Ministry of Joy

Living by Faith Part 5

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Sun, 20 Feb 2022 13:49:00 +0000

In our study on Living by Faith, we’ve made a big deal out of our examples in Scripture, people who lived their faith and found approval from God.

We looked into Faith words and found a progression that starts with knowledge establishing our beliefs. Then we seek understanding by asking for insight or wisdom to know what the knowledge means. When we are convinced a promise is true, we then act upon that truth. That is the exercise of faith – the action of belief. We exercise our faith when we trust the Lord. The result is God directing our paths.

What did faith produce? Peace. The ultimate ability to rest in the trustworthiness of God. And Hope – the joy of living with expectation.

Rom 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Hope: a feeling of expectation and confidence certain things will happen. Since we cannot live without hope, it is a gift within our salvation.

As with everything else within our salvation, Hope is both a possession and a practice. Rom 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

How does hope become a functioning component of our faith? How do we hope? That’s what our examples showed us.

Rom 15:4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Heb 6:17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul,

Hold fast is the expression of the strength of our security. A source of support and promise. Two types of anchors for a ship: one to steady them and one to hold them fast. Usage is determined by need.

Act 27:29 Fearing that we might run aground somewhere on the rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and wished for daybreak.

Difference between wishing and hope: I want. I know.

Last ditch effort to save their own lives. We initiate desperate measures when things get hopeless. They had already reached that point.

Act 27:20 When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.

Why would God put Paul through that? To show him the power of deliverance.

2Cor 1:10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.

The expectation that God will show up is the source of our hope.

Curt Paul Richter made many important contributions to the fields of biology and psychobiology. One of his most famous experiments involved drowning rats – a study which, today, would probably land him in jail for animal cruelty.

He knew that rats had a reputation for being able to swim for exceedingly long periods of time. Yet when he placed rats in a tightly confined bucket of water, they quickly discovered they had no means of escape, no means of relief, and literally gave up, allowing themselves to simply sink to the bottom, and drowning, on average, within about 15 minutes.

He knew they had the “physical” ability to continue swimming much longer, so concluded they must have felt hopeless. So he tried again, this time pulling the rats from the water once he saw them beginning to struggle. He let them rest for a short time before he put them back into the bucket. They again began swimming, testing the confines of their surroundings, but instead of giving up and allowing themselves to sink and drown, they kept swimming! And swimming! And swimming! Many swam up to 60 hours until their bodies could simply no longer endure.

What was the difference between these two groups of rats? Richter concluded the difference was HOPE – that feeling of expectation that a particular outcome or desire would come to pass, looking forward to something with desire and reasonable confidence.

These rats had been saved once, so they had hope – the expectation, the reasonable confidence – it would happen again. Do we have to nearly drown to learn that? Maybe. But we could learn it through those who went before us.

Heb 11:27 By faith Moses…endured as seeing Him who is invisible.

Ex 33:18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” 21 And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

How did this moment change Moses? Seeing God’s glory didn’t make Moses become Moses. Being Moses didn’t get Moses the opportunity to watch God pass by. God saw into Moses’ heart, saw the faith that He would reward with His presence.

Sight didn’t lead to faith; faith led to sight. But so convinced was He, that later he was able to announce:

Ex 4:13 “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today.

Ex 16:7 and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD

Where did that confident expectation come from? His assurance God would show up.

It’s our invitation that’s built into our salvation: Ps 46:8 Come and see the works of the LORD,

We cannot live without hope. Even in our darkest nights, we have to believe the sun will come up tomorrow. That by faith we will see God’s hand.

Hope tells us to anticipate the glory of God – that we will see God’s goodness in our lives.

Ps 27:13 I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

John 20:29 Then Jesus told Thomas, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

He’s talking about us.

1Pet 1:8 Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,

Why? Because He’s given us the opportunity to know Him and the ability to trust Him.

God wants us living with a confidence that what we can’t see is as real as what we can see.

Heb 11:1 Faith [being] the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

World War II parachute packers had an unacceptable record: only nineteen out of twenty parachutes opened. One in twenty failed. It was discovered that making the packers test their parachutes by jumping from a plane, quality rose to 100 percent. Today as I understand it, you’re taught to pack your own chutes.

Packing your own parachute makes it possible for you to pack in all you know you will need. Don’t let someone else to pack your parachute. You put in daily the things you’ll need to deal with life. Pack it right with the right beliefs, solid faith, complete trust and absolute hope. Then, when you hear the voice of God say “Jump,” you can jump confidently, believing you have everything you need for the outcome He intends.

2Pet 1:3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

2 Kings 6:15-17 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” the servant asked. “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

God, open our eyes and show us Your glory.

TAKEAWAYS:

There are times faith will require us to launch out into the unknown.
It is essential we do so with confidence that our chute will not only open but will provide everything we need for us a safe landing.
The challenge is to make sure it’s packed with the understanding God has made everything we need available to us.
If we have packed it well, we can rest in the hope that when the moment comes to pull the ripcord and trust God, all He promised will be there to accomplish all He intends.

Living by Faith Part 4

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 15:55:00 +0000

In a study to determine how to best teach children, the VARK Method was founded. It uses four different approaches based on the unique ways children are wired to learn. They found some are:

Visual – need to see demonstrations. These need the information in some form they can see. Work the problem on the board. Draw them a picture. Show them a video.

Auditory – need to hear it explained. These learn best when sound transfers information. They understand better when they read aloud to themselves, or someone explains a matter verbally. Tell me what I need to know. Read the problem to me.

Reading and Writing – need to process data. These are note-takers and perform best when they can connect information to the brain through interacting with things written on a page. They learn well on their own.

Kinesthetic – need to experience it hands-on. These tend to absorb information when they can touch and handle what they need to know. Let them to be physically connected to the information.

Making all children learn the same way will only help those who prefer that way to learn. The discovery was: Children (and Adults) remember best when the lesson is presented in a way they are wired to learn.

Which tells us why Jesus used so many different methods to teaching His people.

Some saw miracles of signs and wonders.

Some heard His voice telling stories.

Some read His word.

Some experienced His hand in action.

Each of us is wired to receive information better in one way than the others.

So, when the Bible says: 1Cor 10:11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come, how do we learn from their experiences? Somehow, we need to get inside their stories.

The Writer of Hebrews said it was by faith that the men of old gained God’s approval. How do I live by the same faith they did? And is the same approval available to me that He provided for them? One of those men of old who is our example was Gideon.

Judges 6:1 Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD gave them into the hands of Midian seven years. 2 The power of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves the dens which were in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. 3 For it was when Israel had sown, that the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites and the sons of the east and go against them. 4 So they would camp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey. 5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, they would come in like locusts for number, both they and their camels were innumerable; and they came into the land to devastate it. 6 So Israel was brought very low because of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried to the LORD.

It appeared as though God had abandoned His people. Is that what happened? Appearance can distort reality. We say that is happening so this must be true. Which means appearance can have a powerful an effect on what we believe.

Reminds you of Asa when a prophet said to him: The Lord is with you when you are with Him. If you forsake Him, He will forsake you… Abandoning and forsaking leave the same impression: God has left us and we’re on our own.

This forsaking is explained as wars. To place ourselves into the story, we might

say frustrations or trials or struggles or tribulations or infirmities or conflict.

Prophet clarifies what’s going on:

Judges 6:7 Now it came about when the sons of Israel cried to the LORD on account of Midian, 8 that the LORD sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and he said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'It was I who brought you up from Egypt and brought you out from the house of slavery. 9 'I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians and from the hands of all your oppressors, and dispossessed them before you and gave you their land, 10 and I said to you, "I am the LORD your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But you have not obeyed Me."

They were paying a price for turning away from God. And because they turned away, God allowed Midian to oppress them. To the people this felt like abandonment.

During this season of “forsaking” they hadn’t heard much from the Lord. Which reinforced their belief that they’d been abandoned. It also set up the downward spiral.

Not hearing makes us stop expecting to hear.

Stop expecting to hear makes us stop listening.

When we aren’t listening, we fill in the silence by thinking wrong things and

doing the opposite of what God said to do. We take matters into our own hands.

Why isn’t God speaking? Because we aren’t listening?

Why aren’t we listening? Because we don’t expect Him to speak?

Why don’t we expect Him to speak? Because we don’t intend to obey what we hear?

Judges 6:11 Then the angel of the LORD came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, "The LORD is with you, O valiant warrior."

“Valiant Warrior” was an insult to the circumstances. Who wouldn’t love for someone to call them a valiant warrior? There’s honor in those words. Even in difficult times. But to a man living in fear, it was a reminder of his weakness.

But telling him: “God is with you,” didn’t seem appropriate either. Why? Circumstances suggested that wasn’t true. If God is for me, why is everything and everyone against me?

It’s that hang-up question we ask and can’t get answered: How can God be with us when our circumstances indicate otherwise? Shouldn’t God have done something by now? If God is with us, why …am I in this condition? …did that happen? …didn’t He stop it from happening?

Judges 6:13 Then Gideon said to him, "O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian."

He made an observation — God’s not doing what I think He should be doing.

He formed an opinion: — God doesn’t help us.

He created a false belief: God can’t help us.

Mark 9:17 And one of the crowd answered Him, "Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; 18 and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it." 19 And He *answered them and *said, "O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!" 20 They brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. 21 And He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. 22 It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!" 23 And Jesus said to him, " 'If You can?' All things are possible to him who believes."

Observation led to opinion, which led to false belief, which led to his defeating conclusion: “God isn’t there to help at all.”

Long time ago a man was broken down in his Model A Ford. An older gentleman in a suit stopped to help. The man said, “No offense but you don’t look like you know much about old cars like this.” He said, “Well, I’m Henry Ford. And it just so happens I made that car of yours. I think I might know something about it.”

Remember the downward spiral of hopelessness: Disappointment, Discouragement, Disillusionment, Depression, Despair.

Gideon was caught somewhere between depression and despair. Depression: I’m helpless. Despair: I’m hopeless. That’s where our minds are blocked from processing the truth. So, he turned inward, where there was no help, which drove him into the hopelessness of isolation.

Jer 18:12 But they will say, 'It's hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.

Judges 6:14 The LORD looked at him and said, "Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?" 15 He said to Him, "O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father's house." 16 But the LORD said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man."

I have plans for you.

I will be with you.

Here’s what I’m going to do through you.

Here’s what you will do because of Me.

Are you with me?

It’s the call to faith.

Isa 30:18 Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him. 19 O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. 20 Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. 21 Your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you [need to] turn to the right or to the left.

God said through Isaiah, you obey what you believe I want you to do and I’ll confirm your steps.

Is it presumptuous to walk by faith, thinking God will confirm our steps?

Prov 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will direct your paths.

Got any examples? Elijah challenging the prophets of Baal and calling down fire.

Daniel refusing to stop praying though he faced the lions’ den. Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego refusing to bow to Neb’s statue and believing God would rescue them from a fiery furnace. Sampson expecting God to give his strength back after he had thrown it away with Delilah.

Faith is the ability to trust God. We have that ability. Gideon did, only he lacked the courage to apply that ability to His circumstances. Will we risk everything to follow?

Hudson Taylor, who founded the China Inland Mission: "Unless there is an element of risk in our exploits for God, there is no need for faith."

Playwright Neil Simon said, "If no one ever took risks, Michelangelo would have painted the Sistine Chapel’s floor."

Judges 6:17 So Gideon said to Him, "If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who speaks with me. 18 Please do not depart from here, until I come back to You, and bring out my offering and lay it before You." And He said, "I will remain until you return." 19 Then Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to him under the oak and presented them. 20 The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the LORD put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. 22 When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the LORD, he said, "Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face."

Because of the risk of losing his life to do what God was asking him to do, Gideon asked God to confirm that it was Him who was talking to him. The Lord did but then set up a challenge for Gideon.

Judges 6:25 Now on the same night the LORD said to him, "Take your father's bull and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it; 26 and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down."

Test (warm-up) for whom? God? Or Gideon? Let’s start you off at a lower impact level to get your trust muscles in shape. You need to take a smaller step before the big step. Then, after Gideon completed the test…

Judges 6:36 Gideon said to God, "If You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken, 37 behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken." 38 And it was so. When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, "Do not let Your anger burn against me that I may speak once more; please let me make a test once more with the fleece, let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground." 40 God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and dew was on all the ground.

God, help me turn my unbelief into belief. Realize Gideon wasn’t used to obeying God. So, was he asking God to convince him or confirm for him this was the plan? There is a difference between a confirming sign and a convincing sign.

— convincing — give me a sign so I can believe. I won’t believe unless I see

something. That’s testing God.

— confirming — I do believe. Please verify that what I believe is right. Assure me

I’m on the right track. That’s testing whether what I believe is the right thing to do.

To need proof to convince me to move forward means I have more fear than faith.

To decide to move forward and then trust God to confirm my steps is walking by faith.

That’s how a church operates. We see the vision of what God has planned and them move toward it, trusting in Him to make it happen. Asking Him to confirm His plans.

Charles Kettering: When I was research head of General Motors and wanted a problem solved, I’d place a table outside the meeting room with a sign: Leave calculators here. If I didn’t do that, I’d find someone reaching for his calculator. Then he’d be on his feet saying, “Boss, you can’t do that.”

We can’t become paralyzed by fearing what will happen if God doesn’t come through. We move forward, trusting He will.

Like Gideon, when we choose to walk by faith, we accept the risk that requires us to trust God to guide our steps. Sometimes He’ll open a door; sometimes He’ll close a door. Our job is not to force open what He closes or close what He has opened. Our job is to follow Him in the direction He is leading.

A man went over to watch a little league baseball game. He asked a boy in the dugout what the score was. The boy said, “Eighteen to nothing – we’re behind.” “Wow,” said the man, “I’ll bet you’re discouraged.” “Why should we be discouraged? We haven’t even gotten up to bat yet!”

Faith is leaving room for God, confident that when He steps up to bat, it’s a whole new ballgame.

TAKEAWAYS:

No one ever said the Christian life would be easy.
Each step we take will challenge us to remain faithful to God.
Fortunately, God doesn’t expect us to take those steps without Him providing everything we need for whatever He asks.
The ability to trust Him is our greatest resource for a successful Christian life.
Let’s use that ability and see where God takes us.

Lord, I realize that You are constantly at work. I know that there are times I will not see Your activity and falsely assume You are not at work. So, thank You that what I assume, is not the foundation for what is true. And how things appear is not my source for what I believe. You are. I will choose to accept, beyond my struggles to believe, that You are here even when You are invisible, that You are speaking even when You are silent, that You remember even when it seems You have forgotten, that you have not forsaken me even when circumstances tell me You have, that I am and always will be Your righteous child. For You are always my faithful God.

Living by Faith Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 15:51:00 +0000

John Godfrey Saxes poem

It was six men of Indostan, to learning much inclined,
who went to see the elephant (Though all of them were blind),

The first approached the elephant, and, happening to fall,
against his broad and sturdy side, said, “he’s nothing but a wall!"

The second feeling of the tusk, cried: "Ho! what have we here,
this wonder of an elephant, is shaped much like a spear!"

The third approached the animal, and, happening to take,
the squirming trunk within his hands, he’s must be like a snake!"

The fourth reached out his eager hand, and felt about the knee:
"Tis clear enough the elephant is very like a tree."

The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, Said; "E'en the blindest man
can tell what this resembles most, a large and leather fan!"

The sixth no sooner had begun, about the beast to grope,
than, seizing on the swinging tail, said "the elephant’s like a rope!"

And so these men of Indostan, his own opinion, stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right, all were in the wrong!

This is a poem about perspective. Specifically, trying to use limited perspective to gain insight into a bigger picture.

What these blind men could not see – the whole elephant – gave them only partial understanding for what an elephant looked like. Something any child with sight could have told them. But because they limited their understanding to only a fraction of the whole, their perspective was insufficient, and the answer they came up with was far from accurate.

That could happen if you went into my garage and see my Zebco 33 rod and reel. You may, from that, assume I’m a fisherman. Ask the real fishermen. I’m not.

You might notice a golf bag with clubs, shoes and balls. You might assume I’m a golfer. Ask the real golfers. I’m not.

But then, you might see my table saw, compound-miter saw, drills, hammers, glue and clamps. From that you say, “He must be a woodworker.” And you’d be right. You’d make a more accurate assessment because you have more information.

We’ve all done that? Built a whole scenario from one small incident, a word or a moment. Texting makes that possible every day.

Text Messages

With the elephant, how did perspective affect their assessment? Each man touched only a small part of the elephant, a piece of the whole, but then tried to say from what they touched, “I know what an elephant is like.” They were right in a small detail but wrong in the big picture.

Can we limit our understanding about God by narrowing our perspective to one or two quick glimpses?

Mark 6:41 And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish. 44 There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.

Mark 6:51 Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished, 52 for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened.

Seeing Jesus feed 5000 didn’t translate over to Him being able to save their lives in the boat. “We knew He did that. We didn’t know He could do this.” Their hearts were hardened – fixed. Because their minds were already made up, there wasn’t room for more.

Matt 14:29 And He said, "Come!" And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" 31 Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"

When did this happen? At the same time. It was part of the other story. Even though Jesus said, “Come,” Peter doubted.

What was there to doubt? The power of God to take care of His children in all situations.

There was no verse that promised if you’re in a boat on rough seas and Jesus comes walking toward you and you ask Him if you can go out to Him and He says come, that you, too, can walk on water. But Peter did walk on water because the One who makes the promises was right in front of him. He did until he stopped trusting and started to doubt.

Amazing how we trust God for getting us to Heaven and keeping us for all eternity yet, can’t seem to trust Him to get us through today. That’s because the power of doubt can overwhelm our faith.

James 1:5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Why would we need wisdom? To fight doubt. Wisdom is insight. We need it to broaden our understanding God is unlimited in His ability to care for us. Without that insight we’re going to operate with limited perspective. Then, more often than not, we’ll doubt rather than believe. Wisdom is necessary for absolute trust.

God said: I will never leave you nor forsake you, yet we still think we’re all alone.

God said: no plan of Mine can be thwarted, yet we think He’s not strong enough to help.

God said: I have plans for you, yet we think He’s incapable of accomplishing those plans.

Rom 8:35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We step back and say that’s good to know, without ever gaining insight into what that really means. Paul left nothing out that might separate us from God’s love. And yet we still doubt whether He loves us and how much.

As in the poem, we have a tendency to claim complete understanding and yet don’t have the insight to know there is vastly more to understand than we already know.

So, how does limited insight limit faith? It creates a partial picture of God. He’s good but not all good. He’s powerful but not all-powerful. He’s wise but not all-wise. He loves us but not unconditionally. Without insight, how can we trust Him?

Prov 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.

I will never be able to trust the Lord with all my heart if I believe He is in any way incapable of directing my paths.

In 1986 a movie came out with a title caused me great concern. It was a story that centered around a school for the deaf. It was titled: Children of a Lesser God. Though the issue of God being lesser for some than others wasn’t the subject, the title disturbed me. Somehow, we think if everything isn’t perfect, we aren’t healthy, we have financial problems or family concerns, God isn’t there and doesn’t care. Having disabilities or struggles or frustrations isn’t because God is less interested in us over someone else. It’s called living in a fallen world.

Instead of fixing the world, God works within it to make all things work together for good for His children. Looking at a problem and blaming God for being less than we think He ought to be, is describing an elephant by a fraction of the whole.

We’ve created an image of God that isn’t who He really is. And, most of those images are of a lesser god than the God of the Bible. Do you know how much Scripture you have to deny to believe in the kind of God most people believe in?

Gaining the ability to trust the Lord with all our heart comes from a compilation of moments of trusting Him with smaller matters. Step by step we learn and trust, trust and learn. Each step of faith building our conviction God can be trusted. Watch this in Abraham’s life.

Rom 4:20 yet, with respect to the promise of God, Abraham did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.

Grew strong: didn’t start strong but grew strong as the result of compiled trust.

Abraham’s tests: Heb 11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; 10 for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Getting where God wanted him to be. His obedience didn’t require a roadmap. He simply went. God was checking to see if his obedience would be spontaneous.

Heb 11:11 By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN IN NUMBER, AND INNUMERABLE AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEASHORE. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.

Would he believe all God told him to believe? God not only gave the promise but gave insight into His plan and expected Abraham to move toward it.

God isn’t impressed with my head knowledge; there’s no test to get into Heaven. But He is watching how I live because of the insight He’s given. - Beth Guckenberger.

We call it vision. Seeing in advance what is to become a reality.

A young preacher went to a small church and God was showing him a great vision for this church. He worked very hard to do his part, setting the example and encouraging others to see God’s vision and the potential for the church. In big letters he posted on the wall behind the pulpit, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” But no one would catch the vision. No one wanted to see it. None wanted to move toward it. They were content with the way things were. God called him to another church. And on his last Sunday there, after his last message delivered, as he was walking down the aisle to leave for the last time at the close of the service, the ‘W’ fell from the word Where. It now read, “ here there is no vision, the people perish.”

Abraham saw the vision and went toward it. And then faced his third test: Heb 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; 18 it was he to whom it was said, "IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED." 19 He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.

It was a test of obedience. “Abraham, you need to have absolute confidence in Me. I’ve shown you the vision. I’ve given you the promise. Will you trust Me to fulfill My promise even though it looks like I’m taking it away?”

You know the story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac. Bringing the knife down and God stopped him at the last instant. Why would Abraham attempt to take the life of his son since he knew the promise was through Isaac?

He was convinced: Nothing is impossible with God. If you don’t have room in your beliefs for that, you will always default back to a limited perspective of God.

Sailors in the northern oceans have frequently observed icebergs traveling in one direction in spite of strong winds blowing in the opposite direction. The icebergs were moving against the winds. The icebergs, with eight-ninths of their bulk under the water surface, are driven by the stronger currents within the oceans that directed their paths, regardless of which way the winds blew.

In the Christian life, no matter how strongly the winds of passing opinion blow in opposition, the believer who has a habit of trusting God develops a deeper walk with Him. He/She lives by the power of the currents of God’s grace and finds their lives moving in the direction of God’s goodness.

Where does that depth come from? Knowing we belong to a God who: Eph 3:20 is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. Then, understanding that, we seek insight to apply that truth to our lives.

TAKEAWAYS:

It is unfair to judge someone before we get to know them.
And yet, we judge God by limited understanding of who He is and what He can do.
When we don’t know God, He becomes like a stranger to us or if we know a little, He becomes an acquaintance.
We don’t typically trust strangers or acquaintances.
Trusts requires knowledge, understanding and insight.
If we are struggling to trust God absolutely, we need better perspective of who He really is by getting to know Him better.

Living by Faith Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Sun, 30 Jan 2022 13:59:00 +0000

A seminary professor was vacationing with his wife in Gatlinburg, TN. One morning, they were eating breakfast at a little restaurant, they noticed a man moving from table to table, visiting with the guests. The professor leaned over and whispered to his wife, “I hope he doesn’t come over here.” But sure enough, the man came to their table.

“Where are you folks from?”

“Oklahoma.”

“Great to have you here in Tennessee. What do you do for a living?”

“I teach at a seminary.”

“Oh, so you teach preachers how to preach, do you? Well, I’ve got a really great story for you.” The gentleman pulled up a chair and sat down at the table with the couple.

The man pointed to the window and said, “See that mountain over there? Not far from the base of that mountain, there was a boy born to an unwed mother. He had a hard time growing up because every place he went, he was always asked the same question, “Hey boy, Who’s your daddy?” Whether he was at school, in the grocery store or drug store, people would ask the same question, “Who’s your daddy?”

When he went to church, he’d always go in late and slip out early. But when he was about 12 years old, a new preacher came to his church.

One Sunday, the preacher said the benediction so fast that the boy got caught and had to walk out with the crowd. Just about the time he got to the back door, the preacher put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and innocently asked, “Son, who’s your daddy?” Everyone standing near got deathly quiet.

The preacher sensed the situation and said, “Wait a minute! I know who you are! I see the family resemblance now. You’re a child of God.” He patted the boy on his head and said, “Young man, you’ve got a great inheritance. Go and claim it.”

The boy smiled and walked out the door a changed person. He was never the same again. Whenever anybody asked him, “Who’s your Daddy?” he’d now just tell them, “I’m a Child of God.”

The man got up from the table and said, “Isn’t that a great story?”

The professor said, “That was a really great story!

As the man turned to leave, he said, “You know, if that new preacher hadn’t told me that I was one of God’s children, I probably never would have amounted to anything!” And he walked away.

The professor called the waitress over and asked, “Do you know who that man was?”

“Of course. Everybody here knows him. That’s Ben Hooper. He’s governor of Tennessee!” Knowing who you are makes all the difference.

Most of us know our parents. That’s what connects us to our family heritage. Much of who we are, many of our characteristics come through that heritage. Knowing who our daddy is gives us answers. “Oh, that explains a lot.” But how does being a Child of God make a difference in us?

Singer, Tauren Wells said, “Mentally we understand that we are created by God, we are His children, but there is such a gap in us understanding how that applies to our everyday life and what that brings us.

Remember who you are.

What difference would it make to know: We are who God says we are. And that we have what God says we have.

I am REDEEMED.

I am a NEW CREATION.

I am VALUABLE.

I am CHOSEN

I am WISE.

I am RIGHTEOUS.

I am God’s MASTERPIECE.

I am STRONG.

I am VICTORIOUS.

I am COMPLETE.

I am LOVED.

I am a CHILD OF GOD.

How do we know that? It’s in the Book. So, now that we know it, how might accepting it affect how we trust God?

Knowing what He has declared about His children and what He’s done for His children in the past bring hope for what He can do for His children right now.

It’s our family heritage. We belong to a family with a good Father who tends to the needs of His children. If I believe I am unworthy of His goodness, I will be less inclined to seek Him. If I know I am His child, I will depend on Him simply because He’s my Father.

A child had fallen down a narrow well. They found a boy small enough to be lowered into the hole. I’ll go if my daddy holds the rope. His confidence wasn’t in the rope but the one he knew wouldn’t let go of that rope.

Heb 11:1-2 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

Commend comes from the root word for witness. One who shares testimony of what they believe is the truth. You know something vital to the story. If you’re called to testify in court, you have information that brings clarity to the case. A witness for God is one who simply shares what he/she knows is true. Telling what God has done for them.

But, interesting, that word also means martyr. One who gave their life because they lived the truth of God.

What were these ancient people being commended for? For speaking and living the truth of what they knew about God. When you take the word testify as a witness, you are affirming what you have seen or heard or experienced. You can’t erase what you know to be true. When you take it as a martyr, you willingly stand in confidence, regardless of the outcome, that what you know is greater than your life. How we live the truth proves what we believe and makes our lives a confirming testimony.

1John 1:1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— 2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also…

We testify of what we know is true while we live by that truth. These men and women set the precedent for how we are to operate as Children of God.

A commendation is recognition for a job well done. In the military, the Commendation Medal is a decoration presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. Service members who display acts of heroism or meritorious achievements while performing their duties are recognized for their contribution to their unit and the nation. Not picking up a cigarette butt expecting to get rewarded for beautifying the base.

Biblical commendation is an expression of God’s gratitude when He sees faith in our actions. It is an acknowledgment by God that we’re pleasing Him by living as He intends for His children to live.

The writer is saying by their actions, what they believe became visible. It goes from acknowledging a truth in their hearts to that truth becoming a component in their lifestyle. And as a result, God accepted their faith as evidence of the surrender of their lives to Him.

Faith operates as the light we shine from the truth of God to the path of our lives.

Ps 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Jesus said: Matt 5:16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Faith – our ability to trust God – not only becomes the testimony of our life but the basis upon which we live our lives. As a result, our testimony shows how Great God is. From which He then commends us for pleasing Him.

Heb 11: 4-5 By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead. By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.

Gen 4:2b-12 Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering He did not look with favor. So, Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.

Gen 5:21-24 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

Able commended as righteous by doing what was right. Enoch commended as one who pleased God by walking in agreement with God.

Writer adds an “Oh by the way:” Heb 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God.

If faith is the mechanism of pleasing God, living without exercising faith displeases Him.

Does He commend us today as He did the ancients? They were the prototypes – the first-built examples of what was to come. When we do as they did, we get the same results. We are declared righteous and please God. God acknowledges that we are walking in sync with what He expects from His children. Which makes us sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. That then defines our expectations.

A dad was going to take his son fishing the next day. That evening as he was putting his son to bed, the boy hugged his dad’s neck and said, "Daddy, thank you for tomorrow."

Trust—builds expectancy

Heb 11:6…because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

Deut 4:29-31 But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you look for Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days, you will return to the LORD your God and obey Him. For the LORD your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which He confirmed to them by oath.

Faith comes from knowing God is our Father. He is faithful to His children. And when we look for Him, we will find Him. The desire to seek Him is evidence we have the ability to trust Him.

Heb 4:16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Why would we draw near unless we knew who it was we were drawing near to?

There was a certain old recluse who lived deep in the mountains of Colorado. When he died, distant relatives came from the city to collect his valuables. Upon arriving, all they saw was an old shack with an outhouse beside it. Inside the shack, next to the rock fireplace, was an old cooking pot and his mining equipment. A cracked table with a three-legged chair stood guard by a tiny window, and a kerosene lamp served as the centerpiece for the table. In a dark corner of the little room was a dilapidated cot with a threadbare bedroll on it. They picked up some of the old relics and started to leave. As they were driving away, an old friend of the recluse, on his mule, flagged them down. “Do you mind if I help myself to what’s left in my friend’s cabin?” he asked. “Go right ahead,” they replied. After all, they thought, what inside that shack could be worth anything? The old friend entered the shack and walked directly over the table. He reached under it and lifted one of the floor boards. He then proceeded to take out all the gold his friend had discovered over the past 53 years – enough to have built a palace. The recluse died with only his friend knowing his true worth. As the friend looked out of the little window and watched the cloud of dust behind the relative’s car disappear, he said, “They should have gotten to know him better.”

“Living by faith provides glasses that enables us to see God’s work all around us. But some Christians intentionally close their eyes or look around with non-believing sunglasses. They don’t recognize God’s activity around them.” – Miracles Today: the Supernatural Work of God

The Children of God can trust their Father. So, if you are struggling to see God at work in your life, start with making sure you are one of His children.

John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,

Then, check to see if your eyes are open or if you’re wearing sunglasses that block out your ability to see God at work. And even then, if you are struggling to see, go back to what you know is true. It could be Satan has confused you into doubting what you once were convinced was real. What we believe affects what we see and how we understand what we see.

Back up until you can stop at a point of which you are convinced this is true.

Years ago, on a dirt road in upstate New York, there was a sign that said, "Choose your rut carefully; you'll be in it for the next ten miles."

There are ruts of disbelief – paths of refusing to trust God – habits of not depending on Him. We can fall into one of those ruts and go for miles.

I don’t want to be guilty of that. I want to see God everywhere, in every circumstance, working out what is good on my behalf. I testify that my hope is in my Heavenly Father.

Rom 15:13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

TAKEAWAYS:

Faith is the fuel of the Christian’s life.
It is our renewable resource for living as Children of God.
Our tank gets drained, not by use, but by neglect.
To be fully prepared for living faithfully we must stand convinced He is our source for life.
To refill the tank, we acknowledge we are children of God who want to live out our heritage so that our Father is honored and pleased with us.

Living by Faith Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Sun, 23 Jan 2022 14:01:00 +0000

QUESTION: What do an airplane, bicycle and Christian all have in common?

ANSWER: They’re all designed to get where they’re going by relying on something they can’t see.

There is an invisible resource that gives them the ability to do what they are designed to do:

Fly

Ride

Please God

But, each has a counter force working against them to deny them that pleasure. Gravity – either physical or spiritual – is trying to stop them from moving forward.

We know, what goes up is eventually coming down. And the reality is, an airplane is too big and heavy to fly. A bicycle on its own can’t stay upright. A Christian without the intention to trust God will never discover the fulfillment of the abundant life. Gravity will try will try to stop them every time.

So, if we can’t stop gravity, there must be a way to overcome it. Another invisible force perhaps? But how can you count on what you can’t see to be real?

How can you overcome gravity?

Determination – a pilot on the runway starts to roll then strains to lift his plane

off the ground.

Fear of falling (learning to ride my bicycle)

Our depending on our own ability to live lives that please God.

Faith – trusting in how each is designed to operate.

Airplane—the designers discovered how they could overcome gravity by the law of aerodynamics. Once that was discovered, they could trust in the law to work on their behalf.
Bicycle—the rider learns he/she can overcome falling by the principle of balance. Once that is discovered, they can trust balance to work on their behalf.
Christians—when they realize it pleases God when they rely on His faithfulness, they can trust Him to work on their behalf.

The law of aerodynamics, principle of balance and the supernatural forces of relying on our God, are all invisibles, but when applied these become substance. What is substance? Something that becomes of such importance, validity and significance that it is able to be considered as solid as concrete.

Heb 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the men of old gained approval. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

The word assurance was translated substance in the KJV. It is the word hupo-histemi. hupó, "under" and hístēmi, "to stand" – used to describe standing under a guaranteed agreement. Like holding the title deed. It grants the privilege of ownership. It affirms the statement: this is mine. Hupo-histemi is a legitimate claim because it literally places us under a legal-standing – entitling us to what is guaranteed under the particular agreement.

In other words, faith permits us to stand under or claim what God has promised by guaranteeing we are entitled to what God grants.

Rom 14:22 The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. [condemned because he tries to bypass faith in order to live according to his own pleasures.] 23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.

Failure to trust God is as rebellion against Him. James 4:17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.

How does the application of faith make the unseen real? Or, from where does faith gain its substance? Faith’s substance comes from the conviction we can rely on God. It’s discovered the moment we connect God’s activity in the past with today. Faith is not trusting God for what we hope He can do, but for what He’s proven He can do. That’s when invisible faith becomes solid. Our assurance has proof.

1Sam 17:34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant was tending his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God." 37 And David said, "The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go, and may the LORD be with you."

What’s David got to do with me? What does any of the Bible stories have to do with me?

1Cor 10:11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.

We look at the results of their choices, then compare what they did or didn’t do with what we’re doing or not doing. That can tell us we are either on track or off, moving forward or backing up. They trusted and look what happened. They didn’t trust and look what happened.

Well, I just don’t have that kind of faith. Yes, you do.

Well, maybe they just had more faith than I do. No, they didn’t.

It’s never an issue of having inferior faith or needing more faith but using faith.

Luke 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" 6 And the Lord said, "If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and be planted in the sea'; and it would obey you.

We can’t quantify faith by some measure – a lot or a little. Faith isn’t a commodity. It’s simply an ability to trust. Feeling we don’t have enough means we lack confidence in the target of our trust.

Luke 8:24 They came to Jesus and woke Him up, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm. 25 And He said to them, "Where is your faith?"

In the first, they said they didn’t have enough faith. After Jesus had assured them they had did, in the second He asks them why they aren’t using it. The issue is being faithless. Not without, but – dis-believing – choosing not to exercise it. Why aren’t you using your ability to trust?

Woman of great faith…

We have faith. It’s our ability to trust God. It’s how we take what we believe and apply it to our lives.

Ps 9:10 And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.

Ps 31:14 But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD, I say, "You are my God."

Ps 56:3 When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. 4 In God, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid.

How do we put our trust in God? First make sure you belong to Him. He’s given you the ability to believe so you can accept Jesus and become a child of God. Then, start reading your Bible. Accept what it says is true. That means, letting the demonstrations of God’s faithfulness in Scripture apply to your life. How can we know what to believe unless we know what’s possible to believe?

How can I trust God to care about me unless I believe:

Cast your cares upon Him for He cares about you.

How can I trust God to lift my burdens unless I believe:

Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I’ll give you rest.

How can I trust God to heal my hurts unless I believe:

I will restore you to health And I will heal you of your wounds,’ declares the LORD

How can we trust god to bless our lives or this church unless we believe:

Jer 29:11 For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

That’s why David wrote: Ps 103:2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; 3 Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; 4 Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; 5 Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle. 6 The LORD performs righteous deeds And judgments for all who are oppressed.

How did David know God did that kind of stuff? He had experienced it for himself, or he’d seen God do so in other lives, or he’d read about God’s faithfulness in the stories of Scripture.

Seeing what God has done in the lives of others gives me courage to trust Him in my life. If God did that for them then, surely, He can do this for me now. That’s not presumption, it’s faith. It’s having the confidence to trust.

Well, I don’t want to bother Him with my problems. Know what pleases God? Us trusting Him. The only thing that bothers Him is our unwillingness to trust.

What are you trusting God for right now, at this moment?

Faith is not just hoping good things happen. It’s more substantial than that. It is counting on the God Who has given His word to work out the details according to His word. That puts Him in charge of the outcome.

Three schoolboys were asked to write their definition of faith. One wrote: "Faith is TAKING hold of God." The second wrote: "Faith is HOLDING onto God." The third wrote: "Faith is NOT letting go!"

Rom 2:13 for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified.

A man of his word/A man of His word

Tendency is to set the Word aside, close our eyes to the spirit and open up the eyes of our flesh to determine our own preferred outcome. That’s living by sight which is contrary to the requirement of living by faith. Living by faith is a command, not a suggestion.

In the movie The Matrix, the Spiritual leader of the remnant is Morpheus and the young deliverer who he believes is the promised one is Neo. Not everyone agrees that Neo is the promised one. In fact, almost nobody else shares his belief. In one scene Morpheus stands before the council and is asked to defend his actions. One of the military leaders said, "Not everyone believes what you believe Morpheus." Morpheus replied, "My Faith doesn’t require that they do."

Our Faith doesn’t depend on what others say. It isn’t weakened when someone else doesn’t believe what we believe. Our Faith doesn’t change to suit the climate of the current culture. Our Faith is built upon our relationship with the Lord. We don’t allow the world or our circumstances to define our Faith.

Faith is the ability to count on God’s faithfulness. How do we know the extent of that faithfulness? How far can we trust Him with the issues of our lives? It’s in the Book.

During an especially trying time in the work of the China Inland Mission, Missionary Hudson Taylor wrote to his wife, “We have twenty-five cents—and all the promises of God!”

Living by Faith demonstrates my assurance, my conviction that I can rely upon what I can’t see to become solid substance in my life.

If I am flying somewhere, I know I’m not being lifted up by the will power of the

pilot. I’m counting on the law of aerodynamics.

If I am riding a bicycle, I’m not staying up by my determination not to fall. I’m

counting on the principle of balance.

If I am living my life, I’m not relying on what I hope is true. I’m counting on what

God has said being true and choosing to believe what He’s promised, He

will do.

A defendant was on trial for murder in Oklahoma. There was strong evidence of guilt, but there was no body. In the defense’s closing statement, the lawyer, knowing that his client would probably be convicted, decided on theatrics. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I have a surprise for you all," he said looking at his watch. "Within one minute, the person presumed dead in this case will walk into this courtroom." He looked toward the courtroom door. The jurors all looked at the door. A minute passed. Nothing happened. Finally, the lawyer said, "Actually, I made up the previous statement. But you all looked. I, therefore, put it to you that there is reasonable doubt in this case as to whether anyone was killed and insist that you return a verdict of not guilty." The jury retired to deliberate. A few minutes later, they returned and pronounced him guilty. "But how?" inquired the lawyer. "You must have had some doubt; I saw all of you stare at the door." The jury foreman said: "Oh, we did look. In fact, everyone in the room looked. Everyone but your client."

When you know the truth, you aren’t taken in by the downward tug of doubt or trickery of the enemy. You won’t let your eyes deceive you. You can stand firm because your hope rests on the promises of our faithful God.

To fly – trust in law of aerodynamics.

To ride – trust in the principle of balance.

To live – trust in God.

TAKEAWAYS:

Having faith is a challenge to someone struggling.
Either God has become too small or their confidence in His faithfulness has been tainted.
Neither of those takes away from His power or our responsibility to trust Him.
When we do, we will learn: He is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.
What is that power? The ability we have to trust Him - Faith.

Living On Purpose

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 14:28:00 +0000

It’s been God’s intentions from the beginning to get His people to walk with Him. Amos says: How can two walk together unless they agree? What God is wanting us to agree with, is that we will walk by faith not sight.

Our eyes may help us live successfully in a physical world, but they are of little use as spiritual people living for the glory of God. In fact, living by sight can be the greatest hindrance to living by faith. It challenges us when we want to rely on God with messages that make us doubt instead. But, living by sight is our natural programming. It’s how we’re wired as people. To live by faith, we have to be reprogrammed.

Ezek 36:26 Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

The old heart functioned in an old life, but God was going to change life. A changed life needed a new heart. Jesus said: John 10:10 I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. As a Christian, life will no longer be lived successfully by relying only on our abilities to adapt to our physical world but how we may live abundantly in Him.

In fact, we will find that the original programming for sight will actually conflict with living by faith.

Gal 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.

We’ve used a lot of contradictory terms in describing the same thing. Ezekiel refers to the original programming as a heart of stone, insensitive to the presence and purposes of God. The promise is changing that heart of stone into a heart of flesh so it can respond to God.

Paul talks about the flesh as the default setting of life, by flesh he means the natural desires that drive us to please ourselves and resist God. The Spirit is the new setting that connects us with what is necessary to please God by trusting and obeying Him.

But the picture is the same: heart of stone or our flesh are our default settings of sight by which we process life in response to what we see. However, as people of faith, we can’t let our eyes tell us what’s true or not, neither can what we see suggest how we live.

Which means we choose to live by faith and not sight. If we do not purpose to live by faith we will fall back to living by sight. It doesn’t matter if we’ve been with the Lord for a week or seventy years. We have to choose the target for where we will place our hope and then set on that target the intentions for how we live.

Last week we looked at Elijah defeating the prophets of Baal. It was a challenge God set up to prove He was the genuine God. The God who answered by fire was God. The one who didn’t was the counterfeit. Fire fell, people cheered and the prophets of Baal were destroyed. But have you ever read on to see what happened next?

You’d think Elijah would ride the high of that experience for years to come, retelling the story of what God did in that crucial moment. “There I was on Mt. Carmel. Just me against 450 prophets of Baal.” And then building on that success with even greater things that God would call him to do.

1Kings 19:1 Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time." 3 And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. 4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, "It is enough; now, O LORD, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers." 5 He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, there was an angel touching him, and he said to him, "Arise, eat." 6 Then he looked and behold, there was at his head a bread cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 The angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, "Arise, eat, because the journey is too great for you." 8 So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 Then he came there to a cave and lodged there; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" 10 He said, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away."

Doesn’t even sound like the same man. “God, this isn’t fair. The best day of my life has been ruined by this evil woman. My life is over. I just want to die. I don’t want to be killed, just die.”

How could a man of God fall so far in such a short time? James answers that: James 5:17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours…

Charles Spurgeon said, “The best of men are but men at best.”

What was he doing? Reverting back to his default settings. He lost touch with faith and was now living by sight. A prophet of God can do that? Anyone can do that.

Rom 8:5 For those who are walking according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are walking according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,

Elijah wasn’t doing something out of the ordinary. In fact, that is the ordinary way to deal with set-backs. If we don’t choose to walk in faith, we will walk in the darkness of sight. That’s the natural response when we look at life through the eyes of the flesh. We see how things look and then believe that’s all that’s going on.

Elijah was dealing with basic problems we all experience:

Fatigue – He was tired. He’d just run 50 miles from Carmel to Jezreel. Then another 100 miles from Jezreel to Beersheba.

1Kings 18:46 Then the hand of the LORD was on Elijah, and he girded up his loins and outran Ahab to Jezreel. 1Kings 19:3 And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, 4 but he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness,

Fear – Jezebel had threatened his life. "So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time." And he was scared and ran for his life.

Feelings - My life is over. It isn’t worth living. "It is enough; now, O LORD, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers." How we feel generates much of what we think. Tell someone operating from feelings that what they’re feeling isn’t true and they’ll say, “It doesn’t matter what’s true. It’s how I feel.”

The Lord’s reply: eat, rest, answer: "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He wasn’t questioning Elijah’s location but attitude. Why have you taken my purposes for you and wrapped them in your sorrow? Why have you let yourself get so low?

It’s so common, we’ve created slogans for people to not give up.

Winners never quit/quitters never win

When the going gets tough the tough get going

Rub some dirt on it and let’s go.

But, we’ll argue, I’m the exception. My problems are far beyond what anyone else has gone through. Nobody knows the troubles I’ve seen.

You know the difference between a BIG PROBLEM and a little problem? A BIG PROBLEM is anything I’m going through. A little problem is anything YOU are going through!

Elijah wasn’t in some unique moment. He was in a common moment. The Lord was saying: Elijah, you’re not the only one who’s been where you are.

1Cor 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

What is the common trail to giving up?

Disappointment

Discouragement

Defeat

Depression

Despair – hopelessness

Elijah had undoubtedly run through all these symptoms while he ran to Beersheba and was now stuck in the last – despair.

You don’t get to despair without passing through the other stages. But to get there you have to deny a Bible full of truth and reject God’s hand extended to lift you up along the way.

Deut 28:65 Among those nations [connect that with the flesh, the natural tendencies of sight] you shall find no rest, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul. 66 So your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you will be in dread night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life.

That’s where thoughts of ending life come from. Dread of life has overwhelmed us. Losing hope because what we see has made us assume things that aren’t true.

What was God asking Elijah? "What are you doing here, Elijah?" Why did you stop at this point in your life?

He’s not discounting Elijah’s emotions. Or denying he is tired and hungry. He’s asking why did you get stuck here? Why did you let sight cause you to assume things that aren’t true?

You think this is the end of the world? It’s not. So, quit acting like it is. Have I disappeared? Am I no longer your God? Have the promises suddenly become null and void? Have the plans I’ve made for you come to an end?

Max Lucado wrote: “God likes you just the way you are but He loves you too much to let you stay that way!”

Elijah, look. You may be done with me, but I’m not done with you. I’m still at work. Get your eyes back on me. Stop looking at your circumstances and look at Me.

Heb 12:3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

We can run on Fear.

We can run on Feelings.

We can run on Fumes.

Or we can run on Faith!

A little girl had been trying for months to learn to tie her shoes. She finally got it and was able to do it by herself. Her parents expected her to be delighted, and were surprised by her disappointment. Her father asked why she was crying. "I just learned how to tie my shoes." He said, "That’s great, but why are you crying?" "Because now I’ll have to do it all by myself for the rest of my life."

Faith isn’t only for getting this life started but it’s what sustains it. We come in by faith. We live by faith. That’s called living on purpose.

Elijah should have remembered:

Ps 9:10 And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.

Ps 56:3-4 When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. In God, whose word I praise, in God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me?

Ps 43:5 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.

"Five Feet High and Rising" by Johnny Cash

My mama always taught me that good things come from adversity if we put our faith in the Lord. We couldn't see much good in the flood waters when they were causing us to have to leave home, but when the water went down, we found that it had washed a load of rich black bottom dirt across our land. The following year we had the best cotton crop we'd ever had.

How high's the water, mama? Two feet high and risin'
How high's the water, papa? Two feet high and risin'

We can make it to the road in a homemade boat
That's the only thing we got left that'll float
It's already over all the wheat and the oats, Two feet high and risin'

How high's the water, mama? Three feet high and risin'
How high's the water, papa? Three feet high and risin'

Well, the hives are gone, I've lost my bees
The chickens are sleepin' in the willow trees
Cow's in water up past her knees, Three feet high and risin'

How high's the water, mama? Four feet high and risin'
How high's the water, papa? Four feet high and risin'

Hey, come look through the window pane,
The bus is comin', gonna take us to the train
Looks like we'll be blessed with a little more rain, Four feet high and risin'

How high's the water, mama? Five feet high and risin'
How high's the water, papa? Five feet high and risin'

Well, the rails are washed out north of town
We gotta head up to higher ground

Can't come back till the water comes down,
Five feet high and risin'

Well, it's five feet high and risin'

This week, especially Monday, the water rose up four feet in my life. I had four separate matters that were heavy disappointments. One broke my heart. Others tried to break my spirit. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

I needed help so I went to our Wednesday prayer group for prayer. I came away with the word: Stop looking at life through the eyes of the flesh, quit making assumptions that aren’t true. Look at all of these through the eyes of faith. When you do, you’ll find that even 2Tim 2:13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.

How high’s the water rising in your life? Well, as long as you’re still breathing, there’s still time to look up and trust in the mighty hand of God to lift you out of the flood. If you need help ask for prayer. Come and let folks pray for you.

TAKEAWAYS:

If there are any exceptions to any of the promises of God, then none of the promises can be trusted.
All that God has said is true or none of it is.
If He has said: “I will accomplish what concerns you,” what does that leave out in what you are facing right now?
God is either completely adequate to tend to the issues of our lives or He is not.
I choose to live believing He is.

Living Out Loud

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Sun, 16 Jan 2022 13:59:00 +0000

In 391 A.D., Telemachus, a Christian monk living in a remote village in Italy, heard the voice of God telling him to go to Rome. Weeks later, he arrived at the time of a great festival and followed the crowd surging down the streets into the Coliseum. He saw the gladiators stand before the emperor and say, “We who are about to die salute you.” When he realized these men were going to fight to the death for the entertainment of the crowd Telemachus cried out, “In the name of Christ, stop!”

He rushed down the aisle, climbed over the wall, and dropped to the floor of the arena. The crowd thought it was part of the show and began laughing.

As Telemachus pleaded with the gladiators to stop, one of them plunged a sword into his chest. He fell to the sand. As he was dying, his last words were, “In the name of Christ, stop!”

The gladiators did stop and stood over his body. A hush fell over the Coliseum. From the upper rows, a man got up and made his way to the exit. Others began to follow. Soon, all the people left.

That was the last battle between gladiators in the Roman Coliseum. Never again did men kill each other there simply for the entertainment of the crowd, all because one small voice spoke the truth in Jesus’ name.

Can you imagine being that one voice? It takes guts to be the lone man or woman, sticking out in a crowd. It takes boldness to speak out when it’s easier to keep quiet. It takes courage to stand up when you’re standing alone. It takes conviction to be the only one in the room choosing God.

1Kings 18:20 So Ahab sent a message among all the sons of Israel and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah came near to all the people and said, "How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people did not answer him a word.

1Kings 18:23 Now let them give us two oxen; and let them choose one ox for themselves and cut it up, and place it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other ox and lay it on the wood, and I will not put a fire under it. 24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD, and the God who answers by fire, He is God." And all the people said, "That is a good idea." 25 So Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one ox for yourselves and prepare it first for you are many, and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it." 26 Then they took the ox which was given them and they prepared it and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon saying, "O Baal, answer us." But there was no voice and no one answered. And they leaped about the altar which they made. 27 It came about at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, "Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god; either he is occupied or gone aside, or is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened." 28 So they cried with a loud voice and cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out on them. 29 When midday was past, they raved until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice; but there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention. 30 Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come near to me." So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD which had been torn down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, "Israel shall be your name." 32 So with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD, and he made a trench around the altar, large enough to hold two measures of seed. 33 Then he arranged the wood and cut the ox in pieces and laid it on the wood. 34 And he said, "Fill four pitchers with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood." And he said, "Do it a second time," and they did it a second time. And he said, "Do it a third time," and they did it a third time. 35 The water flowed around the altar and he also filled the trench with water. 36 At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, "O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things at Your word. 37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that You, O LORD, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again." 38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, "The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God."

Hesitate between two opinions – dance around the point with no convictions. Choosing to go with the flow because we’re afraid not to.

Caught in the middle of a decision. Want to turn left across traffic but it’s too heavy so you give in, turn right and go with the flow. But this isn’t the direction I want to go.

Paul before Agrippa: Acts 26:6 And now I am standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers; 7 the promise to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God night and day. And for this hope, O King, I am being accused by Jews.

God has made a promise that everyone believes He will fulfill someday. I believe that day is now. And for that I’m being accused of unfaithfulness to God, that I’m taking my belief to a fanatical extreme. Though what they want to be true is true, they choose not to accept it as true. And accuse me of teaching false doctrine.

Hannah Whitall Smith in The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life. - The standard of practical holy living has been so low among Christians that very often the person who tries to practice spiritual disciplines in everyday life is looked upon with disapproval by a large portion of the Church. And for the most part, the followers of Jesus Christ are satisfied with a life so conformed to the world, and so like it in almost every respect, that to a casual observer, there is no difference between the Christian and the pagan.

James: Double-minded man unstable in all his ways.

Commitment requires single-mindedness.

1Cor 7:35 This I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.

George Barna, The Frog in the Kettle, "Commitment is viewed negatively because it limits our ability to feel independent and free, to experience new things, to change our minds on the spur of the moment and to focus on self-gratification.”

He chose his title from the lab experiment of boiling a frog. The intention of the frog to jump out of hot water is compromised when the water becomes hot gradually. As he danced (or swam) in his opinions that this wasn’t that bad, he slowly boiled to death.

That was Elijah’s warning: How long will we continue to dance around our opinions? Start standing on your convictions: Shad, Mesh, Abed.

Dan 3:16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. 17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."

Daniel: People who know their God will do exploits. Heroic acts of faith.

Paul and John before the council: Acts 4:18 And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; 20 for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard."

You dance around your opinions. You stand on convictions. What is a conviction? What you are convinced is true. What I’m convinced is true, is what I commit myself to.

Hitting a point in life where only God can handle what I’m going through is no time to dance around undecided about what I believe.

Kids, job, illness, finances, relationships, temptations, fears, frustrations

Abraham Lincoln said, “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My wisdom and that of all those around me seemed insufficient for the day.”

By setting my convictions, I determine in advance what I believe so that when the moment comes, I know what to do:

Bad news from the doctor: I choose to trust God.

Bad report about my family: I choose to trust God.

Bad day in overwhelming grief: I choose to trust God.

Elijah didn’t have what it took to resolve the dilemma with Baal’s priests. 450 to 1. But he did have the conviction that God could resolve it. It was God’s reputation not Elijah’s that was being tested: not, may they see I’m your faithful prophet, but may they see You are my faithful God.

A man was going skydiving for the first time. He took lessons and was going up for his first jump. When he left the plane, he panicked and couldn’t remember how to open his chute. As he was falling to the earth, he met a guy coming up. He yelled out to the guy, “Hey buddy, do you know how to work a parachute?” The Guy shouted back, “No, but I can tell you how not to light a propane stove.”

What’s the important thing: deciding in advance to choose God.

Deut 30:19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, 20 by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life…

Heb 11:24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, 25 choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.

Josh 24:14 Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." The Lord, He is God!

1Sam 8:18 Then you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day. 19 Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, "No, but there shall be a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles."

But I don’t want to stand out as different from the rest. I don’t want to be labeled as a fanatic. I don’t want to shout my convictions at the top of my lungs. I just want to get by.

Two guys riding a motorcycle, driving through the country. The leather jacket one guy was wearing had a broken zipper. After a while he stopped and said, “I can’t drive anymore. The air is hitting me in the chest and I’m freezing.” His friend said, “Well, turn your jacket around and wear it backwards so the air won’t hit you.” He did and they continued their ride until they came to a sharp curve too fast. Neither bike made it and they both wrecked. A farmer that lived nearby heard the crash and ran over to see what happened. He called the sheriff. When the deputy got there he asked him, “Were either of them showing any sign of life when you got here?” “Well sir, he said, that fellow over there kept moaning and groaning until I turned his head around the right way. Hadn’t said a word since.”

Let’s get our heads on straight for 2022. We’ve been in a destructive pattern that has challenged our lives for well over two years. More of the same may be coming. Stuff we aren’t asking for. Let’s quit dancing around our opinions about God and decide this year to move into conviction. Let’s choose to trust God no matter what comes.

TAKEAWAYS:

It’s impossible to plan for every bad thing that might happen.
In fact, trying to do so makes us paranoid and fearful.
We can’t stop what comes against us, but we don’t have to dance around while it boils us alive.
By choosing in advance what we know to be true, we can be ready for whatever comes.
Because God is faithful, we are able.

The Heavens Declare thru Virgo

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Mon, 06 Dec 2021 14:38:00 +0000

What do you see when you look up into the night sky? Years ago, I stood on the edge of a mountain in Utah. The sky was literally filled with stars as thick as white dust. We don’t see the heavens like that around here because of Light Pollution. The lights around us filter out the brightness of the stars. But go out west, into the desert or mountains or travel across the oceans and you’ll see a sky full of stars. Someone calculated the number of stars at 7 sextillion. Or 7 with 21 zeros.

From earliest times, before electric lights stole away our view, the people spent much more time looking at the heavens than we do. They watched the stars, connected the dots of light and drew figures in the sky. And from those figures created stories to fill their imaginations, and a celestial world came alive.

I can’t do that. I’m good if I can find the Big and Little Dippers and maybe the three stars of Orion’s Belt. Beyond that it’s just a bunch of random, bright dots in the sky.

Yet, in all the thousands of years of human observation, there is a consistency in the images men have seen. And not only of the images but in the names given to the stars for common meanings. From vantage points all over the known world came a similar storyline for each constellation.

And from the earliest documentation, those names and storylines remain pretty much the same until the Greeks began to create their own stories. Giving rise to a mythology that overwrote the intended message God had written in the heavens. Their stories became like Light Pollution to block out the original message, another attempt by Satan to distort the intentions of God giving insight into His plans.

The early observers saw 12 primary constellations, each surrounded by three sub-constellations called Decans that with the primary constellation, made up a themed story. Each constellation takes its turn for a month each year along with its Decans to take centerstage and tell its story.

But unlike the secular zodiac, which runs from Aries to Pisces, the first sign in the prophetic version begins with Virgo and ends with Leo. As we’ll see, these mark the story of Jesus, first coming as Messiah and finally will come as Lion. A child born to a virgin who was the Lion King.

Now it’s easy to read backwards and make things we currently know apply to what we don’t understand in the past. We take our understanding of the NT and read that understanding back into the OT. We use the OT to better understand things in the New. It’s also how prophecy works. Prophecy predicts future events so that when they happen or after they’ve happened, people can go back to the original and see the message of how what was to happen connects with what did happen.

But, this is not a study to force our understanding back onto the early observers’ portrayal of the constellations. We’re using their understanding to see how God wrote His message, so that: Ps 19:1 The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. 2 Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.

From the perspective of the message God placed in the stars, we begin with Virgo.

Almost all cultures refer to this constellation as The Virgin. What’s also interesting is that almost all cultures see her, a virgin, associated with motherhood. As we know, the two don’t go together. By virtue of one the other is lost. However, on one altar found in ancient, pre-Christian Germany was the dedication to The Virgin Who is to Bring Forth.”

The Greek name for Virgo is Parthenos. The famous remains of a temple in Athens is named the Parthenon and means The Temple of the Virgin Goddess. Of course, this temple was created for the pagan cult worship of Athena. But the image of her being a virgin remains the same.

Long before the Greeks, the early Egyptians connected a few more stars and expanded the image they saw to have Virgo holding an infant they named Horus. The name Horus meant He Who Comes Forth. The Babylonians called Virgo the Great Mother. The Assyrian name means She Who Brings forth.

But in each reference, the emphasis is clearly on her offspring and not herself. Although the sign clearly portrays a virgin, the central message of Virgo is not about the woman, it is about her son. Who He is is described later.

Of the stars that collect to make up the constellation: Spica, one of the brightest stars, means head of grain. The original Hebrew name for this star was Zerah which meant The Seed.

The same word is used in: Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel."

Virgo shows us a virgin who is to bear a Child. As a virgin bearing a child, this means the conception of that child must be miraculous. Which, as we know, her Seed (which doesn’t come from women but men) refers to a virgin birth. This takes divine intervention, which will make this child the Son of God.

Luke 1:31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; 35 The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.

The picture of the Virgin has her holding a tree branch in her right hand. It’s pointed up which indicates receiving. In her left hand is a sheaf of wheat pointed down. This indicates giving or passing along. The branch and the seed will come together in her.

The Hebrew word for Branch is used four times in Scripture and each time refers to the Messiah.

Isa 4:2 In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious,

Jer 23:5 "Behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king… 6 In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, 'The LORD our righteousness.'

Zec 3:8 'Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you—indeed they are men who are a symbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch.

Isa 11:1 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

The seed brought forth by the Virgin will be the Messiah.

Interesting side story: when Isaiah told King Ahaz his reign would be established, he told Ahaz to ask God for a sign to prove this was true. Ahaz felt that would be tempting God so he refused. Isaiah said: Isa 7:14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.

Why would he refer to this sign? To remind Ahaz that the God who establishes His promises, even in the Heavens, is faithful to deliver them. And He will be faithful to Ahaz.

Another star by various names within Virgo means Who Shall Come Down or Who Shall Have Dominion. In Chaldean, this star meant The Branch Shall Come Down. The name the Greeks used meant The Deliverer Who Comes.

God designed the Constellation to tell of His future plans.

The sign Virgo presents the One who is the seed of a woman. He is to come and His coming will be as a branch from the tree of God’s purposes. He will be God with us.

Now, associated with each of the 12 Primary Constellations are groups of additional constellations that amplify or clarify the Primary one. These groups are called Decans, meaning, a part or a piece. There are 36 Decans divided into 3 per constellation to add understanding within the framework of the 12 signs.

Virgo is accompanied by one Decan named: Coma. It is another picture of the virgin but this time as a mother with the child she gave birth to standing in her lap. His head is higher than hers which symbolizes He will be greater than her.

The name Coma, is Hebrew meaning The Desired or The Longed For. It’s the same word Haggai used of the long waited-for Messiah: Hag 2:7 And I will shake all the nations; and the desire of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, says Jehovah of Hosts.

The Egyptians called this child standing on the virgin’s lap: the Desired Son. Or Desired Offspring. In a perversion of the original, they give the Virgin the name Isis – as their goddess of fertility which made her the goddess of life. They named the son: Horus, who was one of Egypt’s most significant deities as the god of the Kings. Even in their perversion this child was a god over-all.

From the writings of an Arabian astronomer who was not a Christian, he said: “there arises a young woman whose Persian name means pure and immaculate virgin, sitting on a throne, nourishing an infant, whose Hebrew name is called Yehoshua which we in Greek call Yeshua.” Yeshua was the name Gabriel told Mary to name Jesus. Luke 1:31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. The actual name is Yeshua. It’s the Greek version of the Hebrew name Joshua – meaning Jehovah Saves. In English we call Him Jesus.

Some think it was within this Coma that the star of Bethlehem was seen. That a new star suddenly appeared brighter than the rest. Things like that happen beyond our ability to notice, like when a star is dying it suddenly becomes much brighter then goes away or shines for years. God could have made a specific star for this announcement or had it timed with the death of a star that could have been within the Magi’s ability to see it glowing brightly. That explains how the Magi calculated Jesus would have been 2 years old when they got to Jerusalem.

Though the star remains a mystery, faith gives us the ability to believe God can make such phenomenon happen. He who made all the stars could do whatever He chose to announce the birth in the heavens.

In describing this new star, the Bishop of Antioch in 69 A.D. said: “At the appearance of the Lord, a star shone forth brighter than all the other stars.” Realize at 69 A.D. he was close enough to the original event that what he said could have been from direct knowledge passed down people who actually saw that star.

The next Decan was of a constellation called Centaurus.

This child, who was to be born of a virgin and be the desired Messiah to come, would also have two natures. He would be God and Man. Centaurus explains the dual nature.

Though in Greek mythology the centaur is not a desirable creature – he is half man, half horse – he is despised by both men and the gods. There is great symbolism here.

The Hebrew name is Bezeh. It’s the same word used by Isaiah: Isa 53:3 He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Another Hebrew name used for this same Decan was Asmeath which means Sin-Offering. Combined, it describes someone who is the Despised Sin-Offering. The rest of Isaiah 53 explains how this One will die on behalf of the sins of the world.

Interesting that the Greek story tied to Centarus has even more to say. There was a man named Chiron who was a teacher of all the great heroes of Greece. He was immortal but agreed to die. In dying, he passed on his immortality to Prometheus who then gained eternal life.

The Greek’s also saw another star within this Decan they named: The Pierced. Interesting package of insight: A perfect teacher who, though He was despised and rejected, would be pierced and died so that a man might have eternal life.

Underneath Centaurus is a collection of stars called The Southern Cross. Because it’s underneath him, it speaks of how the Centaur will die. That he will be pierced and die upon a cross, despised and rejected.

Placement within a constellation has great significance, like our statues of famous military heroes from earlier days. If they died in battle their horse is raring up. If they survived, their horse is down on all fours. If they were wounded in battle and died later, one leg is raised.

The Egyptians had a different name for Centarus: Knemu. Kne means appointed. Mu to die. The One Appointed to Die.

It’s also interesting that the Romans added the word Rex to Centaurus – Rex means king. Rex Centarus – Making this dual-natured man a King. Which, of course Pilate had engraved on the sign above Jesus’ cross – He was King of the Jews.

The third Decan is Bootes. This depicts a shepherd running, carrying a shepherd’s crook in his right hand and a sickle in his left. This is the name in Job: Arcturus which later became The Bear. The Egyptians called it The One Who Subdues, Rules and Governs. Its Hebrew meaning is He who Comes or The Coming One.

Ps 96:12 Let the field exult, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy 13 before the LORD, for He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His faithfulness.

Another source called him The Guardian of the Flock or The Great Shepherd.

One star located in his head means Pierced: which adds to His story that He is The Shepherd who will die.

John 10:11 I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

Zec 12:10 "I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.

What about the sickle? It’s part of the message that remains to be fulfilled. The story isn’t over.

Rev 14:14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, "Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe." 16 Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

So, Virgo and her Decans gives us the message: The Virgin will have a child who is the longed for One to Come, who will be a King who shepherds His people, dying for them so he may give them eternal life.

We already know that. That’s the story of the Gospel. So that now, we don’t need the stars to tell us the story. We have the Word of God. The truth is revealed, the blanks filled in by Jesus.

Heb 1:1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.

TAKEAWAYS:

God wrote His message in the stars, allowing mankind to get a preview of what He planned in the future.
When the time was right, God created a visual within the constellation that said the One promised had come.
With insight from Daniel, the Maji knew one day this great King would be born and prompted their journey soon after the star appeared.
As with Ahaz, God’s promises can be counted on because the God who promises is faithful.

The Heavens Declare - Intro

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Mon, 06 Dec 2021 14:37:00 +0000

We’re taking a unique and fascinating journey to Bethlehem this year. As in most places in Scripture, there are parts of the story we simply read over and never stop long enough to ask important questions like: what’s going on here? Let’s ask that question in the story of the Magi.

Matt 2:1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him."

Magi were the learned class of Persia. They were within the collection of people called Wise Men. They studied all the sciences and were particularly intrigued with the stars. Because we are offended by the word Astrologers, we historically have said they were Astronomers, or star gazers. Astronomers deal with celestial objects in space and the physical universe as a whole. Astrologers look for messages and information in the alignment of the stars.

The Magi announced they had come to Jerusalem because they saw a star that indicated a great king had been born. The heavens had declared to them a message.

Now for them to make that long journey to Jerusalem, they had to have more than just a hunch-driven curiosity. They needed some conviction what they saw in the night sky was real. Because we know the rest of the story is true, what they saw had to be true. God had announced the birth of the King of kings in the heavens.

How did they make the connection? Go back a bit over 500 years and you’ll remember Daniel was one of the Wise Men of Persia. Daniel had a vision: Dan 7:13 I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. 14 And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.

Is it possible Daniel shared his vision with the other Wise Men? Did they, from that moment on, watch the night skies for a sign?

Remember it’s the Astrologers who study the stars for signs. So, if God gave them a sign, does this give credibility to Astrology? Not in the perverted sense of the word, but yes in the orhestrated plan of God to declare His glory in the heavens.

On the fourth day of creation: Gen 1:16 God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.

That last statement seems like an add on. That, “Oh yeah, by the way, God made the stars, too.” But there’s much more there than just the physical creation of stars. What purpose do stars have in our night sky?

Navigators have used them forever to find their way. Locking in on the North Star, they can determine their location relative to it and know which way to go. But beyond that, other than beauty and magnificence, stars do little more than decorate the sky. Unless the God who designed them placed them in proximity to each other to tell a greater story.

Ps 19:1 The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. 2 Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard.

David said they were silent communicators of a greater message about God and His work. That God could speak through the display of the heavens.

The word is personification – giving reality and thought to the objects God uses to reveal Himself: which means God can communicate through anything within His creation. The rocks and stones can cry out, a donkey can speak, His prophets can perform miracles.

This personification plays a heavy role throughout the Bible but especially in the story of the Exodus.

Ex 8:6 So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.

Ex 8:17 They did so; and Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff, and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats through all the land of Egypt.

Ex 9:23 Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt.

Ex 10:13 So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the LORD directed an east wind on the land all that day and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.

Ex 10:22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days.

Ex 14:21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided.

The word for stretched out is the word pervert. But before we react to such an offensive word, understand its usage in Scripture.

From one extreme, Perversion is the alteration of something from its original course, meaning, or state to a distortion or corruption of what was first intended. We use it to describe the actions of people who take something good and make it evil, who pervert what is considered normal and make it horribly wrong.

But the word Pervert means: to bend toward or away from or to stretch out with intentions of doing something beyond the ordinary.

In the Exodus story Moses stretched out his hand to cause something to happen that was a perversion or alteration of what was normal. What happened wasn’t the expected outcome but different. It is also like bending toward or bending away from something for a positive result.

Ps 119:112 I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes forever, even to the end.

Prov 2:2 Make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding;

Inclined is the word pervert. I lean toward or bend my life toward God’s intentions.

Judges 16:29 Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and braced himself against them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left. 30 And Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" And he bent with all his might so that the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed in his life.

He leaned toward completing a final task in His obedience to God by destroying Philistines.

But, granted, we most often see the word used in its highly negative sense.

Deut 27:19 Cursed is he who distorts the justice

1Sam 8:3 His sons, however, did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after dishonest gain and took bribes and perverted justice.

It then becomes a distortion against what was intended. Explained best by Hosea:

Hos 11:7 So My people are bent on turning from Me. Though they call them to the One on high, none at all exalts Him.

Following an inner desire to turn away from what they were not to turn away from, the urge to exalt God became perverted with the wrong application. As turning toward idols.

In the subject of Astrology, I’m the first to reject it as mythology and superstition. I refuse to read my horoscope. Believing my future is tied to someone’s projections is lumped within the category of Tarot cards, fortune tellers and palm readers. And if you go away saying I said believing in Astrology is Biblical, I didn’t say that.

But what if, God declared the glory of His plans within the constellations of the stars? So that: Ps 97:6 The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the peoples have seen His glory – and then somehow what He declared got perverted or distorted into something He never intended. Replaced by the imaginations of men who have rejected Him and turned to worshipping false gods.

We know Satan is the great deceiver. Matt 16:22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You." 23 But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's."

His primary objective is to get people to reject God for man’s interests. To replace God with a substitute and Rom 1:23 exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

It was the same rebuke of Jeremiah to the false prophets: Jer 23:25 I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in My name, saying, 'I had a dream, I had a dream!' 26 "How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, 27 who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal?

Who was Baal? He was the primary substitute god, a false representation that captured the hearts of and minds of the people, taking worship away from God and giving it to an idol.

Josiah, King of Judah, heard what Jeremiah had said and saw what perversion these false prophets had created within the kingdom.

2Kings 23:5 He did away with the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah and in the surrounding area of Jerusalem, also those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and to the moon and to the constellations and to all the host of heaven.

What God intended for good had been perverted into evil. Instead of leading men to Him their practices were taking men away from Him, as worldly Astrology also does.

2Pet 3:17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Col 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.

With no intention to make worldly Astrology an acceptable source of information and useful for instruction for today, we still need to understand how God placed His glory – the representation of His presence that reveals His magnificent plan – in the heavens.

So that, Ps 68:33 To Him who rides upon the highest heavens, which are from ancient times; behold, He speaks forth with His voice, a mighty voice.

Back in Genesis, Gen 1:14 God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years;

Signs mean a signal of something to come. Seasons means an appointment at a fixed time or appointing beforehand something that would come later.

Like a highway sign set up by someone who knows what’s coming. To warn or direct or give guidance in advance. The sign is set up by someone who knows more about the route than the one coming later, to help direct their journey to its proper destination.

Three priests holding signs on a dark and rainy night: Beware. Turn Back. The End is Coming.

It may seem foreign to us that the Bible specifically refers to constellations. We see them as a part of Astrology tied to Greek mythology and reject them outright. However, constellations have a history far beyond Greece. In fact, outside of the Bible, symbols of the Zodiac have been found on Babylonian boundary markers as early at 1000 B.C., in China as early as 2500 B.C. and in Egypt around 3000 B.C.

Even in the book of Job: Job 9:9 Who makes the Bear, Orion and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south;

The Bear, Orion and Pleiades are all constellations well known to the people of Job’s day. The chambers of the south are the expected constellations they had no knowledge of since they never saw that portion of the night sky.

Amo 5:8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion and changes deep darkness into morning, Who also darkens day into night, Who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is His name.

Job 38:31 Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loose the cords of Orion? 32 Can you lead forth a constellation in its season, and guide the Bear with her satellites? 33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens, or fix their rule over the earth?

The word constellation is plural, meaning all that makes up the constellations. And the word ordinances means something prescribed. God is challenging Job’s authority over the heavens which only He has to give the constellations meaning.

Remember the word season? Seasons means an appointment at a fixed time or appointing beforehand something that would come later.

Ps 147:4 He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them.

When God set the stars in space, He did so with great purpose and precision. Man has since applied his own understanding – or misunderstanding – to what the position of the stars means. And because Satan has confused and perverted that understanding, he has clouded the truth of God into a mysterious unknown. Satan has performed the act of the magician to misdirect the eye to not see what he doesn’t want it to see. To do so, he stirs the minds of men to see what isn’t there and not see what is there.

It is this perversion that God has judged.

Isa 47:13 Let now the astrologers, those who prophesy by the stars, those who predict by the new moons, stand up and save you from what will come upon you. 14 Behold, they have become like stubble…

False messages from false prophets who use the ignorance and gullibility of the people to get them to believe whatever they say is true.

But the constellations were designed by God to give insight into the story of redemption and though Satan distorted that message by overwriting it with a different story, the original still remains.

Since the heavens declare the glory of God, they must be doing more than giving a sparkling display of His creative power. They are telling a story. And it was the Magi from Persia who saw that story in the sky and went to Jerusalem searching for the Baby King who was born. The star in the East was real, as was the Baby King they found in Bethlehem.

And Matt 2:9 After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

This Christmas Season, I hope we can get perspective from the Magi to understand how the heavens declared the glory of God.

TAKEAWAYS:

For a God who can write His commandments on the hearts of His people, writing a message in the heavens should not amaze us.
His goal is to reveal Himself in ways mankind can understand and respond.
With the whole universe as His tablet, He can use any of it to speak on His behalf as He chooses.
His glory is of such magnitude, even the infinite heavens can only give us a glimpse of how great He really is.

A Vision for Our Church

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 14:53:00 +0000

It’s difficult to find a pattern for the modern church in the New Testament. From the Day of Pentecost – that moment the Lord that established the church – the structure and practices of the early church began evolving.

Questions needed answers: What are our beliefs? What are our practices? How is life different now than before? How do we connect ourselves to each other?

They had a desire to be together, but no design for what to do when they were together. At the beginning, most Christians came out of Judaism, all they had to go on was what they had done in the Jewish Synagogue. So, they naturally incorporated some of those practices when they met.

In fact, James used the word Synagogue when he was talking about the gatherings of the church.

James 2:1 My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. 2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, 3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, "You sit here in a good place," and you say to the poor man, "You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool," 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?

It would seem, though, that not only the activities of the Synagogue were being followed, but some of the undesirable social practices were trickling down. Showing favoritism was a big deal in Jewish circles. Those with greater standing in the community were given special seating and pampering, while the poor were downgraded or ignored.

The Church was to be different. The ground was level in front of the Cross. Everyone came in through the same door – Jesus – and was of equal value to the whole. There was to be no hierarchy. We all stand the same before the Lord. And each has a responsibility to serve the interests of the whole.

1Cor 12:12 For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body is not one member, but many.

Each member has equal value. Some may have higher responsibility but none more important to the whole than the others. All were a part of the assembly.

Henry Ford created the assembly line for putting cars together. An assortment of parts were required to make a car and all of the parts were vital to the end product. Ford scheduled this assembly by creating stations where certain men attached certain parts. The car passed through these stations and eventually was completed. Each part was important. They couldn’t say the steering wheel was more important than the wheels or the gas tank more important than the carburetor. The assembly of all parts helped create the whole.

The word James used for assembly is the word synagogue. It’s the Greek word for the Hebrew word Beit K’nesset, the place of assembly or gathering. Knesset is what Israel calls their congress. Why the Jews chose the Greek word for Synagogue instead of the Hebrew word is an interesting story for another day.

The Temple in Jerusalem was for sacrifice. The Synagogue was for gathering the Jews together for prayer, reading the Hebrew Bible, and teaching. It was a local assembly place. Because of the various dispersions that sent Jews out into the Gentile world, having a place to connect with like-minded brethren, gave them a sense of belonging wherever they were.

The goal was having a meeting place for God and His people. To have a synagogue, there must be 10 families in a community. If not, the Jews would designate a place for prayer.

Acts 16:13 And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.

First and foremost a synagogue was a place for prayer. Even in current Judaism, prayer is considered powerful, and there are certain prayers which are to be prayed daily. While this can technically be done anywhere, the belief is, prayer offered in groups is more powerful than prayers prayed alone. Jesus spoke of this:

Matt 18:19 If two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. 20 For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.

For the early church, meeting together was, for some, a new habit. The Gentile Believers often had nothing to compare with the synagogue. It was all new ground.

That’s why the writer of Hebrews said: Heb 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

When we don’t understand the importance of meeting together, we may lose the value of coming together. We’ll eventually let that privilege and responsibility slip away.

Heb 2:1 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.

A log within a fire burns hot and strong. Take it out and soon, though the other logs in the fire will keep burning, the log by itself will eventually go out and grow cold.

Believers need to come together for:

Encouragement
Instruction
Accountability
Ministry/Service
To reconnect us with our beliefs
To discipline our life practices
To remind us who we are
To pray and be prayed for

For new believers, it’s easy for them to get confused about how Christianity works. They have no foundation for how to apply their beliefs. They need mentoring by mature Christians. They need family support. Hearing that other Christians also struggle helps them in their own struggles. Knowing they aren’t alone gives them hope. Gathering gives them a place for that to happen.

But, since there was no explanation for how to structure the gatherings, it makes sense the reasons to meet might get lost in the practices of meeting. In other words, people might forget what the church is for and make it about themselves. Corinth got things confused, so Paul had to correct them.

1Cor 14:26 What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three, and each in turn, and one must interpret; 28 but if there is no interpreter, he must keep silent in the church; and let him speak to himself and to God. 29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment. 30 But if a revelation is made to another who is seated, the first one must keep silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted; 32 and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets; 33 for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

Their Church was a free-for-all. Everyone seeking their own desires. Paul was trying to help them establish some guidelines for handling that confusion.

Realize, Jesus never said, “Follow the practices of the Jewish Synagogue.” Nor did He ever say, “I want a highly structured system called the Church.”

In fact, the word church never referred to a religious system or even a building in the NT. The word for church is ekklesia. It means the called-out ones. The church referred to the people of God not the place they gathered. The people are the church. The church is the people of God.

Act 11:26 And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

The ones called out from death to life, darkness to light, lost to saved, unrighteousness to righteousness were to function as a body of like-minded believers whose identity was shaped by gathering to pray and study the Bible together. That’s why that collection of called-out ones, because they demonstrated Christlikeness in their actions and lifestyle, became known as Christ-ones or ones from Christ – Christians. Where did they meet?

1Cor 16:19 The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Prisca greet you heartily in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.

Having a common meeting place serviced the need to gather in a location designated to the purpose of connecting with God and each other. For the first 300 years that meant meeting in homes. Doing what?

Acts 2:42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. 44 And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; 45 and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. 46 Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Acts 4:32 And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.

Buildings came along as a more convenient way to accommodate what God was doing and to help the people worship God. The very first building was a house with a wall removed to fit in more people. Today, we have complexes of buildings to accommodate the crowds. We do that in order to keep up with what God is doing to make our churches places Christians can come together and lives can be changed. We also have home groups.

This is where our church is and God’s blessings are obvious. Each step in our church’s history has been a challenge. And we’ve met that challenge. But what do we do when God says, “But wait, there’s more?” What if His plans take us to a whole new level of doing church? What if to do so, there will be a disruption before we get there?

Any new construction or even remodeling requires demo. Clearing out things that are not necessary or in the way to make room for what is planned. That happens spiritually.

Heb 12:27 the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Often when the Lord is planning a unique mission for a church, that church can respond by panicked and unprepared lurching forward which often makes a mess out of what He wants, or get bogged down in safe and deliberate overthinking that makes it miss the window of opportunity, or follow a path of careful research and timely procedure that places that church in the right place at the right moment.

When we review our history, God’s work today is tied to how He has placed us in the right place at the right moment. Our beginning, our location, our property, our hearts bent toward Him all give us assurance for what He wants us yet to do. He sets us in the right place at the right time for the right purpose.

When I came here over six years ago, God’s instructions were to accommodate what He intended to do. We’ve done so and the result has been a steady pattern of growth that made it necessary to enlarge our front parking lot, to expanded our facilities with an incredible addition and to begin new ministries. God has blessed each step and the growth continues. What might be next? As I see it, it’s a type of transformation.

It's clear the reason God brought JJ here was to help transition us from a predominantly older congregation to a multi-cultural blend of young and old so that we can have a greater impact on our community at large. We see evidence of that every Sunday.

We also know JJ’s coming is tied to greater plans God has for our area that we’re just now learning about, plans that are both surprising and challenging. Though we didn’t see this coming, God has been getting us ready for some time.

We got word a couple of weeks ago about a new residential development that will bring over 1000 new residences within two miles of our front door. It will also include a hotel and retail shops.

That means that not only are there countless families right now within reach of our church but this new development will begin a major building boom on our side of the lake that will bring hundreds, perhaps thousands of new families to within range of our church. That will make North Shore the most vital church for this area.

If so, how do we get ready to receive them? One step at a time. A couple of those steps will be to enlarge our tent and expand our hearts. Things we already have experience doing. But this sounds overwhelming. Where God guides, God provides. Our job is to let Him.

Which means, we can either begin to get ready for what God is doing or let it pass us by. The big questions are: does this fit into how God wants us to accommodate what He has planned? If so, do we want to do what God wants done? That’s the hardest of the two to answer. It is easy to get comfortable and enjoy where we are. Stretching to become something more will take courage and confidence in God’s guidance.

I feel an accountability for what we know is coming. We need to look into how we are to expand our facilities. As great as they are for our needs, they will not meet the future needs for what God has planned.

Other areas are in staffing. Having people who can concentrate time and effort necessary for family ministry must be made a priority. Someone to help lead Children’s Ministry as well as someone devoted to Youth Ministry and Worship will be essential. I even see someone coming to help me with Pastoral Care.

Last Wednesday night at our Annual Business Meeting, we made room in the budget for a Youth/Worship Pastor and are currently looking to find him. We also authorized our Elders to begin a

preliminary study for what we need to do to expand our tent to accommodate those God will be bringing to our church.

Martin Luther King: You don't have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step. We’ve taken those first steps.

Scott Mautz: Being a leader requires confidence, decisiveness, and quick thinking--none of which are served by overthinking every decision or scenario or worrying about every move you make. There’s a time to think, a time to act, a time to reflect, and a time to move forward. Overthinking causes us to spend too much time thinking, getting stuck in a loop of inaction, and turns positive reflection into debilitating worry. Not only does it not move us forward, it moves us backward and downward.

It’s not for us to sit on opportunities until we decide whether we want to accept challenges like this. We believe God is already moving us to accept what He is calling us to do. At this moment, He has made us aware of our future. Our job is to join Him in what He plans to do and accommodate what He intends to accomplish through us. If we agree, it is essential whatever we do is to be done to make His name glorious.

TAKEAWAYS:

Our church belongs to the Lord: we are his people and the sheep of His pasture.
Our job is to accommodate what He wants to do in us and through us.
God will never guide us to what He wants us to do without providing for us what it takes to get it done.
Always and in all ways, whatever we do must be done to glorify Him.

Domestic Terrorism and Spiritual Warfare

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 14:16:00 +0000

Everyone associated with the Government of the United States affirms their allegiance in an Oath of Office. Though the wording varies a bit, all federal employees, including Cabinet, Senators, Congressmen, Supreme Court Justices, and even our military repeat these common words:

I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic;

Everyone, on the same page, pledging to defend the Constitution – that document that represents who we are and what we stand for – against all enemies, foreign and domestic. But as we know, that isn’t as easily done as spoken. Especially when current practice is to redefine what it means to support and defend while reassessing who qualifies as an enemy.

It’s generally much easier to recognize our foreign enemies than domestic. We declare war against a particular nation or ideology. We centralize that war in a country or region. We surveil their location, capabilities and activity and prepare our response.

From Viet Nam to today however, and particularly with the war against terror, wars have become more difficult since enemies tactically blend into society and operate within non-hostile communities. This broadens the scope of the war zone, since the enemy can hide in plain sight.

Terrorism has become the broad term which makes identifying the enemy a challenge. To label a group or person as a terrorist, there is supposed to be a procedure in place to watch what they do, where they go, who they associate with. Then to determine if they have the ability to do damage or cause emotional strain. But because they market fear it’s easy to place people we’re afraid of into the category of terrorist, classifying them as an enemy. Without specific criteria, anyone who causes us to be uncomfortable can be labeled as a terrorist.

A couple of weeks ago, the brush that paints people as enemies bled over onto some whose activity doesn’t fit the definition but are being designated by the term Domestic Terrorists, simply because their actions create fear in the hearts of some.

According to the FBI: Domestic terrorism is defined as: Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature.

Recently, the National School Boards Association, sent a letter to Biden requesting that his Justice Department include parents who strongly express their frustration with school board decisions as domestic terrorists. The subjects these parents oppose are: Critical Race Theory, Trans students using the wrong bathroom, the obsession with gender confusion and health decisions that should be made by parents and not school personnel. Parents see that in many school districts, board members seem to be following an agenda that these parents oppose and are at a loss as to how to stop it.

The attitude they faced was captured in a statement by the former governor of Virginia. On the topic of transgendered students, giving parents a say in their kids’ education, and voting on what books should be allowed in the library, the former Governor of Virginia said: "I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach."

From the letter the National School Boards Association: “As these acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials have increased, the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes. As such, NSBA requests a joint expedited review by the U.S. Departments of Justice, Education, and Homeland Security, along with the appropriate training, coordination, investigations, and enforcement mechanisms from the FBI, including any technical assistance necessary from, and state and local coordination with, its National Security Branch and Counterterrorism Division, as well as any other federal agency with relevant jurisdictional authority and oversight. Additionally, NSBA requests that such review examine appropriate enforceable actions against these crimes and acts of violence under the Gun-Free School Zones Act [and] the PATRIOT Act in regards to domestic terrorism.”

One member of that board said, “We want to stop the death threats, threats to family members, and other harassment and acts of intimidation.” Then listen to what the parents are saying.

In response, someone wrote: “to be clear, the FBI has stopped real terrorist threats. [But] the use of the FBI to monitor school board meetings is an incredible expansion of the federal government’s police power.”

In an opinion written in the Washington Post: “I worry about the Justice Department’s actions seeming to imply that angry, even disruptive and intimidating parents should be silenced.”

But here a governing organization has decided their enemy is within the people they were elected to serve and want to take action to defend themselves against any who oppose their positions. In doing so, they have crossed the line from civilized disagreement to vindictiveness in seeking to punish those who disagree.

When governing leaders are allowed to determine who they can label as a threat, and take actions to remove those threats, they are not protecting the Constitution but rewriting it to serve their own agenda. At that point, the battle lines are blurred because there is no common enemy we can classify as Domestic. Without a clear definition it’s easy to include anyone on the list. Everyone is suspect.

Knowing who the real enemy is essential when drawn into battle. In preparing to go into Jericho, Joshua was confronted by the captain of the army of the Lord. Unsure of who he was, Joshua asked a key question.

Josh 5:13 Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us or for our enemies?”

That’s the first question to ask: Are you on our side or their side?

When Jody moved to Alabama, the first person he met asked him: Alabama or Auburn?

Knowing who is for us helps us form a partnership with others who join in the fight. When the US was in Afghanistan, our fight wasn’t with the Afghani people but with the Taliban. As a result, many Afghanis allied to help us. Other countries joined in.

Most wars today are fought with coalition forces. The enemies of our friends are our enemies as well. And we can’t fight battles alone.

No one wants war, but when it is necessary and becomes inevitable, we need to know who is there to help us. Battle lines get drawn and it’s important to know who are the friendlies and who are not.

Mark 9:38 John said to Him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us." 39 Jesus said, "Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. 40 For he who is not against us is for us.

That question has broad application. Not only in society but in the church as well. The religious world has been in conflict from day one, fighting over doctrines, social practices and concerns, methods of worship and affiliation. If you disagree with me, you are wrong and we can no longer fellowship together.

The cancel culture isn’t new. It’s been practiced throughout history. Within cancel culture friends agree, enemies disagree. So that: He who is not for us is against us. This is what the National School Boards Association felt. Any who oppose our agenda is an enemy.

That often is seen when demoralizing agendas overtake common sense. They attempt to take the fight out of the hearts of those who feel helpless to stop it.

Those are Satan’s tactics. Oppose us until we give into his threats.

Acts 13:8 Elymas the magician was opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him, 10 and said, "You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?

The enemies of righteousness are those who fight against God’s provisions for how we can be right with Him and live godly lives. Their tactics are deceit and fraud, seeking to distort the ways of the Lord. The issues are rarely the issue, but symptoms of deeper conflict.

John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Satan’s lies cause confusion. Truth clarifies. From our God who cannot lie we know that: 1Cor 14:33 God is not a God of confusion.

When there is a distortion of truth, it corrupts and reshapes life. It creates confusion. It is not of God but the Devil. That can happen in a home, at work or in a school board meeting.

When Paul faced it within the church, he asked: Gal 4:16 So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?

They were being misled by contrary teaching. Because Paul told them the truth, some placed him on the wrong side of the battle line.

Since Satan is the Father of Lies, when the battle is over the truth, we have moved into the realm of Spiritual Warfare. That means we’re fighting battles with opponents we can’t see but are manifesting their intentions through those we can see. Satan stealing, killing and destroying through those who will do his work for him even though they are unaware they are doing so.

Eph 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

Men in this room who served in the military, took the oath to pledge themselves to defend our country. It was a surrender of their lives for the greater cause. It placed them within the greatest military force in the world and in doing so they had the support of a grateful nation. They were given weapons and tactics and a team to surround them. Battles are never fought alone. Spiritually, it’s the same.

2Chron 20:14 Then in the midst of the assembly the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel 15 and he said, "Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the LORD to you, 'Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's. 16 Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Jeruel. 17 You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.' Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the LORD is with you."

Back in the story about Joshua and the Captain of the army of the Lord, how did that play out?

Joshua 5:14 He said, "No; rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the LORD." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, "What has my lord to say to his servant?" 15 The captain of the LORD'S host said to Joshua, "Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so.

When we enter Spiritual Battle, it is essential that we realize we are standing on Holy Ground. What does that mean? It means God is present and prepared to fight for us. We’re in a battle with forces we cannot defeat. But He can. Whatever the battle ground, whoever is our enemy, when truth is our banner, God is on our side.

Ps 124:1 Had it not been the LORD who was on our side," Let Israel now say, 2 Had it not been the LORD who was on our side When men rose up against us, 3 Then they would have swallowed us alive, When their anger was kindled against us; 4 Then the waters would have engulfed us, The stream would have swept over our soul; 5 Then the raging waters would have swept over our soul. 6 Blessed be the LORD, Who has not given us to be torn by their teeth. 7 Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the trapper; The snare is broken and we have escaped. 8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.

How do we fight spiritual battles? Through trusting in the only One who wins those battles as He grants us all we need to stand firm while He fights on our behalf. We can draw near to Him and when we do, Satan must withdraw. We fight the Spiritual Battle on our knees. So, stand on the Holy Ground as He who fights on your behalf gets the victory.

We are standing on Holy Ground.

And I know that there are angels all around.

Let us praise Jesus now.

We are standing in His presence on Holy Ground.

Rom 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

TAKEAWAYS:

Fighting our battles alone makes us vulnerable to defeat.
By ourselves we are not equipped for all we face.
God never expects us to take on the enemy by ourselves.
He will fight on our behalf if we’ll trust Him to do so.
He’s never lost a battle yet.

Finding Our Purpose for Life -- The Glory and Excellence

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Mon, 27 Sep 2021 13:27:00 +0000

Ever since the early cowboy days, branding has been a way to mark a cow as belonging to a certain ranch or rancher. Today, that mark may be a tag clipped into the ear, or a chip under the skin, or, still, a brand burned into the hide.

Branding is a distinction that makes the cow uniquely separate from all other cows and says this cow belongs to a particular herd. You can even mix herds together and be able to separate them by checking the brands.

Today, branding refers to a marketing concept. A brand is how a company is known. It’s what separates them from all other businesses. They may be generally like other companies doing the same things, but sharp marketeers find a way to make their business stand out.

Branding is the promotion of a particular product or company by means of advertising and distinctive design. You see a logo and automatically know the product or company. You hear a theme song and know what’s being advertised. Even certain spokespersons are identified by what they’re selling.

How does a company build its brand?

They define how they want to be perceived.
They organize their business based on this perception.
They communicate their perception creatively.
They do it all consistently.

A well-branded business places certain expectations into the minds of customers.

People are also branding themselves. Being known for what they say or do, how they act or how they come across. Their brand is the widespread belief that they have a particular habit, set of skills or characteristics.

We call that our reputation. It’s what people know us by. Are we honest? Are we kind?
Are we reliable? Are we generous? Are we cranky? Are we snobby? Can we keep a secret?

Our reputation is the defining label by which we’re known. It may not be all that defines us, but it’s what stands out when others think of us. It’s our brand. They see us coming; they know what to expect.

Why do we use certain plumbers? We know what to expect from them. Why do we shop at certain stores? We know what to expect from them. Why do we eat at certain restaurants? We know what to expect from them.

Reputation is what draws us to businesses, products or people. It can also be what drives us away from them. One bad experience might be enough for us to refuse to go back, or buy what they are selling, or recommend them to others. Our negative comments may make others not even try them.

That’s why businesses want you to evaluate their products or services. Rate them with 5 stars. Give them high marks. Give them a positive review. That’s so they can use your opinion to encourage others to use their services as well.

But, reputation is subjective. It fluctuates. It’s fluid. It changes. Which places reputation into the category of opinion. In fact, it is the accumulated opinion of what others perceive to be who we really are. But is it the truth? They may catch us when we’re having a bad day, or maybe a really good day. We could be in the middle of falling apart or finally getting it back together. A reputation is fragile and can be easily broken or tarnished by a single indiscretion. On the other hand, character isn’t defined by reputation. Character is the heart of the person.

Character is what drives us. It operates by inner traits or ingrained qualities. Reputation can be driven by our upbringing or personality or life-changing circumstances. Reputation is what people think they see, which may or may not be true. Character is what’s true.

When someone excuses their actions by saying: that’s not who I am, actually it is. What they meant to say was: that’s not how I want to be seen. That’s not the public image I want. But what people see becomes who they believe us to be. And that’s how we are branded.

Does God have a brand? What’s His reputation? His reputation is what we think about Him when we mention His name. Is what we think accurate or assumed? Is His reputation the same for me as it is for you? Which means, we may not have the same God in mind when we say the word. How I see God may not be how you see Him.

What has shaped that reputation? Typically, we form our opinion about God by how we have interacted with Him. If we’ve had little interest in spending time with Him, we feel He is distant from us. If we’ve allowed rebellion to run free in our lives, we feel He is disconnected from us. If we’ve made limited attempts to trust Him, we carry a lot of doubt about Him. If we expected Him to do something in some tangible way and He didn’t, we are disappointed in Him.

We judge God by limited experiences:

· I prayed once when my momma was sick and she died, so God doesn’t answer prayers.

· I was violated as a kid and God didn’t stop it, so God doesn’t care.

· I asked God to take away my sinful urges and He didn’t, so God isn’t there.

Ever hear someone say: If I were God, I would have… Is that how we want to judge God? Based on what we would do? We really want a God who is the extension of our desires instead of a God with plans beyond what we can even think or ask for? Ps 50:21 These things you have done and I kept silence; You thought that I was just like you;

When God doesn’t do what we expect Him to do, and from that expectation form our opinion about Him, most likely that opinion won’t be true. We will have decided His reputation based on a moment in time that He never obligated Himself to. We, then, create the disconnect between who God really is and how we think of Him. We give Him a false reputation.

How does that affect us? We end up living under the impression that God is less than He really is. In our minds we create an inferior God.

How does that affect Him? Rom 3:3 What then? If some do not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God.

Just because we form an opinion that discounts the image of God in our minds, that doesn’t change who God is. My opinion is not the final word about God. Who He is, is far more solid than my fluid opinion of Him. God is known by facts. It’s the facts that tell us who He is and how He does what He does.

2Pet 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

Glory speaks of who He is – that’s God’s identity. Glory means weight. It’s the impression God makes by being present. His foot prints walking with me. His fingerprints touching my circumstances. The weight of His power sitting on the throne.

Excellence is more than just what He does. It’s how He does what He does. Excellence is the quality within God’s work. God is good so all that He does is good.

In describing God’s glory and excellence, Peter says specifically: His own glory and excellence.

His own: uniquely one's own, peculiar to the individual. Stronger than simply the pronoun “his” implies. No one else is like our God. Nothing can compare to Him. He operates from a position of no one being higher, having greater authority or more power. His glory and excellence are uniquely His.

Isa 42:8 I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.

This is what defines Him. Characteristics that are uniquely His: His glory and His excellence. It’s who He is and how He does what He does. It’s also explains why.

Ezek 36:22 Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. 23 I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD," declares the Lord GOD, "when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight.

How did they profane His name? By misrepresenting Him. Profaning comes from not treating Him as holy.

“I am uniquely the Lord. I will not be lumped into the category of religious deities. I will not conform to your idea of who I am. I am the one and only. And if I am unique, what I do is also unique. If you do not represent me as such, you do not know Me.”

So, if we’re guilty of profaning the name of God – misrepresenting Him, how do we change our perception of who He is? How do we remove the lies we believe and replace them with the truth?

We go back to character: The distinctive nature, the sum of the qualities that defines someone.

God spent thousands of years revealing His character for us. Scripture is story after story of encounters man has had with God and how God acted. His actions help us see who He is, revealed by what He has done. Again: Glory and Excellence.

He’s shown us: He is unique. There is no God like Him.

He is omnipresent, infinite and omnipotent. God is everywhere, unlimited, and all-powerful. So, wherever we are, in whatever we face, God is with us with all His power and authority to operate in our best interest.
He is eternal. God always has been and always will be.
He is big enough for whatever He is attending to.
He is the same and always will be.
He is personal. It’s how He relates to us:

1. He is Loving and Good.

2. He is Faithful and Righteous.

3. He is Sovereign and Just.

4. He is Compassionate and Gracious.

5. He is Forgiving and Merciful.

6. He is Present and Available.

Who God is isn’t changed by what we think.

Who God is isn’t damaged by our doubts.

Who God is isn’t diminished by our beliefs or lack of them.

This is His glory. It’s who He is. We can’t change that. We can’t make God less than who He is. All we can do is honor Him.

So, if God’s purpose for our lives is to be where we are to be, when we are to be there, doing what we are to be doing, the way God wants it done, and doing it all for His glory, then the job behind our purpose is to express who He is and how He does what He does, by us being who we are and doing what we are to be doing.

As children of God, we live to reflect the glory of God. We shine out the characteristics of God so others may know who He is. So that, perhaps through us He might shine on someone else’s path to lead them out of darkness and into the Light. He might turn on the bulb in our lighthouse to keep someone from crashing into the rocks. What illuminates us might be the very light that shows them the way, the truth and the life.

Dan 12:3 Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.

2Cor 4:6 For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

Lev 10:1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. 2 And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. 3 Then Moses said to Aaron, "It is what the LORD spoke, saying, 'By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, and before all the people I will be honored.'" So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.

What were they doing? Creating a fire that reflected an inferior image of God. To them God wasn’t holy. By misrepresenting Him, they dishonored Him.

We are to be a reflection of God for people to see. We may be the first Bible someone ever reads. We may be the example they are looking at to see if all of this Christianity stuff really works. How we represent Him is how many will believe Him to be.

What do we do? Determine to know Him. How? Read His word – let the truth fill our minds and hearts with understanding. Decide to live the truth we know. Delight in Him for who He is and how He does what He does. Let God’s reputation be formed by the truth of His character.

TAKEAWAYS:

Being God is a position designed for one person and we’re not that person.
Letting God be God is a challenge we fight regularly.
If our soul purpose is to honor Him as God, it would be best to have a good idea of who He is and how He does what He does.
Having an inferior God leaves us without help and hope.
Fortunately, our God is good and what He does is good.

Finding Our Purpose In Life -- The Context

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Mon, 20 Sep 2021 12:30:00 +0000

There’s an old expression: let’s not try to reinvent the wheel. It means: someone in the past came up with a workable way of doing something, so let’s just do things like they did instead of spending time trying to find a different way.

It may just be my rebellious spirit, but that’s not how my mind works. I’m always thinking: is there a better way? Can we improve an idea or a process? Can I edit what I’ve written to say it more clearly.

Most everything we use today is the result of someone saying: There’s got to be a better way of doing this?

What necessitates change in how we do things? We want to do something faster, more efficiently, safer, with more power. We need to do something better. Need becomes our motivation for change.

Plato first said: “our need will be the real creator.” This was the source of the proverb: 'Necessity is the mother of invention'. Which says new ways of doing things are found or created when there is a strong and special need to do so.

If what you’re doing isn’t meeting that need, you should change what you’re doing. If what you’re using isn’t accomplishing the task, you should change what you’re using. If the way you’re going isn’t getting you where you need to go, you should change your direction. Need looks at what is and asks, “Is there a better way to do this?”

It could be that what worked in the past may not work any longer. Or it may be so inadequate that it seems archaic. Like using methods that once got the job done but would be seen as barbaric today.

I was sitting in the dentist’s chair the other day and there was a picture on the wall of the old drill used back when I was a kid. My dentist used to call it Woody Woodpecker. It was crude and intrusive. It shook your whole head when he drilled out a cavity. Antique by today’s standards but modern back then. Before that it was chisels and hammers. Or even hand drills and rocks. Remember those, Max?

I’m so glad that today they use high-speed rotary tools that make quick work of an unpleasant treatment.

James B. Morrison patented the first pedal driven dental drill in 1871. It turned at 600 to 800 rpm. On January 26, 1875, the first electric dental drill was patented by George Green. This revolutionized dentistry by getting speeds up to a rumbling 2000 rpm. Then, in the 50s, a new drill, using compressed air, was created that increased speeds to 200,000 rpm. Modern drills now turn at over 600,000 rpm.

What if these guys had lived by the adage: let’s not try to reinvent the wheel? It was good enough in the past, let’s just keep on using it. No, they looked at how they were doing dentistry and said: we can do this a better way.

I’ve heard it in churches by lazy leaders. “Hey, this program worked at this other church. Let’s not reinvent the wheel. Let’s just do what they did and ask the Lord to bless it.” I hear those words and shutter.

Why? It sounds so practical. Look at how successful they were back then. Look at how God moved among them. Yes, He did back then. But God isn’t back there any longer. He’s right here in this moment. He doesn’t work in the past. He works in the present.

Isa 43:18 Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past. 19 Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert. 20 The beasts of the field will glorify Me, The jackals and the ostriches, Because I have given waters in the wilderness And rivers in the desert, To give drink to My chosen people. 21 The people whom I formed for Myself Will declare My praise.

Giving water to the wilderness is a special moment. Deserts live on very little water. They can go years with little to no moisture. Annual rainfall in Las Vegas is 3” a year. But then, a sudden rain can come and things pop out all over. Flowers, cactus, sagebrush. It’s like being in a new place. The desert comes alive. It’s a new thing in an old setting.

So, what was the Lord saying through Isaiah? My plan has a scheduled change built in. It will be something new. It will be like Me pouring water onto a desert. You’ll see things you’ve never seen before. Dead things will come alive. It will result in praise from My people. Which means they will see what I’m doing as a good thing.

God gave Ezekiel a vision like that: Eze 37:1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. 3 He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord GOD, You know." 4 Again He said to me, "Prophesy over these bones and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.' 5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones, 'Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. 6 I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the LORD.'" 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. 9 Then He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life." 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. 11 Then He said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.' 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. 14 I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it," declares the LORD.'"

The miracle of something new wasn’t reconnecting the dead bones. Archeologists do that every day. It wasn’t resupplying the fleshy parts. That just made them look like they used to. Restoring the breath was a necessary step in making them alive again. The miracle of something new was the Lord putting His Spirit inside them. That was something new.

Prior to that moment God was with His people. Now, He would be in them. He was among them. Now He would indwell them. Not just doing things for them but doing things through them. Jesus told His disciples that day was coming: John 14:16 I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

It was the new thing He had put into His plan. His people would now be able to live as He intended and to do what He wanted done because He would provide everything necessary for them to be able to do so. All they had to provide was the willingness to obey. Obedience aligns us with the will of the Master.

Remember: “God’s purpose for our lives is to be where we are to be, when we are to be there, doing what we are to be doing, the way God wants it done, and doing it all for His glory.”

Where – abiding

When – timing

What – serving

The way God wants it done:

· As He wants it done

· Using the resources He gives

· Energized by the power He provides

As He wants it done.

A word in Scripture for being assigned a job is entrusted. We’re technically not given the job; we are entrusted with the job. We are assigned a task or series of tasks by which we accomplish a purpose. We are entrusted with the responsibility of getting the job done.

Entrust means: to set before someone, or deposit something with someone else. One is assigning tasks, the other to manage a deposit. A service or a stewardship.

If it is a matter of service, the master sets before his servant a work to be done. As we might for someone who works for us. We entrust the cleaning of our house to them. We entrust the mowing of our lawn to them. We entrust the delivery of our food to them.

If it is a matter of stewardship, we deposit with them something of value that they are responsible to care for. We entrust our money for them to manage. We entrust our household goods for them to keep safe. We entrust our family to make sure no harm comes to them.

Entrusted is being given the responsibility to do with something what the person entrusting it wants done. The servant is held accountable for what the Master expects.

That is our directive from God to do what we are doing the way God wants it done.

If you hire a painter to paint your house, he doesn’t have the right to tell you how he wants the job done. Paint the house blue. But he paints it green. You are naturally upset. What’s it matter? I painted the house, didn’t I? It matters because with the assignment came the expectation that the result would be what you wanted done the way you wanted it. The ultimate goal isn’t the job but pleasing the master.

Col 1:10 Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects,

God is pleased when we do His work as He wants it done. He is also pleased when we use the resources He gives.

It is the responsibility of the Master to provide the servant the tools necessary to do his assigned job.

You tell your servant: I need you to hurry and go to Dallas and hand deliver this contract. Immediately, the servant heads for the door. You ask? What are you doing? I’m going to Dallas. How do you plan on getting there? Running as fast as I can. How about using this ticket I bought you to fly there and here’s my credit card to rent a car and to cover additional expenses.

A good Master not only assigns a job but provides the resources for what it takes to do the job.

2Cor 3:5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, 6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant,

What does the Master do? He determines the job, assigns the task and then provides the servant with what it takes to do the job.

What does that mean in church?

1Cor 12:4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. 6 There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. 7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

Each of us is to serve the common good. To do so, we need to connect with the ultimate Good – God’s intentions. We’re not to decide what we think is good, but find the will of the Master. To do so, we are given gifts by the Spirit, abilities that make us able to serve or minister according to the way the Lord wants to use us, so that God might accomplish His unique results through us. The gift is the evidence we are equipped to serve in the best interest of the Father, able to accomplish His will His way. His way requires the gift and ability be energized by a power we don’t possess within our own strength. It is a spiritual resource that must be: Energized by the power He provides.

1Pet 4:10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever.

The special gift is that ability – the resource – to do what the Father calls us to do. The gift matches the job. It may be a sanctified, natural ability or a supernatural ability. But because the gift fits within the context of God’s work, it requires supernatural strength to exercise.

God is not simply saying do the best you can with what you bring into the moment. He’s saying, “Do what I want done, the way I want it done, which requires these resources. And for those resources, here’s the power you’ll need.”

Col 1:10 Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience.

The strength to do what God wants done requires power we don’t naturally have. Which takes us back to Isaiah’s insight into what God was planning: Isa 43:19 Behold, I will do something new,

Attach that insight with the prophecy of Ezekiel, and you see that God was planning, at some time in the future, to not only restore a dislocated people to place them back in their Promised Land – which was fulfilled in 1948 when Israel was declared a nation again – but also to do a new work for all of His people which He did at Pentecost in the 1^st century. What He declared to be coming is now the means by which He accomplishes mighty things in us, taking dead and disconnected lives and put them together again, then infill them with the power of His presence.

Not just returning life to us, but infusing that life with the power to live for Him.

Eph 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins…4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Eph 1:18 what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might 20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenlies. That’s the new thing.

Bringing us from death to life, darkness to light, unrighteousness to righteousness, ungodliness to godliness, hopelessness to hope, weakness to strength.

To do that He takes us from where we were or even where we are now, to where He wants us to be. Not just wanting to make our lives better but to give us new life. Then to energize that life with strength only He can give by His Spirit indwelling us, not to resupply the old strength but give us new strength for a new life, a new life that makes the old life obsolete, even archaic. A life that now cooperates with what God is doing rather than rebels against it.

That means each day I wake up, God provides strength for the day. It will be enough for what I need to make it through, to do what needs to be done, to please Him is all respects, because I am strengthened with His power in my life.

Isa 40:31 Those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.

The strength I had yesterday isn’t sufficient for today. It’s gone. I need new strength so I can serve my Master today, the way He wants to be served, using the resources He gives, energized by the power He provides.

We’re not expected to reinvent the wheel. Instead, we are to live by the promise: Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Which has a context: He determines the job, assigns the task and then provides us with what it takes to do the job.

TAKEAWAYS:

Serving the Lord is not optional for Children of God, but there is a context to our serving.
The Lord provides the way we are to serve, the resources needed and the strength to do the job.
By staying within that context, we please Him.
And from His pleasure come the abundance of His blessings.

Finding Our Purpose for Life - Servanthood

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Sun, 12 Sep 2021 22:33:00 +0000

Ever be in the middle of a conversation and the other person says, “Not to change the subject, but…” That’s like driving down the freeway and Siri suddenly says, “Exit here,” and you have to cross over three lanes of rush hour traffic, dodge the concrete dividers, miss the exit and then back up into on-coming traffic so you can stay on the pavement to get off the highway.

Or you spend 30 minutes talking to someone about your grandkids and they have the audacity to interrupt to talk about theirs.

Or you’re pouring out your heart to someone and they say something so totally unrelated that it shouts, “What you’re saying isn’t important to me.”

Or like the other day, Jan said: You’ve not heard a word I’ve been saying. And I thought: that’s a strange way to start a conversation.

Matt 20:17 As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the way He said to them, 18 "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, 19 and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up." 20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him. 21 And He said to her, "What do you wish?" She said to Him, "Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left."

Do what? I’m telling you about my death. We’re only days away. And you want to talk about positions? Okay, let’s talk about positions.

Matt 20:24 And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. 26 It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, 27 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

These guys didn’t get it. Jesus had one agenda and they had another. The plan of God was on His mind. It wasn’t on theirs.

This had happened before, after the Transfiguration – the great moment the Father declared who Jesus was - Mark 9:33 They came to Capernaum; and when He was in the house, He began to question them, "What were you discussing on the way?" 34 But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest.

So, what did He tell them? Same thing: Mark 9:35 Sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, "If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all."

Wait, what? First to be last and last to be first? That’s not how life works. Jesus, you don’t live in the real world. It’s the ones at the top that get the benefits. The ones at the bottom are nothing. Top dogs eat first. The last get the left-overs.

So, Jesus realized they needed an attitude adjustment. It’s called a reset, flipping the script, changing the mind-set. As Paul said: change comes by changing our minds.

They thought Kingdom operated like the World. They thought you just lived in one like you did in the other. All they showed was how ignorant they were for how life really worked within the Kingdom. They had distorted the true image. Jesus is trying to correct that image.

Paul clarified this: 2Cor 5:15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

Living for the benefit of someone else is a struggle for most. You’ll see it in primary care givers, nurses, moms caring for their little ones. We even promised it in our wedding vows, but rarely do you see it in everyday life.

Jesus had to explain how things were to be different. Under the New Covenant, there was a change of life direction, life intention and life determination. There was a new life with new expectations for how the Kingdom of God worked.

God will be using His people to get His work done. We are His gloves. His hand provides the power and direction. That’s what had been going on in Jesus’ life. He fleshed out what that life was to look like.

John 14:31 so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me.

John 17:23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.

When people saw Jesus, they saw the Father. When they listened to Jesus, they heard the Father. When people were cared for by Jesus, they felt the love of the Father. Jesus served the Father by making Him known and served others by showing what the Father was like. By serving the interests of the Father, Jesus revealed the goodness of the Father. That’s how glorifying God works. As the moon reflects the sun, Jesus reflected the goodness of God. Jesus was the glove into whom the Father slid hand.

John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

Explained: exegesis - explain in a way that clarifies what is most important. It refers to what a preacher or teacher does. Neh 8:8 They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading. They served the people by taking the complicated off the top shelf and placing it down on a lower shelf where the people can handle it.

Isa 55:8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. 10 [So, to help you understand what I want you to understand] For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; 11 So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

Let me stretch you: Jesus is the Word of God. The One by whom God explained Himself. Jesus explained the thoughts and ways of the Father. But since He was God – whose thoughts and ways are beyond us – how did He explain what is beyond us? He took Himself off the top shelf and went down to a lower shelf where the people could understand. Jesus accomplished what the Father had sent Him to do.

If I could become a bird…

Jesus said to His disciples. That’s what servants do. They take a lower position to accomplish a greater good. You’ve got to do the same thing.

Paul explained it: Phil 2:5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Form of God – Who He was - God. Then He combined that with the Form of a bond-servant. How He operated - Servant. He was the God/Servant.

We hardly ever combine the word servant with a role of a leader: General/servant, President/servant, Pastor/servant, Elder/servant, CEO/servant, God/Servant.

It was only through that combination Jesus could accomplish the Father’s plan and be able to say to His men, the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. Only The God/Servant could fulfill the role as Messiah. One coin. But, for them to understand, He had to show them both sides of the coin. One side God, the other Servant.

The Kingdom of Heaven didn’t work like the kingdom of the world. In the world, the top dog gets the extra portion. In the Kingdom, the top dog gives the extra portion to others. That’s Grace.

Matt 20:25 Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. 26 It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant

Remember, on the last night He spent with the disciples, Jesus washed their feet?

John 13:12 So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.

Why do that the night before the crucifixion? Wasn’t the clock running down? He only had a few precious hours left. Shouldn’t He have been pouring information into the minds of His men, giving them last minute instructions? No, Jesus knew they didn’t need more information, they needed the right attitude. He was about to die, the great climax of why He came to earth, and they had yet to learn the important lesson for how He did the things He did and why and how His life was the example they’d need to follow to carry out their mission.

They were expecting a pep talk for fighting. “This is it, men. We’re fixin to go to war. This is what we signed up for. We can do this. Are you with me? Grab a sword and let’s go.” They expected a rumble. But, instead, Jesus bent down and washed their feet.

What was the lesson? The servant is more important than the position.

On 9/11, when Flt 77 hit the Pentagon, the place broke out in chaos. One plane was still in the air and they feared it was coming there. And yet they continued operating in rescue mode. There was a day care on site with 40 babies of various ages from infants to toddlers. The lady in charge tried to get her people to gather up the little ones and get them to safety. But it was overwhelming. A Marine came by and asked what he could do. She told him. He ran off. She thought he failed her, that this wasn’t worth his time with everything else going on. In a minute he returned with 30 Marines who loaded up cribs and tucked toddlers under their arms and got all the babies out of the building. They made a circle with the cribs, building an enclosure to hold in the toddlers and then made a human fence around the enclosure to protect the little ones until the parents came to get them.

Men of war, stirred to fight, yet serving the needs of babies.

That’s what this moment in the upper room meant. Regardless of what you think you ought to be doing – what position you think you deserve – you are first and foremost a servant. A servant does what needs to be done. It isn’t a job. It’s an attitude.

Phil 2:5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus…8 who humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

God the Son became Jesus the Man to take away the sins of the world and open the doorway through which children of the world can become Children of God. He was Lord of all, and yet servant to all.

Nobody wants to be the servant. Everybody wants to be served. Everybody wants to be the chief. Nobody wants to be the Indians. Everybody wants to be management. Nobody wants to be labor. So, Jesus levels the hierarchy. We’re all servants. Wait. If that’s so, then who’s in charge? Who’s the boss?

Again, Paul clarifies that for us: Col 3:23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.

Yes!

Remember how the actions of our purpose in life are all interconnected. Like the old, retired preacher in Nevada, “God’s purpose for our lives is to be where we are to be, when we are to be there, doing what we are to be doing, the way God wants it done, and doing it all for His glory.”

What are we to be doing? Serving. Not working on a to-do list where we mark things off as we complete them. We don’t serve for a moment. We serve as our lifestyle. Otherwise, we will only do what we want to do. Serve if that service fits our desire. We’ll select from a pool of opportunities only those things that appeal to us. And with that attitude, nobody will wash anybody else’s feet. And people will stop coming to church because our feet stink.

Servants don’t tell their Master what they are and are not willing to do. Servants serve at the pleasure of the Master. They are the extension of the Master’s desire. They are the gloves He places His hands inside to do His work.

TAKEAWAYS:

The mind of a servant must be in agreement with the will of the Master.
Since it is the Master who accomplishes His work through His servants, the servant does not place conditions on his service.
The glove doesn’t tell the hand what to do; the hand controls the glove.
Being a servant requires surrender to the purposes of the Master.

Finding Our Purpose in Life - Timing

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Mon, 06 Sep 2021 12:58:00 +0000

Years ago, in a meeting with an old, retired pastor in Nevada, he pulled me aside and said, “I want to tell you God’s purpose for your life.” I found that somewhat intrusive but said okay. He said, “God’s purpose for you is to be where you are to be, when you are to be there, doing what you are to be doing, the way God wants it done, and doing it all for His glory.”

As I’ve considered this over the years, I’ve discovered these principles aren’t steps but the process of stepping - walking. You don’t do one, stop, then the other, stop, then the next. Like walking, all the motions are combined into the action necessary to walk. We don’t send separate commands to our feet and legs. We just walk. To do so, several things are taking place at the same time. These principles are a collective package of doing what connects us to a single purpose, and that is to glorify God.

I offer this to you as your (our) purpose in life as Believers and as a Church. And though they are this collective package, we need to break them down individually to get a handle on how all of this works.

· Be where we are to be – It’s the principle of abiding – John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. Abiding means to stay or remain connected in a position of readiness for the actions the Master wants from us.

o Like a well-trained dog told to stay as he awaits the next command

o Like a branch attached to the vine, waiting for the juices to flow that will produce fruit: the evidence of faith – what’s produced when we trust God.

· To be where we are to be, when we are to be there – Timing

I was to catch a flight once. I’d made specific reservations because I had an appointment at the other end. I was at the airport, had my confirmation number, my bags. I was trying to check in and the computer wouldn’t let me. I was 12 hours early. Apparently, when I booked, I clicked PM instead of AM. I was at the right place but at the wrong time. By disconnecting the when from the where, I messed up the appointment.

Being where we ought to be does no good if we’re early or late when it’s a timed action.

Draw a line across your mind, marked off by years. Let’s call it a life-graph. Each of us can plot out where we’ve been and what we’ve gone through to get to where we are today. Where we grew up, vacations we went on, where we went to school, who we dated, when we married, where we lived, where we worked, where our kids were born, what were our tragedies, what were our successes, when we retired or plan on retiring, loved ones we’ve lost. We can graph out our history.

But when we look back, if we’re not careful, we might say it was all a matter of being in the right place at the right time as though our life was a result of good luck or chance. But for those of us who know God and know He has plans for our lives, there’s more to our life-graphs than luck.

Though we exercised choice in much of what went on – like college or vocation, most of what went on just seemed to happen. How many, other than me, picked your wife out of a catalogue, then had her delivered? No, we just met and things developed. We didn’t plan it or schedule it. It just came along and we embraced it. Which has made our lives a journey and not a trip.

A trip is the action of getting from one place to another. A trip draws a line between two points. Connecting point A with point B. A journey is everything that goes on between point A and point B. The process of getting there. In a journey, much more happens than just arriving at our destination. Much more than we plan.

Like the turtle on the fence post. How on earth did he get up there? At the end of our lives, we look around and ask: How on earth did we get here? There seemed to be an invisible hand guiding us along, which also explains the turtle. There has to be some plan connected to our lives.

When God said: Jer 29:11 For I know the plans that I have for you, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope, He was saying our lives are significant to Him and therefore worthy of Him investing His plans into our lives. To accomplish those plans, He attaches to them a strategy.

Strategy is intended action designed to achieve an overall aim. In other words, the job of strategy is to help us hit the target.

Put in simple terms, strategy is the instruction: Ready, Aim, Fire. That order is crucial to the success of hitting the target. If we, instead, go: Ready, Fire, Aim, we still shoot the gun, experience the noise and feel the recoil, but the bullet isn’t going anywhere near the target.

Within the strategy God sets, there is a target and a time frame by which to hit the target. That timeframe becomes the framework upon which He builds our lives. It’s how God fills the life-graph between our birth and death giving meaning to why we’re here and what He has planned. My life-graph is different from yours and yours from mine.

Which means, though the purpose of our lives is the same – to glorify God – the way that will be accomplished will be different. God’s plans are specific to each of us.

It starts with vision. Vision is the view from the top down. The whole picture from beginning to the end. Seeing the parade from a bird’s view, not from spectators along the parade route. God sets the vision. He’s the only one who can see our whole life, where everything is going and how it all fits together.

Gen 15:7 And He said to Abraham, "I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it."

“Abraham, I know where I found you, where I brought you from and where I am taking you. I’m working out a strategy for your life-graph. I’m going to use you to help Me accomplish a greater plan. So, together, this is what we are going to do.”

The whole Bible reveals God’s plan. But it’s not until the NT that the plan becomes more obvious. When we get to the Gospels, we notice there is a timing factor connected to the plan. That within the plan is a schedule.

John 7:3 Therefore His brothers said to Him, "Leave here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing. 4 For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world." 5 For not even His brothers were believing in Him. 6 So Jesus said to them, "My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune. 8 Go up to the feast yourselves; I do not go up to this feast [as you suggest] because My time has not yet fully come." 9 Having said these things to them, He stayed in Galilee. 10 But when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He Himself also went up, not publicly, but as if, in secret.

Jesus was working from a schedule. Though much of what we read about Him seems to be just happenstance, there is a clock attached to His life. Each thing He did moved the story toward its scheduled climax. Each moment held significance in the overall story.

· Matt 5:17 Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.

o God used the prophets to share details of His plan. Primarily, so that when the things prophesied happened, people could check and see, “Oh, this is the Lord’s doing.”

o Alfred Edersheim found 456 prophesies in the Old Testament that point to or describe or reference the coming Messiah. About 80 prophesies relate to the 2^nd Coming, but he found that Jesus fulfilled at least 375 prophecies during His earthly ministry.

o A professor used 48 prophecies to estimate the probability of them being fulfilled in one person. He came up with 1:10^157 – 10 with 157 zeros.

o Jesus came to fulfill prophecy as proof of who we was.

· Also, He came to fulfill the Law.

o Rom 11:26 THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB. 27 THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.

o The Law established the sacrificial system. Within that system was the all-important Day of Atonement. Atonement didn’t mean forgiveness. It meant covering.

o The Law has no expression that sins are forgiven. Always – sins will be forgiven.

o Lev 16:8 Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the scapegoat. 9 Then Aaron shall offer the goat on which the lot for the LORD fell, and make it a sin offering. 10 But the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness as the scapegoat. 22 The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.

o Scapegoat taking away sin was a picture of what was to come.

o John 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

You don’t do that in one setting. It takes time and events to orchestrate. Jesus couldn’t have just walked up to Pilate and announced, “Okay, I need to be crucified to take away the sins of the world. How about this Thursday?” There was a schedule, an alignment, and players that needed to be put in place.

Not seen better than in Laz: John 11:1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick." 4 But when Jesus heard this, He said, "This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it."

John 11:14 So Jesus then said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, 15 and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him." 17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off; 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother.

John 11:21 Martha then said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You." 23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." 24 Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." 25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" 27 She said to Him, "Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world."

John 11:39 Jesus said, "Remove the stone." Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" 41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me." 43 When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth." 44 The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

John 11:45 Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done. 47 Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, "What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. 48 If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." 49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all, 50 nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish." 51 Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53 So from that day on they planned together to kill Him.

John 12:9 The large crowd of the Jews then learned that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead. 10 But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; 11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.

Story with many twists: love of family and friends, hope, promise, identity of Jesus, instructions and resurrection. But mainly timing.

What if Jesus had gotten there when everyone wanted Him there? He would have healed Laz and it would have been no big deal. Jesus healed a lot of people but only a few got mentioned. A large crowd wouldn’t have been there. They came because Laz had died not because he was sick. Many who believed would have missed their opportunity. Word wouldn’t have gotten to the Council to stir them up. The death plan wouldn’t have been initiated.

Had He come early, Jesus would have missed the window of God’s plan. That miracle, at that time, took those that wanted Him removed, all the way into their plot to when God had scheduled Him to die. Timing was crucial.

Mid-air refueling – a strategic plan that requires timing.

Chronos (clock-time) and Kairos (timing). Kairos time means making the right decision at the right time.

John 5:6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time [Chronos] in that condition, He said to him, "Do you wish to get well?"

John 7:8 Go up to the feast yourselves; I do not go up to this feast because My time [Kairos] has not yet fully come.

Kairos – the time when conditions are right for accomplishing crucial action: the decisive moment.

We’re more “by the clock” people. You do realize how much of a hindrance that is to faith? Faith is trusting in a God who works on His own time schedule. We watch the clock. He watches the calendar. He doesn’t just send an answer but prepares the right moment for the answer to come.

We want to know how much longer? God says: however long it takes. Because to Him life isn’t a trip but a journey. Some really important things may be scheduled to happen along the way that He doesn’t want us to miss.

Since we don’t always know when those are, we set our lives into a readiness mode - abiding, anticipating God to work in and through us as He chooses - timing. Being where we are to be, at the time we are to be there, is an attitude of anticipation. I stay, awaiting the next command, ready for what God plans to do, anticipating what comes next.

Jesus had a schedule. Moments within that schedule were strategic to the story. But that schedule was connected with the Father’s plan. His Goal remained the same: to do the Father’s will. Which made it essential that He was where He needed to be, when He needed to be there. Each moment held the expectation and anticipation of the Father’s work in His life. It’s the same for us.

Keep Me in the Moment – Jeremy Camp

Oh Lord, keep me in the moment
Help me live with my eyes wide open
'Cause I don't wanna miss what you have for me
Oh Lord, show me what matters
Throw away what I'm chasing after
'Cause I don't wanna miss what you have for me
Keep me in the moment
Oh, keep me in the moment
Keep me in the moment
'Cause I don't wanna miss what you have for me

TAKEAWAYS:

Timing is as crucial as the plan.
God works on a schedule of Kairos - when the time is right.
Since He is never early and never late, we cannot put God on our time schedule.
At the same time, however, God wants us on His, by us living in anticipation that we will see His goodness in our lives.
Faith keeps us in the moment.

Thoughts on Afghanistan

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Mon, 30 Aug 2021 14:25:00 +0000

We’re told two topics never to mention in polite circles are religion and politics. We’ve done both from here. Mainly, because life isn’t compartmentalized. It overlaps. Religion gets into politics and politics gets into religion. And both are wrapped around current events.

Speaking about current events is a necessity for the church, since life happens in the midst of current events. We need to know how to live and move and have our existence with things going on. We need perspective.

Did you know, the fire for the Revolutionary War was kindled in the churches of America. It didn’t start with the politicians. It began in the churches. It was the message of freedom and unity that tied the colonies together. In fact, it was a struggle for many politicians to come around to Independence since they enjoyed the benefit of England’s oversite.

Today, we fear speaking of things going on because of a separation of church and state. Actually, that’s been modified into more of a separation of the church from the state instead of its intention of separation of the state from the church.

I know speaking about current events seems to cross some lines for some, because much of what happens is caused by politicians making decisions but when those decisions make our patriotic blood boil, we must speak. Some, today, want to deny the right of the church to be patriotic. In our woke society many decry Christian Nationalists as though one cannot be the other. And we’re even included in a watchlist for radical thought. But we are and will be a Patriotic church. We stand proud to believe in One Nation Under God. We fly our flags out front. We celebrate the greatness of our country and the God who shaped our beginning.

Some don’t like that. In fact, we’ve had people leave because they say our church is too political. Believe it or not, we’ve had others leave because we weren’t political enough.

So, today, we need to get some perspective on what’s going on right now in Afghanistan. The decisions being made effect the lives of the people beyond politics. So, let’s just look at it as one of the most devastating weeks for our country has been through since the war with the Taliban began, the loss of a country and the loss of 13 Marines.

When Bush declared war against Al Qaeda after 911, that took the theater of war to Afghanistan. Al Qaeda was an extremist part of the tribal Taliban, as is ISIS. The Taliban are a Muslim militant policing force that has controlled ¾ of Afghanistan since 2001. Their goal is to enforce a strict interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law.

· Under the Taliban's rule, women are effectively put under house arrest as they were not allowed to work or have an education.

· Any female above the age of eight had to wear a burqa and had to be escorted by a male relative if they wanted to leave their home.

· Women were not allowed high-heeled shoes as no man should hear a woman’s footsteps.

· A woman’s voice should not be heard by a stranger when she is speaking loudly in public.

· Photographing, filming or displaying pictures of females in newspapers, books, shops or the home was not allowed.

· Women were not allowed to appear on their balconies.

· Women who broke the rules had to suffer the humiliation of a public beating, or even stoning and in extreme cases even public executions.

· Beyond treatment of women, the laws regarding crime are beyond the harshest in any country, many being carried out by men at any time.

The Russians tried throughout the 80s to defeat the Taliban and failed. We are walking away after 20 years, leaving complete control of Afghanistan in the hands of over 100,000 Taliban troops to enforce their agenda. We beat them down but never defeated them. They were held in check but still hid in the darkness, in caves or blending into society, waiting for a show of weakness to rise up.

It’s right to pull out. But pulling out must always be with honor. Many of us have images of South Viet Nam’s fall and the desperation to escape. Wait for Tuesday.

We’ve left out honor. Honor gives dignity to those men and women who sacrificed lives, limbs and psyches to fight an ungodly enemy. Walking away questions those losses. But take away the politics, this isn’t how we withdraw from conflict. We must honor those who went, fought and sacrificed. We must extract our people, our allies, our friends.

To think we are cowering to an enemy we had already beaten back and as they now assume control over the whole country and us as well is unthinkable. Logistically, none of that was necessary. We had the ability to command our exit.

Chad Robichaux – never should have been there. He put the blame on the State Department’s failures and administration’s decisions. Got out over 12,000. Went after his interpreter and couldn’t stop. Glen Beck got out over 5000 Christians.

This is an enemy that doesn’t think or act like we do. They are tribal, not national. They obey only their chiefs, no central command, are driven by radical Muslim ideology. And now they control Afghanistan. And in the process, we have handed over to them billions of dollars in equipment and weapons to continue their reign of terror.

Who is in jeopardy? Any American or ally left behind. Any Afghans who helped us in the war. Any Christians. Any Muslim not wanting to live under Sharia law. Already, away from the cameras, there are reports that Taliban are going house to house to find any of those and mark them for death. In other places, in other parts of Afghanistan, the loss of life has already begun.

The airlift is showing down and turning now toward getting troops out. Many will be left behind. And when Tuesday comes, literally all hell will break out. This war, this devastation isn’t over.

These are desperate times. But, desperate times is actually a theme in Scripture. You read of any prophet and he went through desperate times. Any King, any army. Does God handle desperate times?

Job 6:26 Do you intend to reprove my words, when the words of one in despair belong to the wind?

Ps 42:5 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence. 6 O my God, my soul is in despair within me; Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. 7 Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me. 8 The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; And His song will be with me in the night, A prayer to the God of my life. 9 I will say to God my rock, "Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?" 10 As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me, While they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?" 11 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.

Ps 43:3 O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your dwelling places. 4 Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And upon the lyre I shall praise You, O God, my God. 5 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.

Words that show some stage of hopelessness:

Disturbed – shaken by what’s going on

Despair – losing the will to go on

Desperate – at the end of hope

When you go to the source, you’ll find the cause is usually that someone has placed their hope in something that can’t provide it.

What do desperate people do?

· Some trust in people

Ps 118:8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD Than to trust in man.

· Some trust in those in charge

Ps 118:9 It is better to take refuge in the LORD Than to trust in princes.

· Some trust in strength and ability of others

Isa 31:1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help And rely on horses, And trust in chariots because they are many And in horsemen because they are very strong, But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the LORD!

· We trust in the Lord

Jer 17:7 Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD And whose trust is the LORD. 8 For he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit.

· What lifts despair?

Light – We think of light as only what shines. But light can also be a reduction in weight to make something easier to carry or to lift. The source of both – God.

Truth – remembering what He has already taught us

It is replacement. We replace our despair with what is truer than what we face. We allow God to lift our burden and lighten our load.

We may face extreme circumstances. It’s natural to be disturbed. We may feel desperate by what’s going on and see no answer. Threats are real. But what is realer?

What remains true no matter what? The eternal word of God. That’s why people went to Jesus. He was the Word of God. In the Gospels they went to Jesus when nothing else could help them.

Mark 5:25 A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, 26 and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse—27 after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak. For she thought, "If I just touch His garments, I will get well." 29 Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. 30 Immediately, Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched My garments?" 31 And His disciples said to Him, "You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?'" 32 And He looked around to see the woman who had done this. 33 But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. 34 And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction."

Mark 9:17 And one of the crowd answered Him, "Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; 18 and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it." 19 And He answered them and said, "O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!" 20 They brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. 21 And He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. 22 It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!" 23 And Jesus said to him, " 'If You can?' All things are possible to him who believes." 24 Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, "I do believe; help my unbelief." 25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again." 26 After crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, "He is dead!" 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he got up. 28 When He came into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, "Why could we not drive it out?" 29 And He said to them, "This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer."

The war with the Taliban hasn’t ended. This will only embolden them along with restrengthening ISIS and even rekindling the old Al Qaeda network.

We’re going to see the rise in atrocity in Afghanistan and nothing will be done about it. We’re going to see the Chinese on the move to consume Taiwan. We’re going to see Russia return to her old ways. We’re going to see Iran go after Israel. We’ll hear of wars and rumors of wars. And, in all likelihood, we’ll soon hear the trumpet of God. All the while, America sits and watches, her generals more concerned about wokeness and critical race theory than protecting liberty. We have shown the world a weakness and they will take advantage.

Does that change the message? No.

TAKEAWAYS:

If there ever was a time we need Jesus, it’s now.
When what we see disturbs us and causes us despair, we need to change what we’re looking at.
It is important to have the right help in view.
When we trust that those in power, and the implements of their power, will bring us peace in our hearts, we will always be disappointed.
Jesus has given us hope; now’s a great time to use it.

Finding Our Purpose for Life - Glorifying God/Abiding

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 13:32:00 +0000

This morning I got to my office and my computer wouldn’t come on. I called David Ray and he came in and did a reset. There are times when a device has too much going on, gets overloaded and you simply need to turn it off and on to reset it.

I also had a reset this past week to fix my Vertigo. Vertigo is typically caused by the crystals in your inner ear getting out of place. The result is dizziness and balance issues, among other things. You never know the crystals are there until you do something that gets them upset. Like turning your head in a way they don’t like. When that happens, the world spins, you’re suddenly dizzy and unable to function normally. It’s a horrible feeling. Well, on Monday afternoon, I went to a therapist who manipulated my head to get the crystals back into place. After a few minutes, she sat me back up and the vertigo was gone. She reset my crystals.

“The Covid-19 crisis, and the political, economic and social disruptions it has caused, is fundamentally changing the traditional context for decision-making. The inconsistencies, inadequacies and contradictions of multiple systems –from health and financial to energy and education – are more exposed than ever amidst a global context of concern for lives, livelihoods and the planet. Leaders find themselves at a historic crossroads, managing short-term pressures against medium- and long-term uncertainties.” This was the defining statement of the World Economic Forum in June 2020. It was called The Great Reset. Now the solutions they came up with are highly intrusive and take us another step closer to a one-world government, a one-world religion and a one-world existence on earth. Though it’s called the Great Reset, it technically isn’t a reset or they would have returned to the larger concept of a Creator and His purpose for mankind.

Reset is to return to the original design – the default setting. Today, most devices have a reset operation. Usually, it’s as simple as turning them off and then back on. We used to call it rebooting. It returns the innerworkings to how they were originally designed to operate.

Is there a spiritual reset button? Is there some way to get our lives back to how God intended them to operate?

Our minds are receptacles of thought. They collect information, consider what it means, then choose how to respond. We’re multi-faceted, and designed to handle multiple input and still function well. But what if the mind gets overloaded? What does that look like?

If we think of the information being received into our minds as voices speaking messages to us, what happens when those messages begin to compete for attention? What if they start a shouting match to occupy greater influence to control our lives?

· Secular reasoning: the voice of the world. It represents the world’s solution to our problems. Not always in agreement with what the Bible says.

· Expectations of others: the voice of those we consider important to us. We call it the voice in our head that challenges everything we do.

· Our personal need for validation: seeking affirmation. We want to know that we’re good and doing good things.

· Fleshly desires: the voice of our body looking for satisfaction.

· Our own inner voice: comparing and competing – the voice of the child than never grew up needing to do better or more than someone else.

· Satan’s voice to tempt us to deny who we are and live contrary to God’s best.

· Then there’s the general assortment of confusion: 1Tim 1:6 For some men, straying from these things [principles of truth], have turned aside to fruitless discussion, 7 even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.

· But finally, there is the voice of God. How do we silence the voices that keep us from hearing God? By resetting our default.

Matt 22:35 A lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, 36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" 37 And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' 38 This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."

The Jews had 613 laws, rules they drew out of the 10 Commandments. If you can, imagine it as a to-do list with 613 things on it. Each one as important as the others. Those in charge made doing them a measurement of righteousness before God. And violating one of them made a person guilty of all of them.

That’s like 613 voices yelling at the same time, telling you to remember to do something. “That is important. Don’t forget this.” My brain would be so overloaded, my system would shut down. And guess what? So did the people under those obligations.

So, this really was a great question for Jesus to answer. Even though it was designed as a trap, it actually told them how they could reset their lives.

He said: let’s just go back to the original commands. Let’s summarize them like this: LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND and 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.

The first will cover the first 4 of the Ten Commandments. The second will cover the rest.

Talk about clearing the overload. 613 voices become one voice telling them two things to keep in mind. Jesus just reset their lives.

Paul did that for us: 1Cor 10:31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. A million expectations dissolved down to one – just live to glorify God.

Now, last week we looked at glorify as pictured by the moon reflecting the sun. Shining back in a way that says, “Look how bright the sun is.” It was found in Jesus’ words: Matt 5:16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Glorifying God is what happens when our lives are turned toward Him. It’s the reset for how we live, what we do, who we are – all of which reflecting back the greatness of God. Which then makes the purpose of our lives to demonstrate God is good – All the Time.

Accomplishing that isn’t tricky. We don’t force some unnatural effort to make God look good. He is good. We simply do whatever we do in such a way that it reflects accurately who He is. That’s glorifying Him.

John 15:8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

What is fruit? It’s the natural product of a fruit-bearing tree. Natural being the key word. It is the expected outcome of what that tree is designed to produce.

Matt 21:19 Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, "No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you." And at once the fig tree withered. 20 Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, "How did the fig tree wither all at once?"

That was the wrong question. They should have asked why. Why did you do this?

A fruit tree that doesn’t produce fruit is a worthless tree. Other than decoration, it doesn’t serve the purpose for which it was designed. Rarely is a fruit tree shaped to give shade or its wood strong enough so that you can build things. Its only purpose is to produce fruit.

So, comparing us to fruit trees, Jesus is doing a reset on why we exist.

John 15:2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

In an orchard, the gardener lifts, shapes and cuts back the branches so they can bear more fruit. To make the branches more productive. We know a pruned tree produces more fruit than a tree left to naturally grow however it chooses.

Why? Pruning provides the conditions by which fruit trees can be healthy and productive, which will increase the yield and quality of their fruit. Says a horticultural website.

When you prune a tree, you help stimulate the growth of new fruiting wood. This fruiting wood is the wood that creates more fruit spurs and will bear more fruit. A neglected tree will eventually have too much non-fruit producing deadwood, that drains away the life of the tree and must be cut off.

John 15:1 I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser…you are the branches. Or to fit our terms: Jesus is the trunk of the tree, we are the fruit-producing branches and the Father is the gardener.

As our gardener, He will shape, trim and prune us so that we can produce more fruit.

What is the fruit we are to produce? In general terms, it is the evidence of our relationship with the Father. It is a bi-product. A bi-product is what develops when you are doing something else. It’s not the target but the result of hitting the target.

Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control;

These are expressions of a life under the control of the Spirit of God, actions that come from our default setting as Christians. The only reason we wouldn’t bear fruit is we choose not to.

There’s also the fruit of love: 1Cor 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails.

Again, fruit is the expression of a life producing the qualities God expects from His children. The characteristics of love are the proof, the evidence that we belong to Him.

John 13:35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

A fruit tree is known by its fruit. Matt 7:16 Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? 17 So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 So then, you will know them by their fruits.

If I go to the nursery to buy a fruit tree, unless there’s a label there telling me what the tree will produce, I won’t know an apple from a fig tree until the fruit shows up. In the same way, the fruit of our lives is the proof we are Children of God.

Which takes us to the point in Jesus’ teaching that has always been confusing to me. The principle of abiding.

John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

I understand all the other words but get hung up on that one word: abide. But if that one word is the key to me bearing fruit, it must be important. The Greek word for abide means “to stay, to remain where you have been placed, not to depart, not to leave, to continue to be present: to remain as you are, not to become another or different.”

That makes much more sense. To remain where you have been placed. To stay.

In training dogs, an essential command is to stay. From that position, the dog is ready for the next command. It may be to roll over or sit up or fetch or attack. Stay is the position of readiness for what comes next.

In the Bible, the word is translated more times as stay than abide. I don’t fully understand the word abide but I do understand the word stay. This means we must remain or stay vitally connected to the Vine. Don’t leave and go off thinking we can do better someplace else.

Being where we ought to be is a command position from which we are ready to obey the next command. It’s how Jesus lived. Go back to Jesus’ ultimate mission statement – the one sentence that covered everything He did on Earth including the cross.

John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

That’s the heart of one so connected to the Father that He could say at the end: John 17:4 I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.

How did Jesus glorify the Father on earth? Same way He told us to: Matt 5:16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

How do we do that? By letting fruit grow that reflects who we are in reference to expressing the goodness of God.

Plug all of this in: If we are to produce fruit that glorifies God, we must remain attached to the tree that is the source of that fruit which is Jesus. Obviously, a limb can’t run off and try to function without being attached. It needs the life of the tree flowing through it.

Then, if you stay, even if you aren’t producing, God will lift you up, trim off the withered parts and prop you up. He will prune you so that you can be more productive in your Christian life, bearing fruit that only comes when we honor Him.

That define us. It’s the reason – the why – and the purpose behind living the Christian life. We live to glorify God. It resets our default to live in such a way God is honored as our lives reflect His goodness. We stay. He prunes. Fruit happens as Jesus flows His life through us.

TAKEAWAYS:

Abiding is not some mysterious spiritual gyration we have to perform.
It is merely staying connected to our source for life – Jesus.
Life is designed to operate as we live to reflect God in our actions and thoughts.
Abiding is conscious awareness I am where God wants me, ready to do whatever He wants me to do.
The fruit of my life proves who I am and how important He is.

Finding Our Purpose in Life - God Context

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 15:33:00 +0000

A phrase that is supposed to stop all discussion is: Trust the Science. You’ll hear it in reference to Masks or Vaccines – coming from both sides of the arguments. You’ll hear it when someone sounds the alarm for Climate Change or from someone who denies it. But usually Trust the Science means trust the scientist not necessarily the science.

In the old commercials for toothpaste, they’d say: 4 out of 5 dentists agree that this brand is best. Who were these dentists? How long did it take to find 4 who would agree? Or 1 brave enough to disagree?

What does it mean to Trust the Science? Basically, we’re being asked to trust that due diligence has been done in the lab. Science is defined as the activity of systematically studying the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. Science works to produce tested, proven solutions.

When we were in school, there was the Theory of Evolution. That meant Evolution wasn’t a provable fact, only a theory, an idea of what might have happened. And even though it’s touted as truth, it remains a theory today because there are no records of any animal evolving into another. It can’t be proven by science because science is built on reproducing facts.

Chemistry – combine these two elements and you get this result every time.
Mathematics – add these numbers together and you get this sum every time.
Biology – combine these animals and you get this offspring every time.
Physics – apply this force to this matter and you’ll get this result every time.
Meteorology isn’t an exacting science because weather is too unpredictable.
Neither is Medicine an exacting science. How many times has a doctor said, “Let’s try this and see if it helps.”

Science is the pursuit and application of knowledge discovered by following a systematic standard of actions based on evidence, which includes:

Observation: Measurement and data – a record of the facts
Evidence – proof of an outcome
Repetition – reproducing the outcome
Critical analysis – questioning if the research was done accurately
Verification: scrutiny – are these results reliable

You don’t just say something’s right without scrutinizing it to see why it’s right.

Today, things are different. Today, science is getting blurred with social programming. Trust the Science becomes the Drop the Microphone moment when someone believes they have won the argument for what they want to be true but can’t prove it’s true. And if you disagree, you are denying Science. You are the offender of the narrative. Then, you and your opinion are dismissed.

Misgendering can get you thrown off of Twitter, or, as one professor found out, fired. A scientist, who disagreed with Global Warming, also got fired. A policeman who shared on Facebook his opinion about Critical Race Theory lost his job. One legislator wanted to make it a hate crime to challenge Dr. Fauci.

If you are not allowed to disagree about the matters someone is trying to weave into the social fabric of our day, using Trust the Science as the end of the discussion, that’s not science, it’s censorship.

Like elephants and fleas, we’re trained to believe the experts. We want to trust those we think know what they’re talking about. But what if the experts are wrong. You don’t just move forward because you found 4 out of 5 scientists who would agree. The science may be wrong.

Science of the day said the earth was flat.
Science of the day said the earth was the center of the solar system.
Science of the day said men will never fly.
Science of the day said there was a five-second rule to food falling on the floor.

Go back to Evolution. Whatever happened to the Theory part of Evolution and why is it taught as the foundation of Biology? It can’t be verified, reproduced or tested. What happened? It left science and became a philosophy, woven into a social context. Evolution was necessary to control beliefs within that context, and to redefine the context.

Evolution takes away the need for a God of creation. If you have a Creator, there must be a reason He created everything. To reject there being a reason, you also have to reject that reason having any bearing on life. When we do that, life becomes a product of chance and choices. Without a reason behind the design, we determine who we are and what we become.

Rom 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,

When God is removed or minimized, we are left to the foolishness of our own speculations. So that, whatever develops is acceptable.

Jer 18:3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. 4 But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, 6 "Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

If there is a Potter who shapes the clay, there is an accountability to the Potter. If there is no Potter there’s no one to be accountable to except ourselves. With no one to be accountable to, we determine the design. So that, if we don’t like being a pot, we can decide we are a tea cup. And anyone who disagrees with us being a tea cup, they have the problem, not us.

So, the question is: what is the context for our lives? If evolution, we are whatever we become. But, if we live within the context of God, we become what we are designed to be. Look at how this is laid out in Scripture:

Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He lavished on us.

blessed us with every spiritual blessing – the fulfillment of the promises connected to His plans for us.

chose – called out of one realm of life into another

chose us in Him before the foundation of the world - those plans went back to the beginning

chose us for this purpose: that we would be holy and blameless before Him – how’s that going to happen? He has to make it so. Remember: this isn’t evolution. We don’t create ourselves, neither can we become holy and blameless on our own.

predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself – predetermined we would have a relationship with Him as children by adoption through what Jesus did. We are as much a part of the Family of God as if we were born into it. Which adds an interesting background to the story of Nicodemus being told by Jesus he must be born again.

to the praise of the glory of His grace – the praise goes to Him, the grace goes to us, the glory is the evidence that what has happened is His doing. e must place our lives into a God-context.

freely bestowed, lavished on us. – more than adequately supplies all we need. Evolution speaks of survival and existence. God speaks of life and the abundance He has placed within it.

Eph 1:8 In all wisdom and insight 9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him 11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, 12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.

made known to us the mystery of His will – which is the foundation of life

administration suitable – His will is broken down into livable components. It’s revealed as we go. That’s why the command is to simply follow and leave the organization of the affairs of life to Him. Take the bus and leave the driving to us.

Administrators structure, organize, implement and oversee. They take the pieces and make them make sense.

predestined according to His purpose –all of this was predetermined

that we would be to the praise of His glory – our lives can express the greatness of God

Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

By grace – God’s work in our behalf. It is the means of God applying Jesus’ work to our benefit. GRACE – God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. God doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

Through faith – How we participate in what God is doing to save us. We must believe to receive.

The gift of God – is the entire redemption story of God coming to bear on our lives. Determined, packaged, delivered, received, opened, enjoyed.

workmanship Masterpiece – the height of His creation. What the Creator is known for.

Good works – the products of faith.

The world was created to reveal the goodness of God. We have been brought into this world to know the Creator and enjoy His goodness. What we then do is to reflect on the greatness of God through our lives.

Matt 5:16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

How does the moon shine?

Glorify: means reflecting back what the original is shining.

Which means, there is to be a connection between who we are and what we do and how that honors the Lord. A context. A consistency that verifies He is good.

2Cor 4:6 For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves… 10 so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

Next week, we’ll see how we are designed to do that.

TAKEAWAYS

It is vital that we determine the context of our lives.
We can adopt the pattern of the world to find meaning and purpose, or we can center our lives on the intentions of God to find our purpose in Him.
Fulfillment comes only from that which fully satisfies.
The world is limited in its ability to produce such a life; Jesus offers it in abundance.
That life works best when God is honored most.

Finding Our Purpose for Life - Goal

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Tue, 10 Aug 2021 19:41:00 +0000

If you’re like me, you probably have some form of a to-do list. Either one where you write down things you want to get done or one that someone else keeps for you. A to-do list is a type of goal-setting. Setting goals is a good way to help us accomplish things. The goal is the mark by which we measure whether we have done what we set out to do.

On September 12, 1962, President John Kennedy said: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”

The goal was the moon. That goal was reached on July 16, 1969, when the Eagle landed on the Sea of Tranquility. But even with the goal set, that dream was impossible without sequential steps that had to take place to make that happen. Realize where we were at the time of that speech. Alan Shepherd had only gone up a year before. John Glenn orbited the earth only five months before. The great goal of landing on the moon, by all calculations, was like eating elephant. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

I was taught to set goals. Goals are great. They help you stay on track. Not only do they make sure we know when the job is done, but there’s a sense of accomplishment when we get to scratch something off our list. But goals are primarily driven by tasks not purpose. The engineers didn’t need to know why we were going to the moon. All they cared about was: what do you want and when do you want it? But for most of us, we want to know why we are doing this in the first place. We need a purpose that justifies the goal.

What was our purpose in getting to the moon? To beat the Russians. Back then, we were in the space race. Getting there first was our purpose in going to the moon. That was our why. See, the goal was the what. It requires a how and when, but the why was the reason. It was our justification for staying on track to accomplish the goal.

When Israel left Egypt, they had as a goal to reach the Promised Land. But they never understood the reason Moses was taking them there. To them this was just a relocation project, but to God, it was the beginning of a new life. The people didn’t grasp that. That’s why, when God began to reshape them for the life He had planned, they rebelled and most of those died in the desert. They were okay with the goal but rejected the purpose God had over that goal.

If getting into the Promised Land was all God intended, who they became wouldn’t have mattered. They would have arrived, achieved the goal, and then what? But, since God’s purpose wasn’t a destination, but a life, adjusting to that life was essential.

CNN documentary on Jerusalem – they had no concept of God working out a plan for Israel that He had set before the foundation of the world. Totally secular.

So, over-arching the goal of getting into the Promised Land was the purpose of them becoming the people of God. When they left Egypt, they didn’t know what that meant.

To keep from overwhelming them, God didn’t show them His purpose until later in the journey. He started with a foundation principle: you are to obey Me.

Jer 7:22 For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.'

It was progressive revelation. Let’s start with step one of getting to the Promised Land. Let’s leave Egypt. Along the way, you’ll learn who I am and what I can do. I’ll open the sea for you to pass through. I’ll feed you every day with the bread of Heaven. I’ll give you a cloud and a light to show you the way. I’ll defeat your enemies for you.

Now, another step will be at Mt. Sinai where I will tell you how I want you to live as My people. To do so, you’ll need a list of basic Commandments to follow. You’ll learn a new way of doing worship. I’ll give you instructions for a sacrificial system. But you’ll need some general rules for how you are to live together as My People, so I’ll give you My law.

All of this was moving them closer to their new identity as the People of God. First, they had to learn how great God really was. And then learn obedience by which they would: walk in all the way which I command you. That was essential. They had to accept an open-ended right of God to rule. Which meant they were to connect their life to the train of God’s purpose. The promise being, by doing do: it may be well with you.

The 40-year desert experience was to remove those who refused to submit to God, then, to remove Egypt from the rest of them and reshape them to live by commands that would demonstrate their new identity. Why would God be so harsh? I thought He loved us and didn’t care how we lived, that He’d forgive us and accept us just like we were.

You do realize there is truth in that statement but it’s twisted truth. Whenever we expect the love of God to ignore our behavior, we’ve misunderstood the holiness of God. Whenever we want a God of mercy and not a God of judgement, we’ve misunderstood the righteousness of God. Whenever we want a God of truth and not a God of accountability for that truth, we’ve misunderstood the character of God.

There’s a sign on I45 for a local church. The message is basically: God loves you just like you are. Yes, He does, but because He loves us, He would never leave us like we are. His purpose involves changing the direction of our lives.

Heb 12:5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; 6 for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives." 10 …He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

I love you too much to leave you like I found you.

Which is where the Purpose of God comes in for us. The same purpose He had over Israel: to make them the People of God is over us – to make us Children of God. To get us there, there are some universal steps through which God will work in all our lives: to make us holy, to establish godliness as the foundational characteristic of our lives, to produce the fruit of righteousness that shows the world His goodness in and through us, to infill us with His Spirit whereby we will demonstrate: Gal 5:22 love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…, to gift and call us into service of the Kingdom.

Then there is the change factor, reorienting our wills so we can agree with the direction God wants us to go. It’s called repentance.

2Cor 5:15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

Rom 6:4 So that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

The result is a life that reveals our Father in Heaven. I thought God’s purpose was to get us into Heaven. That’s what the Israelites thought about the Promised Land. God’s goal isn’t to get us to Heaven, otherwise He should have taken us on when we accepted Him as our Savior. He intends to pour Heaven into us through a new life that honors Him.

In our study last week, we noted: We are engaged in a struggle between the urge to determine life for ourselves and surrendering to His right to rule. The lie that we can do a better job than He can in running our lives remains hidden in our hearts and must daily be denied room in our minds.

So, like Israel coming out of Egypt to journey to the Promised Land, there is a purpose beyond the goal. God used the desert to expose how resistant they were to that purpose and to give them opportunities to repent. He does the same for us.

Every temptation, every test, every trial, every turmoil is an opportunity to adjust ourselves to God’s purpose. These tribulations are crossroads where we must decide which direction we go. Will we exercise faith and follow God or will we revert to our old way of depending on ourselves with no regard for what God wants?

We never think about it but there were many mid-course corrections necessary for Apollo 11 to reach the moon. Same for us.

1Cor 9:26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; 27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

What keeps us in the race, in the ring, in the realm of God’s purpose? Staying on track. Not getting derailed by obstacles, hindrances or weariness.

A train is designed to run on rails. Many things can interfere with that, and if they do, the train can be derailed. The number one cause of derailment is broken rails and welds. The second is bearing failure within the wheels. Both caused by being worn down and stressed by use. Parts become weary over time.

Weariness has no age limit. You can get weary of life in your twenties as easily as you can in your eighties. We can get weary when things weigh us down, or wear us out, or grind us up. We get worn down by the friction of life and often chose to give up.

THOMAS EDISON: "Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."

Why do people give up?

Ps 6:6 I am weary with my sighing; every night I make my bed swim, I dissolve my couch with my tears. 7 My eye has wasted away with grief; it has become old because of all my adversaries.

Did you know what makes us feel old isn’t age? It’s weariness.

Weariness: extreme tiredness; fatigue; exhausted in strength, endurance, vigor, or freshness; reluctance to see or experience any more of something. The state of being tired of something because you have experienced too much of it.

Turkey plant.

Why do we become weary?

Too much going on. Worn down by life. Physically, we can only carry so much. It’s the same way emotionally. Worn down by constant flow like rocks in a river bed. Or washed out by the intensity of a sudden crisis like being hit with a flash flood.

Lack of Discipline – no one cares so why should we. It’s that message “God loves me just like I am” that makes people settle for so much less than is available.

Refusal to take responsibility for growing as a Christian. It’s okay for a baby to need to be fed. It’s sad when adults need to be fed. The hope is, spiritually, we can learn how to feed ourselves.

Heb 5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

Looking at the wrong standard. Many are more concerned about how they appear to others than how God sees them.

Trying to get better results with the same tactics. Instead of quitting, let’s change strategy. If this is my common result, I need to change my actions. Reeve trying to explain something to his sister. He kept repeating the same words each time. If the words I’m using don’t get the understanding I’m expecting, I need to change the words. If my actions aren’t getting the results I’m wanting, I need to change my actions.

We don't believe in what God has made possible.

Matt 11:28 Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.

Why did He tell us that? He knew life was hard and we’d need strength we didn’t have but where we could get it.

Heb 12:3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. [so you won’t become weary and give up. NLT]

Isa 40:28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. 29 He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. 30 Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, 31 Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.

How does this help us find our purpose in life? By encouraging us to stay on track, even when we get weary. Remember, it’s not a destination. It’s a journey. A journey is a process of moving toward something. For that journey, God promises the strength, the encouragement, the drive, the motivation, the target and the goals to get us there. What’s the reward? Rom 8:28 God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose.

TAKEAWAYS:

Life is a refining process to help shape us into that which identifies us as Children of God.
Who we are now is a stepping stone to who we’re to become.
When God sets the purpose, He also provides everything necessary to accomplish that purpose.
Thankfully, we never arrive but always have more to which we can look forward.
Wherever we are in our journey, God’s not done, and has more for us to experience, discover and enjoy.

Finding Our Purpose - Freedom

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Mon, 09 Aug 2021 13:29:00 +0000

Do you know how circus trainers keep a twelve-foot tall, five-ton elephant from running off? They put a chain around its ankle and tie the chain to a steel peg hammered into the ground. Everyone else at the circus knows the elephant could take a single step and pull the stake out of the ground, but he doesn’t. Why? Because from the moment he was born, he was taught to believe something that wasn’t true: that a chain tied around his ankle, staked to the ground, meant he was locked down. To accept the lie, the elephant has to ignore all the urges to pull himself free. He is one step away from freedom, yet lives in a prison with an unlocked door.

Living without purpose is like defining our lives by four walls and a door that shuts us in. What if that door suddenly opened? What if we could walk out free, leaving the prison behind? What would we do with the opportunity to be free?

Acts 12:6 On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. 7 And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter's side and woke him up, saying, "Get up quickly." And his chains fell off his hands. 8 And the angel said to him, "Gird yourself and put on your sandals." And he did so. And he said to him, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me."

If you break this story down and watch it in slow motion, each moment is a step in the direction of freedom. Think of when Peter told this story to Luke who wrote the Book of Acts. I was in a cell chained between two guards. There were guards on the floor beside me and guards at the door. I was locked in tight with no way of escape. When I went to sleep, it was pretty clear I was going to be executed the next day. So, all hope of release was gone. I had reconciled myself to my fate. I was a dead man sleeping.

Then I woke up to something poking me in the side. I heard a voice saying, “Wake up.” I opened my eyes and the room was lit up as if a dozen torches were on fire. I squinted to see someone standing over me saying, “Get up.” As I got up, the chains fastened to my hands fell off. I stood there wondering why the clang didn’t wake up the two guards.

“Get dressed,” the person said. I found my clothes. He said, “Put on your sandals.” I slipped my feet into the straps. Then, he said the most unexpected words of the night, “Follow me.”

Now, later in this story, after they had left the prison, Peter said he thought it was all a dream until they got outside and the angel vanished. At that point he knew he wasn’t dreaming and this had actually happened. He was no longer in the cell but now free: no chains, no guards, no locked door, no appointment with death. But God didn’t set him free to be free. There had to be a purpose for this happening to him.

What was the key moment in this story? It wasn’t wake up, get up or get dressed. Those were merely steps in the process. They key was the last words. “Follow Me.” Follow me meant leaving the cell to go someplace else. First, the chains fell off and then doors were opened. The way out was presented. All that was left was to follow the angel.

Jesus used those same words in calling each disciple to follow Him. Even when correcting Peter for being more concerned about John’s future than his own, Jesus said, “What is that to you, you follow Me.”

“Follow me” was an open-ended opportunity to experience the greatness of God in each of those men’s lives. He gave them no specifics as to what was ahead, only a call for unconditional surrender to the leadership of the Lord who called them.

We saw it in the wilderness, remember. Moses was leading the Israelites out of Egypt and then they faced confrontation with God’s purpose of becoming the People of God. To follow that purpose, they had to accept the open-ended right of God to rule.

One of our men sent me an email with this: “Consider Israel’s miraculous deliverance from Egypt in the Bible. As God’s people crossed over on dry land, they saw the waves crash down on their enemy behind them. It was a glorious moment, and they held a mighty praise meeting with dancing, singing and thanksgiving. ‘We’re free! God has delivered us from the hand of oppression.’”

But what was that freedom designed to do? Merely release them from an enslaved existence or open the door to a new future? What did that freedom make possible that living in slavery had prevented?

In Spiderman this famous quote was worked into the dialogue: With great power comes great responsibility.

In other words. Why did Spiderman have his power? What was the purpose behind him being so powerful? How was he to use that power?

Freedom comes with the same questions. Why did God set them free? What did that freedom make possible? How would they now live that was not possible before? With great freedom comes great opportunity.

I’m sure Peter wrestled with the same questions. He was set free, but why? For what purpose? To simply be free? What was the opportunity that getting out of the cell now made possible? Freedom comes with opportunity attached. God wasn’t through with him yet.

The end of this story has Peter going to a home where the other disciples were gathered.

Act 12:17 But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, "Report these things to James and the brethren." Then he left and went to another place.

And we don’t hear from Peter again until Acts 15 at the Jerusalem Council where the decision was made to allow Gentiles to become Christians without having to become Jews first. It was Peter who shared the insight that settled the issue. We also know he made trips to visit some of the newly-formed churches, and at some point wrote 1^st and 2^nd Peter.

Meaning, God’s purpose for Peter was greater than just getting him unchained and out of prison. It was so he could continue following. To stay true to the original call Jesus had placed on him when he was still a fisherman in Galilee. All God did was remove the hindrance. Why? The calling remains until the life is over.

Peter could agree with Paul when Paul said: Phil 3:12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become complete [the purpose of my life hasn’t been accomplished yet], but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

These men lived with a purpose driving their lives forward. The determining factor was breath. As long as they had breath, they had a purpose for living. That purpose was even greater than their experiences.

To prove that, Paul took a moment to describe his life to the Corinthians: 2Cor 11:23 Are they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. 24 Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. 26 I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; 27 I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

You call that freedom? Yes, because even in those tribulations, Paul was still following Jesus. The purpose of God was greater than the experiences they encountered while following.

Their freedom gave them the privilege of doing what God had called them to do. Even prison chains, bars and doors couldn’t shut out the plans God had for them.

But remember, Peter’s freedom came in stages. What stage of deliverance are we in today? Some are chained. To what? Sin. The Bible refers to sin in language of captivity.

Rom 7:23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.

2Pet 2:19 By what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state becomes worse for them than the first.

It has to be addressed that there are two groups of people referred to here. Those who have yet to come to the Lord for salvation and sin has created separation from God and those who have but have reverted to a past lifestyle of choices that deny the life of a child of God.

Both are chained to keep them away from God. But both can have those chains broken. How? By confessing what we have allowed to enslave us and receiving God’s forgiveness.

1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we have yet to give our lives to the Lord, we are labeled as unrighteous. If we have let sin dominate our lives again, we are acting unrighteous. Forgiveness cleanses us of that unrighteousness to make us right with God.

But there are also some who are imprisoned by circumstances, or more specifically by their past. Things that happened in the past that still haunting our present.

· Do you have any scars? Scars are reminders of something that happened to us. Maybe we caused it or someone else.

· Scars can also generate painful memories attached to what happened. Some are physical. Some are emotional.

· Satan: look at those nasty scars – I’d be ashamed.

· Jesus says: I’ve got scars, too. And by My scars you can be healed.

o We can’t make our past happy.

o Neither can we go back and fix our past.

o All we can do is repent of having allowed these things from our past become more important to us than our present, and submit our past to God’s healing forgiveness.

o Then, we can forget what lies behind and reach forward to what lies ahead,

But, leave the chains in the cell when you walk out. Those chains that can hold us no more, the door can no longer lock us in are to have no power over us anymore. John 8:36 If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

Mark 5:2 When He got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him, 3 and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones. 6 Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; 7 and shouting with a loud voice, he said, "What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!" 8 For He had been saying to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!" 9 And He was asking him, "What is your name?" And he said to Him, "My name is Legion; for we are many." 10 And he began to implore Him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain. 12 The demons implored Him, saying, "Send us into the swine so that we may enter them." 13 Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea. 14 Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the country. And the people came to see what it was that had happened. 15 They came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the "legion"; and they became frightened. 16 Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and all about the swine. 17 And they began to implore Him to leave their region. 18 As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was imploring Him that he might accompany Him. 19 And He did not let him, but He said to him, "Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you." 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.

You’re free from the demons. The chains are gone. The prison doors are open. Now, leave the prison behind and all the things within it that tortured you. Follow Me. Go home and share the great things the Lord has done for you.

That’s our story. We are free so we can follow Him. Freedom gives us our opportunity to live no longer encumbered by the chains that have bound us. We can now share how great our God is. Who am I that the Lord would do this for me? It’s why Jesus came.

Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed,

But remember, we’re not free to simply be free. We’re free to follow. No chain, no prison can stop that.

Rom 8:1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Condemnation – an adverse sentence, penal servitude, penalty – imprisonment. No jail can hold us that Jesus can’t get us out of. No past, no present, no future.

TAKEAWAYS:

Discovering that God has set us free must be followed by asking why God has set us free.
It is so we can be who God wants us to be, doing what God wants us to do, when He wants us doing it, in the way He wants it done.
When He breaks the chains and unlocks the door, it is our privilege to walk out free.
Freedom comes with great opportunity to follow Him and make Him known.

Finding Our Purpose - Struggles

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 14:01:00 +0000

On July 6, soccer champion Abby Wambach appeared on a podcast hosted by her wife, Glennon Doyle, where Wambach opened up about her childhood experience with church. She said, “I understood that I had a choice to make, and it was like, I was either going to choose me or God.”

It is likely many who heard that celebrated her courage to choose herself over against God’s best. I didn’t feel that way. I hurt for her to have made such a sad choice.

But actually, I saw a much bigger picture than one lady struggling with issues of her identity. I saw the central factor behind the struggle within each of us to decide what will be the source from where we find our direction for life. Not whether we are gay or straight, but who gets to determine the reason we exist and how we choose to live that existence out.

Last week we began this series on Finding Our Purpose for Life. We summarized that introduction with: If we choose anything instead of the Lord as a source we think will produce a full and satisfied life, we will have reduced Him to a mere convenience and not the Lord in whom we trust.

This isn’t just a modern issue, though the social push for identity has never been stronger. Parents who don’t want to declare their babies boys or girls but let them decide that later. People who disregard who they are physically and then we accept that decision by using the pronoun it or they when speaking about them. One transvestite said parents have no idea what culture they are wanting their children to be a part of. But the issue is broader than sexual identity. It is self-determination: who makes the ultimate life choice?

Let’s go back to a strange story in the beginning times, after the Great Flood, when this attitude of self-determination was exposed.

Gen 11:2 It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 They said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly." And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. 4 They said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." 5 The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.

Where did this tower come from and what was its purpose?

Gen 10:6 The sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan. 8 Now Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD." 10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh.

Most who’ve studied this say it was Nimrod, the mighty one on earth, who directed the building of the Great Tower in the city of Babel. Now, why is an interesting question. Our first reaction is: The people want to build a tower. Italy has its leaning Tower of Pisa, Paris has the Eifel Tower, England has its Tower of London. So, what’s the big deal? The big deal is in God’s reaction. To Him it was much more than just a tower.

They said in building this tower, we will make for ourselves a name so we will not be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.

Sounds like an innocent desire to be remembered for their efforts. People name buildings after people they want to remember all the time. But what did making a name for ourselves mean back then? People are known by their name. It distinguishes them from others. That’s why common names usually had a qualifier. This is Joseph of Arimathea. This is Judas the son of James, not to be confused with Judas Iscariot. Or today, we might say: this is John, Emily’s husband. Or for me, this is Josh’s dad or Jody’s dad or Cory’s dad. I don’t even get a name anymore. But the name expresses how we will be known in the present and remembered in the future.

But under the surface, there’s a hidden challenge within that desire: we will make for ourselves a name. When did they throw out the idea of being the People of God? When did their identity become more important than their connection to the One who brought their family safely through the flood? See, we’re only three generations after the flood. How did they so quickly forget?

Well, maybe this was the first temple for worship. That they wanted to get closer to God by peering into the heavens. Nowhere in the story do you hear this was to know God or to honor God. It is the epic confrontation of man’s desires vs. God’s purpose.

Remember the reason for the flood, that: Gen 6:5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. It was a purging, a cleansing of the evil that had dominated the hearts of mankind, that took them away from God’s intentions.

The flood may have destroyed evil men, but unfortunately, it didn’t wash away the attitudes of their hearts. Because of the fall of Adam, the desire to assert ourselves over God’s right to rule was passed down and exposed in the lineage of Ham, Noah’s third son.

So, here, a few generations later, man once again is rejecting God as interpreter of life and director of man’s ambitions. They were reestablishing the pattern for man’s goal of independence from God by their unwillingness to allow God to have influence over life and be the final voice in the matters of who they were to be and how they were to live. Sounds like current events not to be scattered? Sounds innocuous, but Nimrod was actually shaking his fist at God saying, “I’ll create a structure so high that even You can’t destroy me. Noah built an ark, I’ll build a tower, so that if You flood the earth again, there would be a place high enough we will be untouched by Your judgment.” Nimrod was challenging God’s right to judge sin and intervene in the affairs of mankind. In his own mind that made him equal with God, and in some foolhardy way said he believed he knew better than God in how to run his life and the larger matters of the world.

This tower was a statement that they would determine what made life worth living, how they would be fulfilled and that they alone would decide their own direction.

This story was included in a couple of non-biblical books that give interesting insight. The book of Jubilees says that the people built the tower in order to “ascend on it into heaven.” Baruch goes further, saying that the people not only wanted to ascend into heaven but wanted to pierce it—that is wage war against heaven, to actually fight God for the right to rule their own lives. It was similar to Satan’s desire when he attempted to set himself over God’s rule.

Isa 14:12 How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! 13 But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'

That’s the cry of the heart of those misguided by the importance of their own desires. It reveals the widespread rebellion in the human heart. It is the ultimate misconception that we can build a better life for ourselves than God can design. That we know what’s best for us, that we should have ultimate say over who we are to be and how we are to live.

So, the tower had to be stopped. God had to act.

Gen 11:6 The LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another's speech." 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.

Speaking the same language was more than just speaking the same language. They were saying the same thing in the same way. They were all thinking the same thoughts. Unless God scrambled their ability to communicate, anything they purposed would be possible. Meaning, they would create their own gods, their own purpose and disregard the God who had delivered them. Look what they were rejecting:

Jer 29:11 For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

Rom 1:21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,

The Bible says they abandoned the tower. It remained unfinished until the Babylonians under Neb’s father rebuilt the great ziggurat, a stepped pyramid, dedicated to their god Marduk in the ancient city of Babylon. The tower was called Babilu, which means Gate of God. It was changed from the Hebrew word Babel which meant to confuse. From Babilu, they named the city Babylon. Alexander the Great eventually destroyed the tower. Today, there’s only a footprint of the foundation.

But what was the story really about: Mankind’s attempt to assert autonomy over God to set his own identity and find his own meaning without Him. It is choosing self-rule and rejecting any recognition of God or dependency upon Him.

Now, that not only defines a world separated from God, but many Christians who have adapted the world’s mindset. For us it comes under the category of idolatry, which was Israel’s curse from the beginning. Finding something more important to them than God upon which they would focus their lives. 5,263 > 3578.

Idolatry is the action of setting up a substitute for God. Some artificial means to accomplish for ourselves only what God can do. A counterfeit reality that bases the reason for life on pleasure and personal fulfillment rather than on the glory of God.

Isa 57:13 "When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you. But the wind will carry all of them up, and a breath will take them away. But he who takes refuge in Me will inherit the land and will possess My holy mountain."

Ps 115:4 Their idols are silver and gold, The work of man's hands. 5 They have mouths, but they cannot speak; They have eyes, but they cannot see; 6 They have ears, but they cannot hear; They have noses, but they cannot smell; 7 They have hands, but they cannot feel; They have feet, but they cannot walk; They cannot make a sound with their throat. 8 Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them.

We become like the God we serve. If we serve idols, we become empty and lifeless like they are. If we serve Almighty God, we become His fulfilled children, reflecting His goodness in our lives and into our world. If we serve idols, we’re never satisfied because an idol produces no fulfillment. But to us, Jesus said: I’ve come that you might have life and have it in abundance.

Unique wording in the Greek. Greek verbs contain their pronouns. The Word come is I come. But for emphasis, there is an additional I in the sentence. I, I come. Meaning, I and only I have come for this purpose. I’m the only one who can provide this.

That’s what Jesus was explaining to the Woman at the Well:

John 4:13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."

It’s the call to the what satisfies life – the water of life. The desire that is only realized in Jesus and by it we want to know God and honor Him with our lives. It tugs on every person’s heart. As Solomon said: Ecc 3:11 He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart.

Question is how do we respond to that desire? How do we find our answer in Him? How do we respond to His offer of a satisfied life?

By settling who He is to us – Phil 2:10 at the name of Jesus [Lord] EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

By submitting our lives fully to Him – 1Cor 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

By loving Him with all we are – Mar 12:30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.'

Ivan the Great wanted a family. An agreement was made between him and the King of Greece for his wife. The King of Greece, however insisted, "He cannot marry my daughter unless he is baptized as a member of the Greek Orthodox Church." Ivan agreed. This meant emersion. When Ivan announced his intentions, his men said they would do as well. But the Greek Orthodox church doesn’t allow warriors into the church. The compromise, they baptized the men with them keeping one arm out of the water, holding up their sword. Point? Partial surrender. Leaving room for a tower to be built where they have left a part their lives under their own control.

If we remove God from any part of our lives, we will decide whether God has the right to any of our lives. We will choose whatever we want to be and who we want to act. When God determines that, we become who we are designed to be.

TAKEAWAYS:

The truth that the Lord has final say as to who we are to be and how we are to live must be responded to by more than simple a nod.
We are engaged in a struggle between the urge to determine life for ourselves and surrendering to His right to rule.
The lie that we can do a better job than He can in running our lives remains hidden in our hearts and must daily be denied room in our minds.
When we exchanged the emptiness of our old lives for the fullness Jesus promised, He took ownership of our lives.
Only when we realize what happened in salvation, does that ownership become the big deal it really is.

Finding Our Purpose for Life - Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 14:02:00 +0000

The simple difference between fantasy and reality is one is imagined and the other is life. If we’re not careful we can get the two confused. Fantasy is where we imagine what we want to be true. It’s the realm of wishing and hoping and dreaming and sometimes even praying. Reality is the genuine experience.

Sometimes we place God within the fantasy section of our minds. We see Him as the fulfiller of our wants. That it’s His job to make us happy and content. Which stands to reason, anything that happens to us we don’t want, or if what we do want doesn’t happen, God has failed us. Therefore, giving us the right to be angry with Him.

In the past few weeks, I’ve heard three people say they are angry with God. One, was a lady with multiple problems under hospice care. Another was a man dying from cancer, who said if God walked into the room, he’d slap Him in the face. The other was in a movie. Two characters were burying a young man who was gentle and kind but savagely killed. One said, “I guess we should say some words.” The other said, “I don’t think God wants to hear what I’d say to Him. It wouldn’t be very respectful.”

Where does anger like that come from? In grief, it is a natural step in the healing process. But generally, that anger is at the one who died, or we’re angry at what we’ve loss. Some get hung up there and never move on. But if we stay angry and that anger turns into bitterness against God, we’ve turned away from our only hope.

We become angry because God didn’t do what we wanted, and instead has let something happen to us we don’t want.

· So, the God who created life has no right to decide when that life is over?

· So, the God who formed the body has no right to allow infirmity to attack us?

· So, the God who allowed evil into the world has no right to let that evil test, tempt or torment us?

Rev 4:11 Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they exist, and were created.

That’s reality not fantasy. God created all that exists for His purpose.

How else would Paul have learned God’s Grace was sufficient without a thorn in his flesh he didn’t want? How else could God have gotten my attention to turn my life toward Him without a car wreck that nearly cost me my life? We can’t let our pain blind us to the hope of goodness of God in the land of the living.

If we don’t understand that, when something happens to cause our world to collapse, when what we’ve built of our lives suddenly washes away, when someone or something comes along and pushes us off the wall, will we find hope or turn our disappointment into anger against God?

Humpty Dumpty – sat, had

Jesus pulled all those questions together in a parable about two men who build houses on different foundations: Matt 7:24 Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26 Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall."

The point is the choice between fantasy and reality. A firm foundation vs. sandy soil. The foundation is the basis of the stability of the house. The house represents our lives. We can build our lives on false hopes and imaginations or on reality. Jesus tells us which is best. The reality of His words – the truths God has promised for His children, or the false hopes in a world that only disappoints.

From the plans He has made for us, to His intentions of accomplishing what concerns us, to the necessity of Him working all things together for good. So that, in all of life, I know He is good and what He is doing has greater purpose than what my disappointment can ever understand.

We’re wired from birth to build our lives upon the goal of becoming productive members of society.

· Produce an income: Work – we spend the early years trying to determine what we want to do for an occupation. We hope to be able to find a job where we get to do what we love. When that doesn’t work out, we simply look for opportunity and money. Did you know there are artists working as waiters? Coaches working as electricians? Teachers working as janitors? Why? Gotta produce a living.

· Produce a family: Marriage – children. It’s the natural flow of life. Re-production.

· Produce some level of enjoyment: hobbies, habits, entertainment to add some self-satisfying experiences that bring pleasure to our lives.

· Ultimately we want to be able to rest each night satisfied with our day, our accomplishments, our life. We want to be happy and fulfilled.

But if production is what determines fulfillment, what if something happens and we’re no longer able to produce? Or, what if those goals don’t make us happy?

· We lose our job. We’re downsized or retire. If we have built our lives on a foundation of work and that’s taken away, how do we make up for that loss?

o When my dad retired, he no longer had a business to run, so he decided he’d run the house. That was until my mom let him know, while holding a butcher knife, that wasn’t the way things were going to happen.

· What if we don’t have a job we love? Instead of producing happiness, we’re frustrated. Instead of valuable, we feel worthless. Instead of fulfilled, we feel empty.

· What if our spouse dies or divorces us? The one has been a necessary part of making our life complete is gone. How do we fill this hole in our heart? How do we heal this hurt?

· Or our children reject us? Maybe its not deliberate but perhaps their own lives have gotten so busy with being productive that they no longer have room for us within their busy schedules.

· What if we can’t find anything to do that brings us pleasure?

· What if we simply have become dissatisfied with life?

o One of the symptoms of Covid is losing the sense of taste and smell. The pleasure of eating is gone because we can’t taste what we always enjoyed.

· What if something knocks us off the wall and we are now damaged – unable to physically or emotionally look forward to tomorrow? And we’re so disappointed that we’re now angry.

It means we have built our lives on the wrong foundation. A foundation is to be immovable, unchangeable, reliable. So that if everything gets scraped off, it’s still there. Did you realize that sometimes we never even notice the foundation until everything gets scrapped off?

It’s then we see the hands of our God holding us, who says, “Beyond Me you cannot fall.”

Circus trapeze artists can fly with reckless abandon because of the assurance the safety net will catch them. If something happens there is a net beyond which they will not fall.

So for us: Ps 46:2 We will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; 3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake...

Everyone struggles when what made their life good is taken away. The difference is the foundation. What is there to catch them? Jesus said, My word – the truths God has promised for His children. There for when the rains fall, and the floods come, and the winds blow and slam against that house; it will not fall, for it is founded on the rock.

Like David writing: Ps 37:25 I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread. That: 24 When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the LORD is the One who holds his hand.

That’s Jesus’ promise. Underneath us is always the hand of our God and into those hands we place our lives.

When we understand that, we’re disappointed that what we want doesn’t happen and what we don’t want does happen, we don’t collapse into a ball of anger, blaming God for failing us.

Ps 39:4 LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered—how fleeting my life is. 5 You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.” 6 We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it. 7 And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you.

Unless we begin there – understanding that upon that foundation we place our hope in the Lord – we will build our lives with counterfeit, inferior materials that will wash away and leave us overwhelmed and empty as we wander and wonder why God let us down. Our hope is that in whatever happens, we will see the greatness of God in our behalf.

Ps 9:10 But those who know Your name will put their trust in You, for You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.

Ps 31:14 But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD, I say, "You are my God."

Ps 84:5 How blessed is the man whose strength is in You…

Ps 84:12 O LORD of hosts, How blessed is the man who trusts in You!

Ps 143:8 Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; For I trust in You; teach me the way in which I should walk; for to You I lift up my soul.

I went with a group of men to Promise Keepers years ago. I’d been a pastor but had just taken a detour within God’s plan for my life to leave one denomination to become part of a non-denominational one. It was a good plan, but because of that detour I lost the title pastor. During one session, the speaker called for the pastors to come forward for prayer. I stood there. An emptiness came over me. That was my identity for years. Now it wasn’t. Then the men around me physically pushed me out into the aisle. Though I didn’t see myself like that any longer, they did. God hadn’t removed that calling because of the detour. Why? His purpose was still on my life. It never changed though the circumstances did.

Rom 11:29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

The storms can’t take that away. Rom 8:38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

How could Paul say that? He’d been there. Everything he built his life on that had been so important was taken away. All he was left with was the love of a God who held him in His hands.

Isa 49:16 Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me.

John 10:28 I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

If our life is built on fantasy that nothing bad should ever happen, nobody we love should die, only happiness and joy should follow us all the days of our life and that God exists to make our dreams come true, we will be greatly disappointed. We may even get angry.

The reality is, when we entrust our lives to Him, He holds us securely so that whatever we face, it will never wash away the foundation of our hope established built upon the promises in His word or separate us from the One who gives us beauty for ashes, comfort for our grief, who lifts us up when we fall and gives us peace.

TAKEAWAYS:

God isn’t saving us to collect people for Heaven.
God saves us to fulfill His purposes in our lives.
If we choose anything instead of Him as a source we think will produce a full and satisfied life, we will have reduced Him to a mere convenience and not the Lord in whom we trust.
Because He is the foundation supporting our lives, we can live with hope that whatever comes, whatever goes, we will not be washed away.

Hearing the Voice of the Shepherd

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 13:26:00 +0000

Last week, when our time ran out, we were talking about making the convincing argument. The convincing argument is the one that settles any need for further discussion and both sides agree.

You’ll remember, when you can’t win the argument by logic you’ll turn to emotions. If that doesn’t work, you’ll threaten them to agree or else. It’s called winning at all costs. We’ve watched this over the past year or so in government overreach to force compliance and limit personal freedoms.

The Rulers Jesus faced operated the same way. They were considered the government. Israel was a Theocracy. A Theocracy is a form of government in which a god or God, Himself, is recognized as the supreme ruling authority, giving divine guidance to humans to manage the day-to-day affairs of the nation.

Since the government of Israel included the religious practices of the nation as well as national affairs, it was easy for these Rulers to exert control in all aspects of a Jewish person’s life, exercising power to even disconnect their connection with God.

Vital to that connection were the Temple and the Synagogues. The sacrifices performed in the Temple had direct bearing on the lives of the people. Sacrifices dealt with their sins and kept them in right standing with God. So, if you wanted to force compliance to the desires of the Rulers, withholding access to the Temple would be a major trump card in any argument. Restricting them from the Synagogue was amputating their social connection with the people, making them outcasts of society.

John 9:19 “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?" 20 His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 but how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself." 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.

It was a policy of exclusion. We can’t win the argument with Jesus, so we’ll punish the people who believe in Him by excluding them from what was important to them.

John 16:1 These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. 2 They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. 3 These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.

They think they are honoring God in preventing people from following Jesus. That’s what Paul thought when he began persecuting Christians. But the reason they did this, ultimately, was because they refused to be convinced Jesus was their Messiah. Just the opposite of what God was giving them opportunity to do.

Throughout the OT, God had to speak through His prophets to expose the leaders who did opposite from what He wanted. He’d use images they could remember. The one He used most was the Shepherd. They understood that image well. The prophets would contrast the good shepherds with bad shepherds, showing from the sheep’s perspective how their lives were benefitted from one and made miserable by the other. Now, Jesus was showing them that the image of the shepherd was within the role of the Messiah.

John 10:11 I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.

Sharing this had two targets: the people, so they would understand the life He offered them, and to the Rulers to show them their disobedience. But just before He said He was the Good Shepherd, He made a rather accusing point:

John 10:8 All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

They knew what He was talking about. The OT spoke of the role of leaders to shepherd the people on God’s behalf. To do so, you need to understand what is on God’s behalf. Part of that was to teach the people what they needed to know. Rabbis, Scribes and Pharisees were the sources of the information about God. To teach about God they needed to know Him. To get to know Him they needed to follow Him. Jesus accused them of not following God and therefore were unqualified to lead His sheep.

John 10:26 But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;

They heard Him speak, but didn’t recognize the voice of God in Jesus. He wasn’t talking about His physical voice but the fact of what His voice represented. It was the voice from which sheep respond to their shepherd. Jesus was the voice of the Shepherd.

John 10:2 He who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers."

VIDEO CLIP

Even today, the Shepherd image is a warning to church leaders, and to some an accusation about their leadership. There are many in ministry who have no right nor business being there. Either they were never called by God or have disqualified themselves by sin or operate without regard to God’s intentions and will. The Rulers stood accused.

But it also had deep meaning to the people to remind them how God had always related to them. He was the Shepherd of Israel, who leads Joseph like a flock; and Like a shepherd He will tend His flock. But, that image also held a Messianic promise:

Ezek 34:23 Then I will set over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant David will be prince among them; I the LORD have spoken.

Sheep were everywhere in Judea, and where the sheep were, there also would be the shepherd. All sheep had to be led by shepherds. The people understood the concept. Wherever they were, God would be there leading them, protecting them and providing for them as a good shepherd would his sheep.

David had long ago explained that essential connection when he wrote: The Lord is my shepherd...

Sheep do what the Shepherd wants them to do. Sheep go where the Shepherd leads them to go. They rest in the care of their Shepherd. Why do they follow him and not another? They know His voice.

Now, with all this background, you’d think the Rulers would have understood, but John said: John 10:6 This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.

How could they not hear it? They had never listened for it before. They didn’t need to. Everything they were to believe, someone else told them. But being told something is one of the least effective ways of learning. That’s why we read our Bibles daily. The Bible is the number one way God speaks to us. If we only listen to someone else speak about it, what we’ve heard will eventually slip away.

Within one hour we will forget 50% of what we’ve heard. Within 24 hours we’ll forget 70%. By the end of the week 90% is gone. But we will remember most what we’ve read, discussed and incorporated into our lives.

Why did David mediate on the Words of God? The same reason a sheep chews its cud. To get all the nutrition they can get from what they take in.

That’s why we give TAKEAWAYS. They are the key thoughts of the message to take home and review. That’s why we use the Sunday message as our discussion topic in our Home Groups each week. It’s so we can remember what we heard and allow more of the message to stay with us.

These Rulers chose not to listen to the voice of the Shepherd which proved: John 1:11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.

So, Jesus had to go to show and tell. Let me demonstrate Messiah to you.

John 10:37 If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; 38 but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father."

John 10:30 "I and the Father are one." 31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?" 33 The Jews answered Him, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God."

Jesus then says something quite strange:

John 10:34 Jesus answered them, "Has it not been written in your Law, 'I SAID, YOU ARE GODS'? 35 If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 36 do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?

That’ll jerk your head around. But keep in mind who He was talking to. Not the people but the Ruling leaders. And not in a flattering way. What was behind Jesus saying, you are gods? Let’s go back to Moses.

Ex 4:15 You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I, even I, will be with your mouth and his mouth, and I will teach you what you are to do. 16 Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people; and he will be as a mouth for you and you will be as God to him.

The word for God is the word – Elohim. It’s one of the names of God used frequently in the OT. It’s the same word in: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Yet here it was used in a representative form of how Moses would function on behalf of the people.

“Moses, you will assume a role over Aaron as I have over you. That’s how I will work through you and from you into him, so that, when you speak, it will be as Me speaking through you.”

But Jesus is quoting Scripture. Where does it say: You are gods?

Ps 82:1 God takes His stand in His own congregation; He judges in the midst of the rulers. 2 How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? 3 Vindicate the weak and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and destitute. 4 Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them out of the hand of the wicked. 5 They do not know nor do they understand; They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. 6 I said, "You are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High. 7 Nevertheless you will die like men and fall like any one of the princes."

The word rulers is the same word – Elohim. The point is the rulers of the nation who were to represent God to the people were failing miserably. They had an honorable role yet treated it dishonorably. The value of their position will not help them in the end.

Jesus was drawing them into a conversation they didn’t want to have, taking them to the heart of their problem. Just like shepherds God placed in charge of leading His flock, as rulers of the people, they were to be representatives of the desires of God in daily life. Their role over God’s people was to be like His over them. As He was in their lives as rulers, they were to be in the people’s lives. So, they were as gods before the people, demonstrating the goodness of the God they represented.

Quite embarrassing when you realize, that instead of representing God, you are actually interfering with God’s intentions. Instead of shepherding the flock, you are misleading the flock.

Jer 23:2 Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are tending My people: "You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds," declares the LORD.

But like the shepherds the prophets spoke against, instead of softening, these Rulers stiffened their necks. They failed at the first requirement of a leader – being teachable.

Being teachable is the willingness to learn, unlearn, and relearn. It is to admit we don’t know everything. [The greatest enemy to learning is thinking we already know it all.] Being teachable is an indication of humility: God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Because the Rulers weren’t teachable, they lost out on one of the most precious privileges given the Children of God: hearing God speak.

How can we hear the voice of God?

We can hear Him talk in His word.
We can hear Him whisper within our spirits when we pray.
We can hear Him speak through others.
We can hear Him shout through our circumstances.

When you read Scripture and suddenly realize that verse fits this moment, you’ve heard God.
When you’re sitting under a teacher or preacher and they say something that touches a sensitive area of your life, you’ve heard God.
When you’re praying and get an insight you didn’t have before you prayed, you’ve heard God.
When you’re distressed and need an answer, then you understand what to do, you’ve heard God.
When you’re sitting in a doctor’s office asking each other what do we do now, and suddenly a peace fills you both with a hope that is beyond the circumstances, you’ve heard from God.

God speaks when there is something we need to know that without it we’d be lost.

But remember:

What we hear will be confirmed in Scripture. God will never contradict Himself.
What we hear will bring evidence of God’s presence: peace, comfort and hope.
What we hear will give us answers, direction or assurance.
What we hear will produce an understanding that clears up the confusion.

Most people can’t hear the voice of the Lord because they won’t listen. Some don't believe God speaks to His children or speaks at all. Some don't think God would speak to them because they feel they are unqualified or unworthy.

I remind you what Jesus said: John 10:27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;

If you belong to Him, you can hear His voice. The first step to hearing God’s voice – listen. In your prayer time this week, spend as much time listening as you do talking to God. Just sit there with an open heart.

Crickets – crickitcus irritatus, crickitus drivemecrazius. How can you tell? I’ve listened to them so much that I know what each one sounds like.

When Samuel was a young boy, he heard someone call his name at night. Eli, the priest, told him it was the Lord and next time He called to say: speak Lord, your servant is listening. And God spoke. Ask God to speak and then listen for what He says as a servant ready to obey.

TAKEAWAYS:

We can use our imaginations to rewrite Scripture when we assume we have heard from God something that violates His written word.
Hearing God say the wrong thing is as bad as not hearing Him say the right thing.
We must train our ears to hear by listening for His voice as we open our hearts to accept what He’s said.

Persuaded or Convinced?

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 13:41:00 +0000

Lucy and Charlie Brown were talking, "I would have made a great evangelist,” Lucy said. "Is that so?" "Yes, I convinced that boy in front of me in school that my religion is better than his religion." "Well, how did you do that?" "I hit him over the head with my lunch box."

There are a lot of ways to persuade people to our opinion. Typically, we begin with logic to try and explain our position clearly so they’ll agree. If that doesn’t work, we turn to pathos to draw them to our point of view emotionally. Then, if all of that fails, we simply threaten them to agree or else.

Often parents will try to negotiate with their kids. To win them over with a special prize if their child does what the parent wants. Or they think they can talk their child into submitting. Some beg and plead with their kids. Most of us grew up in the era of “I have spoken” followed by a swat if we needed further convincing. Back then, the balance of the negotiation rested in the hands of the parent not the kid. It gave the parent the power of the convincing argument.

A convincing argument is made when the last word in a discussion settles any disagreement and both sides agree. There is a difference however between convincing and persuading.

Salesmen don’t convince. Salesmen persuade. Demonstrators convince. Demonstrators let their product speak for itself.

It’s much easier to persuade someone than it is to convince them. Persuasion can be spur of the moment. That’s why most salesmen use some measure of pressure or sense of urgency or a time limit to an offer. Convincing takes time but lasts.

Persuasion lasts as long as the motivation that caused it lasts. That’s why we often experience buyer’s remorse after a purchase we really didn’t need. We can remain persuaded until that persuasion is challenged.

My brother had a sign in our room as kids. It said: My mind’s made up. Don’t confuse me with facts. In other words, persuasion lasts until someone comes along and convinces us otherwise.

The people Jesus dealt with were used to being persuaded in what to believe. The Rabbis and Scribes gave them the information and the Pharisees enforced it with the power to punish anyone who disagreed. It was a working system that, for these religious leaders, produced their image and reinforced their standing within the community.

But right under the surface was the fact about their lack of desire to know the truth.

After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, some of the people who saw it John 11:46 went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done. 47 Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, "What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. 48 If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."

You can imagine how unsettling it was when Jesus came along and began challenging this status quo. “We have to keep things as they are. We’re safe. If we accept Jesus is the Messiah, that will mess up everything we’ve worked for.” Which meant, they really didn’t want Jesus to be the Messiah because they weren’t ready for what that would mean. Giving up their comfortable lives.

Jesus was a threat to their system by what He taught and what He did.

Matt 7:28 When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; 29 for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

The scribes taught what others had said about Scripture and the Pharisees reinforced the accepted message. Jesus taught as though He was the voice of God. Which He was.

But, even like it is today, most teachers teach only what they want their students to know. Which means students don’t always get the information they need in order to see the bigger picture. This is especially unfortunate when they’re left with no foundation for understanding what’s going on in their lives within the current moment.

That’s why we spend so much time in here giving insight and resources for trusting God.

There is more than enough in Scripture for us to know how to live as God called us to live. Just as there was more than enough in Scripture to tell them what the Messiah would be like. But most of that had been skipped over because it didn’t fit the narrative the leaders insisted was right. They wanted a military leader to wipe out Rome but keep their world intact. They didn’t want the ministering, Suffering Servant of Isaiah who would change that world. But Jesus was exactly what Scripture said He would be. So, if you’d only been told that the Messiah would come as a military leader, you’d never recognize Him when He came as the Bible said.

In The Decline and Fall of Teaching History, an essay by Diane Ravitch, she argues that an ignorance of history will prevent people from being able to make independent judgments on current issues. We need to know how, what’s going on now, connects with what went on in the past. She quotes a college professor. “My students have no historical knowledge on which to draw when they enter college,” she said “We are in danger of bringing up a generation without historical memory. This is a dangerous situation.”

Why don’t they know history? They aren’t being taught it. Removing history erases the connection that shaped and directed us to become the nation we are. We’re seeing that in the cancel culture of today. Anarchists have no sense of historical connection, neither do they want any because it gets in the way of their agenda. They’re taking away the voice of history. Without the voice of history, they become their own authorities.

Don’t confuse me with facts, my mind’s made up.

Most of the people of Jesus’ day were generally ignorant of the specifics they needed that would have helped them understand what to look for in the Messiah, because, almost without question, they believed whatever the Rabbis and Scribes taught them and did whatever the Pharisees told them to do, until Jesus came along.

John 10:22 At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; 23 it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon.

Feast of Lights – Hanukah. A Festival begun after the Maccabees expelled the Greeks from Jerusalem and reclaimed the Temple in 167 B.C. It was and is held each year to remember what God did in extending the oil in the lamp to burn seven days. This was celebrated at the end of December, two months after the Feast of Booths.

Now it was around this time in history that the Pharisee came into being. When the Greeks controlled Jerusalem and established pagan practices, a group of pious men called the Chasidim rose up against them. After the success of the Maccabees reclaiming the land and the Temple, the Chasidim remained as watchers over the nation. But the zeal of the Maccabees soon gave way to worldly ambition putting the Chasidim now in opposition to the Maccabean kings and those they appointed for the high-priesthood. Many of the Chasidim died for their outspoken convictions, which pushed them underground until one King a couple of generations later wanted a group of pious and trustworthy men to go throughout the land and make sure the laws of religious contributions were being observed by the people.

This grew into the recognizable role of the Pharisees to make sure the Law in general and specific was being followed by the people. But what began as a helpful way to encourage the people to be faithful to God became a controlling method for forced compliance. It was during this time the Law expanded to 613 rules. Authority corrupts and absolute authority corrupts absolutely.

You can understand how upsetting it was for Jesus to come along and challenge that authority. It wasn’t God-given. It was man achieved. And because of Jesus, the persuasive power they held over the people was losing its grip.

John 10:24 The Jews then gathered around Jesus, and were saying to Him, "How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly." 25 Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father's name, these testify of Me.

When did He tell them? Two months ago, at the Feast of Booths. How much clearer could he have been? “I am the Living Water. I am the Light of the World. I am the salvation of God.”

“That didn’t convince you? If My words were not enough, then take a look at the product. Look at what I’m doing and align that with Scripture. See if what I’m doing isn’t within the Scriptural expectations for the Messiah.”

Isa 29:18 On that day the deaf will hear words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see. 19 The afflicted also will increase their gladness in the LORD, and the needy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

What have I done? Luke 7:22 the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM.

He’d given more than enough dots to connect. Why couldn’t they see it? Because they were blind guides leading the people into further darkness. Their culture had blinded them from the truth. You can see how this had even affected the disciples.

John 14:8 Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." 9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.”

“Philip, you need proof as well? I’ve given you plenty of proof. What I say, what I do, all adds up to who I am.”

The people were convinced when they realized they were listening to the voice of the Great Shepherd and believed. Jesus was the convincing argument.

TAKEAWAYS:

We make temporary adjustments to our lives by what we are persuaded to do.
Our lives are transformed by what we are convinced is true.
Rarely, if ever, do we question if Jesus is the Messiah: our Savior and Lord, but regularly, we are challenged by what those words require from us.
We may be persuaded by men but we are convinced when we recognize the voice of God.

Thirsty for More?

noreply@blogger.com (Cary Franklin Smith) — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 13:21:00 +0000

Because of cell phone cameras we can show people things we think are interesting or amazing. But remember the days before that? We had to use words to explain something. Often our words would fall short in what we were trying to describe.

Like a sunset on the lake. Without a picture, we’d probably use the word beautiful or colorful. Does beautiful capture the magnificence of a sunset? Does colorful tell us enough?

Or a baby. Your grandbaby was just born. How do you describe that bundle of joy? Probably we’d use the word precious. Does precious capture the miracle of a baby? Or you might say, “He’s a little dumpling.” But what if the only dumpling they know of is in a soup with chicken?

Describe an enjoyable meal. We say: It was delicious. Does that capture the aroma, flavors and texture of a meal? What does delicious really mean? You may think sushi is delicious and yet it makes me want to gag.

If our words are inadequate to explain what we want someone to understand, we may turn to comparison. We’ll try to compare one thing to another using symbols. This is like this.

The sunset is like a whole box of crayons melting and running down the sky and pooling onto the lake.
A baby is a like a tiny person you just want to kiss to taste its sweetness.
This meal was like an explosion of sensations to my tastebuds celebrating flavors I didn’t know were possible.

Jesus was a master at using what people were familiar with to help them understand deeper truths. He’d use illustrations or parables to make analogies so they could grasp mysteries. When people had limited or no knowledge of what He was talking about, He’d compare spiritual truth to physical objects or situations they could understand.

The Word of God is like seeds planted in fertile soil.
The Kingdom of God is like a man finding a very valuable pearl.
The Heavenly Father is like a dad who welcomed back his prodigal son.

He did that when He met a woman one day at a well near Sychar. It was a strategic meeting that opened the door to sharing with the people of that city who He was. He timed this meeting to her coming to the well to draw water so He could reveal the deeper need of her life. She was after physical water. Jesus offered her Living Water.

John 4:4 And He had to pass through Samaria. 5 So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; 6 and Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." 11 She said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? 12 You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?" 13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."

We understand the story of her life without knowing all the details. She was a man-stealer, a bar-hopper. She’d move from man to man, losing interest in one to follow the attraction of another. Which means her reputation was trashed. How much collateral damage had she caused? How many homes had she ruined? Honorable society would have nothing to do with her. So, instead of coming to the well in the morning with the other ladies, she came alone, in the middle of the day. The price she paid for her chosen life-style was a heavy cost – the cost of an empty and meaningless life.

She jumped at Jesus’ offer of living water. Why? She was thinking in terms she understood. A source of water that would make it so she’d never have to come to this well again, never have to expose her sad and sorry life.

Why did Jesus say Living Water? Living water was unique and special water.

The two most common sources of water in that land were water collected in a cistern and well water. Cistern water was rainwater collected into a hole dug into the ground or in large clay pots. Most homes and public buildings had them. The water was often dirty, having flowed from roofs or streets into the cistern. After a rain you had to allow the filth to settle to the bottom. Because it stayed in the cistern for a while, often the water would become stagnant, and as it was used down it would mix with the dredge in the bottom when you drew it out. The water became nasty. Also, you could never depend on cistern water year-round because it was only available when it rained.

Well water was fresher water but, because it was dug out of the ground, it could also be affected by dirt and debris mixed in. It was better but still not fresh and pure.

Jan’s family lived on some acreage out of town and got their water from a well. When you ran the pump, the rule was to let the water run out onto the ground for a few minutes before you redirected it into the storage tank. Reason? To flush out the dirt that got stirred up when it was first drawn up by the pump.

Running water, especially spring water, was different. It stayed fresh and clean. And because most springs were dependable, they provided water year-round. That’s why it was called living water. But in Jerusalem there was only one source of living water.

The Gihon Spring brought flowing water into Jerusalem. It fed the Pool of Bethesda and collected in the Pool of Siloam. Its water was vital for ceremonial cleansing in preparation for service in the Temple.

Now, we know Jesus wasn’t offering the woman her own personal spring-fed pool of water, because that would only fix the surface problems of her life. She had deeper issues. She was seeking meaningful life in a direction that didn’t work. Nothing she had done nor was doing could fulfill her life. She needed something else but didn’t know what that was or how to get it.

Jesus took the issue of her having to come to the well to draw water in the middle of the day to expose the real reason her life she was empty and unable to satisfy her.

He said, “Let’s talk about your love-life.” That’ll jerk your head around. She was well-acquainted with relationships that didn’t last. She could have been the poster-child for disappointing choices in men. But those were only symptoms of what was really wrong with her life. Looking for love in all the wrong places was an indication she had no success in living a fulfilled life.

Then she got it. It’s a great moment when someone figures out what you’re talking about. You see the lights come on, the head nods, the puzzled look relaxes into a smile. She finally connected the dots when she realized Jesus wasn’t talking about physical water but spiritual water. Not offering her something that satisfied a moment but something that succeeded in producing a fulfilled life.

Samaritans weren’t ignorant of Messianic prophecy and success in life was a part of the Messianic promise.

A passage well-known to all Jews and even Samaritans was: Ps 118:25 O LORD, do save, we beseech You; O LORD, we beseech You, do send prosperity! 26 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD;

The word for prosperity means success. Lord, grant us success in how we live our lives. It was the promise of fulfillment. The Messiah would bring about the fulfillment they longed for.

Remember Jesus saying: John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

The objective of the thief is to disappoint. To take away, leave us empty and unfilled. Satan had stolen life from this lady and gave her the dredges instead. Jesus came to give that would finally satisfy her life.

After this encounter with Jesus, she went back into town and told everyone she had found the Messiah. Why is she so sure? He offered her a successful life – successful in that He relieved her emptiness and filled the hole in her heart which had never happened before. But where did the living water part come in?

That was another promise of the Messiah. Isa 12:2 Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation." 3 Therefore you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation.

The satisfying water, the fulfilled life promised by the Messiah, was connected to the image of living water drawn from a spring. What is this spring Isaiah saw? The spring of salvation.

The word for salvation in Hebrew is: Yeshua. Interesting that that also was the name specifically told by the angel to be the name of Jesus. Yeshua was Jesus’ Hebrew name.

Seeing a picture unfold? The spring of living water was Jesus Himself. That was what He was offering the woman – believe in Me, receive Me. I am the Living Water that will satisfy your life forever.

Now that prophecy of Isaiah created the defining moment later, at one of the festivals Jesus attended. The Feast of Booths or Tabernacles was a celebration of joy acknowledging Gods’ past work in delivering Israel from Egypt but also anticipating the coming of the Messiah. It was a week-long celebration and each day had three unique moments to capture the peoples’ hearts for worship. The most important symbol being a daily water ceremony.

In a collection of Jewish sayings is this: "He that has never seen the joy of the [ceremony of the water] has never in his life seen joy."

Each day, during this week-long festival, the priests would march from the temple to the Pool of Siloam, which was fed by the Gihon Spring. One of the priests would fill a golden pitcher with water, and they would all return to the temple. The priest carrying the pitcher would enter through the Water Gate and, to the blast of the shofar rams horn, approach the altar. He made one circle around the altar as the crowd sang the Hallel.

What’s the Hallel? Ps 118:25 O LORD, do save, we beseech You; O LORD, we beseech You, do send prosperity! 26 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD. This Psalm is part of the section declaring the coming of the Messiah.

Then the priest would climb the steps of the altar and stand at the top. The crowd would go silent as the priest would pour the water onto the altar. Then, he’d hold up the empty pitcher and the celebration would begin. There would be dancing and music as the people expressed their great joy in the promise that the Lord’s Messiah would come.

This was done on each day of the festival, but on the last day, during this silent moment, while the Hallel was still ringing in everyone’s ears: John 7:37 Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’”

To the shock of the crowd, Jesus was presenting Himself as the Living Water. And, like He did with the Woman at Jacob’s well, He was offering to everyone there that which guaranteed success for what they were longing for in life – salvation – that which would fulfill their lives.

Isa 58:11 And the LORD will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

But wait, there’s more: Each day of the seven-day feast there were three strategic moments.

Just before dawn each day, the priests gathered at the eastern gate of the Temple area. As the sun appeared they turned away from it and faced to the west, toward the Temple. Then they would announce: "Our fathers, when they were in this place turned their faces toward the east, and they worshiped the sun; but as for us, our eyes are turned toward the LORD." God, our eyes are on You. Let us see what You want us to see.

When we pray a prayer like that, God will open our eyes to see things we’ve never seen before.

The second moment was the Living Water. The third happened at night. Four huge torches were set up to illuminate the entire Temple area.

The light from these torches represented two distinct lights mentioned in Scripture. The first was the Shekinah Glory — the visible presence of God that filled the first Tabernacle and the Temples, and guided Israel through the wilderness. The second was the Great Light (the Messiah) who would come to bring light into the darkness. Isa 9:2 The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.

Now, imagine the last night of the festival and you are in the courtyard of the Temple lit up by these huge flaming torches. You are still thinking of what Jesus said about the Living Water. Then Jesus said: John 8:12 "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life."

He announced two truths with one statement: (1) I am God in the flesh and the presence of the Glory of God in the Temple, (2) I am the Great Light who Isaiah said would come. Add that to the moment of pouring the Living water on the altar and Jesus announced who He was and what He offered.

The crowd knew what He meant. He was saying, "I am the reality of what this festival symbolizes. I am the water, the true-life giver and I am the Light, who directs you to the Father. I am the salvation of God.”

2Cor 4:6 For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

Jesus stood as the visible fulfillment that the Messiah had come and could provide the success that satisfied the longings within their hearts of all people as He lit the way out of the darkness to any who would receive Him.

Seeing this day 700 years before the moment, Isaiah wrote: “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Isa 55:1

Closing out our Bible, John wrote: “The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” Rev 22:17

Why no cost? Jesus paid it all.

TAKEAWAYS:

Jesus paid it all; all to Him we owe.
Sin had stained our lives with darkness and emptiness.
His Living Water washed our sin away and filled our hearts with life.
He brought to us the privilege of a successful life, one in which we can be satisfied and fulfilled by the God who loves us and provides us with all we need.