Galatians 2:20)

In our sin we were Useful only to ourselves, Useless to God

By profession of faith in Christ Jesus (Romans 10:9-13) – Usefulness to God.

Here the secret of usefulness is set forth by God before us in Psalm 84:5-6 CJB

5 (4) How happy are those who live in your house;
they never cease to praise you! (Selah)
6 (5) How happy the man whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are [pilgrim] highways.

Many of us have either been “useful” or “useless” Christians for a long time.

When you get in difficulties or troubles or pressures, where is your strength?

Have you found that your strength is not within yourself but in God alone, that He is the ONLY One who genuinely makes a difference?

One Saturday night I came home after a rather long day away from my church responsibilities, and I was very tired and looking forward to some useful rest.

My wife told me some of the things that had been happening, some of the pressures that had come that day from the church and from the family.

They were the kind of things I would normally want to lay before the Lord and pray about.

Except, on this particular Saturday, I didn’t feel like praying. I was tired, and I only wanted to go straight to bed. I just thought to myself, What’s the use of praying now, anyway? I’m so tired that my prayers wouldn’t have any power.

Then it struck me: What a thing to say! What difference does it make how I feel?

My reliance isn’t upon my prayers but upon God’s power.

It always bothers me to hear Christians talk about the power of prayer. 

There isn’t any power in our prayer or our praying.

There is only power in the God who answers prayer.

I was swiftly rebuked in my own spirit by the remembrance that it makes no difference how tired or exhausted I happen to be.

So, consequently in that exact moment I prayed–very briefly, because the power of prayer doesn’t lie in the length of it, either.

Charles Spurgeon used to speak of those who had the idea that the power of the ministry lay in the lungs of the preacher.

But it doesn’t lie there, either.

Power lies in the power of God who is behind prayer. 

“Blessed are those whose strength is in you.” meaning our strength is in God alone and not ourselves as we look at ourselves looking back at us in a mirror.

Some time ago I was trying to sell my car.

Intending to put an ad in the paper, I read through several car ads to learn how to phrase it.

I noticed a phrase that appeared again and again throughout the ads.

It said, “Power all around.” 

At first, I didn’t know what it meant. Then I realized it meant power steering, power brakes, automatic transmission, power windows, power doors, power seats, power mirrors and, in the case of a convertible, a power top.

Literally Power all around!

All this power is designed to take the terrible strain out of driving so that all you need to do is sit there and push a few little buttons and things will happen.

What a tremendous description of the “useful” Christian life!

Power all around!

The Power of God!

The Power of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ raising us unto Eternal Life!

The Power of the Holy Spirit – Pentecost!

Not one ounce of any of Father, Son and Holy Spirit power is ever useless!

We just have to a useful way to plug our “useless” selves into it and stay there!

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

Let us Pray,

God of power and might—we give thanks for a song in our hearts.
Our souls long for You;
Our heart and our flesh sing for joy to the living God.
Happy are those who
live in your house, ever singing your praise.

Hear our prayer; give ear, O God!

Behold our shield, O God of our Salvation;
Guide us in times of trouble, through night of sorrow,
and days when deceit lives in our heart more than love,
and hate for the stranger, more than love.
Speak gently to your anointed ones, that we may hear.

Hear our prayer; give ear, O God!

Help us see the stranger, who comes because Your song
is in his heart and on her tongue, ringing through—
help us to hear, to see, to embrace You—
in him, in her, in you, even, in me—
with outstretched arms and mighty hands.

Hear our prayer; give ear, O God!

God of my Strength—we give thanks for a song in our hearts!  Amen.

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I am Encouraged and Motivated and Mightily Inspired to Believe in God. The Law’s Lesson: Come, Fully Desire God in the beauty of his Holiness. Psalm 19:7-11

It was Francis Bacon who wrote:

God has, in fact, written two books, not just one. Of course, we are all familiar with the first book he wrote, namely Scripture. But he has written a second book called creation.

This incredibly insightful sentiment arises directly from Psalm 19. 

In our latest devotions, we looked at the incessant, universally reaching message in God’s book of creation in Psalm 19:1-6.

Theologians call this the witness of creation general revelation, because God has revealed something about himself in what he has made.

In particular, creation endlessly focuses on recounting the glory of our Creator God and the wonder of his handiwork (Psalm 19:1).

But natural revelation is not the only way in which God has revealed to us something about himself.

When God speaks to us directly in his Word, theologians call that special revelation, which gives us an altogether different quality of revelation.

Differently from general revelation where we can only infer certain aspects of God’s attributes, in special revelation God speaks directly to us—through His covenant name to us.

We should not miss the transition from Psalm 19:1-6, David speaks of what creation teaches us about “God,” to Psalm 19:7-11, as David now speaks of his understanding of the LORD, Yahweh, which is God’s covenantal name.

As we go forward, pay very close attention to the intimate, personal reflections David offers about the Law as he turns his attention from the Book of Nature to the Book of Scripture in Psalm 19:7-11:

Psalm 19:7-11 New King James Version

7 The law of the Lord is perfect, [a]converting the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the [b]honeycomb.
11 Moreover by them Your servant is warned,
And in keeping them there is great reward.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia1 Amen.

This is a fascinating meditation on the Scripture that in many ways anticipates the more extended reflection on the Law in Psalm 119.

But for now, there are three aspects of this passage that I want to highlight.

The Law Gives Us the Wisdom that Adam and Eve Sought from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

One of the very first things that David says about the Law is that it is “sure, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7).

In the book of Proverbs, the “simple” are those to whom Lady Wisdom calls out, pleading with them to turn in to her so that she can make them wise (Proverbs 8:5; 9:4); however, the “simple” are also those whom Dame Folly targets and seduces to their destruction (Proverbs 7:7; 9:16).

However, the wisdom that David has in mind here is more precisely the wisdom which both Adam and Eve sought out in the Garden of Eden from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

God had told them not to eat of that Tree, promising them that they could eat of the Tree of Life if they obeyed him.

The decisive reason that they had disobeyed God, however, was Eve judged the tree to be “to be desired to make one wise” (Genesis. 3:6).

Instead of trusting God, Adam and Eve chose to seek out wisdom according to their own understanding—listening to the snake rather than God.

Because of their sin, they died to their sin, along with the rest of humanity after them.

Look at a couple of other ways in which David alludes back to the first chapters of Genesis here in Psalm 19:7-11 …

  • In verse 8, David says “the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.” In Genesis 3:5, the serpent had promised Eve that when she ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, “your eyes will be opened,” and one of the factors for disobeying Yahweh was Eve had judged the Tree to be “a delight to the eyes” (Genesis 3:6).
  • In verse 10, David describes the rules of the LORD as “More to be desired are they than gold…” As mentioned earlier, Eve judged the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil “to be desired to make one wise” (Genesis 3:6). Eve desired the wrong source of wisdom.

The Law Outlines for Pure and Righteous Living

But David also describes a different angle on the Law—that the Law gives us a blueprint for what pure, righteous, and holy living should look like.

In these verses, David says that the Law is “perfect,” “sure,” “right,” “pure,” “clean,” “true,” and “righteous altogether.”

If you want to know what God loves and what God hates, look to the Law. God poured out the burdens of his heart into the Law, establishing guidelines for seeking justice and for living righteously in his sight.

The Law is More Desirable than Anything on Earth

It’s important to understand, then, David loves the Law because he loves God.

David understands that pleasing God through obeying the Law is far better—and “more to be desired”— than gold, or “even much fine gold” (Psalm 19:10).

The Law is not only better than absolute finest gold, but it’s “sweeter also than the sweetest honey and drippings of the honeycomb.” And finally, David envisions, recognizes there is “great reward” by keeping the Law—implicitly, that the Law offers a far better reward than any other reward he might seek.

The Lesson of the Law: Desire God in His Holiness

Honestly, this kind of “love” language makes Christians a little uncomfortable.

We get squeamish when we read people in the Bible praising the Law because we worry about becoming legalists. If we praise the Law, are we suggesting that we can be saved apart from the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus Christ?

If we do, then we have completely missed the beauty of the Law.

The New Testament teaches very clearly that the Law does not have any power to save us, but we also learn in the New Testament that the Law is good.

Jesus insisted that he did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill every iota and dot of it (Matthew 5:17-20).

The Apostle John insisted that only those who keep God’s commandments abide in God, and God abides in them (1 John 3:24).

Even Paul, who so fiercely contended for the doctrine of justification by faith alone, insisted that “the law is good, if one uses it lawfully” (1 Timothy 1:8).

What the Law teaches us, then—and what David tells us at every turn in Psalm 19—is that God is holy, and that his holiness is the most desirable thing that we could ever hope to possess for ourselves.

The Law is perfect, reviving, sure, wise, right, joyful, pure, enlightening, clean, everlasting, true, righteous, valuable, sweet, and rewarding.

Who wouldn’t want to know the ‘Way, Truth, Life’ God whom the Law reveals?

So how does the Law fit into the life of the Christian?

How are we to understand the Law and relate to it as people who find our justification only in Christ by grace and through faith? We’ll talk about that more tomorrow as we finish out Psalm 19 with verses 12-14.

But, until then, get yourself a jar of the sweetest honey you can find, grab a spoon and get ready to dip that spoon deep down into that jar of honey.

Then pick up your Bibles and dig in deep and deeper still into the Word of God.

Read and Study and Pray over those verses which the Holy Spirit reveals to you.

Taste and see of the absolute goodness of the LORD, YAHWEH.

Magnify your APPETITE, your desire for the WISDOM OF LORD YAHWEH ….

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

Let us Pray,

I have Come into this sacred space to worship YAHWEH
whose teaching is perfect;
whose directions are sure.
I have Come into this holy place to worship YAHWEH
whose standards are right;
whose commandment is clear;
whose judgements are true.
I have Come with holy fear –
to be given life, and made wise,
to have my heart stirred and my eyes opened wide.
I have Come with a desirous heart— let me now worship YAHWEH.
Let the words of my mouth and the faintest whisperings of my heart
be according to your will, O’ YAHWEH. My Redeemer. Amen.

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Encouraged and Highly Motivated to Believe in God. The Necessity of The Creation in The Gospel. Psalm 19:1-6

Today, we are talking about beginnings.

I felt it was important for us to examine the idea of creation as it relates to the gospel. Literally, how we understand creation will ultimately bring clarity or confusion, wisdom and order from chaos to our understanding of the gospel.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

There are only two options when it comes to creation.

The two options are: there is a God who personally created everything, including you, or there is not.

Those are the only two options. If there is not, then everything is an impossible, implausible, irrational result of incessant random chance and risk assessment.

The equation I give you now is: “nothing + nothing cannot equal something.”

If scripture is false, if the gospel is not, If God is not the creator, then He is not the sovereign. If creation did not take place according to how Genesis records it, then we are each without hope because evolution deposes God from His throne.

Why do we as Christian still to take our interpretation of Genesis from secular scientists who wants nothing more than to get rid of the God of the Bible?

These same people want to alleviate themselves from accountability, morality, and God’s final judgment.

As I feel more and more encouraged to quiet by disbelief, As I become more and more motivated to believe, I fight against the thought that if God is not our creator, then He is not our Redeemer, will not have the authority to create new heavens, new earth, life and hope as the New Testament tells us.

Psalm 19:1-6New King James Version

The Perfect Revelation of the Lord

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

19 The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament[a] shows [b]His handiwork.
2 Day unto day utters speech,
And night unto night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor language
Where their voice is not heard.
4 Their [c]line has gone out through all the earth,
And their words to the end of the world.

In them He has set a [d]tabernacle for the sun,
5 Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
And rejoices like a strong man to run its race.
6 Its rising is from one end of heaven,
And its circuit to the other end;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

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

Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

As we consider and study the creation account, we see how theistic evolution is impossible if we genuinely hold this creative account as the final authority.

If we genuinely believe this universe is the sole product of a Creator God with an infinite amount of intelligence and power, is it possible for us to know Him?

Well, there’s only one answer, if He created us and if He chose to tell us He created us; that’s the only way we can ever know. Not only did he create us. Not only did he choose to reveal Himself and provide for us His revelation.

But He Himself crossed through all time to enter His creation as the person of Jesus so that we can know the way

I cannot overemphasize the point that creation is the basis of everything else.

It is not merely an issue of biology or genetics, but it affects our morality, our ethics, our “world vs. God” view of redemption, salvation, sin, the family, our marriage, our community relationships, the sanctity of life, the dignity of men.

Psalm 19:4–6 Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, 5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. 6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

One of the things that science has discovered in modern times is that the sun is in orbit. We talk about the sun as the center of our solar system and everything orbiting around it.

However, did you know the sun itself has an orbit, and this orbit goes from one end of the infinite space to the other.

The sun is moving and dragging our entire solar system with it. It is not fixed any more than the things that revolve around it are fixed.

So, the psalmist says here in verses 4 – 6 that you can look up and you can look at the whole of the universe and look at the breadth of creation and it gives you the loudest possible testimony to the glory of God, to the utter majesty of His intelligence, to the indescribable character of His power to create all of this.

Hebrews 1 also tells us God made the world and it is a testimony to His infinite power, the wisdom of knowledge. Everything about this requires of you and me only one thing: faith.

Hebrews 1:10 And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands;

If you reject God as creator, then you reject God as all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-encompassing.

The only way you are going to know Him is through faith.

We are natural; God is supernatural. The natural cannot comprehend the supernatural; so, on our own, we can’t find God.

We’re locked in a time-space world unable to crawl out of it and into eternity to comprehend what is incomprehensible.

No scientist, no matter how smart they claim they may be cannot even begin to comprehend the majesty of God or His creative power.

The only things we know about God are those things that He has revealed to us, told us, and that’s why He gave us the Bible.

Do WE believe that?

The word Genesis means “origins” or “beginnings.” And I want you to note 16 different origins or beginnings found in genesis.

1. You find the origin of the universe. Genesis 1:1 is unique in all literature, all science, and all philosophy. Every other explanation of the universe starts with eternal matter or energy in some form. Only the book of Genesis starts with eternal God.

2. Origin of order and complexity. Man’s universal observation of his world is an orderly world. It functions on fixed rules, and it is profoundly complex. Order and complexity will not come from chaos.

3. The origin of the solar system. In the midst of this vast, limitless universe, God created the earth, the sun, and moon, the planets, all the stars of heaven

4. The origin of the atmosphere and the hydrosphere. The earth is uniquely equipped with a great body of liquid water and an extensive blanket of oxygen-nitrogen gaseous mixture, both of which are necessary for life, and are accounted for only by special creation by God

5. The origin of life, the marvels of the reproductive process.

6. The origin of man. Man is the most highly organized and complex entity in the universe.

Beyond his biology, there is a nature that can contemplate abstract emotions of beauty and love, and worship. Man is capable of understanding and thinking about his own meaning. We find that we are made in the image of our creator.

7. In Genesis you also find the origin of marriage, the remarkable universal and stable institution of marriage, and the home. Monogamous marriage is here now established and given to man by the Creator.

The home and the family unit are established by God, not man’s choice, and polygamy, infanticide, promiscuity, divorce, abortion, and homosexuality, and all the corruptions developed after the fall are the corruption of God’s order.

8. The origin of evil and sin. The origin of physical and moral evil in the universe is explained in Genesis as a kind of temporary intrusion into God’s perfect world and allowed for the continuation of human freedom and for God to reveal Himself to man as Man’s Redeemer

9. The origin of judgment on evil. All the forms of God’s wrath are set in motion and illustrated in Genesis.

10. The origin of salvation by grace through God’s mercy. God was merciful to Adam and Eve and doesn’t destroy them. The plan of redemption leading to Christ is even referred to in Genesis 3:15.

11. The origin of language. You know, one of the things evolutionists struggle with is how we go from apes grunting and making unintelligible noises to the miracle of human speech of all diverse kinds of languages and dialects.

The chasm between the instinctive chattering of animals to abstract, symbolic communication of man is impossible by any evolutionary process. But Genesis also tells us the origin of all the different languages

12. The origin of government; organized systems of human government for the maintenance of orderly social, economic, cultural structures through systems of accountability, responsibility, law, justice and diverse forms of punishment.

13. The origin of culture. We find in Genesis urbanization, the development of technology, music, agriculture, farming, writing, education, navigation,

14. The origin of nations; and that is related, of course, again to the Tower of Babel, the table of nations as the only source you’ll ever find of how we have so many different peoples scattered all over the earth with different languages and cultures.

15. The origin of religion; both the true religion and false religions appear.

16. The origin of the people of Israel who were the conduit for God’s revelation to all of the world. It was Israel through whom God’s continual revelation came and whom the saving covenant came in Genesis 12 to Abraham, and it would be the Jewish people whom God the Messiah enters the world. 

1 Timothy 3:16 we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

So, either we are going to believe Genesis as Scripture, or we don’t.

How can anyone who claims Christ as their Savior uphold Genesis as Scripture, but reject Genesis 1 and 2 or dismiss it as allegory or lore?

Or may you dismiss Adam and Eve, the Tower of Babel, or the Flood?

Where are you going to draw the line and who gave the right to stand in that kind of judgment on Scripture. Even more, why would any believer in Jesus Christ bow a knee to secular scientists as the authority over Scripture?

What kind of precedent does that establish over the rest of Scripture?

When we capitulate over this, then we abdicate the authority of Scripture over other sacred issues like life, liberty, government, and marriage and family.

‘Responding to God’s Revelation.’ The word “revelation” implies the fact that God wants to be known, must make Himself known to us. In other words, we cannot know God on our own. So, revelation must come from God’s initiative.

Theologian Wayne Grudem says this about revelation: “If we are to know God at all, it is necessary that he reveal himself to us.”

Looking at the skies, whether by day or by a star filled clear night we can learn so much about God’s greatness, His power and His control. The sun, moon, stars and the whole universe are a permanent reminder of God’s glory.

So, general revelation is without words, and it is universal in its scope. It transcends human communication without the use of speech, words, and sounds. Yet, the message is constantly communicated to the whole world.

General revelation continues to point all people unto God, and it is available to everyone. So, no one in the world is ignorant of God.

Simply by opening our eyes and ears, we can witness the divinely created and sustained media which brings the message that God is powerful and glorious.

Indeed, all of God’s creation reaches all of God’s people, at all times.

So, general revelation should lead people to seek God.

Brothers and sisters, God has revealed Himself generally to all people through His creation.

In other words, we can know so many things about God as we witness His amazing creation. 

We know that He is Creator because we see His handiwork. Creation declares His existence and glory, the truth of His Gospel.

So, let us train ourselves to appropriately respond to God’s creation. When we see some aspect of His creation that impresses us, let us learn to worship God.

One day, perhaps today and then every day, may we with highest motivations and the most profound measures of inspiration and encouragement shout out;

“GOD, you are great. Thank you for allowing me to catch even the briefest of glimpses of Your glory, to gain the tiniest measures of thy Gospels wisdom!”

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

Let us Pray,

Your glory, O God
is declared in the holy silence of the heavens,
and told in the silent succession of day and night.
No speech, or word or voice is heard;
yet they speak to all the world,
and their words reach to the ends of the earth. 
The sun joyfully leaps across the sky,
from one end of the heavens to the farthest reaches,
and nothing is hidden from its heat or light.
So nothing that we do or say or whisper in our hearts 
is hidden from you, Lord God.
Release us from darkness we hide deep within our lives.
Let our lives be radiant with holy fear;
delighting in your teaching, 
receiving insight from your commandments
and wisdom from your encouraging. 
Enliven our desire for your everlasting judgements
over wealth or fame:
to enjoy the sweet drippings of the honeycomb,
that are to be found 
in right relationship with those around us,
and with you. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Imagine the Possibility! I am Finding Myself at a Loss for Words! Escaping the Thought Trap!!! |Joshua 1:7 – 9|

Wonderful Words of Life (Philip P. Bliss, 1838-1876)

1. Sing them over again to me,
wonderful words of life;
let me more of their beauty see,
wonderful words of life;
words of life and beauty
teach me faith and duty.
Refrain:
Beautiful words, wonderful words,
wonderful words of life.
Beautiful words, wonderful words,
wonderful words of life.

2. Christ, the blessed one, gives to all
wonderful words of life;
sinner, list to the loving call,
wonderful words of life;
all so freely given,
wooing us to heaven.
(Refrain)

3. Sweetly echo the gospel call,
wonderful words of life;
offer pardon and peace to all,
wonderful words of life;
Jesus, only Savior,
sanctify forever.
(Refrain)

Joshua 1:7-9 English Standard Version

7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success[a] wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

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

Someone, somewhere at some point in time, began to ponder and pray …..

They have probably been pondering these questions for quite some time …..

So, we have been gazing at the unsearchable beauty of the Lord our God.

We have been craning our necks upward – mightily focusing on His face.

We have been craning our necks and eyes upwards until it now hurts us.

Not just our necks hurt, not just a struggle against keeping our eyes open,

But now we also find steadily creeping into our heads – new thoughts we do not recognize – or as much as we recognize them – we deem them 100% unwanted.

We search for God, turning our faces and our thoughts away from the world.

Now, without our permission, our day-to-day thoughts are being muddled.

We like it- we like it (maybe) – we like it not – we realize it – we are not sure?

We cannot stop these thoughts – we try to re-shape them – but no success?

Are we struggling against our worldly thoughts leaving our heads?

Might this be true?

Without realizing – are we struggling against God trying to get into our heads?

Struggling with negative thoughts? Maybe low self-esteem? Self-putdowns?

When I think about these thought struggles, I am both awed, amazed and (gasp) very scared at how easy it is to adopt or fall into a bad thought habit.

That’s right I said it, “habit.” All our thought patterns are, in fact, habits.

Our whole lives, we have all been taught, trained on how to think and what to think and why to think what we should think until they become 100% natural.

And these habits can even impact our ability to problem solve and our ability to decide how, what we use to filter truth vs untruth. Even learned helplessness is copied and can gradually develop into (negative) thought and behavioral habits.

Sometimes, these thoughts become a significant burden we know not what to do with the breadth of them. Scratch heads? Move forward? Stand still? Retreat?

We are looking for the indescribable, unknowable, unsearchable, face of God anywhere and everywhere we can. We want to cannot look upon His face, to look upon His visage, crawl or walk up to Him – look directly into His eyes!

But that is not possible to do and survive.

But survivability is not our concern – we only want to be eye to eye with Him.

Beholding His face – Looking into His eyes – knowing His thoughts for us, is very much where we all prefer to be. We will brave everything for this chance.

We cannot know the thoughts of God for us and that disturbs us – we are all called to look upon Him, but reality is we cannot do so – but our thoughts are still on God – YET our eyes and our souls our thoughts remain 100% fixated.

We are now fixated on God despite our thought habits! This is great news because just as we develop bad habits, we can retrain our thinking and learn new habits. It’s really pretty simple but requires truth, faith, commitment.

Let me introduce you to the one presenting us with this array of questions.

He is Joshua, Son of Nun …. His reality has just been seriously altered ….

Before him, the prospect of replacing Moses as leader of millions of people.

Prepared to lead? Prepared to stand still? Prepared instead to retreat?

Prepared to think, act and believe according to his understanding?

And what would that accomplish for him, his family, his people, His nation?

God knows all of our thoughts before we even have them – but in the midst of our sorting out our own stuff – are we realizing that God is trying to overcome, overwhelm the unrelenting burden of our thoughts at the exact same time?

How? God persistently speaks His greater thoughts over our lesser thoughts …

“7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success[a] wherever you go. (Joshua 1:7 ESV)

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” (Joshua 1:8, ESV)

What are we to make of this seldom considered, thought-provoking revelation?

Whatever the time, whenever the season of life, it’s 100% safe to say we are the sum total of our habits. If you want to know your future, just look at your habits today! It will show you where your thoughts and behaviors will be tomorrow.

God says ….

“8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
    and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
    it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
    and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:8-11 ESV)

The finite Mind and wayward Thoughts of Man Repeat ….

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
    and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
    and he will make straight your paths.
7 Be not wise in your own eyes;
    fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
8 It will be healing to your flesh[a]
    and refreshment[b] to your bones. (Proverbs 3:5-8 ESV)

5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked;
    whoever guards his soul will keep far from them.
6 Train up a child in the way he should go;
    even when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:5-6 ESV)

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:2)

When I allow myself to think about setbacks, hurts and the many different pains of life we experience through people, places, things or events, I realize there is ever a choice we can make; there is a crossroad before us; a decision:

Do I hand myself and my emotions over to my own thoughts, hardships of life and allow them to define me? To permit my thought to dictate how I should feel and ought to live? Or do I, in my pain, bring it to God and find healing and rest?

I guess that’s the difference between freedom and chains. You may be afraid and have it in great abundance, but fear doesn’t have to have abound in you.

Over seasons. the stories and scripts we tell ourselves are powerful. What we tell ourselves not only threatens to define our behavior but also predicts our future.

Do we speak negativity and lies in opposition to the Word of God, or do we speak the truth of God as medicine over our hurting souls and against the lies and narratives we have been taught? Being set free is to experience the truth of the gospel showing up in every area of our lives, even in our thought life.

To fight my thought battles, I use Scripture to correct false assumptions and to confront bad behaviors. When our experiences and thoughts don’t line up with biblical truth, we should always yield our thoughts and accept the 100% truth of Scripture in all its authoritative truth. Make it our filter and meditate on it over and over until God develops our new thought habits. It will replace the old one!

The Truth Will Set You Free (John 8:31-32 ESV)

31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Our thought habits can be such a pervasive trap. Or they can be the source of a pure spring that flows from the Word of God, deposited deep into our lives.

We are not to be continuously chained to negative thinking anymore. Living Word of God: We no longer have to be. Yield to the truth that can set you free.

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

God, my Wisdom, Speak, them over again to me, thy Wonderful Words of Life ….

Lord of wisdom, I sometimes finding understanding the Bible to be difficult. I know you want me to apply your word to my life. I thank you for giving me your word so I can grow in my relationship with you. Help me grasp what you want me to know as I read your revealed word. Open my eyes so to see the wonderful truths in your instructions. Be my teacher, be my wisdom, be my truth, so I can live and obey your word. Thank you for your wise advice. Gloria! Alleluia! Amen.

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