Mark's Daily Reading Journal

Moses obeys God and instructs them how they should observe the Passover.  Take the blood from the Passover lamb and cover the sides and top of the door with the blood of the Lamb and when God descends on Egypt and kills the first born male, human and animal, HE will Passover those covered in the blood of the lamb.

As you read you begin to notice this strange fixation concerning unleavened bread...it shows up about 60 times in God's Word.  Below are a few in Exodus.

Exodus 12:15--‘Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.

Exod 12:18--You are to eat unleavened bread in the first ⌊month⌋, from the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day.

Exod 12:20--Do not eat anything leavened; eat unleavened bread in all your homes.”

Exod 12:39--The people baked the dough they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened loaves, since it had no yeast; for when they had been driven out of Egypt they could not delay and had not prepared any provisions for themselves.

Exod 13:6--For seven days you must eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there is to be a festival to the Lord.

Exod 13:7--Unleavened bread is to be eaten for those seven days. Nothing leavened may be found among you, and no yeast may be found among you in all your territory.

Punishment for consuming leavened bread is severe, you are CUT OFF from the community, put outside the camp, isolated.  Before Jesus crucifixion we see that unleavened bread was still a part of observing Passover.

Matt 26:17--Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?”

Paul sheds some light on unleavened bread and what leaven represents...with this light God's fixation and passion make sense.

1 Co 5:6-8  Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast [leaven]  permeates the whole batch of dough? 7 Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, since you are unleavened. For Christ our Passover  has been sacrificed.  8 Therefore, let us observe the feast,  not with old yeast, or with the yeast of malice and evil,  but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

If you recall from our reading in Matthew a few days ago Jesus had something to say about the yeast or leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Mt 16:6--Then Jesus told them, “Watch out and beware of the yeast  of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Mt 16:11-12--Why is it you don’t understand that when I told you, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees,’ it wasn’t about bread?”  12 Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the yeast in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

The Prince of the Puritan Divines, John Owen, probed the issue of sin deeply, in his popular and widely read classic the Mortification of Sin in Believers.  I am teasing on the widely read part.  "Mortify" means "kill" in 17^th century English. Today it means "embarrass" or "shame," an emotional devastation.  But Owen was talking about Romans 8:13...if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body,  you will live.  He put it like this: "Be killing sin or it will be killing you."

Consider most of your prayers, what do you pray for?  Herb Hodges, known disciple maker, asked a young man, if all of your recent prayers were answered how would the world be different?  When Jesus asks you...“What do you want Me to do for you?” ...be careful how you answer!  I confess, I love it when I hear that our LORD if filled with compassion.

Mt 20:32-33--Jesus stopped, called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” 33 “Lord,” they said to Him, “open our eyes!”

Before we look at Jesus Words in the temple take a look at Exodus 34:14.  We looked at this last night in the Truth Project..."whose name is Jealous."  One of God's names is Jealous.  What is HE jealous for?

Ex 34:14 —for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God—

Mt 21:12-13--Jesus went into the temple complex   and drove out all those buying and selling in the temple. He overturned the money changers’ tables and the chairs of those selling doves.  13 And He said to them, “It is written, My house will be called a house of prayer.  But you are making it a den of thieves!” 

Is Jesus jealous for a building or for HIS own?  Listen to Peter, "so rid yourselves of all wickedness..."  Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you!

1 Pe 2:1-6 --So rid yourselves of  all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander.  2 Like newborn infants, desire the unadulterated spiritual milk,  so that you may grow by it in ⌊your⌋ salvation,   3 since you have tasted  that the Lord is good.   4 Coming to Him, a living stone—rejected by men but chosen and valuable to God— 5 you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God  through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture:

          Look! I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and valuable cornerstone, and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame!    

Mt 21:21-22--Jesus answered them, “I assure you: If you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you tell this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done.  22 And if you believe, you will receive  whatever you ask for in prayer.”

I don't know about you, what I long for Jesus to do for me is to create in me a clean heart, an undivided heart, a singleness of heart for HIM and HIM alone and then to use me however HE pleases for HIS glory and my joy...this I ask in faith in the one who began a good work in me and in you and we believe will bring it to completion...by HIS grace and for HIS glory!

love,

m

Before I begin let me exhort each of you to do two things..."hey wait a minute Mark, I'm already reading the One Year Bible and memorizing one verse each week.  You keep adding stuff!"  Shut up and listen...did I say that out loud?  Kidding, Kidding, Kidding:)

Two things...if you think about it what am I doing in writing this blog?  Really, it's nothing more than journaling my thoughts from my quiet time.  I'm just sharing those thoughts as an accountability.  This is my 8th or 9th year to read through the Bible in a year...words cannot begin to express the difference!  I am seeing so much more beauty, magnificence, glory, truth in HIS precious Word than ever before.  You may ask, "Mark, do you really think it is just because you are journaling?  Remember I said two things...journaling and prayerfully reading the daily reading with the intent to re-teach what God shows you.  In other words, read with the intent to share something God gave you that morning with your spouse, children, family, friends, co-workers, neighbors. 

If you and I were to listen to every sermon and every Sunday school lesson with the intent to share something that God revealed to us...we would listen very differently...the only way I know to describe it is that you shift from PASSIVE LISTENING TO ACTIVE LISTENING!  ENOUGH ON THAT...

I suppose what led to the above comments is that it was never so clear to me how people today are exactly the same as they were thousands of years ago.  I am sure we can all think of people who do not know the LORD and who continually harden their hearts toward the things of God.  We can all think of Christians that are incredibly flawed, like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jacob's sons (excluding Joseph) and soon we will see like the Israelites and like ME!

I continue to be amazed in the NT that it is the disciples who are continually rebuked for their little faith by Jesus and those that you would least expect are commended for their great faith, visible faith in the Lord Jesus.

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In verse 16 of chapter 9 God states how Pharaoh fulfill part of God redemptive plan and redemptive story.

Ex 9:13-16--Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh. Tell him: This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. 14 Otherwise, I am going to send all My plagues against you, your officials, and your people. Then you will know there is no one like Me in all the earth. 15 By now I could have stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with a plague, and you would have been obliterated from the earth.  16 However, I have let you live for this purpose: to show you My power  and to make My name known in all the earth.

9:16 for this … I have raised you up: God used Pharaoh’s stubbornness (Ex. 4:21): (1) to demonstrate His power; and (2) to make known His name (10:2; Rom. 9:17, 18). Pharaoh was not only an evil ruler in a powerful state; he was an evil man, ungodly, unrighteous, and anti-God. Pharaoh set himself up as a god who maintained the stability of his kingdom. The Lord’s judgment on him was an appropriate response to this fraud.

Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1999). Nelson's new illustrated Bible commentary (Ex 9:16). Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.

Ex 9:34--When Pharaoh saw that the rain, hail, and thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart, he and his officials.

In Exodus 10 God reveals another part of HIS redemptive plan, yes HE orchestrated these events so that HE could do these miraculous signs among them, but so that the Israelites would share the good and amazing news with their children and children's children...so that they would KNOW that HE is the LORD!

Ex 10:1-2--Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may do these miraculous signs of Mine among them,   2 and so that you may tell  your son and grandson  how severely I dealt with the Egyptians and performed miraculous signs among them, and you will know that I am the Lord.”

Remember the Israelites deliverance out of Egypt is a foreshadow of the "strong arm of the Lord" delivering humanity from sin, death and Satan through Jesus Christ...the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World."  Praise God!

In chapter 10 we see that Pharaoh's officials get it, but his heart is so hard by sin he does not realize he has destroyed his own nation.  I think of men that had fallen into adultery that I have gone to warn...they all continued until their families were devastated...wives and children.  They thought that they could handle it, they thought that they could play with fire and not get burned. 

Ex 10:7-8--Pharaoh’s officials asked him, “How long must this man be a snare  to us? Let the men go, so that they may worship the Lord their God. Don’t you realize yet that Egypt is devastated?” 8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “Go, worship the Lord your God,” Pharaoh said. “But exactly who will be going?”

God flexes HIS power and might, HE flexes HIS outstretched arm, HE executes judgement against the gods of Egypt and delivers HIS people.

Ex 12:12-13  “I will pass through  the land of Egypt on that night and strike every firstborn ⌊male⌋ in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. I am the Lord; I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt.  13 The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a distinguishing mark for you; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will be among you to destroy ⌊you⌋ when I strike the land of Egypt.

When God sent HIS only Begotten, we HE sent Jesus, HE flexed HIS power and might once again...this time HE won HIS own with the blood of HIS SON.  In all of its glory this is the gospel, this is the good news, amazing...the God we serve is all glorious, all powerful...stunning in beauty, majesty and glory AND YET HE IS a humble servant, tender, loving, gracious, faithful, merciful...our heavenly Father sings over us with a loud voice, HE delights over (us) HIS children.  HE is a happy God, an overflowing, eternal spring of living water.

Hebrews 9:11-14 Now the Messiah has appeared, high priest of the good things that have come.  In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation ), 12 He entered the holy of holies once for all, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.  13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,  14 how much more will the blood of the Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit  offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse our  consciences from dead works to serve the living God?

Mt 20:28  just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,  and to give His life—a ransom for many.”

We were created to worship, to serve and to love the living God!  Let's continue in the great adventure:) to pursue HIM with a white hot passion, a passion to delight in and enjoy our great God.

love,

m

You may recall I quoted Grudem's definition of the authority of scripture a few weeks ago...let's take another look at his definition. 

The authority of Scripture means that all the words in Scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.

Briefly, let's break this apart..."all the words in Scripture are God's words in such a way."  I really can't get past the phrase "all the words."  If all the Words in scripture are HIS, shouldn't we read ALL HIS WORDS?  Is it OK, to simply return to our favorite passages time and time again and then wonder why God has not answered us in a specific area of prayer.  We ask over and over what would God have me to do in this situation?  If you listen you (and I) might hear Jesus say...HAVEN'T YOU READ, HAVEN'T YOU READ, HAVEN'T YOU READ!

Matt 12:3--He said to them, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry—

Matt 12:5--Or haven’t you read in the Law that on Sabbath days the priests in the temple violate the Sabbath and are innocent?

Matt 19:4--“Haven’t you read,” He replied, “that He who created them in the beginning made them male and female,

Matt 22:31--Now concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read what was spoken to you by God:

Mark 12:10--Haven’t you read this Scripture: The stone that the builders rejected— this has become the cornerstone.

Mark 12:26--Now concerning the dead being raised—haven’t you read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him: I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?

Luke 6:3--Jesus answered them, “Haven’t you read what David and those who were with him did when he was hungry—

Remember the scriptures were not available to the common man in Jesus day, they were not available until the advent of the printing press...how much louder does this question scream at you and I?  HAVEN'T YOU READ? 

Do you desire the LORD'S favor and kindness?  I do...check out Isaiah 66:2...My hand made all these things, and so they all came into being. ⌊This is⌋ the Lord’s declaration. I will look favorably on this kind of person: one who is humble, submissive in spirit, and who trembles at My word.

I have been memorizing and meditating on Psalm 119:9-16, verse 11 states, "I have treasured Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You."  As I began to meditate on this verse God the Holy Spirit began to reveal other things that I treasure...other things that have my attention, time and energy.  I heard a pastor ask his congregation, "If I offer each of you $1,000.00 per verse you memorize how many would sign up for scripture memory?

If you would memorize more scripture for the money...THEN WHERE IS YOUR TREASURE?  WHAT DO YOU VALUE?  Verse 14 of Psalm 119 says, I rejoice in the way ⌊revealed by⌋ Your decrees as much as in all riches.   REALLY?  This question laid my heart bare...I was then able to repent, ask for forgiveness and be healed.  I still confess that apart from HIS indwelling Spirit I am not able to treasure HIM or HIS Word as I should!  It is only by HIS favor, grace and kindness that I am able to respond by faith with the right heart motive!

Do you realize that you can read through the entire Bible in a little over 70 hours?  HOW OFTEN DO YOU AND I WATCH 70 HOURS OF TV?  OUCH!  Where is your treasure?  What do you value? 

Do you realize that those things that compete for your heart's attention are IDOLS in your heart!  They may be good things, they don't have to be sinful, anything that you love, serve, fear, desire more than God is an idol in your heart!  Why is Egypt getting slammed by plagues right now in our reading the OT?  Their rampant idolatry and hard hearts! 

First Pharaoh would not listen to Moses and Aaron, then he would not listen to his own advisers and as a result his land and people were destroyed.  Do you see similar patterns in people's lives around you...or your own?  Sin is so deceptive and so deadly.

WHY DID GOD COMMAND PHARAOH TO RELEASE HIS PEOPLE?  WHAT WAS GOD'S PURPOSE IN WORKING THEIR RELEASE?  IT IS THE SAME REASON THAT HE WANTS YOU AND I RELEASED FROM IDOLS...IT IS WHY JESUS CAME TO SET THE CAPTIVES FREE...DO YOU KNOW?  ARE YOU DOING IT IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH?

Exod 7:16--Tell him: The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me in the wilderness, but so far you have not listened.

Exod 8:1--Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and tell him: This is what the Lord says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

Exod 8:20--The Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh when you see him going out to the water. Tell him: This is what the Lord says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

Exod 9:1--Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him: This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

Exod 9:13--Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh. Tell him: This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

Exod 10:3--So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may worship Me.

Exod 10:7--Pharaoh’s officials asked him, “How long must this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, so that they may worship the Lord their God. Don’t you realize yet that Egypt is devastated?”

Exod 10:11--No, only the men may go and worship the Lord, for that is what you have been asking for.” And they were driven from Pharaoh’s presence.

Jn 4:23-26 --But an hour is coming, and is now here,  when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him. 24 God is spirit,  and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah   is coming” (who is called Christ ). “When He comes, He will explain everything to us.” 26 “I am ⌊He⌋,”  Jesus told her, “the One speaking to you.”

Remember where we started this morning...The authority of Scripture means that all the words in Scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.

If God commands it then HE will make the provision for HIS children to do what HE commands!  It is only by HIS spirit in us, Christ in us the hope of glory!

Father in heaven,

In the precious name of Jesus please grant each of us a singleness of heart, a heart devoted to YOU and YOU alone.  Enable us to love YOU with all our heart, soul, mind and strength!  Father please work this in a way that YOU are glorified and we, your children, are filled with YOUR joy, the joy of our master, our savior, our Abba and Father.  Enable us to pursue YOU with a white hot passion, to worship YOU in spirit and in truth.

In Jesus name...amen!

Moses, the reluctant leader goes to Pharaoh with the aid of his brother Aaron. In earlier chapters God has explained to Moses what will take place.  God is going to harden Pharaoh's heart so that HE can demonstrate HIS power and that HIS name "might be proclaimed in all the earth."

Exod 4:21--The Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.

Exod 7:3--“But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.

Exod 7:13--Yet Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

Exod 7:22--But the magicians of Egypt did the same with their secret arts; and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

Exod 8:15--But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

Remember, once Adam and Eve fell God set HIS purpose and plan for redemption in motion.  The encounters between Moses and pharaoh is what we see in the physical, the true battle was between the LORD and Egypt’s idols (Exodus 12:12).   I must confess I have struggled to reconcile how at times God hardens Pharaoh's heart and other times Pharaoh hardens his own heart.  It is crucial to remember that divine sovereignty and human responsibility are never at odds.  Scripture clearly teaches election by grace and it clearly teaches who so ever will may come!  Mark...isn't that a contradiction?  It may look like it on the surface, but it is not.  I will not pretend to understand it...I simply see both taught in scripture.  When I see an apparent conflict in scripture I do not assume that the problem is with God's Word...I KNOW that the problem is with me!

So God raised up Pharaoh to proclaim HIS name in all the earth.

Exod 9:16--But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

Rom 9:17--For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

Jesus, Paul and the author of Hebrews have something to say about hardness of heart.

Matt 19:8--He *said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.

Mark 3:5--After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He *said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

Mark 16:14--Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen.

Eph 4:18--being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;

Brothers and sisters I am warning you and I am warning myself...be afraid, be very afraid. 

Heb 3:12-19

12 Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. 13 You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. 14 For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. 15 Remember what it says:

“Today when you hear his voice,

don’t harden your hearts

as Israel did when they rebelled.”

16 And who was it who rebelled against God, even though they heard his voice? Wasn’t it the people Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it the people who sinned, whose corpses lay in the wilderness? 18 And to whom was God speaking when he took an oath that they would never enter his rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed him? 19 So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest.

This is amazing, amazing...the very ones who witnessed the plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, water from the rock...on and on...it was those that disobeyed God! 

I am going to contend that you and I sin against more light and are more accountable that those God delivered out of Egypt.  What are you talking about Mark?  I'm glad you asked:)

Read the account of the Rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16.  Jesus gives a stern warning...‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead. ’ ”

Lk 16:27-31  “ ‘Father,’ he said, ‘then I beg you to send him to my father’s house— 28 because I have five brothers—to warn  them, so they won’t also come to this place of torment.’ 29 “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets;  they should listen to them.’ 30 “ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said. ‘But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31 “But he told him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead. ’ ”

If you don't listen to God's Word and obey, you would not have been persuaded with the plagues of Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea...You and I have more light then when Jesus spoke these words.  We now have the full counsel of God's Word.

Let's treasure HIS word together, let's warn each other every day...don't be deceived by sin and hardened against God.  Let's humble ourselves like little children and go hard after God together!

love,

m

Repeatedly throughout scripture God's servants respond to the voice of the LORD..."Here I am."  The most preached on and most loved has to be Isaiah chapter 6.  Isaiah through a vision enters the awe inspiring throne room of the Almighty, he overhears a conversation of the triune God and responds "Here am I, send me."  Over and over throughout God's precious Word we see God speak and HIS servants respond!  Here are just a few.

Gen 22:11--But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” He replied, “Here I am.”

Exod 3:4--When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses!” “Here I am,” he answered.

1 Sam 3:4--Then the Lord called Samuel, and he answered, “Here I am.”

1 Sam 3:6--Once again the Lord called, “Samuel!” Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am; you called me.” “I didn’t call, my son,” he replied. “Go and lie down.”

1 Sam 3:8--Once again, for the third time, the Lord called Samuel. He got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli understood that the Lord was calling the boy.

Isa 6:8--Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Who should I send? Who will go for Us? I said: Here I am. Send me.

Isa 8:18--Here I am with the children the Lord has given me to be signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of Hosts who dwells on Mount Zion.

Isa 58:9--At that time, when you call, the Lord will answer; when you cry out, He will say: Here I am. If you get rid of the yoke from those around you, the finger-pointing and malicious speaking,

Acts 9:10--Now in Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Here I am, Lord!” he said.

Now centuries earlier, Moses, you can just see Charlton Heston, the man of God, used of God to bring Egypt to ruins, to decimate Pharos' army, part the Red Sea, deliver the children of God,  mediate between God and his people, we see how Moses responds.  Moses is minding his own business, shepherding the sheep and he sees the burning bush that is not consumed by the fire.  (Side note: I read somewhere that this is a type pointing to Jesus, in that the blazing GLORY of God dwelling in human flesh and not destroying the human nature...awesome!)  OK, back to Moses, basically we have this stud of a man of God we know from scripture and here in Exodus chapter 4 Moses says...(hold that thought)  After watching the Movie, The 10 Commandments with Charlton Heston, you would expect Moses to say...LET IT BE WRITTEN, LET IT BE DONE...with your help O God, we will descend on the Egyptians as the dew descends on the grass, we will descend on them and decimate and utterly destroy them...I will make them let YOUR people go!  Let me at em, Let me at em..."  (OK, enough Hollywood, back to reality)  In Exodus chapter 4 Moses says, "Please LORD, send someone else."  What?  Please send someone else?  Is this the same guy who GOD USED TO DO ALL THOSE AMAZING THINGS?

Ex 4:10-17 (NLT)  But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”

11 Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”

13 But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.”

14 Then the Lord became angry with Moses. “All right,” he said. “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he speaks well. And look! He is on his way to meet you now. He will be delighted to see you. 15 Talk to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with both of you as you speak, and I will instruct you both in what to do. 16 Aaron will be your spokesman to the people. He will be your mouthpiece, and you will stand in the place of God for him, telling him what to say. 17 And take your shepherd’s staff with you, and use it to perform the miraculous signs I have shown you.”

Several thoughts are flooding my heart and mind at this moment...please don't make the mistake of judging Moses, how many opportunities have you and I missed?  How many times has the Holy Spirit prompted to give a cup of cold water in HIS name, to be a witness, to humbly serve in some menial task and we either ignored the "still small voice" or we, like Moses, said, "Please LORD, send someone else."  I don't know about you...my list is longer than I want to say.

The wonderful thing about our GREAT, MERCIFUL, LOVING AND GRACIOUS GOD is that HE still did amazing things through Moses.  Consider again Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jacob's sons (excluding Joseph) and remember God kept HIS Word and HIS promises to each one.

What is God's ultimate purpose in all of this?  Remember Paul, or Saul, the guy seeking to destroy the church?  Remember the little Damascus Road experience...you must admit God has a sense of humor, LORD, no disrespect, but what happened to the "still small voice."  There he is, enjoying a nice ride on his little horse and WHOMP...he is laying on his back surrounded by blazing and blinding light.  God got his attention:)

I had never thought about this before, but do you think that Paul had his Damascus Road experience in mind as God used him to pen the following Words of scripture?

2 Co 4:6-15  For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness” —He has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge  of God’s glory  in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power  may be from God and not from us. 8 We are pressured in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; 9 we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed. 10 We always carry the death of Jesus  in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who live are always given over to death  because of Jesus, so that Jesus’ life may also be revealed in our mortal flesh. 12 So death works in us, but life in you. 13 And since we have the same spirit of faith in accordance with what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke,   we also believe, and therefore speak, 14 knowing that the One who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus,  and present us with you. 15 For all this is because of you, so that grace, extended through more and more people, may cause thanksgiving  to overflow to God’s glory.

Father in heaven,

Please enable us by Your precious Holy Spirit to respond in FAITH AND OBEDIENCE WHEN WE HEAR YOUR VOICE!  Please work this for Your own glory and for the joy of Your children.  We love you because You first loved us.  Create in us a pure heart, a heart to know You, love You and to serve and worship You.  Father as we continue to pursue YOU through Your holy Word, bless us, encourage us, build us up...please work a unity, a fellowship of Your children that is pleasing to YOU...please work this..."so that grace, extended through more and more people, may cause thanksgiving  to overflow to God’s glory."

In Jesus Name, Amen

It truly is a great adventure, soap operas have nothing on scripture when it comes intrigue, suspense, murder, lies, deceit and deception...it is astonishing to contemplate God's Holiness and to see the 2nd person of the Godhead condescend, stoop down...stoop to the gutter, maybe lower, and take on human flesh and become a man.  True we were created in HIS image, we were created to KNOW HIM and to know good...HE IS GOOD!  But we sold ourselves out because we bought the lie that God was holding out on us.  God did not create us to KNOW EVIL, HE CREATED US TO KNOW AND BE INTIMATE WITH HIM.  Consider the world since the fall and see where turning from God and gaining the knowledge of good and evil has gotten us.  Some may be wondering what in the world are you talking about?  Which tree did God forbid them to eat from?  The tree of the knowledge of good and evil...HE DID NOT CREAT US TO KNOW EVIL...HE created us to be in relationship with HIMSELF AND WITH OTHERS.  Do you hear the greatest commandment in there somewhere?

With the fall we moved from being innocent to fallen, spiritually dead, eternally separated from God, like filthy rags, diseased, outcast, spiritual lepers...STOP, STOP...scripture has many more pictures of our fallen state, I could go on for some time...NO PLEASE STOP!  ARE YOU SURE THAT YOU GET THE POINT?  YES, PLEASE STOP!  OK, but understand this is why it is astonishing that Jesus was willing, for the joy set before HIM, to enter a sin infested world and go to the bloody cross so that HE could present a redeemed humanity to the Father in heaven.

OK...so there we are, fallen, spiritually dead, vile, filthy...OH, SORRY.  Here we go on the great adventure, God's redemptive story begins to unfold and continues to unfold before our eyes.  REMEMBER MY GREEK PROF'S over arching one sentence summary of the Bible?  Ken Easley puts it this way...

The Lord God through his Christ is graciously building a kingdom of redeemed people for their joy and for his own glory.

Keeping God's ultimate purpose in mind we transition from Genesis to Exodus as the plan for redemption unfolds. 

As Exodus begins, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are trapped in Egypt, enslaved by a Pharaoh who no longer remembers or cares about the help given his people by Joseph some 430 years earlier. Exodus tells the exciting tale of the chosen people’s deliverance, and stands as the Old Testament’s boldest image of redemption. Through God’s direct action, His covenant people are released from bondage and granted freedom, that they might know and worship Him.

Exodus also introduces one of the Bible’s most revered characters: Moses. Though born a slave, Moses grew up in Egypt’s royal palace. As an adult he identified with his helpless people and determined to free them. After 80 years God fulfilled Moses’ early dream: Moses was commissioned to win the release of the Jewish people, and to lead them to the Promised Land.

Exodus also tells how God through Moses gave His chosen people a Law intended to guide their relationship with Him, and with one another. That Law, as summed up in ten basic commandments, has served the civilized world as a basic moral code to this very day. As developed in Exodus and in other books of Moses, God’s Law defined a just, moral way of life for his Old Testament people. Its concern for the poor and oppressed, its concepts of a criminal justice system, its ecological concern for the land, and its emphasis on equality for all are unmatched in ancient or modern legal codes. All this, and a unique design for worship that provides access to God for penitent sinners, is introduced in Exodus. Without doubt this book is foundational for both the Jewish and Christian view of who God is, for our understanding of morality, and for an introduction to the nature of worship. And with all this, Exodus stands as one of the greatest adventure stories of all times.

Richards, L. O. (1991; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996). The Bible readers companion (electronic ed.) (50). Wheaton: Victor Books.

It is difficult, at least for me, to grasp that what was going on in Exodus and Leviticus has direct implications for me...no Mark, this is Old Testament...remember?

1 Peter 1:9-16 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. 10 As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, 11 seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look. 13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14  As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

As to this salvation, as to this plan for redemption that is unfolding before our very eyes, the prophets who told about the grace that would come to you were excellent "students of scripture," and they made careful searches and inquires to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.  Try to imagine the host of angels, those who beheld the undiminished GLORY of the triune God.  Those who watched the 2nd person of the trinity create the universe and then sustain it by the "power of HIS Word." (Heb. 1:3)

Allow me to speculate for a moment...the angels beheld HIS majestic, stunning,  and blinding GLORY, they beheld the creation of the universe and of man...they saw what happened to their fallen counterparts...what do you think they thought as they beheld the horrific fall of man?  I don't know...OOOOOOOOO, this is going to be ugly...I can't watch.

Peter tells us that angels long to look into these things...in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look. 

They had to be blown away at HIS willingness to:

enter a sin infested world as a baby, live an ordinary life as a boy and a carpenter, go to the cross for those that rejected an invitation to intimacy with the King of kings and Lord of lords...every time we sin, we gaze upon the face of God through Jesus Christ and say, "no thank you" you are not deeply satisfying to me!

Jeremiah 2:13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.

We turn from "the fountain of living waters" and we turn to the things of the world and cry satisfy me, satisfy me, satisfy me...you may say it to your spouse, your job, your car, money, home, reputation, ministry...they can't do it, it's not possible.

Augustine put it this way...

For Thyself Thou hast made us,
And restless our hearts until in Thee they find their ease.
Late have I loved Thee, Thou Beauty ever old and ever new.
Thou hast burst my bonds asunder;

Unto Thee will I offer up an offering of praise.”

It has been well said that our hearts were created by God with a God shaped vacuum.  Until our hearts are filled with God through Christ, indwelt by the Holy Spirit we will not be at peace, we will not be satisfied...there will be no true joy!

ALL THAT TO SAY THAT WHAT THE PROPHETS WROTE, WHAT THE ANGELS LONG TO LOOK INTO IS AN ADVENTURE THAT YOU AND I ARE A PART OF...WE CAN DENY IT, BUT YOU ARE STILL A PART OF THE GREAT ADVENTURE!  So come on...let's go..."Saddle up your horses."

Let's do the great adventure TOGETHER!

LOVE,

M

Joseph is the only one, as far as I can tell, that has walked faithfully in obedience to God throughout his life.  Abraham took matters into his own hands to fulfill God's promise and slept with Hagar and you have the issue of lying about his wife.  In Gen. 25:22 ff. Rebekah is told why there is a struggle in her womb...there are two nations, the older will serve the younger.  Isaac determines to bless Esau regardless of God's promise of blessing on Jacob, Isaac lies about his wife too.  (The sins of the father...watch your lives carefully men)  Rebekah and Jacob conspire to steal a blessing that is already his, Jacob did not have to steal it, he simply had to trust God's Word of promise.

Again, Joseph is the only one who has walked and lived in faithful obedience through great afflictions.  Remember God never clued him in on the plan!  He never said, "Hey Joe, hold on I have some wonderful things in store for you remember those dreams you had they are getting ready to be fulfilled, just hold on and watch ME work on your behalf...this is going to be awesome!"  You might say wait Mark, he did have those dreams from God, true...and Abraham received promises from God, as did Isaac and Jacob...they got impatient and tried to fulfill the promise themselves. 

With that in mind consider Joseph's response to his brothers. 

Ge 45:4-8  Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please, come near me,” and they came near. “I am Joseph, your brother,” he said, “the one you sold into Egypt.  5 And now don’t be worried or angry with yourselves for selling me here, because God sent me ahead of you to preserve life.  6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there will be five more years without plowing or harvesting. 7 God sent me ahead of you to establish you as a remnant within the land and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.  8 Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Here we see Joseph as a beautiful picture of Jesus.  God SENT me ahead to preserve life...for God so loved the World that HE sent...to keep you alive by a great deliverance...our salvation is a GREAT DELIVERANCE!  Somewhere along the way God revealed to Joseph HIS plan or he simply was given understanding and it unfolded.  Consider his words following Jacobs death.

Ge 50:15-21 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said to one another, “If Joseph is holding a grudge against us, he will certainly repay us for all the wrong we caused him.” 16 So they sent this message to Joseph, “Before he died your father gave a command: 17 ‘Say this to Joseph: Please forgive your brothers’ transgression and their sin—the wrong they caused you.’ Therefore, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept  when their message came to him. 18 Then his brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, “We are your slaves!”

19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?  20 You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people.  21 Therefore don’t be afraid. I will take care of you and your little ones.”  And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

Doesn't that sound like Jesus?  He comforted them and spoke kindly to them, he spoke kindly to those who plotted to kill him!  Lk 23:34 Then Jesus said, “Father,  forgive  them, because they do not know what they are doing.” ]  And they divided His clothes and cast lots.

This is amazing to me, stunning, breathtaking...my vocabulary fails me...YOU PLANNED EVIL AGAINST ME, GOD PLANNED IT FOR GOOD...please, please NOTICE it does NOT SAY THAT HE TURNED ANYTHING...I AM GOING TO SCREAM IF I READ THAT IN ANOTHER COMMENTARY...GOD TURNED NOTHING...YOU PLANNED AND GOD PLANNED...consider Acts 2.

Acts 2:22-24  “Men of Israel, listen to these words: This Jesus the Nazarene was a man pointed out to you by God with miracles, wonders, and signs that God did among you through Him, just as you yourselves know.  23 Though He was delivered up according to God’s determined plan and foreknowledge, you used  lawless people  to nail Him to a cross and kill Him.  24 God raised Him up, ending the pains of death,  because it was not possible for Him to be held by it.

God had a purpose and plan in Joseph's suffering, "the survival of many people."  God had a plan in the suffering of Jesus...Heb 2:10 For it was fitting, in bringing many sons to glory, that He, for whom and through whom all things exist, should make the source  of their salvation perfect through sufferings.  His purpose is to bring many sons to glory!

The reading in Matthew is stunning in light of this...Jesus asks Peter "who do you say that I am?"  "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!"  Jesus blesses Peter and acknowledges that this revelation was given by HIS heavenly Father.  After this confession Jesus begins to tell HIS disciples about THE PLAN, to "bring many sons to glory" and the suffering entailed.  WHAT DOES PETER DO?  HE REBUKES JESUS...LET ME COUNSEL YOU PLEASE DON'T EVER REBUKE JESUS...BAD IDEA!

We always focus on the first part of Jesus response...get the behind me Satan.  WHAT IS AT THE HEART OF JESUS COUNTER REBUKE OF PETER?  YOU ARE NOT THINKING ABOUT GOD'S CONCERNS BUT MAN'S!

My contention is that Christians in America, myself included, don't have a clue concerning God's economy when it comes to suffering...

I must stop for now but consider the following purposes of God in allowing suffering to come to HIS children and think back in your own life or consider your current circumstances and see if these don't resonate with you...O ye of little faith!  Lord I believe, help my unbelief.  I am saying this to myself too:)

love,

M

In Genesis 48 Jacob passes the Words of God and the promises of God onto Joseph and he adopts Joseph's two sons.  Abraham, Isaac and now Jacob, the imperfect fathers, have passed the Words and promises of God to the succeeding generation.  Dad's we cannot relegate or delegate this responsibility to the church...this is our job, joy and responsibility as the spiritual servant leader in the home!

Gen 48:3-5  Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty  appeared to me at Luz  in the land of Canaan and blessed me. 4 He said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful and numerous; I will make many nations ⌊come from⌋ you, and I will give this land as an eternal possession  to your descendants to come. ’ 5 Your two sons  born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt are now mine.  Ephraim and Manasseh belong to me just as Reuben and Simeon do.

Our first responsibility as a child of God is to..."love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength."  In other words, we must have a vibrant, passionate love relationship with our heavenly Father.  Then and only then as our hearts burn within us concerning the things of God will we be able to serve and minister to our families, to our spouse, to the children God has gifted to us.

Storms in life come and go, some storms pass and you think, God stretched me and strengthened my faith other storms...the thought of the movie, "The Perfect Storm" just came to mind...other storms leave you feeling numb, feeling dead, despondent...wondering...God, if you are really there and you are really sovereign, how could you allow this to happen to me, my family, my...  These storms are so severe that, if you will allow me to use the analogy of a tree and your faith, the tree is not just blown, twisted and severely leaning...THE TREE IS GONE, ON THE SURFACE THERE IS ONLY A STUMP!  The cool thing is when spring comes, this is only cool for the true child of God, out of the stump a small, yet beautiful tender shoot appears...there is life.

Remember that Jacob was revived hearing the good news about Joseph and now some 17 years later he gives this testimony concerning his God.

Ge 48:15-16--15 Then he blessed Joseph and said: The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd  all my life to this day, 16 the Angel who has redeemed me from all harm — may He bless these boys.  And may they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow to be numerous within the land.

17 years later Jacob's tree has grown back, this tree is more pure and more beautiful than the previous one.  He was tested and refined through the fires of affliction and now he gives the most precious treasure...the Words and promises of God.  He acknowledges that God has been his shepherd ALL of his life, he knows that he was with in through the storm and testifies that God redeemed him from ALL harm.  Then he blesses the boys. 

I don't know about you, but I long to be a blessing to my wife and my children, to those I serve and minister to...I long for them to see in me a faith that is real...though it may be blown away on the surface, it is real.  Consider the admonition and the promises in our reading in Proverbs...it is God's Word that will not return void, it is God's Word that is food and fuel for our faith.  Let's be gluttons for the Word of God.  Stuff your heart with the Word of God and guard it from everything else.

Proverbs 4:20-27--The Straight Path

20 My son, pay attention to my words; listen closely to my sayings. 21 Don’t lose sight of them; keep them within your heart. 22 For they are life to those who find them, and health to one’s whole body. 23   Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life. 24   Don’t let your mouth speak dishonestly, and don’t let your lips talk deviously. 25     Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze  straight ahead. 26   Carefully consider the path  for your feet, and all your ways will be established. 27   Don’t turn to the right or to the left;  keep your feet away from evil.

Beholding is becoming...fix your gaze on Jesus!

Father in heaven do this in our hearts for your namesake, for your glory and for our JOY in you our Master, Savior, and friend.

I. David’s Counsel to Solomon (4:1–9)

A. Acquire wisdom (4:1–2, 5, 7): Learn to be wise, for that is the most important thing.

B. Embrace wisdom (4:4, 8): If you take wisdom to heart, you will live.

C. Love and cherish wisdom (4:3, 6, 8–9): Wisdom will protect and exalt you.

II. Solomon’s Counsel to Rehoboam (4:10–27).

A. Let wisdom guard your feet (4:10–19, 26–27).

1. To keep you from limping or stumbling (4:10–12): If you do this, you will have a long, good life.

2. To keep you from straying (4:13–19, 26–27): Avoid evildoers. “Mark out a straight path for your feet; then stick to the path and stay safe.”

B. Let wisdom guard your heart (4:20–23).

1. It is the wellspring of one’s body (4:20, 22): Let wisdom’s words bring life and health.

2. It is the wellspring of one’s soul (4:21, 23): Let wisdom guard your heart.

C. Let wisdom guard your tongue (4:24) : Stay away from corrupt speech.

D. Let wisdom guard your eyes (4:25) : “Fix your eyes on what lies before you.”

Willmington, H. L. (1999). The Outline Bible (Ps 4-Pr 4:25). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.

Gen 45:13  Tell my father all about my glory in Egypt and about all you have seen. And bring my father here quickly.”

Why did Joseph instruct his brothers to tell their father "about my glory in Egypt."  Was he being prideful, boasting, was this a na na na na na in your face to his brothers?  I don't think so, Joseph desired to encourage and strengthen his father with the news of his position in Egypt.  See Jacob's response in Gen 45:27, But when they told Jacob all that Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to transport him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.   Based on the report Jacob set out for Egypt, he acted in faith based on what he knew, (his faith was not dead, just devastated).  In today's reading we see that, Ge 46:1-4 Israel set out with all that he had and came to Beer-sheba,  and he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 2 That night God spoke to Israel in a vision:  “Jacob, Jacob!” He said.  And Jacob replied, “Here I am.” 3 God said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there.  4 I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you back.  Joseph will put his hands on your eyes.”  

I have to wonder if this is the first time he offered sacrifices to God since he lost Joseph, was this the first time that he had heard from God in many years?  God comforted Jacob and reassured him that HE would keep his promise to make him a great nation. 

It is important for me to remember that God never moved, HE was always there, always present, always desiring a relationship with Jacob.  Jacob could not see with his physical eyes what God was doing, his dream of becoming a great nation through Joseph was decimated in his mind...could he have been mad at God?  "If I am not going to be a great nation through my son Joseph then I don't want to be a great nation!  I know, I know I am speculating...IF YOU LOST A SON HOW WOULD YOU RESPOND TO GOD?  IF HE ALLOWED ONE OF YOUR CHILDREN TO BE TAKEN...HOW WOULD YOU REACT, HOW WOULD I REACT?

I guess my real point here is make sure that your faith is-real...like Israel (Jacob).  I believe that there are many preachers in hell that warned about its torments, test your faith, test yourselves.  Consider the Pharisees in today's reading in Matthew in contrast with the Canaanite woman...amazing!  (Another warning, they knew the scriptures, but failed to respond in faith, their hearts were evil)  Paul is clear, he tested himself and admonishes us to do the same...2 Co 13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?

Mark...how can I test myself?  Great question...here we go!

In John 17:24 Jesus said, “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.  What is Jesus purpose in HIS prayer to the Father?  HE wants us to be with HIM SO THAT we may see HIS glory!  Mark...how can you say we...HE is talking about HIS disciples...checkout 17:20-21.  "I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in Me through their message. 21     May they all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You. May they also be one  in Us, so the world may believe You sent Me.

THIS IS REALLY COOL...First, do you see the similarity between Jesus and Joseph desiring the glory to be seen and known?  Second, you and I are included in being able to see the display of Jesus glory!  Then beholding the glory works a unity in the body and THAT UNITY HAS A PURPOSE IN GOD'S PLAN...SO THAT THE WORLD MAY BELIEVE THAT GOD SENT HIS SON.

Mark, what does this have to do with testing my faith...I'm glad you asked:)

Does the thought of beholding the glory of Christ, beholding the face of the one who died in your place, does that thought resonate with you, does it stir your heart?

Listen to John Owen, the so called Prince of the Puritan Divines as he considers the thought of beholding the glory of Christ.  He wrote a rich book on John 17:24...one verse!

Beholding of the glory of Christ...Herein would I live;--herein would I die;--herein would I dwell in my thoughts and affections, to the withering and consumption of all the painted beauties of this world, unto the crucifying all things here below, until they become unto me a dead and deformed thing, no way meet for affectionate embraces. John Owen , (1616 - 1683) Complete Works I:291

Does the meditation of Jesus face, healing the sick, casting out demons, calming the storm, restoring life to the dead, rebuking the religious jerks, being a friend to sinners...does that cause your heart to burn within...does the meditation of HIS face on the cross, coming out of the grave and NOW SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER IN ALL HIS SPLENDOR AND GLORY...THE LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH, ULTIMATE FIGHTING JESUS, A WARRIOR FOR HIS OWN...DOES IT STIR YOUR CORE OF YOUR BEING?

If not...my concern is that you fail the test!

Mark, are you trying to scare people...only those that don't really know HIM...another test is the fruit of the spirit...is your life marked by Gal 5:22?  Jesus is painfully clear in Matt 7:21  “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,  but ⌊only⌋ the one who does the will  of My Father in heaven.  Another question is do you love Jesus?  Don't give me the Sunday school answer...do you really love HIM...more than spouse, children, parents, job, reputation...everything?  Paul has some chilling words...1 Co 16:22 22 If anyone does not love the Lord, a curse be on him. Maranatha! 

Father in Heaven enable us by your indwelling Spirit to love you, to know you, to behold your glory.  Do this for your glory and our joy!

Ac 16:31  So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 

just a few minutes late:)

Today's verses in Proverbs is impossible to improve on as far as an exhortation to read, study, memorize and meditate on God's Holy Word.  Gaze upon the promises given to God's children in these few words.

Proverbs 4:11-13 I will teach you wisdom’s ways and lead you in straight paths.  When you walk, you won’t be held back; when you run, you won’t stumble.  Take hold of my instructions; don’t let them go.  Guard them, for they are the key to life.

ESV Proverbs 4:11 I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness.

NAU Proverbs 4:11 I have directed you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in upright paths.

NKJ Proverbs 4:11 I have taught you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in right paths.

The NLT translates the first words "I will teach," the other translate those same words "I have taught."  I believe that both connotations are there, to the degree that we have been exposed to creation (Psalm 19) and to God's Word HE has taught us, to the degree that we humbly come before the Word of God, desperate for HIM in our lives, HE will continue to teach and transform us to HIS likeness.

The first promise is HIS teaching!  The second is that HE has led and will lead us in paths of righteousness...we don't always follow, but HE leads...for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear.  Promise three, when you walk or live you will not be held back and when you run you will not stumble.  He called us out of darkness into HIS marvelous light...1 Peter 2:9 But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light...Ephesians 5:8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light...

Provided we keep our eyes on Jesus, the eyes of our hearts through faith we will remain in HIM and remain in HIS marvelous light.  In Matt 14 we see Peter jump out of the boat by faith and walk on water, he is good until he takes his eyes off of Jesus!  Then he gets that "ye of little faith" rebuke from our LORD.

I believe that our reading in Genesis the past two days is an intense warning for God's children.  What did Joseph's brothers say in chapter 42?  "What is this that God has done to us?"  IT WAS THEIR OWN SIN THAT PUT THEM IN THEIR CURRENT CIRCUMSTANCES!  What did Jacob say in 42:36..."everything happens to me!"  It sounds like he is whining, you may be thinking, "Mark you are being a little harsh, let up, the guy has already lost two sons."  OK, but where is the Jacob who wrestled with God all night and prevailed, where is the Jacob who prayed in desperation...demonstrating that his faith and hope and in God?  You have to wonder...had his faith failed, or almost failed, things had not gone as he thought they would, he did not see God fulfilling this magnificent promise IN THE MANNER THAT HE THOUGHT THAT HE WOULD!  I CONFESS THAT I AM SPECULATING HERE.  How else do you explain his defeated response.  Remember Joseph was his favorite, (it is a sin to have a favorite child) and when Joseph shared his dream, Jacob did rebuke him, but scripture says he "kept the matter in mind."  Could it be that after he thought that his dream was shattered, Joseph's death, Jacob was never the same?

I believe that the warning for us is that no matter what our circumstances are, no matter how dark, bleak or desperate the situation appears to us we, as God's children, must know by faith "that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them Rom 8:28. We must know by faith that "Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?  Rom 8:32  It has been well said, when you can't trace HIS hand, trust HIS heart.  Trust the heart of the one who did not spare HIS own Son!

Back to the Proverb...we have the promise of HIS teaching, HIS leading...the promise that IF we will follow HIS lead we will not stumble or fall and finally, IF we will take hold and cling to HIS word, guard HIS promises and commands, and not let go, (Picture Jacob wrestling all night) we have the promise of eternal life, we have the promise of HIM!

1 Jn 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.

Father in heaven, I believe...help my unbelief!  Holy Spirit of God fill me (us) enable us to love YOU as you created us to, enable me (us) to love one another as YOU created us to...enable me by YOUR indwelling Spirit to walk and live in a manner worthy of the Gospel, worthy of YOU...for YOUR glory and our JOY in YOU.  We are desperate for YOU.

Love,

m

I. David’s Counsel to Solomon (4:1–9)

A. Acquire wisdom (4:1–2, 5, 7): Learn to be wise, for that is the most important thing.

B. Embrace wisdom (4:4, 8): If you take wisdom to heart, you will live.

C. Love and cherish wisdom (4:3, 6, 8–9): Wisdom will protect and exalt you.

II. Solomon’s Counsel to Rehoboam (4:10–27).

A. Let wisdom guard your feet (4:10–19, 26–27).

1. To keep you from limping or stumbling (4:10–12): If you do this, you will have a long, good life.

2. To keep you from straying (4:13–19, 26–27): Avoid evildoers. “Mark out a straight path for your feet; then stick to the path and stay safe.”

B. Let wisdom guard your heart (4:20–23).

1. It is the wellspring of one’s body (4:20, 22): Let wisdom’s words bring life and health.

2. It is the wellspring of one’s soul (4:21, 23): Let wisdom guard your heart.

C. Let wisdom guard your tongue (4:24) : Stay away from corrupt speech.

D. Let wisdom guard your eyes (4:25) : “Fix your eyes on what lies before you.”

Willmington, H. L. (1999). The Outline Bible (Ps 4-Pr 4:25). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.

We have food programs, we have educational programs, our culture has set in place safety nets to try to protect our children, to make sure that they receive the essential things they need to thrive and flourish.

In the Church our children memorize a Bible verse each week, but we adults, well...we don't need to do that do we?  I'm being sarcastic, it is a divine attribute, check out Elijah at Mt. Carmel:)

I want to propose a new ministry, NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND, but I am referring to every child of God.  That as HIS children we will continue a life long pursuit of HIM through HIS precious Word...memorizing, meditating, praying. I was stunned with these words of Jesus, "every student of Scripture."  I hope you burn to be a student of scripture!  Consider the disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:32 They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?"  TODAY Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, longs to open the scriptures to you and to me!  We must press on to be "students of the scriptures."

Mt 13:51-52--HCSB (Hard Core Southern Baptist Bible:))

51 “Have you understood all these things?” “Yes,” they told Him. 52 “Therefore,” He said to them, “every student of Scripture  instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who brings out of his storeroom what is new and what is old.” 

Mt 13:51-52--NLT-- Do you understand all these things?” “Yes,” they said, “we do.” 52 Then he added, “Every teacher of religious law who becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a homeowner who brings from his storeroom new gems of truth as well as old.”

As I read Matt 13:52 in the HCSB translation I was taken back with something that I had never seen or noticed before...the phrase "every student of scripture."  Admittedly, the other translations get the technical word correct, in the Greek the word is scribe, but I believe that the HCSB has nailed the connotation.  If you consider the context I believe you will agree.  Jesus just finished sharing several "Kingdom of heaven" parables and asks HIS disciples if they understand, they reply "yes" and HE follows with verse 52.

13:52 “every scribe who has become a disciple” A scribe was a legal expert in the oral and written Law. A believer will be able to draw truths from the Old Testament as well as Jesus’ teachings (cf. Rom. 4:23–24; 15:4; I Cor. 10:6, 11; II Tim. 3:16).

Utley, R. J. D. (2000). Vol. Volume 9: The First Christian Primer: Matthew. Study Guide Commentary Series (121). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.

Ro 4:23-24  And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

If you are not a student of Scripture  you will not discover what has been recorded for your benefit!

Ro 15:4 Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.

If you are not a student of Scripture  you will not find hope and encouragement as you patiently wait for God's promises to be fulfilled...you won't be patient either:)

1 Co 10:6 These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did,

You will not receive the warning...like the warning that the bridge is out!

1 Co 10:11  These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.

2 Ti 3:16  All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.

If you are not a student of Scripture  of all scripture, like reading through the Bible in a year, you will not receive the correcting, teaching, rebuking and encouragement that comes from being a student of Scripture .

What are some of those new and old things that the "Landowner" the student of Scripture  may bring out?  Don't be a spiritual quadriplegic, don't depend on others for your spiritual care when God has made you in HIS image and equipped you to be a student of Scripture .

13:51, 52 Things new and old refers to truths about the kingdom that were found in the OT and those that were freshly revealed in these parables. What were some of the new things?

(1) Rather than the immediate coming of the kingdom, an age would intervene (compare Acts 1:6, 7) when good and evil would coexist, even among the ranks of those who professed to be heirs of the kingdom (13:37–43).

(2) The number of the heirs of the kingdom would be very small at the inception of this new age. However, they would grow into a large group (13:31, 32).

(3) Evil would invade this group and ultimately make it apostate (13:33).

(4) The treasure of the kingdom though seen as near in the ministry of Christ would be hidden. He purchased it; it will yet be revealed.

(5) The body of the redeemed is not just Jewish; it will be like a pearl and be comprised of many peoples in one group.

(6) The anticipated judgment will occur at the conclusion of the present age.

Just as the parable of the sower was used as an introduction to the six “kingdom parables,” so this parable is a conclusion. It calls for action in view of what they have learned. They are to be responsible stewards and dispensers of these kingdom treasures (thesaurou).

Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1999). Nelson's new illustrated Bible commentary (Mt 13:51-52). Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.

I like the way he states this...It calls for action in view of what they have learned.  We see faith in action.  Scripture is the food of faith, how often do you feed your faith

How is your faith? Is it strong, weak, anemic? Have you ever known a strong Christian who did not memorize scripture. In God's plan HE designed faith to feed on the promises of Scripture all day. Scripture is the food of faith. Look at how Proverbs 22:18-19 puts this: For it is good to keep these sayings in your heart and always ready on your lips. I am teaching you today—yes, you— so you will trust in the Lord.

What are you trusting in?  Where is your confidence?  Are you at peace?  God says that he has given us his word so that it will be within us and that we may trust in him. Your faith and my faith rises or falls based on our constant feeding on the treasure of God’s truth that we have hid in our hearts.

Matthew 4:4 But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'"

NO CHILD OF GOD LEFT BEHIND...let's encourage one another to be passionate, burning students of Scripture .

Father in heaven...make it so...in Jesus name, Amen!

Would heaven be hell for an unsaved person?  In our first memory verse, 2 Cor. 5:17 we learn that if any man is in Christ, new things have come...would heaven be hell for someone that has not been twice born, for someone that does not have a new nature, for someone that has not been born of the Spirit?

Joseph has been vindicated in Egypt and he soon will be vindicated among his family and we will learn that what his brothers intended for evil, God intended for good.  In Genesis 50:20 the scriptures contain some stunning words.  In Gen 50:20 it does not say that God turned and made a bad situation good or turned it for good, it says very clearly what "you intended for evil, God intended for good."  The exact same event, being sold into slavery.  God planned it, God orchestrated hearts and minds so that it would come to pass and still holds everyone responsible for their actions and is absolutely right in doing so. 

Mt 13:37-45

37 Jesus replied, “The Son of Man is the farmer who plants the good seed. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed represents the people of the Kingdom. The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one. 39 The enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the harvesters are the angels.

40 “Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the world. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 And the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!

44 “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field. 45 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls.

This picture of the end times may be terrifying if you are not a new creation, if you have not been crucified with Christ, if you have not been conformed to HIS image.  If there is nothing in you that views heaven, relationship with God through Jesus Christ, as a treasure then are you saved?  If you find no delight in seeking HIM and finding HIM in HIS Word can you be a new creation?  NOT PERFECT, not even close, just a desire, a tiny faith...the righteous man shall live by faith.

Who did Jesus acknowledge as those having a relationship with HIM?  Whoever does the will of MY Father in heaven.  Mt 12:50--For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven, that person is My brother and sister and mother.”

As you read Psalm 18 you get a sense of the terror, the majesty, the awe-striking glory.  What is your treasure?  Where do you spend your time, energy and money?  (I am asking myself these same questions)

In Psalm 139 David says, "if I descend into Sheol, You are there."  Sheol is the place of the dead!  HE IS THERE! HE is omnipresent!

Will heaven be hell for those out of relationship with God through Jesus Christ?

Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand! 

Father in heaven apart from YOUR indwelling Spirit I am not able to hear or understand...please grant that like the disciples on the road to Emmaus that we would cry "did not our hearts burn within us as HE opened the scriptures to us."  Please Holy Spirit of God give us eyes to see and ears to hear, enable us to treasure YOU as we should, to long for YOU, to desire YOU...for you alone are worthy to be praised, worshiped and adored.

We love you, we love you, we love you...

In our Psalm (16:11) yesterday David wrote, "You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore."  I believe that Joseph knew the "path of life."  Otherwise, how could he say in Gen 39:9 "how could I do such a great evil and sin against God," when he was propositioned by Potiphar's wife?  He had to understand something of the pleasures David is referring to, he did not give in to instant gratification, he knew that God had something better.  Consider Psalm 36:8, "They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house,  And You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures."  What was David's experience with God to talk to HIM like this?  Look at Psalm 43:4, "Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And on the harp I will praise You,  O God, my God."

What did Joseph have, what did David have, what did Moses have...that enabled them to refuse immediate gratification, pleasure for delayed gratification?  Simply I believe they KNEW AND KNOW HIM and they are intimate with HIM!  They had encountered the living God with all of their heart, soul, mind and strength and discovered the unfathomable, incomprehensible, mind blowing treasure that is in a RELATIONSHIP with God through Jesus Christ!  Checkout Moses in Hebrews.

Hebrews 11:24-27  By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,  25 choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,  26 considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.  27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.

Remember a few days ago we looked at some meditations by Jonathan Edwards, and we learned that he had a phenomenal understanding and insight into the nature of God and the awe-striking joy that may be found in HIM.  Remember we said that we will never have Edwards Genius or ability to express our experiences like HIM, but the same RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD is available to us today. 

What is the deal with Joseph?  He faithfully lived for God regardless of his circumstance and God blessed him.  Moses chose God instead of the passing pleasures of sin and David was so desperate for God in the wilderness he experienced God in breathtaking ways...in ways that are available to God's children today!

Question:  When did each of these have their richest encounters with the living God?  Was it in the midst of affluence and prosperity or during great affliction?  When did the Apostle Paul write most of the New Testament?  I'm thinking he was in prison.  What are your current circumstances, what is God trying to do in your life?  I believe that HE is trying to orchestrate so that you and I may encounter HIM the way these did.  Don't you desire a healthy vibrant relationship with EACH of your children?  If you and I then being evil desire this with our children how much more will God give the Holy Spirit to those who ask HIM (see Luke 11:13).

Mt 13:18-23

18 “Now listen to the explanation of the parable about the farmer planting seeds: 19 The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts. 20 The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. 21 But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word. 22 The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced. 23 The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”

What kind of heart do you have?  Ask God the Holy Spirit to reveal your heart's condition and then repent and experience joy and healing.  In Psalm 51:10, David cried create in me a clean heart, following his fall with Bathsheba and orchestrating the death of her husband.  He pleaded with God, he was desperate, "return unto me the joy of your salvation."   There were horrific consequences because of his sin but David was forgiven. 

In Ezekiel God reveals HIS plan for HIS people.

Ezekiel 11:19-20  And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,  20 that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God.

What is God's purpose?  What is God's plan?  That they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God.

Ps 17:15 As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.

Beholding is becoming..."let us fix our eyes on Jesus"

Father in Heaven, by YOUR indwelling Spirit grant us eyes and ears to see and hear the wonderful things in YOUR precious Word, enable us to "taste and see" that YOU are good.  As we read and memorize and meditate on YOUR holy Word please protect it, YOU have promised that YOUR Word would not return void, grant a harvest within our hearts, give us deep roots into YOU so that we will last and endure for YOUR glory and our own JOY in YOU.  Holy Spirit of God shine within our hearts enable us to see the things, idols, that are choking out YOUR Word that we may repent and walk, and live, and breath with God, our exceeding joy.  Please accomplish this for YOUR namesake, for YOUR glory and our JOY...in Jesus name, Amen.

I am constantly stunned, dazed and in shock as I consider the transparency of the authors of Scripture...I know that they wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but I am still amazed.  Reading Genesis 37 you would expect Jesus to be the "LION OF THE TRIBE OF JOSEPH."  Wouldn't that make more sense?  Joseph is a picture of Christ, innocent, betrayed by his own for silver, faithful to God throughout every circumstance!  But no, Jesus is the "LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH."  Judah, who said, "hey, don't kill him, let's make some money from the deal and who wants the guilt of blood on you anyway."  (OK that's not exactly what he said, that's probably what I would have said.)  Judah, who was such a great father that his two sons were so evil that God killed them.  (Gen. 37:7 &10)  Don't forget that Judah slept with what he thought was a prostitute, but in reality it was his daughter-in-law.  As you contemplate the genealogy of Jesus you can't help but wonder why God would send HIS Only Begotten through such a sinful line of humanity.

While I am stunned, dazed and shocked I am also given hope and I am encouraged.  I am encouraged because even though I know the truth about my own heart from Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?  Who can know it?  God knows your heart and my heart and as HE gives us glimpses of HIMSELF, the presence of HIS glorious light, we also catch a glimpse of our own heart.  It is a little like when it's dark and lightening flashes around you...you can see just for a moment, but then an image of what you saw is left in your mind and heart.  It is somewhat of a paradox because you are filled with joy and wonder as you see HIM and at the same moment filled with terror at your own heart.  Go read the end of Job and his response to catching a glimpse of the AMIGHTY, read Isaiah 6 and see his response to a vision of God.

What little wisdom God has granted me, HE has granted enough for me to know that apart from receiving a steady flow of HIS life giving grace, the blood bought grace, I can only imagine the depths to which I would fall in this life.  The wonderful thing is that when I see HIM and behold HIM as beautiful I become more like HIM.  Let that hit you in the face full force.  Beholding is becoming...behold verse 18 below.

2 Corinthians 3:15 - 4:6  15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts.  16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.  17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.  ESV 2 Corinthians 4:1 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.  2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.  3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing.  4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.  5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.  6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

While it is awe striking to see and behold HIM...there is also healing for my heart in seeing its true condition...then I can REPENT for what I see and cry out and plead in desperation...ACT in faith on the promises of God for my ABBA to heal my heart and to transform me to the likeness of HIS precious Son.  Herein lies healing for the soul, herein lies the peace that goes beyond understanding as we "fix our eyes on Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the JOY set before HIM HE endured the cross..."

Psalm 16:11  You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

Father in heaven grant us (me) eyes to see, ears to hear, I long to know YOU intimately, I long to fall more in love with YOU everyday.  I know this much about myself, apart from YOUR life-giving, life-sustaining grace I have no hope...apart from YOUR Holy Spirit indwelling me I am lost ( I do believe in eternal security).  Enable me to see the wonderful things in YOUR Word, namely YOU!  Enable me to delight in YOU as I should, to love YOU as I should...enable me to fix my eyes on Jesus and to see within my heart the light of the knowledge of the glory of God.  Holy Father, please do this for YOUR glory and my joy!  In the precious and holy name of JESUS...amen!

------

Joseph, Israel’s favorite son, innocently provokes the hostility of his older brothers (37:1–11). The brothers plot against Joseph, and at the last moment determine to sell him to slave traders rather than kill him (vv. 12–28). Joseph’s blood–stained robe is brought to an unconsolable Israel as evidence Joseph is dead (vv. 29–35). The traders sell Joseph to a high Egyptian official (v. 36).

Meanwhile Judah too has troubles. When he fails to marry a widowed daughter–in–law to a younger son, as custom requires, she disguises herself as a prostitute (38:1–16). Judah makes her pregnant, and then is exposed as the father (vv. 17–30).

Standing side by side, the two stories contrast the suffering of innocent Joseph and the troubles Judah brought on himself. Both the innocent and the guilty may suffer. But the truth that God has a purpose in the suffering of the innocent will be revealed as the story of Joseph unfolds.

Key verse. 37:11: Jealousy stimulates many an evil act.

Personal application. It is better to suffer innocently than as a consequence of wrong and foolish choices.

Richards, L. O. (1991; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996). The Bible readers companion (electronic ed.) (45). Wheaton: Victor Books.

Ge 35:1-3

Return to Bethel

35 God said to Jacob, “Get up! Go to Bethel and settle there.  Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”

2 So Jacob said to his family and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you.  Purify yourselves and change your clothes.  3 We must get up and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to the God who answered me in my day of distress.  He has been with me everywhere I have gone.”

What a wonderful faith in a beautifully imperfect man.  What is beautiful about it?  It gives me great hope that I too, though incredibly imperfect, may walk with God the Father through Jesus Christ, experience HIM in an intimate, know HIM, love HIM, talk to HIM moment by moment, day by day!

God said, "Get up!" and Jacob obeyed.  Jacob mingled what he knew about the character, attributes and will of God and he ACTED on that knowledge and what God told him to do...bottom line, he obeyed!

My favorite systematic theology is Wayne Grudem's, Systematic theology : An introduction to biblical doctrine.  It is unlike any other I have read, it is well written and worshipful.  In his work he make the following statement: "The authority of Scripture means that all the words in Scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God."

That's pretty powerful stuff if you receive it...to disbelieve or disobey any word of scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.  I believe it is true!  You will not experience intimacy with God if you are not walking in obedience to what HE has revealed to you.

John 14:21 Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them, and I will love them. And I will reveal myself to each one of them."

Man...Grudem was bad enough, now Jesus is saying that if you don't obey HIS revealed Word...you don't love HIM!  What did Jesus say in Matthew 12:50 "For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother."  Basically, it is the one who obeys!

Bottom line, Jacob obeyed and then he intuitively knew to rid themselves of the idols and to purify themselves in preparation for their return to Bethel.  Anything you and I love, serve, fear, desire, long for...more than God is an idol.  It can be good stuff, it's not just the sinful things that are idols!  Our spouse, children, job, car, home, money, reputation, appearance may all be idols that divide our heart.  God will not share HIS glory with another!

So what does the man/woman look like that has a white hot intimate love relationship with Jesus.  Amazingly, as our Lord would have it our Psalm for today paints this picture.

Psalm 15

A Description of the Godly

A Davidic psalm.

     1     Lord, who can dwell in Your tent? Who can live on Your holy mountain?

     2     The one who lives honestly, practices righteousness, and acknowledges the truth in his heart —

     3     who does not slander with his tongue, who does not harm his friend or discredit his neighbor,

     4     who despises the one rejected by the Lord, but honors those who fear the Lord, who keeps his word whatever the cost,

     5     who does not lend his money at interest or take a bribe against the innocent — the one who does these things will never be moved.

I hope you did not read that and say "I can do that," no you can't.  We are brought to desperation again and again, when we come to the end of ourselves then true life and joy begins.

Ps 27:5-6 For He will conceal me in His shelter in the day of adversity; He will hide me under the cover of His tent; He will set me high on a rock.      6 Then my head will be high above my enemies around me; I will offer sacrifices in His tent with shouts of joy. I will sing and make music to the Lord.

Ps 61:4 I will live in Your tent forever  and take refuge under the shelter of Your wings.       Selah

Mt 12:6-8  But I tell you that something greater than the temple is here!  7 If you had known what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice,   you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

As we return to Bethel, Jesus says come, come to me...all who are weary come and I will give you rest.  We do not return to a place, but to a PERSON!  HE offers shelter in the day of adversity, HE offers cover, protection, rest, peace.  Let's rid ourselves of idols moment by moment, day by day, fixing our eyes on JESUS and return to HIM and dwell, abide and rest at HIS feet, in HIS presence.

Father in heaven do this for YOUR namesake, for YOUR glory and for the JOY of YOUR adopted Children.  In Jesus name, Amen!

Ge 32:26-29

26 Then He said to Jacob, “Let Me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me.” 27 “What is your name?” the man asked. “Jacob!” he replied. 28 “Your name will no longer be Jacob,”  He said. “It will be Israel  because you have struggled with God  and with men and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked Him, “Please tell me Your name.” But He answered, “Why do you ask My name?”  And He blessed him there.

Yesterday I threw out the following series of questions; do you think that God forgot about the covenant, do you think HE forgot about the promises?  OR do you think HE orchestrated these events so that Jacob would wrestle with God, pursue God, go hard after God?  I believe that God planned these events so that Jacob would pursue HIM, cry out to HIM, be desperate for HIM and finally wrestle with HIM all night.

You and I, like Jacob, were created for relationships.  The most precious relationship is designed by our creator to be our relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ, empowered by the indwelling gift of the Holy Spirit.  Second, is our relationship to our fellow image bearers.  Do this sound vaguely familiar?  Have you heard something like this before?  Oh yea, the greatest commandment!

Mt 22:37-39  He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.   38 This is the greatest and most important  commandment. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.  

Now prayerfully consider this with me for a moment...Jacob cries out to God in prayer, reminding God of HIS goodness, faithfulness and HIS PROMISES then Jacob wrestles with God all night.  (I believe this is the pre-incarnate Christ)  Not only does he wrestle with God all night, he prevails and is therefore blessed by God.

If every promise in Christ is yes and amen (2 Cor. 1:20)...I am under heavy conviction from the Holy Spirit that I have not wrestled with God in this manner, I have cried out, but not like this, not like Jacob.  I pray a lot, but not like this.  This is scary...the Pharisees prayed a lot too, but not like Jacob...there was no life transforming power in their prayers...I long to experience HIM like Jacob!  Do you see it, can you smell it, can you taste it...it is intimacy with God through Jesus Christ.

Consider the invitation from Jesus, consider who it is from, King of kings and Lord of lords, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and then pay close attention who HE is inviting to come...this is awesome and it is very encouraging.

Mt 11:25-30  At that time Jesus said,  “I praise  You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to infants.  26 Yes, Father, because this was Your good pleasure.  27 All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows  the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son desires  to reveal Him.

28 “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  29 All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me,  because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves.  30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Does your heart ache for rest are you tired, weary, worn out...DESPERATE?  Then come, come to Jesus...come to Jesus and live!

I want to end with thoughts from a man who died in 1758, he was the president of Princeton University...Jonathan Edwards.  I believe that the most profound way that we, God's children, may wrestle with our Heavenly Father (as I was writing that the image came to mind of me wrestling with my kids...how cool, God invites HIS children to wrestle with HIM!  WOW!  Can you tell, I'm getting excited about that!) is through memorizing a promise of God, meditating on a promise of God and then wrestling with God over that promise until it becomes part of who we are...could that be part of transformation, life change, being conformed to HIS image? 

Read and reread and reread Jonathan Edwards experience in meditation and meet me at the end.

"The first instance, that I remember, of that sort of inward, sweet delight in God and divine things, that I have lived much in since, was on reading those words, I Timothy 1:17. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever, Amen. As I read the words, there came into my soul, and was as it were diffused through it, a sense of the glory of the Divine Being; a new sense, quite different from any thing I ever experienced before. Never any words of Scripture seemed to me as these words did. I thought with myself, how excellent a Being that was, and how happy I should be, if I might enjoy that God, and be rapt up to him in heaven, and be as it were swallowed up in him for ever! I kept saying, and as it were singing, over these words of scripture to myself; and went to pray to God that I might enjoy Him, and prayed in a manner quite different from what I used to do; with a new sort of affection. But it never came into my thought, that there was any thing spiritual, or of a saving nature in this. 

From about that time, I began to have a new kind of apprehensions and ideas of Christ, and the work of redemption, and the glorious way of salvation by Him. An inward, sweet sense of these things, at times, came into my heart; and my soul was led away in pleasant views and contemplations of them. And my mind was greatly engaged to spend my time in readings and mediating on Christ, on the beauty and excellency of His person, and the lovely way of salvation by free grace in Him... 

"I feel an ardency of soul to be . . . emptied and annihilated, to lie in the dust and be full of Christ alone, to love Him with a holy and pure love, to trust in Him, to live on Him, and to be perfectly sanctified and made pure with a divine and heavenly purity."

I think I know what you are thinking...something like, Oh my...how awesome, how wonderful to be able to walk with the Lord and be fed from HIS precious Word like Jonathan Edwards, to experience God like this, Oh my, how awesome it would be, but I'm not Jonathan Edwards I could never be like that...and then flow the feelings of desperation and hopelessness. 

Desperation is good, remember!  THIS IS HUGE...THE KEY IS YOU ARE RIGHT IN ONE SENSE, YOU AND I WILL PROBABLY NEVER BE ABLE TO EXPRESS OURSELVES LIKE JONATHAN EDWARDS, BUT HIS EXPERIENCE WITH GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST IS OPEN TO EVERY CHILD OF GOD!  IT IS OPEN TO EVERYONE WHO WILL CRY OUT IN PRYAER, WHO WILL WRESTLE WITH GOD THROUGH MEDITATION IN AND THROUGH HIS WORD.

Remember Jesus Words in Matt 11:25...“I praise  You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to infants. 

Jesus longs for you and I to experience HIM intimately like this...come to Jesus, come and wrestle with your Heavenly Father...come!

OH God burn YOUR holy Word into my heart, our hearts and move us to pursue YOU with a white hot passion for YOUR glory and our JOY!

Love,

m

Jacob, the deceiver, is on his way home, 14 years, 4 wives, and 12 children latter he is on his way home.  God intervened and warned Laban not to say anything good or bad to Jacob, so he survived his encounter with Laban and now he is on his way to meet Esau his brother and he is afraid.  Here in Genesis 32 we have his prayer of desperation to God and Jacob reminds God of HIS covenant and promises.

Ge 32:9-12

9 Then Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac,  the Lord who said to me, ‘Go back to your land and to your family, and I will cause you to prosper, ’ 10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Indeed, I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two camps. 11 Please rescue me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid of him; otherwise, he may come and attack me, the mothers, and their children. 12 You have said, ‘I will cause you to prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted. ’ ”

Do you think that God forgot about the covenant, do you think HE forgot about the promises?  Do you think HE orchestrated these events so that Jacob would wrestle with God, pursue God, go hard after God?

In our reading in Matthew we have another who is desperate, John the Baptist...the founder of the Southern Baptist Denomination:)  just kidding.  When John heard what Jesus was doing he sent a messenger to Jesus.

Mt 11:2-6

2 When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent ⌊a message⌋ by his disciples  3 and asked Him, “Are You the One who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

4 Jesus replied to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: 5 the blind see, the lame walk, those with skin diseases are healed,  the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news.  6 And if anyone is not offended because of Me, he is blessed.”

I don't want to speculate very far, but think about the fact that John and Jesus were relatives...John grew up either with Jesus or at least knowing about him.  John baptized Jesus sees the spirit descend on our Lord, hears the testimony from heaven...amazing, awe striking...never be the same, right?  However, John hears what Jesus is doing, John sees his own circumstances, dungeon, and in response sends a messenger to ask...“Are You the One who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

You have to think that John expected it to go down a little different.  He may have expected a few benefits for the forerunner of the LORD. 

Jesus quotes Isaiah to the messenger knowing that John will understand.  Have you ever found yourself in horrible circumstances and then you get a Word from the LORD and suddenly, unexplainably you are filled with that inner peace that goes beyond understand...you have HIS peace.  I am speculating now, but I believe that John heard these words and was immediately filled with a powerful peace...and HE was good, it did not matter what happened to him, he was good.

Is 35:4-8

4     Say to the faint-hearted: “Be strong; do not fear!  Here is your God; vengeance is coming.  God’s retribution is coming; He will save you.” 5     Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6     Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy, for water will gush in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; 7     the parched ground will become a pool of water, and the thirsty land springs of water. In the haunt of jackals,  in their lairs, there will be grass, reeds, and papyrus. 8     A road will be there and a way; it will be called the Holy Way. The unclean will not travel on it, but it will be for him who walks the path. Even the fool will not go astray.

Desperation is the only appropriate posture for the children of God...when we cry out in desperation and humility, acting in faith on the promises of our heavenly Father, HE moves mountains and expands HIS Kingdom through us...HE gets the glory and we get the joy. 

2 Co 1:20  For every one of God’s promises  is “Yes” in Him. Therefore the “Amen”  is also through Him for God’s glory  through us.

We must remember that it is never about us and it is always about HIM and HIS glory being revealed to the nations, to seek and to save that which was lost.  When we come in desperation and humility HE joyfully invites us to be a part of the advance of HIS Kingdom.  Remember that "the Lord God through his Christ is graciously building a kingdom of redeemed people for their joy and for his own glory." (Ken Easley)

Father in Heaven,

I acknowledge that I am desperate for YOU, I am desperate for YOU in every area of life, I am desperate for YOU to enable me to be the man, husband, dad, friend, minister, servant that YOU have CALLED me to be...apart from YOUR Spirit filling me and dwelling within me I have no hope!  Only as YOU fill me am I able to serve in all of these areas of my life in a manner that is pleasing and honoring to YOU. 

I deserve to be in hell for all eternity and yet YOU saved me...thank you, thank you, thank you!  PLEASE ENABLE ME TO WALK, LIVE IN A MANNER THAT IS WORTHY OF YOUR CALLING, BE GLORIFIED IN AND THROUGH ME...LEAD ME IN PATHS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR YOUR NAMESAKE, FOR YOUR GLORY AND FOR MY JOY IN YOU.  I LOVE YOU BECAUSE YOU FIRST LOVED ME.

Desperately Seeking HIM!

The Wrestler (32:1–33:16)

A. Jacob’s communion with God (32:1–32)

1. The presence (32:1–2): As Jacob and his family continue on their way, angels come and meet them.

2. The plan (32:3–5): Upon learning that Esau is nearby, a frightened Jacob sends messengers to his brother, promising him great riches.

3. The panic (32:6–8): The messengers return with some terrifying news: Esau is coming with four hundred men to meet Jacob.

4. The prayer (32:9–12): Jacob “reminds” God of the covenant he established with Abraham and cries out for help.

5. The payment (32:13–21): He attempts to bribe Esau by sending him great herds and flocks of goats, rams, camels, cattle, and donkeys.

6. The power struggle (32:22–32)

a. The travail (32:22–26): As Jacob is waiting alone by the Jabbok River during the night, a man comes and wrestles with him until dawn.

b. The triumph (32:27–29): Jacob maintains the upper hand, and God changes his name from Jacob (meaning, “the deceiver”) to Israel (“one who struggles with God”).

c. The testimony (32:30–32): Jacob calls the place Peniel, meaning “face of God.” Following this event, he will (literally) never walk the same again!

Willmington, H. L. (1999). The Outline Bible (Ge 32:1-32). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.

It is awesome to consider that our LORD has great compassion for HIS sheep; Old Testament and New Testament alike speak to God's love and compassion for the scattered sheep.  HIS passion for HIS own glory and HIS lovingkindness moved HIM to send HIS son to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 9:10).

Jesus teaches us how to pray, to pray that the LORD of the harvest will send out workers...we are told that the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few!

The last two Sundays in class we have discussed how God through HIS precious Word inspires us or moves us to pray, it tells us what we should pray or it informs our prayers and sometimes those very prayers become incarnate through us, meaning our acting in faith is the answer to our own prayer.  I believe that this is one of those places.  We pray to the LORD of the harvest to send laborers and then HE sends us if we will have eyes to see and ears to hear.

Mt 9:36-10:1 --Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. 37     Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. 38     “Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

10:1     Jesus summoned (called) His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

So the need is great, just look at our own community, church, class, your family and my family...the need is great and you and I are among the called...praise God!

Rom 1:6 including yourselves who are also Jesus Christ’s by calling:

Ro 11:29  since God’s gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable.  

1 Co 1:24  Yet to those who are called,  both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom,

It is an awesome and wonderful thing to be among the called...

Rom 8:29-32

29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

To be called means that you are justified, to be justified means that you are glorified!  Wonderful news and incomprehensible blessings brings great responsibility.  What is that responsibility?  Those that are called are sent, they are sent as sheep among wolves...but you are not sent our naked.  You are sent with the very authority of JESUS CHRIST!

Mt 28:18-20

The Great Commission

18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

As we move and mobilize to Love Memphis remember you have been called and you have been sent by the one who has ALL AUTHORITY OVER HEAVEN AND EARTH.

Consider all of the instances of faith in our reading the past few days...the question to us is will we ACT IN FAITH ON THE PROMISES OF GOD and experience the incredible JOY HE long to share with us, HIS children, as we journey with HIM.

Father in heaven enable your children, enable us to combine faith and trust in YOU to do what YOU have called us to do...to simply surrender ourselves to YOU and YOU alone and say "Here am I, send me."  Please Father do this in a manner that brings YOU glory and fills us with YOUR joy, the joy of our LORD and Savior.  We love you, we love you...we love you!  In Jesus name, Amen.

Bethel will show up many times as we read through God's Word this year.  I have included a brief excerpt from Smith's Bible dictionary to give some perspective.  Steve Marcum preached on this last Sunday evening.  His point was simply that we all have a Bethel, a place or places in our lives where we had a life changing encounter with the living God.  He pointed out how valuable it is, especially at low points in our lives, to go back to our Bethel and remember what God did and how powerfully HE moved on our behalf, and how HE did this at great cost to HIMSELF, HIS only begotten. 

Beth´el (the house of God).

1. A well-known city and holy place of central Palestine, about 12 miles north of Jerusalem. If we are to accept the precise definition of Gen. 12:8, the name of Bethel would appear to have existed at this spot even before the arrival of Abram in Canaan. Gen. 12:8; 13:3, 4. Bethel was the scene of Jacob’s vision. Gen. 28:11-19; 31:13. Jacob lived there. Gen. 35:1-8. The original name was Luz. Judges 1:22, 23. After the conquest Bethel is frequently heard of. In the troubled times when there was no king in Israel, it was to Bethel that the people went up in their distress to ask counsel of God. Judges 20:18, 26, 31; 21:2; Authorized Version, “house of God.” Here was the ark of the covenant. Judges 20:26-28; 21:4. Later it is named as one of the holy cities to which Samuel went in circuit. 1 Sam. 7:16. Here Jeroboam placed one of the two calves of gold. Toward the end of Jeroboam’s life Bethel fell into the hands of Judah. 2 Chron. 13:19. Elijah visited Bethel, and we hear of “sons of the prophets” as resident there. 2 Kings 2:2, 3. But after the destruction of the Baal worship by Jehu, Bethel comes once more into view. 2 Kings 10:29. After the desolation of the northern kingdom by the king of Assyria, Bethel still remained an abode of priests. 2 Kings 17:27, 28. In later times Bethel is named only once under the scarcely-altered name of Beiti^n. Its ruins still lie on the right-hand side of the road from Jerusalem to Nablûs.

Smith, W. (1997). Smith's Bible dictionary. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Keep Bethel in mind as we move back to Matthew and the thread of faith, trust and acting on the Word of God.  Because of his Bethel, Jacob acted on the promise God gave him.  In Matthew 9:18 we are told that a Synagogue leader acted in faith requesting healing for his daughter, HE raised her from the dead!  In route Jesus healed the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years...why did HE heal her?  She acted on what she knew about Jesus and she was healed by her faith in HIM.

In Matt 9:28 Jesus heals 2 blind men, why?  They acted on what they had heard about Jesus.  Jesus asks them point blank, "do you believe" and they answered "yes, Lord."  “Do you believe  that I can do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they answered Him.   Jesus said to them, "let it be done for you according to your faith!"

THEY ACTED ON WHAT THEY KNEW ABOUT THE CHARACTER, ATTRIBUTES AND WILL OF JESUS.

Back to Bethel, you and I are Bethel, we are the house of God, to the extent that HIS Holy Spirit indwells us.  When Jesus refers to HIS house being a house of prayer...I believe that HE is talking about us!

Go back to your Bethel and remember, remember your first love and know that you are the house of God, HE dwells within you and then ACT, LIVE, TRUST, and exercise FAITH in HIM to do what HE has promised.  LIVE ACCORDING TO YOUR FUTURE...NOT YOUR PAST!

HOLY FATHER...ENABLE US TO FIX OUR EYES ON JESUS THE AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF OUR FAITH AND ENABLE US TO ACT ON WHAT WE KNOW TO BE TRUE ABOUT THE incomprehensible triune God...please do this for YOUR glory and our joy in you.  Father enable us to take refuge in YOU, lead us in paths of righteousness for YOUR name sake...as we gaze upon YOUR Holy Word with our physical eyes enable us to see YOUR face with the eyes of our hearts so that we might become like YOU...transformed from one degree of glory to another.  We are desperate for YOU!  In JESUS NAME...Amen!

Refuge in the Lord

     1     I have taken refuge in the Lord. How can you say to me, “Escape to the mountain like a bird!   2     For look, the wicked string the bow; they put the  arrow on the bowstring to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart. 3     When the foundations are destroyed,  what can the righteous do?”  4     The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven.  His eyes watch; He examines  everyone.  5     The Lord examines the righteous and the wicked.        He hates the lover of violence.  6     He will rain burning coals and sulfur  on the wicked;    a scorching wind will be their portion.  

     7     For the Lord is righteous; He loves righteous deeds.  The upright will see His face.

Under the heading "Here I am" I wrote the following thoughts concerning Jesus teaching on the two foundations.

Who is the wise man/woman?  The one who hears and acts!  Not the perfect man or woman, but the one who hears the Word and acts, the one who hears, listens and says, "Here I am, LORD!"  It is not just hearing the Word, it is combining hearing with faith, trust and action...the righteous shall walk by...faith!  You notice storms come to both, but how they weather the same storm is very different.

You must be in the Word to be able to hear, you must meditate on the Word to be able to say, Here I am, send me.

Today's reading contains the same thread concerning faith.  What in the world do you do with Jesus words in Matt 9:2 to the paralytic?   Just then  some men  brought to Him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Have courage, son, your sins are forgiven.” I am not going to try to explain this one, but it is worthy of much meditation...how does seeing the faith of friends translate into forgiveness, maybe it was the faith of the whole group, including the paralytic...I don't know.  I do know that Jesus saw their faith and acted on it.

So a few days ago we see the Christ stunning faith of the Centurion, the next day we see the "little faith" of the disciples and today Jesus tells us of the faith of men carrying a paralytic.

Now backup a bit in Genesis, Rebekah, when she is pregnant with Jacob and Esau wondered what is going on inside me and God gave her this explanation.

Gen. 25:23 And the Lord said to her: Two nations are in your womb; two people will ⌊come⌋ from you and be separated.  One people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.

Rebekah received a word from God, the older will serve the younger and yet like Abraham (sleeping with Hagar) took matters into her own hands.  God would have fulfilled HIS promise, HIS Word will not return void!  Jacob, surpplanter, did not need to get Esau to sell his birth right, he did not need to deceive his father to have the blessing, God had promised that he would be blessed.  Rebekah and Jacob did not trust God, they took matters into their own hands, God blessed him in spite of their deceit, but that deceit caused Jacob much heart ache and trouble as we will soon see.

As I read and prayed I was convicted of the countless times that I have tried to take matters into my own hands and obtain the blessing now or through my methods.  Satan offered Jesus a short cut to gain the world, I could hear him saying...you don't have to go to the cross, you don't have to suffer like that...simply bow down to me and I will give it all to you...avoid the pain, the suffering, avoid the bloody mess...I will give it to you, just bow to me.

We read Jesus response just a few chapters back in Matt 4:10...Then Jesus told him, “Go away,  Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve only  Him.”

The awesome thing about the way Jesus answered Satan, is that HE answered him in the same way that you and I may answer...WITH THE WORD OF GOD!  The thing is that you never know when the attack is going to come that is why you must have the Word of God stored up in your heart, treasured up, hid in your heart.  Then when the attack comes you draw the "Sword of the Spirit" (the Word) and lay a deadly blow on the temptation that so "easily entangles."  If we long to have a VISIBLE FAITH, visible to Jesus and visible to others then we must have the Word stored up, you must spend time with the Lover of our souls daily to be able to do this.  It is not easy, nor for the faint of heart...we must combine the hearing of the Word with faith and action, faith and trust...some times that action is moving and doing and some times that action is being still and knowing that HE is God!  Psalm 4:10 

Holy Father, Holy Father, Holy Father...would YOU do this work in me, in my heart...I am desperate for YOU to work and move on my behalf, by YOUR indwelling Spirit enable me to love YOU, enable me to pursue YOU with a singleness of heart...Oh God, be glorified in my heart, mind, soul, be glorified in my precious family, in my marriage, in our class, in our church, in our community, country, world...be glorified...for YOUR namesake lead me in paths of righteousness.

m

Proverbs 3:9-10

Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest; 10 then your barns will be completely filled,  and your vats will overflow with new wine.

Yesterday we witnessed the faith of the Centurion, a faith that amazed Jesus...amazing!  A Roman soldier, a Roman officer displays a Christ stunning faith and then the men that have watched HIM for some time now, they watched HIM heal, they watched HIM teach with authority and they display "little faith."  It is understandable for the father in Mark 9:24... "the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe! Help my unbelief.”   He had not been with Jesus, he had only heard reports of this man who heals, and as any parent would, in desperation took his son to Jesus in hopes that he would be delivered from this demon. 

As you move through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John you see Jesus displaying HIS authority in several ways:

1. He has authority over disease.
2. He has authority over demons.
3. He has authority over sin.
4. He has authority over suffering.
5. He has authority over nature.
6. He has authority over the nations.
7. He has authority EVERYTHING!

At the end of session one in the Truth Project DVD we were asked the question..."Do you really believe what you believe is really real?"  The good Sunday School response is of course I do.  Do you really believe that Jesus has authority over disease, demons, sin, suffering, nature, the nations, everything?  If you and I believe it then why do I respond to my circumstances the way I do?  Why do you?  Do you fear the storm or do you fear Jesus?

My brothers and sisters I contend that we have more of Jesus available to us than did the father of the demon possessed boy, than did the Centurion, than did the disciples!

Mark...how can you say that they were there with HIM, they saw HIM in the flesh, they walked with HIM, talked with HIM, they knew HIM in person...WHAT PART OF THAT IS NOT AVAILABLE TO YOU AND I?  OK, the flesh part.

What did Jesus say as HE told the story of the Rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16?  “But he told him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead. ’ ”

Consider at this time they only had Moses and the prophets, we have the whole counsel of God's Word.  Today we have Christ in us the hope of glory, as HIS children we have implanted within our hearts the "Spirit of Adoption by which we cry Abba, Father," (Rom. 8:15)  We have so much more...it is God's Word that will not return void!

Father in heaven, O LORD, Yahweh, I believe, help my unbelief...YOU have revealed YOURSELF so beautifully to those who would see, the heavens declare YOUR glory.  YOUR precious Word allows us to gaze upon YOUR face and be transformed...grant us eyes to see and ears to hear, to taste and see that YOU are good.

2 Co 4:6-7  For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness” —He has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge  of God’s glory  in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power  may be from God and not from us.

Let's gaze upon HIS beautiful face together this year and be transformed...beholding is becoming, becoming like HIM.

love,

m

If you do a careful search I believe that you will find 11 men in scripture with the name Eliezer.  The name simply and profoundly means "God is my help."  In the title I listed the different ways that it could be translated from the Hebrew.  You have to go back to Gen 15:2 to find the servants name, I almost titled today's post "the unnamed servant," until I found him in chapter 15.

Ge 15:2 But Abram said, “Lord God, what can You give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 

At the end of his life Abraham is still walking in faith with God, he is still trusting God's promises and taking God at HIS Word.  Remember, Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.  By faith he sent his servant on a 500 mile journey...he did not have a Hummer.  He shared the promise with his servant and sent him on the journey.

Ge 24:7  The Lord, the God of heaven,  who took me from my father’s house and from my native land,  who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘I will give this land to your offspring ’— He will send His angel before you,  and you can take a wife for my son from there.

This promise is repeated in God's Word multiple times, you may be wondering why I am keying in on this particular promise...it is because that you and I are included in this promise spoken to Abraham thousands of years ago! 

Gal 3:16 16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say “and to seeds,” as though referring to many, but and to your seed,   referring to one, who is Christ.

In our reading in Matthew you have a leper cleansed, today that would be like a person with full blown AIDS being healed.  The leper came to Jesus saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.  Reaching out His hand He touched him, saying, 'I am willing; be made clean.'"  A few verses later the Centurion comes and speaks to Jesus.

Matt 8:8-10  “Lord,” the centurion replied, “I am not worthy to have You come under my roof. But only say the word, and my servant will be cured.  9 For I too am a man under authority, having soldiers under my command.  I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” 10 Hearing this, Jesus was amazed and said to those following Him, “I assure you: I have not found anyone in Israel with so great a faith!

Eliezer, the leper and the Centurion all acted in faith, each one knew something of the character and attributes of God and acted on that knowledge.  None of them had the whole counsel of God's Word that we have today.  The promises that were true for them are true for you and I.  The primary difference is that we have the ability to constantly review and meditate on those promises.

How many times in scripture do you see Jesus amazed at a great faith?  More often it is "O ye of little faith."  I don't know if we can still amaze HIM, Jesus, with our faith since HE is omniscient and all.  I long to have a faith that would have amazed Jesus while HE was on earth in the flesh.  If you are like me, you are wondering how...how can I have a faith like that?  I believe that HE gave us the answer in Proverbs today.  I know that these words are very familiar to many of you, but please pause and meditate on them for a moment...take them with you into today.

Proverbs 3:1-6  My son, don’t forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commands; for they will bring you many days, a full life,   and well-being. Never let loyalty and faithfulness leave you.  Tie them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.  Then you will find favor and high regard in the sight of God and man.  Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths.

Father in Heaven,

Again and again I acknowledge my desperation for YOU...please Father enable me by YOUR indwelling Spirit to trust you with all my heart, not to look to myself, to think about YOU in everything and then cling to the promise that YOU will faithfully direct my paths...grant me a faith that might amaze YOU, I believe, help my unbelief!  Please do this for YOUR glory and my joy.

I love you,

M

It is so awesome to continue to have a sense of awe and wonder as I gaze into scripture day after day.  I love how God's Word is inexhaustible.  I will never forget my Greek professor saying that after teaching Romans, in Greek, for 20 years he still felt like a child every time he looks into that wonderful book of the bible.  That's amazing to me, 20 years of studying Romans in the original language, having a great grasp on the original language and still feeling like a little child...that is cool...that is a glimpse of the depth, magnitude, majesty, glory of our Great God!  He alone is worthy of our deepest devotion.  It is also wonderful to me how I can continue to fall deeper and deeper in love with the one who died for me and called me to be HIS adopted son...I love HIS Word and I love HIM...not nearly enough, but I want to pursue HIM with a passion and lead as many others to do the same.

You have to love guys like Abraham, David, Peter...all of these great men and women of God.  Why would I say that?  God did incredible things through them even with their blatant weaknesses.  How many times did Abraham lie about his wife to foreign kings?  He slept with Sara's slave Hagar!  You know David's sins and Peter denied our LORD three times and yet GOD DID WONDERFUL AND INCREDIBLE THINGS THROUGH THESE.

I wonder if Abraham was tested because he had lied...I don't know.  We do know that God intended to test Abraham, Gen 22:1 states it directly, "God tested Abraham."

Gen 22:1--After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered.

Gen 22:11--But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” He replied, “Here I am.”

Praise God, Abraham passed the test, he responded "here I am."  Those words are heard several times in scripture, one you have heard often, another is a little more obscure...Isaiah and Ananias.

Isa 6:8--Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Who should I send? Who will go for Us? I said: Here I am. Send me.

Acts 9:10--Now in Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Here I am, Lord!” he said.

All of these had the same response when they heard the voice of the LORD...Here I am!  It appears to be like a soldier saying to his commanding officer, "here I am Sir, ready and waiting your orders.  What is the key, what is the difference?  We all are painfully human, we all bear the marks of the fall, we all, if we are honest know that the heart is "deceitful, desperately wicked" in ourselves and in every human.  So what is the difference?  Remember what scripture said about Abraham in Gen 15?

Ge 15:6 Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.

Ro 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness. 

Mt 7:24-27  “Therefore,  everyone who hears these words  of Mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of Mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. And its collapse was great!”

Who is the wise man/woman?  The one who hears and acts!  Not the perfect man or woman, but the one who hears the Word and acts, the one who hears, listens and says, "Here I am, LORD!"  It is not just hearing the Word, it is combining hearing with faith, trust and action...the righteous shall walk by...faith!  You notice storms come to both, but how they weather the same storm is very different.

You must be in the Word to be able to hear, you must meditate on the Word to be able to say, Here I am, send me.

Oh LORD Jesus, grant us eyes to see and ears to hear the wonderful things in YOUR WORD and respond in obedience saying here I am...here I am.

Please do this for YOUR glory and our joy...in Jesus name, Amen.

It is stunning how perspective changes when you move your eyes from one object to another or you slightly shift position.  Like being a few feet from the rim of the Grand Canyon and then you walk up to the edge and...WOW!  All of a sudden you are filled with awe and wonder...you are captivated with the beauty and the immensity of the Canyon.

My experience was a little like that this morning.  Every time I read through this part of Genesis I feel sorry for Lot's wife.  I know she should have known better, but I still feel for her...her home is going up in flames and she turns and bam...pillar of salt.  Then as I moved on to Matt 6 & 7 and the Holy Spirit began to speak to me primarily through a verse I memorized many years ago...6:33 seek first the kingdom of God   and His righteousness,  and all these things will be provided for you. 

You may remember from a few days ago we discussed that the kingdom of God is not a place, but the rule and reign of God in the hearts and minds of HIS people.  I am going to speculate now, but I think that Lot's wife loved more than her home, I believe that she must have loved her lifestyle.  In Luke 17:32, Jesus is talking about HIS second coming and tells them to remember Lot's wife. 

Lk 17:28-33

28 It will be the same as it was in the days of Lot:  people went on eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building. 29 But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed  them all. 30 It  will be like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed.  31 On that day, a man on the housetop, whose belongings are in the house, must not come down to get them. Likewise the man who is in the field must not turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife!  33 Whoever tries to make his life secure   will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 

Maybe I'm not speculating, why would Jesus have put it in this context, why would HE say, Whoever tries to make his life secure   will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it, immediately following the statement to remember Lot's wife?  I think that she loved her life in this world...then the question came to me from the Holy Spirit...Mark, what about you?  Like a good American Christian, I ignored the sill small voice and pressed on in my devotional reading...remember it's really all about being able to check the little box.

Then it happened, I walked up and looked over the edge of Psalm 8 and WOW!  Then my thoughts changed from feeling sorry for Lot's wife to...OH LORD, how after seeing YOUR gracious loving care for her and her family, how could she have had any desire to look back, how could she have been anything but consumed and captivated with YOUR beauty, glory and splendor...HOW?

Then God did something really unfair...HE asked me the same questions...Mark, after everything I have done for you, saving you, keeping you, calling you to serve me, giving you a wonderful loving wife, beautiful children how could you do anything but be captivated by MY glory, how could you fix your gaze on the things of this world when I have revealed MYSELF to you?  I formed you in your mothers womb, I knew you before the foundation of the world, I have loved you with an everlasting love...I gave my only begotten SON that you might know and love ME.  HOW COULD YOU!

And then I caught a glimpse of HIS glory and was filled with awe, wonder, gratitude...and then repented for my hearts attitude a few moments before.  The wonderful and horrible thing about catching a glimpse of HIS glory is you see HIM more clearly, (WONDERFUL), and you see yourself more clearly, (horrible), in the presence of HIS marvelous light.  See Isaiah 6 and Isaiah's experience.

I have gone on much too long...I love you all...Mark

Psalm 8

God’s Glory, Man’s Dignity

For the choir director: on the Gittith . A Davidic psalm.

Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is Your name throughout the earth!  You have covered the heavens with Your majesty.   2     Because of Your adversaries, You have established a stronghold from the mouths of children and nursing infants, to silence the enemy and the avenger. 3     When I observe Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You set in place, 4     what is man that You remember him, the son of man that You look after him? 5     You made him little less than God  and crowned him with glory and honor. 6     You made him lord over the works of Your hands; You put everything under his feet:   7     all the sheep and oxen, as well as animals in the wild, 8     birds of the sky, and fish of the sea passing through the currents of the seas.      9     Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is Your name throughout the earth! 

Ge 17:1b  “I am El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life NLT.

Ge 17:1b  “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless NASB.

Ge 17:1b  “I am God Almighty.  Live in My presence and be devout HCSB. 

The end of verse 1 caught my attention, "live in My presence and be devout," or be devoted, or be single hearted toward God.  Several years ago I read a wonderful little book called, "the practice of the presence OF GOD" by brother Lawrence.  The book was written by a monk over 300 years ago who practiced the presence of God in the simple and mundane things of life.

It is possible to experience God and give HIM glory in the very ordinary tasks of life, the changing of a diaper, taking the kids to school, working on a budget (I really dislike budget stuff) all of the unexciting, mundane tasks...they can be done to the glory of God, they can be done delighting in, and practicing HIS presence through prayer and meditating on HIS life giving Word.

The key is simply treasuring the things of God, HIS Word, talking to HIM through prayer...treasuring HIM and loving others, being devoted to HIM and longing to share that with others.

Proverbs 2:1-5

My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, 2  listening closely  to wisdom and directing your heart to understanding; 3 furthermore, if you call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding, 4   if you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure, 5     then you will understand the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God.

To store them up you must memorize them, to delight in HIS Word and search for them as hidden treasure you must cry out for the Holy Spirit to enable you to have that desire and delight...it does NOT come naturally!  You cannot come at this with any level of indifference or a casual attitude.  You MUST be sober minded, determined to pursue HIM with all your might...acknowledging that apart from HIS indwelling Spirit you are desperate and hopeless.

Matt 6:19-21

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Father in Heaven,

Let this be true of us, let this be true of me, of my family...by your indwelling wonderful Holy Spirit enable me to pursue YOU, to love YOU, to treasure YOU and YOUR Holy Word.  I acknolwedge that left to myself I would go headlong after the things of this world...I am desperate for you, desperate for you to give me the desire, desperate for YOU to complete the good work YOU began.  Father do this in a manner that YOU get all the glory and we, your children, are filled with YOUR joy...the joy of our master, Savior, LORD, and King. 

I love you because YOU first loved me.

Remember context is king, Matt 5:48 is given in the context of loving your enemies, God knows that we cannot live a perfect life apart from HIS indwelling Spirit, Christ in us the hope of glory, and the only thing perfect about us is the Jesus in us...it is God's children being cloaked in the righteousness of Christ that makes us perfect.  So on one level that makes this verse a little easier, but God also knows that with HIS indwelling Spirit we ARE ABLE TO LOVE OUR ENEMIES by HIS supernatural work in our hearts and minds.  The problem here is our own will, we don't want to love those who have hurt us or hurt one of our loved ones...we want to hold on to the anger and bitterness toward them, we want vengeance.  I know that when I am in the flesh I do...I want them to pay!  (Hey, I'm just being honest.)

When we hold on to these emotions of anger it is like a cancer in our hearts, and it poisons everything and everyone we touch.  It is a form of meditation, a destructive from.  We think that getting back at the one that hurt us will make us feel better or if something bad happens to them then we would be alright because justice would be served.  The problem is it never works, because if that is our state of mind then we are still in the flesh and will continue to be miserable.  There is only one thing, one person that can bring healing to our sick soul, or health to our cancer ridden hearts and that is the blazing glory of God.  John Piper explains this better than anyone.

If we exchange God's glory for lesser things, he gives us up to lived out parables of depravity...the point is this: we were created to know and treasure the glory of God above all things; and when we trade that treasure for images, everything is disordered.  The sun of God's glory was made to shine at the center of the solar system of our soul.  When it does, all the planets of our life are help in their proper orbit.  When the sun of God's glory is displaced, everything flies apart.  The healing of the soul begins by restoring glory of God to its flaming, all attracting place at the center.  We are starved for the glory of God, not self.  No one goes to the Grand Canyon to increase self-esteem.  There is greater healing for the soul in beholding splendor than in beholding self (Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ, John Piper).

This applies to everything in our lives, anything you love, serve, fear, desire, or want more than God is an idol in your life, and that includes vengeance.

I love the way Piper puts it...the healing of the soul begins by restoring the glory of God to its flaming, all attracting place at the center...the center of our souls.  Healing comes by meditating on HIS Word, thinking HIS thoughts after HIM...that is the only way to love your enemies, it is the only way to have peace of soul and heart and it is the only way to be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.

John 14:6 Jesus told him, “I am  the way,  the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Laboring, praying, meditating together to keep God's blazing glory, HIS life giving glory, at the center of our hearts and souls...for HIS glory and our Joy!

I find it amazing in scripture that God clearly communicates HIS will and people do the exact opposite.  God commands Noah and his family to multiply and fill the earth and in Babble we find them trying to make a name for themselves.  It is a good thing that we are spiritually immune to longing for recognition from others...did you detect a hint of sarcasm:)  I still say that 1 Tim 4:7b is the way to go, I'm not saying that I have this down, but it is my prayer and desire to...  discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness...if by the Holy Spirit, I discipline myself then God does not have to:)  Some may call that being chicken, I call it...I started to write something prideful...I call it God protecting HIS children.

I love the beatitudes, like the fruit of the Spirit, it is not something that we labor to do, they are not character attributes that we seek to incorporate into our persona...it is an outworking of a heart that has been made new.  2 Co 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.  One brief thought from the Beatitudes, from Matt 5:3-10 you have 8 statements that begin "Blessed are," the first and last statements conclude with "for theirs IS the Kingdom of Heaven," the other 6 conclude "they shall."  SO WHAT?  What is the significance, one thing that jumps out is that simply IF YOU ARE A SPIRIT FILLED CHILD OF GOD the attitude of the Beatitudes will be yours.  We know that the "Kingdom of Heaven" is not a place, but it is the rule and reign of God in the hearts and minds of HIS children...this we may experience here and now individually and as a part of HIS church...the other 6 beatitudes we will not experience until Jesus returns to begin HIS universally public rule and reign.

Matthew summarizes the preaching of Jesus in a passage famous as the “Sermon on the Mount” (chaps. 5–7). Jesus begins with a series of statements known as the “Beatitudes” (5:1–12). These surprising statements of blessing underline the difference between human values and God’s and call us to view life and success God’s way. As salt and light, believers must savor and illuminate God’s ways, which alone can preserve and guide humanity (vv. 13–16). Christ rejects the charge of critics that His teaching is intended to abolish the Law and the Prophets. Instead Christ has come to explain the real meaning of (“fulfill”) the Law (v. 17). His explanation of Law reveals the defects in the Pharisees’ claim to righteousness (vv. 18–20). In a series of examples Jesus shows that God demands righteous intent as well as lawful acts. Righteousness is a matter of the heart and not only behavior (vv. 21–42). In calling for “perfection” Jesus reminds us that true righteousness is actually found only in being like God (vv. 43–47).

Key verse. 5:20: Legal righteousness is not enough for God.

Personal application. If our heart is right, we will do right.

“Blessed are” (5:3). The text doesn’t say those Jesus discusses will be blessed, but that they are. It is better to be poor in spirit, to mourn, and to be meek, than to adopt the attitudes of the world. The poor in spirit recognize their spiritual destitution and depend on God. Those who mourn are sensitive to their spiritual faults and seek God’s help and comfort. The meek are malable, open, and responsive to God. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are the only ones who seek it.

The merciful both forgive and have compassion for others and are thus sensitive to God’s forgiveness that frees them from guilt and comforts them. The pure are purified by their devotion to God and so are spiritually able to sense His presence. The qualities so far named equip us to bring peace to others, although they also make us vulnerable to persecution. Our reward is to be called “sons of God” now and to experience His present kingdom rule in our lives.

Richards, L. O. (1991; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996). The Bible readers companion (electronic ed.) (606). Wheaton: Victor Books.

Pursuing HIM together!

M

It is incredibly encouraging for me to see throughout scripture how God remembered HIS people and HIS promises and was ALWAYS faithful to keep them.  God remembers, HE remembers you, HE remembers me...in those moments when it feels like you are all alone, HE remembers and HE is present, HE is with you.

Gen 8:1--But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided.

Gen 19:29--Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

Gen 30:22--Then God remembered Rachel, and God gave heed to her and opened her womb.

Exod 2:24--So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

I don't know about you, but I love King David, he is so transparent, we have his prayer life laid out in front of us, we see him strong in his faith and we see him in absolute desperation.  Another aspect of David's life that is so encouraging to me is that he was a really BIG sinner and yet God calls him a man after God's own heart (1 Sam 13:14, Acts 13:22).  Indeed, there are always consequences for sin in David's life and in ours, but God is always longing to restore us to an intimate relationship with HIMSELF.

In the next few verses look how David is all over the map emotionally, his feelings run the gamut of human emotions and if I am honest they run the gamut of my own.  In Psalm 43 you find him despondent and in despair and then moments later you find him preaching to himself and encouraged...hoping in God!

In Psalm 22, a Messianic Psalm, he begins,  My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning.

Ps 27:10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me, But the Lord will take me up.

Ps 43:2     For You are the God of my strength; why have You rejected me?  Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?   

3 O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your dwelling places. 4 Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And upon the lyre I shall praise You, O God, my God.      5     Why are you in despair, O my soul?  And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.

He concludes Psalm 4 with "In peace I will both lie down and sleep, For You alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety."

How can we hope like King David, he had so much...I hope you realize we have so much MORE!  We are blessed with ALL OF GOD'S WORD!  We are blessed to know the end of the story.  David knew that Messiah would come, but I don't think he ever would have imagined God would do it the way HE did...by sending HIS OWN SON TO DIE ON A CROSS!

HOW CAN WE HOPE BETTER THAN KING DAVID?

Mt 4:16-17 “The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light, And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, Upon them a Light dawned.” 17     From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Mt 4:19  And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

We who were dead in our sins and trespasses have been called into HIS marvelous light, we have Christ in us the hope of glory, and we are called to join HIM in inviting others to come, come and buy food that will satisfy without cost, come...taste and see that the LORD is good, come and drink.  It is hard to call others to something you have doubts about.

in verse 2 of Psalm 4 David writes, "How long will you love what is worthless and pursue a lie? HCSB"

The world is constantly setting forth, very persuasively, what we NEED to be happy, fulfilled and satisfied and if you and I are not constantly grounded and rooted in God's Word we will be tossed every direction believing the lies of the world.  This is not new...it started with Adam and Eve..."did God really say."  Satan caused Eve to doubt God's Word.

Jeremiah 2 says it most clearly to me...13 “For my people have done two evil things: (1) They have abandoned me— the fountain of living water. And (2)they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!

Bottom line they are seeking satisfaction in everything but God!

Ps 90:14  O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness, That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

Longing to be satisfied in HIM alone!

Once you get past the shock of how long people lived before the flood something else appears that is quite unnatural for those created in the image of God...then he died...then he died...then he died...What is unnatural about death Mark, scripture tells us that it is appointed for man to die once, then come judgement Heb. 9:27.  The unnatural part is that we were created for life with God so death is very unnatural.  Since sin entered the material world Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost, now the only way to escape this sin infested world is through physical death.

There is one name missing from the list below, his record is given in Genesis 5:21-24, he is the father of the oldest man to ever live on planet earth. 

Gen 5:5--So Adam’s life lasted 930 years; then he died.

Gen 5:8--So Seth’s life lasted 912 years; then he died.

Gen 5:11--So Enosh’s life lasted 905 years; then he died.

Gen 5:14--So Kenan’s life lasted 910 years; then he died.

Gen 5:17--So Mahalalel’s life lasted 895 years; then he died.

Gen 5:20--So Jared’s life lasted 962 years; then he died.

Gen 5:27--So Methuselah’s life lasted 969 years; then he died.

Gen 5:31--So Lamech’s life lasted 777 years; then he died.

Gen 9:29--So Noah’s life lasted 950 years; then he died.

Ge 5:21-24 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. 22 Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. 23  So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24  Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

It is said of Enoch that he walked with God..."Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him."  Personally, I believe that this is how it was supposed to work before sin entered the world.  You would be born, live a really long time, learn to walk with God and then HE would take you, no death!  The word "walk" simply means fellowship and obedience resulting in divine favor.  God sought to work this through Israel and now seeks to work this through the church...through you and me!

Acts 4:13 Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.

began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.

I long for this to be true of my life, I long for this to be true of my family, I long for this to be true of our class and our church...that the world would begin to recognize that we have spent time with Jesus.  For you and I that is spending time in HIS precious Word, memorizing, meditating, praying...falling more in love with HIM every day!  That at the end of our lives it might be said of us...HE/SHE WALKED WITH GOD!

In Genesis 6 the flood comes...think about the fact that only 8 people survived...if you want to know what God thinks about sin consider that only 8 lived and then consider the CROSS...come, come to Jesus...taste and see that the LORD, YAHWEH, is GOOD!

Matt 4:4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

The tree of life is mentioned literally in Genesis and Revelation and it is mentioned figuratively in the Proverbs, it is referenced 11 times in the Bible.  The tree of the knowledge of good and evil shows up 2 times, in yesterdays and today's reading.  God did not create us to know evil, HE created us to know only good, that is, to only know HIM!  The entire bible story is God revealing what had to take place to restore HIS IMAGE bearers to the Tree of Life as we see at the end of Revelation, what had to take place to create a kingdom of priests.

One of my seminary professors, Ken Easley, wrote a book that I recommend, The Illustrated Guide to Biblical History.  In his work Ken gives a one sentence summary of the Bible, audacious I know...here it is... "The Lord God through His Christ is graciously building a kingdom of redeemed people for their joy and for His own glory."

It is amazing how the world always presents evil as exciting, mysterious and thrilling, while in reality it is nothing of the kind..."the thief has come to steal, kill and destroy."  Evil always leads to and ends in death, spiritual death!

As God's providence would have it our memory verse comes into play with our reading today...anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! NLT  New life has begun...I love that sound...how precious the words of John 3:16, who ever believes in HIM should not perish, but has everlasting life.  In Jesus, we have been restored to the tree of life spiritually...come, come and be satisfied, come and delight in HIM, delight in the only one who can satisfy your soul.

As we pursue HIM this year through HIS precious Word, taught by the gift of HIS indwelling Spirit, Christ in us the hope of glory...get ready for exciting, get ready to see the great and mighty things that Jeremiah spoke of in Jer. 33:3.  And remember..."The Lord God through His Christ is graciously building a kingdom of redeemed people for their joy and for His own glory."

TREE OF LIFE — the tree in the Garden of Eden that bestowed continuing life (Gen. 2:9, 17; 3:1–24). Before Adam and Eve sinned, they had free access to the tree of life; after their act of rebellion, two Cherubim guarded the way to its fruit.

Adam and Eve’s inability to eat from this tree after their sin showed that they failed to gain immortality, or eternal life. Because of their sin, they were subject to death and dying. This condition lasted until the coming of Jesus Christ, the second Adam, who offers eternal life to all who believe in Him (John 3:16; 1 John 5:11–12).

Youngblood, R. F., Bruce, F. F., Harrison, R. K., & Thomas Nelson Publishers. (1995). Nelson's new illustrated Bible dictionary. Rev. ed. of: Nelson's illustrated Bible dictionary.; Includes index. Nashville: T. Nelson.

TREE OF LIFE

Gen 2:9--Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Gen 3:22--Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—

Gen 3:24--So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

Prov 3:18--She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who hold her fast.

Prov 11:30--The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who is wise wins souls.

Prov 13:12-hope deferred makes the heart sick, But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

Prov 15:4--A soothing tongue is a tree of life, But perversion in it crushes the spirit.

Rev 2:7--‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.’

Rev 22:2--in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Rev 22:14--Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.

Rev 22:19--and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.

TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL

Gen 2:9
Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Gen 2:17
but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

Scripture memory verse--memorize and meditate, hide in your heart and marinate:)

2 Co 5:17   Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. NASB

2 Co 5:17  This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! NLT

Happy New Year! 

I am really excited to launch out on this journey for all who will come...reading through our great God's awesome Word in a year. 

LORD, Yahweh, Holy Father, Abba, precious Jesus, Holy Spirit we acknowledge our absolute dependence on YOU, we cry out to YOU, to YOU alone, and ask that YOU "show us great and mighty things" about YOURSELF in YOUR Word.  We look forward with the anticipation of a child on Christmas eve to look into YOUR Word and to grab the great and wonderful promises in YOUR Word.  As we pull them from the gift wrapping of our Bibles and then looking with wonder and awe at the incredible gifts laying on the living room floor of our hearts and minds; we are awe struck with the knowledge that YOU have given YOURSELF to YOUR children.  YOU are our treasure, YOU are the greatest gift!  It just struck me that the ability to see that, to see that YOU are the gift is a gift from YOU...THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!  In Jesus name...Amen.

At this point I plan to share some basic background information each time an Old Testament book begins.  If I heard the phrase in seminary once I really did hear it 1,000 times...context is king.  It makes all the difference to understand the context of what you are reading.  Most often I will rely on The Bible Readers Companion, it is an excellent tool, providing good background while remaining concise.

So that information will be there each time we start a new book in the Bible, you are welcome to read it or ignore it:)

Our lesson in class this coming Sunday, LORD willing, will be from Psalm 1.  The entire reading for today, January 1, 2008 is so rich, but for me the fuel and passion to continue in, to be constant, to be faithful in reading God's Word is summarized well in Psalm one.

PSALM 1

The Righteous and the Wicked Contrasted.

     1     How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

     2     But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.

     3     He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.

     4     The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.

     5     Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

     6     For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.

Meditation and worry are basically the same thing, they are both fixed thought and concentration on something.  Worry typically is focusing on your circumstances and meditation on God's Word calls us to STOP IT...and fix our thoughts on the promises of God contained in HIS Word. 

I encourage you and me to tuck away a few promises from HIS Word to fix my thoughts on throughout the day and the waking moments of the night.

Let's put HIS promises to the test, in a good way, TOGETHER!

M

Genesis overview

The first words we read express the great value of this exciting Old Testament book: “In the beginning God.”

Genesis takes us back beyond recorded history, and by revelation unveils the origin both of the universe and of the human race. The thrust of the Genesis message is that to understand who we are and where we came from, we must begin with God.

There are really only two ways to understand origins. A person can see everything as the product of random chance operating in an impersonal universe, or as the craftsman–like work of a Person. Genesis unhesitatingly affirms this second position. It traces the Creation of the universe to a personal God. It portrays human beings as unique, special creations of this God. It explains the origin of sin and evil. It affirms man’s moral responsibility, and lays a foundation for a doctrine of redemption.

Genesis explains the origins of the Hebrews; a people chosen by God to serve as a channel of blessing for the whole world. Special promises given to Abraham, the father of the chosen race, are evidence that God has a continuing purpose for human beings, and is working out this purpose in history.

Genesis lays the foundation for understanding all Scripture, for the whole Bible speaks from the context defined in this first book. God is. God cares uniquely about human beings. God must and will judge sin, but God also has set in motion a process that brings even sinners back to Him. In a grand plan for the benefit of our race, set in motion in the call of Abraham, God has revealed the wonder of His endless, redeeming love.

GENESIS AT A GLANCE

KEY PEOPLE

Adam The first man, whose disobedience corrupted the race.

Eve The first woman, whose temptation opened the door to sin.

Noah The ark builder, whose obedience delivered his family.

Abraham The patriarch, whose trust in God serves as Scripture’s prime example of saving faith in God.

Isaac Abraham’s son who inherited the covenant promise.

Jacob Isaac’s son who continued the covenant line. His name was changed to Israel, and his sons founded the tribes that make up the Jewish people.

Joseph Jacob’s son, who brought his family to Egypt and safety.

KEY EVENTS

Creation (Gen. 1). God shapes the material universe in seven days.

Creation of man (Gen. 2). God creates man and woman in His image.

Fall of man (Gen. 3). Adam’s disobedience introduces sin into the race.

The Flood (Gen. 6–8). God judges sinful human society, destroying nearly all life on earth by a great Flood.

The Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 12; 15). God gives Abraham special and binding promises that affect his offspring and all mankind.

Abraham’s trip to Canaan (Gen. 12). Abraham leaves his home at God’s command and goes to Canaan, the Promised Land.

Jacob’s family moves to Egypt (Gen. 46). The Children of Israel settle in Egypt, where they will multiply in safety.

Richards, L. O. (1991; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996). The Bible readers companion (electronic ed.) (22). Wheaton: Victor Books.