Podcasts about their god

Play Episode Listen Later May 5, 2025 3:31

“I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” — 2 Corinthians 6:16 What a sweet title: “My people!” What a cheering revelation: “Their God!” How much of meaning is couched in those two words, “My people!” Here is speciality. The whole world is God's; the heaven, even the heaven of heavens is […]

New Hope Daily SOAP - Daily Devotional Bible Reading

April 3, 2025; Mark 2:13-28

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 3, 2025 7:46

Daily Dose of Hope April 3, 2025 Day 4 of Week 1 Scripture – Mark 2:13-28 Prayer – Holy God, We come before you today distracted and with scattered thoughts. Help us focus, Lord, on you and your Word. Help us, in the next few moments, to be silent, still, and remember that you are God...Thank you, Lord, for your care and concern for our lives. Thank you for how you show up in amazing and unexpected ways! We give you glory, Lord Jesus. In Your Name, Amen. Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, a Deep Dive into the Gospels and Acts. Today, we are finishing up the second chapter of Mark. As we will see in today's narratives, Jesus is turning everything “normal” upside down. He is upsetting the status quo and pushing up against some pretty sacred rules. Let's start with his meal dining with Levi. Jesus has been teaching and we should note this is a very public scene. Jesus always had a lot of people around him. He sees Levi, sitting in his tax-collector booth, and Jesus asks Levi to follow him. Surprisingly, he does. Most of you probably know that tax collectors at the time were not well-liked. Levi would have been a local guy, a Jew, who was working for the Roman government, collecting taxes from the people of his community. Not only would he have been seen as a sell-out, working for the Roman occupiers, but he would have been seen as a crook. Tax collectors were known to charge more than they needed to so they could keep a good chunk for themselves. And here Jesus is calling Levi to follow him. Then, Jesus goes and eats at Levi's home. Remember, table fellowship with someone at that time would have indicated that you accepted that person and were sharing a connection. It was more than getting a bite to eat and chatting; it was truly making a statement about being in the same social and religious circle. You didn't eat with people who were below you in social stature or who were from a different religious or ethical background. But Jesus did. And he made no apologies for it. He is making a statement about what it means to be part of God's Kingdom. All are welcome here; all are invited to Jesus' table. Afterall, who needs a doctor – the healthy or the sick? Think about your own table. I think we can have some pretty powerful conversation over a meal. Guards are let down, people laugh, they tell stories, healing occurs. This is the perfect place to begin to begin to build relationships with people who aren't like you – people who think differently, look differently, and act differently. Just like in Jesus' time, the table is one place where we can begin to get out of our comfort zones and allow the Holy Spirit to guide conversations and open doors. Who might God be calling you to invite to sit around your table? I also want to talk a bit about the end of the chapter, the discussion regarding the Sabbath. The Pharisees are upset with Jesus and his disciples for walking through the grainfield on the Sabbath, and picking off the heads of grain. Why would this have been such a big deal? Let's talk about the Sabbath. It was sacred among the Jews. Over thousands of years, God's people were taught to keep this day set-apart and holy. Having a day of rest was one thing that noticeably made the Jews different from the pagan cultures. Their God ensured that they did not work and toil endlessly. They were to have a break and have a physical, emotional, and spiritual rest. Most likely, the Pharisees weren't upset with them for eating (everyone needed to do that), but that they trekked through the field and then broke off the heads of the grain. In their mind, they should have avoided a hike on the Sabbath and already had their snacks prepared the day before. Part of Sabbath is preparation for rest and renewal. But Jesus is making a bigger point here (which he will continue to make in chapter 3 when he heals a man with a shriveled hand on the Sabbath.) The Sabbath was created to provide rest for humans. The man-made rules that the Jews created around the Sabbath had become so very overwhelming. Would a poor laborer really be able to follow these? Would a struggling young mom with four kids be able to follow the Sabbath as the Pharisees required? Of course, the answer is no. Thus, all these rules were creating a structure of haves and have nots, the clean and the unclean. Jesus is saying to them – you are missing the point. You are making things harder and God intended this to make things better. Finally, what he really is stating, which the Pharisees are really struggling with, is that he is Lord of the Sabbath – he has the power to determine which rules really lead to God. He is making a statement here about who he is, his identity as the Son of God. Psalm 145:9-13, The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. 10 All your works praise you, Lord; your faithful people extol you. 11 They tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, 12 so that all people may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. 13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. Blessings, Pastor Vicki

Second Sunday of Lent (Readings)

St. Anne's Catholic Media Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 17, 2025 6:10

Reading IGenesis 15:5-12, 17-18The Lord God took Abram outside and said,“Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can.Just so,” he added, “shall your descendants be.”Abram put his faith in the LORD,who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.He then said to him,“I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeansto give you this land as a possession.”“O Lord GOD,” he asked,“how am I to know that I shall possess it?”He answered him,“Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat,a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”Abram brought him all these, split them in two,and placed each half opposite the other;but the birds he did not cut up.Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses,but Abram stayed with them.As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram,and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.When the sun had set and it was dark,there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch,which passed between those pieces.It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram,saying: “To your descendants I give this land,from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates.”Reading IIPhilippians 3:17—4:1 Join with others in being imitators of me, brothers and sisters,and observe those who thus conduct themselvesaccording to the model you have in us.For many, as I have often told youand now tell you even in tears,conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ.Their end is destruction.Their God is their stomach;their glory is in their “shame.”Their minds are occupied with earthly things.But our citizenship is in heaven,and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.He will change our lowly bodyto conform with his glorified bodyby the power that enables him alsoto bring all things into subjection to himself.Therefore, my brothers and sisters,whom I love and long for, my joy and crown,in this way stand firm in the Lord.GospelLuke 9:28b-36Jesus took Peter, John, and Jamesand went up the mountain to pray.While he was praying his face changed in appearanceand his clothing became dazzling white.And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah,who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodusthat he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep,but becoming fully awake,they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.As they were about to part from him, Peter said to Jesus,“Master, it is good that we are here;let us make three tents,one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”But he did not know what he was saying.While he was still speaking,a cloud came and cast a shadow over them,and they became frightened when they entered the cloud.Then from the cloud came a voice that said,“This is my chosen Son; listen to him.”After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.They fell silent and did not at that timetell anyone what they had seen.

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Sermon - Leviticus 16 - A God of Joy and His people Part 2

god israel worship scripture sermon old testament sabbath new testament holiness israelites leviticus atonement apostle peter ancient israel be holy their god

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 16, 2025 9:19

A God of Joy and His people (Part 2) 2. Life worship -Leviticus 18v1-5; 19v9-18 In our first part, we looked at the ceremonial cleansing of God's dwelling place. Now Leviticus moves to the matter of personal & communal holiness and moral impurity. Repeatedly in this book, God has frequently said "Be holy, for I am holy". The ancient nation of Israel was to be an obedient example to the whole world, a unique concept or paradigm if you like! God was present with them and they were to be His light in a dark world. The people of Israel were to live a life that reflected the holiness of God! God desired obedience over sacrifice! Be Holy! Holiness was to be a moral attribute of ancient Israel, much the same as it was for the holy God who dwelt amongst them. In chapter 18, we see at least 3 characteristics of this relationship! Firstly there is the call to be loyal to God! God's laws were not be obeyed slavishly but to obeyed joyfully and with effervescent vigour! God is speaking to those He is in an intimate relationship with and He wants them to be observably loyal by being like Him - holy! Secondly there is the call to be different! Different from the surrounding countries and cultures! Ancient Israel was to have a national distinctiveness that truly was to have separated them from the surrounding cultures such as Egypt Ancient Israel was to live a life so radically different that people around them would notice! They were to be separate from the worlds around them in lifestyle and worship! . Their God was a personal God who dwelt with them. God's presence with them was to affect every aspect of life, on both a national and individual level. Thirdly, their whole life was to be worship! Worship wasn't to be just for the Sabbath, feasts and ceremonies - it was to be their lifestyle. God's regulations affected such ordinary things as relationships, diet, clothing, social justice, social welfare, environment and work. Their whole lifestyle was to be an act of worship, and not just on the Sabbath. Who knows best what humans need - humans or the God who created them? By being obedient, they would have life to the full - a life of blessing and peace! Lets look at an example. Chapter 19 which was read to us, starts off with taking care of the poor and the daily necessity to eat! That was how God was going to provide for the poor - through the farmer not harvesting everything! To leave some food unharvested was to be a symbolic act of worship, a thanksgiving and a visible sign of trusting in God to supply! It was holiness in action - a generous holiness if you will! Good Neighbours! This section is summed up in Leviticus 19:18, "love your neighbour as yourself". So, for an ancient Israelite, to love his neighbour would mean not stealing, lying, deceiving, blaspheming, cursing, being unjust, slanderous, filled with hatred or endangering! A good neighbour would be a person of integrity, not seeking to exploit others in any way. A good neighbour would administer justice and be observably filled with love. Does that remind you of something that was said in the New Testament? How to read Leviticus today? So what is the best way for us in the 21st century to read these ancient laws of Leviticus? Is it just to simply ignore them or are we to slavishly follow them? Perhaps the best way is to simply let Scripture interpret Scripture and see what the New Testament says about the Leviticus laws. Take for instance the food laws. We know in the New Testament that all food is now permissible, whereas under the Old Testament, certain foods were not permitted to be eaten. In the New Testament, the Apostle Peter had a dream in which all food was declared clean! It is also wise, not to see them as merely a list of "not do" statements, but also as "do statements". Rather, we should see them as a love letter from a God who wants to save His people from distress and anxiety in order to give them a life of peace, unity, health and a joyful life in all its fullness. All these laws were to lead ancient Israel to be a holy nation. Holiness was about being set apart for a purpose and making wise, conscious decisions about what was right or wrong. It involved being obedient to God and keeping His decrees and regulations. Being holy, involved having a lifestyle, which was contrary to the cultures surrounding them. To be holy was a lifestyle choice of worship, to reflect their holy God. They were called to be loyal! Called to be distinct! Called to worship! What has all this got to do with us? Where does the Day of Atonement and these laws fit into the life of a Christian in the 21st century? We will take a look in the third part in al little while! Right mouse click or tap here to save/download this as a MP3 file

Day 2539 – Pressing Forward – A Christ-Contered Perspective on the New Year

Wisdom-Trek ©

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 7, 2025 30:00 Transcription Available

Welcome to Day 2539 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom Day 2539 – Pressing Forward - A Christ-Centered Perspective on the New Year Putnam Church Message – 12/29/2024 A Christ-Centered Perspective on the New Year For our Christmas Eve service, we learned what it means to ‘Live in Christ, Daily' and were encouraged to bring light into every corner of the world. This week is the final Sunday of 2024, and to extend our previous message, we must be Pressing Forward with a message titled “A Christ-Centered Perspective on the New Year.” Opening Prayer: Heavenly Father, as we gather on this final Sunday of 2024, we pause to reflect on Your faithfulness throughout the year. Thank You for walking with us through every joy and challenge. As we look to Your Word today, open our hearts to hear Your call to press on toward the purpose You have for us. Teach us what it means to live as citizens of heaven, with our eyes fixed on Christ. Inspire us to move forward with renewed faith and hope in the year to come. In Jesus's name, we pray. Amen. Introduction: A Year's End and a New Beginning As we gather on this final Sunday of 2024, we find ourselves at the crossroads of time—looking back at the year that was /and looking forward to the coming year. It's a time of reflection, thanksgiving, and anticipation. Around the world, year-end traditions help people mark this transition: from fireworks in Sydney Harbor/ to the dropping of the ball in Times Square,/ from sharing resolutions/ to symbolic rituals like cleaning houses or eating special foods. These traditions, though varied, share a common theme: leaving the old behind and embracing the new. As Christians, this is also a fitting time to reflect on our spiritual journey. Today, we'll turn to Philippians 3:12-21 (NLT), where the Apostle Paul uses the image of a race to describe the Christian life—a race that calls us to press forward, forgetting the past and striving toward the future God has for us. Reading: Philippians 3:12-21 (NLT) “I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. But we must hold on to the progress we have already made. Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example. For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. They are headed for destruction. Their God is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and...

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Conquering Mountains

Our Daily Bread Podcast | Our Daily Bread

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 13, 2024

You may have seen or heard some variation of this saying: “If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together.” It’s a lovely thought, isn’t it? But is there any solid research to reassure us that these words are not just lovely, but true? Yes! In fact, one such study by British and American researchers demonstrated that people estimated the size of mountains as significantly smaller if they were standing with someone else as opposed to when standing alone. In other words, “social support” matters—so much so that it causes even the size of mountains to shrink in our minds. David found that kind of encouragement to be both lovely and true in his friendship with Jonathan. The jealous anger of King Saul was like an insurmountable mountain in David’s story causing him to fear for his very life (see 1 Samuel 19:9-18). Without some sort of support—in this case his closest friend—the story could have been drastically different. But Jonathan, “grieved at his father’s shameful treatment of David” (20:34), stood by his friend. “Why should he be put to death?” he asked (v. 32). Their God-ordained friendship bolstered David, allowing him to become Israel’s king. Our friendships matter. And when God is at the center of them, we can spur each other on to do greater things than we might imagine.

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Sermon Bible Thought - God visits Solomon - 2 Chronicles 7

jesus christ cape town god dr people who their god senior pastor dr

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 6, 2024 35:52

God pays a visit to Solomon! 2 Chronicles 7v11-22 Right mouse click to save this Podcast as a MP3. Introduction The remnant of Israel has returned from exile and the Chronicler is giving them an abridged version of history! The great king David has died, and his son, Solomon, is now on the throne. Solomon has had his first encounter with God and received the gift of wisdom! In Chapter 6, Solomon has prayed a great prayer to His God! Here, in our first reading, from the first 3 verses of chapter 7, we hear the Chronicler regaling one of the many great WOW moments of the Old Testament, when the glory of the Lord came down like fire and filled the temple to overflowing! The people fell down in worship of a great God, who was their God! This was followed by a great scene of abundantly joyful sacrificial worship to this God! In the passage before us tonight, v11 to v22, the temple is now complete. Solomon is now probably sleeping in his palace. It has been 13 years since he prayed that prayer in chapter 6! No doubt, during those 13 years, many times has Solomon wrestled in his mind over what he prayed... Then, one night God Himself turns up. Here the Chronicler reveals what God said to Solomon. The original readers/hearers are a remnant of the great nation of Israel, just returned to their land after being in exile! Probably wondering what happened, because under Solomon, the nation of Israel reached its pinnacle! Asking themselves questions like: Who is our God? Who are we, Israel, as a nation? Why are we in the situation we find ourselves in? The Chronicler is putting across his own theology as he writes this book of Chronicles! His theology, however, is consistent with the writings of the rest of the Old Testament and indeed the New Testament! So what does the Chronicler wish to convey to the remnant about this God from this encounter with Solomon? 1. A God of all History The first thing I see, from this passage, is that their God is a God of history! All human history is covered beneath his throne - the past, present and future! a. God of the past: He is the God of Israel's past! God throughout history had made covenants with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and here, God reminds Solomon of the Covenant that He made with Solomon's father, David! This covenant promised 3 things! That there would be a land forever, a dynasty without end and a perpetual kingdom. b. God of the present: But not only is He a God of the past, He is also a God of the present! He has heard the prayers and accepted the temple as a place of worship - v12 "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices." He is the God of the present because He is speaking to Solomon in Solomon's present! Visiting Solomon, probably while Solomon is snoring his head off! c. God of the Future: So God is a God of the past and the present, but also a God of the future! And because God is the God of the future, all things are under His control! Even v13 "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people", shows the God of the past, present and future being in control. The Lord God says in this speech to Solomon, "I will..." several times! "I will hear!" "I will forgive!" "I will heal the land!" "I will open my eyes!" "I will establish your throne!" But not only of these humanly beneficial things but also Gods says in v20 "I will uproot you from here and send you into exile!" All in the future tense! And in v16 "I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there." Their God, who is the God of all human history - past, present and future - is from everlasting to everlasting! Nothing in the future is set rigidly! God may know what is going to happen but He also knows all that may happen as well! We see this through the tension of "If you do this, I will do this!" God is all-knowing, far beyond our human capacity and capability! 2. A God Who Lives! So a God over all human history - past, present and future. So what else is there here about this God? This God is also a God who lives and lives dynamically! This God is not like the gods of Israel's neighbours - a mere inert block of wood, bone or stone to be lumped about, put on a pedestal, have many copies made, bowed to impersonally and chanted manically at. No! This God of Israel is a God who lives! This God lives and wants to live with His people! God is a God who exhibits His life in at least 3 ways from this encounter with Solomon! a. A God who is Personal! This God is personal! Fourteen times, the Chronicler uses for God the personal pronoun "I" and fourteen times, he uses "me" or "myself." Twelve times, he uses the word "you" - on a single individual basis as well as a collective "you" on the basis of the nation itself. This God is personal to the individual Solomon, the King of Israel, but also personal to the nation of Israel. The Chronicler is intimating that no other nation had enjoyed a dynamic, robust and intimate relationship with their God, like Israel does! Our God is personal the Chronicler cries out! Because He is personal, it cries out that He lives! This God wants to be intimately involved with the people and nation He has chosen for Himself. Read through with me as I share some of these with you and hear how intimate and personal this God is! Listen for the ‘I' "I have heard your prayer; I shut; I will forgive; I will heal; I have chosen; I will establish; I have covenanted; I have given; I will uproot; I will reject; I will make This is a personal God! Listen for the ‘my' chosen this place for myself; among my people, called by my name; seek my face; my eyes will be open; my ears attentive; my Name may be there forever; my heart will always be there; an object of ridicule for my Name, Now listen for the ‘you', ‘their', themselves' and ‘they' you walk before me faithfully; humble themselves and pray; You do; Your father David; You observe; Your royal throne; their wicked ways ; if you turn away and forsake; you and go off to serve other gods; they have forsaken the LORD and they embraced other gods This is a personal, living and dynamic God wanting a personal and dynamic relationship with His people! Not some mere impersonal piece of wood, metal or stone like the gods of the surrounding nations to whom people babble! b. A God who is Responsive! This personal God is also responsive! This God, the Chronicler writes, has responded to the worship of the people when at the beginning of this chapter, His glory filled the temple to overflowing! Their worship was pleasing to Him and He acknowledged this with fire! WOW - v1 "the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple!" That must have been an awe-inspiring moment when their living God did that! So awe inspiring that they continued in worship by singing and offering sacrifices! This God responds to His gathered people! But this God also responds and appears to the individual, in this case, their King and leader, Solomon and with a personal answer to Solomon's own prayer we read in chapter 6! Here in v17-18, God confirms Solomon's anointing as King and leader of Israel! He reminds Solomon of the importance of the Temple in the life of Israel and as a symbol of commitment to the Covenant of David. This is a direct response to Solomon's prayer we read in 6v16-17. God is personally committed to the line of David. Now that's all very well when things are going swimmingly and Israel is being obedient, following the commands and ordinances of their personal God! But what happens if they choose not to obey or serve him rightly? God administers judgement, but v14 offers a way back - of humble repentance. However, if they continue to sin and are not repentant, well that leads us to another part of God being responsive - God judges! And not unjustly or recklessly but with justice! c. A God who Judges and Restores! In v13 we see that disasters can be sent by God! Droughts and plagues can be used by God to bring people ultimately back to repentance. In v19-23, we see what happens if Israel abandons their God and continues in their sinful ways (v19)! God abandons them because they first abandoned Him and went away to embrace other gods - gods of non-personality! Then God uproots them from the land that He had given them and rejects this very same Temple which He chose Himself to be a place of prayer and sacrifice. That's the reason Israel was to go into exile, away from the land of promise. But if God is the God who judges and does these things, He is also the God who enables restoration! When evil befalls Israel, natural, social or political, it is because of their disobedience and God must judge it or He would be a pretty impotent, capricious, spiteful and fickle God if He didn't! So while God maybe the author of disasters, He is also the agent of restoration! 3. A God Who Expects! This is a personal God of all human history who lives! This God judges disobedience but offers a way back through repentance. Part of His being personal is that this is a God who expects! a. God Expects His People to be Holy! How is this? Why does He judge? Because God is holy! He is of utter moral excellence and perfection. There is and can be no stain of sin and He must be totally separated from sin. Holy is what God is!! This holiness of God is seen in righteousness, which is holiness in action. God's actions conform to His Holiness. Justice deals with the absence of righteousness. Sin must be dealt with deal with it He will and must! If God were not Holy, He could not and would not be God! If He were to cast aside his Holiness even for the briefest of times, he would cease to be God! b. God expects obedience! Not only is God holy, writes the Chronicler, but His people must also be holy and be seen to live rightly! God expects obedience! Israel was to be a nation of light reflecting their great and living God to the surrounding nations! They alone had the law of the Lord and they were to live rightly and obediently before God and the surrounding nations! They were to worship this living God and Him alone! In v17, we see the request to walk with God alone and follow His decrees and commands - the law of Moses! In v19-20, as we saw earlier, there was the penalty for idolatry and abandoning this living God! c. God expects prayers of repentance Now you may be saying, yeah right, Dave... If God is just, and of grace, He will provide a way out of these judgments! But you know what! He does! The people can be restored! How can this be? Verse 14 is the key! This is a key of grace: "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." How does He restore? Through the humility and repentance of the disobedient! Even when this great Living God is angry! Prayers by the disobedient, consisting of humility and repentance are necessary, in order to enable God to forgive and heal the destruction of sin and disobedience. In 2 Chronicles 6v32-33, we can see that anyone who acknowledges God's name and authority may pray with utter confidence that God would hear their petitions. Seeking God's face with humility is the key. What is repentance? It is a voluntary change in mind, in which the person and nation turn from a life of disobedience to living a life of obedience to God. It is done firstly in the Mind or the Intellect, where it is recognition of disobedience and guilt before God. Then, there is also at an Emotional level, exhibiting genuine sorrow for disobedience, a bit more difficult for us men! Finally it's also an act of the Will - a decision to turn back to God from disobedience, self-pleasure and self-centredness. And what is humility? Humility is where total trust is placed in God alone, and He has priority in all aspects of life. Humility is a lack of pride and of total commitment to God. This is a living and holy God, who expects His people to be holy, reflecting His holiness and being prepared to make themselves nothing in order to be restored and for their disobedience to be forgiven. Conclusion What an awesome and great God this is! This is the God who is the God over all human history - past, present and future! This is a God who is personal and responsive! This is a God who is holy, commands obedience and yet accepts humble repentance! What a great and Almighty God! Not only those things but He is a God of grace! How do we see that? This chapter from Scripture, 2 Chronicles 7v11-22, could well be a summary of all 1 & 2 Chronicles, if not the Old Testament and indeed all of Scripture! Some say that grace is missing from the book, just as some say that grace is missing from the Old Testament itself! But as we have hopefully seen, one aspect of God that shines through this passage is that He is a God of grace, with a message of grace as exemplified in v14! "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." But so what? What are we to do with and for this God? We are to be personally and collectively obedient to Him. Following closely to the leading of the Spirit and following our leaders, the pastors, elders and deacons as they seek to follow this great God. Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said "You can only learn what obedience is, by obeying." Lets be an obedient people. How do we do that? By loving God! How do we show we love God? By loving others, for as Jesus said, this sums up the whole Law!. The community out there, which we are a part of, is looking at us. We have this fantastic new building, and I can guarantee you, that there will be some people out there, just waiting for this adventure of ours with God to fail. Let us not allow that to happen. One of the key areas of obedience concerns idolatry! Now we may not go off to other gods and worship them, as Solomon and ancient Israel did. But we can set up false idols of our own, both as individuals and collectively. Calvin wrote that "What is idolatry? It is to worship the gifts instead of the great Giver?" This is a beautiful building! But let us not worship it and consider it so sanctified even for a moment, that it becomes our idol of worship. Let us be thankful to God for the gift and allow Him to use it for the benefit of the whole community and not just for our own sake. Let each of us ensure that God takes first place over everything in our individual and collective lives. Let us worship alone our great living God who gives abundantly, rather than commit disobedient idolatry by worshipping the gifts of the Giver. Then finally, let us hold our leaders up in prayer that they will be, collectively and individually, obedient to God! As Adam shared this morning, satan likes to stick his nose in and try to get leaders like Adam off track. Many churches have built new buildings, only for them to lie wasted shortly after, due to personal disobedience of the leadership. Lets not be one of those. The church I attended in Australia before coming to the UK, 21 years ago this coming Saturday, was very much like PBC is now! Growing, vibrant and they had just finished building a new church building! Everyone was excited and looking forward to the future! I am not going to say specifically what happened, but within 2 years that church was practically empty. In fact it is still going but it hasn't recovered to the way that it was. The leadership were found to have committed both personal and corporate disobedience and when it became public, it decimated the church and made it a public mockery. Those people who were in leadership are now restored back into a right relationship with God, but they had to find humility the hard way. Somebody asked me during the week, "If Solomon was the wisest man on earth, how come he fell into idolatry?" The answer I gave was not because he had so many wives and girlfriends. Nor was it, as suggested by a certain member of this congregation here tonight, the number of mother-in-laws. I think it was because he became proud, forgot not just who he was in God's eyes but he also forgot who God was! That led him to forsake the God of His youth and commit idolatrous acts. Let's go from here, willing to be obedient to this great God, remembering who we are and who our God is. This great God we love and serve who is the God of all human history - past, present and future. This Almighty God, who is living, dynamic, personal, and responsive: who both judges and restores. This is a God who is holy and expects His followers to be holy, living obedient lives and being quick to seek repentance after disobedience. Let's go out into our community this week, being His voice and light, confident that our living God is within us, as we engage actively and passively with those who don't know this great God! Right mouse click or tap here to save this Podcast as a MP3.

People Who Know Their God - Dr. M.A Mukosi

Jesus the Saviour Church

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 15, 2024 68:32

Listen to a sermon by Senior Pastor: Dr. M.A Mukosi, titled: People Who know Their God - preached at Jesus the Saviour Church, 185 Bobs Way, Eersterivier, Cape Town on 15 September 2024.

Behold the King

Wilderness Wanderings

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 16, 2024 5:39

Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. (Psalm 45:6) Today's psalm picks up almost directly on the heels of yesterday's. A question looms in psalm 44 about the suffering God's people have faced. They've done nothing wrong, and yet have been crushed. Their God and King has decreed victory, and yet they have faced defeat. As Pastor Michael noted yesterday, no answers are given to the concerns stirred up in psalm 44, just a prayer for God to rise up and rescue his people. Psalm 45 would seem in some ways to be that answer to psalm 44's prayer of suffering, though. It is a psalm to mark the wedding day of the King. The King's presence, power, and purity of character is revealed in all its royal majesty. “Gird your sword on your side, you mighty one; clothe yourself with splendor and majesty. In your majesty ride forth victoriously in the cause of truth, humility and justice; let your right hand achieve awesome deeds” (45:3-4). It all builds up to our verse today, a verse quoted in the book of Hebrews as pertaining to Christ: “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.” The King enters and rises up in the fullness of his power and majesty, vested with all the finest garments and armaments to be every ounce the God and King we would ever hope for him to be. As the psalm continues, the bride is also described in all of her glory and beauty. The song is joyful, anticipatory, taking a long look at all the descendants to follow from the union of these two pure and noble persons. Bride and bridegroom, king and princess soon-to-be-queen: the consummation of the very best ideals of all that is good and right in the world (if you need a visual: perhaps Aragorn's Coronation and reunion with Arwen in the white city of Gondor from the final scene of The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, would be appropriate). This psalm rhymes with the Song of Songs, and certainly looks ahead to all the beautifully cryptic language of our Christian hope: that day when Christ, the coming King will be united with his bride, the Church in that great heavenly wedding feast at the end of the age. It is a hope and a moment that encapsulates all the very best that we can ever hope for or dream: every ideal of justice and righteousness come in perfection, every notion of healing and wholeness made complete, every longing for fullness, given in abundance in ways that leave our cups overflowing. Psalm 45's answer to psalm 44's suffering then, is to remember and to believe in the hope that is ours in our King. Of course, in Christ, we have a much fuller picture to remember and believe as we await our Christian hope in our present times of suffering. It is no longer a merely human king that we look to, but Christ: one who is both human and divine—a king who perfectly embodies the truth, humility, and justice that we seek and who is mighty to save his people. This is our king who has been enthroned and our bridegroom who will come again to draw us all into the splendor of his royal reign when we take our seats and celebrate together with him at the wedding feast of the Lamb. Dear friends: in the present tumult of our times, may we never lose sight of the hope of joy, reunion, and peace to come in the Kingdom of our God and of His Christ. As you journey on, go with the blessing of God: May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.

Be The Light They Need

Walk Boldly With Jesus

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 11, 2024 9:10

Be The Light They NeedMatthew 4:16 “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.”Recently I decided to start at the beginning of the New Testament and read a little bit each day of the New Testament. My Encounter Ministries class was big on evangelization and spreading the good news of the Gospel. They taught us various ways to do this. However, it is hard to spread the good news of the Gospel if you don't know the Gospel. I do know the Gospel. I have been through the whole Bible several times through different Bible studies and Bible reading plans.However, if we immerse ourselves in God's word, it will not only become a part of us, but it will transform us. The words, the stories, and the feelings will become ingrained in our very being, and we won't be able to forget them. The central message of the Gospel is love. This love is not just a feeling, but a powerful force that can change lives and draw people closer to God. God's love for us, and our love for Him, is a concept that was revolutionary in its time. The Jewish people knew that God loved them because He had saved them time and time again and also because His Spirit was with them when they escaped Egypt.Many people who lived at the time of Jesus didn't believe in our God. They believed in multiple Gods who did not love them. The gods they prayed to also required a lot from them. They had to perform human sacrifices in some cases. They thought their gods received their power from the worship and sacrifices. The more people who worshiped them, the more powerful they were. Their God's expected love and allegiance from them.Then they discovered this God who loved them just as they were, and they didn't need to do anything to earn that love, which was a game changer. This love is not a passive feeling but an active, unconditional, and sacrificial love. I believe this would be a game-changer for many of us if we truly believed it. If we truly understood that God loves us as His own adopted sons and daughters, we would live life differently. If we could truly grasp this concept that God loves us just as we are, then we could stop trying to earn that love; we could stop trying to live up to these impossible standards that we put on ourselves.God loves you just as you are. He doesn't need you to live up to any standards. He doesn't need you to do anything to earn that love. His love is there for you when you are at your best and when you are at your worst. God is always there for you. That is the first part of the message found in the Bible, and it is one we must not only believe but also trust in and live our lives accordingly by showing the same love to others, forgiving as we have been forgiven, and serving as we have been served.This brings us to one major message of the Gospel that we tend to overlook or ignore. That is, we are all called to love each other. This can be a challenging call a lot of the time. There are a lot of people in the world who are not very nice. Or at least they act in ways that are not loving. But we are still called to love them, just as God loves us. God is not calling us just to love our family or friends or those who are easy to love. He is calling us to love all those around us, even our enemies.The verse above says, “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death, light has dawned.” Jesus was a light to all who lived in the darkness. He brought this love that they had never seen before. God's love is unconditional and unending, and Jesus shared this love with one and all. This love that Jesus shared was such a bright light in their darkness. Some of the people Jesus interacted with were people who were cast aside by society. They were outcasts, and they felt unloved.Imagine how it was to be a leper in that day and age. They had to live apart from their whole community, and if anyone did walk near them, they needed to shout “unclean, unclean” So that people wouldn't get too close to them. Can you imagine Jesus coming up to you and giving you a hug after you haven't had any human contact in years for fear of infecting them or because of the laws? Imagine that light that Jesus brought into that situation when He healed them or even when he wasn't afraid to touch them. He gave them their dignity back when he was around them. That is a bright light.We can all agree that Jesus was a great light in the darkness. Do you know who is called to be that light now that Jesus is no longer walking around on this planet? You are, I am! We are all called to be “little Christs.” We are called to be a reflection of Christ to all those we meet. In John 13:35, says, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” Do you want to be a disciple of Christ? If so, we need to love one another. We need to be that light in the darkness. This doesn't tell us exactly how we should do this, but if we follow Christ's example, then this means we accept people for who they are. We love them exactly as they are without conditions. We don't call people names. We don't judge them and decide what we think of what they did. We simply accept them for who they are. This doesn't mean you can't lovingly point out when something is wrong, but first, you must love them unconditionally, or they won't be able to hear your kind correction. You must always come from a place of love and not a place of chastisement or a place of wanting to be right.If there was one thing that could change the world, it would be this one thing: If we could learn to love all the people around us, think about how much better the world would be. If we could love those around us, we could stop taking offense to everything they say because we know it is coming from a place of love. If we could help spread more love, then we would also be spreading more light. If we could spread more love and light into the world, there would be no room for hate. The light would chase that darkness away. Will you spread some light today? Who could you love today that you haven't in the past? Even if you don't approach the person, change your thoughts to loving thoughts. That would be a great start.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening to the episode today. Lord, we love you, and we thank you for all you do for us. We ask you to help us love more. Help us love everyone, even those who are difficult to love. Help us bring your light to all those sitting in the darkness. Help us see through appearances and see what you see. Give us your heart and your eyes for people, Lord. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name. Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Tonight is week #2 of our Surrender Series. There is a link below for my website. I invite you to check out the mentoring information and join us this evening on Zoom. I look forward to meeting some of you on Zoom this evening, and the rest of me will meet you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!Today's Word from the Lord was received in January 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “I am your God, and I can help you. No matter the problem, remember that I am God, and you need to rely on me for each step of the way.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

god jesus christ lord bible gospel zoom holy spirit jewish gods catholic new testament amen his spirit in john christs daily devotional daily word their god dear heavenly father

Daniel: Christians, Culture & the Beast | Daniel 3 - Mike Allison

Adventurous Living - The Meadow Springs Community Church Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 9, 2024 28:35

Daniel has risen in the ranks, but things go sideways in a hurry. King Nebuchadnezaar had become a little too enamored with himself and jumps the shark… “bow down to the statue, and serve my gods - everyone - or die in a blazing furnace.” That was definitely a ‘dark valley of death', but unwaveringly, they declined to worship the idol. Their God, whom they knew intimately and trusted fully, would save them, whether in life or death.

christians beast culture amp daniel 3 their god mike allison

Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour Ep#107 6-3-2024

Podcast – ProgRock.com PodCasts

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 3, 2024

Artist Album Track Label Year Time Cucamonga Alter Huevo Tetascotch AltrOck 2012 8:49 Blast Stringy Rugs O A L I Cuneiform 1997 6:31 Tapir! The Pilgrim, Their God and The King Of My Decrepit Mountain Mountain Song Heavenly 2024 7:19 Trevor Dunn's Trio Convulsant Sister Phantom Owl Fish Liver-Colored Dew Ipecac 2004 6:00 De Beren […]

pilgrims avant happy hour tapir their god trevor dunn

May 5th Morning

Play Episode Listen Later May 5, 2024 3:31

Inspirational Thoughts on the Parsha

Would you make the trade?

The David Alliance

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 29, 2024 7:41

Garth Heckman The David Alliance BAM - watch them every Tuesday night on our Facebook page. This Week the Jezebel Spirit… and not just women have it. August Friday and Saturday 16th 17th End times conference at HillSpring Church sponsored by The David Alliance, I take blood pressure medication… Yes, I have high blood pressure. But not because I have a bad heart or high cholesterol or plaque in my arteries.. actually they look great, clear as a bell… but my heart is enlarged… my atrium is to big… and thats where we are going today. Hey ever read scripture and get a heart check? When they were looking to find out why I had high blood pressure it was a little bit of a riddle until they took a sonogram of my heart… which was a great day because I led my Muslim Doctor to Christ… story for another day. But they did all kinds of tests checking my heart…. When I read scripture I get heart checks like that… and here is one today for us. Exodus 32:7 The Lord told Moses, “Quick! Go down the mountain! Your people whom you brought from the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. 8 How quickly they have turned away from the way I commanded them to live! They have melted down gold and made a calf, and they have bowed down and sacrificed to it. They are saying, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.'” 9 Then the Lord said, “I have seen how stubborn and rebellious these people are. 10 Now leave me alone so my fierce anger can blaze against them, and I will destroy them. Then I will make you, Moses, into a great nation.” WE can see 3 things clearly here in scripture regarding Man, God and Those greatly used by God. -1 Men can do stupid things…. Israel created their own God.. a golden statue… This is after their current God (YWHY- the true and real God) just led them out of Egypt, spit the read sea, drowned their enemies, gave them gold, jewelry, food and booty in their exit… but hey, you know… its just not good enough. Yes we all can do stupid things… and quite regularly for some of us. -2 God can get mad! We see in scripture where Jesus gets mad. He turned over tables, he cussed out the pharisees and sadducees. He threw over tables, he swung a whip around chasing people out of the temple. Which means… we can get God mad. Thats a thought we should reflect on… maybe a later podcast. But here in Exodus we see God wants to wipe out the nation of Israel and start over. Wow… Im not saying that it sounds like God is pouting… but, well… this is an extreme response in my mind… which leads us to the 3rd things we see in this scripture. -3 Moses is given an amazing offer. God says I will make you the father of a great nation… First just let me wipe out Israel. Next I will give you the ability to impregnate some women… I guess right? Your family tree will grow and grow and grow and you will take over from where the other generation blew it…. How many would jump at that opportunity. But maybe one of the most impressive and most humble and maybe one of the most “God responses” in scripture… Moses says 11 But Moses tried to pacify the Lord his God. “O Lord!” he said. “Why are you so angry with your own people whom you brought from the land of Egypt with such great power and such a strong hand? 12 Why let the Egyptians say, ‘Their God rescued them with the evil intention of slaughtering them in the mountains and wiping them from the face of the earth'? Turn away from your fierce anger. Change your mind about this terrible disaster you have threatened against your people! 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You bound yourself with an oath to them, saying, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven. And I will give them all of this land that I have promised to your descendants, and they will possess it forever.'” 14 So the Lord changed his mind about the terrible disaster he had threatened to bring on his people. Moses could be handed an amazing future, an amazing legacy, an amazing story… I am sure it would have fed just about anyones ego… (yeah God, Im so much better than those sinners… kill'em all and lets do this) But not Moses, his heart was for the salvation of those people. What dream, goal hope would you trade to see more people come to Jesus… I am some day going to own 2 or 3 corvettes… at 58, a 63 split window and a 68 removable hard top or T top. Would I trade those dreams for more people to come to Christ? Would I trade my future dream home and cars and guns and boats and the ability to spoil my parents and my kids… would I trade all that to see more people come to Christ…. But don't miss the point… these “people” are a pain in the butt to Moses… they cause him nothing but trouble, they whine, they complain, they don't follow rules or Gods word… they want a different leader than Moses… would you give up your future promise for those people? You know the people that drive you crazy… they talk behind your back, they gossip, they want nothing more than to see you fail, fall and fizzle out. They revel in your loss… would you give up your dreams for those people to come to Christ? HEART CHECK… lets put that at the top of our prayer list….

god jesus christ lord israel man men change trade gods exodus egyptian o lord o israel heart check jezebel spirit their god

Metzora מצורע 2024 Belief what is it?

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 18, 2024 2:05

What is Emunah? Why is it that in its honor that the Jews were released from Mitzraim? Other nations in the world also acknowledged a God - but with a difference. For them their first reality, is the existence of a world, which then logically assumes a creator that created the world. Their God is a limited one and therefore they always try to explain everything according to nature, unless they're forced to believe in God when a big miracle occurs. Jews are naturally believers, and therefore they believe in G-d first, and then they become aware of the world. Their belief in G-d is not limited to the world, and therefore has no limitations. This unlimited Emunah is what freed them from all limitations, both spiritual and physical. לקו״ש א

god jews belief emunah metzora their god

The Inversions (7): Creation, and how to read in the 21st century

Why Did Peter Sink?

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 17, 2024 36:45

The six days of creation provide a unique inversion to us today, because initially the order of the objects doesn't appear to make sense. After all, the sun appears on the fourth day, after the land and oceans were created. Every middle schooler who reaches the fourth day of creation can see a problem here, because the sun surely preceded the earth in terms of formation. Did we not just read in the opening verse of the Bible that “God created the heavens and the earth”? Is Genesis already switching the order and putting the sun, which is part of the “heavens,” after the earth? Did we just go from “Heavens First” to “Earth First”?This is where we apply our modern science to the book of Genesis, and in doing so we lose the wonder. But it's ok, there is an inversion waiting for us here, too. The sacred writer of Genesis did not know that the earth was round. Or maybe he did know. Or perhaps he thought it was shaped like a sausage. The point here is that it doesn't matter. I realize that saying “The shape of the universe doesn't matter” is blasphemy to a materialist who thinks that truth can only come through scientific proof. But this is the reason why materialists tend to get nothing out of the Bible, particularly the creation story. The spiritual reading is lost entirely unless you are willing to believe in spiritual things. And the first thing that you must be willing to believe in…is God. If this first principle is not in place, the Bible will be a strange read throughout and you will be sneering the entire time. If you approach it with doubt, you will get nothing from it. If you approach it with the eyes of faith, you will get the whole universe and the heavens, too. The key piece of being “willing” does not mean abandoning reason. Rather, it means using reason with faith, because they go together. One of the greatest documents from a Pope ever written is about Faith and Reason (in Latin, Fides et Ratio). It begins like this: Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves. Thus, if you approach the Bible like a half-formed ghoul, with only reason, or only faith, or only your body, or only your soul, you will miss the point, to your detriment. If you come with only faith, you will be a Fundamentalist. If you come with only reason, you will be a cold atheist. Why be either one? Be whole. Be your whole self, as God intends us to be. (Hint: These inversions are really about becoming a whole person, body and soul, with faith and reason.) When we express belief that the Bible is “inerrant” we mean in terms of faith and morals, not mathematical truths. But if you consider “reason” to only cover provable concepts and material things, then you will be a one-trick pony who has to play dumb when considering art and beauty. No scientific answers come for the great questions, or even basic ones like “Why is a sunset beautiful?” or “Why do children bring such tears and joy?” or “How did that song change my life?” or “Why do I feel the Presence of God in a silent adoration chapel?”Beauty is a great lead-in to God, but Biblical inerrancy is a hard sell today. Thus, we should stop trying to sell it at all. I am tired of being sold. Who is not tired of being sold, when all we see is marketing from dusk ‘til dawn? I don't want a product or an experience, I would like authenticity and truth, and there is not even an atheist that I know who doesn't see both of those things in Jesus Christ. And if you don't see the supernatural in Christ, then you cannot fully see His authentic truth, as He is the way, the life, and the truth. This requires no song and dance, just as Jesus did not dance for us. We must remember the purpose of sacred scripture is not to give us the Pythagorean theorem, but rather to give us spiritual truths. When we read Genesis, at certain points we may be reading the “science” of the day when it was written, or we may not be. Just as the science of Ptolemy's day put earth at the center of the universe (and was wrong), so was the science of the day of Moses wrong about the shape of the earth. Funny, then, that “the science” can change but God does not. This is why the phrase “Follow the science” is so slippery and fraught with missteps. Truly, our model of the universe we have today will likely be quaint and silly in a century. The beauty of sacred scripture is that it opens a conversation, rather than delivering a hard answer, as we expect math to do. Here is where the idea of “mystery” bothers us modern people, but the mystery of scripture is directly caught up in the ultimate mystery of God, who created all things out of nothing, who is the “sheer act of being itself,” who formed us out of clay (or atoms if you like). What could be more fun than this escape room outside of the Garden, where at the end we can be with the God Most High, who transcends all? We love mysteries. Why shouldn't we love the conversation with the greatest mystery of all? I urge you: set your Google-brain aside, and embrace the mystery. And the first part of that mystery and conversation that gets us spun around and walking away is the six days of creation and the shape of the universe. However, this is exactly the place where if you come back to it with faith and reason, it can open up a story that transcends what happens in NASA's images of outer space. The pictures of the Crab Nebula are beautiful, but there is another view of the universe beyond the stars. The shape of things, as seen by Moses, in the spiritual view is like a house. There is an upper, middle, and lower section. You might call this the heavens, earth, and hell worldview. This is much like a house. But this is not to address anything related to science, it is about addressing the physical and spiritual reality that we occupy. Now, here we must briefly pause for the Galileo affair, the most misunderstood event in modern history. If you have not read a history of what really happened with Galileo, I recommend you read Galileo Revisited: The Galileo Affair in Context, because a fascinating tale it truly is. The story you may have heard has been massaged by propaganda writers who really dislike the Church. In fact, one of the best summaries of the Galileo affair is from an episode of the History for Atheists podcast. We live in strange times. The God-deniers first stoked the myth of the Galileo story, and now various God-deniers are looking back and de-bunking the propaganda of God-deniers.Let's get to the point: the geocentric model of the universe was not devised by the Church. In fact, the model of Ptolemy came from the science of Egypt long ago. Long before that were other models, like the “Firmament” idea we find in Genesis, which many find funny today. Any beefs that we have with the shape of the physical universe is an academic discussion, not a spiritual one. Too much time and energy has been spent away from the spiritual life, and it seems that the model where the earth or humans are at the center is always a bad model. We think too highly of ourselves. (Note: we can think highly of ourselves as we are made in the image and likeness of God, but with humility in knowing that we are not God). In Genesis, the model is simple. It is speaking to our human reality. As a human being, I can look up, I can look at eye-level, and I can look down. I know there is something higher and something beneath. Here on dry land, I live on the “main floor.” The spiritual upper and lower rooms have deeper meanings. I can't go to those floors right now, but I know they are present. The error we can make is to think that our eye, on the main floor, is at the center of the universe. This is perhaps the ultimate error. The de-centering of mankind is essential to humility, and if anything, we should be grateful to science for doing just that. To be de-centered is humbling, and wonderful. Thus the simple vertical world of up/heaven, middle/earth, and down/hell in Genesis should not cause us any alarm, because if we live long enough, we will get to see this same de-centering of our own settled science. It will be proven wrong. Yes, the science we are certain of today will be modified, perhaps wildly modified, by future findings. How do I know that? First, because scientists are nowhere near the full understanding God's universe. Second, because science cannot test and verify spiritual things, as science cannot test for God. It's a ludicrous idea, like 2 + 2 = 5. Hopefully this does not shock you: our current model of the universe is wrong. Yes, it's accurate enough to build houses and space stations, but wrong in ways we don't know about yet. But that's good: it gives graduate students something to do. If the puzzle were complete, we would become bored and go crazy (mainly because we fail to realize that boredom can actually lead to serenity, but a discussion on concupiscence will come later). An inversion sits here in this space, because this is where our approach to scripture must step into the spotlight. Now, I could say this inversion is about reading the Bible in the four senses of scripture, which is critical, because these ways will expand the text for believers and unbelievers. The literal, allegorical, moral, and “how it relates to Christ” readings are all important. But there is a more subtle inversion for us. The inversion here is that we assume that all we know today is the same that we will know tomorrow, and many 19th-century Germans who thought themselves clever are beginning to look more foolish with each passing decade. The same is happening for 20th-century academics, such as those involved in the “Quest for the Historical Jesus,” as if they were Lancelot and Percival. However, in this relentless dissecting of the Bible as a dead body, scholars took the historical-critical method to its logical end. Now we have some good data and a bit of useful information from that quest. Better yet, now we can use that data to further our understanding of God. The rest we can throw away. As St. Paul said, “Test everything; hold fast what is good.” This is great advice because all of the Bible scholars who tried to turn Jesus into a common teacher of ethics or tried to reduce Moses into a mere model of the will-to-power, are now gone and so are their anti-Semitic and anti-Catholic theories. We can keep what is useful, and toss out the rest. (Julius Wellhausen, Rudolf Bultmann, Bart Ehrmann, et al: goodnight, gentlemen - thank you for the data, as we can now use it to increase our faith.)For a long time, Biblical scholars have been doing violence to the Bible because they see it as a work of literature rather than a sacred text. The era of “Comparative Religion” courses at universities is waning, as is the dogmatic absurdity of the “Q source” Gospel, a hypothetical document that does not exist. (And if anything it would be an early version of Matthew in Hebrew, written by the apostle named Matthew.) In another twenty years, a vast swath Biblical scholarship will be swept aside and flung into oblivion, as artifacts of an era riddled with excess curiositas and too little humilitas. However, we are living in a long hangover from attacks on scripture, and need some fasting (not Taco Bell) to cure this hangover. The old German doubters' and comparative literature ideas are still ringing in lecture halls, killing off one student's faith at a time. Professors of Bible scholarship can't get hired if they disagree with a secular dogma of a Bible that doesn't believe in miracles, spirits, or even God. This begs many questions that we'll avoid for now. For the past two centuries, academics have been approaching the Word of God with “reason alone” and using suspicion as their interpretive key, but the key has worn out, or God has replaced the locks. When we hear that Jesus' miracle of multiplying the loaves and fishes was just people sharing the bread that they had brought, we should laugh out loud. This miracle is one of the few that all four Gospel writers recorded. “Sharing” is not a miracle. Sharing is great, but it's not mind-blowing or life-changing. The apostles did not get bludgeoned, burned, and buried to proclaim the good news of “sharing.” Sharing is nice, but we know all about sharing without God becoming incarnate and dying on a cross to defeat the world, the flesh, and the devil.So we come to the inversion of how we should approach the Word of God. Even before you open the book, this approach decides what you will receive from the text. In the introduction to the Navarre Bible, a quote sums up the way we should approach the Bible, which inverts the way modern scholars read:“…the interpretations of Scripture should never be approached as a research exercise dependent on the researcher's technical skills. It is, rather, an encounter with the Word of God in the living Tradition of the Church…” (Pentateuch, p 16.)For several centuries now, we have been poking at the Bible like a dead trout washed up on the riverbank. But the Bible is much more like a giant whale that cannot be caught…yes, like Moby Dick. We have stopped reading the Word as sacred and started reading it like a biology book, where nothing supernatural or exciting ever occurs. We need to read it like it has the answers to the Biggest Questions, because it does.The death of many people's faith began in the era of the Renaissance and Reformation, as we began to discover new places and models of the universe. I do believe that this was all part of God's plan. Of course it was; everything is part of God's plan. Likewise, God's truth about the universe will lead to the death of our modern idols, too. It is inevitable. In the thousands of years from the first Passover to the Paschal Mystery to today, many great saints lived alongside many sinners, and many saints started out as great sinners. This exit and return from God, back to God is indeed the road home, as the parable of the Prodigal Son said (and so say we all!). The parable of the weeds and wheat applies in history and today, and it applies within each one of us. And like King Josiah had to smash to the idolatrous “high places” in the book of 2 Kings, so must we, and today the main idol that is a stumbling block for faith is not a golden statue or stone pillar, but ideologies and the idol of the “self.” Idols always need smashing. We are in yet another era of strange idols, so let's get to smashing (don't smash yourself, just the false image of the “self” as idol.) If you think God is not working to do the same things now to the idols of modernity as he did to past idols, your assumption of final knowledge will eventually come for you, or even burn you, just like it did to so many 19th century Germans' grandchildren in the 20th century. As for those who believed in such silly things as a flat earth and six day creation, those people were not as simple as we think. Rather, we too will seem simple in a hundred years, let alone a thousand, if the Lord does not return before then. Remember that Genesis is not teaching science or the shape of the universe - that is the task of the scientists and scribes of each age. What sacred scripture teaches is humility before God. If we approach scripture with humility, we will see the forest instead of the tree. If we approach the Word of God in wonder, we will choose the tree of life, rather than the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The tree of knowledge is the one that says, “I know better than God.” In defense of those ancient scientists and scribes, let's imagine for a minute what the world looked like to them:When we live purely by the senses, without the aid of telescopes and books and knowledge handed down, the world does appear to be flat. While I am not a “flat earther,” most of the time the world is actually flat. Most of the time, I am not pondering the sphere I am standing on. I am getting groceries or walking the dog, and everywhere I go is flat in this Minnesota prairie land. Thus, it's reasonable that people believe in a flat earth because we cannot see the sphere. However, we have come to know better through reason, which is a great gift from God to us. With reason, we can use induction and deduction to arrive at conclusions. We can even make proofs about the roundness of the world. What we “know” by the senses alone is not always accurate. Our senses can fool us. This is why seductive beauty can be so deadly, but also life-giving. Beauty is like water or fire in this way, where it can aid life or destroy it. However, the same applies to reason, and by reason alone we can only get so far. By reason alone, we cannot reach the spiritual unseen realm, but we can know it dimly by logic and science. Yet there is more. By art, music, and literature, we can know of spiritual realities. Just as we can measure the earth by reason, we can at least open the door a crack to spiritual realities by art. Everyone has a song or lyric that brings tears to their eyes, a feeling that touches on something deeper than they can articulate. But to fully open the door to faith beyond this world and life requires a “willingness” to be willing, and the act of faith by our will invites our intellect into a broad new expanse that is beyond all sense and calculation. Observation and reason can take us to the door, but faith must place the key in the lock and turn it to walk into that panoramic spiritual valley. Since I cannot see all things at once, I take it on faith, from science, that the earth travels around the sun, not the other way around. I really have no means (or motivation) to prove it, which is why it makes sense to me that, prior to Copernicus, the prevailing wisdom and mathematical models did not have the sun at the center of the solar system but rather the earth. My eyes can see that the sun travels over the sky - yet the senses can deceive us. I myself have not empirically proven that the sun is at the center of the solar system, but it's wonderful that mathematicians and scientists managed to prove it. But contrary to popular belief, this dance of the sun and earth does no damage to the religious truth presented in Genesis. None whatsoever, because the two things are related yet separate. Here is something important to pause on: for people who lost their faith because the earth was no longer at the center of the solar system - they were inverted the wrong way. They were not seeing God correctly. Their God was too small. Likewise, when the “New World” was discovered, a falling away from faith occurred in Europe. Enlightenment writers said that that “man was decentered” by science; man was knocked off a pedestal by the findings of Galileo and Darwin and others. Also, geology and the discovery of dinosaur bones put man into a tiny sliver of time, making him question his centrality in the order of the universe. When I was young, this all seemed to point to religion as the enemy of the truth. Having been raised in the cult of Protestant liberalism (also called the United States of America), this made for a very strange childhood experience. We were like the mythical Pushmi-Pullyu animal of Dr. Doolittle, getting yanked in two directions by two heads. On the one end, all the history books and literature showed that science had dethroned man as the measure of all things. Then on the other end, the cults of liberalism and humanism preached freedom, self-esteem. So at the same time: I was being showered with praise for my uniqueness and specialness while scientific proofs declared me smaller and smaller. Is it any wonder that we are now confused? These two things don't flow together well. If man is not central, but is merely matter, then what ruse are the humanists trying to play with the endless plug of uniqueness? This raises a larger question, however. If man is not special, and is instead like any other species, to what do owe our “self-esteem”? If there is no soul, as public school and modern media taught us, then meaning is only what we make for ourselves, is it not? This is a tall order for each person to determine, since we must all start from scratch. But the truth is: we don't need to do any of that, if we submit our intellect and will to God. The question is already answered, if we are only willing to set pride and vanity aside for peace and hope. Truly, none of this can make sense without God as the beginning and end of all things. Thus the phrase, “made in the image and likeness of God” is so powerful, because it puts us into a relationship with His transcendence, into a nearby friendship that resolves both our smallness and our uniqueness. He is not so far that we cannot know him, nor so close that we are him. We are not God, but we are his friends. The contradiction here is that the Enlightenment spilled much ink, and even more blood, in attempts at making meaning. When the various revolutions of liberalism and communism and capitalism failed to bring the cure for sin, the humanists took up the standard and attempted to shock us to life with a foundationless hype regarding self-worth. But without God, it falls flat. Now: the problem is as follows. Placing man or the self at the center is an error. Genesis and the order of creation de-centers us. We are more valuable than many sparrows, yes, but we are not more valuable than God, or even the angels. Knowing our placement in creation brings freedom, because it allows us to willingly bend the knee to God for his grace and glory. From our proper place we can love and serve. Some people believe that the dinosaurs bones were sown into the earth to test our faith. While I find this to be absurd, it's not exactly wrong. Because if the existence of giant reptiles from a period long ago causes us to lose belief in God, then we had an error-ridden faith to begin with. If the concept of evolution upsets our ability to kneel and pray, perhaps we have never really kneeled and prayed. If anything upsets our trust in God, then we may be projecting what we want to be God, rather than receiving in humility what is God's truth. This is not a defense of creationism or darwinism or liberalism or any other “ism”: this is a goodbye to human pride masquerading as faith in God. The truth is that we are not the central item of all creation, we are a part of all creation, and a very important part. We are loved by God, more than the rest of creation. We are different from all other creatures. We are special, but not more special than God. Coming to trust in God's will means to follow Jesus' advice to “consider the lilies of the field” who do God's will without toiling or spinning. They do not worry, they do not fear - they reach up their petals to heaven, glorifying his creation. What I am getting at goes all the way back to Christ on the Cross. Upon the Cross you have the summary of all necessary first principles. On the Cross, the strangest experience in all history happened. The theory of evolution should not disturb you. The Christian story of the Creator of the universe being born into this world by a woman named Mary, living among us, performing miracles, and then being crucified by us - that is what should disturb you if you fully come to understand what it means. Dinosaur bones? The beak of the finch? A new continent across the Atlantic? The sun's position in the sky? Those are the things that made us stop believing? Those are the things that led us away from God and into the dead arms of modern idols? We trade our inheritance far too cheaply. What this means is something troubling. Most of us believers are not that serious. Most of us are just in it for Donut Sunday and cultural benefits. We may say, “Jesus, I trust in you,” but not really mean it like St. Faustina did. We were warned by Jesus about Donut Sunday faith. He said “…there are many who will say, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.'” And in hell, of one thing I am certain: there are no donuts on Sunday or any other day of the week.No wonder our faith was sunk. Our trust is really in ourselves. We say we trust and believe, but we don't. We don't go out into the world and take action like Abraham did. We don't comply with God's will like Moses did, when he insanely walked into Egypt to scold Pharoah, the most powerful man in the world. More than words or going through the motions, real trust in God means doing, partaking of the Sacraments, and even praying for your enemies. When geocentrism or evolution causes us to stop believing, we are like Peter walking on water who focuses on the wind. As the Lord said to Peter as he fell into the water, “Oh you of little faith, why did you doubt?” No finding or discovery should shake our faith. If anything, it is only a test to find out if we trusted God in the first place. As the Lord said to the Apostles, “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, for I have conquered the world.” We are too afraid to fully trust. St. John Henry Newman said, “Ten thousand difficulties make not one doubt,” and here I've only listed four: dinosaur bones, beaks, the discovery of the Americas, and the position of the sun. That leaves 9,996 difficulties yet to go before a single doubt should even be entertained. If Darwin or Columbus or Copernicus or Diplodocus caused our faith to die, then our faith was not sailing free and fully trusting God, but was moored to the dock of the self long before we arrived at our current wacky age of postmodernism. The key to understanding where we sit in the order of creation is to know that God is far beyond our understanding, yet is simple, true, good, beautiful, omnipotent, and omnipresent. The key to the good life is knowing that God is at the center, not me. If a discovery here on earth is made, nothing about God changes. New findings should not rattle faith if the right ordering and principles are in place, because truth cannot contradict truth. And none of the revelations of science in the last five hundred years have done anything to displace the truth of “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”Where the earth sits in the universe, where mankind sits in time and space, how our thumbs may have developed, or what land is discovered, what formulas are yet to be discovered - none of these things disrupt or shake the Creator of all, from whom all Being extends. If any of these things shattered faith, or embarrassed believers, then the faith was not built upon a rock but was actually sitting on sand. Evolution or heliocentrism changes nothing about faith and morals, beginnings and endings, bodies and souls. It just changes the map of the heavens, or the timeline of salvation. But God is always up, and hell is always down. As for God, these revelations are like me throwing a pebble at the moon from my driveway. Not only can the pebble not reach the moon, even if it could, it would have no impact. To me, the findings of evolution are interesting but not that important for the Biggest Questions, because humility before God has precedence. If his creation developed, it seems all the more amazing. However we came to the day of the Fall, the Fall happened, and it happened with the first two people from which we all inherit our concupiscence. The topic of how my body or brain may have developed is interesting, but not necessary for salvation. If the Fall happened 6,000 years ago or 60 billion - it makes no difference. I must live today and keep God's commandments, not because I have to but because I want to. The Fall happened, and that's what matters, and I can prove it by own penchant for sin, and I can only overcome it through the work of Jesus' redemptive suffering. If tomorrow aliens arrive, a believer should not be alarmed. The best thing to do would be to invite Gleep-Glorp to Holy Mass. If tomorrow the physicists do indeed prove there are infinite universes or that we are living in a video game, this should have no impact on a faith that knows that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This is the certainty in which you may sail uncharted waters, outlast storms, converse with aliens, navigate confusion, resist mutiny, endure war, suffer famine, persevere in poverty, ignore propaganda, and resist fear. The main thing to be wary of is those who preach against the spiritual truth of the creation, the fall, and the resurrection. Thinking about the cosmology of the universe is fascinating because it all leads to greater wonder in creation. But in my day-to-day life, I need to prepare food on the main floor of this “house.” In some respects, you might say that I offer up prayers to the top floor, while living on the main floor, and as for the basement - well, I don't want to go there. The house is haunted with spirits. There are spirits on every floor of the house. And the sooner you realize this, the less fearful you will be, because even now they are watching you. They are always watching you. I don't want to scare you at the end of this inversion, but as Nirvana said in its lyrics: Just because you're paranoidDon't mean they're not after you The next inversion is about angels and demons. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit whydidpetersink.substack.com

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About the King’s Business

Living Words

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 17, 2024

About the King's Business Daniel 8:1-27 by William Klock The books of 1 and 2 Maccabees in the Apocrypha detail the persecution of the Jews in the mid-160s BC, during the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. 2 Maccabees 6, for example, tells how “the king sent an Athenian senator to compel the Jews to forsake the laws of their ancestors and no longer to live by the laws of God; also to pollute the temple in Jerusalem and to call it the temple of Olympian Zeus” (6:1-2). The gentiles used the temple of God for their orgies and drunken banquets. Antiochus desecrated the alter with the sacrifice of a pig. On holidays the king's men would round up Jews and force them to participate in his parades and sacrifices. Those who refused to participate or who were caught living by torah were killed. Two women, for example, were caught having circumcised their baby boys. Their babies were tied around their necks as the women were paraded through the streets to the wall of the city and then thrown down it to their deaths. Faithful Jews who were caught secretly observing the sabbath in a nearby network of caves were burned alive. 2 Maccabees 7 tells the story of seven brothers and their mother, who were threatened with torture to eat pork. Despite being beaten, they refused. The king fell into a rage, and gave orders to have pans and caldrons heated. These were heated immediately, and he commanded that the tongue of their spokesman be cut out and that they scalp him and cut off his hands and feet, while the rest of the brothers and the mother looked on. When he was utterly helpless, the king ordered them to take him to the fire, still breathing, and to fry him in a pan. The smoke from the pan spread widely, but the brothers and their mother encouraged one another to die nobly, saying, “The Lord God is watching over us and in truth has compassion on us, as Moses declared in his song that bore witness against the people to their faces, when he said, ‘And he will have compassion on his servants.'” (2 Maccabees 7:3-6) The king went on to do the same to the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh brothers who all refused. We read that: The mother was especially admirable and worthy of honorable memory. Although she saw her seven sons perish within a single day, she bore it with good courage because of her hope in the Lord. She encouraged each of them in the language of their ancestors. Filled with a noble spirit, she reinforced her woman's reasoning with a man's courage, and said to them, “I do not know how you came into being in my womb. It was not I who gave you life and breath, nor I who set in order the elements within each of you. Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the beginning of humankind and devised the origin of all things, will in his mercy give life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the sake of his laws.” (2 Maccabees s7:20-23) She stood firm—and so did her sons—because they hoped in the Lord. They knew that he is the Lord of history. They knew his goodness. They knew his faithfulness. They knew their story and how it was interwoven with the story of the faithfulness of the God of Israel, and so even as they were brutally murdered by a mad king, they trusted in him. Daniel was written for these people. The stories in the first half of the book show Daniel and his friends standing firm for the Lord during the Babylonian exile, but the dreams and visions in the second are situated right in the middle of those days of violent persecution four centuries later. That's what we see now as we come to Chapter 8 and to Daniel's second vision. Let's start with verse 1 and read through to the end. In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first. And I saw in the vision; and when I saw, I was in Susa the citadel, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision, and I was at the Ulai canal. I raised my eyes and saw, and behold, a ram standing on the bank of the canal. It had two horns, and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward. No beast could stand before him, and there was no one who could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and became great. As I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground. And the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. He came to the ram with the two horns, which I had seen standing on the bank of the canal, and he ran at him in his powerful wrath. I saw him come close to the ram, and he was enraged against him and struck the ram and broke his two horns. And the ram had no power to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled on him. And there was no one who could rescue the ram from his power. Then the goat became exceedingly great, but when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and instead of it there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven. Out of one of them came a little horn, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the glorious land. It grew great, even to the host of heaven. And some of the host and some of the stars it threw down to the ground and trampled on them. It became great, even as great as the Prince of the host. And the regular burnt offering was taken away from him, and the place of his sanctuary was overthrown. And a host will be given over to it together with the regular burnt offering because of transgression, and it will throw truth to the ground, and it will act and prosper. Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one who spoke, “For how long is the vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled underfoot?” And he said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.” When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it. And behold, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. And I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Ulai, and it called, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” So he came near where I stood. And when he came, I was frightened and fell on my face. But he said to me, “Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end.” And when he had spoken to me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground. But he touched me and made me stand up. He said, “Behold, I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of the indignation, for it refers to the appointed time of the end. As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia. And the goat is the king of Greece. And the great horn between his eyes is the first king. As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power. And at the latter end of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their limit, a king of bold face, one who understands riddles, shall arise. His power shall be great—but not by his own power; and he shall cause fearful destruction and shall succeed in what he does, and destroy mighty men and the people who are the saints. By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall become great. Without warning he shall destroy many. And he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes, and he shall be broken—but by no human hand. The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true, but seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now.” And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king's business, but I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it. Another vision during the reign of the blasphemous king Belshazzar. In his ways, he foreshadows the evils of Antiochus Epiphanes. But as the first vision revealed, the days of Babylon were soon to be over, so this vision whisks Daniel hundreds of kilometres to the east, to Susa, which would become the capital of the Persian empire. And there he sees another animal, this time a ram. This is another clue as to when the book was written. The ram as a sign of the zodiac was associated with Persia—not in Daniel's day, but in the time of the Greeks. The symbolism of Daniel 7 was difficult and there's a fair bit of disagreement about what it all means, but not so much with Daniel 8. This vision is simpler and the explanation pretty straightforward. Most everyone agrees on the major points. So it begins with a ram representing the combined empire of the Medes and the Persians—those are the two horns, one bigger than the other. Horns, in ancient imagery, represent strength. The Medes were strong, but the Persians eventually become stronger and gobbled them up and so Daniel sees the ram, lowering its head, and charging from the east into the north and into the south and into the west—which is exactly what the Persian empire did, until it controlled the known world, even as far as Greece. Daniel writes that the ram did as it pleased and became strong. It's the way of human empires. But as the ram reaches the peak of its power, Daniel sees a goat appear in the west. It helps to know that in the biblical mind, the goat was stronger and more powerful than the ram. This goat had a single horn and it made its way across the land so fast it might have been flying for all it seemed to touch the earth. It put its head down and charged the mighty ram and shattered both its powerful horns. In case the symbolism wasn't already obvious, the angel explains that the goat is Greece. The jutting horn is Alexander the Great. Alexander was the son of Philip II, King of Macedon. He was tutored by Aristotle and assumed the throne when his father died in 336 BC. He was only twenty years old. By the age of thirty he had conquered the known world, from Greece in the west to India in the East, from Central Asia in the north to Egypt in the south. And then, in 323 BC, still a young man, Alexander died of a fever in Babylon. For twenty years his generals fought over his empire, eventually carving it up into four kingdoms, which Daniel sees as four horns. The two relevant ones for the Jews were that of Seleucus who controlled Syria and the east, and Ptolemy, who controlled Egypt and Palestine. But this is all the background to the most important part of the vision. Out of those Greek successor kingdoms arises another horn. He isn't named, but as the details of the first horn obviously point to Alexander, the details of this new horn point very obviously to Antiochus IV Epiphanes. In the great sweep of history, Antiochus was hardly the greatest of the Greek kings, but when he defeated the Egyptian Ptolemies and took control of Judah he became very important to the Jews. The Ptolemies had treated the Jews well and allowed them to govern themselves as a sort of religous state as long as the high priest coughed up the annual taxes. Antiochus, however, wanted to make good Greeks of the Jews and to get his hands on the temple treasury. Under his rule the priesthood was bought and sold and eventually observance of torah was outlawed and torah scrolls burned. God's worship in the temple was ended and it was turned into a temple to Olympian Zeus. And Antiochus murdered faithful Jews by the tens of thousands. In Daniel's vision, Antiochus takes the form of this great horn that rises up against heaven itself. These verses, especially 12-13, are difficult. Just when I was glad to leave the Aramaic of chapters 2-7 behind, here come these verses that I can only describe as a Hebrew word salad. The Hebrew of Daniel is something else that points to it having been written in the Second Century, because it's not written in the great literary Hebrew of Daniel's day, but in a sort of clunky Hebrew that looks a lot like it was written by someone who probably spoke Aramaic as a first language. But that's okay. The gist of Daniel's vision is that Antiochus, in going up against the temple and the priesthood, was really shaking his fist at the God of Israel. This little earthly king who called himself “Epiphanies”—the manifestation of God—was pitting himself against the living God, the Lord of history, the one the Babylonian kings had had the good sense to acknowledge as God Most High. That never ends well. And yet, for a time, the mad king seems to have won. Israel's identity was centred on the temple. That was the place where heaven and earth, where God and man met. They were the holy people who lived with God in their midst. And not only did Antiochus do his best to make sure they broke their end of the covenant with God by preventing them from keeping his law, but he suspended the very sacrifices that acknowledged God's presence in the temple. He wanted the Jews to live like good Greeks and when they insisted on living like Jews, he banished their God from his temple and set up an altar to Zeus. Judah was now his land. Their God was gone, so they had no reason to obey his law. Of course, the Jews knew better. Like that mother and her seven sons in 2 Maccabees, they knew the faithfulness of the God of the Israel and they knew that no puny human king could blaspheme against him forever. But, for a time, he would seem to have won the day. According to Daniel's vision, for 2300 evenings and mornings the temple would be desolate. That's a reference to the morning and evening sacrifices that were—or were supposed to be—made every day. The sacrifices that Antiochus suspended. Depending on how you parse this detail out, it's either about three years and three months or it's about six years and six months. Most people tend to go with the three years, which corresponds closely to the time when Antiochus had suspended the worship of the Lord in the temple. But the six-and-a-half years works too, if you count back to when the high priest was deposed. Either way, we know what the vision represents. And either way and for whatever reason, it's not an exact number, which means it may also be symbolic—we just can't be sure exactly how. However we parse out the number, the important point is that the Lord has numbered these evil days. And that's the point I want to close on. Too often we get fixated on numbers and on fixing dates and end up missing the point. We do it with books like Daniel. We do it with books like Revelation. We do it with the prophets and with the apocalyptic discourses of Jesus. It's nothing new. Christians have been setting dates for over a thousand years and whenever we do, we seem to end up distracted from the gospel mission we've been given. Often it ends with the creation of schismatic sects and cults. William Miller, for example, worked out from these 2300 evening and mornings that Jesus would return in 1843. His argument convinced a lot of people (and it helped that he threw in plenty of “God has told mes”). Of course, it didn't happen so he adjusted his formula, admitted a small error, and corrected the date to 1844. That didn't happen either. But his followers had given up everything and then many of them walked away and became jaded. They called it the “Great Disappointment”. But, still, to this day Miller has his ardent followers. They're the Seventh Day Adventists and believe that it really did happen in 1843, and that it wasn't about Jesus returning to the earth, but that Jesus on that date entered the heavenly temple to begin is work of judging souls in anticipation of his return. And many of us remember Hal Lindsey's The Late Great Planet Earth that became a sensation in the 1970s. Lindsey made a point of not setting an exact date, but he wasn't shy about saying things like the 1980's would probably be the earth's last decade. It motivated some people to become missionaries, but it motivated lots of other people to abandon their jobs, their families, and to run up massive credit card debt because they were convinced that in a year or two none of it would matter. In more recent years we've had similar predictions made about “blood moons” and the like. Christian bookstores were filled books about the imminent return of Jesus and end of the world. People were, once again, all worked up about the end of the world and, once again, nothing happened. Again, we too often forget the point of passages like this one in Daniel 8. Even if we could estimate or even set a date by it, the point is that God is in control and, because of that, we have every reason to stand firm in the midst of trials and persecution, knowing that God will vindicate us in the same way that he has vindicated his people in the past and, especially for us as Christians, in the same way that he vindicated his son when he raised him from death. Daniel 8—and so many other passages—remind us first and foremost that God is sovereign. No matter how it seems, history is not random. No matter how much they may shake their fists at the heavens, no king is outside the sovereign will of God. No matter how much we may abuse our God-given liberty, every one of us will be held to account. Sin and evil will not go on forever. God is judge, one day he will deal with sin and death once and for all, and eventually all of creation will be to rights—including us. And we know that this will happen, we believe, we have hope, because of the death and resurrection of Jesus. At the cross God did the hard part needed to set the world to rights. At the cross Jesus won the decisive battle and one day the war will be over when we, the church, his people, have accomplished the work he has given. He has equipped us with his own Spirit and sends us out to proclaim the life giving and renewing good news of his death and resurrection. And for two thousand years, that good news has driven away the false gods of the pagans and brought kings and their people to their knees before Jesus and to give glory to the God of Israel. Brothers and Sisters, date-setting, goofy predictions, and eschatological paranoia do nothing to witness the sovereignty of the Lord of history. They do just the opposite and they undermine our witness. They make Christians look foolish and the scriptures untrustworthy. Our mission is to proclaim the gospel, because in Jesus and in his death and resurrection, that is where the world meets the living God and knows his faithfulness. And that brings me to the final point. Look again at verse 27 and Daniel's response. The vision left him troubled. He even lay sick in his bed for “some days”. He was in some sense dismayed because he didn't fully understand it. But what did he do? He says that he arose and went about the king's business. Brothers and Sisters, the prophecies and apocalypses that the Spirit has given us in the scripture were never meant to send us out in a panic or a frenzy, they weren't given to have us abandon our earthly responsibilities because the world is coming to an end. They were given to us to remind us that God is sovereign, that he will judge the wicked, and that he will vindicate his people for their faithfulness. So be faithful. The Lord had placed Daniel in a position of authority in the court of the king of Babylon. That pagan court was soon to fall. That pagan king was soon to die. But the Lord had put Daniel in that position for a reason and so he went faithfully back to his work. The same goes for each of us. The Lord has put us where we are for a reason. Be a faithful husband and father or a faithful wife and mother knowing that the Lord is sovereign. Be faithful in your vocation, whatever it may be, however mundane it may seem. Be faithful to your earthly obligations: to your family, to your business, to your school, to your church, to your club, to your friends, to your debts, to your country knowing that the Lord has placed you where you are. That is, after all, the King's business. This witness to our trust in the sovereignty of God is the foundation that undergirds our greater witness to Jesus and the gospel. It is what prepares us to stand firm should the day come when we find ourselves forced to choose between obedience to an earthly king and obedience to our heavenly King. May we stand firm like the saints of old and declare with the mother of those seven martyred sons, “The Lord God is watching over us and in truth has compassion on us.” Let's pray: Almighty God, look with mercy on your people; that by your great goodness we may be always governed and preserved both in body and soul, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

CHRISTIANS, TEMPLES OF THE LIVING GOD BY GEORGE WHITEFIELD!

MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN BY BRINGING BACK THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF EARLY AMERICA: GEORGE WHITEFIELD

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 18, 2024 59:23

ARE WE AS NATURAL MAN AMERICANS BORN INTO THIS WORLD AS TEMPLES OF THE LIVING GOD? WHAT WOULD BE OUR ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION? MOST OF US AMERICANS WOULD PROBABLY SAY NO, WOULD WE NOT? THEN THE QUESTION IS, DO WE HAVE TO BECOME TEMPLES OF THE LIVING GOD IN ORDER TO GO TO HEAVEN? GEORGE WHITEFIELD, IN THIS MESSAGE PAINTS A BEAUTIFUL PICTURE OF WHAT THE EXPERIENCE IS LIKE OF BEING, AS A BELIEVER, THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD. 2 COR. 6:[14] Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? [15] And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? [16] And what AGREEMENT hath the TEMPLE of GOD with idols? for “YE ARE THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD ; as God hath said, I WILL DWELL in THEM, and WALK in THEM; and I WILL be THEIR God, and they SHALL be MY PEOPLE.

god jesus christ walk christians temple cor agreement living god temples belial george whitefield my people their god

Sermon - God Visits Solomon - 2 Chronicles 7

Free Thinking Through the Fourth Turning with Sasha Stone

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2024 35:52

God pays a visit to Solomon! 2 Chronicles 7v11-22 Introduction Yesterday we looked at David's final recorded public prayer in 1 Chronicles 29. We saw that David's God oozed greatness, power, glory, victory and majesty from all aspects of His very being! All of which are essential attributes of who He is: unchangeable and permanent. We discovered that this God is a God who gives and gives abundantly! The temple was yet to be built but the gifts from the King and the people had come in! People were waiting to start! Not only to build it but to serve within it! We came to the conclusion that we should pray not just for what God can give to us but also what we can give and do for our God! Giving not just money and goods, but our talents and imagination! Because from that, the community we live, work and worship within could be transformed to God's glory! But now the Chronicler has moved on in his story! The remnant of Israel you may remember has returned from exile and the Chronicler is giving them an abridged version of history! The great king David has died, and his son, Solomon, is now on the throne. Solomon has had his first encounter with God and received the gift of wisdom! In Chapter 6, Solomon has prayed a great prayer to His God! We shall look at that in the podcast tomorrw. Here, in our first reading, from the first 3 verses of chapter 7, we hear the Chronicler regaling one of the many great WOW moments of the Old Testament, when the glory of the Lord came down like fire and filled the temple to overflowing! The people fell down in worship of a great God, who was their God! This was followed by a great scene of abundantly joyful sacrificial worship to this God! In the passage before us tonight, v11 to v22, the temple is now complete. Solomon is now probably sleeping in his palace. It has been 13 years since he prayed that prayer in chapter 6! No doubt, during those 13 years, many times has Solomon wrestled in his mind over what he prayed... Then, one night God Himself turns up. Here the Chronicler reveals what God said to Solomon. The original readers/hearers are a remnant of the great nation of Israel, just returned to their land after being in exile! Probably wondering what happened, because under Solomon, the nation of Israel reached its pinnacle! Asking themselves questions like: Who is our God? Who are we, Israel, as a nation? Why are we in the situation we find ourselves in? The Chronicler is putting across his own theology as he writes this book of Chronicles! His theology, however, is consistent with the writings of the rest of the Old Testament and indeed the New Testament! So what does the Chronicler wish to convey to the remnant about this God from this encounter with Solomon? 1. A God of all History The first thing I see, from this passage, is that their God is a God of history! All human history is covered beneath his throne - the past, present and future! a. God of the past! He is the God of Israel's past! God throughout history had made covenants with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and here, God reminds Solomon of the Covenant that He made with Solomon's father, David! This covenant promised 3 things! That there would be: A land forever A dynasty without end A perpetual kingdom b. God of the present But not only is He a God of the past, He is also a God of the present! He has heard the prayers and accepted the temple as a place of worship - v12 "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices." He is the God of the present because He is speaking to Solomon in Solomon's present! Visiting Solomon, probably while Solomon is snoring his head off! c. God of the Future So God is a God of the past and the present, but also a God of the future! And because God is the God of the future, all things are under His control! Even v13 "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people", shows the God of the past, present and future being in control. The Lord God says in this speech to Solomon, "I will..." several times! "I will hear!" "I will forgive!" "I will heal the land!" "I will open my eyes!" "I will establish your throne!" But not only of these humanly beneficial things but also Gods says in v20 "I will uproot you from here and send you into exile!" All in the future tense! And in v16 "I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there." Their God, who is the God of all human history - past, present and future - is from everlasting to everlasting! Nothing in the future is set rigidly! God may know what is going to happen but He also knows all that may happen as well! We see this through the tension of "If you do this, I will do this!" God is all-knowing, far beyond our human capacity and capability! 2. A God Who Lives! So a God over all human history - past, present and future. So what else is there here about this God? This God is also a God who lives and lives dynamically! This God is not like the gods of Israel's neighbours - a mere inert block of wood, bone or stone to be lumped about, put on a pedestal, have many copies made, bowed to impersonally and chanted manically at. No! This God of Israel is a God who lives! This God lives and wants to live with His people! God is a God who exhibits His life in at least 3 ways from this encounter with Solomon! a. A God who is Personal! This God is personal! Fourteen times, the Chronicler uses for God the personal pronoun "I" and fourteen times, he uses "me" or "myself." Twelve times, he uses the word "you" - on a single individual basis as well as a collective "you" on the basis of the nation itself. This God is personal to the individual Solomon, the King of Israel, but also personal to the nation of Israel. The Chronicler is intimating that no other nation had enjoyed a dynamic, robust and intimate relationship with their God, like Israel does! Our God is personal the Chronicler cries out! Because He is personal, it cries out that He lives! This God wants to be intimately involved with the people and nation He has chosen for Himself. Read through with me as I share some of these with you and hear how intimate and personal this God is! Listen for the ‘I' "I have heard your prayer; I shut; I will forgive; I will heal; I have chosen; I will establish; I have covenanted; I have given; I will uproot; I will reject; I will make This is a personal God! Listen for the ‘my' chosen this place for myself; among my people, called by my name; seek my face; my eyes will be open; my ears attentive; my Name may be there forever; my heart will always be there; an object of ridicule for my Name, Now listen for the ‘you', ‘their', themselves' and ‘they' you walk before me faithfully; humble themselves and pray; You do; Your father David; You observe; Your royal throne; their wicked ways ; if you turn away and forsake; you and go off to serve other gods; they have forsaken the LORD and they embraced other gods! This is a personal, living and dynamic God wanting a personal and dynamic relationship with His people! Not some mere impersonal piece of wood, metal or stone like the gods of the surrounding nations to whom people babble! b. A God who is Responsive! This personal God is also responsive! This God, the Chronicler writes, has responded to the worship of the people when at the beginning of this chapter, His glory filled the temple to overflowing! Their worship was pleasing to Him and He acknowledged this with fire! WOW - v1 "the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple!" That must have been an awe-inspiring moment when their living God did that! So awe inspiring that they continued in worship by singing and offering sacrifices! This God responds to His gathered people! But this God also responds and appears to the individual, in this case, their King and leader, Solomon and with a personal answer to Solomon's own prayer we read in chapter 6! Here in v17-18, God confirms Solomon's anointing as King and leader of Israel! He reminds Solomon of the importance of the Temple in the life of Israel and as a symbol of commitment to the Covenant of David. This is a direct response to Solomon's prayer we read in 6v16-17. God is personally committed to the line of David. Now that's all very well when things are going swimmingly and Israel is being obedient, following the commands and ordinances of their personal God! But what happens if they choose not to obey or serve him rightly? God administers judgement, but v14 offers a way back - of humble repentance. However, if they continue to sin and are not repentant, well that leads us to another part of God being responsive - God judges! And not unjustly or recklessly but with justice! c. A God who Judges and Restores! In v13 we see that disasters can be sent by God! Droughts and plagues can be used by God to bring people ultimately back to repentance. In v19-23, we see what happens if Israel abandons their God and continues in their sinful ways (v19)! God abandons them because they first abandoned Him and went away to embrace other gods - gods of non-personality! Then God uproots them from the land that He had given them and rejects this very same Temple which He chose Himself to be a place of prayer and sacrifice. That's the reason Israel was to go into exile, away from the land of promise. But if God is the God who judges and does these things, He is also the God who enables restoration! When evil befalls Israel, natural, social or political, it is because of their disobedience and God must judge it or He would be a pretty impotent, capricious, spiteful and fickle God if He didn't! So while God maybe the author of disasters, He is also the agent of restoration! 3. A God Who Expects! This is a personal God of all human history who lives! This God judges disobedience but offers a way back through repentance. Part of His being personal is that this is a God who expects! a. God Expects His People to be Holy! How is this? Why does He judge? Because God is holy! He is of utter moral excellence and perfection. There is and can be no stain of sin and He must be totally separated from sin. Holy is what God is!! This holiness of God is seen in righteousness, which is holiness in action. God's actions conform to His Holiness. Justice deals with the absence of righteousness. Sin must be dealt with deal with it He will and must! If God were not Holy, He could not and would not be God! If He were to cast aside his Holiness even for the briefest of times, he would cease to be God! b. God expects obedience! Not only is God holy, writes the Chronicler, but His people must also be holy and be seen to live rightly! God expects obedience! Israel was to be a nation of light reflecting their great and living God to the surrounding nations! They alone had the law of the Lord and they were to live rightly and obediently before God and the surrounding nations! They were to worship this living God and Him alone! In v17, we see the request to walk with God alone and follow His decrees and commands - the law of Moses! In v19-20, as we saw earlier, there was the penalty for idolatry and abandoning this living God! c. God expects prayers of repentance Now you may be saying, yeah right, Dave... If God is just, and of grace, He will provide a way out of these judgments! But you know what! He does! The people can be restored! How can this be? Verse 14 is the key! This is a key of grace: "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." How does He restore? Through the humility and repentance of the disobedient! Even when this great Living God is angry! Prayers by the disobedient, consisting of humility and repentance are necessary, in order to enable God to forgive and heal the destruction of sin and disobedience. In 6v32-33, we can see that anyone who acknowledges God's name and authority may pray with utter confidence that God would hear their petitions. Seeking God's face with humility is the key. What is repentance? It is a voluntary change in mind, in which the person and nation turn from a life of disobedience to living a life of obedience to God. It is done firstly in the Mind or the Intellect, where it is recognition of disobedience and guilt before God. Then, there is also at an Emotional level, exhibiting genuine sorrow for disobedience, a bit more difficult for us men! Finally it's also an act of the Will - a decision to turn back to God from disobedience, self-pleasure and self-centredness. And what is humility? Humility is where total trust is placed in God alone, and He has priority in all aspects of life. Humility is a lack of pride and of total commitment to God. This is a living and holy God, who expects His people to be holy, reflecting His holiness and being prepared to make themselves nothing in order to be restored and for their disobedience to be forgiven. Conclusion What an awesome and great God this is! This is the God who is the God over all human history - past, present and future! This is a God who is personal and responsive! This is a God who is holy, commands obedience and yet accepts humble repentance! What a great and Almighty God! Not only those things but He is a God of grace! How do we see that? This chapter from Scripture, 2 Chronicles 7v11-22, could well be a summary of all 1 & 2 Chronicles, if not the Old Testament and indeed all of Scripture! Some say that grace is missing from the book, just as some say that grace is missing from the Old Testament itself! But as we have hopefully seen, one aspect of God that shines through this passage is that He is a God of grace, with a message of grace as exemplified in v14! "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." But so what? What are we to do with and for this God? We are to be personally and collectively obedient to Him. Following closely to the leading of the Spirit and following our leaders, the pastors, elders and deacons as they seek to follow this great God. Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said "You can only learn what obedience is, by obeying." Lets be an obedient people. How do we do that? By loving God! How do we show we love God? By loving others, for as Jesus said, this sums up the whole Law!. The community out there, which we are a part of, is looking at us. We have this fantastic new building, and I can guarantee you, that there will be some people out there, just waiting for this adventure of ours with God to fail. Let us not allow that to happen. One of the key areas of obedience concerns idolatry! Now we may not go off to other gods and worship them, as Solomon and ancient Israel did. But we can set up false idols of our own, both as individuals and collectively. Calvin wrote that "What is idolatry? It is to worship the gifts instead of the great Giver?" This is a beautiful building! But let us not worship it and consider it so sanctified even for a moment, that it becomes our idol of worship. Let us be thankful to God for the gift and allow Him to use it for the benefit of the whole community and not just for our own sake. Let each of us ensure that God takes first place over everything in our individual and collective lives. Let us worship alone our great living God who gives abundantly, rather than commit disobedient idolatry by worshipping the gifts of the Giver. Then finally, let us hold our leaders up in prayer that they will be, collectively and individually, obedient to God! As Adam shared this morning, old hairy legs satan likes to stick his nose in and try to get leaders like Adam off track. Many churches have built new buildings, only for them to lie wasted shortly after, due to personal disobedience of the leadership. Lets not be one of those. The church I attended in Australia before coming to the UK, 21 years ago this coming Saturday, was very much like PBC is now! Growing, vibrant and they had just finished building a new church building! Everyone was excited and looking forward to the future! I am not going to say specifically what happened, but within 2 years that church was practically empty. In fact it is still going but it hasn't recovered to the way that it was. The leadership were found to have committed both personal and corporate disobedience and when it became public; it decimated the church and made it a public mockery. Those people who were in leadership are now restored back into a right relationship with God, but they had to find humility the hard way. Somebody asked me during the week, "If Solomon was the wisest man on earth, how come he fell into idolatry?" The answer I gave was not because he had so many wives and girlfriends. Nor was it, as suggested by a certain member of this congregation here tonight, the number of mother in laws. I think it was because he became proud, forgot not just who he was in God's eyes but he also forgot who God was! That led him to forsake the God of His youth and commit idolatrous acts. Let's go from here, willing to be obedient to this great God, remembering who we are and who our God is. This great God we love and serve who is the God of all human history - past, present and future. This Almighty God, who is living, dynamic, personal, and responsive: who both judges and restores. This is a God who is holy and expects His followers to be holy, living obedient lives and being quick to seek repentance after disobedience. Let's go out into our community this week, being His voice and light, confident that our living God is within us, as we engage actively and passively with those who don't know this great God! Tap or click here to save this Podcast as a MP3.

2024-01-28 Ratifying The Covenant

Mandeville Bible

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 28, 2024

2024-01-28 Ratifying The Covenantby Pastor Chris BergScripture Reference: Exodus 24:1-8, 32:1-351 Then the Lord instructed Moses: “Come up here to me, and bring along Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of Israel's elders. All of you must worship from a distance. 2 Only Moses is allowed to come near to the Lord. The others must not come near, and none of the other people are allowed to climb up the mountain with him.”3 Then Moses went down to the people and repeated all the instructions and regulations the Lord had given him. All the people answered with one voice, “We will do everything the Lord has commanded.”4 Then Moses carefully wrote down all the Lord's instructions. Early the next morning Moses got up and built an altar at the foot of the mountain. He also set up twelve pillars, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 Then he sent some of the young Israelite men to present burnt offerings and to sacrifice bulls as peace offerings to the Lord. 6 Moses drained half the blood from these animals into basins. The other half he splattered against the altar.7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it aloud to the people. Again they all responded, “We will do everything the Lord has commanded. We will obey.”8 Then Moses took the blood from the basins and splattered it over the people, declaring, “Look, this blood confirms the covenant the Lord has made with you in giving you these instructions.”---1 When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. “Come on,” they said, “make us some gods who can lead us. We don't know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.”2 So Aaron said, “Take the gold rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters, and bring them to me.”3 All the people took the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded it into the shape of a calf. When the people saw it, they exclaimed, “O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!”5 Aaron saw how excited the people were, so he built an altar in front of the calf. Then he announced, “Tomorrow will be a festival to the Lord!”6 The people got up early the next morning to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.7 The Lord told Moses, “Quick! Go down the mountain! Your people whom you brought from the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. 8 How quickly they have turned away from the way I commanded them to live! They have melted down gold and made a calf, and they have bowed down and sacrificed to it. They are saying, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.'”9 Then the Lord said, “I have seen how stubborn and rebellious these people are. 10 Now leave me alone so my fierce anger can blaze against them, and I will destroy them. Then I will make you, Moses, into a great nation.”11 But Moses tried to pacify the Lord his God. “O Lord!” he said. “Why are you so angry with your own people whom you brought from the land of Egypt with such great power and such a strong hand? 12 Why let the Egyptians say, ‘Their God rescued them with the evil intention of slaughtering them in the mountains and wiping them from the face of the earth'? Turn away from your fierce anger. Change your mind about this terrible disaster you have threatened against your people! 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You bound yourself with an oath to them, saying, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven. And I will give them all of this land that I have promised to your descendants, and they will possess it forever.'”14 So the Lord changed his mind about the terrible disaster he had threatened to bring on his people.15 Then Moses turned and went down the mountain. He held in his hands the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. 16 These tablets were God's work; the words on them were written by God himself.17 When Joshua heard the boisterous noise of the people shouting below them, he exclaimed to Moses, “It sounds like war in the camp!”18 But Moses replied, “No, it's not a shout of victory nor the wailing of defeat. I hear the sound of a celebration.”19 When they came near the camp, Moses saw the calf and the dancing, and he burned with anger. He threw the stone tablets to the ground, smashing them at the foot of the mountain. 20 He took the calf they had made and burned it. Then he ground it into powder, threw it into the water, and forced the people to drink it.21 Finally, he turned to Aaron and demanded, “What did these people do to you to make you bring such terrible sin upon them?”22 “Don't get so upset, my lord,” Aaron replied. “You yourself know how evil these people are. 23 They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will lead us. We don't know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.' 24 So I told them, ‘Whoever has gold jewelry, take it off.' When they brought it to me, I simply threw it into the fire—and out came this calf!”25 Moses saw that Aaron had let the people get completely out of control, much to the amusement of their enemies. 26 So he stood at the entrance to the camp and shouted, “All of you who are on the Lord's side, come here and join me.” And all the Levites gathered around him.27 Moses told them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Each of you, take your swords and go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other. Kill everyone—even your brothers, friends, and neighbors.” 28 The Levites obeyed Moses' command, and about 3,000 people died that day.29 Then Moses told the Levites, “Today you have ordained yourselves for the service of the Lord, for you obeyed him even though it meant killing your own sons and brothers. Today you have earned a blessing.”30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a terrible sin, but I will go back up to the Lord on the mountain. Perhaps I will be able to obtain forgiveness for your sin.”31 So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, what a terrible sin these people have committed. They have made gods of gold for themselves. 32 But now, if you will only forgive their sin—but if not, erase my name from the record you have written!”33 But the Lord replied to Moses, “No, I will erase the name of everyone who has sinned against me. 34 Now go, lead the people to the place I told you about. Look! My angel will lead the way before you. And when I come to call the people to account, I will certainly hold them responsible for their sins.”35 Then the Lord sent a great plague upon the people because they had worshiped the calf Aaron had made.

Gods and Monsters in America

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 3, 2023 28:43

“If they want a monster so badly, they ought to be provided by one.” ― Margaret AtwoodTheir monster is Trump. He is the entire economy of the media machine. Without him, whole news networks would die, social media would become stagnant, and, more importantly, there would be no named evil for the New Puritans to unite in fear and hatred against.Their God is Barack Obama. Yes, that's right. We're caught in a clash of the titans that involves two movements, largely built and cultivated online, that now define two paths forward for America. Obama's 1984-like dystopia or Trump's populist revolt against monopolistic power at the top, not unlike Teddy Roosevelt driving a spike through the Gilded Age.Trump is, without a doubt, and these trials prove it, the man in the arena. Get full access to Free Thinking Through the Fourth Turning with Sasha Stone at sashastone.substack.com/subscribe

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We Will Praise Him More and More

Cities Church Sermons

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 6, 2023

It's difficult to nail down the exact situation of this Psalm. We don't know who wrote the Psalm, when it was written, from where it was written. And yet, what we do know is enough to get a good sense of what it was that was going on.For starters, the writer of this Psalm is not young. Did you catch that? Look at verse 9, “Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent.” Or, verse 17, “O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me.” He's not young. In fact, he's grown old, and not only that, but he's grown old in such a way, that he feels it. He notices it. He recognizes he is not the man he used to be in regard to his physical abilities. He's grown old, and, in his own words, his strength is spent.We also know that this old, worn man, has enemies. Verse 4, “Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.” Verse 10, “For my enemies speak concerning me, those who watch for my life consult together.” He's got enemies, his enemies want him dead, but unlike himself, his enemies don't seem to have shown any sign of slowing down. For the words on their mouths are not, “My strength is spent” but, verse 11, “Pursue…seize.” The Psalmist is the wounded and worn out prey in this picture, his enemies are the vicious lions in the thicket.SignificanceIt's not a promising situation if you're the Psalmist here, right? His enemies in the background, full of vigor, himself in the foreground, wore out and weak. Do you get a sense for just how defenseless he would have appeared before his enemies? Do you get a feel for just how threatening his enemies would have appeared before him? But there's yet another layer to this whole thing that we need to recognize. An aspect of this situation that incites this entire Psalm, gives this thing weight, significance, a sense of consequence, like whatever happens to this man has massive relevance for a far larger group of people, on the outside as they look in. What is it? What is that aspect that adds surprising weight to a situation from a few millennia ago between an unknown Psalmist and his unknown enemies in an unknown location? It's not that his enemies noticed that this man's movements have slowed a bit and concluded, “He's weak.” It's not that his enemies have caught a glimpse of his tired, wrinkle eyes and concluded, “He's worn out.” But, it's that while at other times his enemies might have seen him in his strength and health and concluded, “Look at his power, his vitality, his prosperity, his position in society – surely that means his God is with him. If his God is with him, we're not going to try and take him down.” But now when they see him wrung out, now when they observe him exhausted, now when speak concerning him and consult together they conclude, “surely what his current state of weakness means is that his God has left him.” Verse 11, “God has forsaken him; pursue and seize him, for there is none to deliver him.” You see the significance here? Their conclusion takes in the poor, fatigued, outward appearance of this man and goes upward. Goes vertical. Concludes “If a man looks like that, the only reasonable explanation is that his God has left him.” You get that? Circumstantial decline equals spiritual destitution — that's their logic.Do you see the kind of bearing this might have on you, me, someone looking in on this and thinking, “Well my circumstances look an awful lot like his. In fact, mine might be even worse. I've lost my strength. I've lost my energy. I've lost my ability. Physically speaking, I am a shell of who I used to be.” If it's true that his situation signals God left him. What should I conclude when I look in the mirror and see much of the same? You see the significance? Should God's people conclude God has left them if they're experiencing decline? I mean, anyone here ever experience a season of physical decline? I mean, my goodness!So, the way his enemies are looking upon this man, concluding his poor physical situation a sign of spiritual desertion by God, is what it means to be seen as a portent. See verse 7, “I have been as a portent to many.” That's not a word we often use, but put simply, a portent is a sign. A sign, given by God, to signal attention (Blinking red light - Hey, look here, look here! See, by the look of this thing, or the look of this person, an outward picture of my inward disposition toward that person, or that nation he's a part of). As an example, the Egyptian plagues were portents – signs of God's judgment of Egypt (Exodus 7:3). The prophet Isaiah served as a portent – a sign of God's judgment against Egypt and Cush (Isaiah 20:3). The prophet Ezekiel served as a portent – a sign of God's judgment against Israel (Ezekiel 12:6). In all three cases we know they are portents, we don't need to guess at it or wonder, because God says it explicitly and it is recorded for us in his word. Well that's what this Psalmist's enemies are saying. Without a word from the Lord, they are saying, “This is a man forsaken by God.” And note, it may not be they were the only ones thinking that. Again, verse 7, “I have been as a portent to many.” Maybe friend or foe alike were drawing that conclusion about him. I mean, would it have been the first time a group of people concluded their friend cursed by God simply because of their disastrous circumstances? Think of Job and the conclusions his friends drew upon seeing him. ResponseSo, zooming out for a moment. Worn, tired man – wicked, cruel enemies – conclusions arising about having been forsaken by God. It doesn't look good for the Psalmist does it? And yet, that is the reality he is faced with. And there are a number of ways he could have choosen to respond. He could have gone into denial, “I don't need a refuge.”He could have gone into despondency, “I'm a gonner. What's the use of seeking refuge?” He could have puffed himself up in pride, “I can take them. I am my own refuge.”He could have put his trust in man, “I'll call on people more powerful than they – they'll be my refuge.”Well, he didn't do any of those things. But what he did do was set his sights on the only refuge that he – in all the many years of his long life – had ever known. Verse 1, “In you, O LORD, do I take refuge. Let me never be put to shame.” He goes to God for refuge, and that movement of his toward God for refuge is what we're going to look at for the remainder of this sermon. His movement toward God as refuge, in which, first, he calls out to God. Second, he recalls the character of God. Third, he draws a conclusion concerning God and his care for his people. Call to God, character of God, conclusion concerning God and his care for his people.Call to GodFirst, the Psalmist calls to God. And let's just recognize for a moment just how hard it can be to even do just that in situations as sad as these. I mean you've been there, right? Wore out with tears, weighed down by sorrow, you want to call out to God but the words just seem to get stuck in your throat, you know? As if it's the most challenging task in all the world to get your mouth to even whisper, “God, help.” It makes it all the more amazing, and instructive, to note that God gives the Psalmist the grace, in this moment, to not only call out to God, but do so over and over again. He says,Verse 1, “Let me never be put to shame” Verse 2, “deliver me, Rescue me, Incline your ear to me, save me” Verse 3, “Be to me a rock of refuge to which I may continually come” Verse 4, “Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked.” Verse 9, “Do not cast me off, forsake me not” Verse 12, “Be not far from me, make haste to help me” Verse 18, “do not forsake me” The Psalmist calls out to God.Character of GodAs he calls to his God, he recalls the character of his God. That he is faithful. Verse 22, “I will also praise you…for your faithfulness, O my God.” That he is Holy. Verse 22, “I will sing praises to you…O Holy one of Israel” That he protects his people. Verse 3, “You are my rock and my fortress.” Verse 7, “You are my strong refuge” That he sustains his people. Verse 6, “Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; You are he who took me from my mother's womb.” More than anything else, over and over again, he says God is righteous.Verse 2, “In your righteousness deliver me” Verse 15, “My mouth will tell of your righteous acts” Verse 16, “I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone” Verse 19, “Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens” Verse 24, “My tongue will talk of your righteous help” See the reason he knows his cry doesn't fall on deaf ears. The reason he knows not one of his words are not spoken in vain is because he knows something about his God that his enemies don't. Namely, that though friend or companion may spurn you, though neighbor or co-worker may turn on you, though brother, or sister, or mother, or father may say to you, “Good riddance, I'm gone!” God won't. If you are truly his, God will not forsake you because God is not like man. Untainted by sin, untouched by evil, unlimited in energy, awareness, and presence He is the only infinitely reliable rock and fortress for mankind. It is upon his character that the Psalmist rests his weary soul.Conclusion For All Who Seek Refuge In GodSo he calls out to God. As he does, he recalls the character of God. And lastly, he draws a conclusion concerning God and his care for his people. And he does so in a really unique way. He draws a conclusion concerning God and his care for his people by connecting it to his own praising of God. Said another way, he cites his praising of God as the key to understanding God's care for his people. Now how does this work?Does he reason, the way God cares for his people is conditioned upon whether or not they praise him in return? That's the key. That's the connection. Like the Psalmist is saying here, “God, I will praise you in return for you saving me.” Is that how the Psalmist wants us to understand the way God cares for his people?Well it can't be, because there's nothing conditional about words like: Verse 6, “My praise is continually of you.” Verse 8, “My mouth is filled with your praise and with your glory all the day” Verse 14, “I will praise you yet more and more.” Verse 22-23, “I will praise you with the harp, praise you with the lyre, shout for joy to you with my lips… and sing praises to you” It's not conditional, it is certain. This man is going to praise God.Is it because he reasons, the way God cares for his people is based upon whether or not they earn his favor? That's the key. That's the connection. Like, “God, you should save me because I've praised you. I've always praised. Why, just listen, I'm praising you even now.” Well it can't be because nothing is said in this entire Psalm about the Psalmist being deserving of anything. Instead, this Psalm is overwhelmingly focused on God's righteousness, God's goodness, not this man's. So if he's not trying to make a deal by offering to praise him, if he's not trying to earn something from God by praising him, what then is the connection between his praise of God and God's care for his people? What is this Psalmist wanting us to see about God's care for his people given that he says, “I will praise him more and more?” IndicatorWell, what he's wanting us to see is that his praising of God is a sign. An indicator. A proof — God is his strong refuge. God is his mighty fortress. He is, in fact, God's man, loved by him, not forsaken but held tight to his chest. His enemies have a plan to take him out. His enemies conclude God has left him. God has forsaken him. The Psalmist says, You want to know how God cares for his people? Listen to their praising of him!The Psalmist's continued praising of God is the sign, the indicator, God is still faithful. The words of the Psalmist, the song on his lips, the praise that flows out from his mouth show that God is still faithful. See it as he reflects upon his past, verses 5-6, “Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you.” See how his praise follows God's faithfulness? Even more clear, Verse 17, “O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.” See how his praise confirms God's continued faithfulness?Now look to the future and consider his enemies are saying, “that God has forsaken him.” Like, “You want to know how God really cares for his people? Well, he doesn't. When they get old, when they get weary, when they fall down, it's means God has left him. He is the kind of God who forsakes his people. Just look at this man.” Well, if they were right in that conclusion, and they ended up carrying out their plan of pursuing him and seizing him, what would you expect to hear from the Psalmist then? Nothing. No more words, no more praise, the blinking indicator of God's faithfulness, the sign of God's care – snuffed out!Is that what in fact we see in this Psalm? Is that what we in fact hear? Note the connection between God's faithfulness and his peoples' praise of him. It's here, starting in verse 20, that we see it most clearly, “You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. You will increase my greatness and comfort me again. I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel. 23 My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed. 24 And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long, for they have been put to shame and disappointed who sought to do me hurt.” See, you will revive me, and disappoint them. You will bring me up, and put them to shame. You will comfort me, and scorn them, and after you do so, then like the roar of thunder follows the flash of lightning so will my praise of you follow your rescue of me. You see it? The Psalmist is arguing, “Where's the evidence, where's the indicator that God cares for his people? Brother, sister, hear it in my song!And, brothers and sisters hear it in our song as well, for “What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:“Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”ApplicationYou know, a few days ago we were gathered with our community group in our living room, singing. And as it does every other Wednesday night, the sound of our sound spills out into the neighborhood. This last Wednesday, it was the sound of the hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.” You got to wonder, what are my neighbors thinking when they hear, every other Wednesday night, 15, 20, 25 adults gathered together, singing? What do they think when these words fall upon their ear: “Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with Thee,” What do they think when they hear us sing those words? How about those who live within a few blocks of this building? Has a single Sunday morning gone by in the last two, three years that they have not heard 400, 500 voices together singing out, “Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not, as thou hast been, thou forever will be.” What do they think when they hear us sing those words?Oh God make it so that when they hear your people sing in homes, in churches, when they hear your people sing aloud of your righteousness and your faithfulness and your holiness, may it be that they can manage no other thought than, “They're right.” Their God is righteous. Their God is faithful. Their God is holy. Their God has not forsaken them, their God has not let them be put to shame, their God has brought them up from the depths, again! Their God cares for his people – I can hear it in their song.Hear the Song YourselfAnd, brothers and sisters, may the same be said of us when we come here, Sunday after Sunday,Following the shattering of a relationship we thought would never break, following the sudden and shocking loss of a job we were counting on always having, following the diagnosis we always feared, following the phone call we never wanted to receive, following the season of life we never wanted, never asked for, and don't see any way out of.May it be that when we come here, bearing those kinds of burdens, and we hear songs of God's praise begin to rise up from the mouths of those gathered round us, may it be that we too think – they're still right. Our God is still righteous. Our God is still faithful. Our God is still holy. He has not forsaken me, he will not let them be put to shame, he will pull me up from the depths, again!Yes, may we sing often of the goodness of our God. May we pray, along with the Psalmist, verse 18, “Lord do not forsake us until we proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.” Proclaim it my brothers and sisters. Sing of his righteousness for all to hear. The TableNow, part of our weekly proclamation of God's care for his people involves this table. Did you know that? Paul, in 1 Corinthians 11, quoting Jesus, says that “as often as we take of this bread, drink of this cup, we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.” We proclaim that God didn't spare even his own Son, but rather gave him up for us all, and so – how will he not also with him graciously give us all things (Romans 8:31-32). We proclaim that God promised to send his Son, and that he was faithful to do it. And that this Son, will come again. And so, if you're here today and you've trusted in Jesus, then we invite you to take and eat with us. If you've not put your trust in Jesus, we ask that you'd let the elements pass, and we pray you would, in this moment, put your trust in the God who alone is righteous, and a refuge to which you can continually come.I'll invite the pastors to come, let us serve you.

Learning the Bible Together as a Family | 210

Homeschooling Families by Teach Them Diligently

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 29, 2023 36:10

On today's podcast, Joie Harber, the co-founder of Creation to Revelation is here to chat with us about a 3-cycle approach to learning the Bible that she and her husband have developed. If you're looking for a method of diving into God's Word as a family in a way that will inspire a love and knowledge of God's Word in all of you, you've come to the right place. She has a lot of great discipleship and Bible study information for you! Meet The Guest:Living the dream of being a wife and homeschool mother to 5 children, Joie is Co-owner with husband Brian, of their family business Creation To Revelation. Their God-driven mission is to provide parents and Bible class teachers with resources and tools that are Biblically accurate, comprehensive, flexible, and high quality for all ages, inspiring a love and knowledge of God's word.Topics Covered in Today's Episode: • The 3-Cycle Approach to Learning God's Word Together As A Family• How visuals help us learn from our earliest years.• How important it is to help our children to see the Bible as one cohesive story. Additional or Mentioned Resources: • Creation to Revelation Website• Bible study workbooks by Bob Waldron• Creation to Revelation Podcast with Joie Harber• We are offering everyone who listens to this podcast a free download of our Digital License of our 17 Time Periods flashcards with any purchase on our website to help their family jump start organizing their Bible knowledge. The code is TTDPODCAST The discount is good from now through the end of July. Click HERE to learn more.

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S2-E145 Elle Graham

ConversationsRadio

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 11, 2023 44:29

(6/7/2022) Actress Elle Graham joined Mike and returning cohost, actress Daire McLeod on episode 145! Elle has quickly built a stellar resume and is on track for success. She stars opposite Abby Ryder Fortson, Rachel McAdams and Kathy Bates in Lionsgate's feature ‘Are You, Their GOD? It's Me, Margaret' an adaptation of the iconic Judy Blume book published in 1970! Elle also stars as “Savannah” in the Disney Television's hit mystery adventure series ‘Secrets of Sulphur Springs' now in its third season. Other television credits include the hit series AMC's ‘The Walking Dead', Netflix's ‘Stranger Things', The CW's ‘The Originals', and a recurring guest star role in the DC Universe series ‘Swamp Thing'. Elle's previous film credits include ‘She Said' with Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan, ‘Captive' opposite Kate Mara, ‘MILE 22' opposite Mark Wahlberg, and ‘Trial by Fire'' starring Laura Dern. You can follow Elle Graham on Instagram @ellecharlottegraham Enjoy the Podcast!

The Revelation of Angels Part 2 / Truths and Misconceptions (172)

Revealing The True Light

Play Episode Listen Later May 30, 2023 31:40

Angels are mentioned over 250 times in the Bible. Their God-given purpose is inseparably intertwined with God's plan for humankind. Does every person have a guardian angel? Is there such a thing as “an angel of death”? What are the divisions in the angelic kingdom? What are seraphim? What are cherubim? Explore exciting truths and deceptive misconceptions. Comparative religion website: www.thetruelight.net Ministry website: www.shreveministries.org Video channel: www.YouTube.com/mikeshreveministries All audio-podcasts are shared in a video format on our YouTube channel. Mike Shreve's other podcast Discover Your Spiritual Identity—a study on the biblical names given to God's people: https://www.charismapodcastnetwork.com/show/discoveryourspiritualidentity Mail: P.O. Box 4260, Cleveland, TN 37320 / Phone: 423-478-2843 Purchase Mike Shreve's popular book comparing over 20 religions: In Search of the True Light

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#Enlarge Thy #Tent #Isaiahs #Prophetic Book Pt169 on Battle Lines

Visions, Faith, and the Persecuted Church

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 14, 2023 61:00

Enlarge thy Tent brings us to Isaiah's Prophetic book Chapter fifty-four. Isaiah describes in Part One Hundred-sixty-nine that they are to make room to receive the blessing of the Lord. Now forgiven and reunited with Jehovah we find the phrase LORD of Hosts used. They are not forsaken or a curse. Out of captivity the blessing will be such that they must make ready. They are promised that this will no fail nor be a cause of shame. The hand of the Lord has brought them out and the blessing will overflow to their joy. For it is promised "thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel" has done this. Their God ever present. Go https://linktr.ee/warnradio more info. Enlarge thy Tent is the promise to the now #delivered #Judah to expand, make room. The description is "Enlarge the place of thy tent" and "stretch for the curtains of thine habitations", "spare not, lengthen thy cords, strengthen thy stakes." For the once captive Judah has received #promises and to receive those, they must be prepared to make more room. It is a #command, it is a #blessing, it is fulfillment to once humiliated nation that #Godsblessing will be a #massiveoverflow. This overflow will be both to the right and to the left and it will #inherit the #Gentiles. The time of confusion and judgment is over. They will not be confounded nor ashamed. The nation is commanded as "Thy Maker is thine husband." No longer a widow, the nation is in the blessing of the #LORDofhosts. To get the Books from the Watchman Dana G Smith go to his website http://www.DanaGlennSmith.com

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Good Shepherds

GCR Sermons

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 20, 2023

March 19, 2023 - Good Shepherds Jesus oversees his Church through shepherds or, maybe stated more correctly, under-shepherds who serve under Christ and in the manner of Christ. Their God-given task is to imitate the servant leadership of Jesus, to emulate Jesus as they lead his people. As such, they are our examples. They are models of holy living and holy leading. We copy them as they copy Christ. For more information on GCR, visit our website at www.gcrchurch.com or download our app.

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Exodus 40: It All Comes Together

Thy Strong Word from KFUO Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 19, 2023 59:01

The Rev. Dr. Brian Kachelmeier, pastor of Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in San Antonio, TX, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Exodus 40. We've arrived at the last chapter of Exodus. The Tabernacle, its furnishings, and all the accoutrements required for worship have been constructed. Now, God directs Moses to set it all up according to his divinely revealed pattern. As the chapter ends, the glory of God fills the Tabernacle, signifying that it is holy ground where he dwells among his people. The completion of this special worship place signifies a major milestone in the Israelites' journey. Their God now travels with them, and they have a place to meet him. It's the true story of God reaching down into history and, through an unlikely prophet, redeeming his chosen people from slavery. It's the story of Exodus, but it's also the story of us all. How through Christ, God has liberated us from sin, death, and the Devil. Don't miss this chapter-by-chapter study of the Book of Exodus on Thy Strong Word.

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Jesus Feeds a Multitude… Again! (Mark Sermon 35) (Audio)

god jesus christ texas lord bible holy spirit ephesians throw his word apostle paul ministries interstate almighty god western hemisphere their god ron hutchcraft

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 11, 2022

Jesus, in his kindness and compassion, repeated the miracle of feeding thousands of people. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - Turn in your Bibles to the account you just heard read, Mark 8:1-10. One of the great challenges of our Christian lives is how prone we are to forget God's goodness to us in the past, how wonderfully He has provided for us, how completely and consistently He has met our needs. We tend to forget these things. These lessons God has crafted over the years of our experiences, and yet we are prone with each new challenge in our lives to look at that circumstance as unique, somehow different than anything we've ever faced before. The one that's going to finally sink us this time, and we forget God's faithfulness over our lifetimes. In His amazing kindness, God patiently orchestrates days in which lessons are repeated and then repeated again. We have the opportunity to learn from those lessons, God's faithfulness to heal your body when you're sick or injured. God's faithfulness to give you money that you might need for an unforeseen need time and time again. God's faithfulness in feeding your empty stomach day after day. You have to admit, dear friends, He has a very good track record in that over the many years and you can testify to it. The Psalmist testifies in Psalm 103 where it says so beautifully, "Praise the Lord oh my soul, all my inmost being praise His holy name, praise the Lord oh my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. Forget not all His benefits.” That's why the feeding of a multitude is repeated in the Bible, I believe. Two separate occasions in the gospels, the four gospels, six biblical accounts in all. Two in Matthew, two in Mark, and then one each in Luke and John. Six times the same lesson's repeated for us about the greatness of Christ in feeding the empty stomachs of a multitude of people. It seems like the Lord through the Holy Spirit thought we needed to hear this. We have Jesus feeding a multitude again. I. Repeated Repetition The first point in your outline there is repeated repetition, which you would say is redundant. It's intentional. Again and again God teaches us the same lessons and this is a miracle repeated. This almost exactly parallels the earlier feeding of the 5,000 in Mark 6. There are a lot of similarities between the two accounts. It begins with Jesus's compassion. Mark 6:34 tells us that Jesus had compassion on the crowd because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Here again, this account starts with Jesus' compassion. The location is described as a deserted place in both cases, isolated, distant from a population center. The same question is raised by the disciples as to how they're going to feed such a large crowd in such a remote place. Jesus asks the disciples the same question about their resources, the exact same question, "How many loaves do you have?" In both accounts, there is the order to have the people sit down on the ground. In both accounts, Jesus takes the loaves, gives thanks, breaks the bread, and gives it to the disciples, to the people. In both accounts, there is a separate mention of the fish being dealt with as well, eaten as well. Also, in both times we're told that everyone in the crowd ate their fill. They were satisfied completely. Then both accounts narrates the broken pieces of bread and fish being picked up off the ground and collected in baskets. Both accounts give the number of the men who are fed omitting the women and children, and both finish with the crowd being dismissed and Jesus and His disciples moving on to another place along the Sea of Galilee to continue ministry. They're both the same, just a couple of chapters apart. This has led some critics, hostile critics of the Bible, to point this out as a prime example of the slapdash work done by the New Testament writers. These critics don't believe that these events actually happened, but these stories were fabricated and passed down, narrated and then woven together to make the myth of Jesus the God-man. They think we have these New Testament documents as a huge work of existing documents that were thrown together without any careful editing. The accounts of these two feedings are cited as proof of this. Mark, without much thought, just found, I guess a scrap of paper on his desk and just stuck it in here, not knowing he was really recording the same event as before. That's what these critics do. There are some key differences between these two accounts. Obviously there are details here that are different. 4,000 people fed as opposed to 5,000, seven loaves as opposed to five, a few fish as opposed to two fish, seven basketfuls gathered as opposed to twelve. On that last one, we have to note that the Greek word for basket was different in the two accounts. In the first feeding in the 5,000, the Greek word was “cofinos”, which is a smaller basket or container, like a pouch that you could probably wear on your belt, something smaller, enough food, let's say, for a single individual. In this account, the Greek word was “spuris", like a big hamper, much larger volume, two different words. If these had been copycat accounts, I think you would've just harmonized those details or they would've been exactly the same. Not at all. These two feedings actually happened and they happened in a relatively short amount of time; Jesus said so. Later in this chapter, the disciples are going to bicker between themselves about having forgotten to bring bread with them on the boat. God willing, we'll talk about that next week. Listen to Jesus' full answer. Look down at Mark 8:17-21, “Why are you still talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? Don't you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the 5,000, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?’ '12,' they replied. 'And when I broke the seven loaves for the 4,000, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?’ They answered, 'Seven.' He said to them, 'Do you still not understand?’” II. Why the Repetition? Oh, there's no doubt at all that there were two different accounts. Jesus uses that as an example and we'll talk about that next week of how they should have learned by experience. The question comes to me, as it always does in the Gospel of Mark, we look at the Holy Spirit's intention in all of this. Why the repetition? Why do we have these two feedings that are so very similar? Now, at one level, this question doesn't even need to be answered. Jesus did lots of miracles over and over and over again. There are only so many ways you can heal a crippled person or a blind person or a deaf person or a sick person. Generally Jesus touched them, maybe spoke a few words to them, healed them, and they went on their way. Basically it looked the same day after day. Scholars tell us that Jesus had about a three-year ministry and most of the days were alike, healing lots of people with a word or with a touch. Also, Jesus' teachings; we shouldn't imagine that He came up with new content every day. He taught essentially the same things, I think, day after day to the people. We have lots of different parables, lots of different sermons, but we do have some messages that are repeated for us. A very good example is what we know generally as the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. We have the Sermon on the Plain, clearly a different occasion ed different location in Luke 6. Both of them begin similarly, "Blessed are the..." Et cetera, but there're actually significant differences between them. There's some overlapping teachings that are repeated and some differences too. It must be that, day after day Jesus did a lot of the same teaching and covered the same ground. He did different aspects of His ministry multiple times, including this feeding, which He did at least twice. Let's go beyond that into a deeper issue. That is our need for repetition. We need lessons repeated. It just isn't the case that you hear it once and then you've got it for life. It isn't the case that once I make a mistake and learn from it, I never make that mistake again. Would any of you like to raise their hands and say, "That's me to a core, I never make the same mistake twice." I don't think any of us would want to say that. We need the reminders, and the disciples' continual forgetfulness represents us. They stand in our place and they represent us. How do we look? Not great. These individuals had to be reminded of things again and again. We have to go through experiences again and again to learn from them. We are dull and slow to learn like they were. We need this. The Bible makes much of the need for reminding, a repetition of doctrine. For example, the Book of Deuteronomy is the second giving of the law. God didn't say you had it once, you have it for life, but they needed the details of the law repeated right before they entered the Promised Land. "We have to go through experiences, again and again, to learn from them. We are dull and slow to learn like they were. We need this. The Bible makes much of the need for reminding, a repetition of doctrine." Jesus would warn His disciples again and again and again about His own suffering and death that was about to happen in Jerusalem and they still didn't get it. They still didn't understand. Their hearts were hardened concerning the need of Jesus to go and die. Then more in general, the New Testament writers speak about our need for reminders, our need for repetition. Philippians is a good example: Philippians 3:1, "Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you." Paul there in Philippians says, "I have to write the same things to you again and again to keep you safe from your own sin." Then in the next chapter, very famously, Philippians 4:4, "Rejoice in the Lord always." Well, Paul, you already said that in Philippians 3:1, "Again, I will say rejoice." We have in one verse repeated repetition of the same theme. Do you say, “I don't have to be told more than once to rejoice in the Lord. I know that Christ's crucifixion and resurrection is enough to make me joyful every day.” Do you have to be reminded again and again to rejoice in the Lord? Or again, Paul says earlier in that book, Philippians 3:18, "For, as I have often told you before, and now say again, even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ." He says, "I say these things to you guys again and again.” Peter talks about repetition also in 2nd Peter 1:12 & 13, "So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body." Peter is saying, "It's part of my job to just remind you of certain things again and again." Therefore, it's not part of my job as a preacher to come up with something new and fresh every time I get up here to preach. It's just impossible and it's not good for you either. It's going to be the same basic things that you've already heard in perhaps slightly different words. Why do we need this particular lesson repeated, this lesson on food, this lesson on God feeding our empty stomachs? I think this is vital because of some of the core flaws we have in our earthly condition. This is a central issue in our lives. Will I get enough to eat? Will I get enough to survive or not? Ecclesiastes 6:7 says, "All man's efforts are for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied." Everything you do is for your stomach and it never is done. Again, after the feeding of the 5,000 in John's account the next day, remember that the huge crowd came back for another meal. They wanted more. They wanted breakfast. They're back for breakfast. Jesus said, "Do not labor for the food that spoils, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the son of man will give you." Then He goes on in John 6 to develop the whole theology, "I am the bread of heaven. I am the bread that came down from heaven. If you feed on me, you'll live forever." He's not speaking physical. He's saying, "The words I have spoken are spirit and they're life,”[ John 6]. He says, "Stop living for your stomachs. Stop living for your earthly appetites.” Then in Hebrews 12:16, we have a warning there, "Make certain that there's no one in your congregation who is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his birthright for a bowl of stew because that was what he was all about." As Paul says in that same passage, Philippians 3:19, he says, "I've often warned you that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their God is their stomach." Therefore, Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount warns us in the whole passage on anxiety, "Do not worry, do not be anxious about your life, what you'll eat, about your body, what you'll wear." He says later, "So do not worry saying, 'What shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them, but seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well." The overwhelming anxiety many have of having their bodily needs met must be met by faith in the future grace of God. God is going to care for me. He's going to meet my needs. With food and clothing we'll be satisfied, we'll be content and freed up so that we can seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and not be worried about our earthly bodily needs. We should learn from experience. God is faithful to His children. God is faithful to care for our needs. Psalm 37:25 the Psalmist says, "I was young and now I'm old. Yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. I have watched God be faithful to His children year after year." Christ in His kindness and compassion does this miracle twice. The Holy Spirit in His kindness and compassion has the doubled miracle recorded both in Matthew's Gospel and in Mark. In addition to the original feeding of the 5,000 in all four gospels, that's six accounts of Jesus' miraculous feeding of the empty stomachs of huge numbers of people. That's big picture. That's why the repetition. III. Jesus Speaks With Compassion Let's walk through the account again. It starts with Jesus' compassion. Look at Mark 8:1-3, "During those days, another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus has called His disciples to Him and said, 'I have compassion for these people. They have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way because some of them have come a long distance.'" Now, as we've noted before, Jesus' compassion is the most common emotional state ascribed to Him. "Jesus' compassion is the most common emotional state ascribed to Him." Again and again, we have descriptions of Jesus's compassion or descriptions of Jesus being compassionate. This one time is unique, both in Matthew and in Mark's gospel, this second feeding, Jesus speaks it about Himself here. In all the other accounts we're told Jesus had compassion on the leper or He had compassion on the crowd, something like that. Here He says it about himself, "I have compassion on these people." Now, the Greek word in our account relates to Jesus's inner organs, His intestines, His gut, His stomach, the KJV says “his bowels”, that kind of thing. That's because we often feel things down here, right? We talk about having butterflies in your stomach. Or you talk about somebody's gut reaction or a feeling in the pit of my stomach, these kind of things. We have a sense that down here is where we feel the feelings. Jesus is moved here with the compassion of suffering people. He describes himself as compassion, "I have compassion on these people." In this way, Jesus is a perfect display of Almighty God's compassion. We should never think that God the Father, the God of the Old Testament is the God of wrath and judgment and terror, the God of Sinai and Jesus is the kind and compassionate one that talks Him into being kind. The God of the Bible, the God of the Old Testament is moved with compassion again and again. For example, in Exodus 2 when God looks down on Israel in their bondage and He sees their suffering because of their task masters, and He was concerned with them. "He looked on them and was concerned about them," [Exodus 2:25]. When He invited Moses up into the glory cloud on Mount Sinai and He wants to reveal Himself to Moses in a very beautiful way, Moses says, "Now, show me your glory.” He puts Him in the cleft of the rock and then He speaks these words, "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithfulness." This is the first thing that God tells Moses about Himself, "I'm a compassionate God." Even in that terrible book, maybe the worst book in the Bible, the book of Judges, that terrible cycle of sin that they go through when the Israelites are so corrupt and pagan in their worldview and in their lifestyles, no better than Sodom and Gomorrah, and God again and again sends them judgments in the form usually of Gentile invaders that come in and plunder them like the Midianites, et cetera. They cry out, and they're in grief and anguish and they put away temporarily their idols and they cry out to God. God is moved with compassion for them. It says in Judges 2:18, "Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, He was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived, for the Lord had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them.” Perhaps one of the most striking descriptions of this in the book of Judges, Judges 10:16. There the people who have been unusually corrupt, very wicked. God gave them over and said, "Just run after the gods of the Gentiles that you've been following. Let them save you." There's condition. The Jewish condition got worse and worse. Then it says in Judges 10:16, "Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the Lord, and He, God, could bear Israel's misery no longer." It was harder on God than it was on them. He doesn't take delight in people's suffering; He takes delight in people repenting and turning away. He has compassion. We have again and again these statements of God's compassion. Psalm 103:13-14, "As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him for He knows how we are formed. He remembers that we are dust." He knows your stomach cyclically gets empty and needs food. He made it that way. He knows how weak we are. He's compassionate. He knows what you need before you ask, or again, Isaiah 49:15 & 16, "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has born? Though she may forget, I will never forget you." Or again in Hosea 11:8, “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel?…My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused.” It was compassion that caused God to send His son, His only begotten son into the world. That's why He sent Him. Jesus spoke powerfully to the compassion of God towards sinners in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Luke 15:20, "While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him, and he ran to his son and threw his arms around him and kissed him." That's the compassion of Almighty God towards sinners. Therefore, Paul calls God the Father of compassion. 2nd Corinthians 1, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our troubles." Jesus is the incarnation of God's compassion. He's moved with feeling over other people's suffering. Look at the account again, verse 1-3, "Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus has called His disciples to Him and said, 'I have compassion for these people. They have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way because some of them have come a long distance.'" We have this huge crowd from all that area. The Decapolis was a predominantly Gentile area. It seems that's where He is. Those people had never seen anything like what Jesus was doing. He was healing every disease and sickness among the people, effortlessly with a word. He was giving teachings such as they had never heard before, and they just stayed there. They just stayed there hour after hour, day after day, they didn't leave, and they were just so absorbed that they forgot their own bodily needs. Jesus knew they'd been with Him three days. They hadn't had anything to eat. Clearly that statement, “He’s on the third day,” showed that He's not feeding them every day. It was not his top priority to feed their empty stomachs. He could have done it every day, but it's not until the third day that He even addresses this physical need for them. But He says, "I have compassion on these people.” He knows their physical condition and without nourishment, and they're a long way, a long distance, maybe 10-15 miles from where they live, maybe more, if they don't get nourishment, they are going to collapse. The Greek word for collapse is that of a bow string coming loose, hanging loose on a bow. They'll just collapse to the ground if they don't get it. That's compassion. You're stepping into someone's situation, thinking about their circumstance and what do they need for this situation. That is the nature of Jesus' compassion. He affects the feeding. The feeding affected. Jesus involves his disciples. He expresses His compassion for the crowd to them. He wants them to know His concerns and He wants to teach them to imitate Him in that compassion. Like the last time, He wants them to feel the burden of their hunger of the problem. IV. The Feeding Effected Look at their response, verse 4, "His disciples answered, 'But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?'" I mean, do you ever wonder about that? Really? This is the question you're going to ask. That's exactly what they asked back in Mark 6, "Have you learned nothing?" Again, the disciples represent us. We're just like that. They hadn't learned the lesson of the loaves and they're going to prove it. God willing, next week we'll talk about it, they bicker about not having brought bread. They don't get it. They're slow to heart. They're dull. Then Jesus takes inventory of what they have. Verse 5,”How many loaves do you have?" Jesus said. "Seven," they replied. Like last time, He wants the disciples to provide what they have as a physical starter for the miracle. As I said in the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus clearly doesn't need that. He created the universe “ex nihilo”, out of nothing, by the word of His power, the universe. He doesn't need the starter kit of their bread and fish, but He wants to use it. I think that's instructive for us. We are drawn into the circumstance and we are called on to give what God's already provided to us to the situation. Then Jesus works out the logistics. Verse 6, "He told the crowd to sit down on the ground." Last time in Mark 6, the account goes into more detail than that. He had the people sit down in groups on the green grass, and they sat down in groups of hundreds and 50s. This was, as I said last time, perhaps for crowd control and organizational logistics. He doesn't go into any of those details this time in Mark 8, "Then He gives thanks to God and distributes the result." Verse 6, "When He had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, He broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before the people, and they did so." The thanksgiving is essential, looking up to heaven, just like He did when he healed the deaf-mute. Looks up to heaven. Everything comes from God. Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of the heavenly lights. "What do you have," Paul says, "that you did not receive?" Everything's coming as a gift from God. He just looks up and gives thanks for the loaves. Then somewhere in the middle of verse 6 comes the miracle. Do you see it? Look down at the text. See if you can see the miracle somewhere there in the middle. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people, and they did so. The miracles in there somewhere, I don't know where it is, but somewhere in there, barley loaves get multiplied. As I said last time, barley that never grew and was never harvested, never ground, and never cooked and never served, none of that. It just appeared ready to eat. It's a miracle. Then the fish comes along, the fish too. Verse 7, "They had a few small fish as well. He gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them." Again, the fish are mentioned as a second act, and again, the fish flesh that Jesus created never grew or swam in the water. They were never caught by hook or by net. They were never sectioned and grilled or boiled or any of the things that people who like fish do to prepare it. As one commentator said, "They were created dead." It's kind of an interesting mind-blowing statement. The fish were created dead but not spoiled, right? Ready to eat. Then verse 8, "The people ate and were satisfied." The word could be translated they gorged themselves. They ate until they couldn't eat another bite like the fatted calf. They are full. It's abundance. Then verse 8, the pieces are collected as evidence, "Afterwards, the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over." Now, again, the word for basket here, the Greek word is like a hamper. Even though there's fewer numbers of baskets, there probably might have been more leftovers this time. Then we have the count in verse 9-10, "About 4,000 men were present. Having sent them away, He got into the boat with His disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.” We have 4,000 men, again, the women and children omitted in Matthew's account of the feeding, the 5,000 it says, "Plus women and children." So we have to imagine that's the same in every case. You have 4,000 men, plus women and children, a huge crowd. I don't know how many, 15,000 more, no idea, but a big, big crowd. This is an amazing miracle. 4,000 men, smaller crowd this time fed with more loaves. In my geeky math, it's like, "Oh, then this was an easier miracle then. Fewer people, more loaves." Don't think that way. It's a miracle. This is how many people there were to feed, and this is what there was to feed them, and He used it and fed them. Dalmanutha is another name for Magadan. It's the region between Magdala and Capernaum. Magdala is the place where Mary Magdalene came from. This is effectively Jesus's returned to Galilee now into ministry. The cross is now less than a year away. Jesus would finish His ministry there in the northern area of Galilee, and He would begin making his way down to Judea and to Jerusalem where He would die for the sins of the world. V. Lessons From this Second Feeding What lessons can we take from this second feeding? I would say not many different lessons than the lessons from the first feeding. Why should they be different? It's the same lessons. First and foremost, what does this miracle say about Jesus? It's simple. Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior of the world. Trust in Him for the salvation of your souls. That's what this miracle says. It's the same as all the miracles. “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples which are not recorded in this book, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and believing may have life in His name.” We should worship Jesus and trust in Him and believe in Him. Jesus created all things out of nothing. Through Him all things were made. Without Him nothing was made that has been made. Jesus is God and created all things. We should stand in awe and worship Jesus as they did at the end of Mark 7 when Jesus healed that deaf-mute and they said of Jesus, “He has done all things well.” Beyond that, in the first version of this particular miracle, Jesus links their need for physical nourishment to His death on the cross, as I said in “the bread of life teaching.” Listen to John 6:47-51, "I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” Jesus is calling all sinners to come to Him and feed on Him for life. That's not just once. Yes, it's instantaneous. When you trust in Jesus, the moment you trust in Him, you'll be born again and all your sins will be forgiven, past, present, and future. But that just begins a lifetime of feeding on Jesus. Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. All of those words ultimately lead to Jesus as the bread from heaven. Feed on Him. "When you trust in Jesus, the moment you trust in Him, you'll be born again and all your sins will be forgiven, past, present, and future. But that just begins a lifetime of feeding on Jesus." Next, I would say develop a heart of compassion like Jesus. We all tend to play the role of the priest in Levite in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. We see hurting people in the world and just walk by them. Don't be like that. Say, "God, I confess that I don't care about suffering like I should. I don't care about temporal suffering like I should. People that are hungry, people that are hurting, people that are in disaster-stricken areas, people that have poverty issues even in our own city, I don't care like I should. I must confess that to you. Would you work in me a heart of compassion to meet people's physical needs?" We know that their spiritual needs are far greater because eternal suffering is far weightier than temporal suffering, no matter how bad it is. Eternal suffering is what awaits the damned. We are told in scripture that many are traveling the road to damnation, and they're around us every day. They're heading toward eternal torment, and we should care. We should have compassion on them because they're like sheep without a shepherd. We should speak the words of life to them. We're called on to meet physical needs. Jesus will say to the sheep, "I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick, and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me." That's physical ministry. We're called on to do that [ John 6], "as a vehicle to spiritual ministry." That's our desire. Finally, Jesus prepares His disciples for world mission. This is a Gentile area. Jesus began, as we talked about the Syrophoenician woman's demon-possessed daughter a couple times ago, and Jesus said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel, but not ultimately to the lost sheep of Israel." Jesus will send His disciples out after His death on the cross and His resurrection to the ends of the earth. Jesus cares about Gentiles. These are probably Gentiles. He wants to feed them and care for them forever. In Mark 16, He says, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." Again, in Luke 24, “This is what is written, ‘That Christ will suffer and rise from the dead, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem.’" Today is a time for us raising money for missions. We should at least, be sacrificial about giving money. It's not a hard thing for us. We have been abundantly blessed. I've been here 25 years, raising money for Lottie Moon as part of what we do every December. I can't remember any more than one time that we didn't meet our Lottie Moon goal. It's grown year by year. Not every year has it grown, but it's at $150,000 now. We can definitely meet that and more. This is my last year as a trustee of the International Mission Board. I can tell you all of that money goes to keeping missionaries on the field, so they don't have to come back and raise support. We have, I think a total of nine units. There were four that were sent out during the COVID year. We have nine units on the field, I think, by my latest count that consider us their sending church.Our giving keeps them on the field. Let's be faithful and give. Now, the time has come to prepare for the Lord's Supper. I didn't orchestrate that we would be talking about eating bread on the day we do the Lord's Supper. The Lord, for some reason, wants to link the feedings to this. I think the central lesson of my sermon today is repetition. Jesus said, "As often as we observe the Lord's Supper, we consider His death until He comes." This is a repetition ordinance for us. I'm going to close this sermon time in prayer, and then we'll have the Lord's Supper. We invite anyone who has already trusted in Christ and testified to that by water baptism, and partake. If not, we ask that you refrain. As you're doing, as you're waiting, ask the Lord to show you any sin in your life that He wants you to deal with it then partake with a commitment in your heart that you want to live a holy life. Close with me now in prayer. Father, thank you for the time we've had to hear from you, hear from your written word, and we thank you for the power of the Word of God. We thank you also for the power of the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. Now as we turn our attention to this ordinance, help us, oh Lord, to learn its lessons and feed on it spiritually, even as we eat physical bread and drink the physical juice that we'd realize the spiritual lessons beyond it of the cross in the resurrection. In Jesus' name, amen.

Why Your God Is Too Small - #9344

A Word With You

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 3, 2022

Your first clue that something unusual ahead is a sign on the Interstate announcing what they call "the biggest cross in the Western Hemisphere." And, sure enough, as you approach that spot in Texas, you begin to see this huge white cross on the horizon. Actually, it doesn't look all that large from a distance. But then, as you drive that direction, it looks more and more impressive. Until you are coming up on it; (or especially when you do what I did), you stop and you stand at the foot of it - that cross is huge! I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why Your God Is Too Small." When you're far away, that cross is nice but it's not particularly impressive. But the closer you get, the bigger it looks. Sadly, there are people, even good church people, who go through their life never realizing the magnitude of the God they belong to. He's nice, but they never really see how big He is because they never get close enough to Him to experience His amazingness. Their God is too small, so their life is too small. The Apostle Paul didn't want the believers that he cared about to miss the awesomeness of the God they had. In Ephesians 3, beginning with verse 17, our word for today from the Word of God, he says, "I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power... to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (In other words, so you can experience everything God's got.) Then Paul, who has paid the price to see God up close, describes what He's like when you see Him up close. He describes God as "Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us." You don't get to see God that big by just taking your place at church every time the doors are open. You never see the amazingness of your Lord by just reading the Bible when you get around to it; by praying general, predictable prayers; by obeying God's Holy Spirit only when it's not too hard or not too risky. It is possible to be around Almighty God for your whole life and just keep a safe distance. You've determined how big God's piece of your life is going to be and that's that. But you'll never know what your life could have been if you would dare to step on the spiritual accelerator and experience God up close. When you do that, nothing else in your life ever needs to be overwhelming to you again except the overwhelming size of your God. If you want to experience a big, big God, make a daily time with Him in His Word the non-negotiable of your personal schedule. You can't specialize in your Lord unless you specialize in His Word. Throw open the doors of your heart and tell Him, "Lord, I've played it safe long enough. I'm ready to go for everything you've got by surrendering everything I've got." Tell Him you're ready to follow Him out of your comfort zone; beyond where it feels safe. We make serious mistakes because we forget, or we don't know, how very big our God is. We overestimate earth-stuff and underestimate our Almighty God. A safe distance turns out it really isn't safe at all. Don't just believe in Him, pursue Him with everything you've got. The closer you get, the more amazing He looks.

Shepherding Our Child's Image of God

Breaking Bread Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 19, 2022 24:20

Youth is a time of life when all manner of ideals are being formed in a person: reasoning skills, social skills, character qualities, work ethic, and academics. And yet, greater than these is the formation of the image our kids will have of God. Their God image is the sum total of their beliefs and feelings about who God is. In this episode of Breaking Bread, Brian Sutter speaks to the importance of shepherding this important formation in our children. Why God Image is important? It is the lens through which you view life. Where does God Image come from? Experience Teaching Shepherding God Image in our kids: Tap their imagination. Share testimony. Model it in relationship. Be patient with their questions. Point them to the Scripture. Helps: The Jesus Story Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones Children's Authors: by Max Lucado The Ology by Marty Machowski Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis Tiny Theologians Catechisms

god child parenting youth model scripture tap spiritual growth image of god narnia shepherding breaking bread their god god image brian sutter

Blooming Where You Are Planted – 3

Broadcasts – Christian Working Woman

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 14, 2022 3:00

“Bloom where you are planted.” It's not found in the Bible but it certainly is a biblical attitude. There's a passage in Jeremiah that is a great example of what it means to “bloom where you are planted.” You'll find it in Jeremiah 29, and it is a letter that the prophet wrote to the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Get the picture? They are God's chosen people, now refugees who have been forcibly relocated in Babylon. And here is what Jeremiah wrote to them: This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (Jeremiah 29:4-7). Jeremiah didn't say that they should fight to get back to Jerusalem. He didn't say they should just get by until God provided a way of escape. He said to make the very best of the situation they were in. This was a foreign culture; there was no temple in Babylon; it was a pagan culture, worshipping many false gods. And yet this is where they found themselves—this is where they were planted. Notice that God told them that he had carried them into exile, not Nebuchadnezzar. This must have been an amazing statement to them. Their God had brought them to this terrible land? Why would God plant them there? It was hostile to their way of life, to their beliefs, to their God. And yet God made it clear that they were to bloom right there in Babylon where they were planted. I am reminded that we who are Christ-followers are called foreigners and exiles in this world. Peter writes that we should “live out our time as foreigners here in reverent fear.” We are planted here, and while we're here we should bloom for Jesus. The exiles in Babylon were to build houses, plant gardens marry, increase in number and seek peace and prosperity for the city of Babylon. They were to bloom in Babylon, of all places. Are you blooming where you are now planted, or have you allowed the circumstances of life to destroy your will to bloom, to steal your joy? I want to encourage you to know that God can cause you to bloom in ways you've never imagined, if you will be willing to bloom right where you are planted.

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Ep 95: Book Reviews: Witches’ Sabbath

Bonfire Babble: Exploring Magic With Two Modern Witches

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 20, 2022 36:21

Recording on June 26th. Two days after SCOTUS made the choice that Women and people with wombs don't have autonomy over their own bodies. We here at Bonfire Babble do not recognize this unjust law. We recognize that living breathing Human Being has the right to make their own choices. We do not recognize that while they claim pro-life, they are playing "Their God" by choosing a possible life, over a life that is already here and has life and a claim for their life on this plane. We talked politics for about 25 minutes after the two reviews - and then I cut it - we will do that another time BECAUSE We are reviewing some books! From Llewellyn. These are some good ones Y'all! Corey Reviews: The Witches' Sabbath by Kelden & Jason Mankey Detta Reviews: Hex Twisting by Diana Rajchel THIS is the book you need if you are angry right now and want some solid actions to take while protecting yourself. Land Acknowledgment Bonfire Babble Podcast recognizes that we live and record on the traditional lands of the Duwamish Tribe. We Honor Their past and present stewardship of the beautiful land and the life-giving energy they provide. To learn more about the Duwamish People and Real Rent visit their site! How To Reach Us Join us for fun posts, extra materials, spells, and lots of fun stuff at Bonfire Babble Witches on Patreon You can find us on Instagram Facebook at Bonfire Babble Podcast Bonfire Babble TikTok Cawnawyn Mor Our awesome in-house astrologer! You can catch her once a month on the podcast! But always on Instagram…provided there isn't an outage…. If you like us – and you are on Apple Podcast – we would love it if you gave us a 5-star rating and if you have time – a short review! Thanks so much for listening! We are no longer on Privatized Feathers. Chirp, Chirp.

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The Return of the King

Wilderness Wanderings

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 5, 2022 6:35

Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. (Psalm 45:6) Today's psalm picks up almost directly on the heels of yesterday's. A question looms in psalm 44 about the suffering God's people have faced. They've done nothing wrong, and yet have been crushed. Their God and King has decreed victory, and yet they have faced defeat. As Pastor Michael noted yesterday, no answers are given to the concerns stirred up in psalm 44, just a prayer for God to rise up and rescue his people. Psalm 45 would seem in some ways to be that answer to psalm 44's prayer of suffering, though. It is a psalm to mark the wedding day of the King. The King's presence, power, and purity of character is revealed in all its royal majesty. “Gird your sword on your side, you mighty one; clothe yourself with splendor and majesty. In your majesty ride forth victoriously in the cause of truth, humility and justice; let your right hand achieve awesome deeds” (45:3-4). It all builds up to our verse today, a verse quoted in the book of Hebrews as pertaining to Christ: “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.” The King enters and rises up in the fullness of his power and majesty, vested with all the finest garments and armaments to be every ounce the God and King we would ever hope for him to be. As the psalm continues, the bride is also described in all of her glory and beauty. The song is joyful, anticipatory, taking a long look at all the descendants to follow from the union of these two pure and noble persons. Bride and bridegroom, king and princess soon-to-be-queen: the consummation of the very best ideals of all that is good and right in the world (if you need a visual: perhaps Aragorn's Coronation and reunion with Arwen in the white city of Gondor from the final scene of The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, would be appropriate). This psalm rhymes with the Song of Songs, and certainly looks ahead to all the beautifully cryptic language of our Christian hope: that day when Christ, the coming King will be united with his bride, the Church in that great heavenly wedding feast at the end of the age. It is a hope and a moment that encapsulates all the very best that we can ever hope for or dream: every ideal of justice and righteousness come in perfection, every notion of healing and wholeness made complete, every longing for fullness, given in abundance in ways that leave our cups overflowing. Psalm 45's answer to psalm 44's suffering then, is to remember and to believe in the hope that is ours in our King. Of course, in Christ, we have a much fuller picture to remember and believe as we await our Christian hope in our present times of suffering. It is no longer a merely human king that we look to, but Christ: one who is both human and divine—a king who perfectly embodies the truth, humility, and justice that we seek and who is mighty to save his people. This is our king who has been enthroned and our bridegroom who will come again to draw us all into the splendor of his royal reign when we take our seats and celebrate together with him at the wedding feast of the Lamb. Dear friends: in our present sufferings and sorrows, may we never lose sight of the hope of joy, reunion, and peace to come in the Kingdom of our God and of His Christ.

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Exodus 32

Simon reads the Bible

Play Episode Listen Later May 19, 2022 5:32

Exodus 32 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane. 1 When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. “Come on,” they said, “make us some gods who can lead us. We don't know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.” 2 So Aaron said, “Take the gold rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 All the people took the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded it into the shape of a calf. When the people saw it, they exclaimed, “O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!” 5 Aaron saw how excited the people were, so he built an altar in front of the calf. Then he announced, “Tomorrow will be a festival to the Lord!” 6 The people got up early the next morning to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry. 7 The Lord told Moses, “Quick! Go down the mountain! Your people whom you brought from the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. 8 How quickly they have turned away from the way I commanded them to live! They have melted down gold and made a calf, and they have bowed down and sacrificed to it. They are saying, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.'” 9 Then the Lord said, “I have seen how stubborn and rebellious these people are. 10 Now leave me alone so my fierce anger can blaze against them, and I will destroy them. Then I will make you, Moses, into a great nation.” 11 But Moses tried to pacify the Lord his God. “O Lord!” he said. “Why are you so angry with your own people whom you brought from the land of Egypt with such great power and such a strong hand? 12 Why let the Egyptians say, ‘Their God rescued them with the evil intention of slaughtering them in the mountains and wiping them from the face of the earth'? Turn away from your fierce anger. Change your mind about this terrible disaster you have threatened against your people! 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You bound yourself with an oath to them, saying, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven. And I will give them all of this land that I have promised to your descendants, and they will possess it forever.'” 14 So the Lord changed his mind about the terrible disaster he had threatened to bring on his people. 15 Then Moses turned and went down the mountain. He held in his hands the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. 16 These tablets were God's work; the words on them were written by God himself. 17 When Joshua heard the boisterous noise of the people shouting below them, he exclaimed to Moses, “It sounds like war in the camp!” 18 But Moses replied, “No, it's not a shout of victory nor the wailing of defeat. I hear the sound of a celebration.” 19 When they came near the camp, Moses saw the calf and the dancing, and he burned with anger. He threw the stone tablets to the ground, smashing them at the foot of the mountain. 20 He took the calf they had made and burned it. Then he ground it into powder, threw it into the water, and forced the people to drink it. [...]

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A New Thing

Christian Mythbusters

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 6, 2022 4:35

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John's Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today's edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. You and I live in an age and in a time when bodies of water are admired and enjoyed. Very rarely are they feared or seen as uncrossable boundaries. Of course, this does not apply for those of us who live in the Grand Haven area and have tried to cross the bridge from the north, with all that construction traffic. At times this has made the Grand River seem like an uncrossable boundary.This week, in the last Christian Mythbusters before we begin Holy Week, I'd like to talk about things that seem impossible and how God is often inviting us to see new ways forward. In the Hebrew Bible reading our church read this past Sunday, the prophet Isaiah wrote, “Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”For the Israelite people, when they hear a prophet remind them that their God is a God who makes a way in the seas and a path in the mighty waters, they know from a very visceral place what that means. Their minds go back, back to the stories their ancestors had told them about when the Hebrew people fled slavery in Egypt and arrived at the beaches of the Red Sea. There was no way to turn, no other path of escape from Egypt, and the armies of Pharaoh were advancing rapidly. But then the power of God pushed to the waters aside and made a pathway through the sea so that the children of Israel could walk to their freedom on dry land. They remembered as well, the stories how, decades later, when the descendants of those escaped slaves arrived at the Jordan River, on the eastern boundary of the Promised Land, their priests carried the Ark of the Covenant into the water and the waters parted once more, creating a pathway into the land of promise, the land of God's long-awaited blessing for God's people. The prophet speaking in the 43rd chapter of Isaiah is trying to invoke those powerful memories for God's people. For decades they have lived in exile, with no sense of how they could ever break free of Babylonian imperial power and return to the land God had given their ancestors so long ago. They were afraid, afraid that their sin, their failure to be the just society God had called them to be, that all of this had forever broken the covenant. But Isaiah is trying to remind them in this reading that every time it seems like the end for God's people, God has always made a way. Their God is the God who can make a path in the Red Sea, who can turn the waves of the sea into a chariot and horse to protect God's people.Isaiah is telling the exiles that the God who had made paths through uncrossable water was going to bring them home, it was just that God was bringing them home by a new and different way. So, they needed to remember those past memories of God's salvation, but also needed to let go of them just a bit so they would be able to see the new liberation God was bringing about in their own time. This time they wouldn't be coming home through water. Instead, God was going to sustain them through the middle-easter desert. God was going to create a new path, a new way home.I wonder, at the end of Lent, with Holy Week and Easter almost here… I wonder what new things God is trying to do in your life, in our church, in the world. The prophet is right, if you only ever look for God where you have found God in the past, you will miss the new things, the new salvation God wants to bring you. And sometimes, like those ancient exiles, you need to pull your eyes from the place where God has always saved you and look instead to what might seem like a desert. Because it could be that your salvation now lies in an entirely different direction. Know this, beloved child of God, throughout all of the paths behind you, all of the things that shaped you—for good or for ill—God's hand has been at work, redeeming that which was wrong and never should have happened and giving strength to that which was good. So wherever you find yourself at this end of Lent, don't give up. Remember the past, but turn into the new thing God is bringing about in your life. Let it be OK that you don't have it all figured out, that you don't know the answers, that you still struggle with sin and doubt. Don't let that weigh you down. Because the goodness God has for you is there, just ahead in the distance, if you can but make room in your life to accept and receive it. Thanks for being with me. To find out more about my parish, you can go to sjegh.com. Until next time, remember, protest like Jesus, love recklessly, and live your faith out in a community that accepts you but also challenges you to be better tomorrow than you are today.

Second Sunday of Lent (Readings)

St. Anne's Catholic Media Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 14, 2022 6:39

Reading I Gn 15:5-12, 17-18 The Lord God took Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so,” he added, “shall your descendants be.” Abram put his faith in the LORD, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness. He then said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession.” “O Lord GOD,” he asked, “how am I to know that I shall possess it?” He answered him, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” Abram brought him all these, split them in two, and placed each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not cut up. Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram stayed with them. As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram, and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him. When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch, which passed between those pieces. It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates.”Reading II Phil 3:17—4:1 Join with others in being imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and observe those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us. For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their “shame.” Their minds are occupied with earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord.Gospel Lk 9:28b-36 Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem. Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but becoming fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. As they were about to part from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” But he did not know what he was saying. While he was still speaking, a cloud came and cast a shadow over them, and they became frightened when they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.” After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. They fell silent and did not at that time tell anyone what they had seen.

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Keeping your marriage healthy despite step challenges W/ Rachel & Scott Dunne

Leap of Faith

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 9, 2022 21:16

In this episode, you'll hear: What Rachel & Seth did to prevent drifting apart How important it is to work on yourself individually and as a couple The importance of prioritizing your marriage BIO: Seth and Rachel Dunne are both certified stepfamily coaches with the Stepfamily Foundation and run a Blended family workshop with a local therapy group in Fairhope, AL. Seth also owns a commercial construction company and Rachel is a full-time graduate student and counselor-in-training. They have been married going on eight years now and have three kids, including two "ours babies." Their God-given purpose is helping others find peace and purpose in the chaos of blended family life. Instagram: @spiritualstepmom website: www.spiritualstepmom.com GET CONNECTED: www.blendedandflourishing.org www.joinwinell.com (Stepmom Community)

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Bloom Where You Are Planted – 3

Broadcasts – Christian Working Woman

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 2, 2022 3:00

“Bloom where you are planted.” It's not found in the Bible but it certainly is a biblical attitude. There's a passage in Jeremiah that is a great example of what it means to “bloom where you are planted.” You'll find it in Jeremiah 29, and it is a letter that the prophet wrote to the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Get the picture? They are God's chosen people, now refugees who have been forcibly relocated in Babylon. And here is what Jeremiah wrote to them: “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ‘Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper'” (Jeremiah 29:4-7). Jeremiah didn't say that they should fight to get back to Jerusalem. He didn't say they should just get by until God provided a way of escape. He said to make the very best of the situation they were in. This was a foreign culture; there was no temple in Babylon; it was a pagan culture, worshipping many false gods. And yet this is where they found themselves—this is where they were planted. Notice that God told them that he had carried them into exile, not Nebuchadnezzar. This must have been an amazing statement to them. Their God had brought them to this terrible land? Why would God plant them there? It was hostile to their way of life, to their beliefs, to their God. And yet God made it clear that they were to bloom right there in Babylon where they were planted. I am reminded that we who are Christ-followers are called foreigners and exiles in this world. Peter writes that we should “live out our time as foreigners here in reverent fear” (1 Peter 1:17b). We are planted here, and while we're here we should bloom for Jesus. The exiles in Babylon were to build houses, plant gardens, marry, increase in number and seek peace and prosperity for the city of Babylon. They were to bloom in Babylon, of all places. Are you blooming where you are now planted, or have you allowed the circumstances of life to destroy your will to bloom, to steal your joy? I want to encourage you to know that God can cause you to bloom in ways you've never imagined, if you will be willing to bloom right where you are planted.

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American Insanity

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 22, 2022 8:46

Called kkk. Via: Supreme courts. UC feds. Anti-terror dread. Judges. DA's. CIA. FBI. Any PD. Really. Soldiers of course

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Sri Aurobindo's Savitri - The Auroville Radio Talks: Book X, Canto III, Part 5

PRISMA Audio Books

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 20, 2021 50:39

Savitri claims the living Satyavan for their work together on earth, their sacred charge. Their God-given task is to bring God's Light and Bliss and Love to earth for mankind. She tells Death that within herself she has already triumphed over his darkness. She reveals the roles that she and Satyavan will play by saying; “I. the woman am the force of God, He the Eternal's delegate soul in Man”. Death challenges Savitri to reveal her strength and to prove her freedom from his laws.

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Walk in the Spirit, and You Will Not Fulfill the Lust of the Flesh

Laborers in the Vineyard

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 13, 2021 113:57

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? This is not to say that the unrighteous have no inheritance at all brothers and sisters, GOD will reward every man according to their works. The inheritance for the unrighteous is the Lake of Eternal Fire. We don't want that. We don't want to feel that. We don't want you to feel that, that's why we pray the LORD gives us an understanding and humble heart to submit to all HIS ways for our lives. Thank you for listening. Do not forget to check out the Hebrew Herald, Awaken Watchman, and the GODhead Expansion for your continual edification in JESUS name. You can also click here for The Husband, The Wife, and Their GOD - the book mentioned in the lesson --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thejewandi/support

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211212 Sermon on Philippians 4:4 (Advent 3) December 12, 2021

Rev. Michael Holmen's Sermons

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 12, 2021

Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice. Rejoicing is celebrating, being happy. We know how to rejoice. We rejoice when good things happen to us. We rejoice when we get some unexpected money, when we get a good deal, when it's time to have fun with friends. Nobody has to tell us to rejoice. The circumstances prompt us to rejoice. We might not even be able to help it. There are two modifiers, though, to Paul's command to rejoice. We are to rejoice in the Lord. That's the one modifier. The other modifier is that we are to rejoice always. What does it mean to rejoice in the Lord? We know how to rejoice in good circumstances. How do we rejoice in the Lord? This can only be done through faith. There is no way for anyone to know the Lord God except if he reveals himself to them. Only those who believe in what he has revealed of himself can ever rejoice in him. What has God revealed about himself? He is your God. You are his people. In the whole Bible this is always what he has to say, no matter who he is dealing with, so long as they are his chosen ones. He says the same thing to all of them: I am your God. You are my people. Stay close to me. I am your rock and your castle. For you I strive and wrestle. I am yours and you are mine and where I am you may remain. The foe shall not divide us. Whereas the circumstances are what make us rejoice otherwise, what makes us rejoice in the Lord is what he has revealed of himself to us. He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. His mercy endures forever. Just as you might rejoice that you can put some new-found money into your pocket, so you can rejoice that God is yours and you are God's. This good relationship is something to rejoice about. The other modifier is that we should rejoice always in the Lord. Nobody's in the habit of rejoicing always. Nobody celebrates always. The party has to come to an end sometime. The circumstances that cause us to rejoice either get taken for granted or go away. We do not rejoice always. And Paul is not calling upon us to rejoice always in the normal way we use that word. We are to rejoice always in the Lord. This means that our rejoicing is probably going to look a little different than the rejoicing and celebrating that we might see or experience with Christmas presents, for example. Sometimes people get the idea that the Christian life is supposed to be uninterrupted happiness, never-failing victory, a charmed life. This is not what we see, though, when we examine the people who have believed in God before us in the Bible. We do not see this even with Jesus. He did not always skip around with a smile on his face. He didn't look this way when he was being whipped or crucified. When he was looking ahead to the suffering that was coming upon him, he prayed that the cup should pass from him. And yet, we must say that Jesus rejoiced in the Lord always. Rejoicing in the Lord does not have to match up with certain looks on one's face or even certain feelings or emotions. Rejoicing in the Lord is inextricably tied up with faith in him. To believe in him is to trust in his salvation. No matter what might come our way, no matter which cross God might lay upon us, we can rejoice in our salvation. We can rejoice always, because salvation is his business and not ours. Since it is his business, and not ours, we can rest assured that it will never fail. Consider Paul who penned these words. Earlier in the letter he says that he is writing while he is shackled with chains. He is in prison for preaching the Gospel. He is on his way to Rome where he will be tried and falsely found guilty. Since he was a Roman citizen it is thought that he was executed by having his head chopped off instead of being crucified. Being crucified was considered to be too shameful of a punishment for Roman citizens. Crucifixion was reserved for slaves and non-citizens. In the midst of all of this perhaps Paul's rejoicing may have occasionally faltered, for he was flesh and blood like any one of us. But in the main, there's no reason to think otherwise than that he continued to rejoice in the Lord always. This doesn't necessarily mean that he was grinning or skipping while he was being led to the executioner. People think rejoicing has to mean a certain look or a certain visible emotion. But that's a rather superficial way of thinking. Paul believed in the Lord his God and rejoiced. Would he have rather had his head on a pillow rather than on the chopping block? Perhaps. But he took what the Lord gave him, trusting in his steadfast mercy. Apply this also to yourself. Unless Christ comes back first, one day you are going to be dying. The circumstances will probably be such where you definitely do not feel like rejoicing in the normal way that this word is used and understood. But you are not a slave to your circumstances, where the circumstances dictate everything that's going on with you. You have a relationship with the Lord. It is my great wish for you that you are blessed to have someone with you at that time to help you die well. I hope that you have someone who knows God's revelation of himself to us. Knowing that revelation, that person can tell you about the Lord God. Knowing God's revelation, you can rejoice in the Lord while you are dying. There's nothing magical that has to happen. There's nothing that has to be charged with the right emotions, or perfectly persuasive. All that's necessary is to hear what God says about himself and about you. What God has said is that he is yours, and you are his. You can stay with him. The foe can't divide you. Just as God gave Abraham the sign of circumcision, so God has given us the sign of baptism. God says so often in the Old Testament that he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the believing descendants of Israel always rejoiced to hear that. The Lord was their God. Their God was for them, no matter what circumstances they happened to be in. You are a Christian. You have been given the name of Christ. You are baptized into him. You have eaten his body and drank his blood. The Lord God has revealed himself to you thoroughly. What he reveals about himself is that he forgives you and graciously receives you. No matter what happens to you, you cannot be separated from this God, because he has joined himself to you. Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.” He really means it. Rejoice in the Lord always. Death can be really hard. It can be really painful. But in the midst of this sorrow and sadness you can look to your God's salvation of you like it's a north star. It is a true guide. It will not lead you astray. It's the only true guide. It's not uncommon the hear people say that they hope that they die in their sleep or that they will die very suddenly. There's nothing wrong, per se, about dying in your sleep or very suddenly, but I think it's overrated. This kind of talk makes people hope for something that doesn't happen all that often. Plus it makes people afraid to die in a slower way. That's not good. We're already screwed up enough as it is when it comes to our feeble attempts to cope with dying and death. We don't need to have Christians fear it on top of all that. A good death is one where a person is given the opportunity to rejoice in the Lord by hearing his promises, even while their body is shutting down. A good death is one where the person who is dying is given the opportunity to believe in Jesus's victory over death, even while they are experiencing the unpleasant side effects that go along with death. The person who dies with trust in Christ the crucified dies well, no matter what the circumstances of that death might be. Helping your friends and your loved ones to die well does not take a lot of smarts. You don't have to be a gifted speaker. The main thing that it requires is courage. To help that courage along it is also very helpful to be well catechized, to know God's revelation. If a person does not feel like they know who God is and what he has revealed, they probably won't have the confidence to speak about him—especially in such a fraught and stressful situation. Regardless, the main thing that is needed is courage. I have become convinced that there are powers and principalities that shut us Christians down from talking to one another about God and what God has revealed. We are comfortable talking about the weather, about sports, about what-have-you, but if someone starts to talk about God we get very nervous. It's as though this is something that is strictly set apart. Only the pastor can speak that way. This is false, false, false. By your baptism you have been given the keys to the kingdom of God. You have been given all that Christ has. There is nothing that a pastor has that you don't already have by virtue of your baptism. The only difference is that God has given me the job of doing this full time. The Law or the Gospel that you might speak is no less effective or powerful than the Law or the Gospel that I might speak. The Sacrament that you might administer, an emergency baptism, for example, is no different from the Sacrament that I would administer. All of this is to say that you are fully equipped to tell your loved ones about the God who has revealed himself to us in Christ the crucified and risen. You may urge your loved ones to rejoice in the Lord always, just as I've urged you in this sermon. The message that makes all the difference is the one that says God has chosen you. This is what we are to believe in. I can authoritatively declare that God has chosen you because he has baptized you. You are hearing his word as it is being spoken right now. This Word of God says that he is yours and you are his. Where he is, you may remain. The foe shall not divide you. How can we not rejoice (even if it be quietly and inwardly) when we hear that we have such a great and powerful friend as God himself? If there were any circumstances over which we could rejoice, it certainly has to be this. The mercy of God is beyond our comprehension. His power knows no bounds. He loves you and receives you, even though you are a sinner. There is peace between God and you because of the sacrifice of Jesus.

Episode 7 Eric Maitlin

Faith In Your Recovery

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 10, 2021 45:40

Eric and his wife run their own non-profit, Two Eight Ministries. They are highly active in the recovery movement. Their God given gifts and talents help them reach strugglers in a unique way. Their commitment to the effort is extremely solid. Eric will share their experiences with us. Two Eight Ministries is one more option. It's one that works. Check out https://www.ericjillian.com/ for more music.

their god

Scrupulosity: When OCD Gets Religion

Interior Integration for Catholics

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 6, 2021 97:58

Summary: In this episode, we explore the conventional secular and the traditional spiritual ways of understanding scrupulosity, bringing in the experts to define scrupulosity, tells us the signs of being scrupulous, speculate on the causes of the trouble, discuss that standard remedies in the secular and spiritual realms. Then I share with you my views on it, looking at scrupulosity through an Internal Family Systems lens, grounded in a Catholic worldview. We discuss how parts have different God images and the role of shame and anger in the experience of scrupulosity. Description of Scrupulosity Suddenly my stomach tightens up, there's a choking in my throat, and my torture begins. The bad thoughts come. . . . I want to drive them out, but they keep coming back. . . . It is terrible to be in a struggle like this! To have a head that goes around and around without my being able to stop it; to be a madman and still quite rational, for all that. . . . I am double. . . . at the very time that I am trying to plan what I want to do, another unwanted thought is in my mind. . . . Distracting me and always hindering me from doing what I want to do. -- Quoted in Albert Barbaste, “Scrupulosity and the Present Data of Psychiatry,” TheologyDigest, 1.3 (Autumn 1953) 182. Fr. William Doyle: Around 1900 “My confessions were bad. My confessor does not understand me, he is mistaken in me, not believing that I could be so wicked. I have never had contrition. I am constantly committing sins against faith, against purity. I blaspheme interiorly. I rashly judge, even priests. The oftener I receive Holy Communion, the worse I become,” Around 1900 My story just turned 19 -- terrible bout of scrupulosity. Around sexuality Just started dating the first woman I might consider marrying Physical touching -- romantic contact How far was too far? Thoughts of sex with her -- plagued me. Do I break up with her? How do I handle this? What was sinful, what was not? Was I on the road to hell? Was I putting her on the road to hell? I thought I was going crazy. Review: I encourage you to review the last episode, number 86 -- Obsessions, Compulsions, OCD and IFS That episode went deep into obsessions and compulsions and serves as a basis for today's episode. Today's episode, number 87 is entitled Scrupulosity: When OCD Gets Religion and it's released on December 6, 2021, St. Nick's Day. I am Dr. Peter Malinoski, clinical psychologist and passionate Catholic and together, we are taking on the tough topics that matter to you. We bring the best of psychology and human formation and harmonize it with the perennial truths of the Catholic Faith. Interior Integration for Catholics is part of our broader outreach, Souls and Hearts bringing the best of psychology grounded in a Catholic worldview to you and the rest of the world through our website soulsandhearts.com Overview Start out with definitions of scrupulosity both from spiritual and secular sources, really want to wrap our minds around what scrupulosity is and the different types of scrupulosity. We will discuss the connection between scrupulosity and OCD -- discussion of OCD We will then move to the signs of scrupulosity -- how can you tell when there is scrupulosity? Then we will get into the internal experience of scrupulosity. What is it like to experience intense scruples? Had a taste in the intro, but we will get much more into that. We will discuss what religious and secular experts have to say about the causes of scrupulosity Then what religious and secular experts have to say about the treatment of scrupulosity -- that most recommended therapy approach and the medications typically prescribed. After we've discussed the conventional secular and spiritual approaches to treating scrupulosity, I will how I think about scrupulosity, the root causes of scrupulosity, and how scrupulosity develops and how it can be treated. I will give you an alternative view, grounded in a Catholic understanding of the human person and informed by Internal Family Systems thinking. Definitions: You know how important definitions are to me. We really want to make sure we understand what we are talking about. Scruple comes from the Latin word scrupulum, "small, sharp stone" -- like walking with a stone in your shoe. Ancient Roman weight of 1/24 of an ounce or 1.3 grams. Something tiny, but that can cause a lot of discomfort. Definitions from Spiritual Sources Fr. William Doyle, SJ. Scruples and their Treatment 1897: Scrupulosity, in general, is an ill-founded fear of committing sin. Fr. Hugh O'Donnell: Scrupulosity may be defined as a habitual state of mind that, because of an unreasonable fear of sin, inclines a person to judge certain thoughts or actions sinful when they aren't or that they are more gravely wrong than they really are… Scrupulosity involves an emotional condition that interferes with the proper working of the mind and produces a judgement not in accordance with object truth, but with the emotion of fear. Fr. James Jackson, article "On Scrupulosity" A very good definition Scrupulosity is an emotional condition, an ultra-sensitivity to sin, which produces excessive anxiety and fear from the thought of eternal damnation…This condition is a religious, moral and psychological state of anxiety, fear and indecision. It is coupled with extreme guilt, depression and fear of punishment from God. However, each person who suffers from it does so uniquely. Fr. Marc Foley: The Context of Holiness: Psychological and Spiritual Reflections on the Life of St. Therese of Lisieux Excellent, very psychologically informed study of the Little Flower Not only the best psychological profile of St. Therese of Lisieux, but the best psychobiography of any saint from any author I've read. A very in-depth look at her mother, St. Zelie as well and the limitations and lack of attunement in the Martin family Highly recommended reading -- all of chapter 12 is on The Little Flower's scrupulosity. Scrupulosity is an extremely painful anxiety disorder. It consists of annoying fear that one is offended God or could offend God at any moment and that God will cast her into hell. To protect yourself from eternal damnation, the scrupulous person dissects every thought, motive, and action in order to ascertain if she has send. And since she is deathly afraid that she might have sent, the scrupulous person seeks absolute certitude that she hasn't send in order to assuage her fears. Definitions from Secular Sources Timothy Sisemore, Catherine Barton, Mary Keeley From Richmont Graduate University Scrupulosity is a "sin phobia." Jaimie Eckert, Scrupulosity Coach: Scrupulosity is where faith and OCD collide. International OCD Foundation Fact Sheet: What is Scrupulosity? By C. Alec Pollard: A form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) involving religious or moral obsessions. Scrupulous individuals are overly concerned that something they thought or did might be a sin or other violation of religious or moral doctrine. Bridging the Secular and the Spiritual Joseph W. Ciarrocchi's The Doubting Disease: Help for Scrupulosity and Religious Compulsions -- published in 1995, and still the most cited text in Catholic circles, even more than a quarter century later. Dr. Ciarrocchi, a former Catholic priest, trained as a clinical psychologist and served as professor and chairman of pastoral counseling at Loyola University in Maryland prior to his death in 2010. Scrupulosity refers to seeing sin where there is none. He viewed scrupulosity as a sub-set of obsessive- compulsive disorder (OCD), basically a kind of “religious OCD.” He distinguishes developmental scrupulosity self-limited form of scrupulosity often occurring in adolescents or shortly after a conversion experience (e.g. St. Ignatius of Loyola) Temporary, usually disappears. emotional scrupulosity -- symptoms of OCD More enduring conditions Can vary in intensity over time, from being overwhelming to just mildly irritating Can last for years. Core experience of scrupulosity: "an intrusive idea, often associated with a sinful impulse, which the person abhors but cannot shake." "The French label the emotional condition which is sometimes part of scrupulosity "the doubting disease." Signs of Scrupulosity What do we see. A lot we don't see. Fr. Thomas Santa, past director of Scrupulous Anonymous and Author of the book Understanding Scrupulosity When people struggle with the scrupulous disorder, most of the suffering, fear, and anxiety they experience happens in isolation. Scrupulosity is mostly an interior struggle, seldom manifesting itself with easily identifiable or observable mannerisms or behaviors. You can't tell if people are scrupulous by looking at them. While some compulsions of obsessive-compulsive disorder are identifiable, most of the suffering associated with the disorder is personal. Only the sufferer fully knows its debilitating nature. Sources IOCDF Fact Sheet Jaimie Eckert Scrupulosity Coach The Gateway institute website Doubting Disease 1995 by Joseph Ciarrocchi Obsessions -- excessive concerns about Fears of Blaspheming, accusing God of being negligent or abusive or evil, cursing God Fears of Sacrilege, abusing our Lord in the Eucharist for example Fears about impulses -- taking one's clothes off in Church, screaming obscenities during Mass Example of the man concerned about touching his infant daughter's genitals Sexual thoughts about a romantic partner Sexual thoughts or images about a religious figure -- Jesus, Mary, a saint, or possibly a priest or religious. Fears around harming others I might cause the death of someone if I sneeze or cough during Mass -- I coughed. Maybe I'm sick. Maybe I have COVID. Maybe I'm a spreader. A pharmacist worries she will fill prescriptions incorrectly and poison customers at her pharmacy. Fears around aggression -- Driver goes over a bump in the Church parking lot in the dark after the parish council meeting. Is concerned he may have run over the pastor. Cooperating in the sins of others "Man participates in a discussion about a historical figure dead for more than 1000 years, who is alleged to have been a homosexual. He worries that he has committed the sin of detraction." -- Example from Joseph Ciarrocchi. Being a sinful person, dishonest, lacking integrity -- honesty Ruminating about past mistakes, errors, past sins Purity -- looking for moral perfection Not Loving Others enough -- Mother worrying she doesn't love her children enough. Going to hell Death A loss of impulse control Cyclical Doubts Often about salvation, selling your soul to the devil, in mortal sin Intrusive thoughts and images 666, Satan, Hell, pornographic images, etc. Compulsions Behavioral Compulsions Excessive trips to confession Repeatedly seeking reassurance from religious leaders and loved ones Repeated cleansing and purifying rituals Acts of self-sacrifice Repetitive religious behaviors Avoiding situations (for example, religious services) in which they believe a religious or moral error would be especially likely or cause something bad to happen Avoiding certain objects or locations because of fears they may be sinful Mental Compulsions Excessive praying (sometimes with an emphasis on the prayer needing to be perfect) I compulsions about praying. Tithing prayer. 1.6 hours vs. 2.4 hours. Needing to pray perfectly or at least adequately enough. Repeatedly imagining sacred images or phrases Repeating passages from sacred scriptures in one's head Making pacts with God to avoid hell or buy time or just to get a little relief in the present moment. Intense sense of guilt-- feeling guilty all the time -- about things that don't carry moral weight. Inflated sense of responsibility Not distinguishing between thoughts and actions. Example: Joseph Ciarrocchi The Smith family traditionally joins hands around the dinner table to give thanks in prayer before the meal. Susie, age 4, and Billy, age 6 sometimes are fidgety (and always hungry). Mrs. Smith worries that Susie, Billy, and perhaps herself haven't not “truly prayed” due to the multiple distractions: Susie is scratching her mosquito bite, Billy is leering at the chocolate pudding, and Mrs. Smith remembers she has a school board meeting after dinner. She doubts that their prayers were “heard,” and so request of the family repeat their prayers. Sometimes she makes the whole family repeat them, and sometimes only the children. Once the children needed to repeat them four times, even the Mr. Smith tried to intervene after the second time. Mrs. Smith sought advice from her pastor who urged her not to repeat the prayers, either for herself or the children. When she attempts to follow this advice, however, her entire meal is ruined as she attempts to sort out in her head whether this is acceptable to God. She will continue to worry about it throughout the rest of the evening, including her school board meeting. Distinguishing Scrupulosity of normal religious practice IOCDF Fact Sheet: Unlike normal religious practice, scrupulous behavior usually exceeds or disregards religious law and may focus excessively on one trivial area of religious practice while other, more important areas may be completely ignored. The behavior of scrupulous individuals is typically inconsistent with that of the rest of the faith community. Internal Experience of Scrupulosity Plutarch: a first century priest for the Greek god Apollo at the Temple at Delphi. He wrote about the so-called “superstitious” man, who… And so is the soul of the superstitious man. He turns pale under his crown of flowers, is terrified while he sacrifices, prays with a faltering voice, scatters incense with trembling hands, and all in all proves how mistaken was the saying of Pythagoras that we are at our best when approaching the gods. For that is the time when the superstitious are most miserable and most woebegone.... OCD Center of Los Angeles: One of the first documented references to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) was in a 1691 sermon by Anglican Bishop John Moore of Norwich in which he discussed men and women who were overwhelmed with unwanted thoughts, and tormented by feelings of guilt and shame over what he described as “religious melancholy.” Priests had started to notice that some churchgoers were attending confession several times a day, and repeatedly confessing to the same sins and shortcomings that they feared would result in divine judgment and eternal damnation. Their penance and absolution would provide only a fleeting glimpse of peace, and then their fears would come roaring back. William Van Ornum, A Thousand frightening fantasies: understanding and human scrupulosity in obsessive-compulsive disorder 1997 24-year-old computer programmer writes, “what worries me is that at any moment and in only a few seconds I can commit serious sin. The only remedy is confession. I worry about what I've done until I confess it; then it's all over. The problem is that I fall or worry again and need to go back.” Fr. Thomas Santa: Being possessed by a thousand frightening fantasies Constructing a spider web in the mind. People with the disorder often feel as if they are isolated in darkness. They describe this feeling as a “cloud” that perpetually engulfs them. They feel the disorder constantly and uncomfortably, even in the background of day-to-day living. Scrupulosity demands constant attention and can feel like a severe and unrelenting master. At best, most people who suffer with the disorder have learned to live with it. They hope it does not get more pronounced or spill into other areas of life. Relief does not exist, so any promises of relief through activities like rituals are essentially dead ends. For those who are religious, consistent spiritual practices can help and at the same time be debilitating. From Joseph Ciarrocchi's Book "Doubting Disease Bob is 28-year-old married Jewish man who works for an accounting firm. He is thrilled with the birth of his first child, a bubbly infant girl. Bob is about to be totally involved with her as a parent and share in all aspects of childcare. He was shocked by the following experience: Bob was changing his daughter's diaper when the thought, idea, or image (he wasn't quite sure which close parentheses flashed through his mind – “Touch her private parts.” The first time it happened he shuddered, tried to dismiss the idea, and hurriedly completed diapering her. All they tried not to think about it. The next time he changed her diaper, however, the idea came back, but this time in the form of a graphic picture of Bob engaging in the dreaded behavior. This time he felt nausea, became dizzy, and called his wife to finish, saying he thought he was ill and would pass out. The idea began to torment Bob. He found himself not wanting to be alone with his daughter, Les T “give in” to the simples. He refused to bathe her or change her diaper. Sensing something was drastically wrong his wife urged him to seek help. He talked to his rabbi who tried to assure him that he was not a child molester and should dismiss the thoughts. Psychodynamic perspective Sources Nancy McWilliams Psychoanalytic Diagnosis -- Psychdynamic Diagnostic manual Thinking and Doing predominate over Feeling, sensing, intuiting, listening, playing, daydreaming, enjoying the creative arts and other modes that are less rationally driven or instrumental Hold themselves to very high standards, sometimes impossibly high. Central conflict: Rage and being controlled vs. fear of being condemned or punished. Cooperation and rebellion Initiative and sloth Cleanliness and slovenliness Order and disorder Thrift and improvidence Polarizations inside. Emotion is unformulated, muted suppressed, unavailable, or rationalized and moralized. Except anxiety and sometimes depressed mood Consign most feelings to an undervalued role, associated with childishness, weakness, loss of control, disorganization and dirt Cognition Condemning oneself for internal thought crimes -- consciously or unconsciously Body states Hyperarousal -- expressing anxiety through the body Often health problems due to excessive washing Difficulties with Play Humor Spontaneity Pain about isolation. Shame about being considered weird and unacceptable to others Capable of loving attachments, but often not able to express their tender selves without anxiety and shame Relational patterns -- seek relationships in which they can control the partner, sometimes partners who can reassure them Being intimate in relationships Emotional connection Sexuality Causes of Scrupulosity Spiritual Sources Fr. James Jackson The Fathers of the Church considered scrupulosity – or psychasthenia, as the Greek Fathers called it – to be a spiritual problem which leads to a psychological malfunction. Timothy A. Sisemore. Catherine Barton, Mary Keeley -- The History and Contextual Treatment of Scrupulous OCD 15th and 16th Century -- connected scruples to moral reasoning, addressed under conscience -- concept of erroneous conscience. -- frees the person to act without resolving the doubt. Secular Sources IOCDF Fact sheet: The exact cause of scrupulosity is not known. Like other forms of OCD, scrupulosity may be the result of several factors including genetic and environmental influences. OCDUK.com Lots of controversy. Biological factors Strep infections affecting the Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders associated with Streptococcal Infection -- PANDAS Genetic factors Runs in families -- 2001 metaanalytic review reported that person with OCD is 4 times more likely to have another family member with OCD than a person who does not have the disorder Cognitive theory Everyone experiences intrusive thoughts at times People with OCD have an inflated sense of responsibility and interpret these thoughts as very significant and important Caught up in a pattern of Try to resist, block or neutralize them What is the meaning of the thought to the person? Joseph Ciarrocchi citing David Barlow -- OCD causes Those temperamentally disposed to having high levels of nervous energy, more pronounced bodily reactions to stress, greater levels of anxiety OCD is different from other anxiety disorders because those with OCD believe that certain kinds of thoughts are dangerous in themselves If I think certain thoughts those events will happen. If I think certain thoughts or spontaneously imagine certain things, or if I have an impulse to do such a thing, then I am the kind of person who would do such things. No moral distance between the spontaneous thought or image or impulse and actually doing the act. I must be bad. Unclean. Unworthy. Model for the development of Scrupulosity Strong belief that certain thoughts are dangerous and unacceptable Leads to the occurrence of these same intrusive thoughts This generates significant anxiety Leading to strong efforts to suppress the thoughts Which accelerates the frequency of the same kinds of thought Leading to a need to "turn off" the anxiety by any means Mental rituals Physical rituals These rituals are the compulsions And then there is a temporary respite, a bit of relief. The compulsive rituals are reinforced because they temporarily decrease anxiety. But then we loopback to the occurrence of the intrusive thoughts again. Psychodynamic understanding Nancy McWilliams -- Psychoanalytic Diagnosis Obsessive and Compulsive Personality styles: Marc Foley's Approach in The Context of Holiness about St. Therese of Lisieux's scrupulosity Parental figures who set high standards of behavior and expect early conformity to them E.g. making little kids sit still during Mass Strict and consistent in rewarding good behavior and punishing malfeasance Risk of condemning not only behaviors but the feelings that go with them Especially anger Issues of control in families of origin. Alternative -- a really lax family in which children are underparented Child concludes he has to model himself after a parental figure that he invents himself Child might have an aggressive, intense temperament -- projected on to that idealized parental figure. Self esteem comes from meeting the demands of internalized parental figures who hold them to a high standard of behavior and sometimes thought. Value self-control over nearly all other virtues. Discipline Order Loyalty Integrity Reliability Perseverance Is a particular religion a cause? No: Timothy Sisemore, Catherine Barton, Mary Keeley: A tendency to blame religion, but no more than counting OCD to be blamed on math class Joseph Ciarrocchi "Religion doesn't cause scrupulosity and more than teach someone French history causes him to believe he is Napoleon. All human beings exist in some cultural context. IOCDF Fact sheet: Scrupulosity is an equal opportunity disorder. It can affect individuals from a variety of different faith traditions. Although more research is needed to truly answer this question, there is currently no evidence to link scrupulosity to a specific religion. OCD Center of Lost Angeles It is worth noting that Scrupulosity is not partial to any one religion, but rather custom fits its message of doubt to the specific beliefs and practices of the sufferer. Yes: Joseph Ciarrocchi …religion may contribute when its content is presented in an overly harsh, punitive manner. Students of such presentations are likely to associate the context of the religious message with fear and anxiety. Jonathan Edwards, 18th Century Pastor and Theologian in the Congregational Church The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you was suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell. Heresies from Fr. James Jackson: Manicheanism: Manichaeism states, on principle, that all matter is evil. If, for example, a child grows up with an extreme attitude to modesty – where the flesh is seen as evil because it is the cause of forbidden impulses – then the slightest catering to the demands or needs of the flesh can result in a torment which rejects the goodness of the body. Pelagianism: There was once a British monk named Pelagius, who taught that a man can observe God's laws by human effort alone, that grace was not needed to do so. If the heresy of Pelagianism works its way into the soul it is an easy step to thinking that any lack of perfection is entirely one's own fault. One thinks, “this business of salvation is my work, so I'd better be perfect when I …” Thus salvation becomes something one must achieve by personal effort instead of by cooperation with grace. Jansenism: Jansenism is another heresy in which scrupulosity can grow well. It emphasizes that Christ did not die for all, stresses man's sinfulness, and requires extreme penances on a regular basis. It leads to infrequent communions and flowers into scrupulosity as a matter of course. Jansenism flourished within Roman Catholicism primarily in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but was condemned as heresy by Pope Innocent X in 1653. Jansenism was also condemned in 1713 by Pope Clement XI in his famous Bull Unigenitus. Jansenism focuses on how it was impossible for men and women to obey the Lord's commandments and to be redeemed without God's special, divine, irresistible grace. Jansenism taught that Christ died only for the elect -- a real sense of predestination Fr. Marc Foley agrees: Jansenism identified as the "remote cause: of St. Therese of Lisieux's troubles growing up. Biographer Conrad de Meester: "Zelie's mother, who taught her daughters an excessive fear of offending God, used to harp on the phrase 'that's a sin' to curb the least imperfections." Zelie had an excessive fear of sin and hell. Zelie was terrified that her five-year-old daughter Helene was in purgatory or perhaps even in hell, because she once told a lie. Spiritual Means of Recovery Joseph Ciarrocchi “Scruples in the History of Pastoral Care” (chapter four of the Doubting Disease) puts scrupulosity in the context of church history before it was viewed through the modern lens of psychiatric diagnosis. He describes several principles for the treatment of scruples from the pastoral care tradition. Act contrary to the scruples. Follow the example of others without lengthy and burdensome moral reasoning. Rely on the guidance of one spiritual advisor rather than consulting multiple spiritual authorities. Put oneself in situations that trigger the obsessional thought. Avoid religious rituals/prayers, which serve as compulsions. Ciarrocchi writes that these main pastoral principles “contain the seeds of modern behavioral treatments” that include modeling by others, exposure to the upsetting situation, and blocking the compulsive response. Fr. William Doyle 1873-1917 -- more than 100 years ago. General Remedies from Fr. William Doyle Prayer -- pray in temptation Vigilance Struggle against depression -- sadness increases scrupulosity Obedience to an experienced confessor -- perfect, trustful and blind obedience Obedience of action putting into practice the freedom of conscience Obedience of understanding -- soul remaining in revolt and persisting in its own erroneous ideas. Vanquishing errors of the intellect. Generosity in Self-Conquest -- acts of self-denial Particular remedies from Fr. William Doyle 19th century Doubts must be ignored Belief in the easiness of forgiveness Presuming decisions (of the spiritual director) Lenient view of one's faults -- magnifying glass Promptness in acting on decisions Broad-minded interpretation of advice -- broadening the way. Not piling up questions Ten Commandments for the Scrupulous -- Fr. Thomas Santa, CSsR (2013) Without exception, you shall not confess sins you have already confessed. You shall confess only sins that are clear and certain. You shall not repeat your penance or any of the words of your penance after confession—for any reason. You shall not worry about breaking your pre-Communion fast unless you put food and drink in your mouth and swallow as a meal You shall not worry about powerful and vivid thoughts, desires, and imaginings involving sex and religion unless you deliberately generate them for the purpose of offending God You shall not worry about powerful and intense feelings, including sexual feelings or emotional outbursts, unless you deliberately generate them to offend God. You shall obey your confessor when he tells you never to repeat a general confession of sins already confessed to him or another confessor. When you doubt your obligation to do or not do something, you will see your doubt as proof that there is no obligation When you are doubtful, you shall assume that the act of commission or omission you're in doubt about is not sinful, and you shall proceed without dread of sin You shall put your total trust in Jesus Christ, knowing he loves you as only God can and that he will never allow you to lose your soul Pastoral approach here. Predestination for heaven, Jesus will make us go to heaven. A lot of scrupulous clients are well enough formed to not believe that. Secular means of recovery IOCDF: Scrupulosity responds to the same treatments as those used with other forms of OCD. Cognitive behavior therapy featuring a procedure called “exposure and response prevention” is the primary psychological treatment for scrupulosity. A certain kind of medicines called Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) is the primary drug treatment for OCD. Treatment for scrupulosity may also include consultation from leaders of the patient's faith tradition. Exposure and Response prevention See the last Episode Difficulties with ERP for scrupulosity. Joseph Ciarrocchi "Doubting Disease": My opinion, based on the clinical and theoretical aspects of scruples, is that scruples are resistant to change because their religious nature places many of them in the domain of overvalued ideas. In other words, the person sees the stakes are so high in religious doubts (i.e. salvation depends and being correct) that the senselessness of the behavior is less evidence. After all, faith itself implies looking beyond sensory experiences in the surface meaning of reality. Scrupulous people usually know that their peers do not act the way they do. But since religious salvation is such an individual experience, can one really take a chance and ignore that's “inner voice”? Therefore, the religious aspects of scruples create a motivational drive around the symptoms which become overvalued ideas, and hence resistant to change. Jaimie Eckert Scrupulosity Coach: ERP can feel like it has deep moral and spiritual implications. Although it is a method that is helping you develop a normal spirituality, it can feel terribly frightening. For example, the woman who prays compulsively, repeating her prayers dozens of times until she feels they are done “right,” might be asked to pray only once and then stop, no matter how she feels. This can easily feel like a denial of faith. So scrupulous sufferers begin dropping out of treatment when ERP gets more intense. Kevin Foss, Founder of the California OCD and Anxiety Treatment Center in Fullerton, CA: People suffering with Religious Scrupulosity struggle with the ERP process because they fear that exposure therapy will result in a genuine sin, convey that they are OK with sin and that they do not respect God or God's will. Furthermore, Scrupulosity sufferers are generally knowledgeable of their faith's doctrine and Biblical texts, so they are quick to present chapter and verse explaining why they should avoid exposure and give in to compulsive acts. Despite my reminders of clients' logical arguments, they respond with “But you never know” and “But what if God mistakes my intention in the exposure and I'm now really guilty of sin?” So, to do anything that could potentially put that into question or undermine it was experienced as possibly damaging the practice of faith, challenging one's fundamental belief in God, or leaving one vulnerable to shifting beliefs and a slippery slope into sin. Psychodynamic approaches for treating OCD but can be applied to scrupulosity. McWilliams Ordinary kindness -- they know they are exasperating for reasons that are unclear to everybody Priests get frustrated. Parents get frustrated Do not hurry them, advise them, criticize them. Avoid becoming the equivalent of the controlling, demanding parent -- no power struggles But still relate warmly. A lot of acceptance. Avoid intellectualization Help them express anger. Discover their emotions and help them enjoy them. Joseph Ciarrocchi. Doubting Disease Treatment program is laid out in his book, Doubting disease. It is essentially exposure and response prevention. Target the scruples you want to change Identify your obsessional scruples through self-monitoring. Write them down. Identify you compulsive scruples -- write them down. Avoidance acts to reduce anxiety Record the circumstances surrounding the scruples Making ratings of the intensity of the anxiety triggered by each of the obsessions and compulsions. Record the amount of time spent worrying about the scruples Lots of forms and charts, all in the book. Increase your Motivation to Change Looking at how motivated you are, and where you are in Prochaska and Di Clemente's stages of motivation to change. Developing a Personal Motivation Plan Listing the Benefits of eliminating scruples Listing the Costs of not changing scruples Preparing for Change Setting up the plan for repeated exposure to the feared object or condition. From the very start of the fear response, the body actually starts a counter-response mean to return the body to normal activity levels. Habituation. Nervous system gets bored with the danger, returns to normal. Example of jackhammer breaking up the asphalt on your road. Exposure must be prolonged Exposure must generate significant anxiety Exposure must be repeated The compulsive response must be blocked. Prevented from happening so it breaks the cycle of some relief from the compulsion. Blocking the physical compulsion or the mental compulsion. More charts and forms What I think about scrupulosity. IFS-Informed Approach I'm going to start with the bottom line. I think scrupulosity is generated by a desperate attempt to find safety from a terrible, dangerous and uncaring God for shameful, undeserving, despicable sinner Scrupulosity is a twisted, frantic attempt to find some kind of safety from an angry, heartless God for me, a reprobate, a delinquent, an evildoer. At the core, scrupulosity starts with really appalling, awful God Images -- and the scrupulous person usually isn't aware of the how terrible his or her God images really are, because they are not allowed into conscious awareness. I discuss God images at length in episode 23-29 of this podcast, a seven episode series, all about God images, so check that out. God Images = My emotional and subjective experiences of God, who I feel God to be in the moment. May or may not correspond to who God really is. What I feel about God in my bones. This is my experiential sense how my feelings and how my heart interpret God. God images are often outside of our conscious awareness Initially God images are shaped by the relationship that I have with my parents. My God images are heavily influenced by psychological factors Different God images can be activated at different times, depending on my emotional states and what psychological mode I am in at a given time. God images are always formed experientially; God images flow from our relational experiences and Also how we construe and make sense of those images when we are very young. My God images can be radically different than my God concept. God Concept = What I profess about God. It is my more intellectual understanding of God, based on what one has been taught, but also based on what I have explored through reading. I decide to believe in my God concept. Reflected in the Creed, expanded in the Catechism, formal teaching. Now I'm really going to apply IFS to Scrupulosity, grounding it in a Catholic understanding of the human person. Discussed Robert Fox and Alessio Rizzo's Internal Family Systems approach to OCD in the last episode -- number 86 -- Obsessions, Compulsions, OCD and Internal Family Systems. Brief review: Definition of Parts: Separate, independently operating personalities within us, each with own unique prominent needs, roles in our lives, emotions, body sensations, guiding beliefs and assumptions, typical thoughts, intentions, desires, attitudes, impulses, interpersonal style, and world view. Each part also has an image of God. You can also think of them as separate modes of operating if that is helpful. Brief review: Self: The core of the person, the center of the person. This is who we sense ourselves to be in our best moments, and when our self is free, and unblended with any of our parts, it governs our whole being as an active, compassionate leader. Here is the critical idea: Each Part has a God Image -- each part has a way of understanding God based on its limited experience and how it understands that experience We have as many God images as we have parts. How God images form in parts. Parts have distorted God images for three main reasons: Parts learn via experience and the ways they interpret experience, especially in their spiritual inferences, can be markedly different than what God has revealed about Himself through the Catholic Church -- for example, a part whose role is to be dissociated from the rest of the system so as not to overwhelm the core self and other parts with its burden of interpersonal trauma may see God as distant, disconnected and uncaring, in a Deistic way; Parts may be very afraid of, angry at, disappointed with or disinterested in God and therefore refuse to connect with Him, preventing them from having needed corrective relational experiences of a loving God Part's understandings of God can vary wildly. One part may be angry and rejecting of God, another parts may be terrified of God, a third grieving the loss of God, a fourth distant and cold toward God and a fifth part, in the same person, may not believe that God even exists. As different parts come up and blend with the self, becoming more prominent in the system, they bring their God images into conscious awareness. That explains how our conscious perspectives of God can shift. Whichever part of us has taken over, which ever part of us has blended and is driving our bus, that part's God image is dominating in the moment So, in my view, a scrupulous person's parts are in a life and death battle with each other about God. It's more than physical life or death. It's about spiritual life or death, eternal life or death, the stakes couldn't be higher. The scrupulous person's managers believe that if they don't suppress parts with negative God images, the consequence could be to be damned to hell for all eternity. Manager parts are trying to appease God -- seek his approval, make things all right, strive to meet his demands, to be perfect Fr. Thomas La Santa: I will make God love me by becoming perfect. In this way God will have to love me. An enormous amount of energy is wasted by the scrupulous person trying to "fix" himself or herself or trying to become perfect. Fr. Marc Foley: The command "Be ye perfect..." does not enjoin us to strive for a flawless performance in the various tasks of life, but to do them as God wills us. We feel driven to do an A+ job on projects in which we have overinvested our egos. But doing God's will often demands the courage to do a C+ job because God bids us to spend our time and energy on other tasks. In order to do that, the manager parts have to suppress or exile the parts that have "offensive" God images or who may otherwise seem inappropriate or unacceptable to God. Those that are angry at God Those that are disappointed in God Those who are disgusted with God. Those that are indifferent toward God. Those that don't believe God exists. All those ways of construing God makes sense if you understand the part's experience and how it construes its experience. They are not accurate, they don't correspond to how God really is, but the part doesn't know that. Those that generate impulses to get God's attention via acting out in negative ways. Manager parts reject any part that experiences God in any negative way. Parts seeing other parts as evil, harmful, and terrifying. Demons Lepers Tax collectors Prostitutes Dangerous sinners -- banishing them. Manager Parts can speak for God -- they assume they know what God wants. Not in relationship with him, though. Really following a code or a list of rules or expectations. It's not about relationship, really. First two conditions for secure attachment -- 1) felt safety and protection; 2) feeling seen known, heard and understood. Drawing from Daniel P. Brown and David S. Elliott 2016 book Attachment Disturbances in Adults: Treatment for Comprehensive Repair. Felt safety and protection In Scrupulosity, there is no felt sense of safety and protection for so many parts, because of their God images and their fears about the God images of other parts being expressed. . The first primary condition of secure attachment is not met. The most basic relational need is not met -- no felt safety, no felt protection. The first primary condition for secure attachment is felt safety and security. It has be felt. And not just by other parts, but by the target part. We all have heretical God images. Pastor Jonathan Edwards: The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present; they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given; and the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course, when once it is let loose. It is true, that judgment against your evil works has not been executed hitherto; the floods of God's vengeance have been withheld; but your guilt in the meantime is constantly increasing, and you are every day treasuring up more wrath; the waters are constantly rising, and waxing more and more mighty; and there is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, that holds the waters back, that are unwilling to be stopped, and press hard to go forward. If God should only withdraw his hand from the flood-gate, it would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God, would rush forth with inconceivable fury, and would come upon you with omnipotent power; and if your strength were ten thousand times greater than it is, yea, ten thousand times greater than the strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would be nothing to withstand or endure it. How are you going to feel safe with a God like that? Feeling Seen, Known, Heard, Understood because there is no feeling of safety and protection for some parts, they don't want to be seen, heard, known and understood by God. They don't want to be near God, they don't trust him And that makes sense, given how they see God. Some parts may want to be seen heard known and understood by God, even if they don't feel safe -- they are desperate for attention, any kind of attention from God, even negative attention, so they signal distress by intense impulses toward acting out, especially in ways designed to get God's attention -- blasphemy, for example. Just like a neglected little kid, desperate for some kind of attention from his father may act out. Scrupulosity is the son of anger and the grandson of shame. Core issues of shame that are suppressed and generate anger. Anger is suppressed and generates fear and scruples. Shame -- the root of so much psychological and emotional distress -- whole 13-epsiode series on shame, from episode 37 to 49. All goes back to identity. Who am I and Who is God. Scrupulous individuals have a very hard time allowing their anger with God to emerge into conscious awareness and with anger in general. Dangerous emotion But look at the unreasonably demanding and exacting God images their manager parts have -- Their God images are unjust. Who would want to be with a God like that? No part has a really positive God image Not wanting hell But not really wanting heaven either -- to be face to face with a God like that for all eternity? So God has no opportunity to show the scrupulous person, in relationship, who He really is. Self-perpetuating. I wrote a blog on this on the Souls and Hearts website last week, on Inner Pre-Evangelization: A Focus on Internal Trust. My Approach Lead from Self --The core of the person, the center of the person. This is who we sense ourselves to be in our best moments, and when our self is free, and unblended with any of our parts, it governs our whole being as an active, compassionate leader. We want to be recollected, we want the self governing all of our parts Like the conductor -- leading the musicians in an orchestra Like the captain -- leading and governing all the sailors on a ship. When we are recollected, in self, 8 C's Calm Curiosity Compassion Confidence Courage Clarity Connectedness Creativity Kindness Self as the secure internal attachment figure for the parts. Parts coming to trust the self -- Blog on Working collaboratively with the parts -- contracting with them to not overwhelm Really accepting the parts right now, where they at. Trusting that God is good enough to understand and tolerate our parts' feelings. Scrupulosity as a gift, a signal. Look for the disorder underneath it. Not a question of willpower. Diabolical aspects Leaving people to their own devices Discouragement, inward focus, despising self, Spiritual Approach Not about overcoming scrupulosity Blessed are the merciful for mercy shall be theirs Childlike Simplicity and trust lessens our burdens. Parvulos. Little Children. Dust and ashes. Example of a parent -- would you prefer your child to be working on self-perfection Perfectionism draws us to be big, perfect, competent, having it all together. Jacques Phillipe: The Way of Trust and Love -- particularly helpful for those struggling with scrupulosity. p. 7 : The heart of Christian life is to receive and welcome God's tenderness and goodness, the revelation of his merciful love and to let oneself be transformed interiorly by that love. “We would like to be experienced, irreproachable, never making mistakes, never fall, possess unfeeling good judgment and unimpeachable virtues. Which is to say, we would like to have no more need of forgiveness or mercy, no more need of God and his help. 41 If we accept ourselves as we are, we also accept God's love for us. But if we reject ourselves, if we despise ourselves, we shut ourselves off from the love God has for us, we deny that love. 48-49 We need to practice gentleness toward ourselves so as not to get discouraged and condemn ourselves when faced with their weakness while also nurturing a great desire for holiness. But not a desire for extraordinary perfection. Holiness is different; it is a real desire to love God and our neighbor, and, issuing a kind of halfway love, go to loves extremes. 52 …we shouldn't fall into a kind of stubborn “therapeutic obstinacy,” with the aim of ridding ourselves absolutely of all imperfections or healing every wound. In doing that, we risk becoming impatient and concentrating our efforts on something God isn't specifically asking of us or, ultimately, paying more attention to ourselves than to him. 56-57 The more we accept ourselves as we are and are reconciled to our own weakness, the more we can accept other people and love them as they are. 49 What this podcast is all about. Contrast that with Pastor Jonathan Edwards -- sinners in the hand of an angry God: The bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood. Remember, you as a listener can call me on my cell any Tuesday or Thursday from 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM. I've set that time aside for you. 317.567.9594. (repeat) or email me at crisis@soulsandhearts.com. The Resilient Catholics Community at Soulsandhearts.com/rcc. So much information there and videos. I want to invite you to the Resilient Catholics Community The Why of the RCC -- It's all about loving with your whole heart -- all of your being. Getting over all the natural level issues that hold you back from tolerating being loved and from loving God and others. Who Who is the Resilient Catholics Community for? It's for you. If you really are into this podcast, if these ways of conceptualizing the human person and integration and human formation and resilience are appealing to you, then the Resilient Catholics community, the RCC may be for you. I am looking for listeners who want to be with other like-minded Catholics on the journey, on this adventure of human formation with me. Who deeply desire a personal, intimate relationship with God and with Mary, a real human, close connection And who recognize they have some natural-level impediments to that deep relating and who are willing to make sacrifices in time, effort, money, humility and courage to grow in human formation and overcome natural-level impediments to being loved and to loving What want to shore up their natural foundation for the spiritual life, because grace perfects nature. Who want to become saints. Who are willing to be pioneers at the cutting edge in this adventure of human formation. Really at the tip of the spear, the first explorers of this human formation ground for laymen and laywomen. First of all the RCC is My Tribe, my people, bringing together two groups into one First, faithful, orthodox, serious Catholics who are wounded and suffering and know it And Second, who are psychologically minded (or at least want to be psychologically minded), who believe in the unconscious and who embrace the unity and multiplicity of the human person And who want to see through the lens of a core self and parts. Unity and multiplicity make sense. What of the RCC $99 nonrefundable registration fee gets you the The Initial Measures Kit -- which generates the Individual Results Sheet and the Personalized Human Formation Plan 5 pages of results about your parts -- we've done about 70 of these now, and our members are amazed at the results, how accurately we are in helping them identify their parts and how their parts relate to each other, and the why behind their parts' desires and impulses. Weekly premium Inner Connections podcast, just for RCC community members --Lots of experiential exercises. A complete course for working on your human formation 44 weekly sessions over the course of a year for $99 per month subscription Daily check ins with your companion -- accountability and structure Weekly company meetings with 7 or 8 other members in your small group. Office hours with me Conversation hours with me All this for $99 per month. And we make it financially possible for anyone who is a good fit for the RCC to join through write-offs and scholarships. The fees are not the tail that wags the dog. And there also is opportunities for some parts-based individual coaching as well. Essentially, the What of the RCC is a pilgrimage together. The When of the RCC We open twice per year to new members in December and June, open until December 31.. We are open now. Soulsandhearts.com/rcc to register. Call me with questions! 317.567.9594. (repeat) or email me at crisis@soulsandhearts.com. So sign up Soulsandhearts.com/rcc.

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The Holy Spirit Pt23: The Gifts Of The Spirit - To Edify

Preach The Word - Audio Sermons

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 15, 2021 20:33

What is the purpose of spiritual gifts and how can we prevent them being used to selfishly promote an individual? Is the fruit of the Spirit not more important than the gifts? In Part 23 of 'The Holy Spirit' study series, we see that love must be the primary motivation for the seeking and operation of these gifts. Their God given purpose is 'To Edify' (build one another up) in the church. As we have explored, there is much division in the church about whether spiritual gifts should be sought at all today, but there is also much division and competition among those who claim to move in these gifts - why? More love and edification are the answers. This message is available at https://www.preachtheword.com now in MP3 audio format and in HD video on our YouTube Channel (https://youtube.com/PreachTheWord)...

spirit holy spirit gifts of the spirit edify their god

A Vampire from the Sky

American Insanity

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 28, 2021 1:55

He engendered the covens. The vampires. They never die. Live on and on. Love to suck blood. Suck and suck. They have suck parties. With the missing. Where do all the missing kids and women and men and animals go? They're kidnapped. Disappeared into thin air. Into vampire lairs. Their blood is sold and sold. By the kilo. By the pint. Their blood coveted by the covens of vampires in this land. The vampires stowed away on the mayflower. Columbus was one. Representing the bunch. The Vikings were some and they came 1,000 years before. Vampires rule this land. Blood is the payment. In blood is their life. The more they love. of more of us die. Their God is love. Right? So god steals the land. Cod steaks their blood. Don't trust their god he makes fools of us. So we die and we die. At the foot of their lies. We lie low until we get High. We get hugs from the drugs in the pipe. They never die. Isn't that a trip? Like Jesus Christ. Promised eternal life. Jesus was the OG vampire from the sky. A Virgin plus God and you have the right. The right to souls and lives. Many have come. Few have perished. They live until they essentially flutter into oblivion. Like a moth. Or a martyred race. Bland of brothers. This bland is your bland. Bland ho. Land. Hi. Land Ho. I saw it. A light in the far away of the sea. A flicker you could call it. It was a relief really. Adventure awaited us. And we didn't disappoint. We took their rings. We took their soil. We built our legacy on top of their palaces. We thirst for war and murder too. You see? Our weapons are superior. Your mind is cloudy with angel dust and mushrooms. We are the gods you fear. We are the curse you dreamed of many moons ago. This is a nightmare and we happily oblige. So that's how it went down. We did some very bad things in the name of the holy Virgin and the crown. We blamed our lust as humans on a theological opinion piece. We pretend to serve. all they do is bleed. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

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Marilyn J. Westerkamp, "The Passion of Anne Hutchinson: An Extraordinary Woman, the Puritan Patriarchs, and the World They Made and Lost" (Oxford UP, 2021)

New Books in Women's History

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 27, 2021 78:32

When English colonizers landed in New England in 1630, they constructed a godly commonwealth according to precepts gleaned from Scripture. For these 'Puritan' Christians, religion both provided the center and defined the margins of existence. While some Puritans were called to exercise power as magistrates and ministers, and many more as husbands and fathers, women were universally called to subject themselves to the authority of others. Their God was a God of order, and out of their religious convictions and experiences Puritan leaders found a divine mandate for a firm, clear hierarchy. Yet not all lives were overwhelmed; other religious voices made themselves heard, and inspired voices that defied that hierarchy. Gifted with an extraordinary mind, an intense spiritual passion, and an awesome charisma, Anne Hutchinson arrived in Massachusetts in 1634 and established herself as a leader of women. She held private religious meetings in her home and later began to deliver her own sermons. She inspired a large number of disciples who challenged the colony's political, social, and ideological foundations, and scarcely three years after her arrival, Hutchinson was recognized as the primary disrupter of consensus and order--she was then banished as a heretic. Anne Hutchinson, deeply centered in her spirituality, heard in the word of God an imperative to ignore and move beyond the socially prescribed boundaries placed around women. The Passion of Anne Hutchinson: An Extraordinary Woman, the Puritan Patriarchs, and the World They Made and Lost (Oxford UP, 2021) examines issues of gender, patriarchal order, and empowerment in Puritan society through the story of a woman who sought to preach, inspire, and disrupt. Hannah Smith is a PhD Candidate in History at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She can be reached at smit9201@umn.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Marilyn J. Westerkamp, "The Passion of Anne Hutchinson: An Extraordinary Woman, the Puritan Patriarchs, and the World They Made and Lost" (Oxford UP, 2021)

New Books Network

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 27, 2021 78:32

Marilyn J. Westerkamp, "The Passion of Anne Hutchinson: An Extraordinary Woman, the Puritan Patriarchs, and the World They Made and Lost" (Oxford UP, 2021)

New Books in Christian Studies

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 27, 2021 78:32

Marilyn J. Westerkamp, "The Passion of Anne Hutchinson: An Extraordinary Woman, the Puritan Patriarchs, and the World They Made and Lost" (Oxford UP, 2021)

In Conversation: An OUP Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 27, 2021 78:32

Marilyn J. Westerkamp, "The Passion of Anne Hutchinson: An Extraordinary Woman, the Puritan Patriarchs, and the World They Made and Lost" (Oxford UP, 2021)

New Books in History

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 27, 2021 78:32

Marilyn J. Westerkamp, "The Passion of Anne Hutchinson: An Extraordinary Woman, the Puritan Patriarchs, and the World They Made and Lost" (Oxford UP, 2021)

New Books in American Studies

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 27, 2021 78:32

Exodus (Traditional Service, Rev. Arthur Jones preaching on 10/24/2021 9:30:00 AM)

god exodus hebrews preaching pharaoh red sea enslaved yhwh hebrew scriptures arthur jones traditional service their god

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2021 26:58

Enslaved for a couple of centuries, God's people, the family of Abraham, have nearly lost hope, but then God raises up Moses and through him, God confronts Pharaoh, forcing the release of the Hebrews in a massive exodus across the Red Sea, with YHWH leading them at every step. This is THE salvation event of the Hebrew Scriptures, remembered and reflected upon in the many centuries to come. Their God has rescued them and is bringing them back to Canaan, the land promised Abraham centuries before. This is God's work, for, indeed, God is in motion!

Exodus (Contemporary Service, Rev. Arthur Jones preaching on 10/24/2021 11:00:00 AM)

god exodus hebrews preaching pharaoh red sea enslaved yhwh hebrew scriptures arthur jones contemporary service their god

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2021 30:22

Exodus (Contemporary Service, Rev. Arthur Jones preaching on 10/24/2021 11:00:00 AM)

god exodus hebrews preaching pharaoh red sea enslaved yhwh hebrew scriptures arthur jones contemporary service their god

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2021 30:20

Exodus (Traditional Service, Rev. Arthur Jones preaching on 10/24/2021 9:30:00 AM)

god exodus hebrews preaching pharaoh red sea enslaved yhwh hebrew scriptures arthur jones traditional service their god

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2021 26:57

How Big Is Your God?

Every Word

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 6, 2021 1:00

Their God was too small. “And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” - Hebrews 3:18-19 NKJV

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I Will be Their God, and They Will be My People | Jeremiah 32:30-41 | July 18, 2021

Sermons of Las Tierras Community Church

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 22, 2021 26:56

I Will be Their God, and They Will be My People | Gary Anaya | July 18, 2021Support the show (https://lastierraschurch.org/)

their god

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE featuring Richard and Hazmin

DOCUMENTED. Miracles Happening Today

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 8, 2021 56:43

Richard and Hazmin were a young newly wed couple that found themselves strapped financially. It seemed like no matter what Richard did, he just could not get ahead. Listen as they recount how God responded not once, or twice, but over and over again. How he blessed them with things they had not even dreamed of in ways they never could have thought up! When they would respond to God, He would respond to them in an overwhelming fashion!! Their God, a personal God, met them and helped them at every crossroad.

god their god

GOSPEL POWER | JULY 4, 2021 SUNDAY

PAULINES ONLINE RADIO

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 3, 2021 7:44

GOSPEL POWER | JULY 4, 2021 | SUNDAY | 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time Gospel: Mk 6: 1 – 6 Jesus left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went about among the villages teaching. Reflection The way we look at reality and relate with everything will reveal the kind of God we believe in. Is our God capable of surprising us? Is our God free to make unpredictable moves? Or is our God cut to the size that can be conveniently fitted into the box of our own desires and expectations? The townspeople of Nazareth cannot accept God's new way of acting in and through the person of Jesus, their local carpenter. Their preconceived notion of God does not allow for that kind of surprise. They are suspicious of the unexpected manifestation of wisdom and power in someone of a lowly background, someone they presume to know and be familiar with. Their God is imprisoned in their prejudices. By their lack of faith, they silence the Messianic revelation and block Jesus from exercising his divine power. Prayer Lord Jesus, let not our inadequate and, perhaps, distorted vision of God prevent you from acting powerfully in our life. Amen

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Jesus Laments Over Jerusalem

The Field Church

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 6, 2021 64:42

The Book of Luke: A Joy-Filled Journey With The Son of Man Jesus Laments Over Jerusalem: The Judgement of the Jews and the Salvation of the Few Luke 13:31-35 ESV Pastor Taylor Giliam NOTES: 1.The Indignant Order of the Pharisees and Jesus' Response (v. 31-33) 2. The Necessity of Jesus' Completion of His Given Course (v. 33) 3. Jesus Laments the Jews' Rejection of Their God (v. 34) 4.The Pronouncement of Judgement on the House of the Jews and the Promise of Salvation for the Few (v. 35)

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Vedas Nine? Perun Santees Russia Gave Four To India?

Hinduism In Ancient World Documented, Practices

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 1, 2021 7:12

The Russian connection to Sanatana Dharma is complex,intriguing,interesting and merits detailed study. This is because there is evidence, I have written in detail abiut each of them, Vedas ,specifically the Rig Veda was composed in the Arctic, Indra's City Amravathi is near Baikal,Russia, Indra's Vaikanasa Theertha is Lake Baikal, Rig Vedic Swasthik Mandala city is fiund in Russia, Archaim,Russia contains Havan/Homa Kund, Sage Yagnyavalkya lived in Russia, Russia was called Sthree Varsha,Kingdom of Women, Lord Krishna's son Pradhyumna built the Russian port city of Port Baijn/Barzhyn' Siberians worship Ayur Devatas, Russian language is very much closer and many terms in Russians are pure Sanskrit, Rivers mentioned in the Vedas are found in Russia, Rama's stepmother,Kaikeyi was birn in Russia, There is Narada mountain in Russia. Arjuna went on a Pilgrimage to Russia.. Russians have their Vedas,Perun Santees. They are nine in number. They seem to have been written in Gold( while Indian Vedas were transferred orally). Russians beileve that a portion of it was given to Dravidas,people of South India,whise method of worship was different. These Perun Santees date back to 600,000 years. The portion given to India dates back to 40,000 years. The similarities. Perun Santees believe in one Reality. There are expressed Gods out of this Reality. The sign of Reality is Swasthika. Their God of Thunder and Lightening ,Perun resembles Indra with his weapons. ‘In the classification scheme of Georges Dumézil, Perun was the god of the second function (physical and military power), a god of war, and as such, he was armed with several fantastic weapons. Perun's lightning bolts were believed to be stones and stone arrows. According to folk beliefs, fulgurites, belemnites, and sometimes even the remains of prehistoric stone tools found in the ground are remains of these weapons. Various Slavic countries also call these deposits “Perun's stones”, “thunderbolt stones”, “thunderbolt wedges” and “Perun's arrow”; other unrelated names for these include “devil's finger”, “God's finger”, and “Mother of God finger”, and in Lithuania, “Perkun's finger” These thunderbolt stones were sometimes said to be transferred back to the sky by the wind after being under earth for a period of seven years. The weapons of Perun protected against bad luck, evil ,magic,disease,and – naturally enough – lightning itself.https://ramanisblog.in/2017/04/25/vedas-nine-perun-santees-russia-gave-four-to-india/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ramanispodcast/message

Abundant Waters

Our Daily Bread Podcast | Our Daily Bread

Play Episode Listen Later May 13, 2021

In Australia, a report outlined “a grim story” of extreme drought, heat, and fire. The account described a horrific year with only minuscule rainfall, turning parched brush into tinder. Raging fires torched the countryside. Fish died. Crops failed. All because they didn’t have a simple resource we often take for granted—this supply we all need in order to live: water. Israel found itself in its own terrifying dilemma. As the people camped in the dusty, barren desert, we read this alarming line: “There was no water for the people to drink” (Exodus 17:1). The people were afraid. Their throats were dry. The sand sizzled. Their children suffered thirst. Terrified, the people “quarreled with Moses,” demanding water (v. 2). But what could Moses do? He could only go to God. And God gave Moses odd instructions: “Take . . . the staff [and] strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink” (vv. 5–6). So Moses hit the rock, and out gushed a river, plenty for the people and their cattle. That day, Israel knew that their God loved them. Their God provided abundant water. If you’re experiencing a drought or wilderness in life, know that God is aware of it and He’s with you. Whatever your need, whatever your lack, may you find hope and refreshment in His abundant waters.

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The Revelation of Angels Part 2:Truths and Misconceptions (Ep 71)

Revealing The True Light

Play Episode Listen Later May 11, 2021 31:40

Angels are mentioned over 250 times in the Bible. Their God-given purpose is inseparably intertwined with God’s plan for humankind. Does every person have a guardian angel? Is there such a thing as “an angel of death”? What are the divisions in the angelic kingdom? Both truths and misconceptions need to be addressed. www.thetruelight.net

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May 5th Morning

Play Episode Listen Later May 5, 2021 3:31

“I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” — 2 Corinthians 6:16 What a sweet title: “My people!” What a cheering revelation: “Their God!” How much of meaning is couched in those two words, “My people!” Here is speciality. The whole world is God’s; the heaven, even the heaven of heavens is […]

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Teach Your Children that the LORD is Their God

Profanity on SermonAudio

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 29, 2021 51:00

A new MP3 sermon from Christ Covenant Reformed Presbyterian is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Teach Your Children that the LORD is Their God Subtitle: Uncommon Children Speaker: Rev. Todd Ruddell Broadcaster: Christ Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Event: Sunday - AM Date: 3/28/2021 Bible: Leviticus 19:29-30 Length: 51 min.

Journey Through Lent - Day 27

Daily Radio Bible Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 15, 2021 11:45

He transforms the bitter water into water that is sweet, from water that cannot sustain life, to water that brings forth life. God did this. God showed Moses a piece of wood and Moses threw the wood into the water. And the water was made good. The bitterness is somehow drawn into that wood and now the people will live. On the cross, Jesus draws unto himself, Mara, the bitterness, the darkness and deepest gloom, the chains of distress, the trouble, all those things that people cry out, for God to help them through. Their God draws it into himself. Christ became sin, even though he knew no sin, in order that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ, in order that life giving water would pour forth from our very beings, because of him. Let us bring our lament during this season of Lent. Our cry for help profess our deep need for him to be the source of water that he promises to be so that we might drink deep and that we might pour forth the water of life Amen.

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No Pinch of Salt For You!

FULCRUM News with David Seaman

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2021

The value layer is rapidly going decentralized, and boomers don’t see it at all. Not financial advice, just my opinion. Their God is MSNBC, Fauci, and anti-crypto attention hungry morons on FOX. Bow deeply to your false gods and leave the rest of us alone ever more, boomers. Live in that media-brewed fear and misery — all on your own. No salt for you! The rest of us are going to rebuild the world and get back to living, because it’s time for that.David’s books:https://www.fulcrumnews.com/store-1

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Their God (3:11) Peter Mukuria

Prison Radio Audio Feed

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2021 3:12

So this poem is titled “Their God.” Former president Trump claimed to be a Christian, and former vice president Pence claimed to be a Christian. David Duke, formal leader of KKK, claim to be a Christian. This led me to wonder how their gods like, who they typically [inaudible] their knees, meld their hands together, and pray to. My vision led me to their God being a white male with a mullet, yes a mullet. On the weekdays, he probably wears a flannel shirt with no sleeves and a fanny pack to compliment the look. For pajamas, he probably wears the Ku Klux Klan robe, and he's an avid FOX News viewer. Huh? I bet their God rocks out to the national anthem and enjoy the hypocritical lyrics that they're in, and his favorite hobby is burning crosses. I bet their God attended a high school which serves racism in the cafeteria for lunch every day, and hate speech is their God’s first and second language. I bet that God has a tattoo sleeve on both arms full of swastikas and racial slurs for the sake of making intolerance more comfortable, and a constant reminder that Jews would not replace them and black lives don't matter—words echoed at the Charlottesville rally. I bet their God has constant daydreams of nostalgia over the good old days of slavery and Jim Crow segregation. I bet their God is a closed-minded, intransigent homophobe who doesn't recognize LGBTQ+ community as human beings worth of respect and dignity like everyone else, because equality was his most despised class in school. I bet their God is an indomitable sexist and misogynist. I bet their God is surrounded by angels in heaven with black eyes and broken halos who claimed they fell on the stairs. I bet their God created Eve without a mouth and only taught her how to spread her legs and invented the most effective ways to keep women subservient. I bet their God is calling me all sorts of N-words as he hears my voice right at this very moment. Come to think of it, their God isn’t some omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient God. Their God is actually one that we might encounter every day. So someone tell their God that my God is looking for him with vengeance being the topic on mind. Uh, so this is, um, you know, Peter Kamau Mukuria on Instagram @pittpanther_art. So, um, for full disclaimer, I hope you enjoy the poem, but for the sake of clarity, if you are listening and you happen to be a white male who has a mullet and wears flannel shirts with no sleeves in a fanny pack, if that happens to be you and you're on the right side of her-story, and you are, uh, the anti-racist, the anti-homophobe anti-misogynistic, anti-sexist [inaudible], then this is not about you. This is directed to those who cannot tolerate other people for simply who they are. These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.

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An Exalted Position

Grace Baptist Church

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 8, 2021 32:00

-They shall be My people, and I will be Their God.-

position exalted their god

God of Love

Daily Advent Devotional

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 20, 2020 2:30

ADVENT WEEK FOURDecember 20, 2020God of LoveLuke 1:26-38“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Luke 1:38“Gods don’t love humans.” If there was one common understanding among most of the peoples of the ancient Hellenistic world, it is this. To love was to be attached to someone beyond oneself, to be vulnerable to pain or rejection inflicted by that someone, to be open to change brought by that someone. Such qualities implied weakness and would inevitably lead to dishonor and shame. And since the gods were not weak and would not tolerate dishonor, they did not love humans. The most humans could do to get them to act on their petitions was to appeal to their vanity, their honor, or their power.But the Jewish people of the first century had a different claim about their God. Their God loved them. Loved them corporately and loved them individually. In fact, many were coming to believe, not only did God love them, God loved everyone. Which left God open to pain, to change and to caring about what happens to people. Which left God weak.Almost as weak as a young woman with little status and no power. Yet, in contrast to similar stories of gods impregnating young women, Luke’s telling of Mary’s encounter with Gabriel gives space for her to say no. But she said yes. Just like that. And though the word “love” appears nowhere in this passage, it permeates it. The love between God and a young woman. The love between the young woman and her people as she joined with her body their hopes for a more loving future. The love among God, a woman, a people and a world.Dr. Nancy Claire PittmanPresident andStephen J. England Associate Professor of the Practice of Ministry See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

god lord practice jewish gods loved hellenistic their god

Psalm 74:12-23

CNC Daily Psalms

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2020 1:47

We are continuing our series of reflections on the Psalms. Each day we will upload a new reflection to the website. We hope and pray that you will find them helpful and that they bring hope during this season. Click on these buttons to read the text of the psalm or listen to a recording of it. You can also listen to the reflection using the audio player below. Read Psalm 74:12-23 Listen to Psalm 74:12-23 Asaph acknowledges God as King and Saviour of the earth. He has revealed his power over the Egyptians and the sea. He recalls God's provision for the people of Israel during the exodus journey. Then he reminds us that God set the whole of creation in place and established day and night. Now in verses 18 and following the psalmist reminds God that “ foolish people" (i.e. His enemies) have criticised God and condemned him. He asks God to look after the lives of his doves – interpreted as being God's people, Israel. He requests God's protection for his people and for him to continue to fulfil his covenant. This was his promise to be Israel's God always. Their God who will always make sure they have his blessing and are safe and secure. He asks for God to look after those who are marginalised and ill-treated so that they too will come to praise God. It seems the psalmist is encouraging God himself to defend his cause rather than turning a blind eye to the noise and damage his enemies are making. We are reminded that God is at the helm and has promised to be his people's God always. There is a security about this in spite of surrounding threats. Let us remember that his promise to his people is now also for those who “have decided to follow Jesus". He will never leave us nor forsake us. Loving Father, thank you for your forbearance with your people in the past and for your unending love for us now.

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Ep 16 - The Running Man (1987)

Trash'fer Brains

Play Episode Listen Later May 12, 2020 70:48

Well, it's finally happened. The boys were selected for Running Man. Don't worry though, they're spirits are high and are ready to accept a gory death or holy glory. There's only one thing they can to prepare and that's watching their hero. Nay! Their God, Arnold Schwarzenegger win this beast of a contest.

action comedy commentary arnold schwarzenegger 80s nay running man bachman their god

May 5th Morning

Play Episode Listen Later May 5, 2020 3:31

“I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” — 2 Corinthians 6:16 What a sweet title: “My people!” What a cheering revelation: “Their God!” How much of meaning is couched in those two words, “My people!” Here is speciality. The whole world is God’s; the heaven, even the heaven of heavens is […]

God's Warning to Rich Oppressors (James Sermon 10) (Audio)

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Play Episode Listen Later Mar 15, 2020

Introduction Do Not Fear the Virus These are certainly extraordinary times, we know that this virus is affecting life all over the world, as I just prayed. We know that cruise ships have been quarantined, people have had a hard time getting back into their countries as they've been traveling internationally. We know the stock market lost roughly 20% of its value, and we know that specifically to us, worship services just like this one are canceled all over the world, across the country and across the world. These are extraordinary times. Just checked a website a few moments ago. The world count is over 162,000, the world death count over 6,000. But beyond that, there's a terrible fear of the unknown. And it's remarkable as we're moving through the Book of James, and we see the providence of God as last week we had the opportunity to study James 4:13-17, and we're reminded that we don't know what will happen tomorrow as Andy just mentioned a second ago, our life is a mist, it's a vapor. Instead we ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” And we need sometimes these reminders that everything we see around us is temporary. This physical world is temporary, but the next world is not temporary. We need to be reminded of that because the five cents world in which we live presses in on us every day, and it's hard to live by faith. We see our physical needs that press in on us, our pains, our aches, different things come in, and we're mindful of the fact that this world shouts and clamors for our attention. And sometimes we need to be reminded that this world is temporary but our souls are eternal. And if you're watching this livestream today and you know that you're not yet born again I would urge you to consider what Jesus said, "What would it profit someone if he should gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?" Or what would someone give in exchange for their soul? Your soul is worth more than the whole world. And Jesus at one point was talking about persecution, so I'm going to transfer it a little bit to the virus where he said, "Do not fear those who kill the body and after that there's nothing more they can do to you, but I'll tell you who to the fear, fear the one who after the death of the body has the power to destroy both soul and body in Hell." Yes, I tell you fear him. So what I would say to that is, "Let's not fear the virus ultimately, we're all going to die of something. But if you are not yet a believer in Christ, you should fear death because the Bible reveals plainly, “it is appointed for each one of us to die, and after that, to face judgment.” And the good news of the Gospel is that God sent his Son, the lord and savior Jesus Christ into the world to live a sinless life, he was fully God, fully man, “to be tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin,” but ultimately to give His life as a ransom for many. And that He was raised from the dead on the third day, meaning that Christians never need to fear death again. That if we're Christians, we know that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, we don't fear death because we know that Judgment Day, we will not be condemned. But what about you, dear friend? Have you come to faith in Christ, have you trusted in him for the salvation of your soul? I. Rich Oppressors Wanted The Most Dreadful Passage in James Now, as we move through the Book of James we're coming to one of the most convicting passages in the entire Bible. You just heard it read, it's a severe warning that Almighty God is giving to the entire human race through his servant, James, by the power of the Holy Spirit. It's a warning to rich oppressors. And as you read these words that you just heard read a moment ago, these are words that really could cause sheer terror if you take them seriously. They are words that actually offer no hope whatsoever just within these verses. There's no actual call to repentance, there's no promise of forgiveness of sins, if you do. It's just a stark warning. Now, there are words of comfort and consolation in other places in the Bible and they're true as well, but here, just a severe warning. "Now listen, you rich, weep and wail because of the misery that's coming upon you." Threatened with Eternity in the Fire of Hell And as you look at the text as well, the Lord Almighty, the Lord of Hosts is summoned, is mentioned, the commander of the armies of Heaven mobilized against these rich oppressors. And what is threatened in this text is nothing less than eternity in the fire of Hell. "Weep and wail,” the text says, "because of the misery that's coming upon you." This weeping and howling certainly reminds me of Jesus' description of the suffering of the torments of Hell in many places, but Matthew 22:13. It says, "Tie him hand and foot and throw him outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." So, for me as I read this text I think about that, the warnings about Hell and what it's going to be like. Jesus warned sinners many times about that, the misery that is coming upon you. The word misery is actually an eternal, infinite understatement for Hell's fire. The Book of Revelation speaks of a Lake of Fire. And Jesus says that the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. The Book of Revelation, Revelation 14:11 says, "The smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. There is no rest, day or night,” for those that are suffering the torments of Hell. And the text says, your flesh will be “eaten like fire.” This is the effect of being thrown in the Lake of Fire, yet, when it says the worm does not die, the flesh is not consumed, it doesn't ever end. It goes on forever and ever, it's a severe warning. It reminds me also of Jesus' parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-25, there the text says this, "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. And at his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus who was covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hell where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus by his side, so he called him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me, send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue because I am in agony in this fire.’ But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime, you received your good things while Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here and you are in agony.’" So I think there's a lot of similarities between that parable which continues beyond that point but also James Chapter 5. It says also that these rich individuals have fattened themselves in the day of slaughter. Listen to James 5:5, "You've lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence, you have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter." What an image that is? You've fed your flesh in such a way that it would attract special notice from the judgment of God. The image that's in my mind is of a lightning rod, which is specially designed by the engineers to be very high up on a building and attract the lightning strike. The image is more of, I think, of a pig pen and of hogs, pigs different ones, and you can imagine one very large hog that shoulders all the other pigs out of the way and just eats and eats until its stomach is full, and then the others can get whatever's left. And then when the time, the day of slaughter comes, that hog will get special attention. On the day of slaughter, it grew fatter and fatter and did not realize what was coming. James as a Prophet of Doom So this text speaks therefore of the inevitable outcome for rich oppressors: slaughter. And a slaughter that does not last for an instance but for all eternity. So James really is standing here as a prophet of doom. As he speaks to these rich individuals, these rich oppressors, he stands in a long lineage, a powerful heritage of prophets whom God raised up to speak a word of warning. Now though there are no words of mercy in the text, there's no command to repent, there's no opportunity for forgiveness in the text, yet there's still hope because God is warning people ahead of time, and there is implicit in that warning, an opportunity to repent while there's time and to find salvation through faith in Christ. But Old Testament prophets did this again and again. Think of Isaiah 5:8-9 says, "Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land. The Lord Almighty has declared in my hearing, surely the great houses will become desolate, the fine mansions left without occupants." Or again, later in that same prophecy, Isaiah 10, verses 1-4, “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. What will you do on the day of reckoning when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches? Nothing will remain, but to cringe among the captives, or fall among the slain. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still up, raised.” Isaiah 10:1-4. Or again, the prophet Amos had much to say about social injustice and oppression in Amos 2:6-7, this is what the Lord says, "For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath, they sell the righteous for silver and the need for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed." Or again later, Amos 5:11-12, "You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain, therefore though you have built stone mansions you will not live in them. And though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine, for I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. You oppress the righteous and take bribes and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts." So James stands on the shoulders of this lineage, of prophets of the Lord, prophets of doom who came along to warn rich oppressors of the judgment that was certainly coming on them. Jesus’ Warnings About Earthly Wealth Jesus also warned of the dangers of wealth in this present age. In the parable of the seed and the soils, you remember the thorny ground soil, and what happened to the seed there, Mark 4:18-19, "Still others like seeds sown among the thorns hear the word but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things come in and choke the word making it unfruitful." Or again, Luke 6:24-25, Jesus said, "Woe to you who are rich for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are are well-fed now for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now for you will mourn and weep." And again in the passage about the rich young ruler as you remember who came and could not give up his wealth to become a follower of Jesus, he turned away and went away sad. Jesus said, to his disciples, Matthew 19:23-24, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven. Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." The disciples were amazed at that moment and said, "Who then can be saved?" And Jesus said, giving great comfort to us, "With man, this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Now we, in our present age here in America, we are all about accumulation, all about wealth acquisition. Jesus warned about this, in Luke 12:15, he said, "Watch out, be on your guard against all kinds of greed, a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." It seems like Madison Avenue and Internet, Amazon Prime, all of that set up to try to refute that. “Actually your life does consist in the abundance of your possessions.” We're basically sold that every day and we have to swim upstream against that constantly. II. Rich Oppressors Described There is Nothing Intrinsically Wrong with Wealth Alright, so, as James addresses this, he just says, "Woe to you rich" or he says, "Watch out, and now listen you rich," he doesn't add anything. I say that this is a severe warning against rich oppressors. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with wealth per se, it is tempting, but just because you're wealthy it doesn't mean you're going to Hell. Deuteronomy 8:17-18 says, God gives wealth, He gives us the ability to make it. Listen to what he says, "You may say to yourself, 'My power and the strength of my hands have produced wealth for me. But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth.'" So if there's something wrong with producing wealth, then that would not be spoken in that way. God wouldn't give us the ability. It is essential for us to earn money just to provide for our families, and meet our own basic needs. As a matter of fact, 1 Timothy 5:8 says, "If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family he's denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” So, it's vital for believers to provide for their immediate family. Later in that same passage, it's talking about widows who need care from the church versus those that shouldn't need care from the church. And he said, "If any woman who is a believer has widows in her family she should help them and not let the church be burdened with them so that the church can help those widows who are really in need." So it's vital for every family unit to stand on its own two feet financially and not burden the church. And in order to do that you have to acquire wealth. Also the scripture makes it plain that it's wise to store up some money for the future. You can't live day-to-day, I said this last week, in James 4. We can't assume that there won't be life tomorrow, that life will almost certainly end today. That's different than presuming upon tomorrow. So as I quoted last week, again today, Proverbs 6:6-8, "Go to the ant you sluggard, consider its ways and be wise, it has no commander, no overseer, no ruler yet it stores up its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.” So there's nothing wrong with having barns, having storage units, having a bank account or even having a retirement. Although we've seen what the virus can do. Twenty percent of people's retirement down in value in one week. Twenty percent. As the scripture says, "Cast but a glance at riches and they fly away." We know and we should know anyway if we're biblically mature we can't rely on money. But it's not wrong to accumulate it to a point. We should realize that God gives us the ability to produce an abundance more than we need for our immediate needs essentially so that we can share it with others. As 2 Corinthians 8:15 says, "He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little." Rich Oppressors Hoard Wealth Until It’s Useless But the rich oppressors that are being addressed in this text have no such view of their wealth, not at all. It's not for other people it's all about them. That's the way they think. Their God was their money, and they did whatever they could possibly do to gain more and more, no matter what the human cost, and that's the whole point here. They hoarded their wealth until their wealth became useless. Hoarding is accumulating a pile of silver and gold, just watching it grow as though it had some intrinsic value to bring happiness. Think about Ebenezer Scrooge who was overwhelmingly accumulating wealth. He was a miser. He didn't spend his money on himself even, he just watched the pile get bigger. And so James says in verse 2-3, "Your wealth has rotted and moths have eaten your clothes. Your silver and gold are corroded, their corrosion will test against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days." The image that James uses here is devastating and a bit ironic actually, speaks of wealth rotting. The only things that rot are living things, so he makes their wealth as though it were alive, and it had a prime moment like a piece of fruit or vegetables to be eaten and then it went way past that. Remember how God provided the manna for the Israelites every single day, you remember that story. As they're in the desert and God miraculously fed them. And when He began that process of feeding them with manna, bread from Heaven, which they were supposed to go out every day and collect except for the Sabbath Day, that was an exception. But every normal day, they were just to go out and collect what they needed for that day. And God was very plain about that. He said, "Just collect what you need for yourself and your family, and do not store it overnight." But some of the Israelites didn't listen. They didn't follow the instructions, and so they hoarded it for the next day. And when they went to eat the next day, it was covered with maggots and it stank. So you get the image of wealth like that. It was hoarded and became maggot-covered and it stunk. He also says that their precious metals, their gold and silver, have rusted. Which is really ironic because anyone who knows anything about gold say, "No, it doesn't rust, ever. It could be around for a thousand years and it's still shiny." Silver gets a black kind of sheen on but it can be wiped off, it doesn't rust straight through. But James uses that kind of language. It corrodes all the way through. It definitely reminds us of the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:19-21, "Do not store for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." So basically, the idea is material wealth has a shelf-life, spiritually. A spiritual shelf life, think of it that way. Your material wealth has value in this present age, as it's in service to the glory of God and to the benefit of your neighbor. But if you hoard it, it goes bad. It has a shelf life. I remember recently, I think it was last week, hearing about a pastor in England who was helping his very elderly mother who lived in the same cottage, I think, for a long time. Went into her pantry and found an array of canned goods, and found a drink in the back that was best to be drunk by December of 1987. So I think he felt it was best to throw that out. I think you would agree that was a wise decision. That's why I think of shelf life. Wealth comes into your life, you've got a window of opportunity to use it for the glory of God, especially by helping others. God doesn't need money. And James says, "If you don't do that, it's going to go beyond its Use By date. And that fact, that spiritual corrosion, that spiritual rot will testify against you on the Day of Judgment.” That's what he's saying. They hoarded wealth in the last days. Now, some people, I've actually had two people that have emailed me wondering if the coronavirus was evidence that we were in the last days. But we don't need the coronavirus. The scripture again, again like this passage here says, "We are in the last days." And we've been in the last days for 2000 years. The next thing that's going to happen, big picture, is the second coming of Christ. Judgment Day is coming. So, we're in the last days. If you're asking me, do I believe that the coronavirus shows that we are the final generation, that I cannot tell. Could very well be a year from now, we'll just remember this is an extraordinary time, but the thing, and we're praying for this, will just recede. But in any case, the last days are here, and this is a terrible time to be hoarding wealth because the last days have come. Rich Oppressors Often Gain Wealth by Injustice Now, I call them rich oppressors because they gain their wealth by injustice. Look at verse 4. "Behold” or “Look, the wages you fail to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty." That's why I call them rich oppressors. They not only hoarded wealth, they gained it through injustice. They have the power enough to defraud their workers who brought in their harvest, to defraud them with impunity. They had gamed the system so much through bribery and maybe the judges are part of the whole thing, and there was nothing these poor people could do. Maybe they just simply held on to the wage for a week or a month, and then eventually paid it or paid a portion of it. In any case, it was rank injustice. Now, the Law of Moses set up a very clear command, a set of commands, about wealth owed to workers. Pay it immediately. Pay it when you said you would pay it. Pay it when they're expecting to get it. Leviticus 19:13 says, "Do not defraud your neighbor or rob him. Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight." Just not even overnight. Again, Deuteronomy 24:14-15, "Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy. Whether he's a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns." “Pay him his wages each day,” listen to this, “before sunset, because he is poor and is counting on it. Otherwise, he may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.” That's the backdrop of the very thing James is saying. "They've cried out to God against you and God is interested." That's a threat. The Lord Almighty has heard their cries. I can't help but think of the injustice of chattel slavery and the wealthy plantations that are part of the history of our nation in which slave owners got wealthy on the backs of their slaves and never paid them a cent for their back-breaking labor out in the fields. I was reading recently an article about the wealth of Charleston, South Carolina. It was called Carolina's Gold Coast, it was speaking of rice plantations. From the 1720s to the 1860s, the rice plantations shaped and reshaped the Low Country geography there in the area around Charleston, South Carolina, and it made Charleston one of the richest cities in the world. Certainly, indigo, cotton, forest products, other manufactured goods, contributed to the economy, but nothing came close to the lavish wealth brought in by rice. But it was all predicated on slave labor. Slaves had used rough tools to clear immense wooded swamps, then they constructed massive hydrological systems, dams, dikes, floodgates, sluice gates, those kinds of things used to properly irrigate the rice fields. Then they had to plant the rice plants with their backs bent over double, and then when the plant stocks grew tall, they had to weed. Weeding rice fields in the blazing sun, and the overpowering humidity was torturous work. And after weeks of soaking rain, the Carolina gold rice, the stocks were waist-high, but tall weeds also grew up, threatening to smother the harvest. And so the slaves had to get in there and pull each of those weeds by hand. To make matters worse, these low-lying swampy areas were breeding grounds for malaria and yellow fever, and the mosquitoes that carry them. Thousands of slaves died of these diseases. Their Wealth Was Self-Indulgently Spent In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Carolina Low Country was the deadliest disease region in the North American mainland. Some said at that time, South Carolina was a paradise in the spring, a hell in the summer, and a hospital in the fall. After working brutally long days, the Low Country slaves were still required to grow their own food, make their own clothing because, of course, they were paid nothing for their labor. And they lived in rags and they suffered from near starvation while the rice plantation owners became among the wealthiest people in America. One contemporary observer wrote, "The Carolina rice plantation masters lived their lives in wanton luxury, spending their days only to make money, to dance, to gamble, to run horses while the women only wanted to spend money, play piano, and contemplate their own beauty." Many of them live more or less permanently away from their own rice plantation, so they never saw the back-breaking labor of the slaves that enabled them to live their luxurious lifestyles. Some of them had incredible homes on The Battery in Charleston, some of the most elegant mansions in America. To some degree, the Charleston rice plantations led the way in relying on slave labor long before cotton was the main staple of Southern wealth. So here again, the words of James. And see how they fit. "Behold, the wages you fail to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence, you have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter." And in the text, their wealth was self-indulgently spent. There's a life of luxury. The best clothing, the most affluent lifestyle. They spared themselves no luxury. They felt they deserved the best of meats and the finest of wines. And they enjoyed the life of leisure while others did their hard labor for them. Again, I think about Amos. Amos 4:1-2 says this, "Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, 'Bring us some drinks.' The sovereign Lord is sworn by his holiness. The time will surely come when you will be taken away with hooks, the last of you with fish hooks." And again, Amos 6:4-7, "You lie on beds inlaid with ivory and you lounge on your couches. You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves, you strum away on your harps like David, and you improvise on musical instruments. You drink wine by the bowl full, and you use the finest lotions, but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph. Therefore, you'll be among the first to go into exile. Your feasting and lounging will end." The day of the slaughter comes on people who live like this. Their self-indulgence has just been storing up wrath against them. As Paul says in Romans 2:5-6, "Because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you're storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God will give to each person according to what he has done." Even worse, they used violence to gain wealth. Look at verse 6, "You have condemned and murdered innocent people who are not opposing you." So they're willing to go to the nth degree, condemning and murdering. I think about wicked king Ahab, you remember who together with his wicked wife Jezebel, plotted to take the vineyard of Naboth, the Jezreelite. He didn't want to sell to them. And so Jezebel especially, but Ahab was a willing accomplice, orchestrated Naboth's murder by having some worthless men accuse him of cursing both God and the king, and then use the justice system to execute him, and then they came and took the vineyard. Honoré de Balzac, French writer, said, "Behind every great fortune, there is a crime." Behind every great fortune, there is a crime. Mario Puzo began his novel, The Godfather, quoting these words, speaking of the fictitious crime family, the Corleone. Now, this may be an overstatement. It is an overstatement. There are some wealth, there are some wealth that's accumulated without crime. I think about how wealthy Job was, and he was blameless and upright, a man who feared God. Abraham was quite wealthy, and he acquired his wealth without crime. But it stands, and we must imagine around the world today, in ways that are appropriate to our 21st century setting, in which chattel slavery is illegal, should be. There is still economic oppression going on in ways we can hardly imagine. And so these words from James are living and active today. III. How Christians Should Read this Warning Who is James Writing To? Alright. Now, the question in front of us is, how should we, Christians, hear this text? How do we read this? Who is James writing to? Is it actually possible that someone who lives like this could, at the same time, claim to be a Christian? Now, many commentators say James is writing to churches. And so therefore, he thinks there are certain people that are attending Christian worship that are secretly living this kind of life. And it is quite possible that even now, all over the world, in the 21st century, there are people that are getting wealthy through this kind of oppression. Going on now. And yet they're claiming to be Christians. So people like that just need to read this warning, and heed it, and flee to Christ while there's time. I think about the Zacchaeus. And even though there's no promise of mercy or grace in the text, yet, think about what happened with Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector who was defrauding people every day. And when he heard of the grace that was available, as Jesus was a friend of tax collectors and sinners, he invited Jesus to come to his home. Actually, Jesus invited himself over. "I must eat with you today." And Zacchaeus said, "Look, Lord. Here and now, I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." Jesus said to him, "Today, salvation has come to this house because this man, too, is a son of Abraham." So that is quite possible. Think of Nebuchadnezzar, the most oppressive man on planet Earth, who for some reason, I think it's because God was working through Daniel, I hope, and I trust to ultimately bring Nebuchadnezzar to a saving faith. When Nebuchadnezzar had this terrifying dream in Daniel 4, in verse 27, Daniel came and warned the king, he said, "Therefore, O King, be pleased to accept my advice. Renounce your sins by doing what is right and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then, your prosperity will continue." Nebuchadnezzar was humbled to the ground. A year later, a year of oppression later, God is so patient. He was stricken, his mind was changed, he ate grass like a cow for seven years. And when he came back, he was deeply humbled. And we trust, we have no record of it, we trust that he walked in that humility and faith the rest of his life. So if you look at your life and you realize that you have lived a life of luxury and self-indulgence, and the Holy Spirit is charging you with sin, and charging you with self-indulgence and luxury, and charging you with fattening yourself in the day of slaughter, then repent! Though there is no promise of forgiveness here, there are many others in the scriptures. Jesus came to save sinners. If you know yourself to be sick, Jesus said, "It's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." James May Not Be Speaking to Church-Goers Now, I do believe that James isn't necessarily speaking to people who are coming to their Christian churches. I think he was just a prophet and his eyes were on the whole world. And even whatever he understood what he was writing, the Holy Spirit certainly had a multi-generational vision to warn rich oppressors. Jeremiah was a prophet to the nations, and he spoke oracles directly against pagan kingdoms without any expectation they would read his prophecy. So also Isaiah, Amos, all the others. And James could be doing that. He's not talking to anybody who's coming to Christian church on Sunday, but just talking to the human race. It's just as likely that James is seeking to encourage the poor in his congregation, that the rich oppressors who are crushing them and dragging them into court will someday be judged by God. Like the persistent widow, you remember that? Luke 18:7-8. "Will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night. Will He keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly." So around the world, our Christian brothers and sisters are in different settings. And there may be some places where people are being directly oppressed. And they're yearning for relief. And God is using James 5, to speak a word of comfort to them that Judgment Day is coming for these rich oppressors. IV. Application How Should Christians View Money and Luxury? Well, how then should we, Christians, see money? How should we see luxury? How shall we understand those things? If you have any amount of money more than you need for your basic needs, food, clothing, shelter, and that of your family, then you are technically biblically rich. And we have far more than that. We're among the wealthiest Christians that have ever walked planet Earth. And so it is good for us to read a text like this with a certain measure of fear and trembling. But we begin, I think, by being humble and thankful. In the spirit of Deuteronomy 8, it is, "Let's not be arrogant that we have wealth. Let's be thankful." Let's realize God gave us educational opportunities, he gave us gifts and talents and skills that enabled us to accumulate more money than we needed. We also lived in a country where there was freedom, there's political structure, there were things that kept anarchists from the streets and all that. It's been a blessed place to grow up and live. So Ecclesiastes 5:19 says, "When God gives any man wealth and possessions and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work, this is a gift from God." So we should be thankful. But beyond that, we should ask the Lord how He wants us to use our abundance for His glory. I would urge you, if you are a wealthy Christian, to read, maybe even memorize 1 Timothy 6:17-19. Listen to those words. "Command those who are rich in this present world...". Let me just stop there. Paul is talking to Timothy as a pastor, saying, "You are going to pastor wealthy people." Okay? They're not wicked going to hell because they're wealthy, but let me tell you what they should do with their wealth. "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment." So, don't trust in your money. It's easier now than a couple of weeks ago to say, "Hey, we're not in a lavish expansive market now." Negative 20% in one week should teach you an important lesson. So don't trust in your money, but trust in God. "Command them to do good," 1 Timothy 6:18, "to be rich in good deeds and to be generous and willing to share. And in this way, they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life." So be generous with your money toward the poor and needy. That's a consistent teaching. Ask the Lord to show you who he wants you to give money to. Support the Church Certainly, we want you, as Andy mentioned earlier, to support our church. If you're a member of First Baptist Durham, please be certain that you take the steps necessary to keep giving your tithes and offerings. We need it. Our church needs to continue to support the works that we are doing, and we've pledged to do this in our church covenant, but beyond that, there's going to be opportunities to further missions, to give to ministries to the poor and needy, to others. Ask the Lord to show you who he wants you to be generous toward. Be sacrificial. Be faith-filled. We're part of a vast conglomeration of Baptist churches that pull our money to send missionaries. And so let's be generous and keep sending missionaries to unreached people groups. Money is Not Yours Forever And then think about your money in the proper way. It has a shelf life. And as Randy Alcorn said, "You can't take it with you, but you can send it on ahead." So if the Lord has a block of money He means for you to give away, and you don't give it away, He may just take it from you with car repair, or a house repair, or just a negative 20% on the market, He may just take it. So when you have an opportunity to give, give. And in so doing, you will store up treasure in Heaven. As Randy Alcorn said in Money, Possessions, and Eternity, he said, "Could it be that God increases your wealth not to increase your standard of living, but your standard of giving?" So let's be faithful, let's be generous with the money that God gives to us so that we can glorify Him. Now, as I close, I do so mindful of our circumstances here, we are facing extraordinary times. Let's ask the Lord even this week to give us a chance to share the Gospel with somebody who's afraid, afraid of dying. Be alert to those opportunities. Let's speak the words of life. Let's be a light shining in a dark place, for his glory and the spread of his Gospel. Prayer Close with me now in prayer. Father, we thank you for the time we've had to study your word. We thank You for the hope it gives us. We pray that you would enable us to be generous with our money, to not trust in it, to follow the clear advice in 1 Timothy 6:17-19. Father, we pray that we would make the most of the time we have and the resources that we have, but especially the Gospel. Give us a chance to share the Gospel with people who are afraid of death, so that they won't be afraid anymore, but find eternal life through faith in Christ. It's in your name, Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Sermon - Joy Get Its Hands Dirty - Leviticus 18 & 19

god wikipedia flying spaghetti monster pastafarianism their god

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 1, 2020 37:59

Joy Gets Its Hands Dirty Leviticus 18 & 19 & Mark 12:28-34 Introduction Leviticus 18 & 19 is where the rubber hits the road. Leviticus moves on to the matter of wholeness of life and personal holiness. God gives to His people, Israel, some laws of how they were to live. Laws for such things as: food & diet, foreign nationals, justice, the poor, sex, social etiquette and tattoos. Sounds very relevant for us today in Boscombe, doesn’t it? Let’s briefly take 2 examples. Firstly, concerning the laws regarding sexual activity. The other nations engaged in all these sexual activities as given in Leviticus 18, often as part of their religious devotion and worship but also as an abusive power. But Israel was not to be like that! Sexual activity was to be between one man and one woman within marriage. Tattoos. Look in Leviticus 19:28. Why are tattoos mentioned? Primarily because the other nations tattooed and cut themselves as signs of their devotion, worship and allegiance to their gods. That was their manner of “outward holiness” as it were. Hence their prohibition for Israel who were to be very different from the surrounding nations. Israel were not to be like these other nations in any way, shape or form. Other cultures were not to be allowed to infiltrate them. Israel was to stand out as God’s light to the other nations. These laws were for Israel and also for all immigrants, foreign nationals and aliens who lived among them (Leviticus 18:26). In our second reading from Mark 12, we see that Jesus said that the whole of the Law, including these in our 2 chapters in Leviticus today, is summarised as “Love God and love all other people”. From Mark 12, we see that Jesus said that the whole of the Law, including these in our 2 chapters in Leviticus today, is summarised as “Love God and love all other people”. The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them: “I am the Lord your God. 3 You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. 4 You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the Lord your God. 5 Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord.(Leviticus 18:1-5) 1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy. 3 ‘“Each of you must respect your mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God. 4 ‘“Do not turn to idols or make metal gods for yourselves. I am the Lord your God. 5 ‘“When you sacrifice a fellowship offering to the Lord, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf. 6 It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it or on the next day; anything left over until the third day must be burned. 7 If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is impure and will not be accepted. 8 Whoever eats it will be held responsible because they have desecrated what is holy to the Lord; they must be cut off from their people. 9 ‘“When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19:1-10) 28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, ‘Of all the commandments, which is the most important?’ 29 ‘The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” 31 The second is this: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” There is no commandment greater than these.’ 32 ‘Well said, teacher,’ the man replied. ‘You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.’ 34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.(Mark 12:28-34) Repeatedly in this book, God has said “Be holy, for I am holy”. But what is holiness? As we have glimpsed in the last 2 weeks, holiness is what separates God from all His creation. For God alone is holy and full of glory. Remember what Aaron had to do when entering the holy of holies on the day of Atonement? He had to create a wall of smoky incense, so that he wouldn’t glimpse God’s glory and holiness and be struck down dead, like his sons Nadab and Abihu. Holiness is in fact the sum of all God’s attributes. God is holiness and holiness is God. Holiness is also a moral attribute of God, of His purity, and His freedom from the stain of ALL sin. There is an innate moral goodness about God – an absolute perfection which always seeks creation’s welfare. The goodness of God has several key aspects within His moral attributes. These include the following but they are not an exhaustive listing: Grace, holiness, patience, love, mercy, righteousness and truth. They are part of our God’s moral framework. Have you seen evidence of these in your own life? Let’s keep having a look at our God. God says, for example, in Leviticus 19:2 “I…” That indicates that God is personal. This God is personal and there is an intimacy to be had with a personal God like this. No god of rock or wood like the surrounding polytheistic nations for Israel! Their God is one! God is a God who is personal, and must therefore be capable of having and sustaining relationships. A God who sustains relationships will also want to be known! We know that God is spirit, yet also a personal and infinite being (John 4:24). He is one in substance or nature and incapable of being divided. Even more, as we saw last week, God is love. Love is one of His key attributes. If God was only a single person, then how could love possibly be shown? Love requires more than one Person for Love to be active. If it is not active, then it cannot be love. How can we answer this seeming paradox? To listen to the rest of this Podcast use the links below to download Click or Tap here to listen to or save this as an audio mp3 file ~ You can now purchase our Partakers books! Please do click or tap here to visit our Amazon site! Click or tap on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!

Pastafarianism, The Flying Spaghetti Monster

Deconversion Therapy

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 17, 2019 40:15

We carb-load up on Pastafarianism, a religion Karen is signing up for but Bonnie can't handle the puns. Karen had seen images with people wearing colanders on their heads, even some paintings reimagined with God being replaced by the Flying Spaghetti Monster, but she never knew much about the whole thing. Their God, Wikipedia, helps enlighten them on what is a great social statement on the division of church and state.

God Revealed in Time

FPCLG Sermon Blog

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 10, 2019 18:11

Past greatness should only serve to inspire present faithfulness. Their God is our God too.

god god revealed their god

Chapel - November 8, 2019

BLC Chapel Services

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 8, 2019 19:08

Order of Service: - Prelude - Home From Our Exile (Psalm 126): Soloist: Home from our exile! God make our dream come true: be here among us! Home from our exile! God make our dream come true: be here among us! All: Home from our exile… S: We shall be singing, laughing and reveling; let all the world say, “Their God does wonders!” Yes, you do wonders, God here among us, be then our gladness. All: Home from our exile… S: Then lead us home, bring us to life, just as the rivers, deep in the desert, flow once again as the new rain appears. Sow seed in sadness, harvest in gladness! A man goes his way, sows tears and sorrow; back he comes, singing, sheaves on his shoulder! All: Home from our exile… - Philippians 3: 18-21: Many … are enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. - Devotion - Hymn 534 - The World is Very Evil: vv. 1-5 - Blessing - Postlude Service Participants: Chaplain Don Moldstad (Preacher), Daylin Paulson (Instrumentalist), Rev. Prof. Dennis Marzolf (Pianist), Hailey Dick (Soloist), Mariah Munsen (Instrumentalist), Marissa Thompson (Instrumentalist)

god jesus christ world service home blessing savior prof rev philippians devotion hymns chapel sow postlude their god

Sermon 10-13-19 "Signs of Healthy Church? Christ-Like Disciples Who are Passionate about Their God"

Calvary Baptist Church Battle Creek, MI

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 14, 2019 41:58

Sermon, "What Do You Look For in a Healthy Church? Christ-Like Disciples Who are Passionate about Their God," by Pastor Tom Townsend during the Morning Worship Service on Sunday, October 13, 2019, at Calvary Baptist Church in Battle Creek, Michigan

jesus christ michigan signs sermon disciples passionate christlike healthy church calvary baptist church battle creek church christ morning worship service their god

Ep. 6 | Listen More - Sell More

Close the Deal Without Selling - Hosted by Ike Krieger

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 13, 2019 19:54

In this Episode of Close the Deal Without Selling Hosted by Communications & Sales Innovator, Ike KriegerYou'll Learn... It’s important to your success with the entire system that you be an effective listener. The Art of Listening Public Speaking Model The Prelude to The YES Formula™ Q. Qualify - Setting the ground rules for the sale U. Uncovering your prospect’s problem I. Investment - Is there money to solve the problem? C. Capability - Can they spend money to solve the problem? K. Knowledge - Learn your prospect’s reasons for buying Controlling the communication, not the prospect The person doing the talking is usually the one who’s perceived as controlling the communication. Just the opposite is true. The one who listens and asks questions controls the communication. The one doing the talking usually dominates the communication. Some notes from Episode 6: The Public Speaking Model Tell them what you're going to tell them. Tell them. Tell them what you told them. Listening for Sales Before we dissect the Before and After Scenarios of Ep. 5 it’s important to your success with the entire system that you be an effective listener. Author Stephen Covey says, “Most people don’t listen with an intent to understand. Most people listen with an intent to reply.” Here’s another quote by someone a bit less well known, Wilson Mizner, and for the purposes of our system and the purpose of active listening… he nails it. "A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he knows something." We’ll probably never find out where along the line the name of the author of this next piece got lost, but you’ll find that this poem, apparently written in the late 20th century, hits home on the psychological, the communication, and the human level. It will be interesting to find out what you get from the following, appropriately titled: Listen When I ask you to listen to me and you start giving advice, You have not done what I asked. When I ask you to listen to me and you begin to tell me why I shouldn’t feel that way, you’re trampling on my feelings. When I ask you to listen to me and you feel you have to do something to solve my problems, you have failed me, strange as that may seem. Listen! All I ask is that you listen, not talk or do. Just hear me. Advice is cheap: 25 cents will get you both Dear Abby and Billy Graham in the same newspaper. And I can do things for myself; I am not helpless. Maybe discouraged and faltering, maybe lonely and isolated and grieving and searching, but not helpless. When you do something for me that I can do, and need to do, for myself, you contribute to my fear and to my weakness. But when you accept, as a simple fact, that I do feel what I feel, no matter how irrational, then I can quit trying to convince you, and you can get about the business of understanding what’s behind this irrational feeling. And when that’s clear, the answers are obvious, and I don’t need advice. Perhaps that’s why prayer works, sometimes, for some people, because THEIR God is mute and doesn’t try to give advice or try to fix things. He just listens, and lets you work it out for yourself. So please listen and just hear me. And if you want to talk, wait a minute for your turn. And I’ll listen to you. THE PRELUDE to The YES FormulaTM The Prelude provides the first set of Mutually Beneficial Agreements (M.B.A.) in the Q. section of the Yes Formula. Remember... the Q section only establishes the ground rules of QUICK. It is not the actual sales exam portion of the system. Memorize the following. “I don’t know yet if I can be of service to you because I don’t have enough information. But, if it’s OK with you, I have a few questions I’d like to ask and you might have some to ask of me--- and based on my experience, within the next few minutes we’ll know whether there is a reason to move forward or not. Is that an OK way to start?” Read the prelude out loud. I’m including it in the show notes. The prelude represents the first of many authentic communications with your prospect. Let’s face it. You really don’t know whether or not the prospect is interested in your product or service even if they may really need it. You have an opinion. You have your truth; however, their truth might not be the same as yours. Begin your communication by stating the undeniable truths contained in the Prelude. If the prospect agrees to the M.B.A.s contained in the prelude it’s time to share all the steps of Q.U.I.C.K. Qualify - Setting The Rules of Q. Now it’s time to establish the ground rules for the conversation. Remember... We as humans have a tendency to get upset with people for doing things we didn’t tell them they couldn’t do. An example of this is... how much we hate it when, after a great presentation, a prospect tells us “maybe” or “I want to think about it. We have all come to realize that when someone tells us “maybe” or “I want to think about it”, it’s usually a polite substitute for ... “No.” One of your rules has them agree to avoid both of those responses. Why would they agree to a request such as that? They would agree because it is mutually beneficial. Here is how to proceed with the setting of the rules. You have just completed the Prelude and they have given you permission to proceed with your communication. Thank them and say, “And if anywhere along the line you come to the conclusion that what we offer is not what you’re looking for, how comfortable are you telling me that? In other words, are you OK with telling me 'no'? They will usually respond that they are comfortable giving you a no. Continue by saying, “Obviously, I would prefer a yes. But if it is a “no” I would rather hear that than a “maybe” or an “I want to think about it.” I’ve noticed that in most cases, when someone tells me “maybe” or “I want to think about it” it's usually a polite substitute for what?” Point towards them and WFA (WFA=Wait for answer) They will almost always reply, “No.” Respond by agreeing, and assure them, “Of course, if you truly need more information, or time, you are most welcome to it. I just want to avoid “maybe” or “I want to think about it” as a substitute for “no.” You now let them know what is covered in each remaining portion of the system starting with the U. Uncover the prospect's problem “If it turns out you have the types of challenges or issues that you believe my product or service can resolve, and you’re going to be the judge of that---,” (Continue to I.) Investment - Is there a Budget to solve the problem? “and should we get that far, we’re going to have to take a look at what type of dollars you’ve set aside to resolve those issues. How comfortable will you be in sharing the amount of dollars, in ballpark figures only?” They will either say, OK, or they will obfuscate. In the case of the latter, assure them that whatever their choice in sharing those numbers they can decide in the moment. You can tell them “I just don't want to catch you off guard if I started to ask about budget later in our conversation. Capability - Can the prospect make the decision to spend the money to solve the problem? “Also, if you conclude that what we offer IS what you’re looking for--- who besides yourself would be involved in the decision to move forward? Or--- are you comfortable making that decision on your own?” When it’s a NO, ask them, “What will you have to find out in our meeting that would prompt all the decision makers to gather for a similar conversation?. If they say, "Yes. I can make the decision." Verify no additional decision makers by asking rhetorically something appropriate for their business. “No partners, Board members, accountants, or attorneys?” Knowledge - Discover reason for decision “And— either way—if you choose to move ahead with us, or not--- I’d be interested in knowing the reason behind your choice. How willing are you going to be to share that information with me?” (WFA) “Great! Do you want to go first or should I?” You have just completed the Q. phase of Q.U.I.C.K. Selling™. The answers the prospect just gave you helps qualify or disqualify them as a candidate for your problem-solving product or service You have clarified what the conversation you are about to have will contain. You have set the guidelines for your communication. You have given the Prospect implied control over the upcoming communication. If the prospect agrees to go along with these simple guidelines you can begin the second step of the process, which is to go over each of the remaining sections of Q.U.I.C.K. in the form of your sales examination. IMPLIED CONTROL I heard the following story at a meeting of Sales and Marketing Executives International Imagine that you're driving through life in a metaphorical two seat car. There is a driver’s seat. There is a passenger seat. We were asked, “As a salesperson--- in which of the two seats would you prefer to sit? Would you prefer to sit in the driver’s seat or the passenger’s seat?” Nearly everyone in the room responded that they would prefer to sit in the driver’s seat. This question was asked next. “In which seat you think the prospect would like to sit?” Nearly everyone in the room responded that the prospect would prefer to sit in the driver’s seat. Since both parties wanted to sit in the same seat an immediate level of conflict was created. It was agreed that both parties wanted to sit in the driver’s seat because each believes the person in the driver’s seat is the one in control of this metaphorical journey. Just the opposite is true. Give up the driver’s seat. Let the prospect sit where they want. If the prospect sits in the driver’s seat that means that you will be the sitting in the passenger seat. At first glance this may appear as a negative. Remember your new role in the sales process. You are now a magical problem solver. What responsibility can you assume while sitting in the passenger’s seat that will allow you to function as a magical problem solver? The answer is: assume the role of navigator. Navigators help people get to their destination If the prospect knew how to get to their destination on their own, they would get there. But, since they can’t, don’t know how to, or don’t want to go it alone, they are looking for someone they like and they trust who can guide them to their desired outcome or destination. Most salespeople prefer the driver seat because they believe that it affords more control over the prospect. You can never control the prospect. The only thing over which you have control is the communication. In this case the communication itself is the journey. Another powerful and positive byproduct of moving into the passenger seat is that it gives you the option of getting out of the car if you are not thrilled with the destination. In other words, you can say to the prospect that is driving the car, “please let me out at the corner.” Since you are the guide on this journey the one doing the driving has only implied control rather than actual control. Remember that the problem you are trying to solve is the problem of the prospect. This system is about controlling the communication, not the prospect. Your commitment in this communication exercise is to help them get to the destination to which they want to get. This is vastly different than trying to get them to a destination to which you would like to get them. Give up the driver’s seat and take on the role of navigator. Remember… The person doing the talking is usually the one who’s perceived as controlling the communication. Just the opposite is true. The one who listens and asks questions controls the communication. The one doing the talking usually dominates the communication.

Hebrews 11:13-16- "God is Not Ashamed to be Their God"

FBC Atlanta TX

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 11, 2019

Hebrews 11:13-16- "God is Not Ashamed to be Their God"

god hebrews ashamed hebrews 11 not ashamed their god

My Problem With Christianity Is Part 4 – It Undermines Other Religions – Gareth Maggs

Christ Church Midrand

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 14, 2019 37:08

Luke 9: 18 - 27. Christianity claims that it is the only way to God. Which means that if people die, or the world ends, all other religions will go to hell. Because of this many people have said, ‘It can’t be that God will only save Christians if he is a loving God’. As Christians have claimed that Jesus is the only way to God, they have been often seen as proud bigots who undermine other religions. Their God has certainly not been seen as loving. It does seem that way doesn’t it? God appears to be unloving if he refuses to accept other religions. This sermon, however, seeks to help us see that God would be unloving if he accepted all beliefs AND that his way of saving the world is ACTUALLY the most loving way to save it.

god jesus christ religion christians christianity gareth maggs their god

Chapel - November 2, 2018

BLC Chapel Services

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 2, 2018 25:51

Order of Service: - Prelude - Home From Our Exile (Psalm 126): Soloist: Home from our exile! God make our dream come true: be here among us! Home from our exile! God make our dream come true: be here among us! All: Home from our exile… S: We shall be singing, laughing and reveling; let all the world say, “Their God does wonders!” Yes, you do wonders, God here among us, be then our gladness. All: Home from our exile… S: Then lead us home, bring us to life, just as the rivers, deep in the desert, flow once again as the new rain appears. Sow seed in sadness, harvest in gladness! A man goes his way, sows tears and sorrow; back he comes, singing, sheaves on his shoulder! All: Home from our exile… - Hebrews 11: 37-40: They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. - Devotion - Prayer - Hymn 555 - Rise Again, Ye Lion-Hearted - Blessing - Postlude Service Participants: Chaplain Don Moldstad (Preacher), Rev. Prof. Dennis Marzolf (Organist), Kayelynn Lawson (Participant #3 Role)

god prayer service home blessing prof rev hebrews devotion hymns chapel sow rise again postlude their god

Set It In It’s Place Again

FVC Sermon Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 23, 2018

https://youtu.be/nPsvBr82i50 1 sam 5 READ Philistines get the ark, bring it to house of dagon, dagon falls in the night towards the ark, so they set it up again, the next morning, its on its face again, but the head and hands are gone, the priests decide to never go in there again. God strikes them with tumors, the people think the power is in the ark, so they send the ark away to Gath. Then God goes to work on the whole city ‘with a very great destruction’ and sends tumors on everyone. Ark goes to Ekron, those people get scared, and God kills a bunch of them and gives them tumors as well. There’s a lot in this story here’s what we want to focus on “and set it in its place again.” What is idolatry? Idolatry is worshipping anything or anyone more than worship of God. Self, others, ideas, objects, feelings, opinions, lifeIn this scripture we see the philistines worshipping Dagon their god. It’s a literal graven image that they bow and worship to. They find their power in itMatthew 6: 24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.God didn’t create us to worship anyone but him and Jesus is his final effort to do just thatThese are modern idols set up by people who do not want God worship to be number one- have a good family, marriage, kids, health, life, stuffOn a few occasions I’ve been with people who lost a family member tragically. Complete destruction of their idol because of where their heart is at2 When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon.Modern day people would bring the ark before their car, house, resume, family, investments, spouse, kids, plans, making the ark of God bow before their God to test its powerJonah 2:8 “Those who regard worthless idols Forsake their own Mercy.See what the philistines where having trouble with, was this idea that their God Dagon was on equal footing with YHWH. That somehow, if they placed the ark before their graven image, this battle of the Gods would end well for them- well it didn’t. Their God failed. They failed. It was a failureThis is the problem with idol worship-you think that what you worship has some sort of special power, but the reality is that it doesn’t.Psalm 115:3-8 READ Those who make them are like them; So is everyone who trusts in them.These philistines had faith in their god and were shown that he was powerless Idols will be destroyed.4 And when they arose early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold; only Dagon’s torso was left of it.What is interesting is that God doesn’t destroy this idol the first time around. He just knocks it over. Its almost like a slow played ‘ya’ll don’t want to mess with this’ type of moment.IT gives them a chance to stop this idol worship- to make a different decision. To have different focusBut YHWH Wasn’t having it. He wasn’t going to stand for it. Every false idol will be destroyedIn the OT and the NT we see the promise and the practice of idol destructionIsaiah 2:20 In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver And his idols of gold, Which they made, each for himself to worship, To the moles and bats,Micah 5:13 Your carved images I will also cut off, And your sacred pillars from your midst; You shall no more worship the work of your hands; What does it mean to you?The challenge of the NT is that we would DESTROY that in our bodies that are not of God.When we have desires within ourselves that are above God- that’s idolatry, its worshipping something other than GodGalatians 5:24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.This is why its concerning to me when people who claim to be Chri...

god jesus christ lord psalm modern gods exodus destroy ot ark idolatry nt philistines yhwh forsake dagon gath chri ekron lifein their god

Humbled Outcasts Welcomed In (Isaiah Sermon 68 of 81) (Audio)

Free Methodist Church of Santa Barbara

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 16, 2016

I. Life in a Mixed World: The Wheat and the Weeds So as we resume this morning, our study in the book of Isaiah, we come immediately to Isaiah 56, and next time also Isaiah 57, and I'm only doing Isaiah 56 today, but in these two chapters we're going to see a rhythm going back and forth between the righteous and the unrighteous, between the wise and the foolish, between what Jesus would call in one of His parables, the wheat and the tares of the weeds, between the wheat and the weeds. Friends, we really do live in a mixed-up World and it seems more evident as time unfolds here in our country. And Jesus told a parable about the mixed-up nature of our world, spiritually in Matthew 13, the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds, he described the kingdom of heaven in this way like a Man Who sowed good seed in his field. But at night while everyone was sleeping, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and then went away and then when the wheat sprouted and formed heads and the weeds became evident. And his servants came to him and said, "Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?" And the owner of the field said, "An enemy did this." servant said, "Do you want us to go and pull them up?" He said "No… because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn." Now, Jesus in interpreting the parable said, "The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. [We will call Christians] The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The wheat and the weeds grow together in close proximity, side by side. We live life together, but in the end, we will be separated one from another. And the righteous will go into the kingdom of heaven, but the wicked will be burned up with unquenchable fire in hell. "The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Our Decaying Orbit with the Surrounding Culture Now, this mixed existence that we experience as Christians is part of what makes this life so difficult. It's difficult for us but friends, it's hardly a new phenomenon. It's been going on a long time. Isaiah saw the same thing in his day. And we're going to see in the rhythm of these two chapters Isaiah 56, and then next time Isaiah 57. As Isaiah goes back and forth between the wheat and the weeds. We're going to look at two of those aspects this time and then next time more. One of the great challenges for us as we come to Isaiah is to try to understand the prophet in his own day, in his own language, his own words, his own setting, but then also see the timeless eternal vision of God, the words of God to every generation of God's people who don't live exactly when Isaiah lived but that timeless message that goes on through all generations. So we're going to see Old Covenantal type language here in Isaiah 56, but we're going to see principles that must be only fulfilled through the New Covenant and through the timeless message of Christ across every generation. He's going to speak clearly about those that are outsiders that would have been excluded in the Old Covenant being welcomed in and worshipping with God, as you heard in the text. He's also going to speak clearly about the great wickedness of Israel's Watchmen, of their shepherds, their leaders, and how they were living self-indulgent lives of feasting and following Canaanite religions. Now, these things happened, I think, right before the exile to Babylon. And so he's going to use language speaking about the sins that led to the exile to Babylon, and then speak about the re-gathering of Jews coming back in, and all of that is relevant to Isaiah's immediate circumstance. But if you look bigger, I think, they all pre-figure the in-gathering of people all over the world into the church of Jesus Christ through faith in Christ. So you've got to hold your mind in both, in both worlds, Isaiah's world and then the world that we live in today. Now, let's speak for a moment about the world that we live in today. I said that it's pretty obvious it's getting more obvious all the time, that we live in a mixed-up world, that we live side by side with people who do not love and cherish Jesus Christ as we do. And their lifestyles make it very plain that they do not cherish God's word, the way we do, and the fact that they are living out their rebellion against God, and unbelief right in front of us, right around us makes our lives far more difficult. Jesus knew that in the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds. This is a mixed-up world. And for us as American Christians, it's especially challenging, because we live in a time in which we can look back where Christianity had a direct influence on our culture, on our government, our politics, on our lives very directly, especially here in the South, in an area that we used to call the Bible Belt, where the history of the saturation of the gospel and the influence of Christianity and culture was more evident. And government, not just here in the south but throughout the country, a little more supportive of Christianity used language that was taken from the Bible, public officials frequently sought days of fasting and prayer to the God of Heaven. Christianity was directly held in honor in government schools, and in the marketplace. Judeo-Christian values, you've heard that phrase so-called were honored in the schools and in public culture. There was a Christian ethic behind most of the laws of our country, even what became eventually known as misguided laws like prohibition had a very strong Christian basis in a Christian root. There was a strong church backing to the damage that alcohol did and that's what led to prohibition. However, as American citizens, we have to realize that the documents which established our nation such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, Bill of Rights, are in no way overtly Christian, keyword being, "overtly." None of these documents mention Jesus or Christ or Christianity or the Trinity or salvation. The anti-establishment clause which says that the federal government will set up or establish no religion for the people, clearly means we're not overtly Christian, we're not establishing and clearly revering Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and the American government never have. Yet we're well aware of how influential Christianity was in the lives of people who wrote those words, in the lives of those who governed according to their principles. In many cases, they were clearly Christian people in other cases not so. And yet for all of that, the general esteem with which Christianity has been held here in America is clearly a decaying orbit and I believe it's going to get worse, not better. I think it's going to become harder and harder to be clearly Christian in America. It's going to take courage, and it's going to take perspective, we need to understand what's going on. We live in a mixed-up world. We're going to be surrounded by unbelievers, they're going to be living out their unbelief in front of us. And friends for us this is a tremendous opportunity for the gospel. It's a chance for us to show the light in a very dark place. Alan Cooperman who is a director of religious research for the Pew Foundation said this, "Overall, there are more than four... "Listen to this, "More than four former Christians to every convert to Christianity in this country." So what that means is there are more... A four-to-one ratio, of those that are renouncing a previous allegiance to Christianity, then there are those that are saying that they are taking on a new allegiance to Christianity. Four to one. A Newsweek poll says that there's a great rise in the unaffiliated group, sometimes called the religious nones. Now, you shouldn't think like a Roman Catholic nun. N-U-N. It's more that you answer in the poll, religious affiliation none, none. The rise of the nones, it's happening more and more in our country, it's accelerating, especially among what's called the millennials. So that's the younger generation they're coming into their 20s, or just post-college, etcetera. More than 35% of that group of people are unaffiliated with any religion at all. So that's what we're looking at. And issues that we've been very well aware of that have been pressing on the consciences of evangelicals, like abortion and gay marriage and now especially in our state, transgender bathrooms and the whole issue of transgender-ism, have revealed I think the decaying nature of the relationship between biblical Christianity and American culture. So we're in for a rocky ride, I think. And frankly, I think we're in for the same rocky ride that most of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world have been experiencing every day of their lives. Brothers and sisters in China and Muslim countries or in other places, even in atheistic West, like in the Czech Republic other places where it's just much harder to live out a Christian life. They've known about this all their Christian lives. And so we're going to be experiencing that more and more. What we need then is we need to turn to the word of God, as never before, and find out what God is doing in the world. And derive hope and strength and purpose from that. And I think it's a great time for us to be turning back to Isaiah, and looking at and picking up where we were. We got up to Isaiah 55. And let me just give a little bit of review on the first 55 chapters of the book of Isaiah. No I'm not going to do that. Starting in chapter one, no that would take a while. But what I actually want to do is zero in on the central theme, I think of the entire book of Isaiah, and really of the whole Bible, and that is the way that the book of Isaiah, reveals Christ the savior. And we've been following that magnificently in the book of Isaiah with an individual called the suffering servant. So look with me at Isaiah 42. I'm just going to trace this out very quickly. Isaiah 42, we're introduced to the servant of the Lord, verse one, "Behold my servant whom I uphold my chosen one in whom I delight, I will put my Spirit on Him and He will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise His voice in the streets. A bruised reed, He will not break, and a smoldering wick, He will not snuff out. In faithfulness He will bring forth justice. He will not falter or be discouraged, until he establishes justice on earth. And in His law, the islands will put their hope." Friend just reading those words, I get happier and happier the more I read. This is Jesus, Matthew 12 says very clearly Jesus. He is the suffering servant, who comes to bring justice and righteousness to all the Earth, but who advances His kingdom in a very gentle tender loving way. He doesn't quarrel or cry out in the streets. That's not... He's not a rabble rouser, or a rebel or something like that. He just proclaims justice and tenderness and mercy. He doesn't destroy broken-hearted weak sinners, but He binds them up and saves them. Isaiah 42. Then if you look at Isaiah 49, we have the servant of the Lord, Isaiah 50 portrays Him. Let's start with Isaiah 49, especially verse six. This is the Lord, speaking to the servant of the Lord says, “And now the Lord says, he who formed me in the womb to be Him servant to bring Jacob back to Him and gather Israel to Himself for I'm honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has been my strength. 'It is too small a thing for you to be my servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel, I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.'" So here's the servant of the Lord, and it's too small to work for Him to be just Israel's savior, Israel's Messiah. God has bigger plans than that for the servant of the Lord. And that is to bring salvation to the ends of the earth. To restore and bring back even Gentiles. He is the light for the Gentiles. Isaiah 50. The servant of the Lord is revealed as clearly a suffering servant. He doesn't hide His face from mocking and spitting or His back from being beaten. He's going to pay a price to redeem sinners in the world. Then you get to Isaiah 50, 52 and 53, if you look at Isaiah 53, just go right in 53:6. Isaiah 53:6, 53 five and six, let's do that. "He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him, the iniquity of us all." So that's a substitutionary atoning work of Jesus. We are no better than those that are living sinful lives around us, no better than them at all. We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and God has laid on Jesus, the suffering servant, the iniquity of us all. He is our substitutionary atonement. He was pierced for our transgressions. This is the Gospel, and Isaiah 54 makes it plain. I'm not going to go through that chapter. But that Zion, the people of God, the tent that takes in the people of God needs to get a lot bigger, and larger tent make it bigger. There's going to be a lot more people coming in. And then in Isaiah 55, there's this beautiful invitation, "Come. All you who are thirsty, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come buy and eat, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why spend yourselves on what doesn't satisfy?" And then in 55:6, he says so beautifully, "Seek the Lord while He may be found, call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him and to our God, and he will abundantly pardon." So this is the focus, and this is right where we're at in Isaiah 56. Now, here's the thing. With the wheat and the weeds, some people are going to be drawn in by that beautiful message of Christ crucified, resurrected, salvation offered freely to any who repent and believe. They're going to come, and they're going to feast from all over the earth. And others are not going to accept it. They're going to have a hard hearts. They're going to live out their rebellion to the end of their days, and they're going to make life miserable for Christ's people. That's just what's going to happen. And so we have this mixed-up experience. So that brings us now to Isaiah 56. II. The Wheat: Humble Outcasts Welcomed In (vs. 1-8) Now, as we look at verses 1-8, we see the effect of the Gospel going to people who in the old covenant would have been excluded. We're going to talk about that, but God has this beautiful, magnificent salvation plan that he fashioned as we learned clearly from the book of Ephesians. He fashioned before the foundation of the world. From before the foundation of the world, He set his love on us in Christ, and He poured out spiritual blessings on us when we were still unborn in his own mind and heart. In Christ, he did us every good that we would ever need. Even long before he said, we were created. Before he even said, "Let there be light," God had this salvation plan. And that plan was to redeem us by the blood of Christ. Now, the redemptive plan of God began when Adam and Eve fell into sin. There's no need for redemption before that. When Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they were expelled from the Garden of Eden. They were kicked out. They were excluded. They're on the outside. And God put an angel there with a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. So they would not be permitted to re-enter Eden and eat from the Tree of Life. So I just want you to picture that in your mind because we're going to talk about people excluded, but I want you to include yourself in that category. We were all of us kicked out. As a human race, we were excluded from heaven. We are excluded from fellowship with God because of our sins. We're on the outside. Now, in redemptive plan, the redemptive plan of God, God chose out a specific people, the Jews. And he did it with the call of Abraham. At that point, his name was Abram. In Genesis 12, God called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldeans and said, "Leave your country and your people, and go to the land I will show you." And he says this, "I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. Whoever curses you, I will curse. And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." So the Jewish nation then became a launching pad for the salvation of the world. God intended to save his chosen people, that he chose in Christ before the creation of world to save them through a Jewish plan of salvation, ultimately through a Jewish Savior as Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, "Salvation is from the Jews." And so God brought Israel up out of Egypt, up out of the promised land... Up out of Egypt into the promised land, through the Red Sea, brought them into the promised land. And, at the mountain of the 10 Commandments, he said this to them. He said, "If you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all the nations, you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole Earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." So what that means is, "I'm going to bless you, oh Jewish people, so that you can be a blessing to the whole earth." That was God's purpose. Psalm 67 captures it very, very well. It says, "May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on Earth, your salvation among all nations. May the peoples praise you, Oh God, may all the peoples praise you." The peoples are the Gentiles, the non-Jewish nation. Oh God, be gracious to us, the Jews, so that we might be a blessing to the Gentiles. That was the idea of the concept. And we've seen that in Christ, that desire is fulfilled. Jesus is the son of Abraham. He's the Son of David, He is Jewish, and he is the savior of the earth. Now look at Verse 1. "This is what the Lord says, 'Maintain justice and do what is right for my salvation is close at hand, and my righteousness will soon be revealed." That's powerful. "My salvation is drawing near now. My righteousness is coming close." Isaiah lived six centuries before Jesus was born. But in God's mind, a day is like a 1000 years, and a 1000 years is like a day. The time for salvation is drawing near. Now, we could say that the prophet might have been talking about the deliverance from the exile of Babylon, and I think that might be part of what he had in mind. The deliverance from Babylon is a picture though of the greater deliverance that Jesus works for all of us from sin, from the captivity of sin. And so, we could say that both of them are in His mind. The Jews are going to come back from Babylon, they're going to rebuild the destroyed city of Jerusalem, they're going to live there, and that's an important thing, but that's not the fulfillment of the glorious words of Isaiah 56, not at all. Something bigger is going to happen. The Jewish nation that would be established under Ezra and Nehemiah would continue living under the old covenant, under the laws of Moses. They would continue to offer animal sacrifice, to keep the Sabbath regulations, they would continue to follow the old covenant. But all of this has in view the day in which those old covenant strictures would be abolished, would be removed. And so, godly Jews are described here, in verse one and two. This is what the Lord says, "Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand, and my righteousness will soon be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, the man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil." This is the call for the people of God, the Jews of Isaiah's day, or those that would come back under Ezra and Nehemiah, the godly Jewish nation, to live godly, upright lives under His law, as they waited for His redemption. The nation had been wicked, they've been sent into exile, disobeying God's laws, they had plundered the weak and helpless, they'd taken advantage of the widow and the orphan, they had shed innocent blood, they'd been sexually immoral, they'd been idolaters, that had led to the exile. "Okay, when I bring you back in, lead righteous, godly lives now, and in that way, my salvation will draw near, the nation will be able to continue." Now, for us as Christians, we have to hear this in a Christian new covenant sort of sense. We're not waiting for the restoration from Babylon, that's done, that's in the rearview mirror. What are we waiting for? We're waiting for Jesus to come back. We're waiting for the second coming of Christ. Well, what kind of lives should we live while we wait for that? 2 Peter 3 makes it very plain. It's going to be very similar type of language here. "Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?" Second Peter 3:11-12. "You ought to live godly and upright lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming." So, we ought to be holy and we have to do evangelism and missions, that's what that verse says. And then, Second Peter 3:14, "So then, dear friends, since you're looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him." That's Peter writing to new covenant saints. We get the same kind of language here, in Isaiah 56, one and two. "Live godly, upright lives as you wait for righteousness of God to come near. As you wait for the next event in redemptive history to come, live godly and upright lives," that's what the call is here. Godly Outcasts Welcomed Now, in verse three, we see godly outcasts welcome. Now, this is where it gets really fascinating. Look at verse three. "Let no foreigner who has bound himself to the Lord say, 'The Lord will surely exclude me from His people.' And let not any eunuch complain, 'I am only a dry tree.'" So now, we're looking at foreigners, by that I mean, the text means Gentiles, outsiders, and eunuchs, eunuchs. It speaks of people, then, that are categorically excluded in the old covenant from the assembly of the Lord. They're out, they're outsiders, they can't come in. They're not allowed to come in. Eunuchs are specifically mentioned as excluded in every case in Deuteronomy 23:1. And then, specific Gentiles are excluded in Deuteronomy 23:2 and Deuteronomy 23:3. For example, 23:2 says, "No one born of a forbidden marriage or any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, even down to the 10th generation." And then, verse three of Deuteronomy 23, "No Ammonite or Moabite or any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, even down to the 10th generation." These are what we would call aliens and strangers, they're outsiders, they're excluded from fellowship with the people of God because of the law. Now, we believe in Christ, all of those exclusions are abolished, they're removed. We believe that this chapter foresees the day when those exclusions are taken away. "Let no foreigner say, 'I'm excluded.'" "I'm no longer excluded." Why not? Because Jesus came and fulfilled the old covenant and brought in with His blood a new covenant. And in that new covenant, there are no such restrictions. We saw this plainly in Ephesians chapter 2, let me read that again. By the way, I'm not going back to Ephesians, I just can't seem to let it go. I love the Book of Ephesians. But Ephesians 2:11 and following is the clearest passage on the fact that these exclusions are being removed. Says in Ephesians, 2:11-12, "Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called 'uncircumcised' by those who call themselves 'the circumcision.' Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world." That's how it used to be, oh Gentiles, how you used to be excluded by the law of Moses. Deuteronomy 23. The law of Moses kept such people out of the assembly of the Lord. It was what Paul called a barrier, a dividing wall of hostility. You couldn't come in. Yet through Isaiah the Prophet, even centuries before Jesus was born, there was foretold the day when those restrictions would be removed. The barrier would be taken away, and you would be allowed, as a Gentile, an uncircumcised Gentile, to enter the assembly of the Lord. You'd be welcome to come in. Now, God doesn't allow these outsiders in without transforming them. They have become radically different people; God has cleansed them of all their pagan defilements, He's washed them clean by the blood of Christ, they're made new in their hearts. John the Baptist said that God is able out of this stones to raise up children for Abraham, and so He has done. He has removed our hearts of stone and given us a heart of flesh. That's the condition for coming in now: Transformation by the Spirit of God. Ezekiel put it this way, about outsiders coming in. He said, "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean…" Ezekiel 36:25 and following, "I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols, I will give you a new heart and I'll put a new Spirit in you and I will remove from you the heart of stone and I will give you a heart of flesh and I'll put my Spirit in you and I will move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws." That's the transformation of the new covenant, the transformation, the change wrought by the spirit of God, or again in Ephesians 2, 13-15, "but now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ, for He himself is our peace, who has made the two one," [Jew and Gentile] and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the commandments and regulations that kept us out his purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace." This is the redemptive work of Christ. The Rewards of Inclusion Now, look at the rewards of being included say, "Well what do I get if I'm included?" Look at it, it's beautiful, these are rich blessings for those humble transformed outsiders. Each of these are carefully described before, the blessings are listed. The fact is you have to be changed in order to qualify, not every eunuch is blessed, not every outsider is brought near, that's not true. What does it say? Verses 4-5 "This is what the Lord says: 'to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbath, and choose what pleases me, and hold fast to my covenant, to them I will give within my temple and its walls, a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off." So the conditions are covenantal language. Now in Isaiah's day that was old covenantal language; keep the Sabbath, do the sacrificial system, all that. We know that that's just a type and a shadow of the salvation, Jesus came to bring for us in the New Covenant. The requirement is simple. Believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, trust in Him. Repent of your sins, believe in Christ and you will be brought near, you'll be given a new heart, the Holy Spirit will change you from the inside out, you'll be transformed, and you will meet the requirements and look at the rewards a place in God's temple, a spot within its walls a secure permanent place of honor, and everlasting name that will never be cut off, never be forgotten. It's amazing. Now this is very similar to the promises made to the church of Philadelphia in Revelation 3:12. Listen to this. "To him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God. And the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God, I will also write on him a new name." That's very similar to Isaiah 56, isn't it? So what's happening, we're talking about heaven that's coming, the new Heaven, the new Earth, the new Jerusalem, if you become in Christ brought near, transformed from the inside out, God is going to adopt you as one of his sons or daughters, he's going to give you an everlasting name better than a biological son or daughter. You'll be his forever and ever. Biological names are forgotten, if you don't think so read First Chronicles and all those genealogies you know exactly, who are these people? If the Lord doesn't return any time soon, within three or four generations probably, no one on Earth will know your name, no one. Everyone will forget you, everyone you knew will be dead, long gone. That's just the way of the earth, that's the way of death. This is talking about an eternal remembrance. An eternal relationship. This is adoption by an eternal father, and the giving of a name that you will have forever and ever. And it will never be forgotten. That's eternity, that's heaven, that's a new Jerusalem. And it must refer to that spiritual temple as we've talked about again and again, in Ephesians 2, that new and living structure in Ephesians 2, 1 Peter 2, we are all living stones built into that habitation, that eternal habitation. We will receive a name and a place in that forever and ever if we draw near. And in heaven we will be able to offer sacrifices. 1 Peter 2:9-10, says "You are a chosen people, a royal Priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God." Think about that; once you were outsiders now you're inside, once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. We are drawn in and we can offer up sacrifices, of praise to God. Ultimately in heaven, there's going to be a multitude greater than anyone can count from every tribe, language, people, and nation. And they're going to be drawn near Revelation seven. They're going to be given white robes and palm branches and they're going to cry out salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb, and they're going to stand listen to this revelation 7:13-15 this multitude greater than any cookout Where are they from? They're from the Great Tribulation, they've washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb, therefore listen to this Revelation, 7:15, they are before the throne of God and they serve Him day and night in His temple so that this is the language of Isaiah 56. The eunuchs, who are brought near, the outsiders who are brought near, we are given a place in the eternal temple of God and a name better than anyone could ever have in this world and forever we will bring our sacrifices and offerings in praise and they'll be accepted. That's what Isaiah is predicting. Verses 6 and 7, "Foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, to love the name of the Lord and to worship him all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it, and who hold fast to my covenant, these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations." Now, the conditions have to be met, you have to repent and believe and be drawn near in the new covenant, you have to bind yourself to the Lord by faith, you have to yearn to love him and to serve him and to follow him and to love the name of the Lord and to worship him. The Sabbath, I believe, is fulfilled in Christ. But it's also commemorated in the Lord's Day assembly around the world of Christians who come on the first day of the week to celebrate, not looking back at the old creation, but looking ahead to the new creation, first day of the week when God is going to make everything new. So, we assemble together and so we get all of these blessings and he says, "My house will be called the house of prayer for all nations." You know that Jesus quoted this, he was talking about Herod's Temple, a temple built by a wicked man, but he honored it as what it was, a beautiful type and shadow and picture of a future reality, a heavenly reality, a heavenly temple, when people from all nations would be welcomed, and would pray and worship God in that heavenly temple, and that now the temple of Herod's day, it should be a place where they're praying toward that end and where Gentiles are welcomed to worship the true and living God in light of the new covenant, Jesus had come to bring. Instead what did he find? Corruption, money changers, people trying to make money out of religion and it enraged him. And so he sat down and he braided a whip, and he overturned the benches of the money changers, and he drove out the all of the animals and he cried out in the words of Isaiah 56. "My house will be a house of prayer for all nations." He's quoting Isaiah 56 as he cleanses the temple. Now eventually he would will that that temple be physically, completely destroyed. Its days were over, it was obsolete, the Old Covenant was done, and so the Romans finished it off. New Exiles Gathered In But the vision was still there, that in the heavenly realm there would be, all nations assembled to worship God and there would be in verse 8, new exiles drawn and look at verse 8, "The sovereign lord declares, he who gathers the exiles of Israel. I'm going to gather still others to them besides those already gathered." I'm going to do a kind of a second re-gathering. So we're going to bring in the Jews from Babylon, and they'll be re-gathered but then I'm going to do a second re-gathering I'm going to gather other exiles and bring them in. Well, who are they? Well, In Isaiah 11:12, it says that God "will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel, he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four corners of the earth." So there's this banner raised for the Gentiles and a gathering of people from all over the world and then even more plain in John 11:51-52, it said that "Jesus would die for the Jewish nation and not for that nation only, but also for the scattered children of God to bring them together and make them one." Non-Jews, who are called the scattered children of God, they are the elect, chosen before the creation of the world, they would be gathered in Jesus's name, to one place. That's what verse 8 is talking about. I'm going to gather still others beyond those already gathered. So Verses 1 through 8 show the delights of the plan of salvation, for humble people once excluded, for exiles scattered all over the Earth, rich blessings of fellowship an eternally secure place in God's eternal temple where you will worship forever and ever. My question to you is, are you included or are you still an outsider? Are you on the outside looking in or have you been drawn in through faith in Christ? That's what you have to ask. This is visionary Old Testament prophetic language, let me speak quite plainly. Do you know yourself to be a Christian? Do you know yourself to be forgiven through faith in Christ? Have you been drawn in through faith in Christ, having repented of your sins have you found forgiveness through Christ? Are you spiritually now offering sacrifices to God, are you spiritually feasting on Christ? Are you looking forward to the day when you are literally sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Is that you? If not, If you know yourself to be an outsider believe that God brought you here for this moment and I'm calling on you while there's time, call on the Lord while he is near. Forsake your evil ways and find forgiveness in Christ. III. The Weeds: Self-Indulgent Leaders Devoured (vs. 9-12) The rest of the chapter deals with weeds, deals with people who hear that kind of invitation, hear that kind of gospel presentation and don't believe. Now they're a special category. They are leaders, they are the watchmen of Israel, but they're wicked, look at them described. They're self-indulgent leaders verses 10-12. "Israel's Watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge they're all mute dogs, they cannot bark, they lie around and dream, they love to sleep, they are dogs with mighty appetites, they never have enough, they are shepherds who lack understanding, they all turn to their own way, each seeks his own gain. Come, each one cries, let me get wine, let us drink our fill of beer and tomorrow will be like today or even far better." Well, final paragraph to this chapter is a judgment on the watchmen of Israel. I believe it's speaking to the leaders of the Jewish nation, their kings, their prophets, their warriors, their leaders who were given positions of power and authority in the nation to serve the people not to take advantage of them or to fleece them. Israel's watchmen are the guardians of the nation, those who stand on the walls, to protect her from danger and from slaughter in the night. They are called on therefore, to deprive themselves of sleep during the night. What good is a sleeping watchman? They're supposed to be up on the walls, but they're asleep. They're supposed to be sacrificing themselves, they're supposed to be alert and courageous and wise and self-sacrificial. But instead these watchmen are deplorable. Ezekiel the Prophet was called a watchman for Israel. He said, "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me." So that picture is a sleeping city, a walled fortress, and there's a possibility of an attack in the night. The watchman's job is to stand on the walls and warn the sleeping people, "Get up, there's danger." And so what God says to Ezekiel the watchman, he says, "When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. 19 But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself." So that's what a watchman does. Now, these watchmen are deplorable, they are blind. I mean, think about that, what good is a blind watchman? Just ponder that for a while. They are ignorant, they lack knowledge, they are mute dogs. Now, what good is a watch dog that can't bark? Isaiah calls them lazy dogs. They lie around and love to sleep, like the sluggard, they can't even pull their hand out of the dish and bring it to their mouth. They can barely rouse themselves out of bed, they're lazy. He calls them dogs with mighty appetites. Like Paul says in Philippians 3, "Their God is their stomach." They love a good meal. They love to feast. They're living for themselves, they're greedy. They never get enough. And not only that, they think the feast will never end. I like the NIV on verse 12, I really do. "Come, each one cries, let me get wine, let us drink our fill of beer. And tomorrow will be like today or even far better." That's an interesting translation, I think it's a good one. In other words, I think things are just going to get better and better. Things are really good for us right now, but they're going to get better and better. No fear of the Lord, no fear of impending judgment, just complacent, lazy comfortable expectation that life, prosperous comfortable life, is just going to keep on going the way it always has. Well, verse nine speaks of a different kind of feast, it's a different kind of feast, and these watchmen are actually invited to it. But look at it, "Come all you beasts of the field, come and devour, all you beasts of the forest." So Israel's watchmen are invited to the feast, but not as honored guests, but actually as the food. They're going to be invited to be devoured by the beast, they're going to be judged by the wrath of God. This very much reminds me of Revelation 19, when there's the armies of the Earth assembled to fight against Jesus in His second coming glory. And it says there in Revelation 19:17, it says, "I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in mid-air, 'Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings and generals and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great." And so the birds came and feasted on their flesh. It's a picture of terrible judgment from God. So, simply put, at the end of the world, God is going to separate out the wheat from the weeds. And verses 9-12 give a picture, in very graphic kind of picture form, of the judgment that's going to come on those who live their lives for their stomach, for their flesh, who do not use their positions of influence and authority to glorify God. IV. Applications Alright, so applications, I've already given you the most important one. Come to the banquet of Christ while there's time. Feast on him, trust in him. Don't remain an outsider. Be welcomed by faith in Christ into God's holy temple. Accept the gifts that He wants to give you. He wants to adopt you as one of his sons or daughters. He wants to give you a name in his temple that will never end. Accept his conditions, the conditions of the new covenant, they're simple. Confess Christ as your Lord and Savior, repent of your sins, and you will be saved. Secondly, understand, Christian brothers and sisters, the mixed nature of this world. It is lamentable, we are going to grieve, it's going to cause us trouble, but it's just the reality. It's going to be like this until the end of the world. Look on it as an opportunity. Don't consider yourself superior to any of those that appear to be weeds. That's the whole thing. The reason the servants can't root them up, they can't tell the difference. Saul of Tarsus, what did he look like the morning he was converted? He looked like weeds to me. We just can't tell the difference, we never know what God's sovereign grace could do. We never know. And so, let's look on the wickedness of the people around us as an opportunity to speak the truth in love into their lives and see God save some of them. The weeds make up ISIS as they behead Christians. The weeds make-up anti-Christian college officials who issue edicts and rules that keep Christians from freely sharing the gospel on their college campuses, or professors who use their positions to speak anti-Christian doctrines to those that have to listen to them, or non-Christian government officials, not just in the US but all over the world, who use their positions of power and influence to hinder the work of God in the world. Making bad decisions, and issuing bad judgments, and bad decrees, or even to crush the Gospel overtly. The mixed up nature of this world is a constant grief to us. It's going to continue, but it's temporary. Some day the Lord is going to purge this world. In the mean time, we're going to have to bear with this suffering that comes from it and to see God use us to win people to Christ. Also, along with that, let's have a deep compassion for those that are lost, let's weep for them. Let's not feel superior to them. Let's, like Paul says, "I have a great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart." And Jesus wept over Jerusalem. So ask God to make you a little less annoyed with the weeds, a little less irritated by them, and instead pray for them. Paul says in 2 Timothy 2, "I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvations in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." You know what it is? The elect are surrounded by un-elect. The wheat that hasn't been converted yet, they're surrounded by weeds that are going to pound you as you try to reach the elect. Even the elect themselves are going to treat you badly until they're finally converted. I did the same myself. They're going to beat you up while you're rescuing them from the lagoon. You're going to swim out there, and they're going to beat you up the whole way as you drag them to safety. And then they're going to cry and thank you. But that's what happens. This is the price we pay for being evangelistically fruitful in this world. Thirdly, a warning to leaders, to watchmen, be faithful. Elders, especially I want to say a word to you who are elders in this church, let us not be anything like the watchmen that are described in this chapter. Do not live for your stomach, do not live for pleasure, do not live for temporary things. I call on me and others to live up to the holiness that this passage talks about. We ought to keep watch over ourselves and the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made us overseers. Richard Baxter in his reform pastor said this, "Take heed to yourselves, lest you live in those sins that you preach against in others. Lest you be guilty of that which daily you condemn. Will you preach God's laws and yet willfully break them? If sin be evil, then why do you live in it? And if it be not, then why do you dissuade men from it? If sin be dangerous, then how dare you venture on it? And if it be not, then why do you tell men so? If God's threatenings be true, then why do you not fear them? And if they be false, then why do you needlessly trouble men with them and put them into such frights without a cause?" So that's just a warning to all of us who are elders and leaders in spiritual positions in the church, not just in this church, but in any church. I also want to give a similar warning to political leaders. God is going to hold political leaders, senators, congressmen, presidents, elected officials to account for what they did with their position of authority. And if they used their position to hinder the work of God, God is going to judge them. Finally, a word for missions. Verse seven says, "My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations." I yearn for this church to be on fire for evangelism and missions. That we would be a house of prayer for all nations, for the spread of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. I especially call on home fellowships. When you meet tonight in your home fellowships, be certain you pray for missionaries, be certain you pray for unreached people groups, that you keep your heart extended to the ends of the Earth, where Jesus has believers who have not yet been converted. Move your heart out there in prayer. My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. Close with me in prayer.

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02-24-13: Their God is Their Stomach (Rev. Denny Wayman)

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 9, 2016 24:40

02-24-13: Their God is Their Stomach (Rev. Denny Wayman) by Sermons

sermons stomach wayman their god

Hoezo Gemeente zijn 10 (Fil. 3:17-4:1)

EBG Preken

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2016 43:50

WE HADDEN TECHNISCHE PROBLEMEN. DE BACK-UP STAAT ER NU OP, MAAR DIE OPNAME IS NIET ZO GOED ALS GEWOONLIJK. MIJN EXCUSES VOOR HET ONGEMAK.WALKING WITH HOMESICKNESSPhilippians 3:17-4:1In the passage we will look at today Paul finishes out a theme that he has carried through the entire epistle. Allow me to give you a brief overview of the first three chapters of Philippians:Paul's thanksgiving prayer 1:3-11A discussion of life and death and the gain of either 1:21Walking worthy of the Gospel of Christ 1:27aStand firm in one spirit 1:27bJesus our prime example of humility 2:5-11Spiritual examples - men worth emulating 2:19-30Bad examples - men to avoid 3:2-6Jesus our goal and prize 3:8-11pursuing and grasping 3:12-14Paul brings the worthy walk back into focus and starts connecting the dots in this wonderful concluding statement that introduces chapter four.Paul draw a black-and-white picture; there are only two ways of walking. Walking is a euphemism for the conduct of one's life and in 1:27 he challenged the reader to walk as a worthy citizen. Now he lays out two options:IMITATORS OF THE CROSSENEMIES OF THE CROSSEnemies of the CrossThough Paul introduces imitating first, he explains enemies first in verse 19. Paul describes four things about those who walk this way:Their end is DestructionTheir lives and pursuits don't end well. Their gaze is short and their investment in temporary things. None of their pursuits have eternal value.Their God is their BellyTheir worship is directed inward. Their passions and lusts are what they strive for and grasp. If it feels good, it must be good. This is the central ideology of hedonism - do what pleases you… whatever makes your inward parts tingle. It is this way of thinking - this way of walking - that leads to rampant sex, binge drinking, violence and homosexuality. As the writer of Judges put it: Everyone does what is right in their own eyes.They glory is their ShameThey are proud of that which they should be ashamed of. That which brings feelings of guilt and failure to the Christian, brings a sense of accomplishment to the unregenerate man. They become proud of their accomplishments in sin.They mind earthly ThingsDoes anything need to be said? They are not spiritually minded, but only think of things they can see and touch. “Show me the proof!” is the indictment so often hurled against us.Imitators of the CrossPaul then switches gears to “us”: our citizenship is in heaven. He draws a sharp contrast between this and the latter.Our end is EternalCitizenship brings our mind back to walking worthy… as a good citizen (1:27). What a joy to already (as we sung this morning) have our passport stamped. We are registered in the heavenlies, our name is written in His Book of Life. All our investments have lasting value and our pursuit of Christ will continue beyond our own deaths.Our God is ChristIt's not what I want, but what He wants. He began a good work (1:6) and will accomplish it, He humiliated Himself to the point of obedience (2:5-11), He grasped us first (3:12). I no longer live for me and my passions, but I submit my passions to His perfect plan and will for my life.He honors usWhat He performs in me pales in comparison to what I could do in me.He draws us by His powerHis eternal power draws our attention and our gaze beyond what is terrestrial into what is extra-terrestrial. God is able to do so much more than what we can see here on earth. We ought not to be earthly-minded, but Christ-minded.In 4:1 Paul brings back the verb he introduced in 1:27b: stand firm. This heavenly-mindedness, ought to make us stand firm now… we should walk with a healthy dose of home-sickness… we don't belong here, we belong with Him.And that brings Valentine's Day into focus for me. I explained to my boys this morning that Valentine's Day is a day when you tell the person you love that you love them… and try to show it. Guys… this afternoon, right? But how about we tell the One who saved our soul, ransomed our lives, traded his own, left His glory, reached for you, grasped your hand and has granted you heavenly citizenship that you love Him!

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Believing Prayer

Nuggets Of Godly Wisdom

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 27, 2015 6:44

Christians need to show a WORLD IN GREAT NEED that God is meeting OUR needs, working in OUR everyday lives in a supernatural way, and doing “impossible” things on a regular basis in OUR lives. It is only then that a world in such desperate need will start to let OUR God become THEIR GOD! http://who-god-is.com/believing-prayer-the-holy-spirit-acts-powerfully-through-it

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Believing Prayer Is An Extremely Powerful Thing

Nuggets Of Godly Wisdom

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 8, 2015 6:25

We Christians need to show a WORLD IN GREAT NEED that God is meeting OUR needs, working in OUR lives in a supernatural way, and doing "impossible" things on a regular basis in OUR lives. It is only then that a world in such desperate need will start to let OUR God become THEIR GOD! http://who-god-is.com/believing-prayer-the-holy-spirit-works-powerfully-through-it

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The Tabernacle Symbols Have Been Fulfilled by Christ (Hebrews Sermon 32 of 74) (Audio)

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Play Episode Listen Later Jun 19, 2011

The Life of Faith Hebrews 11, one of the great and glorious chapters of the Bible. We haven't gotten to it yet, but God willing, we'll get there in time. But it celebrates a life of faith, and that is very, very much what we must do in the new covenant religion, we are called on to walk by faith and not by sight. These things that we are dealing with are invisible things. We cannot see them, we can't handle them, we have to accept them by faith based on the word of God. But in that glorious chapter, in Hebrews chapter 11, it talks about the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and how they live by faith in the promised land. Not having received any of those things that were promised, but seeing them and welcoming them only at a distance, they lived their lives that way. And one of the evidences that the author to Hebrews gives of that life of faith, is that they lived in tents in the promised land. Now, a tent is a temporary dwelling. It's something that you can move easily, it's light weight. And you can pull up the stakes and you can move that very day, and be in another place later that day or tomorrow. And what's fascinating to me, as we come to Hebrews 9:1-5, a contemplation of the Tabernacle, it's amazing me that God chose for a time to dwell in one sense spiritually, in a tent, with the people of Israel. Why did He do it, what was He choosing to communicate to us by dwelling in a tent, and that is that the permanent dwelling place of Almighty God with His people has not yet come. That God is moving from place to place, and that only in the final salvation, that Christ brings will set up with His people and permanent face-to-face fellowship. And so for a time, God chose to dwell in a tent. And our purpose today as we come to Hebrews 9:1-5, is to understand that tent that holy place, that sanctuary, that tabernacle, to try to understand why God established it as He did, what were His reasons, to give honor to those reasons. And to understand based on Hebrews 8:13, I'll mention that again in just a moment, but that it's obsolete, it's time has passed the time for the tent, the Tabernacle is over, it has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ, all of the truth that's wrapped up in the symbolic elements of that tabernacle, have come to pass, in Jesus they are fulfilled. The Context of Hebrews: The Supremacy of Christ Over All Things And so we're going to try to understand that. Now let's get a running start in terms of our context here, remember that the Book of Hebrews was written to some Jewish people in the first century, who had made an outward profession of faith in Christ, perhaps, I think, certainly I think had testified to it by water baptism, were in the process of worshipping with the people of God week-by-week. But they were under attack by the surrounding Jewish culture, by Jewish authorities perhaps, political authorities, by religious authorities. By their neighbors, they're unsaved family members, friends, co-workers, under intense pressure, to forsake Christ, to turn their backs on Jesus and go back to old covenant worship, and the animal sacrificial system, that was first established through the tabernacle. All of those things that would be at the center of what they were being tempted to go back to. And so the author's strategy in the Book of Hebrews is to give us Jesus, to give us the glories and the majesty and the greatness of the person of Jesus Christ. And I think we've seen no book does that in quite the way and with quite the glory that the book of Hebrews does. I mean, we could study this for years and never quite see all of the glory of Jesus that we need to see it. But he has been comparing Jesus across these eight chapters now into the ninth chapter, with elements of the Old Covenant. Trying to show that the Old Covenant has been fulfilled, has been superseded, in the new covenant that Jesus came to bring. So we see the superiority of Jesus Christ, the supremacy of Christ, superior to the Old Testament prophets, superior to the angels, who mediated the old covenant, to Moses. Superior to Moses who was a servant in God's house, but Jesus a Son over God's house. Superior to Joshua who brought them into the physical promised land, where they stayed temporarily until their sins evicted them under the stipulations of the old covenant, which they could not keep did not keep. Jesus is superior to Aaron and to the Levitical priesthood, the Aaronic priesthood, Jesus superior to all of this. We've been looking at that. And we've turned the corner a bit now in Chapter 8, and we've seen the new covenant that Jesus comes to bring. The marvelous elements of the New Covenant. How God said he will write His laws on our minds and on our hearts, and He will be our God and we will be His people. No longer will a man need anyone to teach him saying know the Lord. For we will all know the Lord from the least of us to the greatest, for He will forgive our wickedness, and He will remember our sins no more. Those are the beautiful elements of the old covenant that we studied last time. The First Covenant is Obsolete And then he makes a transition in verse 13 of chapter 8. He's saying, "By calling this covenant new, He has made the first one, obsolete, and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear." And now we go immediately from that into chapter 9, verse 1-5, to talk about the tabernacle. So he's discussing something that is now in his mind, obsolete. It's aging, it must soon pass away. That's the transition. So I've given you some context now. But I want to just stop and just make a point. That's a point of lasting value and contact to us, and that is we need to remember what God was seeking to do with these first century professors of faith in Christ, these Jews, is one of the most difficult things that God has ever asked any generation. He's asking them by faith to turn away from the religion they have known since they were children, just about every aspect of it. To just turn really almost on a dime. The moment that Jesus said, "It is finished," the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Their religion was obsolete. And to just learn a whole new way of worship in spirit and in truth, very, very difficult. So he wants them to know that whenever God asks them to give something up, He gives them something infinitely better in return, and that is just a lasting principle, isn't it? Think about how Jesus began to assemble His disciples on how he walked by the Sea of Galilee, and there He sees two sets of brothers, four people, Peter, John, James, and Andrew and they're fishing by the side of the lake there, and He says to them very boldly and clearly, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." And immediately they left the boat and their nets and their father, and followed Jesus. And the same thing with Matthew, sitting at the tax collector's booth, and Jesus passes by, He's moving on, the kingdom of heaven is moving. And He says to Matthew "follow me," and immediately Matthew gets up and leaves that lucrative though somewhat shady and corrupt business of being a tax collector, and he follows Jesus, leaves it all behind. Whenever Jesus calls on you to leave something behind the thing that He's going to give you in its place is infinitely superior. We were talking, my kids and I, as were driving in about the word obsolete, so I asked one of them, I said, "Do you know what the word obsolete means?" "Kind of." I said, "Well let's take the type writer, for example. I mean, have you ever seen me on a typewriter?" "No, I've never seen you on it." "I used a typewriter in college." Alright, I did. I hate to admit that I know it dates me. Or the phone that you dial. You remember dialing those long numbers and things, etcetera, like that. Those days are over although we still have hold over terminology. You still hang up with your cell phone, I don't know where you hang your cell phone, maybe on your belt, I suppose, but we still use this old terminology but it's obsolete language. So I say, "What does it mean obsolete? It's when something is replaced by something better, and that's what's going on here. Whenever the Lord calls on us to give something up He replaces it with something infinitely better. But if you don't follow Him by faith, you're going to be the losers, spiritually. Jesus said, "If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me, for whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." And so these first century Jews were called on to release their old conceptions of religion, to give it up and follow Jesus into the new covenant, and wholeheartedly by faith follow Him. "For What would it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul, and what would a man give in exchange for his soul." "For the Son of Man is going to come in His Father's glory and all the angels with Him, and then He will reward each person according to what he has done." So when He calls on you to give up something, you're not really the loser, you are going to find your life, you're going to find Christ. Conversely with the rich young ruler, remember? Called on him to sell everything he had, give to the poor, he would have treasure in heaven and come follow me, but the man went away sad because he had great wealth. Really, these Hebrew Christians, these professors of faith in Christ. They were at the fork in the road and they had to decide to follow Jesus on into the promised land, and so do we. So we come down to this contemplation of the Tabernacle, and it's a symbolic thing. Look at verses one and two in Hebrews nine, now the first covenant. The one that's obsolete now, the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. A tabernacle was set up. And so we have this symbolic Tabernacle, this picture of Christ redeeming work. So he's referring to this tent. Would have been well familiar to them, they would have understood what it was. Now, we have to pause and say, that I don't think any of them had seen the tabernacle either, because it has long since been replaced by the temple in the time of David. David thought it was time to replace the movable tent. And so the focus from that point on was on the temple. But in a fascinating way here, the author to the book of Hebrews never mentioned the temple. Never once. Ten times, he talks about the Tabernacle, never once the temple. I think the reason is, he's looking specifically at the elements of that Old Covenant that were established on Mount Sinai through Moses. He's zeroing in on that, and he's talking specifically about this symbolic tabernacle, which is a picture of Christ's redeeming work. Now the author is saying, and he begins in chapters 9 and 10, having considered the greatness of Christ in His person, he's going to zero in here, in chapters 9 and 10 on the blood sacrifice, that Jesus gives. And say that the blood sacrifice of Jesus is superior to that of the Old Covenant. So he begins by talking about the tabernacle. He's going to say that the Ministry of blood that Jesus offers is superior because of the place in which He offers it, that place was earthly, Jesus offers in a heavenly tabernacle. Of which the earthly was just a pattern and a picture, a type and a shadow. He's going to say, secondly, in Hebrews 9 and 10. That the blood itself is superior, because it's the blood of the Son of the living God, that was just blood, the blood of bulls and lambs sheep and goats, animal blood. So the blood itself is superior. And thirdly, the blood sacrifice is superior because it was offered once for all, never again to be repeated, whereas the animal sacrifices repeated endlessly. So the place is superior heaven versus earth, the blood is superior, the Son of God versus the blood of animals, and the time is super once for all, verses endlessly repeated. That's where he's going. The Tabernacle: Established by God as Merely a Symbol But we begin by looking at the place, this sanctuary. Now look what He says, He gives us two descriptions here, the earthly sanctuary. An earthly sanctuary was set up in the first covenant. Now, the first thing we have to realize is, it was the covenant that God made with Moses that gave the stipulations for this tent. Now, I've been saying that God gives us something infinitely or vastly superior in every case, but notice with what respects and what dignity the author to Hebrews deals with these elements that have now been superseded. They were established by God, and so Jesus is superior to the prophets, but that doesn't mean the prophets were of no value, they were godly men who spoke the word of God in their time at various times and in various ways. But Jesus speaks a better and final word, that's all. And Jesus is superior to Moses, He is just a servant in God's house and Jesus is a Son over God's house, but Moses is still a man of honor. Called by God, a godly man, worthy of honor. So also Joshua, a godly man led them into the Promised Land, Jesus is superior but we're not denigrating any of these things, we're not denigrating the Aaronic priesthood. Aaron priestly ministry was established by God. And so it is with this tent that was set up, we're not denigrating it. It was set up by the covenant of God, God wanted it done. But we still need to understand its limitations and that it has been superseded by the New Covenant, that's all. And so he gives us these two terms; an earthly sanctuary. Alright, let's take the second word, the word sanctuary, the word sanctuary literally refers to a sacred place, a sacred place. So my mind immediately goes to that time when God first called Moses into his service. You remember how he's up there on the mountain of God, and how he saw the Bush, the burning bush, and he heard God calling him, Moses, Moses. And he came over to look at this bush and he heard Him say, "Do not come any closer, Take off your sandals, for the ground on what your standing is holy ground." So that's what a sanctuary is, it's a place here on earth that set apart unto God as sacred and holy. And specifically in the history, it's where God would in a marvelous way meet with His people. It was holy because God would be there. So it was a sanctuary place set apart, where God would meet with the people, but it's also called an earthly sanctuary, an earthly sanctuary. What do we mean by that? With the Greek word is cosmocone. It relates to the cosmos or the created physical universe, it has to do with the physical stuff of this world, of this life. This tabernacle is made up of earthly stuff. You could interact with it with your five senses. It was Earthy. We don't mean worldly in the sense of wicked, or evil, not at all, but it was made up of earthly stuff. Primarily, there were these linen curtains of blue and Scarlet and purple, and so they were just woven up out of linen. Now linen it grows up out of the ground. It's something that was living and it's harvested and made into yarn and then ultimately into these curtains, it's earthly. And so also the tabernacle itself was covered with ram skins, dyed red, and then over that, where the skins of sea cows or the dugong, anyone ever heard of dugong? Have you ever seen a picture of a dugong? Maybe you have, I don't know what it is, but some kind of an aquatic creature whose skin would presumably be water repellent. And I covered it over, but I'm telling you what, all of these formerly living things begin to decay as soon as they are made, and so, whether it's moisture or heat or ultraviolet light or something, they're just going to age, they're going to wear out. As Jesus said, "Where moth and rust destroy, and so moth and rust can come in and destroy these things, though they are made of the highest quality of materials. There's still earthly. Jesus serves in the heavenly sanctuary not built by human hands, not made by humanity. And so we're talking about an earthly sanctuary. Therefore it is man-made and it is temporary. That's what the author is giving us. Now, the structure of it, if you can imagine your mind, it's a long rectangle. 30 cubits by 10 cubits, now a cubits about 18 inches. So, half again, so it's about 45 feet long, and about 15 feet wide, and a long rectangle. But even that's divided up into two sections you've got a two-part kind of compartment. You've got an outer area called the Holy place, completely enshrouded with these curtains and then you have an inner area called the most holy place, or famously in the KJV, the Holy of Holies, don't you love that expression, the holy of holies, the most holy place. So we've got this two-part sanctuary. Now, the author describes symbols in each of them, three symbols in the holy place, and then seven physical symbols that he describes In the most holy place. Let's look first at the symbols in the holy place. The holy place was the place where the priests would carry on their daily ministry. Only the priest could go in there and they went on every single day, offering their sacrifices day after day without end. That's the Holy Place. The inner area, the most holy places, as we'll discuss in a moment, only the high priest could enter, and that only once a year and never without blood, the Book of Hebrews is telling us. So that's the two part distinction. Now again, the lesson of this is clear, we've spoken about it in the past. I don't think we can say it too often. It's just like God said to Moses, at the account of the burning bush, "Don't come any closer." That's it. It's just amazing what God does, He's got this burning bush burning, fascinating. Never seen anything like it. That's attraction. You want to be there to find out what's going on. God is there. But as soon as you start moving in that direction, you get a prohibition from the Holy God saying, "Don't come any closer." And that's what this Holy Place, Most Holy Place, is saying to the human race. You may not come any closer. You are on the outside and you are looking in. And so that's what we've got to deal with here. The Lampstand Now, these elements in the first room, the outer room where the priest went on constantly to carry on their ministry. We have a lamp stand, a table, and the consecrated bread. This is in the most holy place. Let's look at the each of them briefly. The lamp stand, had seven lamps made up of hammered gold, beautiful thing, and it was there simply practically to give light. You can imagine with these heavy curtains and the coverings and all that, it would have been pitch black, even on the brightest day, and so there is no light in there, except that given by the lamp stand. Now, this is a marvelous thing. I want you to know what we're doing is we're seeing symbolic significance to each of these things. Verse 9, which is not in our text today, but in Hebrews 9:9, it says that this whole tabernacle was a in the Greek, parabolē, a parable, a type or symbol or representation. It was somehow speaking symbolically about Jesus. And so it's not wrong for us to go through as over-somehow allegorizing or something, to find how each of these elements does speak about Jesus. Do you have to work very hard to wonder how the lamp stand speaks of Jesus? I think not. Jesus says, "I am the light of the world, whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." Jesus is the light of God speaking truth to us, illuminating us, communicating to us. Without Him we are in total darkness. Now, what's so amazing about this and this thought hit me this very morning, I'd never had this thought before. But you go into this holy place, and it's pitch black, without that lamp, you go into the most holy place, it's pitch black, but the Bible says that God dwells in unapproachable light. How do you put those two together? Pitch black, God dwelling in unapproachable light? Well, the way I put them together is you know what it is that makes that be pitch black, are the curtains that God commanded be built. God is forbidding us to come any closer. And then is luring us in through Christ, and when Christ then comes in, the prohibitions are removed and we step into a world of unapproachable light. And so it says in 1 John 1, "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from every sin." And so, what is it that made it black? It was the prohibitions of God saying, "You may not come any closer," and if we're not with God, what are we, but in total darkness. And so God sets up this lamp stand, it points to Christ, Christ shines. The oil is given every day by the Israelites. They were commanded to give pressed oil for the lamp to keep it burning, and it was to be burning constantly to give light. And so it represents Christ. The Table Secondly, we have the table. Now the table was golden, beautiful made, magnificent. What does it represent? Well, I think throughout scripture, table represents food. And we'll get to that in just a moment, but it also it's symbolic for fellowship. It's symbolic for relationship. So if you're sitting at someone's table, you have a relationship together, you have friendship together, to eat at someone's table. Think about what David said in Psalm 23, speaking to God, "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies." In other words, "God I can have good fellowship with you in the middle of my... I can be surrounded by enemies and I can have just a feast with God." Isn't that marvelous? So God prepares a table for us, and we have fellowship with Him. And to me, that's beautiful. Or again David, from the life of David, remember how he wanted to show kindness to the house of Jonathan, Jonathan was deceased at this point. Died at the same time as his father, but David had a covenant and a friendship and he wanted to express that love and that friendship he had for Jonathan. There's someone left, and yes there was this son Mephibosheth one of Andy's favorite people. Mephibosheth. It's hard to say. I practice that this morning. Mephibosheth. But Mephibosheth sat at table, at the King's table with the King every day, and that represents the fellowship that we have with God. God wants face-to-face fellowship with us. The Consecrated Bread And then on the table, we have this consecrated bread, the bread of the presence it's called. Literally in the Hebrew, the bread of faces. And so, face-to-face fellowship over the bread. Or the show bread in the KJV, you have this consecrated bread. 12 loaves, one for each tribe was baked freshly every Sabbath. And again, with the manna that we'll talk about in a moment, but it represents God's desire to feed us nourishment, to enable us to feed, and I'm going to cluster it together with the manna, and say Jesus is clearly the fulfillment of this. "It is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it's my Father that gives you the true bread from heaven." "And the bread that he gives for the life of the world is His flesh." And so through this, through His death, we have fellowship with God, we have nourishment, sustenance. Jesus is the bread of life. Fulfillment. So that's the outer place where the priest were constantly working in the holy place. Seven Symbols in the Most Holy Place Then we have behind the second veil or second curtain, verses 3-5, a room called the most holy place, which had the golden altar of incense, the gold-covered Ark of the Covenant. And this Ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had butted and the stone tablets of the covenant, and above the ark where the cherubim of the glory overshadowing the atonement cover. So these are seven elements in the most holy place. Now again, the most holy place was a perfect cube. 10 x 10 x 10 cubit wise. 10 cubits, by 10 cubits by 10 cubits. Perfect cube. Just like the new Jerusalem by the way. Read about it and Book of Revelation. We won't go there we won't talk about it, but it's just a perfect cube. And it represented the place where Almighty God dwelt Himself. And the laws were very clear, that no one was allowed to go in there, ever except one day. And so every day, but one even the high priest knew he was forbidden from going in there. What kind of sense of the fear of the Lord would you have as you enter in there? And the fact that he had to offer sacrifice for his own sins, so that he would not die. A sense of the terror of the Lord, that's what the most holy place was all about. And on the day of atonement, he would enter in Leviticus 16 describes us very plainly, but there's all these rules about what must happen in order to enter the Holy of Holies or the Most Holy Place. The Golden Altar of Incense Now, the first element mentioned here is the golden altar of incense. Now we don't know exactly or literally whether this is an altar itself or a golden sensor. There's a translation issue, but in any case, incense filled the most holy place when the priest was in there. And if you read about it in Leviticus 16:12-13. I not going to quote it in detail, but basically, the incense, the cloud of incense, finely ground incense was burned and a cloud filled the most holy place to cover the Ark so that the priest would not die. That's literally what it says. I find this interesting. Now in the book of Revelation, and in other places, this cloud of incense represents prayer, intercessory prayer. And so what I get out of this is that this represents the intercessory ministry of Jesus, how He pleads the merit of His blood. And in some ways puts a barrier between the eyes of a holy God and our sinfulness, so that we will not die. And so Jesus is praying for you. Perhaps you've committed sin, this week as a believer in Christ, but you didn't die. And why is that? Because of the value, the merit of Christ's blood and the efficacy of Christ's prayer, have in some way hidden God's holy eyes from your sin, He is no less omniscient, He knows what you did. But the cloud gets between God, His holy eyes and your sinfulness. And you do not die. Golden altar of incense. The Ark of the Covenant, Covered with Gold Secondly, the Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of the Covenant was the most significant physical artifact, more time is spent in Exodus 25-40, which gives instructions about all of this on the ark than any other physical item. It was the focal point, their God would meet with His people. It was a little more than a chest a box made of acacia wood covered inside and out, with pure gold. It was just a box, but that box represented the dwelling of God with His people. And so when the Ark of the Covenant was captured in 1 Samuel, the wife of Phinehas cried out, "Ichabod the glory has departed from Israel," it represented the glory, the glorious dwelling of God with His people. And friends that can only happen in the heavenly realms through the ministry of Jesus Christ, our great high priest, God will not deal with us on account of any other thing. Based on Jesus' intercessory ministry, His blood shed on the cross, God can and will dwell with His people forever. The Ark of the Covenant is fulfilled in Christ. And there above the Ark, between the cherubim God said, "I will meet with you," and it's fascinating how Moses heard God speaking from between the cherubim. Amazing. And how God localized His voice there above the mercy seat between the cherubim, there in a cloud of Shekinah the dwelling glory of God, their God met with His people. That was the significance of the Ark of the Covenant. The Golden Jar of Manna We have also the golden jar of manna. It's unclear whether it's actually inside the ark, it seems like, in Hebrews, it is. Other verses said there was nothing in the ark but the tablets, it could be that the golden jar of manna, you remember the manna was the bread that God provided every day while they were sojourning in the wilderness, was in the actual ark in the days of Moses. And then by the time that the ark was brought into the temple in Solomon's day, there was nothing at that point in the ark but the tablets of the testimony. But anyway, the golden jar of manna, as I've already said, represents God feeding His people supernaturally through Jesus Christ. Jesus is the bread that came down from heaven. Aaron’s Staff that Budded We have also Aaron staff that butted, what was that? Well, it turned out that the Jews were jealous of Moses' and Aaron. And a man named Korah led a rebellion in number 16, led a rebellion against Moses and against Aaron, specifically against Aaron and his right to be priest. What right does he have? And so, Korah led this rebellion. Well, you remember what happened, how Moses said... I'll tell you what, Moses actually had a temper, from time to time. But you sense a sense a bit of heat here, as Korah is leading this rebellion. And he says, "I'll tell you what, if you die in an ordinary way, then you know that we've not been chosen by God for this role. But if the earth should open up and swallow you, then you'll know who God has chosen to be His priest." And as soon as he got done saying that, that's exactly what happened. The Earth opened up and swallowed Korah and all those that followed in his rebellion. But amazingly the next day the Israelites still murmured against Aaron. Isn't that incredible, the intractable nature of our sin. How deep is the stain and how difficult to remove? And so Moses commanded that each tribe bring forward a staff, just a stick cut from a tree. And laid it down. 12 of them, one of them represented Levi, the tribe of Levi, and on this stick representing Levi, Aaron's name was written, and the next day, miraculously this one staff, this dead thing, had in some amazing way come to life. As though it had some beautiful root system and it was a well watered tree, and it flowered it butted, and actually even produced almonds that could be eaten. And I wonder if anyone actually did eat the almonds? I don't have any idea, but it's just flourished and though it was dead. And to me, this represents the resurrection of Christ. Jesus is our high priest, he has been chosen and identified to Israel as our high priest, by His resurrection from the dead, the flowering that comes from Jesus' ministry. For 2000 years fruit has come from Jesus. And Jesus is in that way identified as our high priest, in a way far superior to Aaron staff that had butted. The Stone Tablets of the Covenant And then we have the stone tablets of the Covenant, these represent the law of God. On the basis of that law, God relates to us His sinful people. These two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments, you remember how God had carved out these two stone tablets and had written on them, in the finger of God, these Ten Commandments that he'd already proclaimed to the people. But the people were already disobeying by making a golden calf, and so, when Moses carried those two stone tablets down the mountain, he was enraged at their rebellion and threw them down and they were shattered. Symbolic of the fact that we can't keep this covenant. We are sinful. We cannot keep the stipulations of the Covenant. But two more tablets were made. The law of God can't disappear. And so the Ten Commandments were written again, with the finger of God and they were in the box, they were in the Ark of the Covenant. And this clearly represents Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the law of God, Jesus Christ said, "Do not suppose that I came to abolish the Law and the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them." As it says in Psalm 40, "Here I am, Oh Lord. It is written about me in your scroll, I have come to do Your will. Oh God, Your law is written in my heart." Who is that speaking about who Jesus? Doesn't say in Galatians Chapter 4, "In the fullness of time, God sent His son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were cursed by the law by becoming a curse for us." And so Jesus died in obedience to the law. Just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many are made righteous, because Jesus obeyed the law even to death. We are counted righteous based on the testimony of God. The Cherubim of the Glory We have the cherub of glory, their actual angels. Did you ever wonder how the artist could do pictures of cherubim? I think they saw them. Moses saw it all up on the mountain. And so, maybe Moses did a sketch of what a cherub looks like. But at any rate, they were right there. Physical representations of these cherubs with wings extending and touching. And there between the cherub, these angels, which are surrounding the throne. Many psalms talk about this, Ezekiel 1, the cherub are there. You've got it in the Book of Revelation, chapter 4:6-8, you got these cherub, these angels around the throne. Their God meets with us. Such a beautiful, beautiful fulfillment of this IC in John chapter 20, when Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead. Remember that, and Mary's outside crying, and she's thinking she's talking to the gardener. You remember that whole thing? But before that she's looking into the empty tomb, she looks into that empty tomb, and she sees the grave clothes wholly undisturbed in their original position like a, almost like a cocoon, that's how I picture them. Jesus just came right up out of that sticky, tarry, kind of thing, right up out of that and he's gone, but the grave clothes are right there. She's looking in and there were two holy angels there, one at the head and the other at the foot. And just sitting there, in testimony of the fact that this is the new mercy seat, this is the new place where God will meet with His people. It's been fulfilled, in the resurrection of Christ, the cherub of glory. The Atonement Cover And then finally, we have the atonement cover, which is to cover the ark and there the blood of the sacrifice was to be poured, the priest, the High Priest would get the blood out, out in the outer area and bring it in that one time a year and pour it out the blood right on the gold cover. And that's where it was to be offered, is called the atonement cover or the mercy seat, the place of propitiation, the place where God deals with our sin. And this clearly fulfilled in the cross of Christ, how it says, in Romans chapter 3:23, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, through Jesus shedding His blood. Our sins are atoned for the wrath of God is dealt with." Now, in verse 5, you may be wondering about verse 5, but we cannot discuss these things in detail. Now, you may be wondering "Well Pastor, why are you then discussing these things in detail now? You know what, I struggle with that. I remember saying to Eric, I think all we're supposed to do, is just read the verses and not preach on them. Well, let's just skip them. I feel bound by Verse 5, but I obviously got over that, didn't I? And I went ahead and preached on it, like we preached the rest. What the author is saying is, "Look, I could say a lot more about these details than I'm doing." There is one central point I want to make. All of these things pointed ahead to Christ. They didn't achieve anything in and of themselves, they were types and symbols and shadows. The reality, the fulfillment is only in Christ, as we'll talk about next time in Hebrews 9, 6-10. They had no power to remove sin, or cleanse the guilty conscience of the worshipper. They had no power for that. They had only symbolic power to point ahead to Christ. That's the point of what we're saying today. Applications Now, what application can we take from all of these? First, just marvel at the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. In verses 6-10, I'll talk about the Holy Spirit showing by these things. The Spirit has been instructing us today, as He did for hundreds and hundreds of years through the tabernacle, instructing us about Christ. Christ is a difficult lesson, it's not easy to understand Jesus and what He came to do. And so the Lord set up this tabernacle to teach us who Jesus is and what He came to do. So marvel at that. And secondly, just learn the various lessons of these symbols, study them. Isn't it amazing how God created heaven and earth in six days? And the account is just one chapter, Genesis Chapter 1. But the Tabernacle, the instructions were given for 40 days. It took 40 days to describe this thing. And then, however long it took to make it. And why is that? It's because God gets more glory from redemption than He got from creation. And how beautiful is it that since the days of the New Covenant being established, the Lord has been working on His final dwelling place, for two millennia now. For 2000 years, Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you." And we are the place where God will dwell, we are the temple of the living God, and He's been getting us ready now for 2000 years. How much glory will God get from that? Just meditate on these things, they will greatly encourage you. Celebrate the powerful fulfillment in Christ, just celebrate that Jesus Has done it all paid it all, lived it all His righteousness is yours. And if I can just urge you tenderly, I prayed for it but now I urge you, if you have never come to Christ, come now, come today. You don't know how long you have to live, there is no other salvation. There's no other propitiation, there's no other way that sin can be paid for. I plead with you to turn from your sin, to repent and have your guilty conscience completely cleansed through the blood of Jesus. And if you are a believer in Christ, you need to keep going to the cross and have your own guilty conscience cleansed through confession of sin and appropriating again through faith what Jesus has already done for you. And take this Gospel message out to a world that needs it, take this Gospel to people who need to hear it this week, share the Gospel of someone this week, invite them to church. Strike up a conversation and say that there is no other way that a guilty conscience can be dealt with than the blood of Jesus. Close with me in prayer.

July 6, 2007 Alan Watt on "The American Awakening" with Michael Herzog (Originally Aired LIVE: July 6, 2007 on Republic Broadcasting Network)

Cutting Through the Matrix with Alan Watt Podcast (.xml Format)

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 6, 2007 88:40

Trained ignorance into public's mind of social control, culture creation and cultural control. Machiavellian sciences - Ancient Greek philosophers - Plato. Change is promoted from top down. World domination of planet by a few - Democracy. Creations of foundations, under guise of charitable works. Secret Societies - Blood-oaths taken to maintain secrecy - Sworn to uphold system and prevent "anarchy", at all costs. Higher degrees of Freemasonry - Lucifer as allegory of illumination or intellect. Writings of Benjamin Franklin on Revolutionary War. Psychological testing of soldiers for psychopathic tendencies. Drafting of plans for American Union - CFR - Free Trade Negotiations - NAFTA. Freemasonry - Building Society - Use of architectural terminology - Taking down the old and bringing in the new. Group-think vs. Individualism. Taxation of labor - Taxing the body - Forms of Slavery. Biblical Genesis (One): Man and Woman, Adam and Eve (No one was there to till the soil.). Culture creation through fictional television dramas (hospital, police, social work). Butch Chancellor's experiences with "authorities." Neutrino (neutron) bomb - Destruction of all living, yet structures are left intact. Use of social approval and disapproval (political correctness). Today's obsolete technology - Cell-phones (with cameras) in World War II. Pavlovian training, step-by-step, toward Brain-Chip. Masses give power to agenda, acquiesce by silence. Bush - Cheney - Rumsfeld - Front-Men - Parallel government above politicians that runs country. Ancient Egyptian pharaohs - Use of Uraeus (serpent guards the mind). Massive immigration used to cause chaos and change. Wars of religion to convince public THEIR GOD is Right. Use of terror to get public to give up all rights.

Miracles and Lessons Repeated (Matthew Sermon 73 of 151) (Audio)

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 1, 2007

Introduction In 1920, a 14-year-old farm boy in Utah was plowing a field back and forth. He went over the furrows again and again. Every time he passed by, the furrow got a little deeper. He'd done this many times before. He's a farm boy. But he's also a genius whose hobby was electronics. His name was Philo Farnsworth. As he went back and forth in these furrows, he got an idea, and out of that idea came television. It works in the same way that he was plowing that field. Repetition, endless repetitions. The stream of electrons hits these phosphorus-coated glass. As soon as it hits and it moves on, it starts to fade. Then the stream comes back and refreshes it and then it starts to fade again. Is that like you? The stream of the word of God hitting you, and as soon as it moves on, it starts to fade. Sometimes quickly. We can be forgetful hearers of the word and not doers. We can read something in the Scripture, and as soon as we put the Bible up, it starts to fade quickly and we need a refresher course. Again and again and again, we need to be refreshed in the word of God. The Importance of Repetition & Reminding That's the best sense I can make of why there are two feeding accounts so close to each other in Matthew's Gospel. As a verse-by-verse expository, I'm thinking, "What am I going to do with the feeding of the 4,000 that I didn't do quite recently with the feeding of the 5,000?" You may be wondering the same thing. But what struck me is how God felt we needed it again and again and again and again. For this is the way we are, we forget and we need endless refreshment. We build up habit patterns for good or ill. It either moves us toward God and righteousness or it moves us away from Him towards sin and death. But these habit patterns are built up, it's the way that God designed us. Someone once put it this way, "Sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit and reap a character. If you sow a character, you'll reap a destiny." Every day you're taking a step toward heaven or hell, taking a step toward a righteous character or one that's unrighteous by what you choose to do by repetition, endless repetition. The Lord means to use this mechanism to use this tendency of the human soul for good. He means that we subject our minds to the word of God again and again, that we be refreshed and we be reminded of how powerful Jesus is. We could read again about Jesus's healing ministry and read again about his feeding ministry. We need this repetition. The repetition is there. I've already mentioned that just back one chapter in Matthew 14, we have the feeding of the 5,000, five thousand men plus women and children fed with five loaves and two fish and they collected 12 basket fulls. This time, we have the feeding of 4,000 men plus women and children with seven loaves and a few small fish and seven large basket fulls of broken pieces collected. It seems very much like the same thing. Some have wondered if it's a lesser miracle feeding fewer people with more loaves, but I think not. Try to do either one and you'll see, either way, it's a great display of power to those of you that are mathematically oriented and you want to try to figure out the mathematics of a miracle. It's no less miracle. The question is, why are there two? And it's not just two. There's actually six miraculous feeding accounts. Because the feeding of the 5,000 is in each of the synoptic Gospels plus John and the feeding of the 4,000 is in both Matthew and Mark. So that's six miraculous feeding accounts. Why so many? In everyday life, we have these rhythms of repetition, the rhythms of life endlessly repeated. Is there any rhyme or reason? Is there any purpose to it? The Book of Ecclesiastes wrestles with this. In Ecclesiastes 1:5-7, it says, "The sun rises, the sun also sets and hurries back to where it rises again. The wind blows to the south and it turns toward the north, round and round it goes, ever returning to its course. All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full, to the place the streams come from, there they return again." So that's the rhythms of repetition in nature. We have the same thing in our everyday life. You have your rituals for breakfast, your rituals for lunch, rituals for dinner, rituals in your family life. I remember early in our marriage when we didn't have a dishwasher. I've never forgotten to be thankful for the dishwasher because I remember the years that we didn't have one. And so I was thankful for that. But I remember I held up a dish, I forget what it was, a bowl, a glass. How many times have I washed this dish in the last year? The endlessly repeated rituals of life, washing this dish again and again. Young children especially thrive on rhythms of repetition of rituals. I noticed that when I put little Daphne to bed, she's 18 months old, and when I put her to bed, I lay her on the back and she immediately starts sucking her thumb. She pulls her special blanket up toward herself and the hem is there. She works her way to the corner of the hem and puts the corner right near her cheek every single time. It's funny though, we're not much different than that. We have our own rhythms, our own habit patterns and we refresh them again and again every time that we do it. And so the Lord has taken this mechanism that He's built into the human personality and He's using it for good in sanctification. That we would use the repetition to build ourselves up in godliness. The most important repeated habit of the Christian life is Bible intake, that you would take the Scripture in again and again and again, that you would feed on it, that you would be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you would take in the word of God, that you would read those familiar stories again and again. The call of Abraham, of Abram from Ur of the Chaldees, the sacrifice of Isaac on Mount Moriah, Jacob's ladder and the angels ascending and descending, and the birth of Moses and how he is put in that basket and made to float in the Nile River and then his call at the burning bush. All of these are very familiar stories. You've read them before. There's always something new to be learned though and we're always in a little bit different place in our lives when we come to those stories. But they need to be refreshed, they need to be familiar. I think it's wise to try to read through the Bible in a year, every year to keep reading the Bible and taking it in. George Mueller is my hero in this regard. He did it 100 times in his life. If you think there's nothing much to that, you ought to try it sometime. That's going through the Bible about every six months. That's an incredible pace and to keep that up for 50 years which he did is remarkable. But how many times did he read this feeding of the 4,000? Again and again he read it. The repetition is essential to our salvation. Some lessons have to be repeated endlessly until we learn. That's how we learn to be sinners. We did it, then did it again, then we did it again and then again and again until we became sinners like that. Habits of complaining or selfishness or conflicts or other things, we just do it through repetition. We learn how to do it. In the same manner, God intends that we present our bodies to Him as servants of righteousness, the members of our bodies again and again, day after day to serve Him in patterns of righteousness. We must be reminded again and again. We need to hear the same things again and again. The Holy Spirit has been given to us for that very purpose. It's one of His main ministries, the ministry of reminding. In John 14:26, Jesus said this of the Holy Spirit, "The counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." The ministry of reminding. The Apostle Paul had a very strong ministry of reminding. In Philippians 3:1, he says, "Finally my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again and it is a safeguard for you." What's a safeguard? The repetition of a simple message like, “Rejoice in the Lord.” But he's not done. In Chapter 4, Verse 4, he says, "Rejoice in the Lord always." "Okay, we got it. It's twice now he said it." Oh, he's not done yet. "Again I say, rejoice." It's the endless repetition. We need it. How much more for something like the basic facts of the Gospel? Every year, we have Holy Week, we have Palm Sunday, we have Good Friday, the focus on the death of Christ. We have Easter Sunday. We celebrate the resurrection of Christ which we do year-round, but we focus on it because these patterns help us to remember the basic facts of the Gospel. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, he said, "Now brothers, I want to remind you of the Gospel I preach to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. For what I received I passed on to as of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture, that He was buried, that He was raised to life on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Peter and then to the twelve.You know these things, it's not the first time you've heard it.” Why does he say it again? Because we need to be reminded. Jesus died on the cross for sins. Jesus was buried and Jesus was raised to life on the third day. These are the facts of the Gospel. As Paul is training Timothy to be a good pastor, he says in 2 Timothy 2:14, "Keep reminding them of these things." In 1 Timothy 4, Paul says, "If you keep reminding, you'll be a good pastor and you'll save both yourself and your hearers." It's the ministry of reminding. Peter had a ministry of reminding as well. In 2 Peter 1:12 and following, he says, "So I'll always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body because I know that I will soon put it aside as our Lord Jesus Christ is made clear to me. And I'll make every effort to see that after my departure, you will always be able to remember these things." It's repetition, friends. It's repetition. We forget quickly and we need to be reminded. Therefore we need to refresh our memories on basic doctrine. We need to read through the Bible consistently. We need to memorize Scripture. The endless repetition of the verses we’re memorizing helps us. It transforms your life by renewing your mind. As you go through familiar experiences, you need to ask, "Lord, I've been through this before. Is there something you're trying to teach me here?" I remember for a stretch of time, I was in the habit of misplacing my wallet. It just annoyed me. You know how what a big deal that is? You got your credit cards and your driver's license and all kinds of things in there. They're very difficult to replace. As soon as I would note that it was misplaced, I would kind of forget that there was a sovereign God for a little while. I would. I would become very difficult to be around as I single-mindedly tried to find that wallet. I went through this again and again. Then the Lord would answer my prayers and the prayers of many, and the wallet would be replaced. Then I would feel ashamed, and I would determine about the next time that I misplace my wallet, “Lord, I'm going to do better. I'm going to trust you more. I'm not going to get frustrated. I'm going to wait on you. I'm going to ask that you replace this in your good time. What lesson you're trying to teach me by this repeated thing?” We need to do repetition with each other. We need to tell each other things more than we do. Remember hearing about a surly husband who said, "I told you," to his wife. "I told you, the day I married you that I love you. And if anything changes, I'll let you know." You've heard that before. My feeling is, that's a recipe for a bad marriage. There needs to be constant repetition of, “I love you, I'm glad that God brought you in my life. I'm glad you're my husband, my wife. I'm glad you're my kids. I'm glad you're here.” You have to say these things. You have to repeat them. We have to repeat other things to each other. We have to remind each other about basic things, that there is a sovereign God, He sits on His throne, He is good and loving and wise, and He is ruling over all things for our good. He is working out a magnificent salvation plan that ends in heaven and earth, a new heaven and new earth. We have to remind ourselves that Jesus died on the cross for us, that His blood was shed in our place, that God didn't leave Him there in the grave, and on the third day, He raised Him to life. Speak these words to each other. We're told in 1 Thessalonians 4 to remind each other about the second coming of Christ. Therefore, encourage one another with these words, “Jesus is coming back in the clouds and we're going to be gathered together and with all the dear departed and the Lord. They're going to meet the Lord up in the air. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” We need to refresh each other's memories. For me as a pastor, verse-by-verse exposition helps me to go over some of the things that otherwise I might skip. I wouldn't choose to give you another feeding account or healing account. I think you'd had enough, but the Lord ordains it. So we have these two feeding accounts and another account of Jesus's wonder-working healing ministry. Let’s look at that. After Jesus heals, it says in verses 29 through 31 that, “Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountain side and sat down and great crowds came to him bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and laid them at his feet and He healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing, and they praised the God of Israel.” So we see the location, that he was in a Gentile region. He had healed a woman who when Jesus said, “It's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to their dogs,” she said, “ Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table.” Jesus said "Woman, you have great faith, your daughter is healed, your request is granted." Matthew Henry, in his commentary, said now that he's “let a crumb fall from the table”, He turns back to the children and feeds them. That's a beautiful image from Matthew Henry. Jesus spends actually very little time in the Gentile regions. He goes along the Sea of Galilee. That's his home base, already greatly blessed by the Lord. But there's more work to be done and a huge crowd is following. Jesus’ Healing Ministry There's always a big crush of people around Jesus, and it's mostly because of his healing ministry. I'm convinced that it's the healings more than anything that made a huge crush of people. He goes up on a mountain side and sits down. There's a desolate region, there's nothing happening there, no life, but Jesus consecrates it by His presence and by His power. Perhaps He sat down on a boulder or a rock or something like that and it became temporarily a throne of sovereign grace, or the greatest hospital that there's ever been in the history of the world. They bring this huge crowds of sick people, and lay them at Jesus' feet. He has the most effective healing ministry, more effective than the Mayo Clinic or any of the metropolitan hospitals in New York or Paris, or London, or any great city of the world. This was the greatest hospital in history. Isn't it amazing how a scrubby little place on the Earth can be sanctified by the presence of God and by the working of God? Jesus is there, and we see the volume of miracles, look at verse 30. Great crowds came to Him, 10,000, 15,000 people, I don't know how many, 4000 men plus women and children, no idea, but huge numbers were coming. And Jesus' power there is lavish, it's full, completely equal to the task. He's no less powerful after three days of healing than He was at the beginning, He could have done three more days. But notice that it takes three days, it's quite remarkable. Why did it take three days to heal all of these people? I think it's because Jesus wanted a personal encounter with them, He wanted to touch them, talk to them about their souls perhaps, say something, pray for them, do something, there's such a variety of Jesus' healings. He wants a personal encounter. Let's never forget that Jesus is Almighty God in the flesh. He could have banished illness from Palestine with a single word for three years if He had wanted to, and no one would even know why they were healed, they just suddenly were healed, He could have done that. He could have banished illness from the whole world, if He wanted to. He is not choosing to do that, He has no lack of power. What He wants is a somewhat inefficient process where He's dealing with each individual sinner, and it took three days. Look at the variety of the healings, the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, what a varied wreck sin has made of the human body. Meditate on that. There is not a bodily function, there's not a member of the body, not an organ, not a part of the body that is not somehow in some part of the world, afflicted by disease or sin. You ask any physician, is there a part of the body that makes it through unscathed, in the human race? There is none. There's nothing that hits fingernails. Yes, there is. There are funguses that'll attack them and make them change color, and they'll fall out. There's nothing that attacks eyelids. Yes, there is. There's a parasite that causes a malady called trichiasis which causes the eyelids to turn in, and then the eyelashes abrade the cornea and you go blind, what torture it must be to have all your eyelashes scrubbing the surface of your eyes every time you blink. Who would have thought of that? The liver, the heart, the lungs, circulatory system, the immune system. Everything's fair game, everything's been attacked, not just by one disease but by multiple diseases. What a varied wreck sin had made of the human body. Jesus healed them all, He healed them all without any diagnostic tools or processes. There's no CAT scan, there's no X-ray, there's no blood test, there's no cultures being taken. He just heals them perfectly, the power of Christ. Now, you may be wondering and some have asked, "Why don't these kinds of healings go on today?" I'm not standing here saying there are no miracles, today, I'm not saying there's no healings today, I'm saying, why not this kind of ministry? If this kind of ministry were going on with someone, somewhere in the world, you would know about it. Great crowds were coming to Jesus. So I meditated on this and I thought about the wisdom of God in all of it. Suppose God blessed me with the ability to cure diabetes perfectly? All I have to do is put my hand on someone's head and pray for them for five seconds and they'll be definitely cured of diabetes. Do you realize how that would change my life? Think about it. Suppose I did it for 20 hours a day, seven days a week. Do you realize it might actually change your life, you might not get a parking place here. As a matter of fact, you might have a hard time getting into Durham. They are 250 million diabetes sufferers in the world. Do you think the word would get out that there was a cure in Durham, North Carolina? Do you think they'd come? They'd come, 20 hours a day. There are 250 million diabetes sufferers now. By the year 2025, in 18 years, there'll be 360 million diabetes sufferers, they project. So I calculated out. You know it's my mathematical side. I figured, okay, how many can I do in a year, 20 hours a day, five seconds each. I calculate in 18 years I could do 95 million people. In that time, there'd be 130 million new diabetes sufferers. I'm not even keeping pace with this one disease. And what about cancer, what about AIDS, what about emphysema, what about all the others? It is not God's purpose to banish illness from the face of the earth. Jesus' miracles were meant to be what they're called in the New Testament, signs pointing to something. You're driving to a city and it tells you 130 miles to Washington DC, that's your destination. It's going to take a little more than two hours to get there. There's a sign that tells you where we're heading. We're heading toward a kingdom where there'll be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain, where God's sovereign power will banish it forever. Where you will have a resurrection body and not afflicted in any way, for even the great miracles of Jesus were undone after He performed them. Every single one of them, the feedings first. He feeds people, and the next day, guess what, they're hungry. The next day. Jesus drives out demons, he says, "You know what happens when a demon goes out of a person, it goes to arid places seeking rest doesn't find it, guess what it thinks. I think I'll go back where I started. And when it goes back and finds a place unoccupied, swept clean and put in order, and it says, “I know what I'll do, I'll take seven of my demon friends and we'll go and live there.” And the last is worse than the first, that's how it will be with this generation," said Jesus. “When I go and ascend to the Father, Palestine will be worse off than if I had never come. The demons are coming back, and they're coming back with a vengeance.” This is the greatest miracle working ministry in history, and it was just temporary. All of the eyes, the blind eyes that Jesus healed, they're now blind through death. All the paralyzed limbs, they're not moving through death. Lazarus, raised from the dead on the fourth day, but he is dead now. These were all meant to be signs. So, if God granted me that ability to heal diabetes it wouldn't change a single thing for the people that came. They might suffer from some other disease as well, but I couldn't help them. But suppose I said,"You know, we actually can cure all diseases including AIDS. We can cure permanently, and perfectly, and we can point to a way that you will never get sick again, that you will never die again, that you will be eternally perpetually happy in the very presence of God and you don't have to go to just one practitioner, you can go to any Christian who knows the gospel, and they'll tell you how. Simply hear that Jesus suffered on the cross, that his blood was shed for you, that God's wrath is thereby averted if you'll simply believe in the Gospel. Not any good works, just believe and you can be permanently healed of everything for eternity. There's plenty of places to sit here, no trouble finding parking.” But try to get people to come and listen. Isn't it amazing? Such healing is available here and now today. You may be here listening to me and you're not a Christian. You may even have some kind of pain or illness or something. I cannot offer that kind of healing, but I can promise you a far better healing. I can promise that if you simply believe in Jesus, that you'll spend eternity with him in heaven, if you simply repent and believe the good news, that I can promise you. Simply trust in Jesus, that's the power that these miracles are pointing toward, a permanent healing, a permanent feeding in heaven, that's what he's pointing toward. Look at the result, verse 31, "The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing and they praised the God of Israel.” This is Christ's ultimate goal. He means to make you an eternal happy worshipper of God. He wants to make you happy in His presence, at His right hand forever and ever, that you might worship Him, that you'll be filled up fully with the goodness of God, and that you would flow over and praise the God of Israel. That's what He wants and this is what He intends. This is wonder, leading to worship that is eternal. Christ's true healing ministry was to the human heart and soul. That's his healing ministry. Jesus’ Feeding Ministry Look, also at his compassionate feedings. It's the same thing, it's pointing toward an eternal feeding that He wants to give us in the new heaven and new earth. Verses 32-39 gives us the account. First we have Christ's pity declared [verse 32]. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for these people. They've already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry or they make collapse on the way." Do you know that compassion is the number one most frequent emotion stated of Jesus. Usually the gospel writers speak of Jesus in this way: “Jesus had compassion on them and healed them or moved with compassion, He reached out his hand and touched the man.” "I'm willing," He said, "Be clean.” But this time, Jesus says it about himself. It's one of the few times that Jesus actually describes himself or his feelings. "I have compassion on these people," He says. Why so great an emphasis on compassion? I think we have a misunderstanding of the sovereign God. We think that God in his sovereignty, in his plan, just kind of grinds on fine like that... Like a mindless machine, doing whatever it does. God spinning the planets, and the universe and doing what He does and He is disconnected from what we are going through. It is not the case. He is great enough to spin the planets and to care about whatever it is you're going through. "I have compassion for these people," said Jesus. We see also Christ's priorities discovered. "They've been with me for three days and have nothing to eat. I think it's time to feed them." Three days. What about three meals a day? We've missed eight meals now. Note Jesus' priorities. We've seen it before, the teaching ministry and then the healing ministry and then, in due time, the feeding ministry. I think all of us would acknowledge that food is too important for us. Would you acknowledge that? Maybe not admit it, not in a public place like this, but privately, you might agree that food is too important for you. If you don't think so, then try fasting for a whole day and think how often you think about food. It's amazing. Food is too important to us. For some people it's even more. The Apostle Paul says of the Philippian unbelievers, "Their God is their stomach, they live for their appetites." But Jesus said, "Do not worry about your life, what you'll eat, or drink, or about your body, what you'll wear? Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes? Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all of these things will be added to you as well.” He means that we focus on the kingdom, those are his priorities. He says, in John 6, “Do not labor for the food that spoils, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” We see also Christ's forgetful disciples, "Where can we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?” Have you heard that before? That was just a chapter ago. That's why we have the second feeding account. How quickly we forget. “What are we going to do, Jesus, what are we going to do?” But Jesus uses them, He calls them and says, "I have compassion on them.” He asks, "How many loaves do you have?" He gave the loaves to his disciples, and they gave them to the people. He has the disciples pick up the broken pieces, He employs them in his ministry, He employs them in his work. We are God's fellow workers with him. And yet we so quickly forget. We see also Christ's power displayed. Look at verse 36 and following, “He took the seven loaves and the fish and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, Afterward the disciples picked up seven basket fulls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was 4000 plus women and children.” As I mentioned with the feeding of the 5000, this is a miracle of creation, creating matter out of nothing, just material that wasn't there before. And the food was ready to eat. Not the ingredients for the loaves, not the fish uncooked, but everything ready to go, ready to eat, fresh, delicious, I'm sure. Although it doesn't mention it, but think about Jesus making the wine at the wedding and how it was the highest quality. He's not going to give you stale bread. Maybe the best bread they ever ate. I don't know, but it's a miracle of something out of nothing, and I don't know how it happened. It happened when He took it in his hands and gave thanks, when He distributed it to his disciples, when He put a single loaf in the basket and by the time they moved, the basket was full. I don't have any idea. But I know that He created something out of nothing, and the people were satisfied. Look at that in verse 37, “They all ate and were satisfied.” Satisfied. When I die, I'll be satisfied with seeing His likeness. It'll be enough for me to see Jesus to be satisfied with God's resurrecting power. To be satisfied with the new heaven and new earth. It will be enough for you. You'll be satisfied. He knows how to satisfy you. Then it was a pretty homely meal, in my opinion, bread and fish. God has infinitely greater things to give you at his table. He will put his full creative powers on display in the new heaven, and the new Earth. You want to be there, you don't want to miss it. He knows how to satisfy the human heart and soul and body. He knows how to do it. These people ate, and they were satisfied, and there was extra left over. Then Christ dismissed the people [verse 39], “After Jesus had sent the crowd away, He got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.” Application How do these miracles apply to our lives? The fact that 2000 years ago, Jesus could do this on a hillside in Galilee. What does that have to do with us today? First of all, these are signs of Christ's deity, so worship him and trust him. He hasn't changed at all, He never changes. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, He's the same. There are also signs of Christ's priority, so focus on the kingdom and its work, the advancement of the kingdom, not on your temporal needs or wants, desires. There are signs of Christ's procedure, so get involved in Christ's work. Say, "What do you want me to do?" When He asks, "What do you have in your hand?”, give it to him and see what He can do with it. We should be trusting and not anxious. We should be focused on the kingdom and not on our health or on food. We should be hopeful of the future heavenly life. Fill up your minds with scriptures on what heaven and earth, the new heaven and earth will be like. Get happy in that. These are the promises of God. And be active in service. Conclusion on forgetfulness I want to focus on four things in conclusion. First of all, on forgetfulness, do you forget? Will you remember this sermon in a year and a half? Come on, be honest. we forget sermons, we forget what we read this morning in quiet time, we forget, we forget, we forget. Don't forget. How many times has God challenged us not to forget what he's done, the good things he's done. Remember. Luke 24, “How slow of heart you are to believe all that God has spoken to you, what he has done in your life.” Don't forget. Even worse with sin patterns when you go through a certain sin, you do it wrong, you say or do something wrong and then the Spirit convicts you and you deal quickly and lightly with the sin. “I’m sorry, Lord, please forgive me,” and you move on. Don't do that. Remember, remember what you did, remember how God has saved you, remember and confess, do a deep work, get the root out, find out what Satan did to get you to stumble. Remember, remember, remember, note what he did, so that you don't stumble again. on temporary needs Secondly, on temporary needs, it says that they brought all of these sick people to Jesus and laid them at his feet. What a great image. Do that, okay. Take your burdens, your problems, your health issues, your struggles, finances, whatever it is, and lay it at Jesus' feet and see what he can do. He will meet your needs. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all of these things will be added to you as well. Let him do it. Remember who He is, remember his compassion, remember his great power. Remember what He did here on this, Galilean hillside, He can do the same for you. Remember also his wisdom. If you're lingering in a trial longer than you think you should, it's his wisdom that has you there. Submit to him and let him teach you the lessons He has in mind for you. on worship Thirdly, on worship, let your heart be moved many times by the greatness of Jesus. We don't think highly enough of Jesus; therefore fill your mind with this account. Go back and read it again this afternoon or another, read of Jesus' resurrection of Lazarus or his healing of the man born blind. Fill your heart with things so that you can think great thoughts of Jesus. Worship and praise the God who sent him, the God who is willing to part with his own son that we might have eternal life, worship him and praise and honor your heavenly father. Fill your heart and your mind. When you come in to corporate worship, come in here ready to worship. Come in here with minds and hearts filled with Jesus, filled with his word, with his promises. Get ready to worship corporately. You have a great ministry to your brothers and sisters in Christ when they look around and they see you engaged in worship. When they see you excited about worship, singing the hymns or the songs, praying the prayers, your body into it, your face into it. Be ready to worship corporately, and the way you do that is worship God privately. Honor him, he's your Lord. Thank him for dying on the cross, stimulate your heart toward worship privately, and then you'll be ready for corporate worship. on kingdom labor Finally on kingdom labor. I want to remind you of the kind of year's verse that I'd like to keep in front of you this year: Luke 19:10, "The son of man came to seek and to save the lost." "The son of man came to seek and to save the lost," it's here on a banner in our church. You probably don't look at it anymore because you've seen it eight times or 12 times. That's just the way it is. Just like the television it fades, as soon as a stream goes by, it fades but the verse still stands in front of us, "The son of man came to seek and to save the lost." We are surrounded by lost people. You have within you the message of life. The only one that there is. Share the gospel this week. Invite people to come to worship. Just say, "Hey would you like to come to church with me next Sunday? I'll pick you up. We'll go to lunch afterwards and talk about it." Share the gospel. Get involved in kingdom labor. Jesus involved his disciples in the feeding of the 4000, He wants to involve us also. For He said, "As the Father has sent me, even so, I am sending you.”

God-Centered Hope Expels Godless Hedonism (Philippians Sermon 18 of 24) (Audio)

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 29, 2004

Introduction: Two Great Drives in the Universe As I thought earlier in this week about the most famous and most expensive bowl of stew in history, I was thinking it must have been incredible. I mean, it must have really tasted good. Of course, I'm talking about when Esau came in from the field and was famished and spend a day of hunting and apparently came up empty. And his stomach was calling and he smelled Jacob's stew bubbling and... I just thought it must have been incredible lentil stew. Now, I've never eaten a lentil stew that was worth selling a birthright for, but I thought it must have been an incredible stew. But then last few days, I think I changed a little bit and now I feel like it must have been probably leftovers, just heated up, because isn't it what the devil does? I mean, wouldn't that greatly honor the devil's whole scheme, is to get somebody like Esau to trade it off for a below average bowl of soup. Isn't that in effect what C S Lewis said in, The Screwtape Letters when he said, "The whole program of the devil is to get you ever increasingly enslaved to something that ever decreasingly pleases you?" That's what he's about. And I think, therefore, it must have been leftovers, that he sold his birthright for. What a tragic thing that anybody would trade faith for something physical, that Abraham's grandson would trade it all for a bowl of soup. And I'm thinking about this, that Abraham, the great man of faith, who turned his back on a lucrative lifestyle in early Chaldeans and sold most of it, and was willing to live in tents and never get what was promised to him and just lived by faith should have a grandson like that. What a scandal. What a tragedy. But I see around me in the country I live in, and I see within me in my own nature, the same tendency, the same drive, as it were. And that drive is strong, isn't it, brothers and sisters? And the sanctification that we're called to is in direct opposition to that drive at every moment. John Piper has clarified for us that there are two great drives in the universe, strong and powerful drives. One is the drive that each individual person has to be happy. And the second is God's drive to be glorified in and by his creation. These are strong drives, aren't they? And you cannot resist or refute your internal drive to be happy, you can't deny it. You can't say it's not there. You can do some things about it, we're going to talk about those in this message, but you can't refute it, because it's there. And whether you know it or not, the other drive predated yours and is stronger, and more powerful, God will be glorified in his creation. That's why we were created. And what John Piper's done for me and for so many others is said that in effect the two become one for the believer. We find our happiness in God's glory. We find the meeting of every need, anything that you could want, we find in God's exaltation and his glory. The Dual Danger of Legalism and License Now, the Apostle Paul writing this greatest probably of all thank you notes, book of Philippians, obviously has more than just thanking them for the money that he has in mind here. He is a pastor and he's concerned about these folks. The background of his concern is in the devil's relentless attack on the church. The devil is never going to let us alone, ever, for a moment our steps are going to be dogged by this enemy. And so he's always pumping out things to try to stop the work of God, and in this one chapter, Philippians, we see two of his greatest lies. And what's so interesting about them is that they're in one sense, kind of opposites of each other. I think in the end they become the same thing, just different means, but they are legalism and license. We see them both in this chapter, legalism and license. And Paul, the pastor's, concerned about both. He begins the chapter by looking at it, he's concerned about it. He says, "Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh, for it is we who are the circumcision." Now, we are the true circumcision, not those Judaizers who want to subjugate you Greeks into a system of laws and rules and regulations and sap all your joy. "I want to tell you... " in effect, he says in Philippians 3. "I want to tell you about my own pilgrimage. I came to reject all that as trash and all of my efforts in legalism led to nothing. A joyless existence. I found something that drove all of them out, and that was I saw Christ, the resurrected Christ on the road to Damascus. I saw His glory, and there was awakened in me such a longing and desire that has never been fully quenched. I stand as a man who's satisfied, and yet never satisfied, always wanting more, but I know what it is I want. I want Christ. I want to know Christ. Even if it means suffering for me, even if it means death. I want to know him." And so that drove out any concern over legalism. I knew that my legalistic life as a Pharisee would never lead me to Christ. Actually, was leading me away because it made me proud and hard and self-righteous, and I didn't want any of that." And so he says, "Be like me, follow my example, live like me." And if, in some point, you think differently, God will make that clear to you too, okay. Because I'm not wrong about the Christian life. That's what he's saying. And so he's resisted and he's turned away from legalism. But now interestingly, he turns in verse 17 on toward the opposite error. And that's this whole issue of license. And he wants to warn them about it. Now, we've talked the last few weeks about verse 17, "Join with others and following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you." Well, we kind of took that verse out and talked about it on its own merits, and saw that across Paul's writing, and really across the whole New Testament, that there's a theology of discipleship here that was worth listening to. But now I want to set the verse back in its context and understand it in Philippians 3. And he's saying, "I want you to follow my pattern because there are people around you who are living like godless hedonists, pagans, and that life leads to hell. It leads to destruction. And I want you to be warned about it." So he's a good pastor, you see. He's warning against legalism on the one side and then he's warning against license on the other. The interesting thing is that both, I think, in the end, turn out to be the same thing. Both of them are intensely me focused, aren't they? Both of them looking inward like that Pharisee that was so self-righteous in Luke and stood up and prayed about himself. "God, I thank you that I'm not like other men." Well, it's very self-focused, that legalistic self-righteous approach, but so also is the God is their stomach approach too, isn't it? Always thinking about, "My drive and what I want out of life. What my urges are and how to meet them." It's a very selfish way to live. And so we have selfishness in its religious garb, and then selfishness in its pagan garb, and it ends up about the same thing. I. The Condemnation of Godless Hedonists Now, when he talks about people whose God is their stomach, it's an interesting phrase, isn't it? Look at it again. He says in verse 18, "For as I often told you before, and I'll say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ, their destiny is destruction." Verse 19 he says, "Their God is their stomach and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things." Now, the stomach certainly was designed by God to digest food, and it does represent food here, I think certainly. But I think it goes deeper than food. I think it represents any fleshly drive, any appetite, any lust, any desire. Frankly, anything tied to the body and to an exclusively earthly lifestyle. If your stomach is your God, it means that the center and focus of your existence is meeting your earthly drives and desires. It's why you're alive. Your free time is spent on those drives and desires. Your free mental time is spent on them as well. Frankly, all your time is spent on it because even in your professional life, or if you're a student and you're training and preparing, you're thinking about meeting that drive and desire. The Book of Ecclesiastes says that all men's efforts are for his mouth. And what it means is there's just a focus on the earthly side of life to the exclusion of everything else. I think that's what it means if your God is your stomach. In the end, you worship only yourself, and your own body drives, and you live to meet them. That's all. Now, Esau is of course the ultimate biblical example. And so I brought into our pastoral ministry a while ago, the term, "Esauishness," which doesn't exist in the dictionary. I've looked it up, it's not there. But you know what I mean, it's what we live around all the time. America is surrounded... We're surrounded by Esaus. We're surrounded by people who live for their stomachs. And it's a very difficult thing to observe. I worked for 10 years in industry, and I just... The motive, they put up with the work week and live for the weekend. And it's just a drive all the time toward the pleasure and toward physical delights. Hebrews 12:16 points this out concerning Esau, says, "See that no one is sexually immoral or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as his oldest son." And so we have these overpowering drives of the flesh. Now, there are different strategies for dealing with them. The body itself is a remarkable gift of God, isn't it? If you really think about it theologically, it is the highest pinnacle of God's physical creation. I think He made nothing better than the human body, including the human mind. It's the peak of what he made physically. And so you are amazing and intricate balance of biological systems, the circulatory system, the nervous, muscular, and skeletal systems, and the digestive system certainly, and the reproductive system, all of these things fearfully and wonderfully made, King David said. And it was a ground for praising God. It's not a bad thing. We're not Greeks saying that the body is evil and we must subject all of its strives. Well, there are different strategies for dealing with these drives. Now, what drives are they? Well, drives for food and drink, to eat something that's delicious and drink something that's pleasing to the palette or drive for visual stimulation, for sights that are beautiful. Could be anything from a beautiful tree or flower, to a mountain, valley, or anything else that's beautiful to your eye. Drive for sexual pleasure. A good thing from God. It receives an awful lot of press, doesn't it? Even in the recent weeks, when you look at what's happening in our country about marriage, at the core of it is the drive for meeting sexual needs. The drive for sensory comfort. A comfortable blanket on a cold night, I used that even recently. I like a nice, soft, warm blanket when the weather gets like it does, and we have insufficient insulation. Working on that. But get out of the shower and your body is dripping, nothing like a plush thirsty towel. I mean, these are the sensory things of life, and they're not evil. Skillfully-designed furniture, a couch that doesn't have a spring poking up in your back, something like that. And these are not bad things. Jesus slept on a cushion in Mark's Gospel in the back of the boat. What was the cushion there for? Well, ask him when you get to Heaven, but I think it was to make Him more comfortable. I would think you don't need to go much further than that. And the drive for pleasing sounds, whatever your favorite music is. Those are all things that are around us. Now, the problem really comes ultimately with boundaries, doesn't it? That's the issue. The issue is that God has set boundaries around these drives. He's given the drives, he's given the desires, and then he put boundaries up. Says in Psalm 16, King David says, "The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places." That's a contented man, it's somebody who's happy and content with where the fences are set up in his life. But if you jump the fences, you become a transgressor. So there are fences, there are boundaries in life. Now one strategy of dealing with the fleshy drives and desires is to say, "There are no boundaries, literally, there are no fences anywhere." That's the ultimate of hedonism, the ultimate of me-ism, that I can have whatever brings me pleasure. Some people even kind of baptize this theologically and say that the death of Christ on the cross covers that so you can live any way you want. That is the grace of God transformed into a license for immorality in Jude 4. It's mentioned also in 2 Peter 2:18 and 19, it speaks of these false teachers, "They mouth empty boastful words and by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom while they themselves are actually slaves of depravity. For man is a slave to whatever has mastered him." So ironically, they are talking about freedom, but they are living like the ultimate slaves. But that's one strategy, saying that there are no fences, no boundaries, nothing, anything goes, whatever makes you happy. The other sinful strategy is legalism or asceticism. In that case, there are boundaries set much too narrowly. You're to be inside this little area here, and anything beyond it is wickedness and sin. And so these folks draw in excluding territory that God has said is good and right, such as marriage, for example, or eating, or other things. Things that, it says in 1 Timothy, God made so that He would be thanked, that He would be honored, but they draw in the boundaries so narrowly and say, "You must live here and anything beyond it is wickedness and sin." Some of the ascetic monks, these are some of my most favorite people to study in church history like Simeon Stylites, the one who sat on a pillar six to eight feet high, to get away from everything. By the time his monk career ended, his pillar was 80 feet high, and he would stand for 20 days at a time and pray and sit for 20 days at a time and pray, and they'd give him a modicum of food and he would eat it, wishing probably didn't have to. That was a life of asceticism. The problem with that kind of asceticism is, number one, it doesn't work. Colossians 2 tells me it doesn't work. These kinds of extreme regulations, "'Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch…' These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence." They don't change your heart, you're every bit as lustful as you were before, and God is looking at the heart, isn't he? So they don't work. Secondly, in that they do work, they produce some negative effects, harsh thoughts toward God, judgmental attitudes toward others, brothers and sisters, who don't make the same commitments that you do. And so, if you decide to give up something, spectator sports, television, any kind of entertainment, computer games, vacations, I mean the list goes on and on. I actually made a list of the different ways that Americans meet their pleasure needs, and it really was amazing, cruises... I mean, we could go on and on. But if you say, "I'm going to give up all of these things." You are strongly tempted to feel negatively and arrogantly toward those who don't give them up. Well, those are different strategies. Here the focus is on Godless hedonism. Now the word, "Hedonism," comes from the Greek word, "Pleasure," Hedonis is a Greek work for pleasure. And the definition would be, whatever most increases pleasure is right, regardless of who it is it hurts. Now Greece was the center of certain schools of philosophy concerning this, Epicurus for example, taught this, but I don't really think that Paul was looking into schools of philosophy with the Pagans that surrounded his Philippian Christians, he just said that's the way that Pagans naturally live. Whether they have it organized into a system of philosophy or not, this is what they live for, their god is their stomach. Paul’s Four-fold Assessment of Godless Hedonism Now, he says four things about them here, he assesses them, he says, first of all, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ. Look at that in verse 18, "many live as enemies of the cross of Christ." The center of Christ's life was the cross, that's why he came to die on the cross, he came to die, to suffer and die. And he calls on all of his followers to pick up their cross daily and follow him. If you don't carry your cross, you're not worthy of him. Jesus said it plainly. And so the lifestyle of a Christian is the lifestyle of the cross. It's what Martin Luther called the theology of the cross, of self-denial for something better, something higher, a greater joy. And Jesus did it all for joy. He wasn't that kind of Godless ascetic, and there are, by the way, ascetics in every religion, it's not just Christianity. There are some in Buddhism and Hinduism that do the same thing with the earthly drives. But he said, these people they live as enemies of the cross of Christ, they hate the preaching of the cross, and they certainly hate the lifestyle of the cross, they're enemies of the cross. And secondly, he says, "Their end is destruction." I think end is better than the NIV's pick choice of destiny here. Destiny's a little strong. It just tell us... Which is the end, the end of that road, you living like that, the end of that road is hell. Now that there's no question. Maybe destiny too strong but hell is not too strong. From which we get the word apollyon in the book of revelation.The end is hell. The end of that lifestyle is hell. It says in Matthew 7:13, same word, "Enter through the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it." It's the same word. Some people say the road to hell is paved with good intentions, but here it seems to say the road to hell is paved with a bunch of good times. One party after another, one good time after another. Thirdly, he says, "They glory in their shame." Interesting expression here, I think what it means is that that which they will in the end truly be ashamed of they presently boast in and are excited about. They boast about whoever can drink the most alcohol or have the most pleasure in a variety of ways and there is a bragging and an enticing there. Puritan, Thomas Manton put it this way. He said, "First we practice sin then we defend it and then we boast of it." And that's what I think he is meaning here when he says their glory is in their shame. And then fourthly, he says, "Their mind is on earthly matters." They think about this stuff all the time. You can't get their minds off of the earthly stuff up into the heavenly realms. They can't think about it, it's not the way they're wired. And so they are always thinking about the next exciting ball game or a sensuous night, or a great meal, or something earthy. That's what they live for. And it says in Romans 8:6, "The mind set on the flesh is death but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace." And so we see the condemnation of godless hedonists. II. The Compassion of Paul But let's not miss something in what Paul does here. I went right over it but I don't want you to miss it. In verse 18, he says, "For as I have often told you before, and now say again even with tears..." It's easy for Christians to miss this, isn't it? What is Paul's attitude toward the people who are living like this? Are you shattered over it? I mean, he is crying for them. There is an incredible compassion here for these folks. And this is actually a regular part of Paul's ministry. He did the same thing in Romans 9 when he's talking about Christ-less Jews, those who have not trusted in Christ. Now, he was a Jew that had trusted in Christ but there were many who had rejected Christ. And what he says in Romans 9 is that, "I speak the truth in Christ. I'm not lying. My conscious confirms it in the Holy Spirit. I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers those of my own race, the people of Israel." He is weeping for the Jews who don't know Christ. Weeping for them. Just like he is weeping here for the pagans who don't know Christ, whose God is their stomach. He's crying for them. He does the same thing toward Christians, 2 Corinthians 2:4, he had to write a very harsh letter dealing with sin, 1 Corinthians 5 covers it and he wants them to know it was not easy for him to write that disciplinary letter. And so he says in 2 Corinthians 2:4, "I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears not to grieve you, but to show you of the depth of my love for you." And he just sums up his whole ministry to the elders of the Ephesian church in Acts 20 verse 31 he says, "So be on your guard. Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears." The tears of Paul here, his great compassion. And it was really the tears of Christ because he is patterning it after Christ who stood over Jerusalem and wept over the city. "Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings but you would not." The compassion of Christ for the lost is coming out in his apostle. The tears that he weeps here. Ultimately, though, I think his compassion is towards Christians, isn't it? Because he says, "As I have often told you before and now I say again even as tears, many are living in this godless pagan way." Don't do it Philippians, please. Don't live that kind of life. So his compassion is really ultimately for the Philippians here. Although he does grieve for the pagans. III. The Conduct of Citizens of Heaven And by way of contrast, he says that's the way they are living, I'm warning you against it but I want to show you the way your life should be. Your citizenship he says is in heaven. You're at a different level. Verse 20 and 21, "Our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await a savior from there, the lord Jesus Christ who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." There is a strong contrast being set up here between the godless pagans, the hedonists that are living for their stomach, and you Christians, the Philippian Christians. There is a difference. Their God is their stomach, your God is the eternal creator of the universe. They are enemies of the cross of Christ. You embrace the cross as your salvation, first through the atoning sacrifice of Christ so that his blood shed on the cross removes forever the wrath and curse of God. Condemnation gone through the cross of Christ and you know it. So you embrace it as your salvation but secondly, in terms of lifestyle, it becomes the way you live your life. You take up your cross everyday and follow. And it frees you up from the enslavement to passions. And so they're the enemies of the cross of Christ. For you, the cross is salvation. Their end is destruction, but your end is heaven. Your citizenship's in heaven. There's a contrast here. And he says, "Their mind is chained to earth, but your mind is free to fly to the heavens, because everything in heaven and earth is given to you through faith in Christ. All of it is yours, kept in the heavens for you." It's incredible contrast here. Well, why does he speak like this? Well, he says, "We're citizens of heaven." And I think the Philippians would've embraced or understood this, because they were very proud. The Philippian people were proud of being citizens of Rome. They were a citizen colony of Rome. And what that meant was that any natural born Philippian was a citizen of Rome. Paul himself was a citizen of Rome, and he used that a couple of times to get out of being beaten or some other things. He thought like a citizen of Rome, and I think he wanted to be a good citizen of Rome, but his higher allegiance was to heaven. Our citizenship's in heaven. I'm speaking mostly I think to Americans. I think since 9/11, there's been an upsurge of patriotism and I understand that. And I think we should be patriotic to a point, but there's boundaries to that, isn't there? If you ever want to study a good case study on patriotism with no boundaries, study Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Deutschland, Deutschland uber alles, Germany over everything. Well, I would say Jesus Christ over everything. Our citizenship's in heaven. So we must be good American citizens like the apostle Paul was a good Roman citizen. And the early Christians prayed for the emperor and were submissive to authority and carried out their duties and responsibilities as much as their conscience allowed them to, and so must we. But our citizenship's in heaven. So Paul's point here is ethical. If our citizenship's in heaven, how should we live? Well, not in lust and drunkenness. Not in orgies and wickedness. Romans 13 says, "Let us behave decently as in the daytime, not in orgies or drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature." And this is going on as we eagerly await a savior from heaven, Jesus Christ. So while you're waiting, what should you do? Is Jesus going to come back today? Oh, I hope so. Wouldn't that be great? Wouldn't it be great to have the prayer meeting tonight cancelled because Jesus came back? I'd be happy about that. He has that authority, he can cancel any prayer meeting he wants to. It's his church. So if he cancels the prayer meeting because he comes back, I'll be delighted. And we'll talk to him more directly, won't we? And that'll be wonderful. But if he doesn't come back, how should we wait? Well, I'm going to give you again those internal and external journeys. Internally, puts into death. Externally, let's speed up the day of God. Both of these come together beautifully in 2 Peter 3. Listen to this: "Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?" You ought to behave like citizens of heaven. "What kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live Holy and Godly lives, as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming." How do you speed the coming of the day of God? Well, get busy in evangelism, make disciples of all nations. And how do you speed its coming? Put sin to death in your own life. That's what he says. Behave like a citizen of heaven, that's what you are. IV. The Consummation of Salvation And then fourth, we see beautifully the consummation of salvation. He says, "We eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." Oh, I'm waiting for that. I'm excited about that. I'll tell you more in a minute. I had no voice when I woke up this morning. That I can speak at all is a grace of God. But God is good. But here, he mentions is the second coming of Christ. We are eagerly awaiting Christ to come back. It's like Scott said in the baptism today twice. Are you waiting for Christ to come back? Our sinless savior to come back that we might look up in the heavens and see him there. And that he would at last get what he truly deserves, unfeigned worship. Christ will descend with the clouds, he will come back with the armies of heaven. And he will come back as our final savior from this vile world and all of its temptations and its attacks. Secondly, everything is going to be brought under his control, that's what it says. All of this disarray that we see in the newspapers and we read about all over the world, we're talking about tyrants that use their political power to strip the rights and freedoms of people and beat on their bodies and even take their lives. We're talking about the scourge of poverty. We're talking about the temptations to the animal drives and lust that we've talked about earlier. This stuff seems like it's out of control. And we're talking about within the bodies even of Christians diseases and decay and problems. And it seems like it's out of control, but it isn't. Jesus Christ has the kingly right to this whole world. It's already been given to him. All the authority in heaven and earth has been given to him. It's his already. But there's a process going on here, isn't there? And so the father said to the son, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." And that's going on. But when he comes back, he's going to finish that job and everything is going to be brought, the Greek here is very strong, under his arranging control. He will bring all the disarray and make it arranged beautifully as our king, and that includes your bodies. And so we end up where we began, with your body. Yes, those drives, those desires, the fleshly side of you, which is so much of a battleground now, isn't it? And it makes it so hard to walk a single day in godliness. Paul says in Romans 7 that when he wants to do good, evil is right there with him. Well, it's in the body. He calls it "the body of death," he calls it "the body of sin," he calls it "the mortal body." Here he calls it the "the lowly body, the humiliated body." This is the only vehicle we have for service for Christ in this world. We must have it, but we must keep it under subjection. And what a struggle it is every day. But the same power that enables Jesus to bring the whole world under his control is going to be at work in your body. Isn't that exciting? And He's going to give you a new one. You know why? Because the old one cannot make it to heaven. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. You must be transformed from the corruptible to the incorruptible. You must be made like Christ. And this, at last, is the finish line of your salvation. And when you've crossed it, you will have been completely saved. And until this happens, until Philippians 3:21 is fulfilled in you and in all of God's chosen people, salvation's not finished yet. We're not fully saved. This is what was stated in Romans 8:29-30, "For those whom God foreknew, He predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined he also called, and those he called he also justified, and those he justified he also..." What? "Glorified." He's going to make you just like Jesus. You're going to be conformed to his image. In your body as well as in your soul. And that's going to be glorious. V. Applications Now, what is our application for this? Well, really kind of infinite. But I'm only going to hold you for another hour. I know your stomachs are grumbling. I know you're hungry. But I kind of gotcha this morning, don't I? Because who's going to admit, I'm too hungry to listen to this sermon. I got to go. But I'm not cruel and I'm not unkind. Just briefly. A Balanced Life A balanced life. Can I urge you to look at the legal, lawful pleasures, which God wants you to enjoy? Look at them like a child of God. In that internal journey, I want to urge on you a balanced life of lawful pleasures and self-control. Rejecting, on the one hand, self-righteous legalism and on the other hand, license and freedom to eat and drink and do whatever you want. Obviously now, hear me, Christians must reject all sinful pleasures out of hand. They are rejected and wicked and if you're struggling with anything you know is sin, you must put it to death. Like John Owen said, "Be killing sin or sin will be killing you." But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the beauties of nature, the taste of food that you enjoy, marital life together in a family, enjoyment of hobbies, other things. How shall we use those things? And what I'm asking you to do is to live a life of self-control in these areas. 1 Corinthians 7, Paul's talking about marriage, and he says, "What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short." This is 7:29-31. "From now on, those who have wives should live as if they had none." Very interesting statement. "Those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; and those who use the things of this world, as if not engrossed in them." That's what I'm talking about. "For this world and its present form is passing away." So, don't be engrossed in anything in this world. 1 Corinthians 6:12 says, "Everything is lawful for me, but not everything's beneficial. Everything's lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything." How can you tell if you're mastered by something? Can I urge you to give it up sometime? Seriously, for a little while. Fast from it. Whether food, or marital relations, or spectator sports, or hobbies, or other things. And find out how important it is in your life. You may actually be surprised how important it has become in your life. It could be that some mastery crept in unawares, and you lost self-control in that area. Can I urge you to come back to a disciplined life? And it could be even that some lawful thing has so consistently led you into sin in the past that you must give it up forever. And you have to decide what those are. Jesus said, "If your right eye caused you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than your whole body to go into hell. And if your right hand caused you to sin, cut it off and throw it away." But if God leads you to do that, don't boast about it, please. We're not even supposed to know when you're fasting. You're supposed to put oil in your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you're fasting, but only to your Father who's in heaven. Don't go walking around saying, "Look what I've given up." Because then you've gone that short route from discipline to boastfulness, and you're right into a different sin. Self-control in these things. A Compassionate Heart Secondly, can I urge on the external journey? A compassionate heart. I was convicted by this. I don't weep enough for the lost. I'm just confessing that to you. I don't care enough. I don't care as much as Jesus did. And I don't care as much as Paul did. And I want that to change. And the only way that I can do it is to get closer to Christ, to love more what He loves, and to hate more what he hates, and to feel more what He feels when He looks out over Jerusalem. I want to weep more. And I want you to too because it's healthy, isn't it? To weep for the Jews that don't know Christ, like Paul did. And to weep for the pagans that are living for their stomachs. Pursue Joy in God And thirdly, John Piper in Desiring God espouses a different kind of hedonism, the kind where the ultimate pleasure is God himself. Because you know in the end that's what you're going to get in heaven. Isn't that marvelous? It's incredible, isn't it? The feast of the wedding banquet is going to be God. And I don't want it to be anything else. I want God, I want him to satisfy me. Might I suggest that you not turn your back on pleasure, but have pleasure be ultimately fulfilled in Christ. Let Christ be your pleasure.

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The Courage and Consequences of an Uncompromising Life (Daniel Sermon 2 of 17) (Audio)

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 10, 2000

I. Compromise is the Language of the Devil I'd like to ask now that you take your Bibles and open to Daniel 1. Today, we're going to begin our look at Daniel. Last week we had an overview, a time to look across the whole 16 or 12 chapters of Daniel and see what God is saying in a large sense there, but today we're going to begin in earnest and with a little more care to look at Daniel 1. Our first President, George Washington, said this, said, "Very few men have the character to withstand the highest bidder." Very few men have the character to withstand the highest bidder. What that means is that all of us have character flaws and weaknesses that if the temptations were strong enough, we would cave in and even more when there's positions of power, prestige, money at stake. It's very hard to stand firm and to be an uncompromising man or woman in that situation. Number of years ago, right after I graduated from college, I went across the country with a friend of mine, and we went out to out west and we were in Wyoming, the Grand Tetons, and we decided to go whitewater rafting in the Snake River. I don't know why I did this. This is the foolishness of youth. I'll never do it again, but I did it that one time. And this was a powerful river, the Snake River, and I was a total novice and had no business being in an inflatable raft bouncing from rock to rock down that river, but that's where I was, I fell out twice, thankfully I was pulled back in both times. But as I was in the river, and it was cold I felt the pull of the current, incredible pull. And there is in whitewater river, just an amazing force that sucks you where you don't want to go. And that's the way I see the world today, in reference to the Christian church. There is a powerful influence on us pulling us where we do not want to go. Do you feel it? Do you feel it getting stronger? And it's here. And Daniel 1 gives us an insight into how we must stand firm against that whitewater pull toward the rocks of destruction or fruitlessness in our Christian life. The focus is on Daniel and on his character, but I don't want to miss the point because the real focus is on the God of Daniel. And He who gave Daniel the courage and the conviction to stand firm. Number of years ago there was a movie entitled Chariots of Fire, many of you saw it. It was about a Scottish missionary who took time away from his mission work to prepare and train himself for the Olympic Games, and he ended up winning a gold medal in the 400 meters, a great movie and a great story, but as he was trying to decide whether he wanted to go in for this training and take time away from the work of God to do this he was exhorted by one of his mentors to do it. And he was exhorted to give himself fully to it, whatever he did, he should put his hand to the plow and work at it with all his might and with all his strength and that's what he did. And in giving him this exhortation he said, "Compromise is the language of the devil." Compromise is the language of the devil. And I fear that we've become fluent in the church today, we cave in too easily. As with George Washington, we sell out to the highest bidder and we need to return to our roots, we need to return to the Scriptures and to the kind of strength of character it would take to say no to this whitewater pull and that is in Daniel 1. Look along with me as I read the words of this chapter. "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia, and put in the treasure house of his god. Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of the court officials to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility, young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well-informed, quick to understand and qualified to serve in the king's palace. He was to teach them the language and the literature of the Babylonians. The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king's table. They were to be trained for three years and after that they were to enter the king's service. Among these were some from Judah. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. The chief official gave them new names: To Daniel the name Belteshazzar, to Hananiah Shadrach, to Mishael Meshach and to Azariah Abednego. But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine. And he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Now, God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, but the official told Daniel, 'I am afraid of my lord the king who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.' Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 'please test your servants for 10 days, give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.' So he agreed to this and tested them for 10 days. At the end of the 10 days, they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead. To these four young men, God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar, the king talked with them and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. So they entered the king's service, in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them 10 times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom and Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus." Now, Daniel is a historical book. And last week, we talked about the division of the book of Daniel into two section. Chapters 1-6 is the historical section with visions and other information in there but it's a recounting of Daniel's history in Babylon. And chapter 7-12 is the apocalyptic visions of the future which God granted to Daniel in order that we may know the things to come. II. Context of Daniel 1 Now, in this first section, we have to understand therefore the context of Daniel 1. Now, I covered this last time, but it's good for a review. God had caused the people to come into the promised land, the Jewish people. He gave them the land on condition that they obey the Covenant, on condition that they obey the laws of Moses which he had granted them, that they should not worship the gods of stone and wood, the idols which were in the land of Canaan before them. But the people consistently rebelled and disobeyed, they consistently bowed down to idols and worshipped them. And so after the kingdom had been divided into two parts: North and South, Israel and Judah, He deported the northern kingdom Israel, at the power of the Assyrian nation simply because of their sinfulness. He gave the Southern Kingdom Judah and Benjamin some time to repent. They had some good kings and some bad kings but for the most part, they had fallen also into idolatry. There was a cycle of rebellion, a cycle of warning and of rejection of those warnings and the final straw may have come when king Manasseh one of the descendants of David took some of his own sons who were also descendants of David and sacrificed them to Molech, detestable god of the Sidonians. God never forgot and never forgave the people for this. And so through the mouth of Jeremiah the prophet he said that because of the sins of Manasseh and because of all of the accumulated sin he was going to deport them and exile them to Babylon. And so it came about that Nebuchadnezzar came to that region. First before conquering Israel however he had to deal with Egypt. Egypt overshadowed that area. Egypt was the military power of that region, Israel was a minor kingdom, a minor area, not a major power to be dealt with. Egypt was the major power. And so Nebuchadnezzar in command of his army came down and defeated Pharaoh Neco at Carchemish and then turned back up and headed up toward Jerusalem. Now, Jerusalem as a city is very difficult to conquer. There are deep valleys and ravines all around, and they were strongly protected walls. And so it was going to be no small thing for Nebuchadnezzar to conquer and to defeat Jerusalem. The problem was though behind those walls, was nothing but rottenness. There was no power, no strength, no conviction or courage to stand on those walls. And so in the end without even a battle at this point, they opened their gates and allowed Nebuchadnezzar to come in and he deposed the king, he put up a puppet king in his place and at this point he took some of the vessels of the temple and some of the young men of noble blood and deported them to Babylon and Daniel was included in this. Now Daniel and his friends were deported and this was a bleak situation in the history of Israel. But it was even more difficult for God Himself. Understand that God had married His name to these people, these people were His people, He even used marriage imagery. There was a bonding between God's people and His holy name. And so for Him to deport His people, exile them out of the promised land was a catastrophe for His reputation in the world, and He knew it. But He had to do it because it's the very thing He said He would do. God is concerned about His name, He's concerned about His glorious majestic name and His reputation, it matters to Him what people think about Him, and not because He's vain or conceited but because our salvation depends on our estimation of His name, does it not? Everyone who calls on the what? The name of the Lord will be saved. And there is a reputation, a history of God throughout history of what He has done throughout history, and that's what we're calling on Him for. He is the God we're calling and so if His name is sullied or trod in the mud in any way, it affects salvation. Joel 2:32, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." This is what God says about His holy name. Malachi 1:11-14, "My name will be great among the nations from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets in every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to My name because My name will be great among the nations, says the Lord Almighty, for I am a great King, says the Lord Almighty, and My name is to be feared among the nations." This is the greatness of the name of God. But in the exile, God was in effect risking the damage to His name. And He deals with this in Ezekiel. Ezekiel lived at the same time as Daniel. And when dealing with the fact that some day God would regather a remnant and bring them back into the promised land after 70 years, He dealt with His motivation and He said, "My motivation is not your holiness, not even your benefit, but my holy name because my name has been defiled by you among the nations." Simply by the fact that you're there in Babylon. Simply by the fact that you had to be evicted from the promised land. Ezekiel 36:19-23. You really should read this on your own. Ezekiel 36 He says, "I will show the holiness of My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them, then the nations will know that I am the Lord declares the sovereign Lord, when I show Myself holy through you before their eyes." So in effect, the deportation of the Jews created a crisis for the name of God, do you understand that? The fact that they were even there, created a problem for God's reputation and so God had to do something for His reputation. After 70 years, He would bring back a remnant and re-establish them, that would help, but within the context of Babylon, He had to raise up a remnant of godly people who would stand firm for His name, even in the godless pagan situation and that was Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. It also explains the incredible miracles that God did in that pagan situation with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace, with the incredible visions and dreams that Daniel was able to interpret. God was upholding His holy name and He does it through uncompromising servants. III. Four Uncompromising Jewish Youths Introduced (vs. 3-7) In verses 3-7, we see the uncompromising Jewish youths, and they're introduced to us. Now Nebuchadnezzar's goal was to raise up some skilled subservient counselors. Some people who could give him wisdom and input as he governed a large empire, as he's conquering each of these lands, there are cultures that he's taking over. And the Assyrians had already perfected the art of deportation, they would take people up, uproot them from their home area, and bring them to another place, they had therefore no strength for rebellion, they were in a foreign land. Furthermore, he would take some of those, the Assyrians did this all the time, some of them and bring them out, give them all the best of the land, the best of the training and use them as counselors over their own people. So that's exactly what Nebuchadnezzar wanted to do with these youths of noble blood. He was going to take them, he was going to train them, he was going to assimilate them. They would be Babylonian more than Jewish. And he would use their training for the glory of his own kingdom. Now, key to this was the determination to get them young. You've got to get them young, you see if they're older, they're already set in their ways. And so these were youths, teenagers, young men and he intended to brainwash them, I guess, it'd be the best way to put it, to attract them in the Babylonian ways and then to use their abilities. He chose not only the young but only the best, royal blood, choice young men who were intelligent, quick witted, who were physically able and strong and he was going to use them and he was going to teach them Babylonian language and wisdom. The Babylonian language necessary for service in the court, of course, but also the language begins to affect your thinking. There is, in every language, a way of thinking, a worldview. And so it's going to be affected. Also Babylonian literature, their history, the things that they have done up to that point. They're going to be inculturated and they're going to be given the best of Babylonian knowledge. Science, military and agricultural knowledge, an incredible society. And in all these ways, these youth were going to be taken in and say, "Oh what a place is Babylon, that old land is nothing. Israel's nothing compared to this." They'll just be drawn in, buy into it. Hook, line and sinker. That was his plan and he was going to get them used to the good life, some luxuries, some comforts, food and wine from the king's table, and the promise of the most powerful intoxicant of all: Power and influence. We're going to give you a position in the court where you can influence things, and as a symbol of all of this, he would change their names. The Meanings of the Names Now, at the heart of the name change is not just a sense that old things have gone, everything has become new, there's part of that, but it also has a religious overtone. Each of the Jewish names had religious significance. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah all meant things in the Hebrew language. Daniel meant God is judge or God is my judge. Hananiah meant Jehovah is gracious. Mishael meant who is what God is and Azariah means Jehovah has helped me. Jehovah has helped. But now we've got some new names Babylonian names, filthy names really if you understand them. Belteshazzar means may Bel or Baal protect his life. You know Baal the Canaanite god, may this Canaanite god protect Daniel, and Shadrach means under the command of Aku. Aku is the moon god of the Babylonians. He's under orders from Aku. Meshach is a direct contest. You see Mishael who is what God is, Meshach is who is what Aku is. There's going to be a competition. We'll see. We've already beaten you on the battlefield, now we're going to beat you in every way imaginable. And then Abednego means servant of Nebo and Nebo, the son of the Babylonian god Baal. And so, there's a religious conversion attempted here as well, and along with this is the food that they're going to eat. This is not just any food, this is food which had been sacrificed to these very gods and wine which have been offered to these very gods. There is a religious force being pulled, pulling on these folks like whitewater, powerful forces for change and compromise. These are young men, they're far from their home, they're torn from their family, they're treated kindly by their conquerors, that's the hardest part of all. They're given advantages, and benefits. They're given a bright future if they'll just tow the line, they're given the best of Babylonian education, their names are changed and their religion, hopefully changed as well. Who can stand against this kind of whitewater pull? But only he who God raises up, only he who God gives strength to and these four, God did that very thing. These are God's heroes. God's grace raises them up for such a time as that, that they might stand firm and might exalt His holy name. IV. Daniel’s Uncompromising Example: Values Tested and Triumphant (vs. 8-17) Now, in verses 8-17, we see Daniel's uncompromising example. Daniel lays out his values. They're tested and ultimately they triumph. Look at verse 8. In verse 8. That's the key verse. I have it printed on the front cover of your bulletin. Look what it says. "But Daniel resolved not to defile himself." Do you see that? Daniel resolved not to defile himself. That's my whole sermon's message right here. Don't defile yourself. Resolve and be determined that you may not defile yourself. That's what Daniel did. He resolved that he would not defile himself with the royal food and wine and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself in this way. This is a strong determination. The Hebrew word resolve means that he laid it on his heart. It's a firm determination he makes from his heart and the word defile is strong as well. It means to be polluted, to be defiled, to be polluted even spiritually polluted. Now, can I say to you, it is impossible to resist a whitewater current, with wishy-washy determination. You've got to stand strong. You've got to say. "No, may it never be." If you say, "Well, not today. Not today." "Well then tomorrow." says the devil and he'll get you eventually, but if you say, "Absolutely not, I will not give in to sin. I will not wave the the white flag. I will not lose this war." That's a whole other thing. And Daniel had that kind of determination, he resolved in his heart that he would not defile himself. This was a measure of Daniel's love for God. Our Savior Jesus Christ said, "If you love Me, you will obey what I command." There is no separation between Jesus as Savior and Jesus as Lord, it's impossible. If you love Jesus you'll obey Him, and Daniel loved his God and he obeyed Him. Now, what were Daniel's reasons for not eating this food and drinking this wine? Well, first of all, there was the Levitical law, he was still under the law of the old covenant and there were rules about certain meats that you could not eat. And Daniel didn't know the origins of these meats, they just came as meat. Sometimes perhaps he could tell what it was and it was clearly against the Levitical rules and regulations. How easy would it have been for him to say that's passed now, we're out of the promised land does the law still count for us? What could it hurt to eat a little bit? What could it hurt to just take some of it? Besides I'm very hungry and it looks good. There's a pull there, temptation. But more than that this food, as I mentioned, had been offered to these detestable gods. Perhaps if they're going to be training these youth, they're even there when the offering is going on. So that they can observe and start to take part in the Babylonian system of religion. Now, idols are nothing, they are nothings, they don't exist. They're stone carvings and wood carvings but behind every idolatrous worship service, there is a demonic presence that is real, so said the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:20, "The sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God and I do not want you to be participants with demons." There's a spiritual force in that idolatrous worship and Daniel said I don't want to be part of it, this is evil, and he knew it, and he stood firm against it. But what's so beautiful in verse 8 and what starts to come out is not just Daniel's iron-clad resolution, but it's also his winsome manner. He is a very pleasant person, he's not offensive or obnoxious, he's actually very easy to get along with, as long as you don't force him to choose between you and his God. If you force that choice he's made that choice. I'll be your friend as long as you don't force me to choose between my God and you because if you force that choice I will choose God even to death. And so he goes in verse 8, and he asks permission, that he might not defile himself, isn't that interesting? "May I please not defile myself?" He's trying to work within the system. Do you think he's ever going to defile himself? No. But he's trying to keep the relationship intact, gentle and firm manner. He has a burning zeal for God that cannot be dimmed but it also says in Romans 12:18, "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you live at peace with all men." And Daniel went well beyond that. I think he actually loved King Nebuchadnezzar. I think we're going to see that as this book unfolds. He actually had his heart wrapped up in these pagans, he wanted them to know God. He was a missionary and so he loved them and he yearned that they came to know God and so he was the picture of speaking the truth in love. But as much as he loved the Babylonians he loved God more. Now, God orchestrates the whole situation in verse 9 it says, "Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel." Now the fact that there was a Daniel at all, I believe is grace from God, God raised him up. But then God helps him out with His sovereign grace. And never think for a moment that God is not permitted to get into people's brains and influence the way they think, He does it time and time again in Scripture. What does it mean that God caused Daniel to find favor in their eyes except that they saw him a certain way and this was the lubrication that enabled him to do the things that he wanted to do. He had friendships with these officials but there was an obstacle in verse 10, the official said, "I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you." You see life is cheap there. And Nebuchadnezzar was an autocrat, he was a tyrant, a dictator, he could at any time give the command, we'll see it in chapter two and the heads will roll. And so he was afraid and he said we have a problem here. What about my obligation to the king? And so then Daniel proposes a test. The test is accepted and the test is passed in verses 11-16, "Daniel said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, please test your servants for 10 days, give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat of the royal food and treat your servants in accordance with what you see." Now, where in the world did he get this idea? John Calvin a commentator on this text says he got it from God. And that it would have been presumptuous for him to propose such a test if God had not led him. You don't throw yourself off the pinnacle of the temple unless God tells you to do so that He will command His angels concerning you and they'll lift you up in their hands but if God has not given that command you don't throw yourself off the temple. And so, I believe, it doesn't say so in the text, but knowing what I know about Daniel, he was a man of prayer, and I think he under the influence and the leadership of the Spirit, he proposed this test and the test was accepted. And notice he doesn't propose it to Ashpenaz but to the guy under Ashpenaz said, "Let's not get Ashpenaz in trouble." There's no reason to be concerned here. If we end up looking better at the end of the 10 days, then Ashpenaz will actually look good. So let's just work it out between the two of us. You give us vegetables and water and then see how we looked, let's try it out. Vegetables and water only. Now, by the way, that's not a bad resolution, New Year's is coming up and maybe for more than just 10 days it might be of some benefit to you to eat nothing but vegetables and water. But I think there's something deeper going on here. Isn't the way you eat a kind of a symbol of your life, the way you live your life. If you don't withhold from yourself anything that you like, aren't you really just living for luxury? Isn't this the function of fasting in the Christian life so that we may discipline our appetites. People who live for nothing but their appetite, it says in Philippians 3, "Their God is their stomach." And so it ends up being a symbol of the way you live your life. Daniel was not living his life for luxury and comfort, didn't matter to him, he was living his life for God, and that was enough for him, that was enough for him and so said, "I'm going to say good-bye to all that luxurious, delicious food. I'm going to say good-bye to a lifestyle of comfort and ease, and I'm going to venture out in faith and I'm going to eat vegetables and I'm going to drink water." Well, at the end of the 10 days. God blessed lavishly. They looked incredibly well. Perhaps, the others were a little sickly. God can orchestrate these things as they just line them up and say "Boy, it's clear, it's obvious the difference. Obvious." And so the first reward from God is just the success of the test. But then God lavishes on them besides verse 17, it says, "To these four young men, God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning and Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds." Now, all four of them were blessed with insights and wisdom and understanding. Now, I know for you college students, this is an important thing. Alright, especially this week. You've got tests coming up. Have any of you said to your professors, "Now test your servants for 10 days and see if we pass the test." They didn't ask your permission. They're testing your wisdom, your insights, your knowledge. But the Scripture says these things come from God, these things come from God. They're gifts from God, every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights who doesn't change like shifting shadows. He is capable of opening your minds and giving you clear thinking. For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things, including wisdom and understanding. So God gave it to them, and then He gave to Daniel a special gift. And this gift sets up the rest of the book, doesn't it? Daniel has an ability to interpret prophetically visions and dreams, mysteries, and through that gift God opens up to all of us the history of the world. Incredible. And so, Daniel 1 sets the stage for the rest of the book. V. Uncompromising Servants: Strategically Positioned for God (vs. 18-21) Now, in verses 18-21, we see uncompromising servants strategically positioned for God. Graduation day comes, the three years is over and they have to stand before the king. And he asked them questions, he tests them like an oral exam and as he does this, he finds that there's no one in all his kingdom with the kind of insight and understanding and ability that these four Jewish youths, these teenagers, had. Now, King Nebuchadnezzar was a young man at this point. Very gifted himself, very intelligent and very open-minded in this regard. He could tell who was better and who wasn't. He wasn't blindly partisan or loyal to his own people. He could tell that these Jewish youths had it all over his own people. He said that they were... The Hebrew says 10 hands better, that means 10 times better than any that he could find among his counselors. But you see, God's strategy in all this, strategic planning. He's raising them up and he's going to position them in the kingdom to influence matters for his own people and for history and that they might serve as a mouthpiece for God in a strategic way, but we also see, God's patient timing as well, because it's not time for that yet, not yet, just that a seed is planted in Nebuchadnezzar's mind, "Boy, they're better than anybody I've seen." At the end of chapter two, they get their positions of power and authority and influence, after all of that, with a dream, which we'll begin to cover next week. Daniel’s Endurance by God’s Sustaining Grace (vs. 21) And then finally, in verse 21, we see the endurance by God's sustaining grace. Verse 21, it says, "Daniel remained there until the first year of king Cyrus." Now, without a knowledge of history, you have no idea just how long this is. But he began his training, probably in the year 602 BC, and King Cyrus raised to power 536 BC, that's 65 years of service in the Babylonian and then the Medo-Persian empires. Sixty-five years. And it's not easy to stand firm with politics swirling all around you, you might lose your life at any time. Intrigue, maybe cloak and daggers things, assassinations, plots. And these things did happen to Daniel as we'll see in chapter 6, and God enabled him to stand firm, even through the change of an entire regime. That never happens. If you are a high official in the old regime and then the new one comes in, you're gone. But through God's grace, he stood there and remained firm. VI. Applications Now, what applications can we take from this chapter? The first is to exalt and glorify God for His sovereign grace. It's easy for us to put Daniel up on the pedestal here but let's not do that, let's put God where He belongs. God does all things for the glory of His own name. It was God's sovereign power that raised Daniel up and made him a hero. It was God who gave Daniel his courage and uncompromising convictions. It was God who gave Daniel his wisdom and his intelligence. It was God who gave Daniel his winsome personality. It was God who gave Daniel friendships with key Babylonian officials. It was God who gave Daniel three godly friends to help him in his ministry. It was God who gave Daniel the idea of the 10-day test and then saw to it that the test was successful. It was God who gave his friends and he special insight, wisdom and intelligence 10 times better than anyone else, and it was God who gave to Daniel the special ability to interpret dreams and visions that no one else could do. And so, what does this mean? All of these things come from God. Are they attractive to you? Then be a spiritual beggar. Go to God and ask Him for them. Ask Him for each one of these things, including the character to stand firm against whitewater. I want to say a word right now to teenagers, to maybe some teenagers in our midst today. Daniel was just a teenager maybe 13, 14, 15 years old. His whitewater peer pressure, cultural pressure, was no less than yours. And he stood firm and did not cave in. He did not cave in to what everyone wanted him to do. Yet he was winsome, he had friends, but he didn't need to be like them. What mattered to him was pleasing God above all things. Also, realize that Daniel was still a teenager when he interpreted the dream of the king in chapter two, don't just sit back and wait for life to come to you. These are some of your best years of service to God. When you're free from responsibilities, you could be a warrior for Christ, both young men and young women. You could be free to serve Him with all your time, to witness for Christ. You can understand theology at some of the deepest levels. I'm speaking to youth. This morning, we studied about Mary, the virgin mother of Jesus. How old was she when this news came to her? Just a teenage girl. Don't underestimate what God can do through you, if you make yourself available to Him. Also, I think for all of us, we need to note Daniel's uncompromising leadership. We need leaders like this, don't we? Don't we need leaders like this? Americans, don't we need leaders like this? Daniel was an uncompromising leader. He had visions and principles that were unwavering and he would not cave in no matter what, on these things. And he was an influencer of others, wasn't he? I think he influenced Shadrach or Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. He influenced them, perhaps converted them to his ways. And so, he had allies. Who are you older people influencing for Christ? Are you mentoring anybody? Have you taken somebody under your wing and you're training them and bestowing on these younger folks, the wisdom and knowledge you've gained over the years? Very thing that's commanded. 2 Timothy 2 and other places. We need you to do it. He was an influencer and a leader. And also, note the well-balanced aspect of his life. He was in the world, but not of it. He had all the wisdom, college students, of the Babylonians, all of it, but he was able to discern between good and evil. He was able to see what was right among the wisdom of the Babylonians and what was not. He was sifting through and when he got done, the wisdom didn't defile him any more than the food would've. There are twin dangers in the Christian life in terms of the world. Retreat from it or total immersion in it. We can't do either one. We've got to be the salts and light. If the salt loses its saltiness, it's worthless. But if it's in the world, it can do the salt that God intended it to be. We have a crying need for this in our own day. We need leaders who will stand up, who will take the wisdom of the Babylonians, sift it through and use what God gives us, our position for His glory. How do you get there? Well, where are you now? Be faithful in little, and you'll be faithful in much. Whatever small amount God has given you now, be faithful there now, today, through prayer, through fasting, through the knowledge of the word and God will raise you up to the next level, step by step, just like with Daniel. I want to close with a word to those of you who have not committed your life to Christ. God is a pure God. He's holy and righteous. He expects us to stand firm against the whitewater. And the whitewater and the pull are those things that lead to destruction. It says very plainly, because of these things God's wrath is coming. We must stand firm, but there is no other name under heaven, given to men, by which we may be saved from sin. Jesus came into the world to save from sin. That is the message of Christmas and not just the penalty of sin, but all of the influence of sin in our lives. Through Christ and through Christ alone, you can have eternal life and the power to say no to temptation. Won't you close with me in prayer?

christmas god jesus christ new year president father lord power israel science spirit olympic games americans fire courage romans south jewish scripture language north corinthians biblical jerusalem savior jews sermon philippians consequences covenant incredible boy scottish babylon scriptures holiness bc iv context chapters retreat hebrew wyoming endurance israelites verse compromise apostle paul hook won graduation resolve george washington vegetables jehovah bibles obvious baal god himself babylonians sixty triumphant canaanites nebuchadnezzar intrigue abednego shadrach meshach meanings manasseh aku chariots john calvin nebo king nebuchadnezzar assyrian lord almighty assyrians levitical through christ uncompromising grand tetons hananiah babylonia molech mishael snake river king cyrus jehoiakim belteshazzar andy davis ashpenaz sidonians two journeys their god medo persian our savior jesus christ and nebuchadnezzar internal journey

Total Depravity and Total Salvation (Romans Sermon 14 of 120) (Audio)

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 9, 2000

I. Review: Making the Case for the Gospel Please open your scriptures this morning to Romans Chapter 3. We'll be looking at verses 9-18. Paul is completing his work of laying out before every single person on the face of the earth, their need for grace in Christ. And if I were to lead any searcher, anybody who's thinking about Christianity that's struggling with the issue of whether they are sinful or whether they really need this grace, or lead them anywhere would be at the verses we're going to look at today. It couldn't be clearer. Now last week's verses are among the most complicated and difficult to follow. There is nothing complicated and difficult to follow in these verses. It is plain what God is saying to us in Romans 3:9-18, that every single last one of us is a sinner and need of God's grace. Now as we look at these verses, I'm mindful of the responsibility that I have as a minister of the Gospel to avoid ministerial malpractice. Now we live in a city of medicine, and many of you are even involved in that and you know the danger of malpractice. Malpractice occurs when a physician fails to give the treatment that he or she knows is needed, or through negligence, or through a variety of things that the patient dies or is not healed when they could have been. And as I think about these passages and this Scripture in particular, I think about the incredible temptation to sugarcoat the truth. Kind of make it palatable, make it comfortable, make it easy to read. But in order to do that, I have to rewrite the verses I'm going to preach on today, because there's nothing comfortable about this doctrine. There's nothing comfortable about total depravity. But I'm mindful of the fact that someday, I'm going to have to present this sermon to Jesus Christ. I'm going to have to give it to Him and say, "Was I faithful to these verses?" And furthermore, I believe that all scripture is useful for our healing, for our transformation, and perhaps none more than this because it tells us the truth. Now imagine if you would, a doctor who was tired, it's the end of the day, it was Friday, maybe looking forward to a long weekend. And he have one more case and he got the report on that case and looked through it and there was no question about it. The report on the woman he was about to see was dire. The report came back and she had cancer, and she was going to need the most extensive chemotherapy, the full treatment. He also knew that this woman tended to be emotional, tended to shriek and scream and get upset at things. He just happened to know this about her, and she was sitting out there in his room waiting for him. And he said, "Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Why do I have to bring this message?" So he goes in there and he says in his heart, he says, "I'm just not going to do it. I'm just not going to do it. I've seen this scene too many times. It's been played too many times. I'm not going to do it." And so he comes in there and she says, "Doctor, tell me. What's the matter with me? Why have I been in such pain? Why am I feeling the way I'm feeling? Why am I lacking energy? What's going on?" And he says, "The problem is you're not getting enough vitamins in your diet. You're basically healthy, but you need some more vitamins in your diet. You need some more variety, some more green vegetables, some more exercise. Give it six months, it's going to take a while, but give it six months and you'll be fine. Come back and see me in six months." What would you think of a doctor like that? Well, I know what a malpractice board would think about a doctor like that. The person didn't tell the truth. Now, let's look at it spiritually. Did Jesus ever do that? Did He ever look at you and say, "You're basically all right. You just need a few life adjustments and then you'll be fine." Did the Apostle Paul do that? I don't think so. But there is a category of minister that will do that. Jeremiah described it in Jeremiah 6:13-14. This is what he said, "Prophets and priests alike all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people lightly." They dress the wound of my people lightly. That means they put a bandaid on cancer. And putting a bandaid on cancer does nothing. Actually hastens death because then the person doesn't seek the treatment they really need. "They dress the wound of my people lightly. Peace, peace they say when there is no peace." But there is peace, brothers and sisters. There is peace. The peace is available through faith in Jesus Christ, but it's not available unless you believe the message that I'm about to preach, namely that you need it, that you need it. Listen to these words from the apostle Paul, "What should we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all, for we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written, there is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God, that all have turned away. They have together become worthless. There is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves, their tongues practice deceit, the poison of vipers is on their lips, their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood. Ruin and misery mark their ways and the way of peace, they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes." II. The Universality of Sin: Paul Completes His Case Paul concludes his case with a couple of questions. What shall we conclude then as we've been through Romans 1 and Romans 2 and now we're in Romans 3, what should we conclude then? What have we found? And then he ask another question. Are we any better? Now, who's the "we" he's talking about here? We Jews, perhaps? Paul's a Jew. Maybe he's thinking about himself as a Jew. We Christians, is he saying that? Are we Christians any better? We apostles? I don't really know, but I know this. We includes Paul. And Paul knows what he's about to say. Don't you hate a self-righteous preacher who's not under his own message? But Paul saw that he was under his own message, "I'm a sinner like I'm about to describe to you. This is me. It's true of me too." I don't really need to decide who the "we" is, because the answer already is no. Regardless of who the "we" is, the answer is no. We are not any better. There's no "we" that's any better. There's no grouping of people whether national, or racial, or linguistic, or religious that's any better. There is no "we" that's any better. If better means not needing the grace of God available through Jesus Christ. There is no "we" like that. We are not any better. We have already made the charge Paul says, that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. Now, what is this charge that he's making? There's a judicial word that he brings out here. It's a charge as in a court of law. You get the same picture in Matthew 27:37, crucifixion scene, and it says, "Above Jesus' head they placed a written charge against him." And this was the common manner in crucifixion. They would write the charge out and put it over their head so the passers by could see why this man was on the cross. Now, what could they put for Jesus other than this man, this is the King of the Jews? Beause he had done no sin, committed no evil, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. But what charge is Paul putting over our head? "Under sin" he says. It's over us. Every single one of us. We're all alike, all under sin, Jews and gentiles alike. Now what is under sin mean? It gives a sense of bondage, doesn't it? A sense of compulsion. Now, I tell you this, I have never met anyone who didn't mind admitting that they sinned from time to time. Everybody will say that, quickly followed by such phrases as, "Well, we're all sinful. We're only human," this kind of thing. "We're only human." These are the minimizing statements that we bring in. "Everybody sins. Nobody's perfect," this kind of thing. So everybody will admit that they commit sin, but nobody wants to admit that they're under sin. That's a different matter. It's a matter of slavery, a matter of bondage and compulsion. We will say, "We have free will, and can stop anytime we choose." Stop then. Stop. Stop sinning. Can you do it? Do you have free will in this matter of sin? Any of you who have been living long enough to know that you need to drop your stones when Jesus said, "He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone," was the oldest people that dropped the sin first, you know, you can't stop, because you don't have free will in this matter. Turns out that your will is a slave to your nature. Your will is a slave to who you are. It's lackey that just acts out who you are in your heart and your character. And this is a kind of offensive message that Jesus preached to the Jews you remember, when Jesus talked about slavery to the Jews, and they said in John 8, "We've never been slaves to anyone," they said, do you remember? And do you remember what Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin, but if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed." Who wants to be free indeed here? I want to be free indeed. I want the Son to make me free indeed, truly free from sin. And in order for that to happen, I need to hear this message fully. I need to hear how bad it is or else I will not be free indeed. I'll be lying to myself. I'll be dealing with the problem slightly or lightly. Everyone who sins is a slave to sin. So if the Son sets you free, you'll be free indeed. So set us free Lord Jesus. III. Human Character Apart From Grace: Scripture Diagnoses the Sinful Heart And you know what his instrumentality is? It's scripture. Look at the very next thing that Paul says, "As it is written." You can just underline that in your Bible. As it is written. As you get close to scripture, you start to see yourself properly. You need to get close to the word of God. The further you drift away from the Bible, the more you feel that you're basically a good person. The further you get away from the words of the Scripture, the more that you feel that, "I'm alright. You know what? Yeah, occasionally, I do things, but I'm not that bad." But when you get into the Scripture, it tells you the truth. It's not going to do malpractice, son. It's going to tell you the truth. As it is written. In this way James in Chapter 1 of James likens the law to a mirror. As we look into the perfect law that gives freedom, we see a good reflection of ourselves. It's accurate. It looks like what we really look like. And we need to be told the truth. There was a Scottish man a little while ago walking through a park in Scotland. He was carrying his Bible in a leather carrying case. And that was the days when those Instamatic cameras and the Polaroid cameras were popular where you can get a picture out immediately, and it turned out that his Bible looked like one of those carrying cases for those cameras and some of the boys came up, they were playing and they said, "Take a picture of us, take a picture." So they stood next to one another like they were posing for a portrait, while all he had with him was a Bible. So being creative, and being like spirit filled man of God, he opened up his Bible to Romans 3:9-18 and said, "I already have your picture, it's right here." And he read Romans 3:9-18, and he used it as an opportunity to preach the Gospel. This is a portrait of us. It's a portrait of you and me. It's not pretty though, is it? All I can tell you is that this is where you start with the Gospel of God's graces, it's not where you finish. This is the beginning point, and it isn't pretty, it's ugly. Here the Apostle Paul cites five Psalms and one reading from Isaiah. Five Psalms and one reading from Isaiah. Now, all of it put together gives a clear picture of humanity and no one escapes the string of verses. Psalm 14:1-3 says, "There is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away they've together become worthless. There is no one who does good, not even one." That's Psalm 14:1-3. Psalm 5:9 testifies this way, "They're throats are open graves, their tongues practice deceit." And then Paul reaches out for Psalm 140:3, "The poison of vipers is on their lips." And then he pulls in Psalm 10:7, "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." And then he reaches for a word from Isaiah 59:7-8, "They're feet are swift to shed blood, ruin in mystery, mark their ways in the way of peace, they do not know." And then to conclude, he pulls in Psalm 36:1, "There is no fear of God before their eyes." So it's the montage of Scriptures that he's putting together here. And he puts together a united portrait of humanity but it also gives us a problem. There's an interpreters problem in here. And maybe you didn't see it, what you have to do is go back and read these verses in context in the old testament. And as you do you begin to notice something that Paul left out and it could get to troubling you. Let's take Psalm 14 for example. Psalm 14:1 it says, "There is no one righteous, not even one." But then, later on it says in versea 4-5, "Will evil doers never learn? Those who devour my people as men eat bread. God is present in the company of the righteous." And you left that out, Paul. It seems Paul you're just lifting verses out of context and you're neglecting things that don't prove your point. Anybody can do that. Prove texting, put something together the way you want. You're trying to prove Paul that everyone is unrighteous. Well, I disagree. Right here in verse 5 of Psalm 14 that talks about God present in the company of the righteous. And there's all kinds of Psalms and Proverbs like that. There's the righteous and the wicked, the righteous and the wicked, all over the place in the old testament. Job was a righteous man. So what it this, "There is no one righteous, not even one"? There's a problem here. What is the solution? Well first of all, let's understand who we're talking about. Did the apostle Paul not know his Scripture? Did he not know Psalm 14? Of course, he did. Of course he knew that there was the righteous and the wicked. The question then comes where do the righteous come from? How did they get to be righteous? And he already answered that back in Romans 1:16-17, "I'm not ashamed of the Gospel, because in the Gospel there's the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew then for the Gentile. For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. A righteousness that is from faith to faith, just as it is written. The righteous will live by faith." So we could ask Paul, "Well, Paul, you've got a righteous person in your writing here. There's a righteous person who's living by faith." He's aware of the righteous and the wicked. But what he would say is they didn't start that way. They didn't start righteous, they started wicked. Well, he gets to it in Romans four Verse Three. In Romans 4:3 it says, "Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness." It was a gift. Abraham, this righteous Jew needed a gift of righteousness or he wouldn't be righteous. It was credited to him as a gift. And then even better. These five Psalms, who wrote them? All five Psalms, they all come from the same author, who is it? It's David. David wrote them. Now David, are you righteous? Are you righteous, David? Well, depends what you mean. It depends what you mean. For Psalm 32 says this, "Blessed is the man who's transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him, and in whose spirit is no deceit." David's talking about a blessedness that comes as a gift. The forgiveness of sins. And it comes to the man and to the woman in whose spirit is no trickery, no deceit. Well, what are you going to deceive yourself about? That you don't need this grace, that you don't need this forgiveness, that you don't need the gift of righteousness. And then at the end of Psalm 32 he says, "Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous. Sing all you who are upright in hearts." See, he's got the righteous right there in Psalm 32. They didn't start that way though, did they? The beginning of the Psalm, they're looking for forgiveness from sin. By the end of the Psalm, they're righteous. Is there a contradiction here? Not at all. Not all. 'Cause there is a righteousness available. It's just not available naturally. You're not going to find it by looking within. The answer isn't there, it comes as a gift. Problem resolved. Because David said in Psalm 5:7, "But I, by your great mercy will come into your house." Is that precious to you? "But I, by your great mercy will come into your house." There is a righteousness available, and an invitation right into the very presence of God, right into His house, but it's only by His mercy, His great mercy. And who is it that needs great mercy? Great sinners. Sinners like here in verses 9-18. Also notice the centrality of God in all this. When people say, "I'm basically a good person." You know what they mean by that? They tend to look at it this way. "Well, I give money to charity. I help people, I speak kindly to people. I treat people well, I look after my mother. I deal with people well, I speak to my neighbor when I go and get the mail. I'm not one of those people that's gruff and walks away from them. And I'm certainly not like those people you read about in the newspaper that do those awful things. I've never done any of those awful things." Do you notice what's happening in that whole discussion? It's all horizontal. It's all human to human, human to human, human to human. Even if it were all true it's still all horizontal and it isn't all true, by the way. But it's all horizontal, what about God? Where does He fit into that? He's at the beginning and the end here. Right at the start, it says, "There's no one righteous, not even one, there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God." That's what it means to be righteous, that's what it means to understand. It means to seek God, to want Him above all things. That's the start of the list. What about the finish? There is no fear of God before their eyes. The real problem with sin is that it ruptures your relationship with God. Its the vertical that's in view here, and then the horizontal. Not to say the horizontal isn't important, but it's the vertical that's in view and that's what sin ruptures beyond repair. If God doesn't fix it, it can't be fixed. The Doctrine of Total Depravity We are not basically a good person. We do not love God with all of our heart and our soul, and our mind, and our strength. And that is called in theological language, total depravity. Total depravity. Now it's not a pretty term but it's not a pretty thing. We shouldn't have pretty terms for ugly things. Total depravity describes accurately the natural human heart. Now the word "total" means every person in every area, that's what the word "total" means. "Depravity" means wicked, wickedness, twisted-ness, perversion. Total depravity. Every person in every area. Not in every single action, that's not what I'm saying, but I'm saying there's no bastion in you. There's no part of you that's free from sin. Are your emotions free from sin? Are they pure and pristine? Or do they have a twist to them? How about your mind? Maybe your mind is a citadel of purity and uprightness, is it true? How about your heart, your will? Is there any part of you not touch by sin? Total is its touch. Depravity of Character And what about every person? Well verse 10 it says, "No not one." Verse 12 it says "No not one." Does anyone escape? No. Paul includes himself. Remember he say, "We've already made the charge that we alike are all under sin. We are not any better. Everybody's under it." What kind of depravity is he discussing here? Well, depravity of character, depravity of conversation, depravity of conduct. That's pretty total, isn't it? It covers everything. Lets start with the character, depravity of character he says "There is no one righteous. No, not one." What that mean is on Judgement Day, you will not have the very thing that God will ask you for, namely righteousness. You will have none to give. Its not available. You will not find it in yourself. If it doesn't come from another source you will not have it. There's is no one righteous, no, not one. Now realize that God's righteousness is the foundation of his throne. It is the scepter of his kingdom and he will not allow you into heaven without it. And he's saying, "You don't have it, it doesn't belong to you." Depravity of Mind And then there's the depravity of mind, depraved minds, it says, "There is no one who understands." Understands what? Understands God. Naturally no one understands God. Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, he says, "Since through the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know God. God was pleased through the foolishness of preaching to save him who had believe." What that says is you can't search out God by technological means, by philosophy, by thinking, you won't find Him because you don't understand and you never will unless God gives you the understanding. All our technological knowledge will avail us nothing at all on the great day because we haven't understood God. And that's so tragic isn't it? God sent his son Jesus Christ, and Jesus at the end of his life, he prayed the night before he was crucified and this is what came from his heart. It was a cry and he said in John 17:25, "Righteous Father, the world has not known you." The world doesn't know you God. And to God the son that's a tragedy. All that horizontal stuff is thrown out the window because we don't know God, we don't understand Him, we don't know who He is. Depraved minds. Depravity of Desire Depraved desires. It says, "No one who seeks God." What do you seek? It's the thing you want. What do you really want? Write it down. What do you really want in life? Is God on the list? If God's on the list you're already a child of grace. Because no one seeks God naturally. If you want God today you're already been moved on by grace. It's already happening in you. Because naturally you don't want God. You don't want anything to do with God. No one seeks God. Do you understand how important this is, theologically? Do you understand how important this statement is, "No one seeks God naturally." Well I'll show you, Jeremiah 29:13 says, "You will seek me and find me, when you look for me with all your heart." But Jeremiah, no one's looking. No one's looking, okay? Isaiah 55:6 what a great chapter, "Seek the Lord while He may be found." But Isaiah, no one is seeking. They're not looking. No one. No, not one. It's very important. But what are they seeking? They're seeking something else. It isn't God that they're seeking. Philippians 3:19 says, "Their God is their stomach and their glory is in their shame." What does it mean that, "Your God is your stomach"? It means your earthly appetites, you're seeking something here on Earth. That's what you're seeking, something Earth bound, or you're seeking an idol. Some false construction of your own imagination, that's what you're seeking. But it isn't God. Depraved desire is also depraved response to God. When God confronts you through his prophet through His word, when God confronts you, you turn away. Verse 12: "All have turned away." All have turned away. The word is usually used of an army which comes and is confronted with a greater army and turns in terror and runs from the field. It means, to avoid at all cost, like you would if you were walking along and saw a viper on the road, you would turn and avoid it at all cost. That's what the word means in the Greek. And what it means, if we do that with God, when we're confronted with God, we avoid at all costs. We don't want to hear. We don't want to know. We avoid God at all cost. That's our natural habitat. And because of that, we have depraved value. They have together become worthless. Worthless. Now, misery loves company. They do it together. They do it all together and together they become worthless. What is worthless mean? That kinda hurts a little bit. I've always thought of myself as worth a lot. Well, I know that we're worth a lot. We're created in an image of God. God sent His son to die on the cross for us. The precious blood of Christ is what redeemed us. But this verse still says worthless. We need to understand what that means. There's a picture in Jeremiah's ministry. God commanded Jeremiah, "Go buy a brand new linen belt, a clean white linen belt. And I want you to take that belt and use it to hold your tunic in, use it for awhile." And then, after he'd used it for awhile, he commanded him to take off the linen belt and go down by the river and dig a hole near the river in the mud and put the linen belt down there and cover it up and leave it there for awhile. Now, when I was getting ready to preach, I prepared my sermons in advance so that I can do these kinds of things. I was thinking of doing it with a necktie and wearing the necktie today. What would it look like, a necktie dug in the ground and filled in with dirt for four or five weeks? Well, that's about what the linen belt look like when Jeremiah was commanded to dig it up. And this is what God says about that linen belt. These wicked people who refused to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other Gods to serve, and worship them will be like this belt, completely useless. What are you going to use a belt like that for? Falling apart, rotten and muddy. That's what I think of when I think of this word worthless. Now remember we don't stay there but this is where we start. Depravity of Deeds God created us for a purpose and everyday we turn away from that purpose. Depraved action is also. Verse 12: "There is no one who does good, not even one." Now wait a minute, Paul. I do good things all the time. I do them all the time. You reach in your pocket and you bring out your bobbles with your muddy hands and you say, "See. Look, here's all my good things. Hold on to them for judgement day and produce them then. Use them for your sin to explain yourself to God." Will he accept them? Will they be valuable and precious to him on that day? There is no one who does good. No, not one." It's a shocking assessment to people who help old ladies across the street and give to UNICEF and other things. It's a shocking assessment. There's no one who does good, not even one. There was a time in Jesus' ministry when someone came up to him and said, "Good teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" That's the double good question. Good teacher and good thing. Okay. "Good teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" Jesus picked up on the word "good". He said, "Why do you ask me about what is good?" Or, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone." Did you hear what Jesus just said? "No one is good but God alone." Well, no one is good but God alone and me. I'm basically a good person. No, Jesus didn't say that. He said, "No one is good but God alone." Jesus said, "I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." "It's not the healthy who need the doctor but the sick. I'm the physician of the soul. If you need a physician, come to me. But if you're healthy, don't bother, don't come. You don't need me." No one is good but God alone. Depraved actions come from a depraved heart. "Make a tree good," said Jesus, "And its fruit will be good. Make a tree bad, and its fruit will be bad. For a tree is known by its fruit." Depraved character. Depravity of Speech In verse 12-14, he talks about depraved conversation. "Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues, they keep on deceiving." There's a continual deceiving here. "The poison of vipers is under their lips and their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." Do you see the death in this verse? Death, death, death. Graves, deceit, poison, cursing, death when you open your mouth and speak. Now what does it mean when it says, their throat is an open grave. Well, what would it be like in Palestine if you buried Lazarus and came back four days later but you never did close up the tomb. Just been open the whole time. What a stench would come. "Their throat is an open grave." says Paul. What comes out of there, it isn't good. And deceit and poison is under their lips is the literal translation. The poison of viper is under the lips. What this is talking about is that secret damage that the lips do, gossip, slander, character assassination, the secret things. And then the picture is of a vile serpent. Can you tame a serpent? There's a story recently of a boy who saw a baby rattle snake just coming out of an egg and he figured he'd take it home for a pet. Now of course the full grown rattle snake you don't want to mess with. But maybe if you take it home just out of the egg and treat it real nice, feed it well, care for it, it can be a good pet. And so, he did and he cared for it, and took care of it and I don't know what he did. I don't want to know what he did with that snake. But I know this, at one point he came to the cage and it had escaped. By this point, it was much larger, and he looked around for it, and he heard the faint rattling and it was behind the couch and he reached down to get it. What do you think happened when he reached down to get it? Well, it bit him. Oh, I know what it was, it didn't recognize that it was his hand. If it had only known it was the hand of the one who had cared for it all that time. You can't tame a snake. You can't change its basic nature. James 3:8, "No man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison." That's the tongue. Would you like to have a transcript of everything you've said in the last month? Just to sit and read it. Just look at the things you've said. Bring out a highlighter and highlight the things that glorified God and those things that didn't tend toward God's glory. It's hard to tame the tongue, isn't it? So there's that deceit, the poison under the lips. And then, there's cursing and bitterness, which is the open attack, the verbal barrage, open hatred, the full guns blazing. So you've got the secret approach, gossip and slander then you've got the open attack. And knowing we all do this, it's so tragic because that's not what the tongue is for. The tongue is for praising God. And instead, we curse. And therefore, the tongue becomes a major source of our judgment. Jesus says, "I tell you that man will have to give an account on judgment day for every careless word that they have spoken. For by your words, you will be acquitted and by your words, you will be condemned." The tongue. Depravity of conversation, Depravity of Conduct Finally, depravity of conduct, verse 15-17. "Their feet are swift to shed blood. Ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace, they do not know." Now, feet traveling on a path relates to lifestyle. It's your everyday life, how you carry yourself, your conduct, the journey you travel. What are your feet doing? Christianity, early on, was called the way. Probably after Jesus saying, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life," etcetera. And so, there's a journey marked before. But what journey are you traveling naturally? Where are you heading? And it says here, "The feet are eager and zealous to kill." "Oh now, here I've got you, Paul. I've never killed anybody. I've never killed anybody." Now I have two answers to that. First of all, why haven't you killed anybody? Is it because you never wanted to? And if you did want to, what stopped you? Well, there's this little thing called the law and police, and electric chairs, prison, those kinds of things. Why is it when all those things are removed in a time of anarchy, murder goes right up? It's because people finally have a chance to do the thing they wanted to do all along. They say, "I'm not like that." Okay, well Jesus dealt with that in the sermon on the mount. What is the root of murder? Anger. And he says that anger itself is enough to condemn someone. Feet are swift to shed blood. And then it says, "Ruin and misery mark their ways." The word "ruin" means shattering. If you can imagine a beautiful piece of pottery like a Chinese vase. Okay, it's not a vase, it's a vase, very valuable. And you take that and you throw it down on a marble floor. Shattered. That's what this word means. They're ruin and misery, shattering and misery is characteristic of their way. It's a shattered life. Do you see what sin does to a life? What does sin do to a life? It shatters it. Sin is your biggest enemy. It shatters your life. And it says, "Misery marks the way." Ask somebody who's strung out on dope, "Are you happy? Do you enjoy your life?" "No, my life is miserable. It hurts. And I'd give anything to come out of it." Ruin and misery marks their ways. And the way of peace, they do not know. Peace is totally foreign to them. "The wicked," says Isaiah in Isaiah 57, "are like tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast out mire and mud. There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked." They don't know how to have peace with themselves. They don't know how to have peace with their neighbors and they certainly don't know how to have peace with God. And the root of the whole thing, there is no fear of God before their eyes, verse 18. No fear of consequences, no judgment day. They don't think about it. That's a picture of total depravity. Depravity in character, depravity in conversation, depravity in conduct, total. And it's true of everyone. There is no one righteous, no, not one. We're all under the same thing. Paul was under it. He said, "We, all of us alike are all under sin." IV. The Staggering Implications Of This Doctrine Well, what are the implications of this doctrine? Well, they're staggering. Absolutely staggering. First of all, there is no such thing as native righteousness. There's nothing inside you to present on judgment day. It's not there. You will look in vain for it. You must forsake looking because you will not find it. You need a righteousness that comes from another place. You need the righteousness, which God bought through the blood of Jesus Christ. You need to put it on and stand in it on judgment day. You need to stop looking for your own righteousness and realize that if you want it, if you're hungry for it, if you're thirsty for that righteousness, even that's not coming from yourself. The wanting wasn't there either, was it? There is no one who seeks God. So if you want it, if you're yearning for it, if you're hungry for the righteousness, which only God can give, guess what? Grace is already at work in you. No one suddenly decides to follow Jesus. They had years to do that and they never did it. Jesus said this in John 6:44, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, draws him," and he will come. That also means that every Godward impulse in us, every Godward impulse has come from grace. Any word which is pleasing to God, any action which is pleasing to God, anything at all that comes that is pleasing to God came from his grace. Another implication, "Where then is boasting?" It is out the door. It's gone forever. We don't boast in anything we do. But instead we say with the apostle Paul with joy in our hearts we say, "By the grace of God I am what I am." Can you say that? "By the grace of God I am what I am. By the grace of God I love His word. By the grace of God I love to pray. By the grace of God I want to go to heaven and see him forever and ever. By the grace of God and by the grace of God alone I will be saved. There's no other solution there's no other salvation." Read these verses for yourself. When you're saved, when you're saved by grace and someone else isn't and you're looking over that person, and you're looking at yourself, and you're trying to decide what's the difference. Was it anything in you that made you different than that other person? Anything at all? Is there any difference? There is no difference. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Now I want to do something that's not in this passage. I've been waiting for this moment this entire sermon. I'd like you to take your pen if you would and on the back of my sermon outline I have each of these phrases here. And what I'm going to do to finish up today is I'm going to give you a Bible verse, a Bible verse which reverses each of these statements and shows that each one of them is reverse by the Gospel of Grace in the life of a Christian. Everyone of them. V. The Great Reversal of the Gospel So we have total depravity but we also have total salvation from the depravity. The first one says, "There is no one righteous. No, not one." What shall we put under that? Write "Romans 3:21" or you could write "Romans 1:17." Romans 3:21. "But now, a righteousness from God apart from law has been made known. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe." Romans 3:21. Alright, how about this one? "There is no one who understands." Romans 15:21 says, Romans 15:21, "Those who were not told about 'em will see and those who have not heard will understand." You could also write Luke 24:45. "Then he opened their minds so that they could understand the scriptures." Isn't that great? Alright, how about this one, "There is no one who seeks God." What did Jesus say? Mathew 5:6, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be satisfied." Where does the hunger come from? Where does the thirst come from? God puts it there. For also Hebrews 11:6. Hebrews 11:6, "Without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him." Where does that come? It comes by faith. Alright, all have turned away. Turning away from God is a mark of rebellion right? Jews and Gentiles alike have turned away from God. Well, here's the Jew verse, 2 Corinthians 3:16, "But whenever anyone turns to the Lord the veil is removed." So there's the Jewish people turning to Jesus Christ. Alright we need a Gentile verse. 1 Thessalonians 1:9, "They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God." You've got the Jewish verse and the Gentile verse, both have turned to God. Alright, how about this? "They have together become worthless." That word that stung so much. Alright. Now Revelation 3:4, Revelation 3:4, "They will walk with me dressed in white for they are worthy." They are worthy. Who? People who believe in Jesus. "There is no one who does good. Not even one?" Ephesians 2:10, "we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus…" to do what? Good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. "Their throats are open graves, their tongues practice deceit, the poison of vipers is on their lips, their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." Take them all together and write over it Proverbs 10:11. "The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life." Isn't that great? We've got death over here, now the mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life. "Their feet are swift to shed blood." Bloody feet. Won't you rather have beautiful feet? Romans 10:15, "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news." Those are gospel proclaimers. All of a sudden instead of going to kill you're going to bring eternal life. Shattering in misery mark their ways. The brokenness of sin, what does Jesus say? Luke 4:18, "The Lord has sent me to bind up the broken hearted." Can Jesus do that? Can he take all those broken pieces and put them back together? The Lord has sent me to do it. I can bind up the broken hearted. Luke 4:18. "The way of peace they do not know." They don't know the way. They don't know the way. John 14:4, "You know the way, to where I'm going." John 14:6, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." you do know the way and his name is Jesus Christ. And then finally, "There is no fear of God before their eyes." 2 Corinthians 7:1. It says that Christians are perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Do you see the total reversal of our total depravity? All of it available through faith in Jesus Christ. Let's close in prayer.

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Trusting Your Heavenly Father: Jesus Protects Us From Anxiety (Matthew Sermon 19 of 151) (Audio)

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 6, 1999

Introduction Today we're going to be looking at verses 25 through 34 of Matthew chapter 6, and we're going to be talking about the topic of anxiety, worry. We just had an opportunity to talk together with some international students. We were talking about things that were common all around the world. Wouldn't you say that anxiety or worry is something that everyone has to face? People want something relevant when they come here Sunday mornings. I can't think of anything more relevant than dealing with anxiety or worry. I would say it's just one of those common things in life. In order to lighten things up a bit, I'd like to begin by telling you a story of a time that I was anxious a long time ago when I was six years old. I don't know if any of you men my age played with GI Joes when you were a kid. I did. Maybe what you don't know about a GI Joe doll is that the muscular arms on each side of the GI Joe is connected by a rubber band through the center of the chest. What happens when you tear it apart is if you twirl the arm around enough times, the rubber band snaps and that's how you find out that it's connected by a rubber band. Then the arms both fall off and then you're left with a GI Joe that isn't much use except for perhaps clerical work. At any rate, my GI Joe was without two arms, and about maybe about a month and a half after that, I had the opportunity to slip on some sand and fall on some stairs and I broke my arm. My mother came out, feeling my left arm and told Dad who was standing over me, that she thought it was broken. At that moment, my little six-year-old imagination started to take off. I started to think and see, that's the whole thing with anxiety. It's a misuse of imagination. You begin thinking about things, and I said, "I'm going to lose my arm. I don't know what I'm going to do without my arm." I imagined myself without an arm, and GI Joe had a kind of a socket in there. I didn't know what it would look like or whatever, but I knew I was in trouble because my parents looked obviously worried. They took me to the hospital, the doctor came in, and to my six-year-old perception, he tried to break my arm off. All he was trying to do was set the arm, but I thought he was trying to break it off. He was obviously unsuccessful breaking it off, so he came in with some plaster stuff that he started putting around my arm. I had no idea what that had to do with taking my arm off. I was crying and upset, and he didn't know why because he said by then the pain should be subsiding, and they just didn't understand why I was so upset. I'm looking at him as he's putting the cast on, and I said, "When does it come off?" Well, that was my big mistake. You have to specify what you're talking about. I said, “When does it come off?” He said about six to eight weeks, we'll take it off. Those were the longest six to eight weeks of my childhood. I was inconsolable. My parents bought me a new GI Joe. They bought me all kinds of stuff, and I was very upset, I wasn't eating much. I'm again thinking of life apart from my left arm. We went back to the doctor’s office after six or eight weeks, and he came in with these big scissors. I thought the moment of truth had finally come. I didn't know what all that purpose was, but the time had come for me to lose my arm. He cut the cast off and that was it. I said to my mom, "Is that it?" And she said, "Yeah, you're all healed." As children do, I moved on. About five years ago, I was talking to my mom, and I told her this story. She was rolling on the floor laughing. She didn't know until that day that that's what I was anxious about. The whole thing was I asked, "When does it come off?" See, you've got to specify your questions. The point is that it's a story about anxiety. It's about fear, and you can laugh at it, and you say it's just the imagination of a six-year-old, but isn't that where anxiety comes from? It comes from taking your mind and going out to the worst-case scenario. Don’t be Anxious, God Provides Jesus in Matthew 6:25-34 is laboring to talk us out of anxiety and into a mature faith. Let's look at those verses together. Verse 25, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they don't sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? Look at the lilies of the field how they grow. They don't labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. Now if that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you, oh you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." I have wrestled with those verses. That's 10 verses full of more truth than you can deal with in the short amount of time that I have to talk to you about it. It actually overwhelms me. It's just incredible how much Jesus labors to get us up out of anxiety and worry and into a position of strong faith and confidence in our heavenly Father. He begins with the Word, therefore. He says, "Therefore I tell you." That connects it back in context to what we were just talking about last time in verses 19 - 24. Therefore, because we should be storing up treasure in heaven and not on earth, therefore because we should not be serving money, but rather God, therefore because of these things, because of this that I've been saying to you, I tell you do not worry. There's a connection between the two, and I think the context is so beautiful. In verses 19 - 24, He's talking about the temptation we have toward materialism, to run after luxuries, storing up riches on earth. He's speaking to those perhaps that are more wealthy and have the possibility of doing that. That they should not be materialistic or live for that. Then He flips the other side of the coin and speaks to those who are perhaps more poor and, in these verses, He talks about those that run after necessities, not luxuries, those that are concerned about daily food and clothing. He says to them that they should not live for these things either; neither should you live for luxuries nor necessities. That's not what your life is about, so He attacks not materialism here, but anxiety, but it really is two sides of the same coin, a focus on material things here on earth that He's trying to talk us out of. Don’t be Anxious, But Live for God’s Kingdom The unifying theme in the whole chapter is living for the kingdom of God. Our motivation should be that at every moment, we're living for the glorious kingdom of God. That that's the only purpose worthy of our lives. He's lifting us up and so the centerpiece verse, Matthew 6:33, “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness” really unifies the whole chapter. That's the context of this statement. We have to ask ourselves, since we're talking about the potential or the possibility of a worry-free life, we have to ask, is it really possible? Is it really feasible that we could move through this troublesome world worry-free, free of anxiety? Think of all the troubles. You got ecological problems in the world, global warming. If you get concerned about that, still there's a threat of nuclear weapons. They're still out there. Maybe some terrorist groups could get hold of one. Rampant economic problems worldwide. They haven't touched our stock market as much, but maybe the stock market is just a bubble economy that's going to pop at some point. You see how the imagination works. We get so concerned about these things. The world is out there. What about right here where I live? Maybe you're having marital problems. Maybe there's the threat of divorce or some kind of struggle there. Maybe you're having trouble raising your kids. Maybe there's some wrestling or some struggle there. Maybe you're afraid of car trouble. All different kinds of things could happen. Is it really possible to move through this world worry free? Jesus says it is, and He says that we must not worry. He says do not be anxious or do not worry. I don't know if any of you have the King James Version, but there it says, “take no thought for your life.” Doesn't that really bring us right into the issue of anxiety and worry? It's a matter of what you think about. It's a matter of the thinking. Take no thought for your life. The problem with the King James Version is that the shifting of meanings in English has moved along since that was written. Back then, they understood that take no thought for your life meant don't be anxious about it. What does it mean? We shouldn't plan? You shouldn't have life insurance? You shouldn't be looking ahead of the future? You shouldn't have a bank account? That's taking it too far. The point is the matter of anxiety or worry. It's a matter of fretting over things, it’s not a matter of whether you think about something or not. In the book of Proverbs, Proverbs holds up the ant as someone that we should be like. He stores up food in the summer for use in the winter. So, it's good to be diligent as it is to work hard. There's a balance to this, but the point is thinking. And the Greek word in terms of worry or anxiety means to “divide the mind.” Have you ever felt when you're anxious that there's something like a debate going on inside of you? There's a kind of a pulling back and forth, the kind of an arguing inside you. It's a matter of a divided mind or perhaps for a believer, it's a matter of sometimes you trust God and sometimes you don't. There are some things you'll trust God for and some things you won't. For example, you'll trust God with your eternal soul, but you won't trust Him for your next meal. You see how foolish that is, but that's the whole thing. It's a matter of sometimes this, sometimes that. It's a divided mind. It really comes down to what you think about. If I were going to outline these 10 verses, I think it comes down to this. There's a general command given from our Lord and savior that we should not be anxious. He gives it three times. He supports the command with the constant view of the heavenly Father and the fact that you're in a kingdom. He supports the command, and we can break it down into four reasons that we shouldn’t worry. Because we have a heavenly Father and because we live in His kingdom, we must not be anxious and further worry. Worry is contrary to our obedience, to our reason, to our faith and finally, and to our fruitfulness. I see all of that in the scripture. Four Reasons We Shouldn’t Worry Worry is Contrary to Our Obedience Let's look first at the general command. Verse 25 says, “Therefore I tell you do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink or about your body, what you will wear.” Now look down at verse 31. Do not worry, saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink, etcetera. Finally, in verse 34, “Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow.” Three times our king has commanded us not to be anxious, not to worry. That's pretty remarkable. In 10 short verses, we get the same thing stated three times, commanded three times. It is a command from the Lord. Then He supports the command with the central arguments, namely the idea that we have a heavenly Father. Then because it's a command, we're led right into the first way of thinking, contrary to obedience. In other words, worry is contrary to obedience. Let me ask you a question. Does the fact that Jesus as our king commands us not to be anxious teach us something about anxiety? Absolutely. It teaches you that you can in fact defeat anxiety. It is possible for you not to be anxious. He has commanded you and made it a matter of obedience. Perhaps you never thought of worry or anxiety as an act of disobedience, but it begins here when God gives us three commands that we should not be anxious, we should not worry. That we must labor not to be anxious and not to worry. Actually, the command itself becomes a gateway to joy. If God has commanded it, we can obey it. We don't have to live racked with worry, racked with anxiety. We can live free from all that. Wouldn't every one of you like to check your anxieties in this room when you walk out the door and never lift them up again? This is something where obedience pays. Immediately to obeying this, you're free from all that fretting and that anxiety and worry. Jesus does command us. The essence of the kingdom is submission and obedience to the king. In John 14:15, Jesus says, "If you love me, you will obey what I command." Then He flips it around in Luke 6:46, when He says, "Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not obey what I command you?" You can't call Jesus your Lord and not obey Him, and so we need to obey Him in this matter. Worry is Contrary to Reason But Jesus goes beyond that, and He shows us that worry is contrary to reason. Now, here we get really to the meat of the whole issue, the issue of reason. Christ as our king could simply command us, He could just tell us what to do. Any of you who have young children know that you're allowed to say, "Because I'm the daddy, that's why. Because I'm the mommy, that's why." That's okay. You can do it. There are times when they don't need to know why, and they just need to submit to authority. That's glorifying to God. But there are also times to explain why, because there's going to come a time when they're not going be under that kind of authority. They need to understand reason, so there's a balance to it. Here, Jesus seeks to reason us out of anxiety. He's talking to our thinking process. So much of Matthew 6:25-34 is an exercise in logic. It's an exercise in thinking. I'll show you what I mean. The basic underlying assumption is the idea that worry can be defeated by reason, by thinking it through, by proper thinking. That this is really a battle for the mind. 1 Corinthians 2:16 says, "We have the mind of Christ." When you become a Christian, you're given the ability to think like Jesus does. You're given a sanctified reasoning process. Therefore, in 2 Corinthians 10, it says that we're able to take captive every thought and make it obedient to Jesus Christ. You're able to control what you think about. All of you who have been anxious before know that's a whole battle. Are you really able to control what you think about? The Bible says you can. You can control what you're going to think about and what you're going to ponder and meditate on. How does Christ argue us or reason with us out of anxiety? How does He try to get us out? He uses logic. Any of you who have studied reasoning know that He is using an a fortiori argument, an argument from the greater to the less, from the more significant to the less, from the more surprising to the less. He does this consistently. In other words, if this is true, how much more will that be true? For example, a young child seeing his strong father working outside says, "Well, if my dad can lift that 100-pound bag of concrete and carry it over there, how much more could he pick me up?" It’s an argument from the greater to the less. I weigh less than 100 pounds, if he can do that, he can do the other. It's a way of reasoning, a way of thinking. Jesus uses it frequently. Not just here, but later in Matthew 7:11, "Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find." He's trying to talk us at that point into a faithful prayer life. He says, "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for bread will give you a stone? Or if he asks for a fish will give him a snake?" Then He says, "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children," hear the words, "How much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him?" If you know how to do that, God's better than you. He's more loving, more patient, more kind, cares more about His children than you do. How much more will He answer your prayers? It's a “how much more” argument. He does it time and again. In another place, He said, "If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, the Lord of Flies, how much more the members of the household?" In other words, if they treat me like this, what are they going to treat you like? The argument is about persecution, but he talks about it from an argument from the greater to the less. The apostle Paul used the same arguing technique. Romans 8:32, "He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also along with him graciously give us all things?" Can you imagine God, "All right, I'll give my Son, but I'm not going to give you enough to eat today.”? That doesn't make any sense. Of course, the Son is the most valuable thing in the world to him, his precious Son, and He sent him to die on the cross for your sin. Will He not much more do such and such? That's the way the argument works. How does it work here in this passage? I think there's three examples of it. Verse 25 says, "Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothing?" That's the first appeal to reason, the body is greater than food and clothing. This is how it works. God gave you a body, didn't he? All of you have bodies. Now, your body was created with certain physical needs. The cells inside your body are constantly needing nourishment. Do you think God doesn't know that? He made it that way. He made you fearfully and wonderfully. David said, “I praise you, oh Lord, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Well, God made you needy. He made you with this thing right in here that gets empty and full in a cyclical pattern that's somewhat predictable. It's a kind of a daily pattern. Gets full, gets empty again. Gets full, gets empty again. God gave you this body. Now, if God gave you the bigger, the greater gift of a body, will he not much more feed the body? You see how the logic works. Is not life more important than food? The body more important than clothing? The gift of life is a greater gift than food. The gift of a body is a greater gift than the gift of clothing. That's how it works. So, it doesn't make any sense to think that God wouldn't clothe it or feed it. The second example of this kind of arguing comes with this, the children of God are greater than birds. Children of God are greater than birds. In verse 26, "Look at the birds of the air, they don't sow or reap or store away in barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Will he not much more feed you?” You see, that's how the argument works. At this point, Jesus, if you can imagine him is sitting up on the mount [the Sermon on the Mount], and He's out in nature. I think at that moment you can imagine that maybe some birds came fluttering by. Jesus said, “They don't sow or reap or store away in barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them. Observe, look at them.” The Greek word for “look” here is a matter of study. Look at them carefully. Don't just say, “Oh, yeah, there's some birds flying by.” Look at how they live. They don't have the technology to plan ahead to the future to have a harvest of wheat or barley or other things and yet God feeds them. Will he not much more feed you? So often I think we just move through life with our head down, mulling over our problems when the answer's flying by in the air right over our heads if you just know that God created the birds, and you are of greater value than the birds. He's caring for them, he'll care for you. That's how it works. I did a little research on this. I was thinking about things that eat. I like to go big, so I went with the blue whale. You know the blue whale's the biggest animal on the face of the earth, 150 tons. I have no idea how much plankton a blue whale eats every day. But it's a matter of tons. I thought to myself, "My goodness, God has to feed all these blue whales." He's got to take care of them, and they seem to do alright. They grow to that incredible size. I found someone that had done research on plankton, and they estimate that in one year the seas produce 500 billion tons of plankton. 500 billion tons of plankton. God is feeding what he's made. God knows how to do that. Now if he can do that, surely, he'll take care of you. That's how the argument works. The final way He uses this reasoning is in verse 28 concerning clothes. Children of God are greater than wildflowers. Isn't worry ridiculous? It should almost strike you as how ridiculous it is that we get worried about these things. Verse 28 says, "Why do you worry about clothes? Consider the lilies of the field. They don't labor or spin, yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these." If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow it's shriveled up, it's withered, it's thrown in the fire, it's nothing, how much more will He clothe you? O you who have so little faith.” This is the exact same argument as before. Argument from the greater to less. If God takes care of flowers, will he not much more take care of you? Recently, I was on an RA retreat in Ridgecrest. Ridgecrest is a beautiful area on the western part of the state. We were on a mountain hike and knowing full well that in a matter of hours, I'm going to have to stand in front of you and I needed an illustration of God's glory, I was looking for flowers. I think wildflowers are amazing. I saw one that I couldn't identify but it had six sides to it, basically white, kind of a cup shape with little points coming out. On the underside, there's these little spiny, horny type things going down. I don't know what it was for. If you put your finger on the underside, it was sticky. The flower's basically white with pink tint around the edge, it was beautiful. In the center, on each petal, there was a vivid magenta dot where the pistil and the stamen were. Coming out of that were these strands going out and each one went to the center of that magenta dot and stuck there. So, I plucked this flower, and I didn't mean to do this, but I just pulled on the side and that thing sprang up like a catapult, and it sprayed me with a tiny little bit of pollen. I was looking really close to it, thankfully, it didn't land in my eye. But it sprang out like that. I said, "Wow! That's incredible." So, I pulled on each one, and then they're all up in the center. I said, "Boy, that's great!" I started calling other people and they started to look, and they started doing it too. The little kids were into it, they're pulling on it, little catapults going everywhere. I said, “Boy, that's incredible. I’ve got to show the people at First Baptist these flowers," so I plucked a big bunch of them and brought them home with me. By the time I got them home, I don't even want to tell you what they looked like, shriveled, brown, ugly. Here's this beautiful flower plucked. As soon as it's plucked, it begins to die. By the time the day was over, the flower was ugly, brown, and shriveled. Isn't that what Jesus said it would happen? It's here today, tomorrow it's thrown in the fire. It's nothing. Will God not much more clothe you? If he puts that kind of meticulous care into a throwaway flower, won't He care for you? He said Solomon can't compete with my flowers. I sense almost that kind of boasting that God does in his creation, that He does at the end of the Book of Job. Ever notice how He said, "Have you looked at this? Have you looked at that?" He said, "You can't compete with this." You may labor and spin but you're not even going to get close to this wildflower, the lilies of the field. Now I was talking to somebody about this who said, "Oh, I know what you're going to say, that we ought to move through life and smell the flowers, shouldn't we?'" I think that's good, but Jesus does not command us here to smell the flowers, does He? What does He tell us to do to the flowers? Consider them. Meditate on them. Think about them. Study them. Don't just move through life with no mind. You're just ripe, right at that point for anxiety. Look at the world God has made and reason it out. That's how it works. Then he ends up in terms of reason, saying in verse 27, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" It's also a matter of reason, isn't it? Does worry give you anything for your labor? What are your wages for your worrying? You get nothing. Jesus puts it this way. It's a little bit hard to translate this out of the Greek. But it's basically, “who of you can, by worrying, can add a single cubit to his span?” I think in context, there's two different ways of understanding span. It's either how tall and big you are or how long you live. I think it's really the latter. A cubit is 18 inches from the king's center of his forefinger, down to his elbow. What Jesus is saying here is, "Who of you can add even 18 inches to the course your life?" It's like you've got a race to run. When you reach the finish line, that's it. It's over. And your worrying will not extend it one cubit, not 18 inches. That's it. Worrying doesn't add anything to you. There's a limit to it. If anything, doctors will tell you that worry will shorten the span of your life. There's actually a detrimental physical side to it. You could have ulcers, nervous conditions, all kinds of physical trouble. It doesn't get you anything positive, but it may get you all kinds of negative things. So, He's reasoning with this. Worry is Contrary to Faith The next major way that He begins to talk us out of it is an appeal to faith. We get this in verse 30. “Oh, you of little faith.” In effect, He's saying to us, "Where is your faith?" I’s interesting that we should have a juxtaposition here of reason and faith. Some people look on reason and faith as being enemies, they really have nothing to do with each other. They talk about the leap of faith. Some of the existentialist theologians talk about the “leap of faith.” We actually covered the “leap of faith” early in Matthew's Gospel. Satan took Jesus to the top of the pinnacle of the temple and told him to leap down; that’s the “leap of faith.” When I think of the “leap of faith,” I think of the temptation to sin. The way that theologians speak of the “leap of faith”, they're saying, “Contrary to all reason, you're going to do such and such for God." That's not the way God works. Reason and faith actually work very closely together in the Scripture, they're actually good friends. If you look in the book of Hebrews 11, there’s this thing called the, "Hall of Faith,” an example of how faith works. I challenge you to go through and see how much reasoning and thinking there is in that chapter. It happens time and again. There’s the example of Abraham. Abraham was commanded by God to take his son, his only son, Isaac, and offer him up as a sacrifice. Abraham was thinking about it, and he obeyed. And what does it say? What was his motivation? In Hebrews 11:19, it says that "Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead,” and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from dead. He reasoned it out. Faith accepts unseen truths as true. There is a God, He is loving, He is kind and patient, He is a heavenly Father, etcetera. It accepts this data, then reason takes information, and extends it out, works with it, applies it to situations. That's how the two work together. A faith filled person accepts the truth of a God, and then reason moves it out to cover this situation, and that situation. They work together. It's interesting this phrase, "You of little faith." The phrase, “little faith,” appears four times in Matthew's Gospel. It appears here, then three other times with the disciples. I'd encourage you to look them up. Matthew 8:26 is a time that they were in the middle of a storm, tossing and turning. They think they're going to drown. They say to Jesus, "Save us. Don't you care that we're going to drown?" Jesus says, "You of little faith. Why are you afraid?" Then He rebukes the winds and the waves. Remember who it is that was being afraid at that moment. It was Peter, it was John and James, it was Andrew. What did they do for a living? They were fishermen. They spent their whole lives on that lake. Don't you think they knew when they were in serious trouble in the middle of a storm? And yet, Jesus rebuked their lack of faith. Can you find one example in the New Testament where Jesus comes upon somebody who is not exercising faith, and He coddles them out of it or comforts them or says, "Well, that's okay." Never. He always rebukes lack of faith. How can we not trust God after all he's done? Look at your life. However old you are, doesn't God have a track record of caring for you faithfully? How can we doubt him? That's what Jesus says. The second time is in Matthew 14:31. It says, "Immediately, Jesus reached out to him and caught him." Who did he catch? He caught Peter, Peter walking on the water. Peter. "Lord, command me to come out to you on the waves,” and so he came out. He started walking on the water. All of a sudden, he looks around, starts to see the wind and the waves, and starts to sink. He becomes anxious. He becomes afraid. What did Jesus say to Peter? "You of little faith. Why are you afraid?”, and He reaches down and saves him. Have any of you ever walked on water? Peter had a command from God, that's like throwing yourself down off the temple. Peter was told by Jesus, "Come,” and he went. But once he got out there, it got a bit too much for him. What is this? In the midst of something even when you've stepped out of faith, and it's starting to overwhelm you, even then you're supposed to not doubt, but believe. You're supposed to trust. "You of little faith," He said. Thirdly, in Matthew 16, "The disciples went across the lake, and they forgot to bring bread." Now, you say to yourself, "What's the big deal?" No grocery store there. When you forget to bring bread, you go hungry, unless of course you have the Lord with you. It was a bad mistake. What happens when people are in a group and somebody makes a bad mistake? The first phenomenon is called blame shifting. "Well, you were supposed to remind me." "Well, I thought it was your job," and this kind of thing. This is what they're doing, they're arguing back and forth, but they were kind of off away from Jesus because they were ashamed, they didn't want anyone to know that they had forgotten. Jesus knew what they were talking about. He was trying to teach them a spiritual lesson about the Pharisees and Sadducees, but they could not listen. Do you know why? Because anxiety and concern about material things takes your mind off spiritual things. You can't build the Kingdom of God that way. You can't seek first the Kingdom, you can't store up treasure in Heaven, when you're anxious about material things. It takes over. Jesus said, "You of little faith. Don't you understand that I can cover even your stupid mistakes?" Even when you make bad mistakes, forget to put the check in the mail and you have to pay a penalty, you forget to take care of car maintenance and you have to buy a new car, various other things; even when you make stupid mistakes, God is still faithful to take care of you. Meditate on Matthew 16:8. It can conquer more anxiety than probably any other. “Oh, you of little faith.” Jesus seeks at this point to talk us out of unbelief and to increase our faith. Now, we get to this issue, "Okay, if we have little faith, how do we have more faith? How is our faith increased?" The disciples ask that question in Luke 17:5. They came to Jesus and said, "Lord, increase our faith. Please give us more faith." Jesus said, "Increase your faith? I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will be done." What is Jesus saying? It’s not a matter of amount, it's a matter of taking the faith you have and applying it to the specific situation under question. That's the issue. The idea of an infinite powerful God applied to the particular situation causing you anxiety, that's how faith is increased. Ultimately, faith comes from the Word of God. So, as you immerse your mind in scripture, as you understand what kind of God He is, understand His plans and His provisions, anxiety decreases; it goes away. You begin to trust more and see faith increases more when you simply use it. The final aspect of faith is simply this, that we are to take our proper place in the universe. I thought long and hard about this expression, "Look at the birds of the air." Or "Consider the lilies of the field." Do you wonder why Jesus puts those little clauses at the end? He's saying the birds are made to fly through the air, look at Genesis 1. They're created to move through the Heavens, that's their natural place. He created, according to Genesis 1, the lilies for the field; that's their place. What is our place? We have a place. It's a place in the Kingdom of Heaven. We are believers, and we have a place, but we are not God. Neither are we lower than the animals. He said, "You are worth more than many sparrows." We have a certain place, we're higher, at the highest level of creation in this world; that's us. We're put at the pinnacle to rule over it. So, we're worth more than a sheep, he says in another place, worth more than many sparrows; we're worth more than wildflowers, worth more than birds. We're at that higher place, so we can't think too lowly of ourselves. But neither are we to think too highly of ourselves either. It says in verse 34, "Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself." How does that work? You believe that you are able to handle today's problems and tomorrow's. And not just that, but maybe, why don't you go ahead and heap on next year's problems, too; "I can handle that too." Actually, my mind, my imagination goes even further than that. Why don't we go out to five years, ten years? "Let God give it all to me today; I can handle it all today." No, you can't. Keep yourself in your proper place. Jesus says, "Each day has apportioned, cut out for itself, enough trouble for you to handle." Handle today's trouble. You can't handle... It's like moonlighting; you're going to go out and get a second job, and then a third job. You can't do it. There's a limit to what you can do. Keep yourself in your proper place. Worry is Contrary to Fruitfulness Of all of these, the greatest motivation has to do with fruitfulness. And that really does, as I say, unite the whole chapter. In verse 31, it says, "Do not worry, saying 'What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear’, for the pagans run after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them." Haven't we come across this argument before, the Kingdom life should be higher than pagan life? In Matthew we see that the Pagans greet only their friends; the pagans greet only their neighbors. You're supposed to be better than that. He said, "What are you doing more than others? You're supposed to be living at a higher level." It's the same thing with this argument concerning food and clothing. Pagans run after these things; you're not supposed to live for that. You're called up out of that. Let God take care of that stuff. You seek first the Kingdom of God, seek first His righteousness; that's what you should be living for, not for everyday material stuff that's going to decay and disappear. You have a higher call, a higher purpose. Philippians 3:19 says, "The pagans’ destiny is destruction. Their God is stomach." Their God is their stomach? They live for their stomach, they worship it. They do everything they can to provide for their own physical needs. Their glories and their shame, their mind, is on earthly things, but your citizenship is in Heaven. You should be higher than that, at a different level. We are to live for the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. "Seek first the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." “Seek” means earnestly work after it; hunger for it; thirst for it. The part of your brain, the part of your being that was given to seeking, to imagination, to thinking, to reasoning, to planning and working, all of that gets hijacked by anxiety and used for something else. Get it back. Bring it back in and connect it to the Kingdom of Heaven and to God's righteousness, that's what it's for. Hunger and thirst for righteousness. Remember the Beatitudes? "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." Hunger for it; thirst for it. Don't be concerned about other material things. That's how this whole thing works. Fruitfulness: we should be living for the Kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is external, I believe, but it’s internal as well, that's his righteousness. External, in that the gospel is advancing and we're to be part of that. We're supposed to be taking the gospel to our neighbors. We're supposed to be building the church, even a local church like this one. We're supposed to be using our spiritual gifts. We're supposed to be having good works every day, serving and building the kingdom of heaven. But if we're anxious about material things, the quantity of good works goes down, perhaps even to nothing because every day, we're working for material things. Seek first that growth in the kingdom externally, but also internally. Grow in his righteousness, seek it and banish anxiety and concern. God, ultimately, created us that we should be fruitful for the kingdom of heaven. That's our purpose. He redeemed us for that purpose. Jesus came and died on the cross that all our sins might be cleansed and that we might have eternal life. Once we have eternal life, we should get up every day and seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. He gives us one final motivation against anxiety, and that is that He promises us that He will provide for us. He's given us a plain promise that He will provide and meet our needs. He will feed us, and He will clothe us, but He’s not promising to give you luxuries. The apostle Paul, who traveled from place to place building the kingdom of God and seeking his righteousness said, "If we had food and clothing, we will be content with that." That's sufficient. God will meet our needs. Application As we look over these 10 verses and all that God does, all that Jesus does to talk us out of anxiety, we have enough weapons to do so. Begin by remembering it's a command from God that you be not anxious and then roll up your sleeves and get busy on worry. Work on it so you need be not anxious. Realize that worry is contrary to reason. It makes no sense that God will do these things but not provide. Realize that worry is contrary to faith. Faith sees a heavenly father who loves you and cares for you and sees your purpose in building the kingdom of heaven. Worry is contrary to faith. Ultimately, that worry is contrary to fruitfulness so get busy. In 1 Peter 5:7 says, "Cast all your anxiety on him because He cares for you." We should cast out our anxiety and leave it there. Just leave it with God, let him care for it. As often as Satan tries to bring it back to you, just say, “I’ve already cast that on God. He'll care of it. I am busy seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness.”

The Coronation and Testing of the King (Matthew Sermon 5 of 151) (Audio)