Mark's Daily Reading Journal

Our Judge this morning, Jepthah, made the hall of faith in Hebrews 11:32, And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets."  What overtakes this passage is a vow that Jepthah makes to God.

Jephthah’s vow and its outcome. The coming of the Spirit on Jephthah.  It leads predictably to the decisive victory in v 33. But that sequence is interrupted in this case by a vow (30–31), and once made it dominates the whole episode. The battle receives only cursory treatment, its chief interest being that it creates the conditions in which Jephthah will have to fulfil his vow.

Vows, as such, were not unusual (e.g. Nu. 30; Ps. 22:25; Ec. 5:4–5). But this was no ordinary vow. It explicitly pledged a burnt offering (31b) but did not specify the victim, only the means by which it would be identified: ‘whatever [or whoever] comes out … ’ (31a). The wording was ambiguous, and put all the inhabitants of Jephthah’s house at risk. To our horror, and his, it was his virgin daughter, his only child, who became the victim (34–35), and the real tragedy is that such a vow was totally unnecessary (as previous episodes have shown). In context it can be seen as nothing other than a mistaken attempt to bargain with God. Jephthah the master negotiator overplayed his hand and paid a tragic price. The second half of this episode reads like a grim inversion of Gn. 22, the story of another father and another only child. But Jephthah was no Abraham, and in his case there was no voice from heaven, only a punishing silence. We can only conclude that the Lord was as angry with Jephthah’s vow as he was with Israel’s ‘repentance’. Cf. the action of the king of Moab in 2 Ki. 3:26–27. It is worth considering how often modern prayers contain elements of bargaining with God. Jephthah’s example makes it clear that God is not to be bargained with in this way.  Carson, D. A. (1994). New Bible commentary : 21st century edition. Rev. ed. of: The new Bible commentary. 3rd ed. / edited by D. Guthrie, J.A. Motyer. 1970. (4th ed.) (Jdg 11:29). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press.

There are commentators that attempt to explain that Jepthah's daughter was not sacrificed as a burnt offering, but that she remained a virgin and served at the temple all her life.  If this is the case, as we would all hope for, then verse 40 really does not make sense when we read "that the daughters of Israel went four days each year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite."

Regardless, be careful of the vows you make to people and especially to God.  Jesus HIMSELF warns us about our words in Matt 12:36, “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment."  OUR WORDS MEAN SOMETHING DON'T THEY!  Our Words contain power!   Please don't take what I just said out of context, I am not a name it and claim it or believe it and receive it...faith in faith follower)  God  IS THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN NAME IT AND CLAIM IT!  God spoke in decrees at the creation...you and I cannot do that.  If I want light in a dark room I still have to flip a switch:)  God's Words are all powerful!  God simply spoke the Universe into existence, repeatedly in Genesis we see the words "God said" and it happened!

Gen 1:3--Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

Gen 1:6--Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”

Gen 1:9--Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.

Gen 1:11--Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so.

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

Gen 1:20--Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.”

Gen 1:24--Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so.

Gen 1:26--Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Paul talking about the Word of God to save sinners refers to Gen 1:3, we see this in 2 Cor. 4:6 where he teaches "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 

It is astonishing when you consider how many ways God has labored to communicate with HIS children...it is mind blowing!  We know that the heavens declare the glory of God from Psalm 19:1, The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.  So God communicates to us through HIS creation.  We have the Written Word that God placed in the hands of HIS children.  We learn from the author of Hebrews writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that, (Heb:1-4) God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

The culmination of God the Fathers desire to communicate HIS glory and love to HIS creatures, those created in HIS image, reached its apex in the sending of HIS only begotten Son.  This is what we witness in the opening verses of the gospel of John...the Word made flesh.  God the Son dwells among HIS people, Immanuel, God with us.

Sometimes the Bible refers to the Son of God as “the Word of God.” In Revelation 19:13, John sees the risen Lord Jesus in heaven and says, “The name by which he is called is The Word of God.” Similarly, in the beginning of John’s gospel we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). It is clear that John is speaking of the Son of God here, because in verse 14 he says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.” These verses (and perhaps 1 John 1:1) are the only instances where the Bible refers to God the Son as “the Word” or “the Word of God,” so this usage is not common. But it does indicate that among the members of the Trinity it is especially God the Son who in his person as well as in his words has the role of communicating the character of God to us and of expressing the will of God for us.  Grudem, W. A. (1994). Systematic theology : An introduction to biblical doctrine (47). Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House.

Jesus faithfully and beautifully communicates the love of God to the World...and implores us to have eyes to see and ears to hear.  How tragic for those Jesus came to and comes to every day that reject HIM as we see in John 1:10-13 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

The beautiful news is that "as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

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

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

Jesus is God, has always been God, will always be God...JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY, THE ONLY WAY TO ETERNAL LIFE.

This is going to sound harsh...ALL ROADS DO LEAD TO GOD, ONLY ONE ROAD LEADS TO HIM AS ABBA, FATHER AND ETERNAL LIFE...EVERY OTHER ROAD TO HIM LEADS TO HIS WRATH AND ETERNAL FALMES AND TORMENT.

Mark that is a hard teaching...maybe...REMEMBER THE EXTENT GOD THE FATHER HAS GONE TO TO COMMUNICATE HIS WILL TO US, TO THE POINT OF TAKING UP RESIDENCE IN HIS CHILDREN IN THE HOLY SPIRIT.

Some will say if God is a loving God, how can HE send anyone to hell?  The real question is if God is a Holy God, and HE is, how is it possible for a sinner like me to enter HIS presence?  It is possible only through the blood of HIS only begotten Son, Immanuel, God with us!

Father in heaven,

enable me to live in a manner worth of the calling, enable me to walk and live in a manner that is pleasing to YOU and YOU alone!

love,

m

Consider the time of favor and flourishing the Israelites enjoyed during the early years in Egypt after Joseph rose to power followed by a time bondage, slavery and despair.  We witness a similar pattern following Israel's time of favor and victory under the leadership of Joshua, now that Joshua is gone Israel has entered a cycle of turning from God, despair, deliverance, prosperity and then the cycle repeats itself.  Over and over, each time the people cry out in despair God faithfully raises up a leader among Israel to bring deliverance to HIS people.

Judges 10:6-16  Then the Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.  They worshiped the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and the Philistines.  They abandoned the Lord and did not worship Him.  7 So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and He sold them to  the Philistines and the Ammonites. 8 They shattered and crushed the Israelites that year, and for 18 years ⌊they did the same to⌋ all the Israelites who were on the other side of the Jordan  in the land of the Amorites  in Gilead. 9 The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim. Israel was greatly oppressed, 10 so they cried out to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against You.  We have abandoned our God and worshiped the Baals.”  11 The Lord said to the Israelites, “When the Egyptians,  Amorites, Ammonites, Philistines, 12 Sidonians, Amalekites, and Maonites   oppressed you, and you cried out to Me, did I not deliver you from their power? 13 But you have abandoned Me and worshiped other gods. Therefore, I will not deliver you again. 14 Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen.  Let them deliver you in the time of your oppression.” 15 But the Israelites said, “We have sinned. Deal with us as You see fit;  only deliver us  today!” 16 So they got rid of the foreign gods  among them and worshiped the Lord,  but He became weary  of Israel’s misery.

Again and again our heavenly Father brings deliverance from suffering, affliction and bondage to HIS people.  In 2 Chronicles 7:14, HE shares HIS simple desires for HIS people..."if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."  HE DELIVERS BIG ON HIS PROMISES AND ASKS FOR VERY LITTLE IN RETURN!  Over and over in scripture God clearly communicates HIS desires for HIS people.  In Micah 6:8, we learn what HE requires..."He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?"  In love and grace God has shown us what is good and if our hearts are right we will joyfully delight to walk in the way HE has revealed!  BUT THAT IS THE ISSUE...the heart of the matter is a matter of the heart.  We are corrupt, sinful, depraved and spiritually dead apart from the hand of GOD. 

Bare with me for a moment while we jump to Jeremiah 31.  In Jeremiah, we are blessed with some really good news, we learn of the new covenant that Paul speaks of in 1 Cor. 11:25.  Why is this such good news?  This new covenant is not in the blood of goats and bulls, BUT IS IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS.  This new covenant is not written in stone, but in human hearts.  Paul tells us in 2 Cor 3:3,  clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

Jeremiah 31:31-34 --“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

What does this have to do with our reading today.  A LOT!  Part of this is for us to learn that God is not after behavior modification, you can obey the law 99.9% and you will still go to hell.  God is not after behavior modification, HE is after heart transformation.

Check out the experience of the two dudes on the Road to Emmaus.

In Luke 24:25-27 we see Jesus rebuke the two disciples for being slow and not understanding what had happened, even though we see in verse 16 that they were prevented from recognizing Jesus.  "Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

How awesome to have Jesus himself teach you about HIMSELF from ALL THE SCRIPTURES!  ALRIGHT CHECK THIS OUT...Lk 24:30-32 "He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.  32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

HOW AWESOME TO HAVE JESUS TEACH YOU THE SCRIPTURES HIMSELF!  PLEASE HEAR ME HEAR...PAY ATTENTION NOW PLEASE...YOU AND I HAVE MORE!  ARE YOU INSANE MARK?  MAYBE!  YOU AND I HAVE THE WHOLE COUNSEL OF GOD'S PRECIOUS WORD AND REMEMBER THE HOLY SPIRIT HAD NOT COME ON THEM YET...Pentecost had not occurred.  In verse 49 below Jesus tells them to go into Jerusalem until they receive the promise from the Father, until they are endued with power from on high.  WE HAVE MORE, WE HAVE THE Old Testament and New Testament, we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within our hearts.

What Jesus did for the disciples in opening their eyes and opening their understanding the Holy Spirit longs to do for HIS children today.  Check out Luke 24:44-49 Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” 45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. 46 Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 And you are witnesses of these things.  49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

Father in heaven,

I long to walk daily on the road to Emmaus with my heart aflame with YOUR Word.  Holy Spirit of God, please open the eyes of my heart Lord, I want to see YOU, I long to be transformed, I long to be conformed to the image of YOUR Son, my LORD and SAVIOR...JESUS!

Grant me the passion, boldness and intensity to pursue YOU with a white hot passion...a heart ablaze with a longing for YOU and YOU alone...enable me to worship YOU in Spirit and in truth.

love,

m

The flow of the scriptures in Judges 8 is amazing!  God goes before Gideon and gives him a glorious victory for Israel to the point that the Israelites come to Gideon and what to make him king, 8:22, he refuses.  Gideon rejects their offer for him and his sons to rule over Israel and tells them that "the LORD will rule over you."  Then it seems that in the same breath Gideon makes an unusual request, he asks for one gold earring from each Israelite.  What does Gideon do with these earrings?  Jdges 8:26-27  Now the weight of the gold earrings that he requested was one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments, pendants, and purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains that were around their camels’ necks. 27 Then Gideon made it into an ephod and set it up in his city, Ophrah. And all Israel played the harlot with it there. It became a snare to Gideon and to his house.   My first thought was "are you insane Gideon?"  "What in the world are you doing."  The guy was just used in an incredible way by God and you don't even get to turn the page before he does something that is a snare to him and his family.

Speculation alert...Warning I am getting ready to speculate!

What was the purpose of the ephod in the tabernacle and eventually the temple?

Prior to the Babylonian exile, the ephod served as a means of revelation from God, especially concerning military operations. Abiathar the priest brought the ephod into David’s camp on one occasion for consulting the Lord (1 Sm 23:6–9; 30:7). [The priest wore the ephod while, seeking counsel from the Lord by means of the Urim and Thummim.]

During the period of the judges, the ephod was often misused, as by Gideon (Jgs 8:27), Micah (17:5), and Jonathan, grandson of Moses (18:30; cf. vv 14, 17, 20). Either the garment itself or an image that represented God, on which the garment was placed, was worshiped as the people sought revelation in a manner condemned by God. Household idols (teraphim) were also associated with this ungodly practice (17:5; Hos 3:4).  Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (437). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.

It was a sin, but it makes sense now...[speculation] Gideon wanted to make sure that he would continue to receive revelation from God that would help them against their enemies.  For some reason he thought he needed an ephod for this to happen.  FIRST notice that this was a snare to Gideon and his family and I believe that this opened the door to further sin after Gideon's death.  We see in Judges 8:33-34 that "as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals, and made Baal-Berith their god. 34 Thus the children of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side."  Among other things this included sexual immorality and human sacrifice, latter the Israelites would offer their children to Baal.

BAAL (Idol) Name of the most prominent Canaanite deity. As the god of fertility in the Canaanite pantheon (roster of gods), Baal’s sphere of influence included agriculture, animal husbandry, and human sexuality. The word Baal occurs in the OT in combination with other terms, such as place-names (Baal-peor, Hos 9:10; Baal-hermon, Jgs 3:3), or with other adjuncts as in Baal-berith (Baal of the covenant, Jgs 8:33). Use of the name in connection with a local place-name may indicate a local cult of Baal worship.

Baal worship became prominent in the northern kingdom of Israel during the days of King Ahab (ninth century bc) when he married Jezebel of Tyre, a city in Phoenicia (1 Kgs 16:29–33; 18:19–40). It later infiltrated the kingdom of Judah when Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, married King Jehoram of Judah (2 Kgs 8:17–18, 24–26). Places for worship of Baal were often high places in the hills consisting of an altar and a sacred tree, stone, or pillar (2 Kgs 23:5). The predominantly urban Phoenicians built temples to Baal; while Athaliah was queen of Judah, even Jerusalem had one (2 Chr 23:12–17).

In the Ugaritic epic material, Baal is pictured as descending into the netherworld, the domain of the god Mot. That descent was evidently part of a cycle intended to coincide with the cycle of seasons. In order to bring Baal up from the realm of Mot and thus ensure initiation of the fertile rainy season, the Canaanites engaged in orgiastic worship that included human sacrifice as well as sexual rites (Jer 7:31; 19:4–6). Sacred prostitutes evidently participated in the autumnal religious ritual. The worship of Baal was strongly condemned in the OT (Jgs 2:12–14; 3:7–8; Jer 19).

Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (135). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.

NOW what it that Gideon did?  He was simply seeking revelation from God, right?  Right...but he was seeking revelation from God in a manner that was sinful.  Mark...why are you making a big deal about this?  PLEASE LET THIS SINK IN, I CONFESS I AM STILL TRYING TO TURLY UNDERSTAND...LET ME COME AT IT THIS WAY...in our Psalm today in verse 8 the scriptures teach us that "You were a God who forgave them, but punished their misdeeds."  YES WE ARE LIVING IN THE CHURCH AGE, WE ARE LIVING IN A TIME OF GRACE, PRAISE GOD, BUT TODAY THERE ARE STILL CONSEQUENCES FOR OUR SINS, WE ARE FORGIVEN, BUT YOU CANNOT ESCAPE THE LAW OF THE HARVEST...YOU WILL REAP WHAT YOU SOW, GOD WILL NOT BE MOCKED! 

Mark...what are you trying to say...spit is out man!  Gideon thought he was seeking God by making an ephod...what have you made to seek God, who are you looking to, who am I looking to for revelation?  Dr. Phil, Oprah, the Wall Street Journal and on and on.  Maybe you are looking to a preacher, a Christian author...be careful, do not look to any man do not look to any book, but the bible.  This is going to sound strange, but you even have to be careful with the bible!  DON'T MISUNDERSTAND ME...you don't have to be careful with it's content, but you must be careful with the way you seek to understand God's word.  CONTEXT IS KING AND YOU ALWAYS INTERPRET THE OBSCURE PASSAGE IN THE LIGHT OF THE CLEAR!  Meaning you don't make an orthodox teaching out of an obscure difficult passage. 

BOTTOM LINE...SEEK GOD IN THE MANNER HE TEACHES!

Deut 4:29  “But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.

1 Chron 28:9  “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.

Heb 11:6  And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

Deut 6:5  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Deut 13:3  you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deut 30:6  “Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.

Matt 22:37  And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

Mark 12:30  and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’

Luke 10:27  And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus words today to us are profound and always true..."Why are you looking for the living among the dead?" 

Father in heaven,

Forgive me for the countless times I have looked to others, to other things for direction and for the times I have looked to YOUR Word with a wrong heart attitude...forgive me!  Father please enable me to fix my eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith, to look to HIM, to behold HIS face in YOUR precious Word and be conformed to HIS image.   Father please work this in a way that brings YOU glory and allows me to enter, walk in and live in the JOY of my Master.  Fill me today with YOUR Holy Spirit, return unto me the JOY of YOUR salvation, enable me by YOUR spirit to delight myself in the LORD.  YOU have promised that if I delight myself in the LORD YOU will give me the desires of my heart...thank YOU for allowing me to KNOW that when I delight in YOU, YOUR Spirit reveals that YOU and YOU alone CAN SATISFY THE DESIRES OF MY HEART...it is in delighting in YOU that I realize that nothing else can satisfy...as I delight in YOU I SEE AND BEHOLD THAT YOU ARE THE DESIRE OF MY HEART...THAT IS WHAT MY HEART AND EVERY HUMAN HEART WAS CREATED FOR...TO ENJOY YOU, TO DELIGHT IN YOU! 

I long to live, breath, drink and spend my life in YOUR presence...help me!

love,

m

Gideon is a reluctant leader, he throws out the fleece two nights in a row requesting opposite results and God answers Gideon and then GOD allows Gideon to overhear a discussion in the enemy camp that greatly encourages him.  Once God has built his confidence in God's ability to give the victory Gideon moves with great passion and decisiveness.  It makes me think of how Jesus moved throughout HIS entire ministry.  Jesus passion, HIS fuel, HIS food was to walk in obedience to the Father.  We clearly see this in John 4:34, when Jesus says “My food is to do the will of Him  who sent Me  and to finish His work,”  Jesus told them.

Below is a summary of Judges 6-8

The Israelites are crushed by Midianites, nomadic raiders who invade each year at harvest time (6:1–10). God appears to a reluctant Gideon and calls him to be Israel’s deliverer (vv. 11–24). Gideon fulfills his first mission, to destroy the town’s Baal shrine, which is on his own father’s land (vv. 25–32). Then, filled with God’s Spirit and encouraged by two miraculous signs, Gideon calls out an army to resist the Midianites (6:33–7:1). But God tells Gideon the army is too large, and systematically reduces his force to a mere 300 men (vv. 2–8). Encouraged by yet another sign (vv. 9–15), Gideon sets his men around the Midianite camp with torches and rams’ horn trumpets. At 10:00 that night the trumpets sound! The confused Midianites, seeing only blurred figures stumbling in the dark outside their tents, strike out in panic and kill each other (vv. 16–22). As the Midianites flee, the rest of Israel rallies and cuts down the stragglers (vv. 23–25). In the wake of the battle Gideon diffuses tribal jealousy (8:1–3), disciplines the elders of an Israelite town that refused to help his forces (vv. 4–17), executes two Midianite kings (vv. 18–21), and rejects Israel’s appeal that he accept the throne (vv. 22–27). For the rest of Gideon’s long life the Israelites continue to serve the Lord (vv. 28–35).

Key verse. 6:16: Numbers don’t count.

Personal application. One individual willing to obey God can still have an impact on his or her entire society.

Richards, L. O. (1991; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996). The Bible readers companion (electronic ed.) (164). Wheaton: Victor Books.

We see throughout the OT what God can do, will do, and loves to do through one willing, obedient servant!  We see this perfectly in Jesus, who being God in the flesh was obedient to death, even death on a cross Phil 2:8.  How was HE able to do this?  Yes, yes, HE was and is God, but remember HE is also fully human, fully human.  HE knew God through the Word, through prayer, through fellowship, through OBEDIENCE TO THE WILL OF THE FATHER.

As redeemed humanity we are invited into the Trinity, we are invited to experience the joy and the glory of God.  We have a foretaste of this as the Holy Spirit takes up residence within our hearts and teaches us that we are now God's adopted children, HIS heirs and joint heirs with Jesus!  We lean in Romans 8:15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”

Father in heaven,

Enable us to walk in intimacy, love, grace and peace with YOU!  Enable us to stay so close that we KNOW YOUR will intimately and we may walk joyfully in obedience with YOU.

Please work this for YOUR glory and our JOY in YOU!

love,

m

Gideon, the Mighty Warrior, comes onto the scene of history, Israel again did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD and because of the disobedience they find themselves devastated, ravaged and in hiding from the Midianites.

Judges 6:7-10 When the Israelites cried out to Him because of Midian, 8 the Lord sent a prophet  to them. He said to them, “This is what the Lord  God of Israel says: ‘I brought you out of Egypt and out of the place of slavery.  9 I delivered you from the power of Egypt and the power of all who oppressed  you. I drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 I said to you: I am the Lord your God. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites whose land you live in. But you did not obey Me.’ ”

How many times were they warned?  How many times?  How many times were they oppressed and beaten down and defeated?  Each time the LORD sent someone to deliver, each time the LORD sent a Judge to deliver HIS people.  Without fail they enjoyed a time of peace and prosperity and then they would fall into evil practices again. 

I HOPE THAT YOU AND I WILL RECEIVE THIS AS A MASSIVE WARNING FROM OUR HEAVENLY FATHER.  WE MUST BE CRUCIFYING THE FLESH NOT FEEDING IT!

Judges 6:14-16 The Lord  turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the power of Midian. Am I not sending you?” 15 He said to Him, “Please, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” 16 “But I will be with you,”  the Lord said to him. “You will strike Midian down ⌊as if it were⌋ one man.”

I don't know about you guys, but my heart resonates with Gideon here...this is a huge encouragement to know and believe that God can and will do wonderful things through anyone who is willing.  It does not matter what your past is God can use you!  Actually, the smaller you are in the eyes of the world, in the eyes of others that is an opportunity for God to get more glory.  How is that true Mark?  When God uses me in a wonderful way it is clear that it is not in my power or in my doing, but it is a demonstration of the wonder, grace, mercy and power of our great God.  I am simply a trophy of HIS love, grace and tender mercies.  God is simply looking for those who long to walk in joyful obedience with HIM, experiencing joy in the journey of faith, seeking to live life with their heart in sync with the heart of God.  The only way to get there is in humble subjection to HIM spending much time in HIS Word, praying HIS Word back to HIM, meditating on HIS Word...filling our heart and mind with HIS precious thoughts.  The fruit of that is a vibrant wonderful RELATIONSHIP, intimate relationship with the King of kings...AND WE KNOW HIM AS DADDY!  That means that we, like a kings child, can run at anytime into HIS presence and talk to our heavenly Father.

What is God's purpose in inviting us into this incredible relationship with HIMSELF?  It is to be a disciple of Christ, a fully devoted follower of Jesus.  What is a disciple?  A disciple is one who has been: called to follow Jesus, equipped to become like Jesus and sent to serve in Jesus name in and through the power of the Holy Spirit.  What did Jesus tell HIS disciples in the gospel of John?  “As the Father has sent Me, so send I you.” (John 20:21)  We are called and invited to an unspeakable relationship with our heavenly Father, we are HIS heirs, joint heirs with Jesus...the Holy Spirit fill us and our hearts cry out Abba, Father.  This is absolutely true, BUT WE ARE CALLED TO A PURPOSE, THAT PURPOSE IS THE ADVANCE OF OUR FATHERS KINGDOM HERE ON EARTH...THY KINGDOM COME THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN. 

In Luke we see Jesus facing the Religious Court, the Sanhedrin.  The Religious court ruled HE was deserving of death and the secular court did not want to cause political waves so Pilot yielded and sentenced Jesus to die on the cross.  The awesome thing that we will see in a day or two, Jesus resurrection.  I never tire of reading about the resurrection of our LORD.  THE HIGHEST HUMAN COURTS RULED AND GOD OVERRULED.

Acts 2:23-25 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. 25 For David says of Him: I saw the Lord ever before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Do you see what it says in Acts?  Jesus was delivered according to God's determined plan...remember God has a specific plan that HE will bring to completion in the world.  Do you remember?  We have not said it in several weeks.  I borrowed the words from Ken Easley...the Lord God through his Christ is graciously building a kingdom of redeemed people for their joy and for his own glory. 

Spiritually, once you have had a mountain top experience with the LORD the desire is to stay there and not move.  It is so wonderful, so awesome, so sweet to encounter the living God in that manner that is all you want and you find yourself trying to get back there.  The problem is that if you look at a range of mountains and you desire to climb the entire range and experience standing on top of each mountain...YOU MUST TRAVEL THROUGH THE VALLEYS TO GET THERE!  Who knows who you might encounter as you travel through those valleys and then you are able to invite those to join you in your journey to the mountain top.  Do you see...that is our life with Christ.  I don't know about you, typically in the deep, dark, really dark valley is where God reveals horrible things that are in my heart and that provides me an opportunity to be horrified, REPENT and be healed in my soul.

Our heavenly Father did not just save us and that is the end!  HE saved you and I to join HIM in HIS mission "to seek and to save that which was lost."  We are not called to be experts, we are called to be witnesses to what our great God has done in our lives.  Jesus sends us to be on mission with HIM!

It is no accident that our Psalm is Psalm 95...where does my fuel come from to be on mission with God?  Does it come from DUTY, sorry...I am too weak that will only carry me so far.  Does it come from determined, willed obedience, sorry I can't sustain it.  Wait a minute Mark, you have been harping about obedience!  True, I have been harping about "joy filled obedience."  JOY FILLED OBEDIENCE ONLY COMES FROM A HEART THAT IS IN TUNE WITH OUR GREAT GOD IN WORSHIP.  Worship is the fuel that propels me, that gives me great thrust and power...it's not my power, but God's.

Ps 95:6-11  Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. 7     For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, the sheep under His care.   Today, if you hear His voice: 8     “Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on that day at Massah in the wilderness 9     where your fathers tested Me; they tried Me, though they had seen what I did. 10     For 40 years I was disgusted with that generation; I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray;  they do not know My ways. ’ 11     So I swore in My anger, ‘They will not enter My rest. ’ ”

In this Psalm we have an invitation to worship in spirit and in truth, we have an invitation to worship the one true God...take it!   Taste and see that the LORD IS GOOD!

Father in heaven,

please enable us to shout joyfully to the Lord, shout triumphantly to the rock of our salvation! Let us enter YOUR presence with thanksgiving; let us shout triumphantly to YOU in song. For YOU are a great God, a great King above all gods.   The depths of the earth are in YOUR hand, and the mountain peaks belong to YOU.  The sea is YOURS, YOU made it. YOUR hands formed the dry land. 

Enable us, YOUR children to love YOU as YOU created us to, enable us to worship YOU in spirit and in truth and let that propel us, fuel us to be on mission with YOU to accomplish YOUR will on earth as it is in heaven.

Please work this for YOUR glory and our JOY in YOU.

love,

m

Zephaniah  3:17- The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

Before we being this morning I want to remind myself and encourage you as you read our heavenly Father's Words to us, HIS children, embrace them as just that...Abba's Words to HIS precious children!  In and through HIS Word HE is speaking to you, HE fervently desires to be intimate with you, to fellowship with you, to have a relationship with YOU!  HE longs and desires to connect with YOU HIS daughter/HIS son!  HE knows you perfectly and HE longs for you to KNOW HIM more and more and HE desires to reveal HIMSELF to you!  Jesus is the LOVER OF YOUR SOUL.  YOU THINK YOU HAVE KNOWN INTIMACY...the sweetest relationship you have ever experienced is nothing more than a sniff, a tiny drop on the tip of your tongue, a foretaste of what we will experience with God as HIS children.  HE longs to free us from the garbage in our lives that hinder us from intimacy with HIM, HE longs and desires that we would know HIM in ways that we cannot imagine.

1. The Lord your God in your midst.  “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” Heb 13:5  HE is the ever present God, HE is with you always.  HE is present when things are good and we are ignoring HIM and HE is present at our darkest moments as we cry out Abba Father why have you forsaken me?  HE is the ever present God, HE is in YOUR midst!
2. The Mighty One, will save.  It brings HIM great joy to save you.  Listen to God's plea through Isaiah...Is 55:1-3 Come to the Lord “Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost! 2  Why do you spend money on what is not food, and your wages on what does not satisfy?  Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and you will enjoy the choicest of foods. 3  Pay attention and come to Me; listen, so that you will live.  I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the promises assured to David.  HIS CRY TO US IS TO COME, COME, COME...I WILL SAVE YOU AND I AM THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN SATISFY YOU.
3. HE will rejoice of you with gladness.  Isaiah 62:5b  and as a bridegroom rejoices  over ⌊his⌋ bride, so your God will rejoice over you.  As long as I live I will never forget seeing Diane as she moved toward me on our wedding day.  There were people everywhere, but all I saw was her adorned in her wedding dress, she was radiant and I rejoiced over my bride...amazed that this beautiful young lady would marry me!  THIS ABOUT THIS FOR A MOMENT...THIS IS HOW GOD REJOICES OVER YOU.  Guys you may have a little trouble getting past this image of God rejoicing over you in this way, but I pray that you do that that you may enjoy and delight in the Lord in the manner HE created you to.
4. HE will quite you with His love.  Ps 46:10 “Stop ⌊your fighting⌋—and know that I am God, exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth.”   When Kyle was 2 he would wake up at times in the middle of the night screaming and crying loudly.  One night this happened and I ran upstairs slid into his bed and pulled him next to me and said "shhhhh, it's OK, it's OK Daddy is here...SHHHHH."  He immediately fell into a deep sleep and was completely quite.  I had been meditating on this verse in Zephaniah and had been worried about many things and God spoke in a very loud voice...not an audible one.  HE said, SHHHHHH, it's OK I AM present with you, I take great delight in you, quit fighting and I will quiet you with my love and then you will hear me singing over you with a loud voice."  Immediately a deep peace fell all over me...I knew it was the peace that is a gift from the throne of grace, it was peace from my Abba, my Daddy, my Father in heaven.

Sorry everyone...I got a little carried away!  If we don't come with this heart attitude to Abba's Word we miss so much, HE has soooooo much to share with us and HE longs to reveal HIMSELF you and me...don't miss HIM!

As I read Judges this morning I could not help but be amazed at the patter on sin and evil.  As you read it on the surface you think how could they have been so blind, so stupid to fall again, and again, and again...I don't know about you, but then I hear the still small voice saying, "Mark, how can you be so slow and dull of heart to continue falling prey to the same wiles of the enemy."  The Holy Spirit was nice and did not call me stupid:)

Judg 2:11--The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. They worshiped the Baals

Judg 3:7--The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight; they forgot the Lord their God and worshiped the Baals and the Asherahs.

Judg 3:12--The Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. He gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel, because they had done what was evil in the Lord’s sight.

Judg 4:1--The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud had died.

Judg 6:1--The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord handed them over to Midian seven years,

Judg 10:6--Then the Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They worshiped the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and the Philistines. They abandoned the Lord and did not worship Him.

Judg 13:1--The Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines 40 years.

When things were good they forgot God and gave HIM little or no thought.  When they fell into captivity or affliction because of the evil they did they would cry out to God for help...this patter continued for some time.  Remember that Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 10 that these things happened as examples for us to learn from.

As I read through Judges I am moved that God raised up the judges to deliver Israel, HE raised them up to lead the people out of captivity, out of affliction and to lead them back to God.  ALL OF THIS WAS A PICTURE OF WHAT GOD INTENDED TO DO THROUGH JESUS!  What did Jesus teach us in Luke 7:22?  He replied to them, “Go and report to John the things you have seen and heard: The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with skin diseases are healed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news preached to them.  What do we see Jesus doing in the garden in our reading today?  As God raised up the Judges to deliver HIS people we see God raising up Jesus to do the same thing once and for all.  Remember what Jesus tells Nicodemus?  John 3:14-15 Just as Moses  lifted up the snake in the wilderness,  so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in Him will  have eternal life.  So in the garden Jesus is praying and preparing to be lifted up, preparing to be raised up so that you and I may believe and have eternal life.  WHAT ARE WE TO DO WITH THIS GIFT?  WHAT ARE WE TO DO WITH THIS ETERNAL LIFE?  In Luke 22:45 Jesus gets up from praying and returns to the disciples and FINDS THEM SLEEPING...HOW WILL HE FIND YOU?

What did Jesus teach us in John 20:21 “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me,  I also send you.” 

Who is God the Father raising you up to reach?  Your spouse, children, parents, neighbors, co-workers...really anyone who crosses your path.  Remember I started of talking about how our Abba longs to be intimate with you and longs for you to know HIM intimately...Remember?  One fruit of knowing HIM that way is that you are so excited about the inexhaustible treasure you have found in HIM, you are so enamored and filled with delight that you cannot contain yourself, you cannot help but tell others about your relationship with your Abba, the lover of your soul and your comforter.  You cannot help it and those living-waters slosh and slop all over anyone that comes near you and they are refreshed in your presence.

Oh Father,

enable each of us, enable me to know YOU moment by moment, day by day like this.  I get so easily distracted...please enable me to keep my eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith.  Enable me to continually pursue YOU, to desire YOU and YOU alone...please work this for YOUR glory and my joy in YOU.

love,

m

We touched on the sad fact that Israel produced a generation that did not know the Lord.  Just pause for a moment and recall just a few of the warnings that God sent Israel.  Over and over God warns HIS children to obey and to pass HIS Word and their faith onto their children.  Do you remember what Moses wrote in Deut 6:7?  “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.  God is to fill our conversations and life with our children, the consequences of leaving HIM out are horrific!

Judges 2:10-13 That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors. After them another generation rose up who did not know the Lord  or the works He had done for Israel. 11 The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.  They worshiped the Baals  12 and abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods from the surrounding peoples  and bowed down to them. They infuriated the Lord,  13 for they abandoned Him and worshiped Baal and the Ashtoreths.

Are there areas in your life where you suffer repeated defeats spiritually?  Are there sins that plague and beset you over and over?  Could it be that idols have crept into your heart and my heart?  Remember anything that you love, serve, fear or desire more than God is an idol in your heart.  This can be your job, home children, spouse, money, reputation...just to name a few that in and of themselves are not sinful, loving them more than God is.

Judges 2:15 uses some strong language, not only did the Israelites lose God's hand of protection and blessing HE was against them!  "Whenever the Israelites went out, the Lord  was against them  and brought disaster ⌊on them⌋, just as He had promised and sworn to them.  So they suffered greatly."  You may have heard it said, "sin will take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay and cost you more than you want to pay."  When we sin it is a little like drinking toxic waste.  We spend much time warning our children of physical dangers...what about spiritual dangers that can cost them their soul? 

Judges 2:17  but they did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted  themselves with other gods, bowing down to them. They quickly turned from the way  of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the Lord’s commands. They did not do as their fathers did.

Has God been gracious enough to place someone in your life that will speak truth to you?  Do you and I listen to them?  The picture of prostituting myself with another god is a horrible thought.  Jeremiah 2:13 teaches us how easy it is to fall into spiritual prostitution...God forbid that we would be spiritual harlots.  God tells us through Jeremiah that "My people have committed a double evil: They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that cannot hold water."

HE is simply saying that my people have tasted, and they have drank from the fountain of living water and after drinking deeply they turn up their noses and say no thank you Lord.  I want to feed myself what I want to eat and drink, I will find my own satisfaction in something or anything else but YOU!  Then we turn and try to suck satisfaction out of broken, dry cisterns, cisterns that can hold no water.

In God's eyes this is a great evil...rightly so.

Judges 2:18 Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for the Israelites, the Lord was with  him and saved the people from the power of their enemies while the judge was still alive.  The Lord was moved to pity whenever they groaned because of those who were oppressing and afflicting them.

Judges 2:19  Whenever the judge died, the Israelites would act even more corruptly  than their fathers, going after other gods to worship and bow down to them. They did not turn from their ⌊evil⌋ practices or their obstinate  ways.

Remember, judgement for sin is sin, more sin, deeper sin...carrying you further and further from God resulting in a hard heart.  Yesterday we looked at Paul's words to the Romans in Romans 1:24-28 

"Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts  to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie,  and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is blessed forever.  Amen. 26 This is why God delivered them over to degrading passions.  For even their females exchanged natural sexual intercourse  for what is unnatural. 27 The males in the same way also left natural sexual intercourse  with females and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Males committed shameless acts with males  and received in their own persons  the appropriate penalty for their perversion. 28 And because they did not think it worthwhile to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong."

Sin will lead you in a downward spiral...what does it pay?  Paul tells us in Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Jesus walked through death, burial and the resurrection to set us free from our sins by HIS precious blood, if we will repent and turn from the idols in our hearts and cry out to the King of kings, calling on the lover of our soul HE will set us free and we will be free indeed...you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.  We must, with the enabling of the Holy Spirit drive the idols completely out of our hearts, we can show no mercy to sin, we must completely crucify our flesh.

It is interesting, even when you come to the place where you are moment by moment keeping a short list with our LORD, frequently repenting and maintaining a sweet and intimate fellowship with our LORD there are still battles, obstacles and trials to endure.  Judges 3:1-2, explains in part why our Lord would leave these in the lives of HIS children.   "These are the nations the Lord left in order to test Israel, since none of these Israelites had fought in  any of the wars with Canaan.  2 This was to teach the future generations of the Israelites ⌊how to fight in⌋ battle, especially those who had not fought before.    This life is spiritual training preparing us for eternity.  God is absolutely good and everything that HE allows to flow into the lives of HIS children is for their good and to draw them closer to HIM.  What does Paul say in Ephesians 6:12?  "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."  Our heavenly Father allows these things to teach us to fight in spiritual warfare!  HOW ARE YOU DOING?

Judges 3:6 The Israelites took their daughters as wives for themselves, gave their own daughters to their sons, and worshiped their gods.

Judges 3:9-11 The Israelites cried out to the Lord.  So the Lord raised up Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s youngest brother  as a deliverer  to save the Israelites. 10 The Spirit of the Lord was on him, and he judged Israel. Othniel went out to battle, and the Lord handed over Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram to him, so that Othniel overpowered him. 11 Then the land was peaceful  40 years, and Othniel son of Kenaz died.

So there was a definite pattern in Israel.  As you think through your own life and the lives of those in your family are you able to see any patterns where God is working?  Are you able to see our great God pursuing you, seeking you and your loved ones?

It is really pretty amazing when you think about it...God entered the Garden of Eden seeking Adam and Eve and HE made coverings of skin for them...HE made an animal sacrifice for them.  From to the fall to the Cross to this day we see God pursuing a relationship with you and me, HE desires to be in intimate fellowship with us.  HE does it for HIS glory and HIS glory alone, but you and I are the joyful recipients of the fruit of that glory...we are redeemed and restored to a relationship with our Abba, our Father.

You and I were created to glorify God BY enjoying HIM forever.

Consider our Lord's Words in Luke 22:15,  Then He said to them, “I have fervently desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.  This is awesome to me...Jesus fervently, passionately desires to fellowship with us, to have intimate community with HIS disciples.  I can only imagine that HE is passionately desiring to do the same with ALL redeemed humanity following HIS second advent.  It will be incredible!

Rev 19:9 Then he  said to me,  “Write: Blessed  are those invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb!”  He also said to me, “These words of God are true.”

Father in heaven, Abba,

Deliver us from spiritual prostitution, deliver us from bowing down to idols...enable us to pursue YOU with a white-hot passion.  Enable us to run hard after YOU, to long for YOU and YOU alone...for YOUR glory and our JOY in YOU.

love,

m

After everything the Israelites have been through it is so sad to see them falter and fail in their faith.  In the same way it grieves me to see how the disciples walked with the Lord Jesus day after day, they witnessed everything HE did and yet they are constantly rebuked for their little faith.  What grieves me even more is that the God of the universe has set me in a place where I can see more of redemptive history than Israel or the disciples...I have the whole counsel of God's Word, I have the Spirit of God dwelling in me, Christ in me the hope of glory...I believe that I have been given more revelation than Israel or the disciples in the Bible and I too, way too often display little faith and rely on my own abilities to try to get the job done.

What can we learn from Israel?  What can we learn from the disciples that our heavenly Father may use to enable us to walk in faith, to live the spirit filled Christian life?

Joshua, the faithful associate of Moses and leader of Israel during the Conquest, is dead (1:1). His victories ended organized resistance to the Hebrew invasion. But Joshua did not exterminate the Canaanites. Each tribe is now responsible to carry out the policy of extermination which serves as a divine judgment on the sinful practices of the Canaanites and as protection from the Canaanites’ corrupting influence.

The tribe of Judah responds to the challenge and continues the battle to purify Canaan (vv. 2–19a). But even Judah is unable to drive out the Canaanites in the lowlands, because they have war chariots (v. 19b). Hebron was given to Caleb (v. 20). Now, with this first subtle indication of a failure of faith, the text darkens. The Benjamites defeat the Jebusites, but fail to dislodge them from Jerusalem (v. 21). There are other victories (vv. 22–27). But there are also defeats—and direct disobedience! When tribes became strong they instead pressed “the Canaanites into forced labor” (v. 28). As faith and commitment wane, tribe after tribe follows this policy, in direct violation of God’s command (cf. Ex. 23:32–33; 34:10–16). A flawed faith and disobedience are the direct causes of the spiritual and political darkness about to descend on God’s chosen people.

Key verse. 1:28: Don’t change God’s policies. Follow them.  Personal application. Incomplete obedience robs you of rest.

Richards, L. O. (1991; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996). The Bible readers companion (electronic ed.) (161). Wheaton: Victor Books.

As Judges opens we hear over and over that the Israelites failed to drive out the inhabitants and when they did gain enough power to drive them out instead they used them for forced labor.  This is directly disobeying God's Word to them, check it out!

Judges 2:2-5 You are not to make a covenant  with the people who are living in this land, and you are to tear down their altars.  But you have not obeyed Me. What is this you have done? 3 Therefore, I now say: I will not drive out these people before you.  They will be thorns  in your sides,  and their gods will be a trap to you.”  4 When the Angel of the Lord had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly. 5 So they named that place Bochim  and offered sacrifices there to the Lord.

Hear this please...judgement on sin is more sin, deeper sin.  Read it in Romans 1:24-32...therefore God gave them over to...more sin.  What did Jesus say in John 14:21?  "The one who has My commands and keeps them is the one who loves Me.  And the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father.  I also will love him and will reveal Myself to him.”  Basically, the one who obeys me is the one who loves me and the one who loves me will be loved by my Father and by me and I will reveal, show, display, unveil myself to him.  Remember from 2 Cor 3-4 Beholding is Becoming...as we behold Jesus in and through HIS Word we are conformed and transformed to be like HIM.

My plea to you and to myself is to make no compromises, what does that mean?  NO PET SINS!  How do I do it?  Fixing our eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith...obey what you know to obey and Jesus will reveal more of HIMSELF to you.  As HE reveals more and more, each time you behold more of HIM you become more like HIM.  Hey, this sounds a little like sanctification.

Here comes a really sad part in Israel's history. 

Judges 2:10-13  That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors. After them another generation rose up who did not know the Lord  or the works He had done for Israel. 11 The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.  They worshiped the Baals  12 and abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods from the surrounding peoples  and bowed down to them. They infuriated the Lord,  13 for they abandoned Him and worshiped Baal and the Ashtoreths.

Let's not judge them, let's receive this as a fear striking, humbling warning from our heavenly father.  Remember what Paul taught us about Israel's history in 1Corinthians 10:6-12?  We learned that Israel's history became examples for you and I.  "Now these things became examples for us, so that we will not desire  evil as they did.   7 Don’t become idolaters  as some of them were; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to play.    8 Let us not commit sexual immorality  as some of them did,  and in a single day 23,000 people fell dead.  9 Let us not tempt Christ as some of them did,  and were destroyed by snakes.  10 Nor should we complain  as some of them did,   and were killed by the destroyer.  11 Now these things happened to them as examples, and they were written as a warning to us,  on whom the ends of the ages  have come.  12 Therefore, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall! 

Remember how many warning they received?  The human heart is clearly "prone to wander."  HOW SAD THAT A GENERATION ROSE UP WHO DID NOT KNOW THE LORD!  HOW COULD THAT HAPPEN?  WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE UNITED STATES?  WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE CHURCH IN AMERICA?  WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO YOU?  WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME?  WHAT SHOULD WE DO ABOUT IT?  SIT AROUND AND FEEL BAD ABOUT OURSELVES...NO!  REPENT FOR BEING LUKE WARM, START KILLING AND CRUCIFYING SIN AND RUN HARD AFTER JESUS, PURSUE HIM, CATCH HIM AND DO NOT LET HIM GO!

I am still amazed how God the Holy Spirit always ties all these things together in my daily reading.  I really don't think this stuff through, it is a little more like watching a flower blossom!  In Luke 21:34-36, Jesus teaches us to  “Be on your guard,  so that your minds are not dulled  from carousing,  drunkenness,  and worries of life,  or that day will come on you unexpectedly  35 like a trap. For it will come on all who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 But be alert at all times,  praying that you may have strength  to escape  all these things that are going to take place and to stand before the Son of Man.”

You and I are called to live life full speed in the present, not in the past, but in the now!  We are called to live today in the light of THAT DAY!  For believers in Christ THAT DAY is the judgement seat of Christ as Paul teaches in 2 Co 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment  seat of Christ,  so that each may be repaid  for what he has done in the body, whether good or bad.

For the unbeliever it will be horrific and terrifying...the torment will be unbearable and there is no way out...hopeless for all eternity, eternity...

What does Psalm 90 have to say about this...it is pretty amazing.

Psalm 90:12-16 Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.   13     Lord—how long? Turn and have compassion on Your servants. 14     Satisfy us in the morning with Your faithful love so that we may shout with joy and be glad all our days. 15     Make us rejoice for as many days as You have humbled us, for as many years as we have seen adversity. 16     Let Your work be seen by Your servants, and Your splendor by their children.

The cry of the Psalmist is, Lord teach us to number our days that we may present to you a heart of wisdom.  I don't mind telling you all I have been praying this prayer for several years now.  Part of the answer came when my Dad's parents died in 1993, that was a landmark time in my journey with our Lord.  It has come incrementally since that time.  Recently, as my Dad has had several set backs concerning his health God has reminded me how short this life is.  In reality we have precious few days to fulfill the purpose God has given us while we are on this earth.

One man put it this way..."eternity is long, life is short, how you live this life directly impacts how and where you spend eternity.

Let us live in the light of THAT DAY and let our hearts cry be "Lord teach us to number our days that we may present to YOU a heart of wisdom.  Father in heaven please enable us to pass this on to the next generation for YOUR glory and our JOY in YOU.

love,

m

The Book of Joshua closes with two [Chapters 23-24] farewell addresses by Joshua. The first, a farewell speech to the leaders, is Joshua’s final testimony to God’s faithfulness. But it is also a grim warning of the dangers of abandoning God (chap. 23). God has been, is, and will be faithful to His promise and drive out the remaining Canaanites—if Israel obeys (23:1–11). But God will also be faithful to His words of warning. If Israel turns to other gods, the Lord will bring on His people all the evil He has threatened (vv. 12–16). Like Deuteronomy 28, Joshua 23 sets forth an Old Testament theology of history, in which all events are linked to Israel’s response to God and His Law. 

The final chapter relates a ceremony of covenant renewal, held at Shechem during one of Joshua’s last years. It follows the familiar pattern of Hittite suzerainty treaties, a pattern established in Deuteronomy itself (Deuteronomy). Here is Joshua’s last introduction of God as King (24:2), his final recounting of God’s relationship with Israel (vv. 2–13), his statement of God’s requirements (vv. 14, 16, 18, 21, 23–24), his appeal to witnesses (vv. 22, 27), and his recitation of blessings and curses (vv. 19–20). As the grand old man of Israel calls on his people to choose whom they will serve, we sense our own need for fresh and constant devotion to the Lord.

At last Joshua dies (vv. 28–33). Israel is settled in the land. But the grim vision of the future he shared in his farewell address (23:15–16) will all too soon come to pass.

Key verse. 24:15: Each must choose someone to serve.

It is an interesting paradox...we are free to choose, but we are not free to choose the consequences of our choices, we reap what we sow...it's the law of the harvest.  You are free to choose, but you are not free to choose the consequences and you are not free not to choose.  If you reject that idea and say I will not choose anything or anyone [like an atheist] then that is your choice.  Do you see it?  Each of us WILL CHOSE TO SERVE SOMEONE!

Personal application. When we choose complete commitment to the Lord, we shape our family’s future as well as our own.

INSIGHT

Be strong (23:6). Doing what is right in God’s sight rather than following the crowd is one mark of a godly person.

Separation (23:12–13). Joshua calls for complete separation from the Canaanites, knowing that Israel was more likely to be tempted to follow pagan gods than to convert pagans! The process described is “ally yourself,” then “intermarry” and then “associate.” The meaning of “associate” is defined in verse 7: “invoke the names of their gods or swear by them.” Today we’re not to cut ourselves off from unbelievers (cf. 1 Cor. 5:9–11). But we’re to be careful that friendships do not lead to alliance, intermarriage, and “associating.”

In Joshua 24:23, it could not be stated more clearly, “get rid of the foreign gods that are among you and offer your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.”  We are called to live it out differently than the Israelites, but we are to be just a diligent in guarding our hearts, and in rooting out and destroying idolatry in our own hearts.  The human heart is going to worship something or someone!  It was created to worship the one true God, our hearts were created to be set apart for HIM and HIM alone, our hearts were created to be holy unto the Lord our God.

1 Cor 7:34--and his interests are divided. The woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

Eph 1:4--just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love

Eph 5:27--that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.

1 Pet 1:15--but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior;

1 Pet 1:16--because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

2 Pet 3:11--Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,

“I” (24:3–13). The basis for any relationship with God is found in what He has done for us, not in what we supposedly can do for Him. Note in these verses all that God has done for Israel: “I took Abraham” (v. 3), “I gave him Isaac” (v. 3), “I sent Moses and Aaron” (v. 5), “I afflicted the Egyptians” (v. 5), “I brought you out” (v. 5), “I brought you to the land” (v. 8), “I gave them into your hands” (v. 11), “I sent the hornet ahead of you” (v. 12), “So I gave you a land” (v. 13). For us too relationship with the Lord is founded on what He has done for us, in Christ. If God spoke the message of Joshua to modern Christians, what “I” statements might He make?  [What "I" statements has HE made to you?]

The choice (24:14–15). The choice is never between serving God and personal freedom. The choice is always between God and other masters—whether pagan gods, our sinful passions, or wealth, success, and power.Richards, L. O. (1991; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996). The Bible readers companion (electronic ed.) (156). Wheaton: Victor Books.

I want to take a moment and look at the Widow's gift!  Some of you may have expected me to dive into the signs of the end of the age.  I am going to lay my cards on the table here, if you will allow me to use the phrase.  I tire quickly of those that spend too much time looking into the signs of the end of the age, frankly I give it very little thought!  My passion and my desire, I'm not there yet, is to live every day like it is my last day.  Not necessarily in what I do, but in my heart attitude toward God.  You might call it seeking by faith to live in the light of eternity. 

Yes, world events could be coming to a close and Jesus could be coming very soon and HE could come back in 1,000 years.  HIS return is immanent, meaning HE could come at any moment and that is how we should live.  Live today like you were going to be standing at the judgement seat of Christ at the end of this day.  Enough!

Luke 21:1-4  He  looked up and saw the rich dropping their offerings into the temple treasury.  2 He also saw a poor widow dropping in two tiny coins.   3 “I tell you the truth,” He said. “This poor widow has put in more than all of them.  4 For all these people have put in gifts out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”

I was moved by the widow this morning...she gave out of her poverty all she had to live on.  As I read those words I thought of David in 2 Samuel 24:24-25, where David wanted to make an offering to God and HE was unwilling to make an offering that cost him nothing.  "The king answered Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it from you for a price, for I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost ⌊me⌋ nothing.” David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 ounces  of silver. 25 He built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered prayer on behalf of the land,  and the plague on Israel ended.

I am not suggesting everyone give away all their possessions, unless God tells you to.  I was convicted by the Holy Spirit how self serving my motives can be.  I long to hold every gift that the Father has given me very lightly and loosely.  HE may require any of them from me at any moment.  Do I love the gifts or the gift giver?  Who do you love?  Hey, someone should write a song:)  Who do you love?  OK, now that everyone has given the proper Sunday school answer..."God," who do you love with the way you spend your money, time, the first fruits of your energy.  Who do you love with your actions and the daily choices you make?

Apart from God each of us are in spiritual poverty, we are spiritual lepers, spiritually dead...we were dead in our sins and trespasses and HE made us alive together with Christ...GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST!

NOTHING IN MY HANDS I BRING SIMPLY TO THE CROSS I CLING.

There is no room for pride at the cross, it must die, the cross will kill pride.

Oh Father in heaven,

out of my poverty I give all I am to YOU, use me for YOUR glory and my joy in YOU.  Father enable me by YOUR Holy Spirit to walk there, breathe there, live there...I confess it is not where my flesh wants to stay.  "Prone to wander Lord I feel it prone to leave the God I love, take my heart Lord, take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above."  Let my heart be seat apart for YOU and you alone, to love YOU, to know YOU, to enjoy YOU, delight in YOU and worship my King.

love,

m

This is one of my favorite hymns...it captures the cry of my heart so well.

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I’ll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.

As we will read in a day or two in Luke 21:33 Jesus teaches us that, "Heaven and earth will pass away,  but My words will never pass away."  HIS Word will continue on into eternity, it is the Word of the living God.   We know from Heb 4:12 that, "the word of God is living and effective  and sharper than any two-edged sword,  penetrating as far as to divide soul, spirit, joints, and marrow; it is a judge of the ideas and thoughts of the heart.  Paul teaches us in 2 Tim 3:16 that, "All Scripture is inspired by God   and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness."  It is amazing to me that we KNOW this and so much more about God's Word, we have God's repeated warnings throughout scripture to obey and then repeatedly we see the consequences of those who do not obey and then I struggle with the same sin over and over.  Those prideful thoughts just slip in unnoticed, I entertain them for a few moments, minutes and then it hits me and I am wondering where did that come from...I know were it came from...my own heart!

Joshua 23:6-8 “Be very strong,  and continue obeying all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, so that you do not turn from it to the right or left 7 and so that you do not associate with these nations remaining among you. Do not call on the names of their gods or make an oath to them;  do not worship them or bow down to them. 8 Instead, remain faithful to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day.

I believe that 1 John 2:16 gives us three categories that ALL idolatry falls into...I could be wrong on that but I believe that will stand up to scrutiny.  John teaches us that, "all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. How did Satan deceive Eve?  It is a little ironic, he actually told her the truth!  Have you ever noticed?  The temptation was to DISOBEY GOD. 

Mark, what do you mean that he told the truth?  Check it out...the first words out of his mouth are, "Did God really say."  He is trying to get Eve to question what God really said.  Eve responds, "But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die. ’ ” 4 “No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman.  5 “In fact, God knows that when  you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God,  knowing good and evil.”

Satan is telling Eve the truth, you will not die physically, at least immediately, and God knows when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like HIM, knowing good and evil.  That is the truth...the problem is Satan deceived them into disobeying God.  SATAN IS NOT SO CONCERNED ABOUT WHAT YOU BELIEVE, ONCE YOU BELIEVE AS LONG AS he CAN GET YOU TO WALK IN DISOBEDIENCE TO YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER.  HEARE THIS YOU AND I WERE NOT CREATED TO KNOW EVIL, WE WERE CREATED TO KNOW GOD!

ALL RIGHT CHECK THIS OUT --Then the woman [THE LUST OF THE FLESH] saw that the tree was good for food and [THE LUST OF THE EYES] delightful to look at, and that it was [PRIDE OF LIFE] desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate ⌊it⌋; she also gave ⌊some⌋ to her husband, ⌊who was⌋ with her, and he ate ⌊it⌋.  7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

ALL OF THAT TO SAY THAT I BELIEVE OUR ENEMY USES THE SAME THREE STRATEGIES TO GET US TO DISOBEY OUR HEAVENLY FATHER.

Joshua 23:10  One of you routed a thousand,  because the Lord your God was fighting for you, as He promised.  

Joshua 23:13-16  know for certain that the Lord your God will not continue to drive these nations out before you. They will become a snare and a trap for you,  a scourge for your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you disappear from this good land the Lord your God has given you.

14 “I am now going the way of all the earth,   and you know with all your heart and all your soul that none of the good promises the Lord your God made to you has failed. Everything was fulfilled for you; not one promise has failed.  15 Since every good thing the Lord your God promised you has come about, so He will bring on you every bad thing until He has annihilated you from this good land the Lord your God has given you.  16 If you break the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, and go and worship other gods, and bow down to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly disappear from this good land He has given you.”

You really don't have to wonder what God thinks about an issue...if we will receive it HIS Word covers every area of life...God's Word is relevant to any and every situation, person, culture...on and on and on...HIS Word is sufficient and it is relevant to our lives.

In 1 Corinthians 9:27 Paul shares some amazing and stunning words...He tells us that "I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified."  I wonder how many preachers have woken up in hell?  We saw in Luke 16 that the rich man died and was in torment in hell.  In Matt 7:21 and following we learn that "not everyone that says unto me Lord, Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven."  Who is the one who enters?  It is the one who does the Fathers will!  What does that mean?  IT IS THE ONE WHO OBEYS THE WORD OF GOD.

What does Doctor Luke (20:34-39) have to say to us today?   Jesus told them, “The sons of this age  marry and are given in marriage.  35 But those who are counted worthy  to take part in that age  and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 For they cannot die anymore,  because they are like angels and are sons of God,  since they are sons of the resurrection. 37 Moses even indicated ⌊in the passage⌋ about the burning bush that the dead are raised, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.   38 He is not God of the dead but of the living, because all are living to  Him.” 39 Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, You have spoken well.”

I am deeply concerned that millions are horribly deceived and like the rich man will wake up in hell in torment.  They walked the isle and they were baptized as a child, they may attend church and they may bring their children to church, but they have no heart and passion for the things of God or for God.  Remember if you are lukewarm you are like vomit in HIS mouth...yuck!

Some will go to hell being legalist, having kept all the rules, but they have no heart and love for God...they are Pharisees!  Some will go to hell from  licentiousness...being deceived that God's grace allows them the freedom to sin that grace may abound.

If the Apostle Paul had to discipline his body so that he would not be disqualified after preaching the gospel what should you and I do?  Should we take our salvation for granted?  I don't think so!  Paul commands the Corinthians to test themselves in 2 Cor 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?"

Don't be deceived...God will not be mocked...you will reap what you sow!  BUT UNLESS YOU REPENT YOU WILL ALL LIKEWISE PERISH!

Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith

Father in heaven,

Grant us according to YOUR Holy Spirit eyes to see and ears to hear...enable us to turn to the Lord Jesus and have our sight restored to see YOU.  Fill us Father with YOUR Holy Spirit, enable us to walk in a manner that is pleasing to YOU, enable us by YOUR Spirit to walk in joy filled obedience to YOUR precious Word.

love,

m

Again we see that every promise that was made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is being fulfilled.  From Abraham to Joseph being sold into Egypt, Joseph coming into power in Egypt eventually bringing the Nation of Israel to Egypt that numbered 70.  Following 400+ years of slavery in Egypt, deliverance through Moses the wilderness experience and now...finally the promise land!  It is strange to think about it, but that is close to being 2 times the history of our United States.  God is really quite patient.  Absolute confidence that God will keep HIS promises is an incredible faith builder, for us to know that "all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us 2 Cor. 1:20.

Joshua 21:43-45--The Lord’s Promises Fulfilled

So the Lord gave Israel all the land He had sworn to give their fathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. 44 The Lord gave them rest on every side according to all He had sworn to their fathers. None of their enemies were able to stand against them, for the Lord handed over all their enemies to them. 45 None of the good promises the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed. Everything was fulfilled.

Joshua gives another warning to the Israelites in Joshua 22:5, "Only carefully obey the command and instruction that Moses the Lord’s servant gave you: to love the Lord your God, walk in all His ways, keep His commands, remain faithful  to Him, and serve Him with all your heart and all your soul.”  The "if then" clauses fill God's Word.  HIS blessing and protection are available to those who walk in obedience to the LORD.  THERE IS FORGIVENESS FOR SIN AND THAT IS AWESOME, AWESOME FOR THE LIFE TO COME...BUT THERE ARE STILL CONSEQUENCES IN THIS LIFE FOR OUR SINS.

Consider the response of the Israelite community when they think that their brothers are committing idolatry.

Joshua 22:16-20 “This is what the Lord’s entire community says: ‘What is this treachery you have committed today against the God of Israel by turning away from the Lord and building an altar for yourselves, so that you are in rebellion against the Lord today? 17 Wasn’t the sin of Peor, which brought a plague on the Lord’s community, enough for us, so that we have not cleansed ourselves from it even to this day,  18 and now, you would turn away from the Lord? If you rebel against the Lord today, tomorrow He will be angry with the entire community of Israel.  19 But if the land you possess is defiled, cross over to the land the Lord possesses where the Lord’s tabernacle stands, and take possession ⌊of it⌋ among us. But don’t rebel against the Lord or against us by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God. 20 Wasn’t Achan son of Zerah unfaithful regarding what was set apart for destruction, bringing wrath on the entire community of Israel? He was not the only one who perished because of his sin. ’ ”

Our sin infects our walk with the LORD, we must seek forgiveness, but it also has consequences in the lives our our children, spouse, and communities.  The community points out their past experiences with the tragedy of sin in the camp...it is clear that they understand the fear of the LORD. 

None of us have to look very far in our own lives or in the lives of those we love to see the horrific consequences of sin.  Jesus told us that "the thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."  Don't you find it strange that in the movies it's the bad, really bad guy that people find fascinating.  Our flesh is intrigued with evil...IT WORKS ONLY BECAUSE WE BELIEVE THE LIE!  "YOU WILL NOT SURELY DIE...FOR GOD KNOWS THAT WHEN YOU TASTE YOU WILL BE LIKE HIM"  THE TEMPTATION HOOKS YOUR FLESH AND PULLS YOU IN!

I could go on and on their, the reality is look at the news and the news paper...what is real...all of those lies will leave you in the garbage heap of deceived humanity.  Those created in the image of the God of the universe, created to have dominion and reflect HIS image forth in creation...find themselves fallen, diseased, dead...DECEIVED INTO BUYING THE LIE!

I have to include this on our reading in Luke this is a huge passage, I know, they are all huge, but I believe we miss this too often today.  Read the text, the commentary and check out Michael Card's lyrics to Scandalon at the end:)

Luke 20:17-19  But He looked at them and said, “Then what is the meaning of this Scripture:  The stone that the builders rejected— this has become the cornerstone?     18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and if it falls on anyone, it will grind him to powder!” 19 Then the scribes and the chief priests  looked for a way to get their hands on Him  that very hour, because they knew He had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.

20:17 Then what is the meaning of that which is written? The perfect participle “written” ( gegrammenon ) is frequent in Luke-Acts. ?²⁹? For the sense of the tense see comments on 2:23.

The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone? The capstone refers to the head cornerstone that bore the weight and stress of the two walls built upon it. Its function and importance was like that of a capstone in a cathedral without which the vaulted ceiling would collapse. Without the cornerstone the two walls built upon it would collapse. Jesus, rejected by official Israel, is the key, foundational element in God’s building, the church. This verse found in all three parallel accounts (and also immediately following the parable in GT 65–66) comes from Ps 118:22 and was an important OT text in the early church. ?³⁰? For “rejected” cf. 9:22.

20:18 Everyone who falls … broken to pieces. The quotation from Isa 8:14–15 demonstrates that those who are offended by the gospel and reject the stone will experience a disastrous judgment. Simeon in Luke 2:34 had already alluded to this. Jesus is the divine divider who separates the wheat from the tares, the sheep from the goats, the blessed from the damned.

But he on whom it falls will be crushed. The same thought of 20:18a is repeated, but the image now involves not the Jewish leaders’ falling on the stone but their being crushed by having the stone fall upon them. Compare Isa 8:14; Dan 2:34–35, 44–45 for the source of this imagery. Compare Midr. Esth 7.10 on 3:6, which quotes Isa 30:14 and follows with the proverb: “If a stone falls on a pot, woe to the pot! If a pot falls on a stone, woe to the pot! In either case, woe to the pot!”

20:19 The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way. Luke revealed the audience to whom the parable was addressed was the same as that in the preceding pericope (Luke 20:1; cf. 19:47–48).

Immediately. “Immediately” is literally in that hour . The time for the judgment of the wicked tenants had not yet arrived, but it would arrive shortly (cf. 22:53).

Because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. The meaning of the parable is self-evident.

²⁹ Luke 18:31; 21:22; 22:37; 24:44; Acts 13:29; 24:14.

³⁰ It is also found in Acts 4:11; 1 Pet 2:7b. It is also connected with Isa 8:14 in 1 Pet 2:7–8.

Stein, R. H. (2001, c1992). Vol. 24: Luke (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (493). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

The seers and the prophets had foretold it long ago
That the long awaited one would make men stumble
But they were looking for a king to conquer and to kill
Who'd have ever thought He'd be so meek and humble
Chorus
He will be the truth that will offend them one and all
A stone that makes men stumble
And a rock that makes them fall
[ Find more Lyrics at www.mp3lyrics.org/8coa ]
Many will be broken so that He can make them whole
And many will be crushed and lose their own soul
Along the path of life there lies a stubborn Scandalon
And all who come this way must be offended
To some He is a barrier, To others He's the way
For all should know the scandal of believing
Chorus
It seems today the Scandalon offends no one at all
The image we present can be stepped over
Could it be that we are like the others long ago
Will we ever learn that all who come must stumble
Repeat Chorus

The gospel is scandalous, it is scandalous to human pride...no one wants to admit how bad he or she really is!  WE ARE ALL SINNERS, DESERVING OF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT, HELL, WHERE THE WORM DOES NOT DIE AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED...UNLESS YOU REPENT YOU WILL ALL LIKE WISE PERRISH!

I'M SORRY BUT IT IS TRUE!  WE MUST BE BROKEN ON THE ROCK TO BE MADE WHOLE OTHERWISE THE ROCK WILL DESTROY YOU.

Father in heaven,

Enable us to humble ourselves, to discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness...break me for YOUR glory and my joy in YOU.

love,

m

The distribution of land to the Israelites is almost complete.  The Israelites are receiving the fulfillment of the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  It is interesting to note that Caleb had to ask for his inheritance and in today's reading we learn that Joshua received as directed by the Lord what he asked for and tomorrow, I think, we see the Priest have to ask for their cities since their inheritance is the service to the LORD.  My reason for pointing it out is that in God's economy HE intends for our asking for the promises to be fulfilled by faith to be a part of strengthening our faith, part of our sanctification process.  I am sure that there is much more to it, but our asking demonstrates our level of desire for HIM.  We CANNOT COME TO HIM WITH A DIVIDED HEART, OR LUKE WARM, like vomit in HIS mouth or HE will spew us out.  We must pursue HIM with a white hot passion.  I do not confess to understand it all, but HE uses this in the building of our faith.  When HE says follow me, HE means follow me and it is up to you and I to pursue our LORD with a greater passion than all treasures.  What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?

Luke 11:7-13 Then he will answer from inside and say, ‘Don’t bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I have gone to bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he won’t get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence,  he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

9 “So  I say to you, keep asking,   and it will be given to you. Keep searching,   and you will find. Keep knocking,   and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son  asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil,  know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father  give  the Holy Spirit  to those who ask Him?”

If the sons of Israel had to ask don't you think we should ask, seek and knock to receive the promises of God.  More than the promises, more than all treasure and more than all gifts THOUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT HE GIVES US HIMSELF!  Christ in us the hope of glory! 

I have shared the blow quote form Jonathan Edwards before, but it is worth repeating here.  We were created to glorify God and enjoy HIM forever...if we do not glorify HIM and praise HIM Jesus teaches us that the stones will!  Luke 19:40  He answered, “I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out!”  In verse 37 we are told why the people are responding in this manner..."the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen."  The people simply responded to what they had seen.

God is glorified not only by His glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it. His glory is then received by the whole soul, both by the understanding and by the heart. God made the world that He might communicate, and the creature receive, His glory; and that it might [be] received both by the mind and heart. He that testifies his idea of God’s glory [doesn’t] glorify God so much as he that testifies also his delight in it.

As you and I see Jesus through HIS Word and through prayer and meditation on HIS Word there is only one appropriate response...PRAISE WORSHIP AND ADORATION.  I don't have to try to work up any emotions...the white-hot passion I refer to...the going hard after God is a RESPONSE TO WHAT I HAVE SEEN WITH MY SPIRITUAL EYES!  REMEMBER...OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART LORD.  OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART...I WANT TO SEE YOU, I WANT TO SEE YOU!

Jesus teaches us in Luke 19:46 that, "My house will be a house of prayer,  but you have made it a den of thieves!”  We know from 1 Peter that we are that house, 1 Pet 2:5, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

ASK, SEEK AND KNOCK...PURSUE HIM AND THEN WHEN HE OPENS YOUR EYES AND ENABLES YOU TO SEE HIS GLORY...CRY OUT AND PRAISE AND WORSHIP HIM, DO WHAT YOU WERE CREATED TO DO SO THAT THE ROCKS DON'T STEAL YOUR JOB AND JOY IN HIS PRESENCE.

I'm not completely sure what Luke 19:44 means but you can't help but understand that there is a great sense of loss...what is the day of visitation?  SOME ARE BLIND TO IT AND SOME SEE IT AND RECEIVE IT WITH GREAT JOY.  What will happen to those that did not recognize the day of visitation?  Luke 19:44, They will crush you and your children within you to the ground,  and they will not leave one stone on another  in you, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

2 Cor 4:4-7  Regarding them: the god of this age  has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,   who is the image of God.  5 For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord,  and ourselves as your slaves because of Jesus. 6 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.

From one clay jar to another...ask, seek, knock, cry out for HIM to open the eyes of your heart and when you see and behold HIM in all HIS glory let your heart explode with praise, worship and adoration...actually you don't have to let it...if you really see and behold HIM you will not be able to contain yourself.

DO NOT MISS THE DAY OF VISITAION!

Father in heaven...open the eyes of our hearts Lord, open the eyes of our hearts...I want to see YOU, we want to see YOU!

Please work this for YOUR glory and our Joy in YOU.

love,

m

It is amazing when you consider that God spends several chapters in Joshua laying out the inheritance, laying out the promise land to each tribe of Israel.  I am pulling from memory here but the best I can remember the Kingdom was its largest under Solomon, but even then they DID NOT occupy all the land God gave Israel as an inheritance.  Richards does a great job below of summarizing chapters 13-19.

Though large areas of Canaan remain unoccupied, it is time for Joshua to divide the land among the nine and a half tribes who will settle west of the Jordan (13:1–7). The text reviews the inheritance of the Transjordan tribes (vv. 8–33). Then Joshua gives a detailed description of the allotment of the other tribes in Canaan proper (14:1–19:51). But first Joshua tells of the request of that grand old warrior, Caleb, who 45 years earlier spied out Canaan with Joshua and urged Israel to take the land then (cf. Num. 14). Caleb, now 85, asks for Hebron, a fertile but strongly fortified hilltop site occupied by Anakites (giants). “The Lord helping me,” Caleb proclaims, “I will drive them out” (14:6–15). The spirit of Caleb, which has enabled Israel to triumph over the Canaanites, will permit each tribe to occupy all its territory as its population expands, if only Israel will continue to trust.  [TRUST GOD!]

Key verse. 18:6: Land division was not by chance, for God controlled the lot.  [our inheritance in Jesus is not by chance it is from the hand of God]

Personal application. David reflects on God’s sovereignty in his life in Psalm 16, saying, “Lord, You have assigned me my portion and my cup … The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.” Let us rejoice in the good God gives us.  Richards, L. O. (1991; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996). The Bible readers companion (electronic ed.) (152). Wheaton: Victord Books.

Hang on to the thought of the inheritance for a moment.  Do you remember in 2 Kings 6:13-17, the king of Aram was ticked at Elisha and sent an army against him?  Do you remember what happened?  "So the king said, “Go and see where he is, so I can send ⌊men⌋ to capture him.” When he was told, “Elisha is in Dothan,”  14 he sent horses, chariots, and a massive army there. They went by night and surrounded the city. 15 When the servant of the man of God got up early and went out, he discovered an army with horses and chariots surrounding the city. So he asked Elisha, “Oh, my master, what are we to do?” 16 Elisha said, “Don’t be afraid,  for those who are with us outnumber those who are with them.” 17 Then Elisha prayed, “Lord, please open his eyes and let him see.” So the Lord opened the servant’s eyes. He looked and saw that the mountain was covered with horses and chariots of fire  all around Elisha.

You might be wondering what this has to do with Israel's inheritance?  Hang on a little longer:)

Paul prays a similar prayer for the church at Ephesus.

Eph 1:17-23  ⌊I pray⌋ that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father,  would give you a spirit  of wisdom and revelation  in the knowledge of Him. 18 ⌊I pray⌋ that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope  of His calling,  what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power  to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength.  20 He demonstrated ⌊this power⌋ in the Messiah by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand  in the heavens — 21 far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given,   not only in this age but also in the one to come.  22 And He put everything under His feet   and appointed Him as head  over everything for the church, 23 which is His body,  the fullness  of the One who fills all things  in every way.

In Luke 18:41 Jesus asked the blind man, "what do you want me to do for you?"  "Lord, I want to see!"   "Receive your sight, your faith has healed you."  Elisha prays that his servants eyes will be opened to see the spiritual realm, what was the result of his prayer being answered...he was very encouraged!  Paul prays and asks that our eyes be opened...what is he hoping for in us...that we will be gloriously encouraged as WE UNDERSTAND THAT WE WERE DEAD IN OUR SINS and trespasses and that through Jesus and the resurrection power of God we have been made alive together with Christ and we are NOW seated with Christ in the heavenlies.  Paul knows that if we see the inheritance God has for us in Christ Jesus and if we understand spiritually that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us giving us newness of life in Jesus, he knows that if we see it we will be free from the cords of this world.  He knows that if we see it with our spiritual eyes we will be empowered by the Holy Spirit, the same power that raised Jesus from the grave, to "lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us Heb 12:1."

Can you see that this is what happened to Zacchaeus?  Luke under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit makes sure to tell us that "he was rich."  It was only in the last chapter that Jesus told us that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.  Jesus reminds the disciples that all things are possible with God!

Don't miss this, it is no accident that a blind man receives sight and then a rich man named Zacchaeus receives spiritual sight!  How else can you explain the radical transformation.

Luke 19:5-9 When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, because today I must stay at your house.” 6 So he quickly came down and welcomed Him joyfully. 7 All who saw it began to complain,  “He’s gone to lodge with a sinful man!” 8 But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, I’ll give  half of my possessions to the poor,  Lord! And if I have extorted  anything from anyone, I’ll pay  back four times as much!” 9 “Today salvation  has come to this house,” Jesus told him, “because he too is a son of Abraham. 

Mark what is your point in all this?  I'm glad you asked:)  The point is you and I have been given an INHERITANCE...AN UNBELIEVALBE INHERITANCE...AND IF YOU ARE REALLY SAVED, TWICE BORN, AN ADOPTED CHILD OF THE KING you also have a deposit.  This deposit is a guarantee of what is to come.  If you backup just a few verses in Ephesians you will see this...Eph 1:14 He is the down payment  of our inheritance, for the redemption of the possession,  to the praise of His glory.  Who is HE, HE is the Holy Spirit!  So we have the very presence of God in us, Christ in us the hope of glory, as a deposit of what is to come.

YOU AND I AS GOD'S CHILDREN ARE RICH BEYOND OUR WILDEST DREAMS AND WE LIVE IN SPIRITUAL POVERTY BECAUSE WE DON'T SEE!  LIVE IN THE LIGHT OF YOUR FUTURE!  HE HAS CALLED YOU OUT OF DARKNESS INTO HIS MARVELOUS LIGHT...WALK IN THE LIGHT AS HE IS IN THE LIGHT, HE IS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

Israel failed to drive out the inhabitants and those inhabitants became a trap and a snare to them.  Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.  You cannot have pet sins...THEY WILL GAIN POWER IN YOUR SPIRITUAL LIFE AND KILL YOU!

OH GOD, FATHER IN HEAVEN OPEN OUR EYES TO SEE THE WONDERFUL INHERITANCE WE HAVE IN YOU.  JESUS...WHAT DO I WANT YOU TO DO FOR ME?  LORD, I WANT TO SEE!  BY THE FILLING OF YOUR SPIRIT ENABLE ME, ENABLE US TO LIVE THE LIFE YOU DIED FOR US TO LIVE...FOR YOUR GLORY AND OUR JOY IN YOU!

love,

m

Psalm 86:11-13  Teach me Your way, Lord, and I will live by Your truth. Give me an undivided mind to fear Your name. 12 I will praise You with all my heart, Lord my God, and will honor Your name forever. 13 For Your faithful love for me is great, and You deliver my life from the depths of Sheol.

Moses asked God to teach him HIS ways that he might know God and find favor with HIM.  We see this repeated in the Psalms, the request for God to teach us HIS ways.

Ex 33:13 Now if I have indeed found favor in Your sight, please teach me Your ways,  and I will know You and find favor in Your sight. Now consider that this nation is Your people.”

Ps 25:4  Make Your ways known to me, Lord; teach me Your paths.

Ps 27:11 Because of my adversaries, show me Your way, Lord, and lead me on a level path.

What a beautiful prayer...Lord God teach me YOUR way, give me and undivided mind to fear YOUR name...THEN I will praise YOU with ALL MY HEART and honor YOUR name forever.  Father in heaven let that be true of me, let that be true of us!

As we continue in Joshua we see the Israelites continue to receive the promise land by faith.  They cannot sit back and do nothing, it is not handed to them on a silver platter...they must move in and take it by faith.  The same is true for you and I.  The victory is won, it was a decisive victory for King Jesus!  We know that when HE comes again simply HIS appearance will vanquish any foe.  None may stand in HIS presence...only those twice born, new creatures in Christ, who have been given a new nature, the redeemed image bearers of God.

OK, Jesus won a decisive victory and the cross!  Man's lower court ruled and convicted Jesus to death, God's highest court overruled and displayed HIS power in the resurrection.  This is why Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit was able to proclaim with confidence in 1 Co 15:55-58 "O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?  56 Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin  is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! 58 Therefore, my dear brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work,  knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.  

Mark, that is awesome, but what does this have to do with living the victorious Christian life, what does this have to do with walking by faith?  EVERYTHING!  Paul explains in Romans 6:4  Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death,  in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead  by the glory of the Father,  so we too may walk in a new way  of life.  The righteous man shall live by faith Gal. 3:11.

I am running short on time, but I wanted to get a running start in Luke with today's reading.  There have been several things over the past few days that have pierced my heart.  I do not want to be a spiritual leper!

In Luke 16:31 we are indirectly told what a treasure we have in the Word of God.  The creator of the universe took on human flesh, the Word became flesh and the Word has left us with HIS Word as a light and a guide...we must treasure HIS Word...they are life to us, bread, healing.

Luke 16:31  “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. ’ ”

Lk 17:10  In the same way, when you have done all that you were commanded, you should say, ‘We are good-for-nothing  slaves; we’ve only done our duty.’ ”

Lk 17:33  Whoever tries to make his life secure   will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 

Lk 18:13-14  “But the tax collector, standing far off,  would not even raise his eyes to heaven  but kept striking his chest   and saying, ‘God, turn Your wrath from me  —a sinner! ’ 14 I tell you, this one went down to his house justified  rather than the other; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Lk 18:17  I assure you:  Whoever does not welcome  the kingdom of God like a little child  will never enter it.”

Lk 18:27  He replied, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”

Lk 18:31-34 The Third Prediction of His Death

31 Then  He took the Twelve aside and told them, “Listen! We are going up to Jerusalem.  Everything that is written  through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished.  32 For He will be handed over to the Gentiles,  and He will be mocked,  insulted, spit  on; 33 and after they flog Him, they will kill Him, and He will rise on the third day.” 34 They understood none of these things.  This saying   was hidden  from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

Lk 18:41-43  “What do you want Me to do for you?” “Lord,” he said, “I want to see!” 42 “Receive your sight!”  Jesus told him. “Your faith has healed you.”   43 Instantly he could see, and he began to follow Him, glorifying God.  All the people,  when they saw it, gave praise to God.

Can you see what HE is doing here?  Can you see it?  Luke 18:17...HE does not tell us that they are not allowed to enter, it's if they don't welcome it like a little child that they will never enter it.  The reason they won't enter is pride, they don't see it as a treasure, they are blind to HIM, HIS ways and the fact that HE is our treasure...they have fallen in love with this world...it is insane, they have fallen in love with the gifts, not the gift giver!

Can you see?  HIS disciples can't see!  This is the 3rd time HE has told them what must happen and the scripture is clear...IT WAS HIDDEN FROM THEM!

DO YOU THINK IT IS AN ACCIDENT THAT THE NEXT STORY IS ABOUT A BLIND GUY OUTSIDE JERICHO?

DO YOU WANT A WORD FROM THE WORD...CRY FOR IT BY FAITH, LONG FOR HIM AND NOT HIS GIFTS, LOOK UNTO JESUS THE AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF OUR FAITH.  WRESTLE WITH GOD LIKE JACOB...I WILL NOT LET YOU GO UNLESS YOU BLESS ME!

Father in heaven make it so!

love,

m

Psalm 85:6 Will You not revive us again so that Your people may rejoice in You?

The heart cry of a child of God is always for more of God.  You think of Paul's words to the Philippians under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in 3:7-8 when he wrote , But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value  of knowing Christ  Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ.    Paul's burning, consuming passion was to know Jesus, was to have more of HIM.  We see in 2 Cor 1:24 that Paul longed to bring others into the enjoyment of God..."Not that we lord it over your faith, but are workers with you for your joy; for in your faith you are standing firm."  INTERESTING...he considered himself a worker for the joy of others.  This was no ordinary joy...this was the joy of the LORD, standing firm in the faith!

For those that know HIM, for those with a little faith, our hearts cry is revive us again SO THAT YOUR people may rejoice, rejoice where?  Rejoice in YOU LORD!  The Psalmist says it beautifully in Psalm 85:6 Will You not revive us again so that Your people may rejoice in You?

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE DESIRED RESULT IS REVIVAL IN HIM SO THAT WE MAY REJOICE IN HIM...THE INSTRUMENT TO ACCOMPLISH THAT REVIVAL IS HIS WORD!  The INSTRUMENT OF REVIVAL IS GOD'S WORD!

Ps 119:25--My soul cleaves to the dust; Revive me according to Your word.

Ps 119:50--This is my comfort in my affliction, That Your word has revived me.

Ps 119:107--I am exceedingly afflicted; Revive me, O Lord, according to Your word.

Ps 119:154--Plead my cause and redeem me; Revive me according to Your word.

Above you see four instances, the Psalmist says it many more times and in many other ways.  When we read through Psalm 119 beginning on May 23 underline every time you see "Open my eyes" "do not hide" "teach me" "make me understand" "give me understanding" "revive me"...UNDERLINE EVERY TIME YOU SEE THESE PHRASES, OR PHRASES LIKE THEM CONNECTED TO THE WORD, STATUES, ORDINANCES, WAYS.  YOU WILL SEE IT AGAIN AND AGIAN!  The INSTRUMENT OF REVIVAL IS GOD'S WORD!

Ps 119:88--Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, So that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth.  WHAT IS THE TESTIMONY OF HIS MOUTH?  HIS WORD! 

Have I convinced you?  The goal is revival, the goal is more and more of God...the purpose of that goal is SO THAT WE MAY REJOICE IN HIM.  One pastor put it this way..."God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in HIM."  What did the Psalmist say in Psalm 90:14?  "O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness, That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. 

Blaise Pascal nailed it when he said that, (June 19, 1623 – August 19, 1662 French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher.)"All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves."
Blaise Pascal

If you have been around people very long and if you have aspired to motivate and encourage people you come to the conclusion that people are going to do what they want to do!  BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION MAY WORK FOR A SHORT TIME BUT EVENTUALLY THEY WILL RETURN TO THE NATURAL COURSE OF THEIR HEART.  That is why we realize that we are absolutely dependent on God to TRANSFORM PEOPLES CORE AFFECTIONS.  GOD MUST TRANSFORM THE HEART, REMOVE THE HEART OF STONE AND GIVE THEM A HEART OF FLESH...DO YOU REMEMBER WHY HE GIVES THEM A HEART OF FLESH? 

Eze 36:26-27  “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27     “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.   WHY DID HE DO IT?  TO CAUSE US TO WALK OR KEEP HIS WORD!  The INSTRUMENT OF REVIVAL IS GOD'S WORD!

Psalm 85:6 Will You not revive us again so that Your people may rejoice in You?  

OK...the instrument of revival is God's Word our goal is revival so that we may rejoice in HIM...when we find our joy and satisfaction in HIM, HE is glorified and we are satisfied...in the midst of this God is changing and transforming our core affections toward HIM.

… and to Jonathan Edwards, who discovered and taught as powerfully as anyone that “the happiness of the creature consists in rejoicing in God, by which also God is magnified and exalted.” “The end of the creation is that the creation might glorify [God]. Now what is glorifying God, but a rejoicing at that glory he has displayed?”

… and to C. S. Lewis, who discovered “We are far too easily pleased.”

… and to a thousand missionaries, who have left everything for Christ and in the end have said, with David Livingstone, “I never made a sacrifice.”

Because joy is an act of obedience. We are commanded to rejoice in God. If obedience is doing what God commands, then joy is not merely the spin-off of obedience, it is obedience. The Bible tells us over and over to pursue joy: “Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones; and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart” (Psalm 32:11). “Let the nations be glad and sing for joy” (Psalm 67:4). “Delight yourself in the Lord” (Psalm 37:4). “Rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven” (Luke 10:20). “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4).

The Bible does not teach that we should treat delight as a mere by-product of duty. C. S. Lewis got it right when he wrote to a friend, “It is a Christian duty, as you know, for everyone to be as happy as he can.”¹² Yes, that is risky and controversial. But it is strictly true. Maximum happiness, both qualitatively and quantitatively, is precisely what we are duty-bound to pursue.

Piper, J. (2001). The dangerous duty of delight. "Condensed version of Desiring God : meditations of a Christian Hedonist, from Multnomah Publishers, 1996"--P. 90. (13). Sisters, Or.: Multnomah Publishers.

Our reading in Luke identifies, if you are a scripture detective, a joy killer!  What is it that will kill your joy in the Lord?  Who is the sinister, evil enemy that lurks, waiting to pounce and destroy your precious joy?  The bizarre thing is that it is you and it is me!  In Luke 18 Jesus teaches us the parable of the Persistent Widow and the Pharisee and the Tax collector.  What is it that moves us to be prayerless?  What is it that move us to compare ourselves to others?  PRIDE!

1 John 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 

These 3 will kill your joy in the LORD...in Luke 18 I see Jesus taking aim at the original, original sin...PRIDE!

OUR ONLY HOPE is to cry out in desperation asking God our Father to transform our hearts, to conform us to the image of HIS SON, JESUS.  To cry out to HIM day and night, like the Widow and to say with the tax collector as we beat our chest...oh God, remove YOUR wrath from me--a sinner!  Then to cry out with David..."restore unto me the JOY OF YOUR SALVATION!

BE KILLING SIN OR SIN WILL BE KILLING YOU!

love,

m

We have witnessed the miraculous entrance into the land and now we are witnessing the miraculous conquest of the land.  God is in the midst of fulfilling every promise made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Joshua is carefully and methodically completing everything the LORD has asked him to do.  Remember they had the 613 laws to keep.  Jesus was clear in Matt 5:17, that HE did not come to get rid of the Law...“Don’t assume that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.  PRAISE GOD...JESUS BOILS IT DOWN FOR US IN Matt 22:37-40, when he says, “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.   40 All the Law and the Prophets depend  on these two commandments.”  Jesus knows that if a person genuinely loves God and loves others there will be a joy filled desire to walk in obedience to your King.  The wonderful blessing that follows for the children of God is that we know that, "every one of God’s promises  is “Yes” in Him. Therefore the “Amen”  is also through Him for God’s glory  through us (2 Cor. 1:20).  Let that soak in for awhile!

The greatest promise the most wonderful promise in the created and uncreated universe is that we will be with HIM, we will dwell in HIS presence forever.  We learn in Psalm 16:11 that as God reveals "the path of life to me; in Your presence is abundant joy; in Your right hand are eternal pleasures.  Who is the right hand?  We learn in 2 Cor 4:6 that God has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  Jesus is the right hand and throughout eternity HE will be revealing to us the glory of God through HIS face.  What is eternal life?  What does it mean?  What does it look like?  Jesus tells us in John 17:3 This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only  true  God, and the One You have sent —Jesus Christ. 

What will it be like?  I'm not sure!  This I know...take your most precious moments in this life and multiply them and intensify them one million times and you might catch a sniff, a faint hint of the pleasures and glory and wonder that we will experience in HIS presence forever!

God warns us through Luke not to cling to this life too tightly.  Think about it...why were the Pharisees and the Sadducees so upset with Jesus?  Was it theology?  NO...HE threatened their way of life, HE turned their world upside down.

Let's look briefly at the 10 Lepers.  Besides being a horrible disease, one that disfigured and ended in a horrific and slow death...what else made leprosy so bad?  Do we really need more Mark?  Not really, but I think that there is more.  Leprosy removed people from their community, family, worship...leprosy removed people from their LIFE...IT TOOK THEIR LIFE AWAY.  I believe leprosy was a picture of peoples spiritual condition without God.  Before coming to faith in Christ I was a spiritual leper and so were you!  If you have not come to Christ for healing, you still are a spiritual leper!

Check out what Jesus says in Luke 17:17-19 Then Jesus said, “Were not 10 cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Didn’t any return  to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And He told him, “Get up and go on your way. Your faith has made you well.”  In verse 16 we see that he fell face down in front of Jesus praising God and giving thanks.  HE DID NOT GIVE A RIP ABOUT WHAT ANYONE THOUGHT, HE COULD CARELESS IF ANYONE THOUHGT HE WAS UNDIGNIFIED FOR THROWING HIMSELF AT JESUS FEET.  This Samaritan returned to worship and something amazing happened...he was healed spiritually!  The way I read this text is that 10 were healed physically and one was healed of his spiritual leprosy.  DO YOU SEE IT?  ONLY ONE WAS CHANGED INSIDE AND OUT!  The other 9, unless God moved on their hearts, are in eternal torment and anguish like the Rich man who cried for relief from Lazarus.   Do you see it in verse 19?  Go...your faith has made you well.  This is a spiritual healing...the other 9 missed HIS presence, they missed the King of kings, they missed God incarnate!  Why, why, why did they miss HIM...they ran back to the life they knew and loved.  What kind of torment must that be...to know that you were that close to eternal joy, pleasures and spiritual healing and you turned and ran from HIM only thinking of the life you left behind. 

What does Paul teach us in 1 Cor 3:12-15, If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver,  costly stones,  wood, hay, or straw, 13 each one’s work will become obvious, for the day  will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire;  the fire will test the quality of each one’s work.  14 If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, it will be lost, but he will be saved;  yet it will be like an escape through fire.  UNLESS THOSE 9 TURNED BEFORE THEIR PHYSICAL DEATH THEY LOST THEMSELVES AND THEIR LIVES...CONSUMED IN THE FLAMES.

Luke 17:33  Whoever tries to make his life secure   will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 

Seek first the kingdom of God and HIS righteousness and all these things will be added to you.  Seek HIM, pursue HIM, go hard after HIM...HE is our treasure, HE is our joy.  The Psalmist nails it in Psalm 84.

My work will be tested, your work will be tested...what will the result be?

We were all spiritual lepers...let's run to Jesus throw ourselves at HIS feet and thank HIM and praise HIM and Worship the King of kings.  Rejoice in knowing that we are HIS adopted children, we are HIS heirs and joint heirs with Christ...to the glory and praise of God almighty.  Let's cry out with the Psalmist, LORD anything, anything in YOUR presence is infinitely better than the best place in the tents of the wicked!

Psalm 84:10-12 Better a day in Your courts than a thousand ⌊anywhere else⌋. I would rather be at the door of the house of my God than to live in the tents of the wicked. 11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord gives grace and glory; He does not withhold the good from those who live with integrity. 12 Lord of Hosts, happy is the person who trusts in You!

Father in heaven,

Holy Spirit of God move in our hearts to love YOU, to delight in YOU, to long like the Psalmist to be with YOU, to be in YOUR presence and let us like the leper run to YOU, throw ourselves at YOUR feet filled with thanksgiving, praise, worship and gratitude.

Please work this in us for YOUR glory and our JOY in YOU.

love,

m

God continues to establish HIS covenant people with some astounding supernatural acts.  A simple thing like the sun standing still.  Mark do you really believe that the sun stood still for a day...yep!  If I can believe that God created the heavens and the earth in six literal days then I can believe that HE can hit the pause button any time HE chooses.

So Joshua takes charge and out of the gate he makes some tactical errors.  In reality the only error he made was NOT SEEKING THE LORD'S COUNSEL!  Had Joshua sought the LORD he would have been spared the pain and anguish.  On one level this is encouraging to me, in that Joshua is still the man, he is still the leader, God did not dispose of him for those errors.  THAT GIVES ME HOPE THAT GOD CAN AND WILL STILL USE ME!

As long as the Israelites walk in obedience to the Law of the LORD as given through Moses they are promised amazing victories and peace and prosperity.  Their enemies are like dust in the wind, all they are is dust in the wind...hey, someone should write a song like about that:)  "I close my eyes, only for a moment, and the moment's gone All my dreams, pass before my eyes, a curiosity Dust in the wind, all they are is dust in the wind.  Same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea All we do, crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see."  OK...Kansas wrote the song, the lyrics are fairly insightful don't you think?

Josh10:8-11 The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them,  for I have handed them over to you. Not one of them will be able to stand against you.” 9 So Joshua caught them by surprise, after marching all night from Gilgal. 10 The Lord threw them into confusion  before Israel. He defeated them in a great slaughter at Gibeon, chased them through the ascent of Beth-horon, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah. 11 As they fled before Israel, the Lord threw large hailstones on them  from the sky along the descent of Beth-horon all the way to Azekah, and they died. More of them died from the hail than the Israelites killed with the sword.

As God's children we have the same promise, but we must keep in mind that our enemies our not people, they are not flesh and blood as Paul teaches us in Ephesians 6:12 "For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens."

The incredible news is that Jesus went before us at the Cross and HE defeated sin, death and Satan.  We are promised trouble in this world, but God tells us as HE told Joshua, don't be afraid, don't be afraid...I have overcome the world!  We are called to walk in joyful obedience with our LORD, walking the walk of faith.

John 16:33  “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

1 John 4:4  You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

1 John 5:4  For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

1 John 5:5  Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

I love in Josh 10:14, where we learn that God fought for Israel and we know that at the Cross HE fought for us...There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord listened to the voice of a man, because the Lord fought for Israel.   The NORMAL Christian life should be the victorious Christian life...would you say the life you are living in Christ was worth HIM dying the death HE suffered on the Cross, enduring the Wrath of God for your sin and my sin.  I BURN AND LONG TO LIVE THAT LIFE EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY...GOING HARD AFTER GOD MORNING, NOON AND NIGHT!

Jos 10:40-43 40 So Joshua conquered the whole region—the hill country, the Negev, the Judean foothills,  and the slopes—with all their kings, leaving no survivors. He completely destroyed every living being, as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded.  41 Joshua conquered everyone from Kadesh-barnea to Gaza, and all the land of Goshen  as far as Gibeon. 42 Joshua captured all these kings and their land in one campaign,  because the Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel. 43 Then Joshua returned with all Israel to the camp at Gilgal.

In Luke we first see the Rich man and Lazarus, the Rich man wakes up in eternal torment and Lazarus is carried by Angels to Abraham's side.  After a failed request for relief from his torment another request fails...please send Lazarus to warn my brothers so that they will not come to the place of torment.  Request denied!  At first reading, I'm thinking, "I don't know a visit from a dead person might persuade someone."  Then I am reminded of everything that Israel witnessed and they still failed and I am reminded of everything that the people witnessed in Jesus presence and they still did not believe.  WE CAN ONLY BE CHANGED FROM THE INSIDE OUT!  God the Holy Spirit must work an inside job on your heart...Christ in us the hope of Glory!

At the close of our reading in Luke Jesus hits us with some powerful words to kill pride in HIS servants.  PLEASE PRAY THAT THE FULL FORCE OF THESE WORDS SINKS AND BURNS TO THE CORE AND CENTER OF MY HEART...I REALLY WANT TO GET THIS AND I WANT IT TO FLAVOR ALL I DO FOR HIM.  TAKE A LOOK.

Let us notice, second, in these verses how our Lord speaks against self-righteousness. He says to his apostles, “When you have done everything you were told to do, [you] should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty’ ” (verse 10).

We are all naturally proud and self-righteous. We think far more highly of ourselves than we have any right to do. This is a subtle disease which shows itself in a hundred different ways. Most people can see it in other people but are blind to its presence in themselves. Seldom will a saint be found who is not sometimes tempted to be pleased with himself. There is such a thing as pride which wears the cloak of humility. There is not a heart on earth which does not contain a piece of the Pharisee’s character. The roots of pride may remain and often produce bitter shoots; but the power of pride is broken when the Holy Spirit comes into the heart and shows the man himself and God. The true Christian will never trust in his own goodness; he will say with St. Paul, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14; see 1 Timothy 1:15).  Ryle, J. C. (1997). Luke. The Crossway classic commentaries (Lk 17:6). Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books.

Father in heaven,

I am an unworthy servant...I struggle just to do my duty...increase my faith in YOU, enable me to love YOU in manner worthy of who YOU are.  Holy Spirit of God please work this in me for YOUR glory and my joy in YOU.

love,

m

We see the failure at Ai and then after the sin is purged from the camp the Israelites are victorious.  At the close of chapter 8 Joshua reads the Pentateuch, the first five books of our Bible, the Words Moses wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  He read all five books in one sitting, he read them to men, women, little children and the foreigners who were with them.  HE READ EVERY WORD TO THEM!  Joshua 8:35--There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read before the entire assembly of Israel, including the women, little children, and foreigners who were with them.

I emphasize that to give emphasis to the fact that every Word of scripture is precious and valuable to God's children.  Every Word is inspired...every Word may not be inspirational.  You may have to think on that for a bit.  Every Word in the Bible is just as inspired as every other Word in the Bible...there are sections that are more inspirational to us on an emotional level.  "Man does not live on bread alone, but by EVERY Word that proceeds from the mouth of God."

I have not counted, but multiple times we see God exhorting Joshua, "be strong and courageous."  God promises to be with Joshua as HE was with Moses.  Early on Joshua makes a couple of simple, but critical mistakes.  If you look in scripture before the attack of Ai there is no mention that he inquired of the LORD and they suffered the subsequent beating, he did not inquire of the LORD until after the defeat.  You have to look forward to OUR READING FOR TOMORROW, but we are told in verse 19 that Joshua did not inquire of the LORD before making the treaty with Gibeonites. 

It does not matter who you are, how high you rise in leadership in government or church we are constantly dependent on the LORD, we are every moment of every day desperately in need of HIS guidance and direction.  I HAVE PASSED THROUGH MUCH ANGUISH BECAUSE I MOVED OUT IN A DIRECTION IN MY OWN POWER...HE WILL NOT BLESS IT.  We must inquire of the LORD for every step, every breath, for everything we do...like it or not, we are completely dependent on HIM!

It is interesting...if we understand this simple truth, that we always have been and always will be completely dependent on HIM and that EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING belongs to HIM, our bodies, our possessions...EVERYTHING, the air we breathe...on and on, then this simple truth in Luke is easy to understand.  Money is to be used in this world to make preparation for the next!  You may have heard it said, that you can't take money with you.  That is not exactly true as this parable teaches.  However, the only way to take money with you is to give it away in this life.  If you hoard it for yourself, you are hoarding it to your own destruction.

Jesus tells two parables directed against the Pharisees’ love for money. The first, traditionally known as the Parable of the Unjust Steward, makes a simple point. Money has no value in itself, but is to be used in this world to make preparation for the next (16:1–12). Each person must make a choice between commitment to materialistic values and commitment to God (vv. 13–15) and covenant values (vv. 16–18).

Jesus’ second parable draws back the veil and shows the sneering Pharisees how serious this issue is. In the hereafter, the roles the rich man and beggar play in this life mean nothing. Blessing is a matter of repentance and faith, and only those who respond to God’s Word through Moses and the prophets will be blessed (vv. 19–31). Even a resurrection miracle cannot convince those who will not believe God’s Word.

Richards, L. O. (1991; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996). The Bible readers companion (electronic ed.) (667). Wheaton: Victor Books.

3 John 4
I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.

Father in heaven,

Enable us to see as YOU see and to love YOU with ALL OUR HEART, SOUL, MIND AND STRENGTH AND OUR NEIGHBOR AS OURSELVES.

FOR YOUR GLORY AND OUR JOY IN YOU.

love,

m

There is so much in today's reading, it is just so rich!  I won't even go into the circumcision thing...ouch!  Then we have a theophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ in the commander of the LORD'S army, we could camp out there forever!  Then Jericho is defeated with a bizarre and strange military strategy...Israel obeyed!  Then we are presented with the failure at Ai because of sin in the camp.  We find ourselves horrified at the judgement on Achan and his family, being stoned and then burned and buried with stones WHEN WE (or I) SHOULD BE HORRIFIED AT THE SIN THEY COMMITTED AS GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE.  Remember...repent or you too likewise will perish. 

Then in Luke Jesus overwhelms and floods us with HIS teaching concerning the LOST AND FOUND...the sheep, the coin and the son.  You find yourself thrilled to know that there is joy in the presence of God's angels over one sinner who repents.  We rejoice when the prodigal comes to his senses and returns to the Father.  The Father allows the son to state his repentance and then HE celebrates that this son who was DEAD is now alive, alive to God!

Then in Psalm 81 we find God lamenting HIS stubborn, stiff necked people again calling them to obedience.  HE cries out "if you would only listen to me, you did not listen to me, you did not obey...therefore I gave you over to your stubborn hearts.  Then in our reading in Proverbs 13 we have one verse that says so much..."A wise son ⌊hears his⌋ father’s instruction, but a mocker doesn’t listen to rebuke."  Another word used for mocker is scoffer, or one who makes fun of, or ridicules the one giving instruction.  Basically this person is not teachable!  They are arrogant and think that they know it all.  As an adult they may have excellent social skills, but in their heats they are mockers and scoffers...they are fools for their end is horrific!

Fools scorn and mock at sin (Prov 14:9) and judgment (Prov 19:28). The scorner himself may be described as proud and haughty (Prov 21:24), incorrigible (Prov 9:7), resistant to all reproof (Prov 9:8; Prov 15:12), and hating any rebuke (Prov 13:1). Wisdom and knowledge easily elude him (Prov 14:6).

So despicable is the scorner that he may be labelled as odious to all men (Prov 24:9). Therefore he must be avoided (Psa 1:1) by all who would live godly lives. Further, he should be punished by hitting so that the easily pursuaded naive fool may benefit from the lesson (Prov 19:25; Prov 21:11). One good way to remove contention from a group is to eject the scorner, and then "strife and reproach will cease" (Prov 22:16). A prepared judgment awaits all such scorners (Prov 19:29), for their trademark of life has been "to delight" in their scorning (Prov 1:22). They shall be brought to nothing and consumed (Isa 29:20). (Theological Wordbook of the OT)  Isa 29:20 For the ruthless one will vanish, the scorner will disappear, and all those who lie in wait with evil intent will be killed—

I want to take a few minutes to focus on Psalm 81...in a unique way it seems to tie our reading today together.  We see in Joshua 6:16-18 that the instruction to Joshua and to the people were crystal clear...“Shout! For the Lord has given you the city. 17 But the city and everything in it are set apart to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and everyone with her in the house will live,  because she hid the men  we sent. 18 But keep yourselves from the things set apart, or you will be set apart for destruction. If you  take any of those things, you will set apart the camp of Israel for destruction and bring disaster on it.

The word was clear and Achan's confession is that he coveted and took some of the things that were set apart for destruction.  REPENT, OR YOU TOO WILL LIKE WISE PERISH.  (I am saying this to myself)

Now in Luke when the younger son comes to the Father and asks for his inheritance he is basically telling his Dad..."I wish you were dead, can I have the money I would get when you die now?"  He had grown up with his Dad, baby, little boy, and now a young man...I wish you were dead!  NOW CONTRAST THIS WITH Psalm 73:28 But as for me, God’s presence is my good. I have made the Lord God my refuge, so I can tell about all You do.  God's presence is my good, God's presence is my good...God is my treasure, God is the gospel...THIS IS TRUE!  IT IS TRUE, BUT IS IT THE SONG OF MY HEART?  Would I be content on Christmas morning if MY tree was loaded with every gift I could every want, imagine, desire, IF GOD WAS MISSING?  Do I love the gifts or the gift giver?  Remember...yesterday I asked is there anything that if God took it away you would be mad at God?  Do you love the gift or the gift giver?

ACHAN SINS AND HE AND HIS FAMILY IS KILLED AND GOD IS PERFECTLY JUST IN KILLING THEM.  The Prodigal son sins and when he comes to his senses the Father runs to him and receives him back from the dead..."this son of mine was dead and is now alive, come celebrate with me."  Praise God for grace, mercy, sacrificial love...THANK GOD FOR JESUS!

How does the Psalmist bring it all together?  God laments that HIS people will not listen...sounds like me at times.  HE commands that we must not have a strange god among us...the strange god is anything that you love, serve, fear, desire more than God!  ANYTHING!  In Romans 1: 24-25, Paul teaches us that because of sin "God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts  to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie,  and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is blessed forever.  Amen."  NOTICE IN VERSE 12 BELOW...because the people did not listen God gives them over to their stubborn hearts.  I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU THE THOUGHT OF BEING GIVEN OVER TO MY HEART FRIGHTENS ME...I DON'T WANT MY HEART, I LONG FOR MY CREATOR, REDEEMER TO CREATE IN ME A CLEAN HEART.    

Ps 81:6-16 “I relieved his shoulder from the burden; his hands were freed from ⌊carrying⌋ the basket. 7 You called out in distress, and I rescued you; I answered you from the thundercloud. I tested you at the waters of Meribah.  Selah 8 Listen, My people, and I will admonish you. Israel, if you would only listen to Me! 9  There must not be a strange god among you; you must not bow down to a foreign god. 10 I am Yahweh  your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.  Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. 11 “But My people did not listen to Me; Israel did not obey Me. 12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own plans. 13 If only My people would listen to Me and Israel would follow My ways, 14 I would quickly subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their foes.” 15 Those who hate the Lord would pretend submission to Him; their doom would last forever. 16 But He would feed Israel  with the best wheat.   “I would satisfy you with honey from the rock.”

If we will only listen and obey, walk in faith, in absolute dependence on HIM for everything, giving HIM all the glory...HE promises that HE will satisfy you with honey from the rock.”  THAT ROCK IS JESUS!

Let's pursue HIM, go hard after HIM, desire HIM above all things...HE is our treasure, our delight...seek first the kingdom of God!

love,

m

Today in Joshua 3-4 the Israelites cross the Jordan river and in doing so they witness a demonstration of God's power and a testimony to HIS continued presence with HIS chosen people.  In addition to the promise of HIS presence, HE has promised to drive out the inhabitants of the land before them.  The condition is always basically the same...walk in obedience to the Word of the Lord.  What does this mean for you and I today?  For those that are twice born, for those who belong the Spirit, children of God, I would say with the Apostle Paul, "do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Cor. 6:19-20).  The veil in the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom when Jesus cried from the cross, "it is finished."  God the Holy Spirit now resides in HIS children.  Jesus has defeated sin, death and Satan, Jesus has won the decisive victory and HE has given us everything we need, 2 Peter 1:3 teaches us that, "His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue."  WE KNOW THAT THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH!  Just as the Israelites had to take the promised land by faith, just as they had to face the giants that they feared, we too are called to walk by faith, facing the giants, trusting and believing in the promises of God that HIS divine power has indeed given me and given you everything that we need to live godly lives through the knowledge of HIM who called us.

Joshua 3:9-11  So Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the Lord your God.” 10 And Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites: 11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan.

After the temple was built how often did the normal God fearing Israelite go to the temple?  Three times each year, if they lived within a certain distance they were required to attend three festivals each year.  Passover was the most prominent festival each year, Jerusalem's population would explode each year during the Passover.  I point that out to say that a normal God fearing family went to the temple 3 times each year, the responsibility to teach the children about God rested with the parents with Dad being the primary spiritual leader in the home. 

While we have the Church today I believe that parents, especially Dads must take the lead again in teaching their children about the things of God.  The Church is certainly to be a support and a help in the training, but to often we look to the church for everything...this should not be!

Joshua 4:19-24  Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. 20 And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. 21 Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ 22 then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land’; 23 for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, 24 that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.”

Jesus has a way with Words...WOW!  There are so many times I walk away from HIS Word feeling beaten and battered.  Don't miss understand, I'm not complaining, I need it.  There are times it just catches me by surprise.

Luke 14:25-34 Christ Teaches on Discipleship

Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— 29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. 33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

34 “Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?

Beware of clinging to anything in this world!  Each of us who claim to be children of God better hold the things of this world very loosely.  As the author of Hebrews tells us about the heroes of the faith...we learn that they, all died in faith without having received the promises, but they saw them from a distance,  greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth.    Peter teaches the same thing when he exhort us in 1 Pe 2:11  Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and temporary residents  to abstain  from fleshly  desires that war against you.   

This is not our home!  Our earthly journey is simply preparing us for eternity.  It has been well said...life is short, eternity is long [really long] and what we do with this life will determine how we spend eternity.

Is there anything or anyone in your life that if God took away you would be mad at God?  Home, spouse, children, job, reputation...then that is an idol in your life and Jesus has harsh words for you and I at that point.  DON'T LET YOUR EYES RUN OVER THE WORDS AND WALK AWAY UNCHANGED...TO HIM WHO HAS EARS LET HIM OR HER HEAR.

love,

m

Moses the faithful servant dies, the people promise to obey and follow Joshua as they followed Moses.  I don't know about you, if I were Joshua, I would not be excited for them to obey me LIKE they obeyed Moses...let's do better you all!  They have been taught that God is their life...Deut 30:20, love the Lord your God, obey Him, and remain faithful to Him. For He is your life, and He will prolong your life in the land the Lord swore to give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”  After learning that God's very presence is their life they are taught that, Deut 32:47, "they are not meaningless words to you but they are your life, and by them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”  Our great God teaches them that HIS Words are life for them.  Joshua continues this same message in Joshua chapter 1. 

Joshua 1:8-9 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

How sad to see the condition of Israel in Psalm 79 in our reading today.  You move from the close of Deuteronomy and the opening chapters of Joshua with such hope and expectation and then turn to our reading in the Psalms and it is like God said, "here read the next to last chapter in Israel's book.

Ps 79:1-13 Faith amid Confusion A psalm of Asaph.

God, the nations have invaded Your inheritance, desecrated Your holy temple, and turned Jerusalem into ruins. 2 They gave the corpses of Your servants to the birds of the sky for food, the flesh of Your godly ones to the beasts of the earth. 3 They poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury ⌊them⌋. 4 We have become an object of reproach to our neighbors, a source of mockery and ridicule to those around us. 5 How long, Lord? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy keep burning like fire? 6 Pour out Your wrath on the nations that don’t acknowledge You, on the kingdoms that don’t call on Your name, 7 for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland. 8  Do not hold past sins  against us; let Your compassion come to us quickly, for we have become weak. 9 God of our salvation, help us — for the glory of Your name. Deliver us and atone for  our sins, because of Your name. 10  Why should the nations ask, “Where is their God?” Before our eyes, let vengeance for the shed blood of Your servants be known among the nations. 11Let the groans of the prisoners reach You; according to Your great power, preserve those condemned to die. 12 Pay back sevenfold to our neighbors the reproach they have hurled at You, Lord. 13 Then we, Your people, the sheep of Your pasture, will thank You forever; we will declare Your praise to generation after generation.

In Psalm 78 Asaph’s psalm fulfills each generation’s obligation to share its knowledge of God with the next (78:1–8). Because one generation forgot God they violated His covenant and suffered defeat (vv. 9–11). So Asaph catalogs the wonderful things God has done in revealing Himself to Israel: He hurled plagues against Egypt (vv. 12–20). He disciplined and fed the wilderness generation (vv. 21–33). He punished and forgave (vv. 34–39). Yet Israel rebelled (vv. 40–55) and turned to idolatry (vv. 56–64). Yet, later God beat back His people’s enemies and chose David to shepherd His people (vv. 65–72). How great the sin of man and how much greater the grace of God!

What shall we pass on? (78:4) Asaph pinpoints what each generation needs to pass on to the next: “the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord.” Let’s not hesitate to share what God has done in our lives with our children. They will see and come to know Him through what we impart (v. 7).

Richards, L. O. (1991; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996). The Bible readers companion (electronic ed.) (368). Wheaton: Victor Books.

With this in mind consider our reading in Luke concerning the Narrow Way, Jesus tells us to "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because I tell you, many will try to enter and won't be able.  Who did Jesus say were HIS mother, brothers and sisters?  Those who hear and obey the Word of God!  Jesus said MY food is to do the will of HIM who sent me and HE said, "man does not live on bread alone, but on every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Lk 13:25-29  When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ 26 then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ 27 But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ 28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. 29 They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God.

Who do you say that HE is?  Who do you sat that HE is with your life?

This morning I want to focus on 5 little verses in Luke.  Jesus teaching here is stunning, typically we teach repentance from this text and that is the main point, but there is an underlying message about suffering.  I believe that it is critical that these two, repentance and suffering, be held together.  Consider that if this were to happen today, we would be coming to Jesus and say what about the recent tsunamis, the World Trade Center, Columbine, the earth quake here or there, those being killed in Africa, on and on we could go listing horrific world events.  Jesus would look at us eye to eye and say, “Do you think this happened to these because they were worse sinners than the others? Do you think these are worse sinners than those who escape every day? I tell you, No; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Luke 13:1-5 Repent or Perish

At that time,  some people came and reported to Him about the Galileans  whose blood Pilate  had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 And He  responded to them, “Do you think that these Galileans were more sinful than all Galileans because they suffered these things?  3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well! 4 Or those 18 that the tower in Siloam  fell on and killed—do you think they were more sinful than all the people who live in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well!”

In our culture the questioning might sound more like this.  "If God is all powerful and a loving God how could HE allow these tragedies?"  They think that they have won an argument by proving that God is either not all powerful or HE is not loving.  THE PROBLEM IS THAT IN OUR FALLEN, UNREDEEMED HUMAN STATE it is impossible for us to understand spiritual matters (1 Cor. 2:14).  The same individuals will ask, "If God is truly a loving God then how could he send anyone to hell?"  By asking that question they are revealing their ignorance concerning God! 

The AWE STRIKING, STUNNING QUESTION OF THE UNIVERSE IS...SINCE GOD IS HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, HOW CAN HE ALLOW A SINNER LIKE ME TO ENTER HIS PRESENCE?  When our eyes are opened to see, to behold and to delight in our great God we shut our mouths and fall to the ground.  Check out Isaiah's words in Isaiah 6, and Job's final words, what did Peter say after the catch of fish?  Depart from me Lord for I am a sinful man.  What was John's response when he beheld Jesus in Revelation?  He fell to the ground as a dead man...this is the guy who was so close to the Lord during HIS earthly ministry.

One sin is sufficient to ruin each of us!  We should not be shocked when disasters strike us as though something unjustifiable was happening to innocent human beings. What does scripture teach us?  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “There is none righteous, no not one” (Romans 3:10).  What should amaze us is not that some are taken in disasters, but that you and I are given another day to repent. If we are seeing clearly, the breath taking, awe striking wonder and reality is not that guilty sinners perish, but that because of the shed blood of HIS only begotten Son, God is so slow to anger and you and I are given another opportunity to repent.

God may choose to work through one tragedy as a warning shot, to get your attention...it is HIS way of saying REPENT OR YOU WILL LIKEWISE PERISH!

It is important for each of us to know that God would have been perfectly just to send all of humanity to hell and not save one, not one!  Wayne Grudem in a discussion on the atonement makes this observation.

Was there any other way for God to save human beings than by sending his Son to die in our place?

Before answering this question, it is important to realize that it was not necessary for God to save any people at all. When we appreciate that “God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of nether gloom to be kept until the judgment” (2 Peter 2:4), then we realize that God could also have chosen with perfect justice to have left us in our sins awaiting judgment: he could have chosen to save no one, just as he did with the sinful angels. So in this sense the atonement was not absolutely necessary.

But once God, in his love, decided to save some human beings, then several passages in Scripture indicate that there was no other way for God to do this than through the death of his Son. Grudem, W. A. (1994). Systematic theology : An introduction to biblical doctrine (569). Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House.

I believe that the point is this...God is the gospel, God is the treasure, the good news is that fallen, sinful people through the blood of Jesus may spend eternity with God the Father in an intimate relationship with the King of the universe.  We are HIS adopted children, we belong to HIM, we are seated...NOW with Christ in the heaveanlies. 

I am out of time, but suffice to say that everything that happens to us, God allows to come to either refine and purify HIS children to prepare us for eternity or to move those that don't know HIM yet to REPENT AND TURN TO HIM AND BE SAVED.

Acts 16:30-31 Then he escorted them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 

WHAT SHOULD AMAZE ME?  THAT HE WOULD ALLOW A SINNER LIKE ME INTO HIS PRESENCE!

Father in heaven,

please let me see with spiritual eyes for YOUR glory and our JOY in YOU.

love,

m

The author of Hebrews teaches us in Heb 10:31, that "It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!"  Those who have not trusted and placed their faith, hope, and their life in the hands of our Savior will suffer the eternal wrath of God.  They will suffer as Jonathan Edwards put it, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.  His text for July 8, 1741 was Deuteronomy 32:35, Vengeance  belongs to Me; I will repay.   In time their foot will slip, for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.”

In this verse is threatened the vengeance of God on the wicked unbelieving Israelites, who were God's visible people, and who lived under the means of grace; but who, notwithstanding all God's wonderful works towards them, remained (as vers 28.) void of counsel, having no understanding in them. Under all the cultivations of heaven, they brought forth bitter and poisonous fruit; as in the two verses next preceding the text. -- The expression I have chosen for my text, their foot shall slide in due time, seems to imply the following things, relating to the punishment and destruction to which these wicked Israelites were exposed.

1. That they were always exposed to destruction; as one that stands or walks in slippery places is always exposed to fall. This is implied in the manner of their destruction coming upon them, being represented by their foot sliding. The same is expressed, Psalm 73:18. "Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction."

2. It implies, that they were always exposed to sudden unexpected destruction. As he that walks in slippery places is every moment liable to fall, he cannot foresee one moment whether he shall stand or fall the next; and when he does fall, he falls at once without warning: Which is also expressed in Psalm 73:18,19. "Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction: How are they brought into desolation as in a moment!"

3. Another thing implied is, that they are liable to fall of themselves, without being thrown down by the hand of another; as he that stands or walks on slippery ground needs nothing but his own weight to throw him down.

4. That the reason why they are not fallen already and do not fall now is only that God's appointed time is not come. For it is said, that when that due time, or appointed time comes, their foot shall slide. Then they shall be left to fall, as they are inclined by their own weight. God will not hold them up in these slippery places any longer, but will let them go; and then, at that very instant, they shall fall into destruction; as he that stands on such slippery declining ground, on the edge of a pit, he cannot stand alone, when he is let go he immediately falls and is lost.

The observation from the words that I would now insist upon is this. -- "There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God." -- By the mere pleasure of God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty, any more than if nothing else but God's mere will had in the least degree, or in any respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of wicked men one moment. -- The truth of this observation may appear by the following considerations.

If you have never read the entire sermon it is well worth the time and energy.  I would not recommend reading it alone at night, it would be best read in the day light around a lot of people.  ARE YOU TRYING TO SCARE US?  It is reported that Edwards was not a gifted speaker, that he would read his manuscripts in the pulpit.  It is also reported that as he read Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God that men jumped from their seats in the church and were clinging to the columns for fear of falling into hell.  You can read the entire sermon at the following link.     http://www.ccel.org/ccel/edwards/sermons.sinners.html

I'm not trying to scare anyone, but I do want challenge you and ME to face the truth.  Jesus asked the disciples, "Who do you say that I am?"  We must answer that same question and the answer must match with who do you say that HE is with your life!  Does your life and my life match our words?  Or are we deceived or worse hypocrites.

In Matt 7:21, Jesus spoke clearly, “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.  What does Jesus mean in Luke 6:46 when he says, “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things I say?  I believe HE is making the point that if you only give HIM lip service then HE is not really Lord of your life.

Isa 29:13--Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,

Matt 15:8--‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me.

Mark 7:6--And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me.

1 Cor 10:1-13

Warnings from Israel’s Past

10     Now I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers  were all under the cloud,  all passed through the sea,  2 and all were baptized  into Moses  in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food,  4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from a spiritual rock  that followed them, and that rock was Christ.  5 But God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the desert.

6 Now these things became examples for us, so that we will not desire  evil as they did.   7 Don’t become idolaters  as some of them were; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to play.    8 Let us not commit sexual immorality  as some of them did,  and in a single day 23,000 people fell dead.  9 Let us not tempt Christ as some of them did,  and were destroyed by snakes.  10 Nor should we complain  as some of them did,   and were killed by the destroyer.   11 Now these things happened to them as examples, and they were written as a warning to us,  on whom the ends of the ages  have come.  12 Therefore, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall!  13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful  and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape,  so that you are able to bear it.

In Matt 3:8-10 we learn that no all Israel is Israel, the ax is laid at the root...Therefore produce fruit  consistent with  repentance. 9 And don’t presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father. ’ For I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones! 10 Even now the ax is ready to strike the root of the trees! Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.  Paul says it in Romans 9:6, But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel.

What is your point?  The point is that if not all Israel is Israel, then not all in the Church are the Church!  As Dr. Rogers would say, "everybody talking about heaven, ain't going."

In our reading in Luke 12:40, Jesus commands us to be ready for HIS second coming, "You also be ready,  because the Son of Man  is coming at an hour that you do not expect.”   In Luke 12:46, HE graphically describes what will happen to those who are not ready!  That slave’s master will come on a day he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know. He will cut him to pieces  and assign him a place with the unbelievers. 

Father in heaven,

Give us eyes to see and ears to hear for YOUR glory and our JOY in YOU.

love,

m

HE is your life!  HE is your life!  HE is your life!  Let that sink in...there's gold in them there hills...there is a great treasure in those 4 words...HE is your life!  At the close of Moses song, in Deut 32:46-47, Moses tells them to, “Take to heart all these words I am giving as a warning to you today, so that you may command your children to carefully follow all the words of this law. 47 For they are not meaningless words to you but they are your life, and by them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

HE is your life and they are your life...HIMSELF, HIS presence and HIS words are our good, our life, our joy!  What did we learn in Deut 8:3?  He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then He gave you manna to eat, which you and your fathers had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 

Deut 30:19-20  I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life  so that you and your descendants may live, 20 love the Lord your God, obey Him, and remain faithful  to Him. For He is your life, and He will prolong your life in the land the Lord swore to give to your fathers  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

HE is the one that will never leave you nor forsake you, HE is the one that will go before you, HE will drive out the nations, HE is the one that will go before you and I and enable us to live the victorious Christian life.  THE ONLY WAY THIS HAPPENS IS IF OUR HEARTS, MINDS AND LIVES DISPLAY THAT HE IS OUR TREASURE, THAT HE IS OUR DELIGHT AND JOY.  When you get it...and by the power of the Holy Spirit the veil covering your heart and mind is removed as you turn to the LORD.  As you cast your eyes upon Jesus and look full in HIS glorious face, the things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of HIS glory and grace!  Hey, that would make a great song:)

Deut 31:3 The Lord your God is the One who will cross ahead of you.  He will destroy these nations before you, and you will drive them out. Joshua is the one who will cross ahead of you, as the Lord has said. 

Deut 31:5-8 The Lord will deliver them over to you, and you must do to them exactly as I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and courageous;  don’t be terrified or afraid of them. For it is the Lord your God who goes with you;  He will not leave you or forsake you.” 7 Moses then summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you will go with  this people into the land the Lord swore to give to their fathers.  You will enable them to take possession of it. 8 The Lord is the One who will go before you.  He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you.  Do not be afraid or discouraged.”

Dt 31:13  Then their children  who do not know ⌊the law⌋ will listen and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

Dt 31:18  I will certainly hide My face on that day because of all the evil they have done by turning to other gods.

Dt 31:20-21  When I bring them into the land I swore to ⌊give⌋ their fathers, ⌊a land⌋ flowing with milk and honey,  they will eat their fill  and prosper.  They will turn to other gods and worship them, despising Me and breaking My covenant.  21 And when many troubles and afflictions come to them, this song will testify against them, because  their descendants will not have forgotten it. For I know what they are prone to do,  even before I bring them into the land I swore ⌊to give them⌋.”

Dt 31:23  The Lord commissioned Joshua son of Nun, “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land I swore to them, and I will be with you.”

Do you get the idea that our heavenly Father does not want us to live in fear!  HE does want us to have a holy fear of HIM, a reverence and awe of our great God, King, Savior, Creator, sustainer and Maker...but then HE invites us and calls us to call HIM Father!

I love the way Jesus communicates this truth.  In Luke 12 Jesus teaches the parable of the RICH FOOL.  It is a really bad thing to be a fool in God's economy.  The rich fool stores up treasure on earth for himself and God calls him a fool, "this very night your life will be demanded of you."  In verse 21 Jesus says, “That’s how it is with the one who stores up treasure  for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Jesus speaks fiery rebukes and then a moment latter will speak tender, gentle words, words of life, hope, healing and restoration.  In Luke 12:31-34 HE tells us to,  “But seek His kingdom,  and these things will be provided for you.  32 Don’t be afraid,  little flock,  because your Father delights  to give you the kingdom.  33 Sell  your possessions and give to the poor.  Make money-bags  for yourselves that won’t grow old, an inexhaustible treasure  in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Where is your treasure?  Do you treasure HIM, HIS Word...HE is your life!  HIS Words are you life!  DO YOU TREASURE HIM AND THEM?  WHERE IS YOUR TREASURE?  WHERE IS MINE?

Father in heaven,

Thank you for the gift of YOURSELF!  Thank YOU that in and through YOUR Holy Spirit YOU dwell within YOUR children.  Thank YOU that by YOUR precious Word YOU feed us.  Enable us to know and understand that YOU are our life and that YOUR Words are our life..."man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.  Please do this for YOUR glory and our Joy in YOU.

love,

m

These last chapters in Deuteronomy are amazing...the truth has been laid out in black and white for the Israelites, they have witnessed the what the anger and wrath of God does to those who oppose God.  They have also witnessed the provisions from a loving and caring God as they journeyed  through the wilderness and yet they don't get it.

Moses’ third and last sermon is found in these two chapters. He has described the nature of covenant relationship with God carefully. Now this generation must make a decision. Moses reminds the people of what God has done (29:1–8). A decision to accept the covenant will confirm this generation as the people of the true God (vv. 9–15). But commitment to God must be irrevocable, or judgment will surely follow (vv. 16–29). As long as Israel remains faithful to God, or if a future generation turns back to Him heart and soul after straying, God will restore and bless (30:1–10). Thus the choice Israel faces is a choice between God and emptiness: between blessing and disaster, between life and death (vv. 11–20). And so Moses’ sermons conclude with an invitation as meaningful today as it was then: “Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.”  Richards, L. O. (1991; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996). The Bible readers companion (electronic ed.) (139). Wheaton: Victor Books.

The words of Deut 29:4, should strike fear, holy fear in the heart of every child of God!  Moses tells the Israelites that, "to this day the Lord has not given you a mind to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear. "  We are absolutely dependent on God, HIS indwelling Holy Spirit to reveal HIMSELF to HIS children.  We must ask, seek and knock...we must go hard after God.  If you are lukewarm you are vomit in HIS mouth!

Again the blessings and cruses are laid out for the Israelites and for us.  I know that we are under grace and not under the law, praise God, but the law of the harvest, the law of reaping and sowing is still active...you will reap what you sow!

Deut 29:9--Therefore, observe the words of this covenant  and follow them, so that you will succeed in everything you do.

Dt 29:18-21--Be sure there is no man, woman, clan, or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Be sure there is no root among you bearing poisonous and bitter fruit.  19 When someone hears the words of this oath, he may bless himself in his mind, thinking, ‘I will have peace even though I follow my ⌊own⌋ stubborn heart.’ This will lead to the destruction of the well-watered ⌊land⌋ as well as the dry ⌊land⌋. 20 The Lord will not be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that person, and every curse written in this scroll will descend on him. The Lord will blot out his name under heaven, 21 and single him out for harm from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the law.

Again, we have some stunning words from God through Moses..."when all these things happen to you."  Wait a minute!  You said we have a choice, we choose life, we choose life, we choose life.  I believe that our LORD intimately understands the human heart.  The language about coming "to your senses" is the same as the Prodigal son who came to his senses and returned to his father.

Dt 30:1-4--“When all these things happen to you—the blessings and curses I have set before you—and you come to your senses ⌊while you are⌋ in all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, 2 and you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and all your soul by doing  everything I am giving you today, 3 then He will restore your fortunes,  have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you.  4 Even if your exiles are at the ends of the earth,  He will gather you and bring you back from there. 

Dt 30:6--The Lord your God will circumcise your heart  and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and all your soul, so that you will live.

Dt 30:10--when you obey the Lord your God by keeping His commands and statutes that are written in this book of the law and return to Him with all your heart and all your soul.

Dt 30:20--love the Lord your God, obey Him, and remain faithful  to Him. For He is your life, and He will prolong your life in the land the Lord swore to give to your fathers  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

What did we say yesterday?  God is our treasure, God is the gospel, and here we lean that HE IS YOUR LIFE.  This sounds strangely like John 17:3, when Jesus in HIS high priestly prayer says, "This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only  true  God, and the One You have sent —Jesus Christ.

It's all about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus...through HIS blood, through HIS death, burial, and resurrection, HE made a way for you and I to return to our senses and run to our heavenly Father...JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY, JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY TO THE FATHER.

You have heard it said that all roads lead to God...that is TRUE!  WHAT?  HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND MARK!  ALL ROADS LEAD TO GOD...ONLY ONE WILL LEAD US TO KNOW HIM AS ABBA, FATHER...EVERY OTHER ROAD WILL LEAD YOU TO HIS WRATH!  What did Jesus say..."broad is the road that leads to destruction...Narrow is the way that leads to life...HE IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE, NO MAN COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH JESUS.

Father in heaven,

Circumcise our hearts to know YOU, love YOU, pursue YOU...give us eyes to see and ears to hear, to listen to YOUR precious Word.  Please work this for YOUR glory and our JOY in YOU.

love,

m

I found the closing words of chapter 27 amazing.  Listed among things like disdaining your parents, stealing [moving a boundary marker] abusing a handicapped person or taking advantage of someone in a weak position, some weird sexual sins, murder, accepting a bribe, come the following words in Deut 27:26  ‘Cursed is anyone who does not put the words of this law into practice.’ And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’  Remember we identified that there are 613 laws in the OT.  Here in a list or horrible sins we are handed a time bomb, a little like the one Jesus handed the expert in the Law, the guy who wanted to justify himself.  What did Jesus say to him?  "Do this and you will live."  What does Jesus say today in our reading in Luke?  In Luke 11:27-28 Jesus teaches us about true blessedness..."As He was saying these things, a woman from the crowd  raised her voice and said to Him, “The womb that bore You and the one who nursed You  are blessed!” 28 He said, “Even more, those who hear the word of God  and keep it  are blessed!”  What do we learn from James our Lord's brother?  James teaches us in James 1:21-25 to rid "yourselves of all moral filth and evil excess, humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save you.  22 But  be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face  in a mirror; 24 for he looks at himself, goes away, and right away forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts—this person will be blessed in what he does.

Even a sloppy student of the scriptures, someone who is downright careless has to work really hard to miss what God tells us over and over. 

Matt 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!”

Lk 6:46-49  “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things I say?  47 I will show you what someone is like who comes to Me, hears My words, and acts on them:  48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep  and laid the foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the river crashed against that house and couldn’t shake it, because it was well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The river crashed against it, and immediately it collapsed. And the destruction of that house was great!”

Ro 2:13  For the hearers of the law  are not righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be declared righteous. 

James 2:14-20  What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can his faith  save him?  15 If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it?  17 In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.  18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.”  Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith from my works.   19 You believe that God is one; you do well. The demons also believe—and they shudder.  20 Foolish man! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless?

God promises wonderful blessing if we will walk in obedience with HIM and HE promises horrific curses if we will not.  Unfortunately every curse pronounced came to pass on the Israelites, we will read about it in Jeremiah and Lamentations.  The United States under the New Covenant started out much the same way as Israel did under the Old and we see what 200+ years of human involvement has done.  These blessings and curses apply to nations, churches and they apply to individuals.

Deut 28:1-2

Blessings for Obedience

28     “Now if you faithfully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all His commands I am giving you today, the Lord your God will put you far above all the nations of the earth.  2 All these blessings will come and overtake you, because you obey the Lord your God:

Dt 28:9-10  The Lord will establish you as His holy people,  as He swore to you, if you obey the commands of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. 10 Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the Lord’s name, and they will stand in awe of you.

Dt 28:12  The Lord will open for you His abundant storehouse, the sky, to give your land rain in its season and to bless all the work of your hands.  You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow.

Dt 28:15

Curses for Disobedience

15 “But if you do not obey the Lord your God by carefully following all His commands and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overtake you:

Dt 28:45-48  “All these curses will come, pursue, and overtake you until you are destroyed, since you did not obey the Lord your God and keep the commands and statutes He gave you. 46 These curses will be a sign and a wonder against you and your descendants forever. 47 Because you didn’t serve the Lord your God with joy and a cheerful heart, even though ⌊you had⌋ an abundance of everything, 48 you will serve your enemies the Lord will send against you, in famine, thirst, nakedness, and a lack of everything. He will place an iron yoke  on your neck until He has destroyed you.

Dt 28:58-60  “If you are not careful to obey all the words of this law, which are written in this scroll, by fearing this glorious and awesome name—Yahweh, your God— 59 He will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, severe and lasting plagues, and terrible and chronic sicknesses. 60 He will afflict you again with all the diseases of Egypt, which you dreaded, and they will cling to you.

Dt 28:65  You will find no peace among those nations, and there will be no resting place  for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despondent spirit.

We learn in Romans 11:8, as Paul quotes from Deuteronomy chapter 29 that, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear, to this day."  If you want to know why God gave them a spirit of stupor read Romans chapter 1.

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 2:11 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’

Rev 2:17 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.’

Rev 2:29 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Rev 3:6 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Rev 3:13 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Rev 3:22 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ”

Father in heaven,

Oh God, give us eyes to see and ears to hear YOUR voice in and through YOUR Holy and precious Word.  Holy Spirit of God fill us  and enable us to delight in our greatest treasure, YOUR presence.  Father, enable us by the filling of YOUR Spirit to behold YOU in YOUR Word, to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.  Finish the good work YOU began, move us by YOUR Spirit to behold and become like Jesus.  Lord Jesus YOU set us free from our sins by YOUR own blood...enable us to walk and live in the freedom that YOU purchased with YOUR blood.  Please do this in a manner that YOU get ALL THE GLORY and we get the JOY of delighting in our Father, our Abba, our Daddy.  Father, enable us to walk and live in joy filled obedience to YOUR awe-striking Word.

love,

m

Good morning everyone...or good whatever time it happens to be as you are reading this post.  Blessings and congratulations for hanging with reading the One Year Bible...I hope and pray that God continues to stir and heat up your heart toward HIM and HIS awesome Word.  We have made it though the most difficult reading of the year and we are moving on to a land flowing with milk and honey:)

One of the first things mentioned in the reading today is the First Fruits offering.  For the Israelites this represents their work, life, labor, their energy, and they brought the first fruits to the LORD.  When we give our tithe we are not giving a donation we are giving to the LORD the first fruits of our work, life, labor and our energy.  Part of this is my time, this is why I spend the first part of each day with HIM, in HIS Word, pursuing HIM, seeking HIM, asking for more and more of HIM.

Deut 26:8-10  Then the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, with terrifying power, and with signs and wonders. 9 He led us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.  10 I have now brought the first of the land’s produce that You, Lord, have given me. You will then place the container before the Lord your God and bow down to Him.

Over and over you hear God's compassion for the foreign resident, the fatherless and the widow.  If you want to be a man or a woman after God's own heart pursue God and then bless and minister to these.  Don't just write a check, write a check and then go serve them!  REMEMBER JESUS WORDS FROM YESTERDAY...DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE!

Deut 26:12-13  “When you have finished paying all the tenth of your produce in the third year,  the year of the tenth, you are to give ⌊it⌋ to the Levite, the foreign resident, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. 13 Then you will say in the presence of the Lord your God: I have taken the consecrated portion out of my house; I have also given it to the Levite, the foreign resident, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all the commands You gave me. I have not violated or forgotten Your commands.

God's people are warned to do everything that God commands them to do...You must be careful to follow them with all your heart and all your soul.  HE promises wonderful blessing if they will follow and HE promises horrible things if they will not.  In Deut 27 and 28 HE further discusses blessing and curses.  WHAT WOULD THE OPPOSITE OF "DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE" BE?  OUCH!

Deut 26:16 “The Lord your God is commanding you this day to follow these statutes and ordinances. You must be careful to follow them with all your heart and all your soul.

Deut 26:19 that He will put you far above all the nations He has made in praise, fame, and glory, and that you will be a holy people  to the Lord your God as He promised.”

I love where Deut 27:7 takes us, it carries us into the presence of God, "There you are to sacrifice fellowship offerings, eat, and rejoice in the presence of the Lord your God."  We are commanded to rejoice in the presence of the LORD our God.

It is amazing to me how God does this, I know that the One Year people could not have planned this.  Here we are in Deuteronomy 27:7 commanded to rejoice in the presence of the LORD and what do we find in our reading in Luke today?  Who is this lady named Mary?   "Mary, who sat at the Lord’s  feet  and was listening to what He said.  40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, “Lord, don’t You care  that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.”  41 The Lord  answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things,  42 but one thing is necessary.  Mary has made the right choice,  and it will not be taken away from her.”

GOD is sitting and teaching in Martha's home and she is busy in service while Mary rejoices in the LORD'S presence.  May I suggest that unless HIS children sit at HIS feet and listen attentively, rejoicing in HIS presence, [quiet time] then our service will be useless, without JOY, a burden, we will be stressed and we will burn out.  However, if we spend time sitting at HIS feet our ministry will simply flow effortlessly out of the overflow. 

God helped me with this a few years ago.  At that time I had been in the ministry vocationally for about 2 years and I was frustrated longing for God to use me more...I wanted to do more, be more and have a greater kingdom impact for HIM.  During one of my quite times in HIS Word, HE spoke to me...MARK...[NO, it was not audible, it was louder]...Mark, what do you want from Zach and Kyle more than anything, [this was pre Alexis] and I said a few of the normal things that a parent might say.  HIS Spirit persisted, "what is it that you really want from them more than anything."  I can be slow at times, OK, a lot...anyway finally I said...well I suppose more than anything I love it when they want to be with me simply because I am Daddy.  When they climb up in my lap and want to cuddle and long for my embrace more than anything else at that moment.  When they come to me to be with ME, not to ask for something, just to be with me."  AFTER I SAID THAT THERE WAS A LONG SILENT PERIOD OF TIME...and then the still small voice said, "that's what I want from you!  I want you to desire and long for ME and MY presence, MY embrace...not for the gifts I give, but for ME!"  The Psalmist nailed it when he wrote in Psalm 73:28, God’s presence is my good. I have made the Lord God my refuge, so I can tell about all You do.

Have you ever noticed at the end of Jesus teaching on prayer in Luke 11 what Jesus is referring to when HE talks about ask, seek, knock, if you then are evil know how to give good gifts how much more the heavenly Father.  Have you ever noticed?  Let's take a test...can you remember now having just read the scripture...what was the good gift?  What will you receive, what will you find, what will be opened?

Luke 11:9-13  “So  I say to you, keep asking,   and it will be given to you. Keep searching,   and you will find. Keep knocking,   and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son  asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil,  know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father  give  the Holy Spirit  to those who ask Him?”

GOD IS THE GOSPEL, THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT WE GET HIM!  What is the Kingdom of God?  It is the rule and reign of God in the hearts and minds of HIS people.  What is the good gift?  Through the filling of the Holy Spirit, we get God, HE fills us and invites us to walk, live, breath, serve in HIS presence. 

Have you ever noticed how the scripture actually reads in Luke 18:17?  Jesus teaches us that, "Whoever does not welcome  the kingdom of God like a little child  will never enter it.”  What the words very carefully, HE does not say that they cannot!  HE said that they WILL NOT!  You might be thinking it's the same thing...is it?  I believe that they will not because they look at it and in pride and arrogance walk away.  They are blinded, a veil lies over their darkened hearts and they cannot see the beauty and simplicity of the Kingdom of God.

Father in heaven,

We cry out before YOU, we ask, seek, knock...we will not let YOU go unless YOU bless us with YOUR presence.  Please Father...for YOUR glory and the JOY of YOUR children fill us with YOUR Holy Spirit...enable us to delight in YOU, to delight in YOUR presence, to rejoice in knowing that our names are written in the Lamb's book of life.  Then Father as we are continually drenched and saturated with YOUR living waters use us in YOUR service according to YOUR good pleasure and delight.

love,

m

Well now...we had a few interesting things in Deuteronomy this morning didn't we?  I am still sleepy, trying to get my first sip of coffee down and I slipped my reading glasses on, they are not mandatory for me yet, but early in the morning they are helpful, anyway what was the first thing I read?  Deuteronomy 23:1.  What was my first thought?  All righty then!

We learn about cult prostitution and we even discuss personal hygiene or how to keep the camp clean.  In Deuteronomy 23:14, in the discussion on hygiene God says something that catches my eye...For the Lord your God walks throughout your camp to protect you and deliver your enemies to you; so your encampments must be holy. He must not see anything improper among you or He will turn away from you.

They are blessed with the presence of God.  God tells them that HE walks among them to protect and to deliver them from their enemies.  Because HIS presence is with them they must be clean, if HE sees anything improper HE will turn away...they lose HIS presence, protection and deliverance. 

As I read that my thought was Oh LORD, please cleanse me, wash me, create in me a clean heart...please remove from my heart anything that would cause you to turn away from me...Father please, examine me, try me...Holy Spirit of God reveal any unconfessed sin in my heart.  The Psalmist understood that our treasure is God...Ps 73:28 But as for me, God’s presence is my good. I have made the Lord God my refuge, so I can tell about all You do.

Let me take just a moment and look at the parable of the Good Samaritan.  In the verbal exchange the expert in the law gets the answer right...what must I do to inherit eternal life?  HE HAS A MENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT HE MUST DO!  After he gets the answer right Jesus told him, DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE!  THIS IS HUGE...IT IS NOT ENOUGHT TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWERS...DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE!  DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE!  SO WHAT WOULD THE REVERSE BE...?  If you don't do this you DIE!

Then the expert did something very foolish...you and I do it to!  After Jesus told him "do this and you will live."  HE WANTED TO JUSTIFY HIMSLEF!  DON'T LOOK SO HOLY:)  I CONFESS MY FLESH LOVES TO TRY TO JUSTIFY ITSELF...IT IS SIN!

In these few words Jesus hands this man a time bomb...AND I PROMISE YOU...AS YOU AND I READ THESE WORDS HE HANDED YOU AND I THE VERY SAME BOMB!  HE LEAVES ME WITH A CHOICE TO OBEY AND LIVE OR DISOBEY AND DIE!  PLEASE DON'T LET YOUR EYES FLY OVER THIS TOO QUICKLY!

Basically, Jesus is teaching that every image bearer of God, every human created in HIS image that CROSSES OUR PATH IS OUR NEIGHBOR AND WE ARE TO DO THEM GOOD!  IF WE IGNORE THEM AND WALK BY ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROAD WE ARE WALKING IN DISOBEDIENCE AND xxxxxxENTERING ETERNAL DEATH.

Wait a minute Mark, are you saying that I can lose my salvation...NO...I am saying that if you are a redeemed image bearer of our heavenly Father then HE has placed it in your heart to have mercy in a fellow image bearer in distress.

Luke 10:25-37

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

25 Just  then an expert in the law  stood up to test  Him, saying, “Teacher,  what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the law?” He asked him. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered: Love the Lord your God  with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind;  and your neighbor as yourself.  28 “You’ve answered correctly,” He told him. “Do this and you will live.” 29 But wanting to justify himself,  he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30 Jesus took up ⌊the question⌋ and said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan  on his journey came up to him, and when he saw ⌊the man⌋, he had compassion.  34 He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil  and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day  he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’

36 “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 “The one who showed mercy  to him,” he said. Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”

This does not mean that you hand every person you encounter in need some money...what did the Samaritan do?  He evaluated the situation and took care of his real needs.  You hand someone some money they might turn around and buy drugs...it may get a little messy, it may require that you spend some time until you understand how GOD wants you to help...it might mean you say NO.  The point is that you engage in help the fallen image bearer out of the gutter.  DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE...GO AND DO THE SAME!

LOVE,

m

YOU MUST PURGE THE EVIL FROM AMONG YOU!  I am not keeping count, but God has said this over and over and over...in today's reading in Deuteronomy the thought of taking a rebellious son that does not respond to discipline to the town elders to have him killed...WOW!  The culture we live in has colored my thinking to respond..."that sounds harsh LORD."  Or the promiscuous daughter...alright let's take her out and stone her...again WOW!  Each time the Words ring out...you must purge the evil from among you! 

Remember I am of the camp that when I hear something in God's Word that sounds absurd, harsh, out of line....I KNOW, I KNOW THAT THE PROBLEM IS WITH ME!  NOT GOD'S WORD!  HOW SERIOUS IS SIN?   We see how serious it is to a absolutely Holy God in Acts 2:22-24, as Peter says, “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."

HOW SERIOUS IS SIN?  We learn in Acts 20:28 that God chose to shed "His own blood" to pay for the sins of the world.  The thought ran through my mind...what would our church attendance look like if we enforced the laws that the Israelites were bound by?  You definitely would not have people taking membership lightly.

Like yesterday, my exhortation to myself and to you is that we apply this to ourselves and not to others.  YOU MUST PURGE THE EVIL FROM AMONG YOU!

Over and over in Exodus, Leviticus we hear the command to be holy!  It is going to show up again in our reading tomorrow in Deut 23:14, "For the Lord your God walks throughout your camp to protect you and deliver your enemies to you; so your encampments must be holy. He must not see anything improper among you or He will turn away from you."  In 1 Peter 1:15-16 we are commanded to be holy, "as the One who called you  is holy,  you also are to be holy in all your conduct; 16 for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy."  This is just another way of saying YOU MUST PURGE THE EVIL FROM AMONG YOU! 

I was in a conversation with a brother and friend yesterday and the conversation moved to why are there so precious few men and women IN THE CHURCH that go head long with a white hot burning passion for God.  We wondered what was the trigger that moved the few from a state of being lukewarm vomit in the mouth of our LORD to running hot for God and the things of God.  We both lamented that we are far from perfect, stumble frequently, but the desire of our hearts is to be like the two dudes on the road to Emmaus..."did not our hearts burn within us as HE opened the Scriptures to us."

The short answer is that being a disciple of Jesus Christ is hard, really hard!  It is strange, but when you start to go hard after God, when you begin to cry out after God, and like Jacob you cry "I will not let you go unless you bless me."  During your quite time in the morning you pound on the Word of God, crying out to your heavenly Father, I will not move, I will not leave, until I hear from YOU...God, I am desperate...why do you seem so far off, I desperately need to hear from YOU on this decision.  Father YOU promised to shepherd me, YOU promised to take care of me and feed me and make me lie down by still waters...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...can't YOU see I am in the midst of a storm...YOU promised that YOU would never leave me nor forsake me...where are YOU?  YOU promised to be an ever present help in time of need...THIS IS A TIME OF NEED AND I DON'T SEE YOU ANYWHERE...I WILL NOT QUIT UNTIL YOU BLESS ME!

Is that what you do?  Or do you open your bible read for a brief time, close your bible and move into your day unchanged?  If your practice is the latter as mine has been too often, then the question is DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE WHAT GOD SAYS IS TRUE?  PLEASE DON'T GIVE ME THE SUNDAY SCHOOL ANSWER!  If you believed HIS promises, really believed them don't you think your quiet time, your time in prayer, bible reading and meditating would look and sound more like the Psalms?  Just a thought:)

Let me leave you with some thoughts from J.C. Ryle on what it means to be a follower of Christ.

1. An offer of unconditional discipleship

The first of these three sayings was spoken to a man who voluntarily offered his own unconditional discipleship. He said to our Lord, “I will follow you wherever you go” (verse 57). It sounded like a good offer. It was better than many other people’s response to our Lord. Thousands of people heard our Lord’s sermons who never thought of saying what this man said. Yet the person who made this offer was evidently speaking without thought. He had never considered what discipleship involved. He had never counted the cost. And so he needed the serious reply which his offer received: “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (verse 58). He must not suppose that everything would be plain sailing in Christ’s service. Was he prepared for this? Was he ready to endure hardness (see 2 Timothy 2:3)? If not, he had better withdraw his offer to be a disciple.

Our Lord would have no one enlisted under false pretenses. He does not want us to be ignorant that we have deadly enemies—the world, the flesh, and the Devil—and that many will hate us, slander us, and persecute us if we become his disciples. He does not wish to discourage us, but he does want us to know the truth.

2. The person Jesus invited to follow him

The second of our Lord’s sayings is spoken to a person Jesus invited to follow him. Our Lord said to him, “Follow me” (verse 59). The answer he received was a remarkable one. “Lord,” said the man, “first let me go and bury my father” (verse 59). This was a harmless request in itself. But the timing of the request was wrong. Affairs of far greater importance than even a father’s funeral demanded the man’s immediate attention. There would always be plenty of people ready and fit to take charge of a funeral. But there was at that moment a pressing need for workers to do Christ’s work in the world. And hence the man’s request drew from our Lord the solemn reply, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God” (verse 60). Let us learn from this saying to beware of allowing family and social duties to interfere with our duty to Christ.

3. The person who offered to follow Jesus, with a condition

The third of our Lord’s sayings in this passage was spoken to someone who offered to follow Jesus but marred this offer by laying down a condition. “I will follow you, Lord,” he said, “but first let me go back and say good-by to my family” (verse 61). The reply our Lord gave him clearly shows that the man’s heart was not devoted to serving Christ, and so he would not be a good disciple. Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (verse 62).

We learn from this saying that it is impossible to serve Christ with a divided heart. If we are looking back to anything in this world, we are not fit to be disciples. Those who look back, like Lot’s wife, want to go back. Jesus will not share his throne with anyone—no, not with our dearest relatives. He must have all our heart or none.

Let us leave this passage by searching our own hearts. The difficulties involved in following Christ are still very numerous. The atmosphere of the world is still very unfavorable to spiritual religion. There is still need for thorough, unflinching, wholehearted decision if we wish to reach heaven. Let us aim at nothing less than this decision. Let us be willing to do anything and suffer anything and give up everything for Christ’s sake. It may cost us something for a few years, but great will be the reward in eternity. Ryle, J. C. (1997). Luke. The Crossway classic commentaries (Lk 9:60). Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books.

So what do we do?  Fold our hands, continue to lament how few press in to know God.  Say oh well...Jesus HIMSELF told us that the way is narrow and only a few find it...so OK...let's be happy and content with the few!  I DON'T THINK SO!  Jesus told us, commanded us what to do in Luke 10:2-3, He told them:  “The harvest  is abundant, but the workers  are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.  3 Now go; I’m sending you out like lambs among wolves. 

Father in Heaven,

Please fill us with YOUR Holy Spirit, enable us to love YOU as YOU have commanded.  In the words of your servant Augustine, "Command what you will, and grant what you command, O my God!  Move me, move us to burn brighter and brighter with a love and a passion for YOU and YOU alone.  Please work this for YOUR glory and our Joy in YOU.  Father, in the precious name of Jesus Christ, please move in power by YOUR Spirit within our Church to raise up an army that longs for YOU, for YOUR Word, for YOUR presence...to walk, live, breathe and drink to YOUR glory and in YOUR presence.  Then Father send us out to our community in victory to demonstrate YOUR love, YOUR grace and YOUR compassion to be Christ incarnate to Memphis...that YOU would do this to bring countless thousands into YOUR Kingdom for YOUR glory.  Father work this in a way that ONLY YOU MAY RECEIVE THE GLORY AND HONOR.  FATHER, DON'T ALLOW MY SMALL VISION AND SMALL PRAYER LIMIT YOUR WORK AND YOUR POWER...PLEASE DO MORE THAN WE CAN THINK IMAGINE OR ASK TO ADVANCE YOUR KINGDOM IN MEMPHIS.  YOUR will be done, YOUR Kingdom come in Memphis TN!

love,

m

The theme, "you shall purge the evil from among you," continues in Deuteronomy 19.  In this particular passage I find it interesting that it is followed by the following command...you must purge the evil from among you...Then everyone else will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything evil like this among you.  21 You must not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.   Then in Matthew 5:38-46 what was it that Jesus teaches us?  “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.   39 But I tell you, don’t resist  an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.  40 As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt,  let him have your coat  as well. 41 And if anyone forces  you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. 43 “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor   and hate your enemy. 44 But I tell you, love your enemies  and pray for those who  persecute you,  45 so that you may be  sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  46 For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?

How do we purge the evil from among us?  Do you remember a few days ago we mentioned the two great evils that Israel had committed from Jeremiah?  What did God teach us?  For My people have committed a double evil: They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.  The GREAT EVIL is when God's children look HIM in the face and say, "no thank you," to the fountain of living water and turn to their own cisterns and try to suck out satisfaction in life!  We might turn to our spouse, our children, our jobs, houses, cars, stuff, basketball (ouch), reputation and CRY SATISFY ME, SATISFY ME!  None of those are inherently evil, they are evil when they are placed before God in our hearts.  It is possible to do this with evil things as well...if we are seeking satisfaction in sex out of marriage, adultery, pornography, romance novels (ladies) bad TV, the list goes on and on.  THE PSALMIST GOT IT RIGHT WHEN HE SAID TO GOD IN PSALM 90:14, Satisfy us in the morning with Your faithful love so that we may shout with joy and be glad all our days.   Our feet slip and we stumble when we say this to anything or anyone else!  IN GOD'S ECONOMY THE HUMAN HEART CAN ONLY BE SATISFIED IN HIM...LET ME SAY IT AGAIN...IN GOD'S ECONOMY THE HUMAN HEART CAN ONLY BE SATISFIED IN HIM! 

in Jeremiah 17:9 we learn that "The heart is more deceitful than anything else and desperately sick—who can understand it?  Only God can truly understand and only God can cure our hearts with the blood of HIS SON!

ALL OF THAT TO SAY WHEN I READ OVER AND OVER IN DEUTERONOMY THAT "YOU MUST PURGE THE EVIL FROM AMONG YOU" I DON'T APPLY THAT TO THE CULTURE...I APPLY IT TO ME!

Deut 13:5--“But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you.

Deut 19:19--then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you.

Deut 22:21--then they shall bring out the girl to the doorway of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death because she has committed an act of folly in Israel by playing the harlot in her father’s house; thus you shall purge the evil from among you.

Deut 22:24--then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them to death; the girl, because she did not cry out in the city, and the man, because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you.

Deut 24:7--“If a man is caught kidnapping any of his countrymen of the sons of Israel, and he deals with him violently or sells him, then that thief shall die; so you shall purge the evil from among you.

The Psalms are truly amazing...you have this incredible range of emotions and you have an incredible range of faith in God and then questioning God displayed in close proximity to each other, by the same person.  So often my heart resonates with the emotions that the Psalmist is expressing.  My feet have slipped, I do struggle sometimes more than other when I see the wicked prospering...that would be when I am walking in the flesh.  Then there are those wonderful times with our LORD WHEN MY HEART RESONATES WITH THE LAST 5 VERSES AND I CAN SAY WITH THE PSALMIST...I DESIRE NOTHING ON EARTH BUT YOU!

Psalm 73:1-5 God’s Ways Vindicated--A psalm of Asaph.

God is indeed good to Israel, to the pure in heart. 2  But as for me, my feet almost slipped; my steps nearly went astray. 3 For I envied the arrogant; I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4 They have an easy time until they die, and their bodies are well-fed.  5 They are not in trouble like others; they are not afflicted like most people. 

Ps 73:23-28 Yet I am always with You; You hold my right hand. 24 You guide me with Your counsel, and afterwards You will take me up in glory.  25 Whom do I have in heaven but You?  And I desire nothing on earth but You. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength  of my heart, my portion forever. 27  Those far from You will certainly perish; You destroy all who are unfaithful to You. 28  But as for me, God’s presence is my good. I have made the Lord God my refuge, so I can tell about all You do.

HOW DO WE LEARN TO LIVE MORE AND MORE OF OUR SPIRITUAL LIVES IN THE HEART OF THESE LAST 5 VERSES?  We must purge the evil from our own hearts!  NOW CHECK OUT THE NEXT FEW VERESES IN DEUTERONOMY. 

Deut 20:1-9 Rules for War

“When you go out to war against your enemies and see horses, chariots, and an army larger than yours, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt,  is with you. 2 When you are about to engage in battle, the priest is to come forward and address the army. 3 He is to say to them: ‘Listen, Israel: Today you are about to engage in battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted. Do not be afraid, alarmed, or terrified because of them. 4 For the Lord your God is the One who goes with you to fight for you  against your enemies to give you victory.’

5 “The officers are to address the army, ‘Has any man built a new house and not dedicated it? Let him leave and return home. Otherwise, he may die in battle and another man dedicate it. 6 Has any man planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy its fruit?  Let him leave and return home. Otherwise he may die in battle and another man enjoy its fruit.  7 Has any man become engaged to a woman and not married her? Let him leave and return home. Otherwise he may die in battle and another man marry her.’ 8 The officers will continue to address the army and say, ‘Is there any man who is afraid or fainthearted? Let him leave and return home, so that his brothers’ hearts won’t melt like his own.’ 9 When the officers have finished addressing the army, they will appoint military commanders to lead it.

This is an interesting passage, the Israelites are commanded not to be afraid of them...WHY?  Because the LORD your God is with you!  They are commanded again and again, "don't be afraid, don't be fainthearted, don't be afraid.  Then in verse 5 and following we get a series of questions...has any man, has any man, has any man, and lastly, "Is there any man who is afraid or fainthearted?"  If there is, let him leave...WHY?  so that his brothers’ hearts won’t melt like his own. 

They were commanded by God not to be afraid and they were promised HIS presence and victory.  WHAT WE SEE IS FEAR AND UNBELIEF!  Think back on everything we have seen about the horrific sin of unbelief!

OK...fast forward to Luke with me and please allow a little wiggle room to back up and move forward beyond today's reading.

What did Jesus say to the 12 as HE sent them out?  What did HE give them?  HE tells us in Luke 9:1-2, "He gave them power and authority over all the demons, and ⌊power⌋ to heal  diseases.  2 Then He sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick."

Yesterday Jesus asked a life changing and ministry changing question in Luke 9:20, “But you,” who do you say that I am?”  Who do you and I say that HE is with our life, money, time, energy...who do we say that HE is with our heart, soul, mind and strength?  If we give a good confession like Peter then HE tell us in Luke 9:23-24, what our lives will look like...(only God the Holy Spirit can work this in me)  Then He said to ⌊them⌋ all, “If anyone wants to come with  Me, he must deny himself,  take up his cross daily,  and follow Me.  24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will save it. 

In Luke 9:35, the Father in Heaven gives a powerful testimony stating who Jesus is...Then a voice came from the cloud,  saying: This is My Son,  the Chosen One;  listen to Him!

In Luke 9:48, Jesus teaches us about our priority in ministry...the priority is certainly not me...He told them, “Whoever welcomes  this little child in My name welcomes Me. And whoever welcomes Me welcomes Him who sent Me.  For whoever is least among you—this one is great.”

Lk 10:17-20

The Return of the Seventy

17 The Seventy   returned with joy, saying,  “Lord, even the demons  submit to us in Your name.”

18 He said to them, “I watched Satan  fall from heaven like a lightning flash.  19 Look, I have given you the authority  to trample  on snakes  and scorpions  and over all the power of the enemy;  nothing will ever harm you.  20 However, don’t rejoice that  the spirits  submit to you,  but rejoice that your names are written  in heaven.”

MARK...YOU ARE ALL OVER THE PLACE...WHERE ARE YOU GOING WITH ALL THIS...DO YOU EVEN KNOW?

Let me try to bring it all together!

God, through Jesus death, burial, and resurrection has given us everything we need as HIS children to purge the evil from among us.  HE has given us everything to live the victorious Christian, Spirit filled life.  Christ in us the hope of glory enables us, without fear or faintheartedness to conquer our promised land...I believe that is to love the LORD OUR GOD WITH ALL OUR HEART, SOUL, MIND AND STRENGTH...HE HAS PROVIDED EVERYTHING THAT WE NEED...WE ARE PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE. 

SO DO IT!!!

OK, I GET THAT PART, WHY DID YOU THROW IN ALL THE OTHER STUFF FROM LUKE IN...?  As we walk in a manner that HIS pleasing to HIM, as we continue to grow in the Spirit filled life, walking in a manner not to please men, but to please God...what will our ministry look like?  What will our lives look like?  TO THE WORLD IT MAY LOOK LIKE NOTHING...EVEN TO MANY IN THE CHURCH...IT MAY LOOK LIKE NOTHING!

For whoever is least among you—this one is great.” For whoever is least among you—this one is great.” For whoever is least among you—this one is great.”

Our joy does not come from significant ministry or a significant life...don’t rejoice that  the spirits  submit to you,  but rejoice that your names are written  in heaven.”

REJOICE THAT THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE IS YOUR ABBA, FATHER, PAPPA...REJOICE IN THAT!

LOVE,

M