Mid Week Bible Build Up 2/22/12
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 – Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
What’s good y’all? We hope everyone is blessed and having great and godly days! You know, as people, it sometimes becomes difficult to understand what a “good day” really is. We wish people we love to have good days. We hope ourselves to have good days. Yet as we hear people say, “Have a good day” so often, it reminds us of a quote often used by Pastor Woodrow Crowell. His statement is, “What purpose does a good day serve if it is not also godly?” That’s a pretty compelling question. How can a day be good if it is not godly? So then that must force us to come to some painful realizations. For example, godliness has little to do with happiness as we have come to understand it. The English word “happy” comes from the Old English term “happenstance.” What this means is that our understanding of happiness is really just joy based on a set of circumstances; but when is Yahweh ever concerned about circumstances over eternity? Our portion of scripture today should be encouraging as it sheds some light on the subject of what we tend to define as “good days.” Though these truths can be hard to swallow, it is truth nonetheless, and our willingness to accept these truths will bring about great peace and contentment! So with that said, let’s jump right in.
This statement Paul the Apostle makes in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 is a difficult one to grasp. He begins in verse 19 by stating, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you.” So the question is, do you know that? See, Paul the Apostle is speaking to the Corinthian church that is having some serious issues from within. A crazy amount of sexual immorality had infected the church body and Paul is sternly addressing this matter. He does so by stating this truth, which Paul implies the Corinthian church should already know. When we humble ourselves before God, confess our sins to Him, and believe in our hearts in the Lord Jesus as the Son of God and as the Messiah, who died and rose from the dead to forgive our sins, we are what the Bible refers to as, “born-again.” We are born again as the old self, in its sin, is nailed to the very cross that Jesus died on, and as He died, our sins and old self died with Him (read Romans chapter 6 for more understanding). So as we are spiritually “reborn” an interesting thing takes place through our faith in Jesus Christ.
“For thus says that High and Loft One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. (Isaiah 57:15).’”
In this scripture, we can see the spiritual rebirth process. Our faith in Jesus, coupled with our willingness to humble ourselves before Him as we confess sin and accept Him as our Savior from sin, allows the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, just as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6:19. Here is an interesting point to see that will help us understand what godliness is: God says that He dwells in a “high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit.” Then when we read on, we see that the place He dwells inside of, is our hearts (spiritually speaking). It’s interesting that our understanding of a humble person is someone of a lowly and pitiful position. Yet when we see God describe His dwelling place inside of the hearts of humble men and women, He calls that place a “high and holy place.” God’s perception of humility is much different than our own. Though a humble person is someone who thinks little of his or herself, God holds this person in great esteem! So then a critical element to understanding godliness is our ability to understand the true position of a humble person.
Now the Bible has a lot to say in terms of humility – most of which we don’t have time to cover today. However, we need to understand that as God is taking up residence in the heart of a humble person, we can see that His focus is of the heart. So while living “humbly” may affect a person’s finances, living circumstances, or social position, God’s primary focus isn’t on any of those things – it’s of the heart. Therefore, whether you make a lot of money, or very little, humility of the heart is still God’s focus. Though you may live in a massive house and maintain many possessions, God’s focus is still on the humility of the person’s heart. Though you may be poor and living on the streets, God’s focus is still on the humility of a person’s heart. The reality is that there are proud poor people just as there are humble rich people, and vice versa. So once again, circumstances have little to do with God’s focus, it’s the heart of a person He is looking at. How do you value yourself? Do you look at your possessions, achievements, position, or status as measuring tools to define yourself, or do you look at your identity in Christ? Do you feel your abundance of “stuff” or “position” defines you as successful? Do you feel your lack of “stuff” or “positions” defines you as humble? Neither of those things matters to God. These portions of scripture clearly tell us that God is simply looking at a person’s heart, and whether or not that person believes they are a sinner that falls short of God’s expectations and is in desperate need of a Savior they recognize as Jesus Christ. So when we have that understanding, the Holy Spirit becomes a part of us. Now comes the good stuff!
In Isaiah 57:15, we can see that the Holy Spirit enters us for a purpose: “To revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Now let’s think about this for a second. When we think of the term, “revive the heart” it’s difficult not to think of a heart defibrillator. If you’ve ever seen these things in action, in television or in real life, you know that these aren’t the subtlest of medical instruments. They are actually quite violent. When the charge is applied to the person in need, the force is so great that it can lift the lifeless person right off the ground with no problem. So even in physical terms, the revival of the heart is an aggressive, forceful, and violent action. Yet, this kind of action is necessary to sustain life. Would you object to the use of a defibrillator simply because it was forceful in its operation? Would you really choose death just because you didn’t like the way the tool that gives life worked? That logic seems kind of silly. So then we can expect the work of the Holy Spirit to be equally forceful and aggressive just as the Bible teaches – but the pay off is greater than any medical instrument can provide. Medical instruments may be able to keep you alive for a certain period of time. The reviving work of the Holy Spirit is intended to keep you alive forever. That’s Paul’s point. The Holy Spirit is in us to do a work of which there is no greater benefit to us. Though the work may be forceful, aggressive, painful, and require momentary discomfort, it is the purpose for giving life, so we should let the Spirit do this work. These are things that the Corinthians should have known, but seemed to have forgotten. Their sinful lifestyles were keeping them from receiving the full reviving work of the Holy Spirit. Here is why…
Paul makes this point harshly clear: We are not our own, we were bought at a price! The cost of our salvation was the blood of the Son of the living God. Jesus, a perfect and sinless man, came to earth as God in the flesh, to die for your sin. He gave Himself up and allowed people to insult Him, beat Him, spit on Him, and nail Him to a tree, so that we could be forgiven of our disobedience against God. Jesus on the cross is real, and true, and He did it for you! So then, as a “believer,” as a “Christian” who professes to believe in this very act, and claims to live a life of appreciation for this act by living a life of obedience to God’s word, you have surrendered your life to Christ in exchange for the life that He offers you in eternity. Salvation is the free gift from God, but when you accept it, there is great cost because of the great price that was already spent. As recipients of the gift of salvation, we have surrendered our rights and freedoms as human beings. Why – because we acknowledge that the work Jesus did to ensure our eternal security is worth the trade. We should understand that the work Jesus did on the cross for us is worth our sacrifice to Him because we love Him. We should understand that there is nothing we can do to repay Him, so obedience to His word and commands isn’t an option because the appreciation for His love towards us is so great. We should be willing and excited to give ourselves to Christ considering what He did for us. If you look at the epistles in the New Testament, you’ll find that every single letter beings with the author claiming to be a bondservant of Christ – one who was set free as a slave, but has chosen to remain a servant/slave to the owner.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son… (John 3:16)”
That was the price God was willing to pay to spend eternity with us. If you believe this, Paul is telling us that our bodies are not our own – they were purchased by God the Father through the blood of Jesus. So then that leaves us to ask a few questions. What rights do we really have as Christians? What freedoms do we really have as bondservants of our Lord? What choices do we really have the privilege of making concerning our lives? If the blood of the Son of God purchased us, who are we living for? Now consider the reality that as Christians, the Holy Spirit is in us, working to revive our Spirits. Are we submitting ourselves as bondservants to facilitate the work the Holy Spirit is trying to do, or are we working contrary to Him through poor decision-making? Is the difficulty of the work of the Holy Spirit, causing us to make decisions that, though they may bring more comfort, are contrary to the will of God? If this is the case, how can this be so if we are not our own, and as Christians, forfeited our rights to Jesus?
So then, what is a good day? Is a good day to the Christian, a day based upon a favorable set of circumstance? That could be possible. We’re certainly not against “good days.” Yet we must admit, we need to change our focus on what a “good day” is. Based on what we just read, and should now understand, isn’t a “good day” a day in which a Christian fully submits their will to the reviving work of the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ? Though the Holy Spirit may put you in situations that provide unfavorable circumstances, shouldn’t the merit of the day still be based the truth of the Holy Spirit in one’s life working to revive? So then by this truth, isn’t every day we’re saved a “good day?” Certainly there are tough circumstances in life we all encounter, but we should be careful in how we label that day whether we call it “good” or “bad.” Any day in Christ is a great day! So then it’s just a matter of whether the day is godly or not. Are we progressing in our salvation through the work of the Holy Spirit? Are we daily considering the fact that our bodies are not our own, we were bought at the highest of prices, and we should glorify God through our bodies as a result? Are we making decisions that facilitate the work of the Holy Spirit in us so that God can be glorified through our lives? These are the things, which God would consider godly. So then, to be saved already assures you a good day. The only decision you have to make now, is will you make your day godly by realizing the truth: your body is not your own, you were bought at a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s!
God bless,
What’s good y’all? We hope everyone is blessed and having great and godly days! You know, as people, it sometimes becomes difficult to understand what a “good day” really is. We wish people we love to have good days. We hope ourselves to have good days. Yet as we hear people say, “Have a good day” so often, it reminds us of a quote often used by Pastor Woodrow Crowell. His statement is, “What purpose does a good day serve if it is not also godly?” That’s a pretty compelling question. How can a day be good if it is not godly? So then that must force us to come to some painful realizations. For example, godliness has little to do with happiness as we have come to understand it. The English word “happy” comes from the Old English term “happenstance.” What this means is that our understanding of happiness is really just joy based on a set of circumstances; but when is Yahweh ever concerned about circumstances over eternity? Our portion of scripture today should be encouraging as it sheds some light on the subject of what we tend to define as “good days.” Though these truths can be hard to swallow, it is truth nonetheless, and our willingness to accept these truths will bring about great peace and contentment! So with that said, let’s jump right in.
This statement Paul the Apostle makes in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 is a difficult one to grasp. He begins in verse 19 by stating, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you.” So the question is, do you know that? See, Paul the Apostle is speaking to the Corinthian church that is having some serious issues from within. A crazy amount of sexual immorality had infected the church body and Paul is sternly addressing this matter. He does so by stating this truth, which Paul implies the Corinthian church should already know. When we humble ourselves before God, confess our sins to Him, and believe in our hearts in the Lord Jesus as the Son of God and as the Messiah, who died and rose from the dead to forgive our sins, we are what the Bible refers to as, “born-again.” We are born again as the old self, in its sin, is nailed to the very cross that Jesus died on, and as He died, our sins and old self died with Him (read Romans chapter 6 for more understanding). So as we are spiritually “reborn” an interesting thing takes place through our faith in Jesus Christ.
“For thus says that High and Loft One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. (Isaiah 57:15).’”
In this scripture, we can see the spiritual rebirth process. Our faith in Jesus, coupled with our willingness to humble ourselves before Him as we confess sin and accept Him as our Savior from sin, allows the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, just as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6:19. Here is an interesting point to see that will help us understand what godliness is: God says that He dwells in a “high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit.” Then when we read on, we see that the place He dwells inside of, is our hearts (spiritually speaking). It’s interesting that our understanding of a humble person is someone of a lowly and pitiful position. Yet when we see God describe His dwelling place inside of the hearts of humble men and women, He calls that place a “high and holy place.” God’s perception of humility is much different than our own. Though a humble person is someone who thinks little of his or herself, God holds this person in great esteem! So then a critical element to understanding godliness is our ability to understand the true position of a humble person.
Now the Bible has a lot to say in terms of humility – most of which we don’t have time to cover today. However, we need to understand that as God is taking up residence in the heart of a humble person, we can see that His focus is of the heart. So while living “humbly” may affect a person’s finances, living circumstances, or social position, God’s primary focus isn’t on any of those things – it’s of the heart. Therefore, whether you make a lot of money, or very little, humility of the heart is still God’s focus. Though you may live in a massive house and maintain many possessions, God’s focus is still on the humility of the person’s heart. Though you may be poor and living on the streets, God’s focus is still on the humility of a person’s heart. The reality is that there are proud poor people just as there are humble rich people, and vice versa. So once again, circumstances have little to do with God’s focus, it’s the heart of a person He is looking at. How do you value yourself? Do you look at your possessions, achievements, position, or status as measuring tools to define yourself, or do you look at your identity in Christ? Do you feel your abundance of “stuff” or “position” defines you as successful? Do you feel your lack of “stuff” or “positions” defines you as humble? Neither of those things matters to God. These portions of scripture clearly tell us that God is simply looking at a person’s heart, and whether or not that person believes they are a sinner that falls short of God’s expectations and is in desperate need of a Savior they recognize as Jesus Christ. So when we have that understanding, the Holy Spirit becomes a part of us. Now comes the good stuff!
In Isaiah 57:15, we can see that the Holy Spirit enters us for a purpose: “To revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Now let’s think about this for a second. When we think of the term, “revive the heart” it’s difficult not to think of a heart defibrillator. If you’ve ever seen these things in action, in television or in real life, you know that these aren’t the subtlest of medical instruments. They are actually quite violent. When the charge is applied to the person in need, the force is so great that it can lift the lifeless person right off the ground with no problem. So even in physical terms, the revival of the heart is an aggressive, forceful, and violent action. Yet, this kind of action is necessary to sustain life. Would you object to the use of a defibrillator simply because it was forceful in its operation? Would you really choose death just because you didn’t like the way the tool that gives life worked? That logic seems kind of silly. So then we can expect the work of the Holy Spirit to be equally forceful and aggressive just as the Bible teaches – but the pay off is greater than any medical instrument can provide. Medical instruments may be able to keep you alive for a certain period of time. The reviving work of the Holy Spirit is intended to keep you alive forever. That’s Paul’s point. The Holy Spirit is in us to do a work of which there is no greater benefit to us. Though the work may be forceful, aggressive, painful, and require momentary discomfort, it is the purpose for giving life, so we should let the Spirit do this work. These are things that the Corinthians should have known, but seemed to have forgotten. Their sinful lifestyles were keeping them from receiving the full reviving work of the Holy Spirit. Here is why…
Paul makes this point harshly clear: We are not our own, we were bought at a price! The cost of our salvation was the blood of the Son of the living God. Jesus, a perfect and sinless man, came to earth as God in the flesh, to die for your sin. He gave Himself up and allowed people to insult Him, beat Him, spit on Him, and nail Him to a tree, so that we could be forgiven of our disobedience against God. Jesus on the cross is real, and true, and He did it for you! So then, as a “believer,” as a “Christian” who professes to believe in this very act, and claims to live a life of appreciation for this act by living a life of obedience to God’s word, you have surrendered your life to Christ in exchange for the life that He offers you in eternity. Salvation is the free gift from God, but when you accept it, there is great cost because of the great price that was already spent. As recipients of the gift of salvation, we have surrendered our rights and freedoms as human beings. Why – because we acknowledge that the work Jesus did to ensure our eternal security is worth the trade. We should understand that the work Jesus did on the cross for us is worth our sacrifice to Him because we love Him. We should understand that there is nothing we can do to repay Him, so obedience to His word and commands isn’t an option because the appreciation for His love towards us is so great. We should be willing and excited to give ourselves to Christ considering what He did for us. If you look at the epistles in the New Testament, you’ll find that every single letter beings with the author claiming to be a bondservant of Christ – one who was set free as a slave, but has chosen to remain a servant/slave to the owner.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son… (John 3:16)”
That was the price God was willing to pay to spend eternity with us. If you believe this, Paul is telling us that our bodies are not our own – they were purchased by God the Father through the blood of Jesus. So then that leaves us to ask a few questions. What rights do we really have as Christians? What freedoms do we really have as bondservants of our Lord? What choices do we really have the privilege of making concerning our lives? If the blood of the Son of God purchased us, who are we living for? Now consider the reality that as Christians, the Holy Spirit is in us, working to revive our Spirits. Are we submitting ourselves as bondservants to facilitate the work the Holy Spirit is trying to do, or are we working contrary to Him through poor decision-making? Is the difficulty of the work of the Holy Spirit, causing us to make decisions that, though they may bring more comfort, are contrary to the will of God? If this is the case, how can this be so if we are not our own, and as Christians, forfeited our rights to Jesus?
So then, what is a good day? Is a good day to the Christian, a day based upon a favorable set of circumstance? That could be possible. We’re certainly not against “good days.” Yet we must admit, we need to change our focus on what a “good day” is. Based on what we just read, and should now understand, isn’t a “good day” a day in which a Christian fully submits their will to the reviving work of the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ? Though the Holy Spirit may put you in situations that provide unfavorable circumstances, shouldn’t the merit of the day still be based the truth of the Holy Spirit in one’s life working to revive? So then by this truth, isn’t every day we’re saved a “good day?” Certainly there are tough circumstances in life we all encounter, but we should be careful in how we label that day whether we call it “good” or “bad.” Any day in Christ is a great day! So then it’s just a matter of whether the day is godly or not. Are we progressing in our salvation through the work of the Holy Spirit? Are we daily considering the fact that our bodies are not our own, we were bought at the highest of prices, and we should glorify God through our bodies as a result? Are we making decisions that facilitate the work of the Holy Spirit in us so that God can be glorified through our lives? These are the things, which God would consider godly. So then, to be saved already assures you a good day. The only decision you have to make now, is will you make your day godly by realizing the truth: your body is not your own, you were bought at a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s!
God bless,
Mid Week Bible Build Up 2/15/12
1 John 4:19 – We love Him because He first loved us.
What’s good y’all? We hope everyone is blessed. Today’s portion of scripture is certainly one of those that, if you’re having a bad day, can lift you up if you allow it! However, today we’re going to take a different approach to this scripture. Today we’re going stretch your spiritual maturity to see a simple point, yet to appreciate it, will require some deep focus and thought. This verse is a very well known verse amongst church folk. Yet, because it has the word “love” in it, it has a tendency to get misused, overused, or it’s full dept not realized and taken for grated. Today, we want to gain as much understanding as we can of what God’s love really is.
Think about this for a moment; when we speak of God’s love, we typically associate it with the cross of Jesus Christ. We would correct in this association.
“But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).”
So this verse is pretty comprehensive. God showed us how much He loved us by sending Himself as Christ, to die for our sins. So when we associate God’s love with the cross, we are doing the right thing. Yet, we have to understand that there was another way God expressed His love even before the cross. Now before we get to far into this, understand that the cross is the meeting point of God’s love. We are not downplaying the purpose and intensity of the cross. Jesus’ death on the cross was everything. There are many places in even the Old Testament that serve as illustrations of the coming work on the cross. There are many prophetic claims that Jesus would die on the cross for the sins of the world that are found in the Old Testament. From very early on in the Bible, God’s word points to the power of Jesus on the cross. In this study, we are assuming you understand that. Yet also in this study, we want you to consider the many ways God showed His love, leading up to the cross. See, God demonstrated His love for us, yet while we were still sinners by dying on the cross, but let’s not forget that, though it was for just a short time, man did exist without sin. So if that’s the case, how did God show His love for us then? Did God just wait for man to sin to start showing love?
Again, we want to encourage you to open your mind to this reality. Let’s jump all the way back to the beginning, before there was sin that entered into the world. If we really want to understand a larger scope of God’s full love, that still exists today, even in the midst of a sinful nature, we need to understand this point. So let’s take a look at what when down when God created earth.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters (Genesis 1:1-2).”
Now as you read this historical narrative, you must ask yourself the following question: If God is just creating the heavens and the earth, and the Bible defines God as light, what is darkness doing there? Have you ever considered this reality? God had not created light as we see He did in day one, nor has He created the sun as we see in day four, yet the Bible tells us that darkness existed even before earth had form to it. If you understand the full context of the Bible, we should understand that there is a spiritual parallel to the term “darkness.” Darkness represents evil and separation from God. So if God has not even given form to the earth yet, how is there the presence of evil?
“Thus says the Lord God, ‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you. You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading; therefore I brought fire from your midst; it devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; you have become a horror, and shall be no more forever (Ezekiel 28:12-19).’”
Here we see the fall of Satan. He was perfect as God’s creation until pride and violence filled his heart and God cast him out from God’s holy mountain, and we’re told Satan ended up in the Garden of Eden. So when we read Genesis 1:2, we can see that the darkness that existed before God created the heavens and the earth was Satan. Now here is something we need to consider. God formed the earth and everything in it in the midst of this darkness. He created light on day 1. He separated the expanse on day 2. He made dry land on day 3. He created the sun, moon and stars on day 4. He created all of the sea creatures on day 5. He created all of the land animals, man, and woman on day 6. After each section of scripture where we see God speak these things into existence, we find the phrase, “And He saw that it was good.” So God is creating all of these things, in the midst of darkness, in the midst of Satan, yet God is saying that it is good. Think about that a moment…
Now let’s examine what came next. The Bible teaches that at this point, after God had created man and woman, God’s creation was perfect. Yet we see in Ezekiel Ch 28, and in Genesis 1:2 that Satan is in the midst. Darkness is a part of God’s creation, yet the Bible tells us that God’s creation was perfect. How is this possible? At what point did God’s creation become imperfect? The Bible teaches a contrast between life and death. God is life through Christ Jesus, and sin is that which delivers death. So if we want to know when God’s creation became imperfect, we simply need to see where death arrived into His creation through sin.
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned… (Romans 5:12)”
“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:22).”
We can see that the Bible teaches that sin entered into the world through Adam, and death came with it. We all die physically because of the sin of Adam – not Eve.
“Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die (Genesis 2:15-17).’”
What God did here is really quite interesting. God put man in the Garden of Eden, the very place we’re told in Ezekiel Ch 28, that he devil is dwelling. God put man in the midst of darkness. It would almost seem that God created the earth purposefully to put man in the mix of darkness. Then God crates this tree, puts man in front of it, and then tells him not to eat from it. Why would God do these things? The answer is really quite simple. God is illustrating His love for us by giving us the freedom to choose.
Remember our context scripture. We love God because He first loved us. He loved us first in the Garden of Eden. He loved us by putting us in the midst of darkness, in the vicinity of the devil. Remember, the Bible teaches that this moment in time, God’s creation is perfect. God’s plan was to put man in a position to choose. We were put in a position to choose between God and ourselves. Darkness is not what perverted God’s creation. Man’s choice to choose darkness over God is what the Bible teaches perverted God’s creation. God created the environment for man to freely choose to accept His love; this in it of itself is an illustration of God’s incredible, and incomprehensive love.
Here’s the truth: forced love is considered rape. God would not put those who He loves in this position. As the Creator, He could have just made us all like robots, given us no options, and forced us to look at Him and only Him. But is this love? Would we call a relationship healthy if the man kept the woman locked up inside of the house all day long without any options to live or see anything outside of the man’s will? God loved us enough to let us choose Him. The Bible describes God’s creation as perfect when man had the choice to choose Him or not. It’s not until we decided to choose darkness to satisfy our flesh over God that His creation became imperfect. We brought death into the world by choosing darkness over God, but God loves us enough to allow us to make that choice.
Think about this for a moment. How many choices do we make in a day? We make thousands of decisions every day – how many of them are in favor of God? Most of us fail to choose God in our decision making process. Proverbs 24:16 tells us that a righteous man falls 7 times. That means on a good day, your best day, you’ll choose darkness instead of God, at least 7 times. Yet you live. God not only allows you to have the choice, He also allows you to keep making the choices. It’s not like after we’ve made x-amount of bad decisions He cuts us off. It’s not like He has our poor choices numbered and when we exceed that amount, we’re done. That’s not love. Certainly God showed us how much He loves us by dying on the cross for us, but think about how we’ve treated God’s work on the cross by choosing in favor of darkness instead of Him. And yet, for some reason, God continues to allow us to have this choice. He doesn’t chain us up. He doesn’t lock us down. He doesn’t remove all other options. He continues to endure patiently our miserable choices, hoping that we will ultimately choose Him and love Him. How did God love us first? He loved us first by giving us the choice to choose to love Him. So which choice will you make? Remember, sin didn’t exist in the midst of darkness; it existed with choosing darkness to satisfy self, instead of choosing God. Sin not, and choose God. Love Him, because He first loved us!
God bless,
What’s good y’all? We hope everyone is blessed. Today’s portion of scripture is certainly one of those that, if you’re having a bad day, can lift you up if you allow it! However, today we’re going to take a different approach to this scripture. Today we’re going stretch your spiritual maturity to see a simple point, yet to appreciate it, will require some deep focus and thought. This verse is a very well known verse amongst church folk. Yet, because it has the word “love” in it, it has a tendency to get misused, overused, or it’s full dept not realized and taken for grated. Today, we want to gain as much understanding as we can of what God’s love really is.
Think about this for a moment; when we speak of God’s love, we typically associate it with the cross of Jesus Christ. We would correct in this association.
“But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).”
So this verse is pretty comprehensive. God showed us how much He loved us by sending Himself as Christ, to die for our sins. So when we associate God’s love with the cross, we are doing the right thing. Yet, we have to understand that there was another way God expressed His love even before the cross. Now before we get to far into this, understand that the cross is the meeting point of God’s love. We are not downplaying the purpose and intensity of the cross. Jesus’ death on the cross was everything. There are many places in even the Old Testament that serve as illustrations of the coming work on the cross. There are many prophetic claims that Jesus would die on the cross for the sins of the world that are found in the Old Testament. From very early on in the Bible, God’s word points to the power of Jesus on the cross. In this study, we are assuming you understand that. Yet also in this study, we want you to consider the many ways God showed His love, leading up to the cross. See, God demonstrated His love for us, yet while we were still sinners by dying on the cross, but let’s not forget that, though it was for just a short time, man did exist without sin. So if that’s the case, how did God show His love for us then? Did God just wait for man to sin to start showing love?
Again, we want to encourage you to open your mind to this reality. Let’s jump all the way back to the beginning, before there was sin that entered into the world. If we really want to understand a larger scope of God’s full love, that still exists today, even in the midst of a sinful nature, we need to understand this point. So let’s take a look at what when down when God created earth.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters (Genesis 1:1-2).”
Now as you read this historical narrative, you must ask yourself the following question: If God is just creating the heavens and the earth, and the Bible defines God as light, what is darkness doing there? Have you ever considered this reality? God had not created light as we see He did in day one, nor has He created the sun as we see in day four, yet the Bible tells us that darkness existed even before earth had form to it. If you understand the full context of the Bible, we should understand that there is a spiritual parallel to the term “darkness.” Darkness represents evil and separation from God. So if God has not even given form to the earth yet, how is there the presence of evil?
“Thus says the Lord God, ‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you. You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading; therefore I brought fire from your midst; it devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; you have become a horror, and shall be no more forever (Ezekiel 28:12-19).’”
Here we see the fall of Satan. He was perfect as God’s creation until pride and violence filled his heart and God cast him out from God’s holy mountain, and we’re told Satan ended up in the Garden of Eden. So when we read Genesis 1:2, we can see that the darkness that existed before God created the heavens and the earth was Satan. Now here is something we need to consider. God formed the earth and everything in it in the midst of this darkness. He created light on day 1. He separated the expanse on day 2. He made dry land on day 3. He created the sun, moon and stars on day 4. He created all of the sea creatures on day 5. He created all of the land animals, man, and woman on day 6. After each section of scripture where we see God speak these things into existence, we find the phrase, “And He saw that it was good.” So God is creating all of these things, in the midst of darkness, in the midst of Satan, yet God is saying that it is good. Think about that a moment…
Now let’s examine what came next. The Bible teaches that at this point, after God had created man and woman, God’s creation was perfect. Yet we see in Ezekiel Ch 28, and in Genesis 1:2 that Satan is in the midst. Darkness is a part of God’s creation, yet the Bible tells us that God’s creation was perfect. How is this possible? At what point did God’s creation become imperfect? The Bible teaches a contrast between life and death. God is life through Christ Jesus, and sin is that which delivers death. So if we want to know when God’s creation became imperfect, we simply need to see where death arrived into His creation through sin.
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned… (Romans 5:12)”
“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:22).”
We can see that the Bible teaches that sin entered into the world through Adam, and death came with it. We all die physically because of the sin of Adam – not Eve.
“Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die (Genesis 2:15-17).’”
What God did here is really quite interesting. God put man in the Garden of Eden, the very place we’re told in Ezekiel Ch 28, that he devil is dwelling. God put man in the midst of darkness. It would almost seem that God created the earth purposefully to put man in the mix of darkness. Then God crates this tree, puts man in front of it, and then tells him not to eat from it. Why would God do these things? The answer is really quite simple. God is illustrating His love for us by giving us the freedom to choose.
Remember our context scripture. We love God because He first loved us. He loved us first in the Garden of Eden. He loved us by putting us in the midst of darkness, in the vicinity of the devil. Remember, the Bible teaches that this moment in time, God’s creation is perfect. God’s plan was to put man in a position to choose. We were put in a position to choose between God and ourselves. Darkness is not what perverted God’s creation. Man’s choice to choose darkness over God is what the Bible teaches perverted God’s creation. God created the environment for man to freely choose to accept His love; this in it of itself is an illustration of God’s incredible, and incomprehensive love.
Here’s the truth: forced love is considered rape. God would not put those who He loves in this position. As the Creator, He could have just made us all like robots, given us no options, and forced us to look at Him and only Him. But is this love? Would we call a relationship healthy if the man kept the woman locked up inside of the house all day long without any options to live or see anything outside of the man’s will? God loved us enough to let us choose Him. The Bible describes God’s creation as perfect when man had the choice to choose Him or not. It’s not until we decided to choose darkness to satisfy our flesh over God that His creation became imperfect. We brought death into the world by choosing darkness over God, but God loves us enough to allow us to make that choice.
Think about this for a moment. How many choices do we make in a day? We make thousands of decisions every day – how many of them are in favor of God? Most of us fail to choose God in our decision making process. Proverbs 24:16 tells us that a righteous man falls 7 times. That means on a good day, your best day, you’ll choose darkness instead of God, at least 7 times. Yet you live. God not only allows you to have the choice, He also allows you to keep making the choices. It’s not like after we’ve made x-amount of bad decisions He cuts us off. It’s not like He has our poor choices numbered and when we exceed that amount, we’re done. That’s not love. Certainly God showed us how much He loves us by dying on the cross for us, but think about how we’ve treated God’s work on the cross by choosing in favor of darkness instead of Him. And yet, for some reason, God continues to allow us to have this choice. He doesn’t chain us up. He doesn’t lock us down. He doesn’t remove all other options. He continues to endure patiently our miserable choices, hoping that we will ultimately choose Him and love Him. How did God love us first? He loved us first by giving us the choice to choose to love Him. So which choice will you make? Remember, sin didn’t exist in the midst of darkness; it existed with choosing darkness to satisfy self, instead of choosing God. Sin not, and choose God. Love Him, because He first loved us!
God bless,
Mid Week Bible Build Up 2/8/12
Isaiah 26:4 – Trust in the Lord forever, for in Yahweh, the Lord, is everlasting strength.
What’s good y’all? As usual, we hope everyone is blessed and doing their absolute best to stay on course with the Lord’s direction – not just to be saved – but also to receive all of the tremendous blessings that our heavenly Father has for us along the way! Today’s scripture is an easy one – just one verse. In fact, our study today has more to do with the context than it does the actual verse. Either way, let’s jump into the context and understand the power behind this punch line.
Our verse today comes from Isaiah chapter 26, which is actually a long group of song lyrics. If you have your Bibles handy, many of you will find that the title to Isaiah chapter 26 is something along the lines of “The Song of Judah.” These are lyrics written by the prophet Isaiah, and when you read the whole chapter, you’ll find that this is a song of rejoicing. Isaiah chapter 26 is certainly a praise song. However, the most important verse to this song is not verse 4 which we’re singling out today, its verse 1:
“In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah… (Isaiah 26:1)”
The chapter begins with the phrase “In that day.” So if we’re going to understand the meaning and reason for this praise song of Judah, we need to understand what “day” Isaiah is talking about. The answer is simple, we simply need to turn one chapter back and look at chapter 25 of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 25 is a chapter dealing with salvation. It speaks of God’s completed work on this earth. It speaks of a time after the Tribulation Period, in which Jesus has purged sin and reigns as King. It speaks of the overall redemption of God’s people: those who choose to obey Him, those who choose to trust in Him, those who choose to wait for Him. Isaiah chapter 25 speaks of the celebration and incredible feast that will take place as a result of the redeeming and restoring work that God will do for His people. God will humble the proud, and will exalt the humble! Those who trust in themselves and reject the love of God will be brought down and judged eternally, while those who waited on and trusted the Lord will be brought into the arms of God!
So this is what we read in Isaiah chapter 25, then if you continue reading it says, “In THAT day…” The day that Isaiah is referring to is the time of redemption for God’s children. It is the time that we read about in Revelation chapter 21 and 22. It is the time where sin is finally dealt with and Jesus is worshiped in complete unison and agreement. It is during this time that Judah/Israel will sing its song. This song of rejoicing has purpose – it is because the 3 promises God made to Abraham will finally be fully fulfilled. At this time, the Jews would be the great nation with possession of the land, and finally acknowledge Jesus as the Blessing that would come from the lineage of Abraham, that would bless all of the families of the earth. Finally, at this point in time, God’s chosen nation – Israel – would realize all of the blessings God has been trying to pour out onto them. Is there a better reason to rejoice? No wonder this song is so long and filled with such praise to God! Now, understanding all of this, let’s look at the one verse we’re focusing in on.
“Trust in the Lord forever, for in Yahweh, the Lord, is everlasting strength.”
Now we can look at this statement as something more than a punch line of an obvious truth. Now, hopefully we can look at this verse and see that it is a statement of understanding of the true identity and power of God! Understand reality here for a moment; at this moment in time, the Jews, as a nation will not acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah. Therefore, they are unable to receive the full benefit and blessing of God’s promises. Yet this song is written to Him – to Jesus. When you understand the time and circumstance of which Judah will sing this song, it is after JESUS has done His work and as Romans 11:26 says, all of Israel has been saved – by Jesus! So when we look at the statement in Isaiah 26:4, we should understand that Judah is praising Jesus as Yahweh. They will then realize, know, and understand, who their Messiah is and will acknowledge Him as the everlasting protector and redeemer.
So how does that apply to us Gentiles? Well remember what it is that will cause the Jews to see clearly who Jesus is and praise His name. They will see the work of Christ and acknowledge Him as the author. They will look at the power of Christ and attribute praise to Him as a result. Now we ask you this: Has Jesus not also worked in powerful ways in your own life? The answer to this question is simple – Jesus has done incredible miraculous work in everyone’s life. Everyday He does this work – even right now. In Colossians chapter 1 we’re told that Jesus holds all things together, so the very fact that you exist as a human being, able to read, and haven’t spontaneously exploded, is because Jesus is choosing to hold us all together – right now. So then the question is really: will you acknowledge Jesus as the author of these miraculous works and display of power? See the truth of the matter is, Jesus is doing works within Israel right now. The difference between now, and when they sing this song, is that in the end, Israel will acknowledge Jesus in His deity. Will you?
If you have some time, read the rest of Isaiah chapter 26 and ask yourself if that is an attitude and mode of joy you would appreciate living in all day long. Ask yourself as you read, does the tone of Israel at that moment seem like one that also brings peace and contentment? See, the time has been appointed for Israel as a nation to recognize and acknowledge Jesus as Messiah, but what about you? See, to live in the understanding of the true identity of Jesus, in all of His power and love, is to allow His peace to pour over you and rejoice as we see in Isaiah chapter 26. So we would encourage all of you to slow down for a moment and ponder your Savior. Consider all that He is, all that He has done in your life, and all that His Word promises He will continue to do. Meditate on these things. We promise that as you really and honestly consider these truths, the result will be some level of understanding of Jesus being the God of heaven and earth, Who fulfills ALL of His ETERNAL promises and provides green pasture for His sheep. Be blessed today with understanding the true identity of our personal Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ!
God bless,
What’s good y’all? As usual, we hope everyone is blessed and doing their absolute best to stay on course with the Lord’s direction – not just to be saved – but also to receive all of the tremendous blessings that our heavenly Father has for us along the way! Today’s scripture is an easy one – just one verse. In fact, our study today has more to do with the context than it does the actual verse. Either way, let’s jump into the context and understand the power behind this punch line.
Our verse today comes from Isaiah chapter 26, which is actually a long group of song lyrics. If you have your Bibles handy, many of you will find that the title to Isaiah chapter 26 is something along the lines of “The Song of Judah.” These are lyrics written by the prophet Isaiah, and when you read the whole chapter, you’ll find that this is a song of rejoicing. Isaiah chapter 26 is certainly a praise song. However, the most important verse to this song is not verse 4 which we’re singling out today, its verse 1:
“In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah… (Isaiah 26:1)”
The chapter begins with the phrase “In that day.” So if we’re going to understand the meaning and reason for this praise song of Judah, we need to understand what “day” Isaiah is talking about. The answer is simple, we simply need to turn one chapter back and look at chapter 25 of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 25 is a chapter dealing with salvation. It speaks of God’s completed work on this earth. It speaks of a time after the Tribulation Period, in which Jesus has purged sin and reigns as King. It speaks of the overall redemption of God’s people: those who choose to obey Him, those who choose to trust in Him, those who choose to wait for Him. Isaiah chapter 25 speaks of the celebration and incredible feast that will take place as a result of the redeeming and restoring work that God will do for His people. God will humble the proud, and will exalt the humble! Those who trust in themselves and reject the love of God will be brought down and judged eternally, while those who waited on and trusted the Lord will be brought into the arms of God!
So this is what we read in Isaiah chapter 25, then if you continue reading it says, “In THAT day…” The day that Isaiah is referring to is the time of redemption for God’s children. It is the time that we read about in Revelation chapter 21 and 22. It is the time where sin is finally dealt with and Jesus is worshiped in complete unison and agreement. It is during this time that Judah/Israel will sing its song. This song of rejoicing has purpose – it is because the 3 promises God made to Abraham will finally be fully fulfilled. At this time, the Jews would be the great nation with possession of the land, and finally acknowledge Jesus as the Blessing that would come from the lineage of Abraham, that would bless all of the families of the earth. Finally, at this point in time, God’s chosen nation – Israel – would realize all of the blessings God has been trying to pour out onto them. Is there a better reason to rejoice? No wonder this song is so long and filled with such praise to God! Now, understanding all of this, let’s look at the one verse we’re focusing in on.
“Trust in the Lord forever, for in Yahweh, the Lord, is everlasting strength.”
Now we can look at this statement as something more than a punch line of an obvious truth. Now, hopefully we can look at this verse and see that it is a statement of understanding of the true identity and power of God! Understand reality here for a moment; at this moment in time, the Jews, as a nation will not acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah. Therefore, they are unable to receive the full benefit and blessing of God’s promises. Yet this song is written to Him – to Jesus. When you understand the time and circumstance of which Judah will sing this song, it is after JESUS has done His work and as Romans 11:26 says, all of Israel has been saved – by Jesus! So when we look at the statement in Isaiah 26:4, we should understand that Judah is praising Jesus as Yahweh. They will then realize, know, and understand, who their Messiah is and will acknowledge Him as the everlasting protector and redeemer.
So how does that apply to us Gentiles? Well remember what it is that will cause the Jews to see clearly who Jesus is and praise His name. They will see the work of Christ and acknowledge Him as the author. They will look at the power of Christ and attribute praise to Him as a result. Now we ask you this: Has Jesus not also worked in powerful ways in your own life? The answer to this question is simple – Jesus has done incredible miraculous work in everyone’s life. Everyday He does this work – even right now. In Colossians chapter 1 we’re told that Jesus holds all things together, so the very fact that you exist as a human being, able to read, and haven’t spontaneously exploded, is because Jesus is choosing to hold us all together – right now. So then the question is really: will you acknowledge Jesus as the author of these miraculous works and display of power? See the truth of the matter is, Jesus is doing works within Israel right now. The difference between now, and when they sing this song, is that in the end, Israel will acknowledge Jesus in His deity. Will you?
If you have some time, read the rest of Isaiah chapter 26 and ask yourself if that is an attitude and mode of joy you would appreciate living in all day long. Ask yourself as you read, does the tone of Israel at that moment seem like one that also brings peace and contentment? See, the time has been appointed for Israel as a nation to recognize and acknowledge Jesus as Messiah, but what about you? See, to live in the understanding of the true identity of Jesus, in all of His power and love, is to allow His peace to pour over you and rejoice as we see in Isaiah chapter 26. So we would encourage all of you to slow down for a moment and ponder your Savior. Consider all that He is, all that He has done in your life, and all that His Word promises He will continue to do. Meditate on these things. We promise that as you really and honestly consider these truths, the result will be some level of understanding of Jesus being the God of heaven and earth, Who fulfills ALL of His ETERNAL promises and provides green pasture for His sheep. Be blessed today with understanding the true identity of our personal Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ!
God bless,
Mid Week Bible Build Up 2/1/12
Obadiah 1:17 – But on
Mount Zion there shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; the house
of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
What’s good y’all? We hope all are blessed and doing whatever is necessary to maintain and nurture your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. As we enter into the second month of the year, many times the hype and excitement of entering into a new year has fizzled away. Most New Year’s resolutions have been broken by now and the normal grind of life has kicked back in. So at least for ourselves, a reminder of God’s promises seemed to be in order, to help push us through this marathon called life. We know that God has made a lot of promises through the Bible and we know that God will fulfill them, but sometimes it’s good to see how God is currently fulfilling some of His BIG promises to build our confidence in the Lord. So today, that’s what we’re going to do!
The Book of Obadiah is a pretty simple book. It’s just one chapter, made up of 21 verses and it has one central theme – judgment of Edom. Now Edom is a very special character in the Bible that is often talked about in the context of judgment; here is why. In Genesis chapter 25 we are told of the birth of Jacob and Esau – a set of twin brothers who warred against each other even while they were in the womb. These were two brothers that just didn’t get along. So as we read through Genesis 25 it says this:
“Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was Edom. But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.” And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?” Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright (Genesis 25:29-34).”
So in this portion of scripture we get a pretty good glimpse into the person of Esau, who is Edom (from which the Edomites come from), and what matters most to this guy. In the Hebrew culture, the first-born child was to receive a blessing and inheritance from their father upon their father’s death. Now Jacob and Esau’s father was Isaac, and his father was Abraham. So because of Abraham and Isaac, Esau’s birthright would have been a great one! Esau’s birthright and blessing would have been that which God promised to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12: the promise of being a great nation, possessing the promised land, and having the blessing of the Messiah come from him. Yet we’re told that Esau sold this birthright and all the promises that came with it for some soup! In fact the scriptures tell us quite plainly that Esau “despised” his birthright; and we should understand that Esau was not really dying as he says, he was just hungry (as when we say “we’re starving” though we’re not literally starving). He simply didn’t care about that birthright stuff. Esau was more concerned about the desire of “now” rather than the birthright privileges of the future. Esau was led by his fleshly desires, not the promises of God and his fathers; and it cost him. Esau was more concerned about his own wants and needs of the moment rather than the eternal promises of God; and it is for this reason that God even said, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau have I hated (Romans 9:13).” Now this doesn’t mean that God literally hated Esau, God hated the fact that Esau chose some soup over the blessings that God had for him. God hates that we would choose something of temporal value or no value over the value of His eternal love and grace.
As you continue to read through the Bible, we begin to learn that Esau was affected by this dumb decision to sell his birthright. While Jacob would use to trickery to solidify the deal with his father, Esau’s heart was exposed and Esau would greatly regret it down the line. As time would progress, Esau would hate his brother. As you read through Israel’s history, you’ll find that more often than not, Esau is causing trouble for the Jews. They team up with other nations to provide headache, and many times Esau turned their brothers, the Jews, over to enemy nations, and many Jews suffered and were killed as a result. In fact, when you read through Psalm 83, you’ll find that the hatred the people of Esau had for Israel, festered into hatred that the Edomites would have for God Himself. Because of the decision to sell his birthright, Esau would pass on this horrible spirit of jealousy and hate so that it would be directed at God by messing with God’s chosen people. In Psalm 83, we are told that in the end times, the Edomites would lead a confederation against Israel, “That the name of Israel may be remembered no more (Psalm 83:4).” So understanding all of this, when you get to the book of Obadiah, God’s tone and rhetoric should make perfect sense.
The people of Edom hated God for blessing Israel. So throughout history, and even today, the people of Edom have been harassing Israel, trying to affect the promises God made to Israel. God made 3 promises to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12: Abraham’s descendants would be a great nation, they would possess the Promised Land of Israel – including Jerusalem, and a blessing to all the families of the earth would come from this family (Jesus Christ). These promises were supposed to go to Esau, but Esau by his own foolish choice to fulfill the desires of his selfish flesh, gave that up. So the Edomites have been trying to take the land and become their own great nation ever since. Esau has been trying to keep God from fulfilling His promises since Genesis chapter 25, even until today. Today we hear about these skirmishes in Israel dealing with some terrorist organizations like Hezbollah, and people groups like the Palestinians. What’s interesting is that if you trace these bloodlines back far enough, we can see that many of these people came from Esau. So then when you study the actions of what the Palestinians and such are doing, they are trying to be a great nation on their own strength, and they want the land of Israel as their own. Why do you suppose that is?
Now here is the interesting thing: these current event situations have become matters of global concern. The Palestinians have been campaigning for years with all the nations surrounding Israel (Jordan, Iran, Syria, Turkey, Egypt, and so on), and these matters have even entered into the arena of the United Nations. For these reasons and many others, Israel has been a major point of contention for world peace for much of history. Edom has been trying to mess with the promises of God and has been trying to take what God has promised to Israel. The funny thing is that in spite of the volume of attempts, and even though Edom has gained support from much of the world, Israel remains standing! In 1948 Israel became an independent nation once again. In 1967 Israel maintained possession of its capital city, Jerusalem. Since then, the efforts to strip Israel of these promissory benefits have increased; so much so that we have seen wars and terrorist attacks and violent skirmishes have become a regular occurrence in the land of Israel. Yet still, as the attempts to nullify God’s promises to Israel intensify, God continues to deliver! Israel is still a great nation (one of the wealthiest in finances and natural resources in the world, with a large population), and Israel still has the land (in spite of frequent threats to destroy it).
In Obadiah 1:17 God promised that He would deliver Israel from the persecution it would take on during the end times. Though Edom and others would seek to destroy them, God tells us that this will, in no way, affect His ability to continue to deliver on His eternal promises. Israel will not just be delivered, but holiness will be brought to it! The Bible teaches us that in the end times, “The World” will come against Israel, yet God backs up His promise that Israel will remain the great nation in the land that He promised. So what does this have to do with us Gentiles? Well consider this reality for a moment: when we’re talking about Israel and God’s promises to Israel, and the Edomite attempts to disrupt God’s ability to deliver on His promises, we’re talking about massive global matters. Yet, does the size of the problem affect God’s ability to deliver?
See, when we look at the challenges that we all face on an individual level, if we were to measure them up to the challenges that Israel faces as a nation relating to God’s promises, our problems seem pretty minute in comparison. Yet we can look at Israel today, a week from today, a year from today, a decade from today, a century from today, and rest assured that they will still be the great nation God promised, they will still be in the land, and Jesus the Messiah did come from them. The size of the perceived problem doesn’t phase God one bit. This should give us confidence in our Lord. If He can easily manage situations like Israel’s peace and sovereignty, He can certainly handle our financial matters or relationship issues. He can certainly handle our education or our family situations. Sometimes we get so bogged down in our personal situations, and get so close to ground zero, that we forget how big our Savior is and how high up He is. In Psalm 11, we can see David go though a normal human thought progression. He looks at his problem and is scared. He is tempted to make a move in the flesh and move from where God wants him. But in this thought process; David interrupts himself to remind himself of God, His position, and His ability. The rest of the Psalm shows a different David. The rest of the Psalm shows a David that is content, at peace, and focused on the Lord who delivers, and David is confident!
We need to remember who our God is. He doesn’t think like us. His ability is way greater than we can ever imagine. He spoke the entire universe into existence, and if you need something more tangible to relate to, He maintains His promises to Israel in spite of GLOBAL opposition. Yes, God is taking on the world, AND WINNING! That’s our God. Remember that the next time your are tempted to fear your circumstances. Remember that the next time “the waiting game” for God’s response on an issue takes longer than you expect. Remember that the next time life gets real and you find yourself in the right position of the Lord’s feet begging for mercy and deliverance. A lot of people know God’s promises, but sometimes we forget He is still fulfilling them. Rest assured in confidence that God will never stop fulfilling His promises, and we can look to Israel, as well as many other places, as proof. Believe that God’s love for you is great enough for Him to keep fulfilling His promises to you – no matter what circumstance look like around you!
God bless,
What’s good y’all? We hope all are blessed and doing whatever is necessary to maintain and nurture your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. As we enter into the second month of the year, many times the hype and excitement of entering into a new year has fizzled away. Most New Year’s resolutions have been broken by now and the normal grind of life has kicked back in. So at least for ourselves, a reminder of God’s promises seemed to be in order, to help push us through this marathon called life. We know that God has made a lot of promises through the Bible and we know that God will fulfill them, but sometimes it’s good to see how God is currently fulfilling some of His BIG promises to build our confidence in the Lord. So today, that’s what we’re going to do!
The Book of Obadiah is a pretty simple book. It’s just one chapter, made up of 21 verses and it has one central theme – judgment of Edom. Now Edom is a very special character in the Bible that is often talked about in the context of judgment; here is why. In Genesis chapter 25 we are told of the birth of Jacob and Esau – a set of twin brothers who warred against each other even while they were in the womb. These were two brothers that just didn’t get along. So as we read through Genesis 25 it says this:
“Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was Edom. But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.” And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?” Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright (Genesis 25:29-34).”
So in this portion of scripture we get a pretty good glimpse into the person of Esau, who is Edom (from which the Edomites come from), and what matters most to this guy. In the Hebrew culture, the first-born child was to receive a blessing and inheritance from their father upon their father’s death. Now Jacob and Esau’s father was Isaac, and his father was Abraham. So because of Abraham and Isaac, Esau’s birthright would have been a great one! Esau’s birthright and blessing would have been that which God promised to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12: the promise of being a great nation, possessing the promised land, and having the blessing of the Messiah come from him. Yet we’re told that Esau sold this birthright and all the promises that came with it for some soup! In fact the scriptures tell us quite plainly that Esau “despised” his birthright; and we should understand that Esau was not really dying as he says, he was just hungry (as when we say “we’re starving” though we’re not literally starving). He simply didn’t care about that birthright stuff. Esau was more concerned about the desire of “now” rather than the birthright privileges of the future. Esau was led by his fleshly desires, not the promises of God and his fathers; and it cost him. Esau was more concerned about his own wants and needs of the moment rather than the eternal promises of God; and it is for this reason that God even said, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau have I hated (Romans 9:13).” Now this doesn’t mean that God literally hated Esau, God hated the fact that Esau chose some soup over the blessings that God had for him. God hates that we would choose something of temporal value or no value over the value of His eternal love and grace.
As you continue to read through the Bible, we begin to learn that Esau was affected by this dumb decision to sell his birthright. While Jacob would use to trickery to solidify the deal with his father, Esau’s heart was exposed and Esau would greatly regret it down the line. As time would progress, Esau would hate his brother. As you read through Israel’s history, you’ll find that more often than not, Esau is causing trouble for the Jews. They team up with other nations to provide headache, and many times Esau turned their brothers, the Jews, over to enemy nations, and many Jews suffered and were killed as a result. In fact, when you read through Psalm 83, you’ll find that the hatred the people of Esau had for Israel, festered into hatred that the Edomites would have for God Himself. Because of the decision to sell his birthright, Esau would pass on this horrible spirit of jealousy and hate so that it would be directed at God by messing with God’s chosen people. In Psalm 83, we are told that in the end times, the Edomites would lead a confederation against Israel, “That the name of Israel may be remembered no more (Psalm 83:4).” So understanding all of this, when you get to the book of Obadiah, God’s tone and rhetoric should make perfect sense.
The people of Edom hated God for blessing Israel. So throughout history, and even today, the people of Edom have been harassing Israel, trying to affect the promises God made to Israel. God made 3 promises to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12: Abraham’s descendants would be a great nation, they would possess the Promised Land of Israel – including Jerusalem, and a blessing to all the families of the earth would come from this family (Jesus Christ). These promises were supposed to go to Esau, but Esau by his own foolish choice to fulfill the desires of his selfish flesh, gave that up. So the Edomites have been trying to take the land and become their own great nation ever since. Esau has been trying to keep God from fulfilling His promises since Genesis chapter 25, even until today. Today we hear about these skirmishes in Israel dealing with some terrorist organizations like Hezbollah, and people groups like the Palestinians. What’s interesting is that if you trace these bloodlines back far enough, we can see that many of these people came from Esau. So then when you study the actions of what the Palestinians and such are doing, they are trying to be a great nation on their own strength, and they want the land of Israel as their own. Why do you suppose that is?
Now here is the interesting thing: these current event situations have become matters of global concern. The Palestinians have been campaigning for years with all the nations surrounding Israel (Jordan, Iran, Syria, Turkey, Egypt, and so on), and these matters have even entered into the arena of the United Nations. For these reasons and many others, Israel has been a major point of contention for world peace for much of history. Edom has been trying to mess with the promises of God and has been trying to take what God has promised to Israel. The funny thing is that in spite of the volume of attempts, and even though Edom has gained support from much of the world, Israel remains standing! In 1948 Israel became an independent nation once again. In 1967 Israel maintained possession of its capital city, Jerusalem. Since then, the efforts to strip Israel of these promissory benefits have increased; so much so that we have seen wars and terrorist attacks and violent skirmishes have become a regular occurrence in the land of Israel. Yet still, as the attempts to nullify God’s promises to Israel intensify, God continues to deliver! Israel is still a great nation (one of the wealthiest in finances and natural resources in the world, with a large population), and Israel still has the land (in spite of frequent threats to destroy it).
In Obadiah 1:17 God promised that He would deliver Israel from the persecution it would take on during the end times. Though Edom and others would seek to destroy them, God tells us that this will, in no way, affect His ability to continue to deliver on His eternal promises. Israel will not just be delivered, but holiness will be brought to it! The Bible teaches us that in the end times, “The World” will come against Israel, yet God backs up His promise that Israel will remain the great nation in the land that He promised. So what does this have to do with us Gentiles? Well consider this reality for a moment: when we’re talking about Israel and God’s promises to Israel, and the Edomite attempts to disrupt God’s ability to deliver on His promises, we’re talking about massive global matters. Yet, does the size of the problem affect God’s ability to deliver?
See, when we look at the challenges that we all face on an individual level, if we were to measure them up to the challenges that Israel faces as a nation relating to God’s promises, our problems seem pretty minute in comparison. Yet we can look at Israel today, a week from today, a year from today, a decade from today, a century from today, and rest assured that they will still be the great nation God promised, they will still be in the land, and Jesus the Messiah did come from them. The size of the perceived problem doesn’t phase God one bit. This should give us confidence in our Lord. If He can easily manage situations like Israel’s peace and sovereignty, He can certainly handle our financial matters or relationship issues. He can certainly handle our education or our family situations. Sometimes we get so bogged down in our personal situations, and get so close to ground zero, that we forget how big our Savior is and how high up He is. In Psalm 11, we can see David go though a normal human thought progression. He looks at his problem and is scared. He is tempted to make a move in the flesh and move from where God wants him. But in this thought process; David interrupts himself to remind himself of God, His position, and His ability. The rest of the Psalm shows a different David. The rest of the Psalm shows a David that is content, at peace, and focused on the Lord who delivers, and David is confident!
We need to remember who our God is. He doesn’t think like us. His ability is way greater than we can ever imagine. He spoke the entire universe into existence, and if you need something more tangible to relate to, He maintains His promises to Israel in spite of GLOBAL opposition. Yes, God is taking on the world, AND WINNING! That’s our God. Remember that the next time your are tempted to fear your circumstances. Remember that the next time “the waiting game” for God’s response on an issue takes longer than you expect. Remember that the next time life gets real and you find yourself in the right position of the Lord’s feet begging for mercy and deliverance. A lot of people know God’s promises, but sometimes we forget He is still fulfilling them. Rest assured in confidence that God will never stop fulfilling His promises, and we can look to Israel, as well as many other places, as proof. Believe that God’s love for you is great enough for Him to keep fulfilling His promises to you – no matter what circumstance look like around you!
God bless,
Mid Week Bible Build Up 1/25/12
2 Timothy 4:1-5 – I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus
Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His
kingdom: preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke,
exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because
they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they
will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But
you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an
evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
What’s good y’all? We hope everyone is well and continuing on strong with trust and confidence in the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ! This week’s Bible Build Up is pretty loaded, so without wasting too much time, we’ll jump right in…
To understand the context of this scripture, we need to know that this is Paul’s letter to a young pastor named Timothy. So while we read some things that may apply to those who don’t fit that description, we need to know that there are some things amongst this section of scripture that are meant only for Timothy or people like him. So we’ll do our best to make this comprehensive and deliver the Word to you the way God intended. Paul spends the first 3 chapters of his second letter to Timothy trying to encourage him. The Bible describes Timothy as an emotional guy who is often easily defeated or bummed out. Considering his role as a pastor for a new church (being that the concept of “the church” was new in itself), and being a young guy, you can imagine that he was often confused, overwhelmed, and hopeless. Paul was trying to encourage Timothy to not be any of that, but to stand fast in love, patience, confidence in his calling, and boldness in the message he was proclaiming.
Then we get to chapter 4, just after Paul informed Timothy that in spite of his calling and promise of victory, there would be difficult times ahead, and Paul emphatically calls Timothy to preach the word! For a ministry like that of Proper Knowledge, we got to tell y’all, this is great to hear! As people, we have grown accustomed to measuring our levels of success by looking at numbers. Quite candidly, Proper Knowledge as a ministry that doesn’t really have numbers that we can boast about. Yet we have a very good understanding of what it takes to get “the numbers.” Paul had this understanding too and he spoke of it here in this scripture. See, for a simple Bible-teaching ministry, the temptation to do “more” is always present, yet Paul emphasized to Timothy the simple truth that the Word of God needs to be preached. The truth of Jesus Christ needs to be proclaimed, and it needs to be proclaimed in fullness and in truth. The word “preach” means to proclaim openly something that has been done. Paul is emphasizing the need of a person to speak of the things God the Father and Jesus the Son had done. So while we are always tempted to complicate our ministry to be something that does “more” it’s nice to hear from the Word of God that the emphasis simply needs to be on the proclamation of the Gospel message of Jesus Christ! So we would encourage you all to really understand that and do the best you can – as the Lord leads – to support ministries that focus on the essential and critical need of preaching the Word of God.
Paul next gives some advice to Timothy that we feel is applicable to just about any Christian, whether a pastor, ministry worker, or basic believer. Paul says to be ready in season and out of season, and then gives a list of things to do that we should be ready to do. First we need to understand what Paul means by being ready in and out of season. Many times, for many of us, God will use us in seasons. This is a good thing. I’m not sure many human beings are physically able to keep up with the powerful work of the Holy Spirit every single day. There are often extended periods of times where we will sometimes feel as if the Lord isn’t doing so much with us or that we’re just tired and need to take a break. From our experience in ministry and in working with others involved in ministry, this is a pretty common and normal thing. But at what point to we know to get back up and get back in the game to hit it hard? This is why Paul encourages Timothy to be ready at all times. We never really know what the Lord is doing with us. We don’t know whom He’s going to bring our way. We don’t know what types of situations He’s going to put us in. We don’t know how long He’s going to keep us in certain places or phases in our lives. There’s a lot of guess work and waiting involved with walking with the Lord simply because His ways are not ours. So then we need to be prepared at all times. Us being football fans, we were able to watch a few games and see some interesting things relating to this point. This year there were a lot of quarterbacks who were hurt. That left the door open for some lower positioned players to step up and perform. However, it was pretty clear that some of those quarterbacks whose numbers were called without warning to get in the game, were simply not ready. The challenge with that is when that player proved to the coaching staff that he was not ready to play at the level he was being asked to play at, it really makes it difficult for a coach to be willing to call on that player again.
Now when we talk about being ready, we don’t need to look at this, as if our failure to be ready will affect God’s ability to do His work. God’s will is going to be done whether you’re ready or not. We just need to know that He really wants to bless us by using us, but if we’re not ready, it can be a humbling experience you may not want, and more importantly, there runs a high risk of missing out on a blessing from the Lord. So then what are we supposed to be ready to do? Paul gives us a short list of things the Lord might call us to do – at any time – times we don’t know. Paul says that we need to be ready to convince, rebuke, and exhort. So let’s break these down so that we can best prepare ourselves:
Convince: The word used here in the original King James Version is the word reprove. In simple terms, this means to correct. So what does that mean exactly? To make this quick, we need to understand something about the devil. The Bible teaches us that he is the father of lies. The Bible teaches us that right now, the devil is the ruler of this world. So then the doctrines of the world would then be lies. This is a tough truth, but truth nonetheless. The Bible teaches that Jesus is the truth, and that the Word of God is Jesus thereby making the Word of God truth. So then if the Bible is truth, and the doctrines of the world are lies, we need to use the Bible to correct people’s understanding of these lies and be prepared to explain the truth as it pertains to these lies. So when we are told to convince, this is what we’re talking about.
Rebuke: The English dictionary defines rebuking as sharply criticizing or reprimanding. We would say today “calling someone out.” Now we need to understand the context of this word here. Remember that Paul is encouraging Timothy as a pastor to lead his congregation to Christ with boldness. So then it’s not like Paul is telling Timothy to go out and just slam a bunch of people. Rather, when we’re called to rebuke, we’re called to make people aware of the things they do that don’t align with God’s will and encourage them to correct themselves. Rebuking sometimes involves public condemnation and reproofing, but as we are called to do this with the objective to lead to Jesus, this is to be in truth and in love at all times. We are told to be prepared to do this when necessary as the Holy Spirit is leading.
Exhort: People are often confused by the word exhortation. We know it’s a good thing, but many don’t fully understand what exhortation is. Exhortation is making an urgent appeal to action of some kind. It means to give warnings or advice with an intense call for some response. As we look at this definition, we can see that Paul is really exhorting Timothy here in this scripture. He is making a really strong case for why Timothy should respond to the advice Paul is giving and is pretty urgent in his call for Timothy to get out of his emotional funk and move forward with strength in Jesus name. Sometimes we’ll be called to speak a word of encouragement and fire people up, and within that encouragement we may need to make an urgent appeal for a person to change direction, make a certain move, or maybe even refrain from certain actions. Paul is letting us know that God wants to use us this way, so we must be ready.
Now as we understand these 3 dynamics, Paul wants us to know that this will also require us to be patient. Why will we need to be patient? For those of you with experience in ministry or having been called to convince, rebuke or exhort before, you know that the response isn’t always positive or productive. So we need to be patient and understand that we won’t shoot 100%. Every interaction will not produce results you expect. Remember, God’s ways are not our ways, and so what we would define as success is not necessarily what God would call success. Paul does give us another purpose for patience: a time is coming – and we believe that the time is now – where people won’t want to hear the truth. Paul says a time is coming, which we believe is here, where people won’t endure sound doctrine. They won’t want to hear the fullness of God’s word. They won’t want to know about the whole truth about who God is. They will be offended or turned off by certain Biblical teachings and won’t want to be taught these things.
In verse 3 Paul says that people will seek words that fulfill their own desires because of itching ears, and that these people will go so far as to find and raise up teachers who will produce the results and rhetoric they want – not what God wants. We see this a lot today. Many times we see people visiting a bunch of different churches and fellowships. It was difficult to understand why that was until the Lord provided an analogy that made this situation very clear. Remember back in the day (for your older folks) when you were hanging out with your friends and it was getting close to dinnertime? Many times we would ask each other what each friend was having for dinner at their house. Then we would all choose the house that had the best dinner that we wanted that day. Yet when you look at this situation many can relate to, did our choice for that meal take into consideration what our parents wanted for us, or that we weren’t eating with our family at home? It’s interesting that people will have a home fellowship that God has called them to, but are selective in what studies they attend based on “what food is being served.” We find that often times, there is little consideration for the “meal” the Father wants us to eat, so many times we eat somewhere besides our own “home.” Can we call these “itching ears?” Who really knows? Yet it does present a pretty good case for heaping up teachers for the sake of hearing messages that cater to their own desires. A common mentality has become, “Let me go to the study with Pastor Tickle-Your-Ear at Other-Friend’s-House Church because he’ll say what I want to hear, and the study at home isn’t something I want right now even though that’s what my Father has for me.” Because of the wide variety of “selection” many have made church like a buffet – and we’re just going to the places that serve what we want – not necessarily what we need. The Bible said this would happen, and we see a lot of it today.
Yet Paul calls Timothy to be patient with this. For those who are called in season to convince, rebuke or exhort, we would encourage you to be patient as well. Don’t take this reality as a failure on your behalf or get frustrated. This is simply a case of the Word of God fulfilling itself, and has little to do with you. Don’t get discouraged, don’t condemn yourself, and don’t give up! People today are turning from the truth in large multitudes. Less and less people are willing to listen to the full counsel of God’s word and make the changes they need to in their own lives when the Bible instructs them to. It’s not you, so keep going! Though it hurts to watch people destroy themselves with bad decisions while living in fables, it was never up to you to change that person. It’s been under God’s control the whole time – so be encouraged! Though we weren’t all called to be pastors like Timothy, God wants to use us to convince, rebuke and exhort so that God would receive His glory. Just remember that our job is not to produce results, it is simply to be obedient to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. So be of good cheer and know that while we are in times where more people want to listen less to the Word of God, we will be blessed in our willingness to be obedient! So move forward with peace, and confidence as you prepare to be used and fulfill your ministry!
God bless,
What’s good y’all? We hope everyone is well and continuing on strong with trust and confidence in the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ! This week’s Bible Build Up is pretty loaded, so without wasting too much time, we’ll jump right in…
To understand the context of this scripture, we need to know that this is Paul’s letter to a young pastor named Timothy. So while we read some things that may apply to those who don’t fit that description, we need to know that there are some things amongst this section of scripture that are meant only for Timothy or people like him. So we’ll do our best to make this comprehensive and deliver the Word to you the way God intended. Paul spends the first 3 chapters of his second letter to Timothy trying to encourage him. The Bible describes Timothy as an emotional guy who is often easily defeated or bummed out. Considering his role as a pastor for a new church (being that the concept of “the church” was new in itself), and being a young guy, you can imagine that he was often confused, overwhelmed, and hopeless. Paul was trying to encourage Timothy to not be any of that, but to stand fast in love, patience, confidence in his calling, and boldness in the message he was proclaiming.
Then we get to chapter 4, just after Paul informed Timothy that in spite of his calling and promise of victory, there would be difficult times ahead, and Paul emphatically calls Timothy to preach the word! For a ministry like that of Proper Knowledge, we got to tell y’all, this is great to hear! As people, we have grown accustomed to measuring our levels of success by looking at numbers. Quite candidly, Proper Knowledge as a ministry that doesn’t really have numbers that we can boast about. Yet we have a very good understanding of what it takes to get “the numbers.” Paul had this understanding too and he spoke of it here in this scripture. See, for a simple Bible-teaching ministry, the temptation to do “more” is always present, yet Paul emphasized to Timothy the simple truth that the Word of God needs to be preached. The truth of Jesus Christ needs to be proclaimed, and it needs to be proclaimed in fullness and in truth. The word “preach” means to proclaim openly something that has been done. Paul is emphasizing the need of a person to speak of the things God the Father and Jesus the Son had done. So while we are always tempted to complicate our ministry to be something that does “more” it’s nice to hear from the Word of God that the emphasis simply needs to be on the proclamation of the Gospel message of Jesus Christ! So we would encourage you all to really understand that and do the best you can – as the Lord leads – to support ministries that focus on the essential and critical need of preaching the Word of God.
Paul next gives some advice to Timothy that we feel is applicable to just about any Christian, whether a pastor, ministry worker, or basic believer. Paul says to be ready in season and out of season, and then gives a list of things to do that we should be ready to do. First we need to understand what Paul means by being ready in and out of season. Many times, for many of us, God will use us in seasons. This is a good thing. I’m not sure many human beings are physically able to keep up with the powerful work of the Holy Spirit every single day. There are often extended periods of times where we will sometimes feel as if the Lord isn’t doing so much with us or that we’re just tired and need to take a break. From our experience in ministry and in working with others involved in ministry, this is a pretty common and normal thing. But at what point to we know to get back up and get back in the game to hit it hard? This is why Paul encourages Timothy to be ready at all times. We never really know what the Lord is doing with us. We don’t know whom He’s going to bring our way. We don’t know what types of situations He’s going to put us in. We don’t know how long He’s going to keep us in certain places or phases in our lives. There’s a lot of guess work and waiting involved with walking with the Lord simply because His ways are not ours. So then we need to be prepared at all times. Us being football fans, we were able to watch a few games and see some interesting things relating to this point. This year there were a lot of quarterbacks who were hurt. That left the door open for some lower positioned players to step up and perform. However, it was pretty clear that some of those quarterbacks whose numbers were called without warning to get in the game, were simply not ready. The challenge with that is when that player proved to the coaching staff that he was not ready to play at the level he was being asked to play at, it really makes it difficult for a coach to be willing to call on that player again.
Now when we talk about being ready, we don’t need to look at this, as if our failure to be ready will affect God’s ability to do His work. God’s will is going to be done whether you’re ready or not. We just need to know that He really wants to bless us by using us, but if we’re not ready, it can be a humbling experience you may not want, and more importantly, there runs a high risk of missing out on a blessing from the Lord. So then what are we supposed to be ready to do? Paul gives us a short list of things the Lord might call us to do – at any time – times we don’t know. Paul says that we need to be ready to convince, rebuke, and exhort. So let’s break these down so that we can best prepare ourselves:
Convince: The word used here in the original King James Version is the word reprove. In simple terms, this means to correct. So what does that mean exactly? To make this quick, we need to understand something about the devil. The Bible teaches us that he is the father of lies. The Bible teaches us that right now, the devil is the ruler of this world. So then the doctrines of the world would then be lies. This is a tough truth, but truth nonetheless. The Bible teaches that Jesus is the truth, and that the Word of God is Jesus thereby making the Word of God truth. So then if the Bible is truth, and the doctrines of the world are lies, we need to use the Bible to correct people’s understanding of these lies and be prepared to explain the truth as it pertains to these lies. So when we are told to convince, this is what we’re talking about.
Rebuke: The English dictionary defines rebuking as sharply criticizing or reprimanding. We would say today “calling someone out.” Now we need to understand the context of this word here. Remember that Paul is encouraging Timothy as a pastor to lead his congregation to Christ with boldness. So then it’s not like Paul is telling Timothy to go out and just slam a bunch of people. Rather, when we’re called to rebuke, we’re called to make people aware of the things they do that don’t align with God’s will and encourage them to correct themselves. Rebuking sometimes involves public condemnation and reproofing, but as we are called to do this with the objective to lead to Jesus, this is to be in truth and in love at all times. We are told to be prepared to do this when necessary as the Holy Spirit is leading.
Exhort: People are often confused by the word exhortation. We know it’s a good thing, but many don’t fully understand what exhortation is. Exhortation is making an urgent appeal to action of some kind. It means to give warnings or advice with an intense call for some response. As we look at this definition, we can see that Paul is really exhorting Timothy here in this scripture. He is making a really strong case for why Timothy should respond to the advice Paul is giving and is pretty urgent in his call for Timothy to get out of his emotional funk and move forward with strength in Jesus name. Sometimes we’ll be called to speak a word of encouragement and fire people up, and within that encouragement we may need to make an urgent appeal for a person to change direction, make a certain move, or maybe even refrain from certain actions. Paul is letting us know that God wants to use us this way, so we must be ready.
Now as we understand these 3 dynamics, Paul wants us to know that this will also require us to be patient. Why will we need to be patient? For those of you with experience in ministry or having been called to convince, rebuke or exhort before, you know that the response isn’t always positive or productive. So we need to be patient and understand that we won’t shoot 100%. Every interaction will not produce results you expect. Remember, God’s ways are not our ways, and so what we would define as success is not necessarily what God would call success. Paul does give us another purpose for patience: a time is coming – and we believe that the time is now – where people won’t want to hear the truth. Paul says a time is coming, which we believe is here, where people won’t endure sound doctrine. They won’t want to hear the fullness of God’s word. They won’t want to know about the whole truth about who God is. They will be offended or turned off by certain Biblical teachings and won’t want to be taught these things.
In verse 3 Paul says that people will seek words that fulfill their own desires because of itching ears, and that these people will go so far as to find and raise up teachers who will produce the results and rhetoric they want – not what God wants. We see this a lot today. Many times we see people visiting a bunch of different churches and fellowships. It was difficult to understand why that was until the Lord provided an analogy that made this situation very clear. Remember back in the day (for your older folks) when you were hanging out with your friends and it was getting close to dinnertime? Many times we would ask each other what each friend was having for dinner at their house. Then we would all choose the house that had the best dinner that we wanted that day. Yet when you look at this situation many can relate to, did our choice for that meal take into consideration what our parents wanted for us, or that we weren’t eating with our family at home? It’s interesting that people will have a home fellowship that God has called them to, but are selective in what studies they attend based on “what food is being served.” We find that often times, there is little consideration for the “meal” the Father wants us to eat, so many times we eat somewhere besides our own “home.” Can we call these “itching ears?” Who really knows? Yet it does present a pretty good case for heaping up teachers for the sake of hearing messages that cater to their own desires. A common mentality has become, “Let me go to the study with Pastor Tickle-Your-Ear at Other-Friend’s-House Church because he’ll say what I want to hear, and the study at home isn’t something I want right now even though that’s what my Father has for me.” Because of the wide variety of “selection” many have made church like a buffet – and we’re just going to the places that serve what we want – not necessarily what we need. The Bible said this would happen, and we see a lot of it today.
Yet Paul calls Timothy to be patient with this. For those who are called in season to convince, rebuke or exhort, we would encourage you to be patient as well. Don’t take this reality as a failure on your behalf or get frustrated. This is simply a case of the Word of God fulfilling itself, and has little to do with you. Don’t get discouraged, don’t condemn yourself, and don’t give up! People today are turning from the truth in large multitudes. Less and less people are willing to listen to the full counsel of God’s word and make the changes they need to in their own lives when the Bible instructs them to. It’s not you, so keep going! Though it hurts to watch people destroy themselves with bad decisions while living in fables, it was never up to you to change that person. It’s been under God’s control the whole time – so be encouraged! Though we weren’t all called to be pastors like Timothy, God wants to use us to convince, rebuke and exhort so that God would receive His glory. Just remember that our job is not to produce results, it is simply to be obedient to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. So be of good cheer and know that while we are in times where more people want to listen less to the Word of God, we will be blessed in our willingness to be obedient! So move forward with peace, and confidence as you prepare to be used and fulfill your ministry!
God bless,
Mid Week Bible Build Up 1/18/12
Jeremiah 23:6 – In his
days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by
which He will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.
What’s good y’all? We hope everyone is blessed and marching strong in the confidence of victory in Christ Jesus. This week’s scripture is another encouraging one. As we’ve been going through the Book of Matthew on The Proper Knowledge Mix Show, we’ve spent the last couple of weeks covering The Beatitudes. With that comes a certain set of challenges. You look at what Jesus defines as a “blessed” person, then, come to the understanding that it’s kind of impossible to be blessed. The standards that Jesus sets are impossible for us to achieve on our own. Yet Jesus told the world that unless our righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees, we cannot enter into the kingdom of God (Matthew 5:20); meaning that efforts based on our own merits and ability aren’t good enough to get us in. Praise the Lord for Jeremiah 23:6!
When you read Jeremiah chapter 20, it’s hard to be encouraged if you miss verse 6. All of Jeremiah chapter 20 deals with the reality that Israel’s finest had failed. The priests who were supposed to be the examples of righteousness and godliness blew it. They had corrupted the sacrificial system and were acting corruptly in most facets of life. The kings of Israel were leading the people in idolatry, not the worship of Yahweh. There were false prophets running around like crazy, misinforming the Jews and misleading them. So in Jeremiah chapter 20, you see God dealing with this reality. He is addressing the leadership of Israel and showing the many ways that they were not worthy of their positions. Those who were supposed to be the foundation of Israel’s righteousness by leading the people to Yahweh were unable to perform their duties in any sense of purity or effectiveness. All in all, the best man could provide wasn’t cutting it. Yet we have this statement God makes in verse 6 that is the foundation for the hope of every single believer in the entire world.
The Bible teaches us that God has 16 titles, or names that refer to the character and nature of God. One of them is Jehovah Tsidkenu, which means, The Lord Our Righteousness. So when we look at Jeremiah 23:6, we’re not just looking at a statement God makes to the Jews. When we look at Jeremiah 23:6, we’re not just looking at another one of God’s promises. When we look at Jeremiah 23:6, we’re looking at the DNA make-up of God. When we see the title Jehovah Tsidkenu, we need to understand that God is giving us revelation about His inner most nature. He is allowing us to know this so that we would have an understanding of His identity and worship Him as a result. So then what does it mean that the Lord is our righteousness? Well, when you read Jeremiah chapter 20, even though God is referring to Himself bringing judgment on a nation that deserved it, when He speaks of Himself as Jehovah Tsidkenu, He is actually speaking of the Messiah – He’s speaking of Jesus. So then as Yahweh is Jehovah Tsidkenu, so is Jesus Messiah.
“He who has seen Me has seen the Father… (John 14:9)”
Here’s the deal, we’ll make this really quick. When you look at the Old Testament law, if you’re honest with yourself, you’ll quickly come to the conclusion that you can’t follow it to perfection, as God requires. Most people can’t even list the 10 Commandments let alone follow them daily. We can evaluate the commandments Jesus said were the two greatest and know how difficult it is to love the Lord our God daily, and love our neighbors as ourselves – including our enemies. When it comes to the efforts of human beings to “earn” righteousness, we simply can’t do it. The Beatitudes were a list of qualities a righteous person has – one who is qualified to enter into the kingdom of God. Yet when we look at those qualities, we can see that most of us don’t naturally have all of those qualities. So if we all come to arrive at reality, reality shows us that, just like the leaders of Israel during the times of Jeremiah, we fail too. Our efforts don’t cut it now just like the efforts of “Israel’s Finest” didn’t cut it then. If it were up to our own righteousness to get into heaven, none of us would get there – this is plain and simple truth.
Here is a better truth: The Lord is our Righteousness! A lot of people wonder why God set us up for failure. People have a hard time with the Old Testament law and what Jesus means to that. If God knew we wouldn’t be able to obey they law, why did He give it?
“Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:24)”
The purpose of the law is to point out our faults. The more we study God’s law, the greater understanding we have of our need for a Savior. That’s why we’re fans of teaching the whole Bible – including the Old Testament law. The greater understanding we have of the law, the greater understanding we have of ourselves as sinners, and the more we appreciate the Lord being our righteousness – the more you fall in love with Jesus. It’s amazing to see God’s plan and how God’s nature is what allows the plan to succeed. God knew that we were weak in our efforts to please Him. Our ability runs pretty thin. But as part of God’s nature, He could not sit on the sideline while we continued in our pitiful failure. As part of His nature, He had to not just intercede, but intercept – He took the ball out of the air and ran in the other direction with it. If the ball represents our lives, God takes possession of it and runs in a different direction than our own objective. What I love about God being our righteousness through Jesus is that He is in control. He is in possession. It is not our righteousness that is being changed, leaving the possibility of fault or error. It is God’s own righteousness. It is perfection being assigned to us. God is snatching us out of the air – where we were destined to successfully achieve death – and is carrying us by His own ability and strength to the right side of the field. It’s like Ed Reed surveying the field and bringing possession back to the right team – the winning team (sorry, we’re Baltimore Ravens fans in the Proper Knowledge crew).
So moving off of the football analogies, what does this all mean? It means that we can’t get to heaven by our strength or “goodness.” Remember that the Bible teaches us that no one is righteous, no not one. So God, as part of His loving character, came to this earth in the flesh as Yeshua ha Mashiach (Jesus Messiah) so that He could live as perfection, thereby satisfying God’s criteria to enter into heaven. Then God made it so that all we have to do is believe in, and live for Jesus and His perfection would be assigned to us – in spite of our imperfection. This means that our sins are forgiven – all of them! If we would simply confess our sin to the Lord, the perfect righteousness of Jesus would be placed over us. The thing I love about assuming the righteousness of Jesus Himself is that there is no opportunity for error! If we would be willing to believe, and live like we do, we can live with confidence of our eternal destination! We can live assured that we will inherit the kingdom of heaven – not because of our ability, but because of God’s grace as part of His DNA. Here’s the thing, God is giving us His righteousness to wear as a uniform in Jesus. You can’t get into heaven unless you have THIS uniform on, but God is giving it to us. We don’t have to earn it – you can’t earn it anyway. We don’t have to pay for it. It’s free! All we have to do is go get it and put it on, and keep it on. If we’re wearing the righteousness of Jesus when the Lord calls us to die, the Bible teaches that God won’t see all of our mistakes and failures that defined us as people; God will see that we wore the uniform of Jesus Christ and by His merits, we will be allowed to enter into the presence of God!
If you believe in this truth, we would encourage you to walk accordingly: in the confidence of knowing your eternal destination, in all humility, understanding that you did nothing to earn this privilege, yet you are a recipient of the privilege nonetheless. If this truth is new to you, and you haven’t made the decision, or maybe don’t know how to live in the righteousness of Jesus Christ but would like to, click here. We’d like to pray for you and point you in the right direction. So just let us know what’s going on and we can let you know what to do next. So the next time you feel life coming on strong and trying to beat you down, remember that it’s not your efforts you’re relying on to please God; it’s the righteousness of Jesus Christ, so lean on Him by reading His word, praying, and obeying!
God bless,
What’s good y’all? We hope everyone is blessed and marching strong in the confidence of victory in Christ Jesus. This week’s scripture is another encouraging one. As we’ve been going through the Book of Matthew on The Proper Knowledge Mix Show, we’ve spent the last couple of weeks covering The Beatitudes. With that comes a certain set of challenges. You look at what Jesus defines as a “blessed” person, then, come to the understanding that it’s kind of impossible to be blessed. The standards that Jesus sets are impossible for us to achieve on our own. Yet Jesus told the world that unless our righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees, we cannot enter into the kingdom of God (Matthew 5:20); meaning that efforts based on our own merits and ability aren’t good enough to get us in. Praise the Lord for Jeremiah 23:6!
When you read Jeremiah chapter 20, it’s hard to be encouraged if you miss verse 6. All of Jeremiah chapter 20 deals with the reality that Israel’s finest had failed. The priests who were supposed to be the examples of righteousness and godliness blew it. They had corrupted the sacrificial system and were acting corruptly in most facets of life. The kings of Israel were leading the people in idolatry, not the worship of Yahweh. There were false prophets running around like crazy, misinforming the Jews and misleading them. So in Jeremiah chapter 20, you see God dealing with this reality. He is addressing the leadership of Israel and showing the many ways that they were not worthy of their positions. Those who were supposed to be the foundation of Israel’s righteousness by leading the people to Yahweh were unable to perform their duties in any sense of purity or effectiveness. All in all, the best man could provide wasn’t cutting it. Yet we have this statement God makes in verse 6 that is the foundation for the hope of every single believer in the entire world.
The Bible teaches us that God has 16 titles, or names that refer to the character and nature of God. One of them is Jehovah Tsidkenu, which means, The Lord Our Righteousness. So when we look at Jeremiah 23:6, we’re not just looking at a statement God makes to the Jews. When we look at Jeremiah 23:6, we’re not just looking at another one of God’s promises. When we look at Jeremiah 23:6, we’re looking at the DNA make-up of God. When we see the title Jehovah Tsidkenu, we need to understand that God is giving us revelation about His inner most nature. He is allowing us to know this so that we would have an understanding of His identity and worship Him as a result. So then what does it mean that the Lord is our righteousness? Well, when you read Jeremiah chapter 20, even though God is referring to Himself bringing judgment on a nation that deserved it, when He speaks of Himself as Jehovah Tsidkenu, He is actually speaking of the Messiah – He’s speaking of Jesus. So then as Yahweh is Jehovah Tsidkenu, so is Jesus Messiah.
“He who has seen Me has seen the Father… (John 14:9)”
Here’s the deal, we’ll make this really quick. When you look at the Old Testament law, if you’re honest with yourself, you’ll quickly come to the conclusion that you can’t follow it to perfection, as God requires. Most people can’t even list the 10 Commandments let alone follow them daily. We can evaluate the commandments Jesus said were the two greatest and know how difficult it is to love the Lord our God daily, and love our neighbors as ourselves – including our enemies. When it comes to the efforts of human beings to “earn” righteousness, we simply can’t do it. The Beatitudes were a list of qualities a righteous person has – one who is qualified to enter into the kingdom of God. Yet when we look at those qualities, we can see that most of us don’t naturally have all of those qualities. So if we all come to arrive at reality, reality shows us that, just like the leaders of Israel during the times of Jeremiah, we fail too. Our efforts don’t cut it now just like the efforts of “Israel’s Finest” didn’t cut it then. If it were up to our own righteousness to get into heaven, none of us would get there – this is plain and simple truth.
Here is a better truth: The Lord is our Righteousness! A lot of people wonder why God set us up for failure. People have a hard time with the Old Testament law and what Jesus means to that. If God knew we wouldn’t be able to obey they law, why did He give it?
“Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:24)”
The purpose of the law is to point out our faults. The more we study God’s law, the greater understanding we have of our need for a Savior. That’s why we’re fans of teaching the whole Bible – including the Old Testament law. The greater understanding we have of the law, the greater understanding we have of ourselves as sinners, and the more we appreciate the Lord being our righteousness – the more you fall in love with Jesus. It’s amazing to see God’s plan and how God’s nature is what allows the plan to succeed. God knew that we were weak in our efforts to please Him. Our ability runs pretty thin. But as part of God’s nature, He could not sit on the sideline while we continued in our pitiful failure. As part of His nature, He had to not just intercede, but intercept – He took the ball out of the air and ran in the other direction with it. If the ball represents our lives, God takes possession of it and runs in a different direction than our own objective. What I love about God being our righteousness through Jesus is that He is in control. He is in possession. It is not our righteousness that is being changed, leaving the possibility of fault or error. It is God’s own righteousness. It is perfection being assigned to us. God is snatching us out of the air – where we were destined to successfully achieve death – and is carrying us by His own ability and strength to the right side of the field. It’s like Ed Reed surveying the field and bringing possession back to the right team – the winning team (sorry, we’re Baltimore Ravens fans in the Proper Knowledge crew).
So moving off of the football analogies, what does this all mean? It means that we can’t get to heaven by our strength or “goodness.” Remember that the Bible teaches us that no one is righteous, no not one. So God, as part of His loving character, came to this earth in the flesh as Yeshua ha Mashiach (Jesus Messiah) so that He could live as perfection, thereby satisfying God’s criteria to enter into heaven. Then God made it so that all we have to do is believe in, and live for Jesus and His perfection would be assigned to us – in spite of our imperfection. This means that our sins are forgiven – all of them! If we would simply confess our sin to the Lord, the perfect righteousness of Jesus would be placed over us. The thing I love about assuming the righteousness of Jesus Himself is that there is no opportunity for error! If we would be willing to believe, and live like we do, we can live with confidence of our eternal destination! We can live assured that we will inherit the kingdom of heaven – not because of our ability, but because of God’s grace as part of His DNA. Here’s the thing, God is giving us His righteousness to wear as a uniform in Jesus. You can’t get into heaven unless you have THIS uniform on, but God is giving it to us. We don’t have to earn it – you can’t earn it anyway. We don’t have to pay for it. It’s free! All we have to do is go get it and put it on, and keep it on. If we’re wearing the righteousness of Jesus when the Lord calls us to die, the Bible teaches that God won’t see all of our mistakes and failures that defined us as people; God will see that we wore the uniform of Jesus Christ and by His merits, we will be allowed to enter into the presence of God!
If you believe in this truth, we would encourage you to walk accordingly: in the confidence of knowing your eternal destination, in all humility, understanding that you did nothing to earn this privilege, yet you are a recipient of the privilege nonetheless. If this truth is new to you, and you haven’t made the decision, or maybe don’t know how to live in the righteousness of Jesus Christ but would like to, click here. We’d like to pray for you and point you in the right direction. So just let us know what’s going on and we can let you know what to do next. So the next time you feel life coming on strong and trying to beat you down, remember that it’s not your efforts you’re relying on to please God; it’s the righteousness of Jesus Christ, so lean on Him by reading His word, praying, and obeying!
God bless,
Mid Week Bible Build Up 1/11/12
Deuteronomy 20:3-4 –
And he shall say to them, “Hear, O Israel: Today you are on the verge of battle
with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not
tremble or be terrified because of them; for the Lord your God is He who goes
with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”
What’s good y’all? We hope everyone is having a blessed week and as this new year has gotten into gear, things are hopeful! As our ministry has progressed into the year, we’ve noticed something kind of troubling. As we’re not even into the second month of the year, the spiritual warfare has increased significantly! We have observed that our minds are being tempted at a more intense pace. We have observed that our attitudes have to be checked harder. We are observing that the spirit of division is working harder amongst the ministries around us, as well as within our own. We are observing an increasingly high level of ungodly influences affect our children. We are observing a large number of brothers and sisters throw their hands up in frustration over these things and many others. If you can relate to any one, or combination of these things, we hope this message can encourage you!
We battle not against flesh and blood. The Bible teaches us that there are spiritual forces working against us – day in, and day out. As we move forward in time, we draw closer to the time that God has appointed to be His day of judgment. The Bible tells us that as we draw closer to this time, the battle of spirit against flesh will intensify. Spiritual warfare will become more obvious and these rulers of darkness will become more opportunistic. Some of you may be experiencing this in a very real way. We are right there with you. Yet the Bible stands firm and explicit on a very important teaching: that in spite of this warfare and its intensity, we have victory in Christ Jesus! As a result of this truth, we are told throughout the Bible that we are to be fearless, and walk worthy of our calling, having confidence in our Lord and Savior. Our portion of scripture today shows us that this is not simply a New Testament teaching; this teaching is a part of who God is!
The context of this passage is in reference to warfare. While some would discredit this passage of Deuteronomy by calling it irrelevant to anyone but a soldier, I believe Paul would dismiss that claim being that we are all Christian soldiers called to “fight the good fight.” This passage in Deuteronomy is considered part of the law; so then our verses we’re covering today will deal with God’s expectation and commands for us concerning warfare – spiritual or otherwise. While some would tell us that we are saved by grace and the law does not apply to us anymore, we’re here to tell you that is an incorrect approach to the Bible and illustrates a certain level of ignorance concerning not only the law, but Jesus Christ Himself. So we need to know that while this passage is speaking to Israel about the rules of warfare, these verses are key to the modern believer looking to be successful in spiritual warfare.
So how does our scripture begin? Our scripture begins with encouragement. We are told that when we are about to go into battle, do not be afraid! It’s important to pay attention to the tense here.
“Today you are on the VERGE of battle…”
This tells us that the battle has not yet arrived, but is coming soon. Yet still, the command is to be fearless. Earlier verses tell us that even when the circumstances of battle are heavily unfavorable, the command remains the same – fear not! Here is the reality that we face as Christians – we will do battle.
“And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake (Matthew 10:22).”
“We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22)”
“Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12).”
The Bible teaches throughout, that trouble is coming to the Christian; and Ephesians 6:12 tells us that the real heat is not coming from people or circumstances, but from the workings of hell. The Bible teaches us that a fight is coming our way, but Deuteronomy tells us that we should stand in courage even before the fight arises. Now we know from experience that this is easier said, than done. To look at any sort of enemy in the face without any trace of fear from within is usually a tale told only in mythology. Nevertheless God gave the command. Why would God give this kind of command that is seemingly so hard to obey? Why would God set us up this way and ask us to do something most of us can’t do? If the Lord would give us a command like this, how on earth are we supposed to execute it with success? The answer to these questions is really quite simple, and it lies within the portion of scripture we’re studying today. Examine closely the words of verse 4:
“For the Lord your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”
Here’s the important thing we want to realize here: this verse tells us that, God fighting for us, this is part of who He is. God being our warrior and provider for victory, this is part of His being – it is part of His nature and character. For example, a part of who we are as people, an element that defines us uniquely is our height. A person who is 5’10” is well acquainted with being that height. That person can’t really relate to what it is to be 6’4”. Being 5’10” is a part of who that person is. Everyday, you can bet that person will show up and look at you from the same height, fit through all of the doorways, be able to get in and out of their car normally, and so forth. You can put confidence in these facts. Just the same, we can put confidence in the fact that part of God’s being, part of what defines who God is uniquely, is His nature that He will fight for us to save us. See the challenge is that, in the example of our person who is 5’10”, over time that person may shrink, or experience some sort of accident that changes the physical make-up of his/her identity. If our example happens to be 5’10” at 12 years old, we can probably assume that person will grow. The point is, in human terms, there are a lot of variables that can change the identity, character, nature, and make-up of a person, and that may affect the level of confidence we hold in that person. Yet with God, we don’t have that problem.
“For I am the Lord, I change not… (Malachi 3:6)”
So then we can look at Deuteronomy 20:4 and see that part of God’s DNA is that He is our victory because He, Himself, will go out and fight our enemies to save us, and know that because God does not change, He still does this today. It should be no wonder that we have victory in the Son of God if God the Father has been our victory since the beginning. Sure, our enemies, troubles, and challenges may look intimidating, but Yahweh – the Creator of everything – WILL go out and bring you victory because it’s a part of Who He Is! Consider these names of God for a moment:
El Shaddai (The Lord God Almighty), El Elyon (The God Most High), El Olam (The Everlasting God), Jehovah Nissi (The Lord My Banner), Jehovah-Raah (The Lord My Shepherd), Jehovah Rapha (The Lord That Heals), Jehovah Shammah (The Lord Is There), Jehovah Tsidkenu (The Lord Our Righteousness), Jehovah Mekoddishkem (The Lord Who Sanctifies), Jehovah Jireh (The Lord Will Provide), Jehovah Shalom (The Lord Is Peace), Jehovah Sabaoth (The Lord of Hosts/Armies)
This is our God! These names represent the very character and nature of the Lord we serve. This God – this is the God who will go out and fight for us to save us, because that is also a part of who He is. No wonder God told us to be fearless even before the battle comes our way. See, here is what we’ve learned – the better understanding we have of who God is, the more courage we have been able to display in times of battle. Just the same, the more understanding we’ve had of who we are, the more courageous we have been as well. Here is what we mean by that. The last part of Deuteronomy 20:4 tells us that God will come to save us. This implies that without Him, there is certain defeat.
“For without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5)”
We need to know that the fight is coming our way because of our love for Christ – and its coming hard! Spiritual forces will recognize our commitment to Jesus and will stop at nothing to rob us of the gift of eternal life. Eternal life is gained through faith in Jesus, so these forces will attack our faith. They will discourage us. They will frustrate us. They will drive us to impatience. They will anger us. They will cause us to doubt. They will cause us to fear. They will cause us to self-isolate and/or divide. This is very important to understand: we cannot succeed in any way, shape, or form against these types of attacks without an understanding of who our Savior is AND who we are; for without Him, we can do nothing, but with Him we can do all things. We need to know that our ability to fight against the enemy attacks in the flesh is futile; but our willingness to seek our Lord and His victory is fruitful.
We need to know our God. We need to know who He is. We need to know what He does. We need to know His promises. Then, and only then, will we be able to have confidence in Him and stand fearless against the oncoming battles. Life’s battles are exhausting, painful, and taxing, but remember who is fighting for you. Because He fights for us, we win! Ask anyone who’s played in a tough meaningful game that produced pain, injury and exhaustion, but won – the trouble is worth the victory – especially when God’s delivery of victory for us means eternal life in His presence! Life is tough, it’s getting tougher, and that’s not going to change. But we have a God in heaven that loves us, and as part of His nature, He WILL fight for you, save you, and bring you victory. Don’t forget that! Now march forward Christian soldier, and fight the good fight with confidence against the wiles of Satan, knowing that God’s will, WILL be done, on earth, as it is in heaven!
God bless,
What’s good y’all? We hope everyone is having a blessed week and as this new year has gotten into gear, things are hopeful! As our ministry has progressed into the year, we’ve noticed something kind of troubling. As we’re not even into the second month of the year, the spiritual warfare has increased significantly! We have observed that our minds are being tempted at a more intense pace. We have observed that our attitudes have to be checked harder. We are observing that the spirit of division is working harder amongst the ministries around us, as well as within our own. We are observing an increasingly high level of ungodly influences affect our children. We are observing a large number of brothers and sisters throw their hands up in frustration over these things and many others. If you can relate to any one, or combination of these things, we hope this message can encourage you!
We battle not against flesh and blood. The Bible teaches us that there are spiritual forces working against us – day in, and day out. As we move forward in time, we draw closer to the time that God has appointed to be His day of judgment. The Bible tells us that as we draw closer to this time, the battle of spirit against flesh will intensify. Spiritual warfare will become more obvious and these rulers of darkness will become more opportunistic. Some of you may be experiencing this in a very real way. We are right there with you. Yet the Bible stands firm and explicit on a very important teaching: that in spite of this warfare and its intensity, we have victory in Christ Jesus! As a result of this truth, we are told throughout the Bible that we are to be fearless, and walk worthy of our calling, having confidence in our Lord and Savior. Our portion of scripture today shows us that this is not simply a New Testament teaching; this teaching is a part of who God is!
The context of this passage is in reference to warfare. While some would discredit this passage of Deuteronomy by calling it irrelevant to anyone but a soldier, I believe Paul would dismiss that claim being that we are all Christian soldiers called to “fight the good fight.” This passage in Deuteronomy is considered part of the law; so then our verses we’re covering today will deal with God’s expectation and commands for us concerning warfare – spiritual or otherwise. While some would tell us that we are saved by grace and the law does not apply to us anymore, we’re here to tell you that is an incorrect approach to the Bible and illustrates a certain level of ignorance concerning not only the law, but Jesus Christ Himself. So we need to know that while this passage is speaking to Israel about the rules of warfare, these verses are key to the modern believer looking to be successful in spiritual warfare.
So how does our scripture begin? Our scripture begins with encouragement. We are told that when we are about to go into battle, do not be afraid! It’s important to pay attention to the tense here.
“Today you are on the VERGE of battle…”
This tells us that the battle has not yet arrived, but is coming soon. Yet still, the command is to be fearless. Earlier verses tell us that even when the circumstances of battle are heavily unfavorable, the command remains the same – fear not! Here is the reality that we face as Christians – we will do battle.
“And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake (Matthew 10:22).”
“We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22)”
“Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12).”
The Bible teaches throughout, that trouble is coming to the Christian; and Ephesians 6:12 tells us that the real heat is not coming from people or circumstances, but from the workings of hell. The Bible teaches us that a fight is coming our way, but Deuteronomy tells us that we should stand in courage even before the fight arises. Now we know from experience that this is easier said, than done. To look at any sort of enemy in the face without any trace of fear from within is usually a tale told only in mythology. Nevertheless God gave the command. Why would God give this kind of command that is seemingly so hard to obey? Why would God set us up this way and ask us to do something most of us can’t do? If the Lord would give us a command like this, how on earth are we supposed to execute it with success? The answer to these questions is really quite simple, and it lies within the portion of scripture we’re studying today. Examine closely the words of verse 4:
“For the Lord your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”
Here’s the important thing we want to realize here: this verse tells us that, God fighting for us, this is part of who He is. God being our warrior and provider for victory, this is part of His being – it is part of His nature and character. For example, a part of who we are as people, an element that defines us uniquely is our height. A person who is 5’10” is well acquainted with being that height. That person can’t really relate to what it is to be 6’4”. Being 5’10” is a part of who that person is. Everyday, you can bet that person will show up and look at you from the same height, fit through all of the doorways, be able to get in and out of their car normally, and so forth. You can put confidence in these facts. Just the same, we can put confidence in the fact that part of God’s being, part of what defines who God is uniquely, is His nature that He will fight for us to save us. See the challenge is that, in the example of our person who is 5’10”, over time that person may shrink, or experience some sort of accident that changes the physical make-up of his/her identity. If our example happens to be 5’10” at 12 years old, we can probably assume that person will grow. The point is, in human terms, there are a lot of variables that can change the identity, character, nature, and make-up of a person, and that may affect the level of confidence we hold in that person. Yet with God, we don’t have that problem.
“For I am the Lord, I change not… (Malachi 3:6)”
So then we can look at Deuteronomy 20:4 and see that part of God’s DNA is that He is our victory because He, Himself, will go out and fight our enemies to save us, and know that because God does not change, He still does this today. It should be no wonder that we have victory in the Son of God if God the Father has been our victory since the beginning. Sure, our enemies, troubles, and challenges may look intimidating, but Yahweh – the Creator of everything – WILL go out and bring you victory because it’s a part of Who He Is! Consider these names of God for a moment:
El Shaddai (The Lord God Almighty), El Elyon (The God Most High), El Olam (The Everlasting God), Jehovah Nissi (The Lord My Banner), Jehovah-Raah (The Lord My Shepherd), Jehovah Rapha (The Lord That Heals), Jehovah Shammah (The Lord Is There), Jehovah Tsidkenu (The Lord Our Righteousness), Jehovah Mekoddishkem (The Lord Who Sanctifies), Jehovah Jireh (The Lord Will Provide), Jehovah Shalom (The Lord Is Peace), Jehovah Sabaoth (The Lord of Hosts/Armies)
This is our God! These names represent the very character and nature of the Lord we serve. This God – this is the God who will go out and fight for us to save us, because that is also a part of who He is. No wonder God told us to be fearless even before the battle comes our way. See, here is what we’ve learned – the better understanding we have of who God is, the more courage we have been able to display in times of battle. Just the same, the more understanding we’ve had of who we are, the more courageous we have been as well. Here is what we mean by that. The last part of Deuteronomy 20:4 tells us that God will come to save us. This implies that without Him, there is certain defeat.
“For without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5)”
We need to know that the fight is coming our way because of our love for Christ – and its coming hard! Spiritual forces will recognize our commitment to Jesus and will stop at nothing to rob us of the gift of eternal life. Eternal life is gained through faith in Jesus, so these forces will attack our faith. They will discourage us. They will frustrate us. They will drive us to impatience. They will anger us. They will cause us to doubt. They will cause us to fear. They will cause us to self-isolate and/or divide. This is very important to understand: we cannot succeed in any way, shape, or form against these types of attacks without an understanding of who our Savior is AND who we are; for without Him, we can do nothing, but with Him we can do all things. We need to know that our ability to fight against the enemy attacks in the flesh is futile; but our willingness to seek our Lord and His victory is fruitful.
We need to know our God. We need to know who He is. We need to know what He does. We need to know His promises. Then, and only then, will we be able to have confidence in Him and stand fearless against the oncoming battles. Life’s battles are exhausting, painful, and taxing, but remember who is fighting for you. Because He fights for us, we win! Ask anyone who’s played in a tough meaningful game that produced pain, injury and exhaustion, but won – the trouble is worth the victory – especially when God’s delivery of victory for us means eternal life in His presence! Life is tough, it’s getting tougher, and that’s not going to change. But we have a God in heaven that loves us, and as part of His nature, He WILL fight for you, save you, and bring you victory. Don’t forget that! Now march forward Christian soldier, and fight the good fight with confidence against the wiles of Satan, knowing that God’s will, WILL be done, on earth, as it is in heaven!
God bless,
Mid Week Bible Build Up 1/4/12
2 Timothy 3:16 – All
scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God
may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
What’s good y’all? Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great and safe New Year celebration and is equally excited about the amazing work the Lord has in store for us all this year! Looking back on last year, it seemed to us that the Lord started a lot of works that many of us hoped we would see completed bearing some kind of fruit. A lot of us were struggling though, as the progress of these works didn’t seem to meet many of our expectations and in some cases, really beat us up. Well, praise God that He is a God Who is faithful to complete a work that He has started, and we believe that this year, our Lord will complete a LOT of work! So that just leaves us in the position of needing to be prepared and focused. This week’s Bible Build Up is a great portion of scripture to keep us ready to see God’s works come to fruition.
We want to take a different approach to this week’s scripture. This week, we want to work backwards to gain understanding in proper context. Paul’s 2nd letter to the young pastor Timothy was a letter meant to encourage and fire him up. Timothy was having a hard time dealing with the reality of ministry. So when we get to this final portion of chapter 3, Paul is giving Timothy practical instruction to stay, not just in survival-mode, but in advance-mode as well. Essentially, Paul encourages Timothy to read his Bible – to know the scriptures, which are the Words of God. So in working backwards, we see verse 17:
“…That the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
So first we have to make a differentiation. Paul is speaking to Timothy who is a pastor. Now this is not to say that this portion of scripture only applies to pastors or ministry leaders. Rather, we need to understand that as a pastor, Timothy is a man who we would expect to be diligently seeking the Lord daily! Regardless of his title, we should know that Timothy is a man that is madly in love with Jesus and has answered the call to follow Him by denying himself, and picking up his cross daily. If we don’t understand that, we can’t understand what Paul is saying here in verse 17. Paul is speaking to those people who are focused the way Timothy is; and Paul isn’t only addressing men as the text might suggest. Paul is speaking to “the man/woman of God.” This is a person who is committed in extraordinary ways, to the work of the Holy Spirit, through their faith in Christ, for the purpose of bringing glory to God the Father. This portion of scripture doesn’t apply to the non-believer, because they simply don’t believe. A non-believer wouldn’t be encouraged by the fact that the Bible is God’s word – they just don’t believe that. This portion of scripture does not apply to the “Sunday Christian” who, believes, but simply “puts in their time” because they lack the Spiritual maturity to be used to do more. Rather, this portion of scripture was intended to encourage the rough, rugged, and raw disciple of Yeshua ha Mashiach – Jesus Christ!
See, the man or woman who forsakes the things of the world to an intense degree, and daily puts their flesh to death, to exist as a living sacrifice, acknowledging the reality that we’ve all be bought at a price, and so submits themselves as a humble servant to the Lord Jesus, can also be defined very simply by one of The Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled (Matthew 5:6).”
In The Beatitudes, Jesus is speaking to His followers and disciples, explaining to them what a “blessed” person, or more appropriately, a saved/born-again person looks like. One of the character traits of this born-again Christian is that there will be a continual hunger and thirst for righteousness. The Bible teaches that righteousness is simply a state of being that is in accordance with God’s will – we are “right” with God. In other words, God spoke, and we listen and obey because we want to do what God thinks is right, and good. We do this because we want to be on His good side and please Him in obedience. Though this quality of a Christian does not make a Christian, it does not save a person, the quality exists as a result of salvation. And so we have this hunger and thirst to do what God commands and expects. Another way we can say this, is the Christian has a desire to be complete. When we are taken home to be with the Lord, the Bible teaches that we will exist in glorified bodies and will sin no more. Then, and only then, will we be able to do all that God requires of us in the way He intended without the corruption of sin. Until then, the Christian is incomplete. So then, when Paul refers to “the man of God” being “complete” this is something we need to understand. A disciple of Christ has a desire to be complete. Timothy was this kind of Christian, as was Paul. Paul was speaking to everyone and anyone who would consider themselves this kind of Christian – those who “hunger and thirst for righteousness” in order to “be complete.”
So understanding this truth, we can look to verse 16 and see very simply how to work towards our completion so that we can satisfy our hunger and thirst. Paul tells us that the key is in the Word of God!
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness…”
The key to satisfying the Christian hunger and thirst to be complete lies in the Word of God – the Holy Bible. Paul tells us that ALL – we’ll say it again, ALL – Scripture is given by God. The Bible does not simply “contain” God’s word – it IS God’s Word! Many so-called “Christians” these days are trying to teach otherwise. They try and downplay the importance of Bible prophecy, Old Testament scripture, and doctrine dealing with God’s wrath and judgment. Yet we come across the obvious and explicit words of Paul the Apostle here in 2 Timothy 3:16, and we are told that every single word found in the Bible serves its part in working on the “completion” of a hungry and thirsty Christian. We suppose that a person not willing to deal with the COMPLETE word of God, is simply not as hungry or thirsty as they may boast, or are simply ignorant to the Word of God. Well, if you’re reading this, be encouraged – you’ve been informed and the blessing of satisfaction is on its way as Christ promised!
It’s amazing how simple the instruction is – read and know your Bible, believe in its contents that they are indeed profitable for all things, and the completion we seek in the righteousness of God will be complete! It always seems to come back to hearing, reading, knowing, and understanding the complete and perfect Word of God! And why wouldn’t it work that way? As Christians, don’t we also hold to the faith that God “spoke” the world into existence? If His words have that kind of power, why couldn’t they reprove and correct us; why can’t the word of God make us righteous and complete?
New Year’s resolutions are usually pretty lame. Yet we find ourselves compelled to encourage you to “resolve” yourself to read your Bible daily with tenacity! Read and listen to the Word of God with purpose! Sacrifice – turn off the music and other entertainment, and turn on that which we believe is “inspired by God” in it’s complete and infallible form, for the purpose of our completion in Him! Get more radical! Go to church more fired up and excited than you’ve ever been before – hunger and thirst like a ravage beast for God’s word! Here’s the deal, we began this message saying that many of us are hoping and waiting for God to complete a work in our lives. Isn’t it odd that it is GOD’S WORD that equips us for EVERY good work? Do you think that “every” good work would include the work you’re waiting for God to complete? The key is in the COMPLETE WORD OF GOD. Start at the beginning and just read. Pray first and ask God for understanding then go for it. Read until God tells you to stop. Then when you’re done, pray some more and ask God for more understanding. Then do the same thing the next day, then the next day, and so on, and so forth. Watch God fulfill His promise to satisfy the hunger and thirst that resides in us to be righteous in His eyes. Watch God work through you to finish that work He started. Watch God through the power of the Holy Spirit in you, use you in ways you never knew possible! Our ministry exists to bring you the Word of God in various forms, but what we do isn’t enough for you. If you’re reading the word with us, great – but further develop your own study regiment with purpose, and be filled and equipped!
God bless,
What’s good y’all? Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great and safe New Year celebration and is equally excited about the amazing work the Lord has in store for us all this year! Looking back on last year, it seemed to us that the Lord started a lot of works that many of us hoped we would see completed bearing some kind of fruit. A lot of us were struggling though, as the progress of these works didn’t seem to meet many of our expectations and in some cases, really beat us up. Well, praise God that He is a God Who is faithful to complete a work that He has started, and we believe that this year, our Lord will complete a LOT of work! So that just leaves us in the position of needing to be prepared and focused. This week’s Bible Build Up is a great portion of scripture to keep us ready to see God’s works come to fruition.
We want to take a different approach to this week’s scripture. This week, we want to work backwards to gain understanding in proper context. Paul’s 2nd letter to the young pastor Timothy was a letter meant to encourage and fire him up. Timothy was having a hard time dealing with the reality of ministry. So when we get to this final portion of chapter 3, Paul is giving Timothy practical instruction to stay, not just in survival-mode, but in advance-mode as well. Essentially, Paul encourages Timothy to read his Bible – to know the scriptures, which are the Words of God. So in working backwards, we see verse 17:
“…That the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
So first we have to make a differentiation. Paul is speaking to Timothy who is a pastor. Now this is not to say that this portion of scripture only applies to pastors or ministry leaders. Rather, we need to understand that as a pastor, Timothy is a man who we would expect to be diligently seeking the Lord daily! Regardless of his title, we should know that Timothy is a man that is madly in love with Jesus and has answered the call to follow Him by denying himself, and picking up his cross daily. If we don’t understand that, we can’t understand what Paul is saying here in verse 17. Paul is speaking to those people who are focused the way Timothy is; and Paul isn’t only addressing men as the text might suggest. Paul is speaking to “the man/woman of God.” This is a person who is committed in extraordinary ways, to the work of the Holy Spirit, through their faith in Christ, for the purpose of bringing glory to God the Father. This portion of scripture doesn’t apply to the non-believer, because they simply don’t believe. A non-believer wouldn’t be encouraged by the fact that the Bible is God’s word – they just don’t believe that. This portion of scripture does not apply to the “Sunday Christian” who, believes, but simply “puts in their time” because they lack the Spiritual maturity to be used to do more. Rather, this portion of scripture was intended to encourage the rough, rugged, and raw disciple of Yeshua ha Mashiach – Jesus Christ!
See, the man or woman who forsakes the things of the world to an intense degree, and daily puts their flesh to death, to exist as a living sacrifice, acknowledging the reality that we’ve all be bought at a price, and so submits themselves as a humble servant to the Lord Jesus, can also be defined very simply by one of The Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled (Matthew 5:6).”
In The Beatitudes, Jesus is speaking to His followers and disciples, explaining to them what a “blessed” person, or more appropriately, a saved/born-again person looks like. One of the character traits of this born-again Christian is that there will be a continual hunger and thirst for righteousness. The Bible teaches that righteousness is simply a state of being that is in accordance with God’s will – we are “right” with God. In other words, God spoke, and we listen and obey because we want to do what God thinks is right, and good. We do this because we want to be on His good side and please Him in obedience. Though this quality of a Christian does not make a Christian, it does not save a person, the quality exists as a result of salvation. And so we have this hunger and thirst to do what God commands and expects. Another way we can say this, is the Christian has a desire to be complete. When we are taken home to be with the Lord, the Bible teaches that we will exist in glorified bodies and will sin no more. Then, and only then, will we be able to do all that God requires of us in the way He intended without the corruption of sin. Until then, the Christian is incomplete. So then, when Paul refers to “the man of God” being “complete” this is something we need to understand. A disciple of Christ has a desire to be complete. Timothy was this kind of Christian, as was Paul. Paul was speaking to everyone and anyone who would consider themselves this kind of Christian – those who “hunger and thirst for righteousness” in order to “be complete.”
So understanding this truth, we can look to verse 16 and see very simply how to work towards our completion so that we can satisfy our hunger and thirst. Paul tells us that the key is in the Word of God!
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness…”
The key to satisfying the Christian hunger and thirst to be complete lies in the Word of God – the Holy Bible. Paul tells us that ALL – we’ll say it again, ALL – Scripture is given by God. The Bible does not simply “contain” God’s word – it IS God’s Word! Many so-called “Christians” these days are trying to teach otherwise. They try and downplay the importance of Bible prophecy, Old Testament scripture, and doctrine dealing with God’s wrath and judgment. Yet we come across the obvious and explicit words of Paul the Apostle here in 2 Timothy 3:16, and we are told that every single word found in the Bible serves its part in working on the “completion” of a hungry and thirsty Christian. We suppose that a person not willing to deal with the COMPLETE word of God, is simply not as hungry or thirsty as they may boast, or are simply ignorant to the Word of God. Well, if you’re reading this, be encouraged – you’ve been informed and the blessing of satisfaction is on its way as Christ promised!
It’s amazing how simple the instruction is – read and know your Bible, believe in its contents that they are indeed profitable for all things, and the completion we seek in the righteousness of God will be complete! It always seems to come back to hearing, reading, knowing, and understanding the complete and perfect Word of God! And why wouldn’t it work that way? As Christians, don’t we also hold to the faith that God “spoke” the world into existence? If His words have that kind of power, why couldn’t they reprove and correct us; why can’t the word of God make us righteous and complete?
New Year’s resolutions are usually pretty lame. Yet we find ourselves compelled to encourage you to “resolve” yourself to read your Bible daily with tenacity! Read and listen to the Word of God with purpose! Sacrifice – turn off the music and other entertainment, and turn on that which we believe is “inspired by God” in it’s complete and infallible form, for the purpose of our completion in Him! Get more radical! Go to church more fired up and excited than you’ve ever been before – hunger and thirst like a ravage beast for God’s word! Here’s the deal, we began this message saying that many of us are hoping and waiting for God to complete a work in our lives. Isn’t it odd that it is GOD’S WORD that equips us for EVERY good work? Do you think that “every” good work would include the work you’re waiting for God to complete? The key is in the COMPLETE WORD OF GOD. Start at the beginning and just read. Pray first and ask God for understanding then go for it. Read until God tells you to stop. Then when you’re done, pray some more and ask God for more understanding. Then do the same thing the next day, then the next day, and so on, and so forth. Watch God fulfill His promise to satisfy the hunger and thirst that resides in us to be righteous in His eyes. Watch God work through you to finish that work He started. Watch God through the power of the Holy Spirit in you, use you in ways you never knew possible! Our ministry exists to bring you the Word of God in various forms, but what we do isn’t enough for you. If you’re reading the word with us, great – but further develop your own study regiment with purpose, and be filled and equipped!
God bless,
