"Close Enough"

"When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly." (Psalms 75:2) Maybe this verse could be used to justify believing in a Pretribulation Rapture, yes? I mean, if we believe God will first remove His church before pouring out His wrath upon the earth, then why not? It is what I believe, because it is what God has demonstrated in the past. You don't think we are getting close, then think again; because things are really getting pretty tense in this world, like something really big is about to happen. My advice to anyone who might be listening, or who actually cares, is that you prepare your house for the Kings return! Get your house in order! Those five foolish virgins were simply not prepared for His coming; that's really all is really comes down to. Whether or not they had the filling of the Spirit, or the right relationship; the bottom line is that they did not care enough to prepare to be ready. If your relationship is not right with the Lord, then get right! If your lacking the power of His Spirit in your life, then ask Him to fill you up! Our God is so merciful towards us, He must be waiting for a revival to sweep across the globe before He snatches His church out of here, because things could not get more stupid and ridiculous on this earth than they are right now. I saw a headline on Drudge earlier in the week that parents snatched kids baskets from them at a public Easter Egg Hunt; it got so bad, that kids were getting hurt. What the heck is going on? They get your order wrong at McDonald's, and you drive your car through the front door? Someone cuts you off on the freeway, and you drive then off the road, or shot them with a gun? Your parents take your phone away, and kill your parents, or even kill yourself? A gang of six year old kids terrorize people on a subway? Don't blame me, I'm just repeating headlines that I have seen on the Drudge Report lately; but it's much worse than that out there, because that is what happens when you teach people that lives do not matter! What do you think that abortion teaches us the preciousness of human life? Absolutely the opposite! Combine that with the theory that there is no God, and that your life is just by chance, or you are no better than a bug or a dog, because you all came from the same turd, and what kind of principled life do you have to follow? There are no principles except the rules we establish on our own; and rules without God are simply wicked and stupid...
"What sorrow for those who drag their sins behind them with ropes made of lies, who drag wickedness behind them like a cart! They even mock God and say, "Hurry up and do something! We want to see what you can do. Let the Holy One of Israel carry out his plan, for we want to know what it is." What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever. What sorrows for those who are heroes at drinking wine and boast about all the alcohol they can hold. They take bribes to let the wicked go free, and they punish the innocent. Therefore, just as fire licks up stubble and dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will rot and their flowers wither. For they have rejected the law of the LORD of Heaven's Armies; they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel." (Isaiah 5:18-24) NLT

"Close Encounter"

"Unto you, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare." (Psalms 75:1) One thing is for sure, if you know Jesus, then you absolutely know peace! I'm not talking about the little peace you might feel with a little comfort or peace of mind; no, this kind of peace is associated with feelings or thoughts, it's goes far beyond anything that can be felt or thought of. The kind of peace we get from knowing Jesus is straight from Him! It is in Him that we get our peace! As I was partially listening to the radio yesterday (a little less than usual,) I heard a very important message about Sara laughing because God said she would have a child. I say that it is important, because it's something that we must get past, if we are ever going to walk in the victory that is ours in Christ! Sara laughed because she looked at her own self and her abilities, instead of looking at God and His abilities! Sara laughed because she thought her own body was too old to give Abraham a child; but she forgot to consider 'God's wondrous works!" And here is something else that she did, she laughed inside, yet God heard her! I'm pretty sure you might be wondering how that gets a exclamation point; but you need to understand what that represents. What that represents is the way we look at our own power when we hear or consider ourselves doing anything for or because God says we can do it. If God says to be holy and do not sin, we laugh inside because we know darn good and well we are going to sin; it's just who we are, like old Sara, we cannot change what we are. But God never will tell us to do anything that we cannot do in Him! In our own power and strength we don't stand a snowballs chance in hell of being holy and righteous; but in Christ we can do all things, because He is holy and righteous. It's just like that peace we get from the knowing Him, it is not peace we get from ourselves, so it cannot be moved by any human means or strength; it cannot be be shaken because it's not given to us based upon what we feel or think, it is in Christ Jesus that our peace comes from; and He is our Rock, and He cannot be moved! One more thing you must remember about that encounter, is that Jesus was the one who declared those things to Abraham. Jesus was the one whom Sara laughed at; He was the one who heard her laugh inside; He was, and is, and always will be...
"The people retorted, "You Samaritan devil! Didn't we say all along that you were possessed by a demon?" "No," Jesus said, "I have no demon in me. For I honor my Father -and you dishonor me. And though I have no wish to glorify myself, God is going to glorify me. He is the true judge. I tell you the truth, anyone who obeys my teaching will never die." The people said, "Now we know you are possessed by a demon. Even Abraham and the prophets died, but you say, 'Anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!' Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?" Jesus answered, "If I want glory for myself, it doesn't count. But it is my Father who will glorify me. You say, 'He is our God,' but you don't even know Him. I know Him. If I said otherwise, I would be as great a liar as you! But I do know Him and obey Him. Your father Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming. He saw it and was glad." The people said, "You aren't even fifty years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham?" Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I AM!"" (John 8:48-58) NLT

"God Will Judge Fairly"

PSALM 75 [To the chief Musician, Altaschith, A Psalm or Song of Asaph.]
I am so sorry for leaving out "you" in the closing verse; I was crying so hard yesterday morning, I barely was able to finish that post. Man, that was a brutal Psalm! I must have had at least a half dozen times during that period of wanting to quit; it was a pretty rough thirty-two days, and am I so ready for what comes next! As we move into this next Psalm, there is something familiar in this introduction, which is the word, "Altaschith." We find this word introduced again in Psalms 57, of which I have written next to both of them, "Destroy Not." If you remember from Psalms 57, the title above that Psalm was, "Pleading for God's Help," and it was meant to represent the time when David fled from Saul in the cave. The title of this post is the title above this Psalm in my Bible; but you probably already knew that. However, both of these title, although completely different from one another, they are exactly the same in heart; in other words, the heart behind the meaning is exactly the same. It's the kind of heart that puts complete trust in God, that no matter what, God is on your side and He will watch over you, because He loves you, and because He knows what is best for you. That same word is used in two other Psalms also, Psalms 58 and 59; however those were both about vengeance and deliverance, Psalms 57 and 75 are more about putting our trust in God's hands, and just accepting whatever He chooses the outcome to be. That might sound like it is difficult to do, but in all reality, God's ways are always higher than our ways, and no matter what we think should always happen, we really don't know what the big picture looks like, only God knows the end of the matter. How often do we suggest things to God, thinking that we know a little something about what He is doing? We say to ourselves, "Oh, I see God doing this or that in this particular matter," when what we see happening, does not ever materialize. We get our hopes up, just to get them crushed! Let God be the judge of how things should be, and then determine in your heart to accept whatever that outcome might be. We are having my son's Memorial and Funeral on April 9th, and I am excited to see what God will do. Pastor Bruce will be doing the message; a message of hope and security in Jesus! I will be giving the opening eulogy, with hopes to set things up for Bruce's message. I don't know about you, but I believe Weddings and Funerals are great places to share the Good News about Jesus Christ. Bruce is going to bring his guitar, and I have asked him to play "Amazed," which we might do towards the end; but I will leave that up to him. The main thing is for Jesus to be lifted up, and for everyone present to leave there knowing that there is hope, even in destruction...
"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." (Jeremiah 29:11) KJV

"The Appeal of God"

"Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually." (Psalms 74:23) You may have heard the term, "The squeaky wheel gets the oil," but let me tell you something about this mighty God that we serve, because His whispers are louder than the shouts of all humanity! We really need to get a handle on our concept of God's ability to break through all the noise, because He really does not need to shout out a single word; but on the day that He does, this world had better be prepared for what will follow! If you think about what Jesus accomplished for the entire world, He did so in humility and weakness; He became "as a sheep for the slaughter," which is about as weak as you can get; and yet He conquered and was victorious in that weakness. Just imagine what He will do when He returns to take vengeance upon His enemies. I have seen the pictures drawn of Him coming back, and the armies that are riding with Him do not have weapons of their own, they are only there to witness what He will do, with only His word. We might see devastation in our lives and think God's not really caring what we are going through, but we could not be further from the truth. It breaks His heart to see us suffer, to see us weep when our children or spouses get ripped away. That shortest verse in the Bible will give testimony to that: "Jesus wept," because He witnessed the sadness that sin has caused. I am thinking of a song right now, it's the one that has the lyrics, "Break my heart for what breaks yours." Because that is really what we need, more than anything else, we need our hearts to break because He was broken for our sins! We should no longer be enticed by sin, but sin should offend us and cause us disgust. Jesus came here from heaven knowing full well what sin does and what He needed to do in order to destroy the power of sin, once and for all. He chose not to sin, because He knew what sin does; He chose to be obedient, because He knew the victory that waited ahead was more important than a moment of self-indulgence; He chose to love the Father, because He knew how much the Father loved Him, and how much the Father loves us...
"For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." (Jeremiah 29:11) NLT

"Cause for Pause" -Yo!

"Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily." (Psalms 74:22) Regardless of what you might think of the sickness and death in this world, God's love is more powerful then all the wickedness this world can muster together! That, I believe, is the reason Jesus' death was so messed up; it was because this world is so messed up, that He needed to be messed up to represent the wages of the sin He would be taking onto Himself. If you go back to the beginning, death was more than just dying, it was carnage and complete disregard for life. Sure, Adam named his wife Eve, which meant 'mother of the living,' but how far down the chain did that make a difference in the respect for human life? It pretty much stopped at Adam and Eve! You think about all the carnage and death that has happened since, it is almost 100% of all the lives that have ever lived; with a few exceptions, everyone has suffered death since the very beginning in the Garden. A couple have been taken up, but only one has died and been resurrected, and that was Jesus Christ. But He did not just die, He was torn apart and then hung on a cross! You don't think people who knew and loved Him weren't devastated? I can only imagine what His mother must have been going through, watching her son be beaten within an inch of His life, humiliated, spit upon, and nailed upon a cross for all to see. And what does Jesus say after all that mistreatment? He says, "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do." Really! They actually knew what they were doing, they just did not realize who it was they were doing it to! And you want to know the part that gets me the most, God allowed it to happen! No, God willed it to happen, just as it did; with all the gore and the humiliation; with the beatings and the insults; it was all part of His perfect will, all the way down to the crown of thorns and the parting of His clothes. Even that "rich man's grave" that He borrowed, the one spoken of in Isaiah 53:9. It was a borrowed grave! Jesus rose up out of that grave victorious and alive! Despite all that carnage and humiliation, He became the Victor; after becoming death, He overcame death and the grave! Talk about something to shout about: HE IS RISEN!!!
"But it was the LORD'S good plan to crush Him and cause Him grief. Yet when His life is made an offering for sin, He will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the LORD'S good plan will prosper in His hands. When He sees all that is accomplished by His anguish, He will be satisfied. And because of His experience My righteous Servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for He will bear all their sins. I will give Him the honors of a Victorious Soldier, because He exposed Himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels." (Isaiah 53:10-12) NLT    

"Cause for Pause"

"Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily." (Psalms 74:22) Yesterday was pretty awesome, because I was able to get a plot in the cemetery for my son, my wife and myself; not just any cemetery, but the one within the district we moved into when we first moved up here from southern California. As I gazed across the green pastures of the ten acre park, I did not see any place that seemed to jump out at me, so asked the Caretaker to show me his chart. It was a cardboard chart, about 2' x 3', with sectioned off areas containing hundreds of little squares; each square represented ten grave plots. As a gazed down at the chart, there still was no significant difference from one square to the other, so I decided to pick a number, and I picked square 77. We walked over to the site, and we began talking about how the bodies should be arranged, as to what order we should be buried side by side. I decided that my son would be buried in plot six, my wife in plot seven, and I in plot eight. Then we got in a discussion about the headstones, and I noticed some were facing one way and some were facing the other way, and I had to ask why. It turns out, some people want the headstone to be able to be read while walking towards the grave, while others want it to be read over the grave; but no matter which way it is read, the headstone is always at the head, and the head is always pointing west. I had to ask why; and I was told, that it was because the morning that they rise, when they rise up, they will be facing the sun. We then discussed other plot options, such as for any of my other family members that might want to be buried along side of us. I am choosing casket burials for my son, my wife and myself, but many of my family members just want to be cremated and put in a jar. I have been doing a little research on the matter, and decided that I would choose to respect the body God has allowed me to dwell in, and I would have it laid to rest, instead of having it destroyed by fire. Anywho, as we looked at a headstone nearby that was for a plot holding up to six urns, I turned back towards my site and noticed a familiar face nearby; it was the picture of Dawn Burroughs that was on her headstone. I instantly grabbed hold of the Caretaker's arm, and let out a huge sigh of amazement. He thought that I had hurt my self, or twisted an ankle, because I was just about to start crying. Of all those hundreds of squares, I chose the square right next to Dawn's! Dawn was Marianne's first real friend when we moved up here in 1990, and they were both seeing the same fertility doctor, hoping against odds to have more children. What a glorious day it will be; what a glorious day that will be! None of this will really matter then; everything will be new and beautiful, beyond our wildest dreams...
"He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet He never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, He did not open His mouth. Unjustly condemned, He was led away. No one cared that He died without descendants, that His life was cut short in midstream. But He was struck down for the rebellion of my people. He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But He was buried like a criminal; He was put in a rich man's grave." (Isaiah 53:7-9) NLT

"Unfiltered Hope" -2

"O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name." (Psalms 74:21) Seeing how it's Good Friday, I thought I would go ahead and keep this verse and title for such a day as today. If we could ever have an example of someone who made himself available, who better than Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. I am wondering where the term "Good" might have come from, because things really did not look so good on that day when Jesus was nailed upon that cross. I know the angels declared "Good Tidings of Great Joy" on the day that Jesus was born; so maybe "Good" is the result of what they declared. Nonetheless, the result of that day when Jesus died for the sins of the world was no doubt good for all mankind, but I still have got to wonder why we took the liberty to call it "Good Friday." I guess if we really wanted to hope in something good, there is no greater hope than the fact that our sins have been paid for, and that we have been given eternal life. So, I guess it's also fitting to refer to this day as "Good" as we remember the goodness of God and the unbelievable price He paid for our sins! In that line of thinking, is the reason I choose this title and verse for today, because it is totally unbelievable that God would do such a thing; it just does not make any sense at all that He would do such a thing, yet it was His will and His pleasure to do it! If you study this verse from the angle of the cross, you might discover something that could radically change your life for ever. It has to do with the word "oppressed," which is a word that means crushed or afflicted. At first I thought this could be speaking more about the children of Israel returning back from being held captive; but it has that 'gate' which opens up to a whole new meaning, the meaning of hope. I guess what I am trying to say, is that it gives a whole new meaning to the term, "Come as you are." Or maybe, it's not a new meaning at all, but just that it expresses the reason we need to bring everything to the cross; leaving nothing behind, or nothing to fall back into. What I am trying to say, is that God wants us to know how much we are afflicted, and how much we need Him to save us from our affliction. It's not even really about asking Him for forgiveness, it's more about believing that He has forgiven us; not even because Jesus died for our sins, although we could not have been forgiven without that happening; but we believe that He has forgiven us, because He loves us! It is His love for us that gives us hope...
"See, my servant will prosper; he will be highly lifted exalted. But many were amazed when they saw him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man. And he will startle many nations. Kings will stand speechless in his presence. For they will see what they had not been told; they will understand what they had not heard about. Who shall believe our report? To whom has the LORD revealed his powerful arm? My servant grew up in the LORD'S presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected -a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all." (Isaiah 52:13-53:6) NLT

"Unfiltered Hope"

"O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name." (Psalms 74:21) It is pretty obvious that God does have a sense of humor; having been walking with the Lord for over 34 years, I have come to realize that He really does like to make us laugh sometimes. When you think about the Scripture that says, "God loves a cheerful giver," the word "cheerful" is more in the way of hilarious, which is like uncontrollable laughter. That might not seem so important to some, but it speaks about an action that is not based upon analyzing the situation, but instead, just does what feels right to do. If that did not make any sense, I am sorry; but the point was meant to be about an action based upon faith, not based upon the way things might appear. We can really talk ourselves out of a whole lot of blessings, if we spend enough time analyzing every chance God gives us to serve Him or to move out in faith. I can't begin to tell you how many times over the years I have heard someone say, "God cares more about availability then He does about ability." In other words, it's more about just showing up, then it is about being able to perform a certain function. When we make ourselves available for God, it is God that shows up and does the work, not us; we are only a vessel that God works through; but this vessel must make itself available for God to work through. I can't think of many examples in the Bible of God using someone who was not willing to show up and be used. But if you want one, there is the example of Jonah. If you don't think that God has a sense of humor, then you have not considered the situation with Jonah and his refusing to do what God asked him to do; there is a really good example of God making someone show up, even if they refused to go. God really does have the ability to make us change our mind; it might not look pretty at times, but He has His ways to make us put our priorities in the right order, and to make us take stock in His ways instead of our own. If you really stop and think about Jonah and his moment of surrender, it was when he told the men aboard the ship what they needed to do to calm the seas, saying, "Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you." Now, if I were a betting man, I would not have thought that was the definition of showing up; but then again, God can do all things with anything, it is our responsibility to just make ourselves available for God to work...
"Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from inside the fish. He said, "I cried out to the LORD in my great trouble, and He answered me. I called out to you from the land of the dead, and LORD, you heard me! You threw me into the ocean depths, and I sank down to the heart of the sea. The mighty waters engulfed me; I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves. Then I said, 'O LORD, you have driven me from your presence. Yet I will look once more toward your holy Temple.' I sank beneath the waves, and the waters closed over me. Seaweed wrapped itself around my head. I sank down to the very roots of the mountains. I was imprisoned in the earth, whose gates lock shut forever. But you, O LORD my God, snatched me from the jaws of death! As my life was slipping away, I remembered the LORD. And my earnest prayer went out to you in your holy Temple. Those who worship false gods turn their backs on all God's mercies. But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, and I will fulfill all me vows. For my salvation comes from the LORD alone." Then the LORD ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach." (Jonah 2) NLT

"Don't Give Up on God" -2

"Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty." (Psalms 74: 20) I almost took a break today from doing this; but I felt God wanted me to share something, in spite of the recent loss of my son. I know he is in a much better place, and I am looking forward to the day we shall meet again. But it hurts just the same, because there were so many things I regret not doing with him that I should have done. I guess that's what happens when you loose someone you might have neglected, you think about all the things you could have done, or all the experiences you could have had. Let me tell you what "the covenant" means to me, and then you can laugh or cry, or do what ever it is that God leads you into. Jesus came to reconcile us back to the Father, meaning that we would have total access to God on our own. What that means, in terms that make sense, is that we do not need a go-between to access the throne of God, we just need to go directly to Him and enter into worship or prayer, or just sit at His feet and chill out. The old covenant was more about bringing sacrifice and having the priest get some waiver for your sin. The new covenant is about being washed of your sins so you can approach God with clean hands and a pure heart; something that we could never have done without the blood of Jesus making us righteous and holy. That is not something we should take for granted, because it is an awesome privilege that comes with being a child of God. As His children, our Heavenly Father expects us to cry out to Him, to come to Him when we are sad, happy, excited, or just wanting to say hello; He longs for us to have fellowship with Him, that is the reason He sent His Son to die on that cross for our sins, so that we might be able to have fellowship with Him. Besides, where else are you going to go for peace, joy, and love; peace that surpasses and out does all fear and catastrophe; joy that make any darkness disappear and the Son shine brightly; and love that is so far beyond our description that we can never reach it's end. God is good, even in the bad...
"Shouldn't we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life? If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God! In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way. So if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which remains forever! Since this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold. We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory, even though it was destined to fade away. But the people's minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can only be removed by believing in Christ. Yes, even today when they read Moses' writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand. But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord -who is Spirit -makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image." (2 Corinthians 3:8-18) NLT    

"Don't Give Up on God"

"Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty." (Psalms 74:20) Surrender does not mean giving up on God, it means giving it all to God, even our very lives! If we are going to make a difference for God, then God must make us different for Him! If there is any one lesson we need to take away from the children of Israel, then that lesson is the one about being set apart and unique; the people of the covenant, if you will, a covenant that was established with their fathers, and is set in stone by the very God who created them to be called by His name. I know my ramblings are some days all together pointless; it's pretty much the pattern of our lives, some days are just plain and dull, while others are filled with excitement and horror. But God never changes! If there is anything that we can count upon to get us through anything, it's that God is always right there and He has not changed His mind over us, He still loves us just as much as He always has! Where can we find that kind of love anywhere else! No where! I know it might not seem like it some days, especially those days when we are being kicked in the gut and our loved ones are being beat to death by "the dark places of the earth." When we start blaming God for the things that are wrong, we can tend to forget about what Christ suffered through for us, and why He had to be tortured the way that He was. In this fallen world, there are things that happen which are hard to accept, most of which we automatically ask God why He could allow them to happen, saying, "Why could you let this happen, God, what did he do to deserve this?" Isn't that what was asked of Jesus as He hung on that cross? But there is a difference between the way Jesus suffered and the way most of us suffer, no one is usually mocking us in our suffering; no one is spitting on us as we lay dying in our hospital beds; no one is saying, "He saved others, let's see if he can save himself." What kind of sink love does God have for us, that He would tolerate such abuse and humility? O God, please forgive me for my ignorance...
"When the time came, Jesus and the apostles sat down together at the table. Jesus said, "I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before My suffering begins. For I tell you now that I won't eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God." Then He took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. Then He said, "Take this and share it among yourselves. For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come." He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then He broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, "This is My body, which is given for you. Do this to remember Me." After supper He took another cup of wine and said, "This cup is the new covenant between God and His people -an agreement confirmed with My blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you."" (Luke 22:14-20) NLT

"Faith That Surrenders"

"O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever." (Psalms 74:19) The actual illustration for "saved" that Paul was saying in the context of 1 Corinthians 3:15 was that of being 'snatched out of the fire.' If you will, it would be like you burning something such as trash, and then you see something you cherish within that pile of trash and you snatch it out of the fire. For God, that something is the soul of His child that has been purchased by the blood of His Son; which means that we escape the fire based upon the fact that we are cherished by God; no matter what hell might deliver us, we will not perish!!! I'm sorry, but I feel a little out of sorts; so if I get a little loud, it's only because I have been crying out to God all morning for strength. Maybe that's the point of this title today, and God is trying to tell me I don't need strength, but that I need to surrender. If you don't know how to swim, you don't need strength, you need to relax and let the lifeguard save you; otherwise the lifeguard will let you drown, and bring you unto shore to revive you. They try and convince us, based upon 1 Corinthians 10:13, that God will never give us more that we can handle; somehow, I am not quite sure that is true. In the context of what Paul was talking about, it was temptation not trials; there is a difference between trials and being tempted by sin. First of which, is the fact that God does not tempt us with sin; He will however give us strength and a way of escape from being tempted; but we must take it! Our biggest problem with that, is that when we do end up sinning, it's because we either found another way, or we did not take the chance to escape. Secondly, when God gives us a trial, and He does, He does so to weaken us from walking in our own strength. It is His way of showing us that we don't really know how to swim, and we need to learn how to drown gracefully, so that He can safely pull us from the water. Now if that sounds like God not giving you more than you can handle, then I must have missed the part about us putting up a fight; because it is my experience that putting up a fight will just get you in trouble with the lifeguard. The whole point of this message is how weak and fragile that we are, not about our need for strength. We do not need strength, we need to surrender our lives completely to God, every last bit of it! Now, for those of you that do not see any part of this message in the context of the verse we have before us today, then I have not completely expressed what it was God placed upon my heart. Because this verse is all about "surrender!" It cannot be any clearer than it has been spelled out! The "turtledove" is being delivered over, but the request is for the "soul" not to be delivered. the "congregation of thy poor" is being forgotten, but only for a moment: SNATCH! That's what it feels like when you drown...
 "Therefore, be patient," says the LORD, "Soon I will stand and accuse these evil nations. For I have decided to gather the kingdoms of the earth and pour out My fiercest anger and fury on them. All the earth will be devoured by the fire of My jealousy. Then I will purify the speech of all people, so that everyone can worship the LORD together. My scattered people who live beyond the rivers of Ethiopia will come to present their offerings. On that day you will no longer need to be ashamed, for you will no longer be rebels against Me. I will remove all proud and arrogant people from among you. There will be no more haughtiness on My holy mountain. Those who are left will be the lowly and humble, for it is they who trust in the name of the LORD. The remnant of Israel will do no wrong; they will never tell lies or deceive one another. They will eat and sleep in safety, and no one will make them afraid." (Zephaniah 3:8-13) NLT  

"Faith That Fights" -2

"Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name." (Psalms 74:18) Don't give up, whatever you do, do not give up! If you are still in the fight, then you have the Lord on your side; so don't ever think that you're out just because you have some issues with getting rid of sin. That kind stinkin-thinkin is what the enemy plants in our minds because he wants to see us give up trying. If you are serious about doing things right, then God will give you everything you need to get things right; even if you still might lack what it takes, you're never going to achieve righteousness in this life, but that does not mean you are not accounted righteous in God's eye. That's what the second part of this verse speaks into my heart; that it is foolish to look at our own righteousness to count for anything, yet we are constantly doing it anyway. You would not believe the number of people I know who have quit the fight, only because they don't feel worthy or don't feel like they have what it takes to be a child of God. I am sure that you know some too; and it is not totally their fault for being that way, so you can't hold them completely accountable for the way they feel. Most of those that give up the fight, do so because of something that they have been told; someone has convinced them that they have blasphemed the Holy Spirit or some other unpardonable sin, and that there is nothing else they can do, God is done with them. Mostly the devil is behind those kind of accusations, but I have seen a few 'men of the cloth' that have taken on the role of God, and stepped over the line in judging someone. Personally, I think that judgment is waiting for them more than it will be waiting for those that they have caused to turn away; but that's just my own personal feeling. I like what Matthew Henry says regarding 1 Corinthians 3:15: "If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so by fire." He says, "It is an inexpressible source of comfort to us, amid the weakness and ignorance of our lives, to know that if we have only erred through human frailty and feebleness, while yet we desired to be sincere and faithful, the work will be burnt, yet the workman will be saved. Some of the Fathers gave to this beautiful verse the shocking perverted meaning that "the workman would be preserved alive for endless torments," "salted with fire" in order to endure interminable agonies. The meaning is impossible, for it reverses the sense of the word "saved;" and make it equivalent to "damned;" but the interpretation is an awful proof of the distortions to which merciless human rigorism and a hard, self styled orthodoxy have sometimes subjected the Word of God." Jesus died for you and me, He did not die for our works! Once you can get that burned into your heart and mind, then maybe, just maybe, you can start getting some victories over your flesh... "Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. But -"When God our Savior revealed His kindness and love, He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us new birth and new life through His Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of His grace He declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life." This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these teachings so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. These teachings are good and beneficial to everyone. Do not get involved in foolish discussions about spiritual pedigrees or in quarrels and fights about obedience to Jewish laws. These things are useless and a waste of time. If people are causing divisions among you, give a first and second warning. After that, have nothing to do with them. For people like that have tuned away from the truth, and their own sins condemn them." (Titus 3:3-11) NLT  

"Faith That Fights"

"Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name." (Psalms 74:18) It has been said, "If something is not worth fighting for, then it's not worth keeping." On the other hand, I think we hold onto more things we should not keep, then we do fight for the things we should. Sometimes, if not always, it's those things that we try to hold onto that actually hinder our ability to fight for the things that we should keep. Take marriage for example, since marriage is something of a neutral position. If you are struggling with a substance or with porn, and your marriage is on the ropes, your addiction is hindering your ability to fight for your marriage; your passion is not really there to make it worth fighting for, because your passion to fight for what's right has been dissolved by lust, and your focus is hindered by drunkenness or drugs. As to our spiritual relationship with God, it's pretty much the same; we tend to let the sins we hold onto dictate our passion for Christ. It's really sad to say, but you can't really fight for your faith, if you are not willing to fight off your flesh. It makes me worry about how strong we might be when faced with the choice of Jesus or death; because if we can't make that choice now, based on our sins or life, how will it be any different? We can make a difference in our fight for the faith, only if our faith makes a difference in us; if my faith does not give a passion for what I believe, then my ability to fight for what I believe is not there. I might pretend that it's there; I might even boast about my desire to stand; but truth be told, if my sins have priority over holiness, I have nothing there to stand upon. It's a pretty sobering thought, but it's something worth our consideration; that is, if we really care about our faith. Maybe that's the whole point, our faith can sometimes be like an old marriage. We are still here, holding on, but the passion is gone; we are only keeping the faith for the sake of keeping the faith, but our faith is no longer changing us...
"Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of His return is drawing near. Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. There is only the terrible expectation of God's judgment and the raging fire that will consume His enemies. For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God's mercy to us." (Hebrews 10:23-29) NLT

"Faith That is Real"

"Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter." (Psalms 74:17) I don't mean to sound like I am repeating myself, but God is the one doing the appealing here, of that I am certain. As a matter of fact, throughout His love letter to us, He never stops appealing; from the beginning to the very end, His word is consistently saying, "I Am the LORD thy God, there is none other; believe in Me!" The most notable change we can experience is the confirmation of the truth in our hearts; that is where you are totally certain His word is true, because His Spirit is living within you confirming that it is so. Now, if you are looking for the meaning of this verse, you really are going to have to disregard all the theories of learning, whether that be existence of the universe, or the extinction of all that we know, and you are going to need to put every single excuse of a theory aside; because God is the Creator of heaven and earth, and God is the one who holds it all together. You are never going to convince me otherwise, because that truth has already been settled in my heart. If you want to try and knock me off my foundation, then you are going to need to make it about me, because my faith in God is unshakable. Not that I have anything to brag about, because I really don't have it all together; but God is perfect in every way, and so it is God who we must keep our eyes upon. Global Warming is nothing but a scare tactic of those in power to make us subject to them and their rules; not that there might be a variation to the climate, because the climate changes all the time; but if you want to see real climate change, then stick around, if you can, because it's going to get really really hot; but not because of anything that man can do, but because God is going to cause it to happen. Do you believe that God created the heavens and the earth in seven days? or are you a skeptic that believes this planet it billions of years old? And say for a moment that God did things just as He says; what is to prevent Him from making something new or old? If He is making something from nothing, then why can't He make it old? Did He form man as a seed and then grow him out of the soil? No, I don't think that's the way the Bible says it; as a matter of fact, He created man fully grown and fully functional; He did as well with every other creature in His creation. Everything was created totally mature and ready to procreate, just as the Bible says that it was. God spoke, and it happened! I have no other way to explain anything, then to accept what God says in His word; which does not mean that I can explain everything, because there are some things that God has not explained in His word. But this much I know and believe, is that what God has said is the truth; and anything else which has been left unsaid, is all going to be revealed in the end. Enough said...
"He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since He is Lord of heaven and earth, He doesn't live in man-made temples, and human hands can't serve His needs -for He has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and He satisfies every need. From one man He created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they would rise and fall, and He determined their boundaries. His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him -though He is not far away from any one of us. For in Him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' And since this is true, we shouldn't think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone. God overlooked people's ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now He commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to Him. For He has set a day for judging the world with justice by the Man He has appointed, and He proved to everyone who this is by raising Him from the dead." (Acts 17:24-31) NLT

"Faith That is Rewarded" -2

"The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun." (Psalms 74:16) What did you expect? There is still something that needs to be said here, and it's regarding power! I can't remember who it was, but there was a pastor yesterday that was speaking about believing God has the power to do something with his life, because we all have something we are meant to do. I thought that was rather familiar, but nonetheless, that's how God works most days anyways. The pastor used the sunset to illustrate God's power to make something happen, saying, "The next time you doubt God's ability to do something, go out and watch a sunset, and then say to yourself, "If God can do that, He can surely do something in my little life." At first I didn't think much of that illustration; in fact, I actually thought it was kind of a weak way to compare God's creation with His abilities. But then I got to thinking about it, and man, what a powerful comparison to God's ability to get the most out of our life, especially for those of us that are in the later part of life. Now that I think of it, I believe it was Matt Fox who was sharing that; which would make perfect sense, since his church is over on the coast of Oregon. I say that, because I remember being in the Navy, and how I tried to make it a habit to go watch the sunset whenever they were not doing flight operations. You can not imagine what that looks like from 1,500 miles out in the middle of the ocean; talk about power being demonstrated in a sunset; when the horizon is like that, you really get a good look at the proportion of the sun to the earth. Anywho, about this power and "Faith that is Rewarded," as to whether they have any connection whatsoever. Yes indeedy! It goes without question, that if your faith is in a God that knows all things, sees all things, and can do all things, then your faith will have power! And if your faith has power, then in a certain way of looking at it, your faith is most definitely rewarded; in other words, there will be a powerful reward to the faith that you have, like believing that God can do all things! Which reminds me about something along those same lines; that the reason we don't a lot of times have powerful faith that God can do all things, is because we limit God's abilities when we sin. How so, you wonder? Well, if you really believed that God was watching and that He actually cared, would you really still do some of the things you do? There really are rewards in faith, especially when our faith is in a powerful and all-seeing God... "Then Job replied to the LORD; "I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. You asked, ;Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?' It is I -and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me. You said, 'Listen and I will speak! I have questions for you, and you must answer them.' I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance." (Job 42:1-6) NLT

"Faith That is Rewarded"

"The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun." (Psalms 74:16) What are you doing with your salvation? That's the question that came to me as I was pondering what God was going to speak to me about this morning. Is it relevant to the verse we have before us today? Well, let's see what it is that God has to say about that. First off, we have been given a "Light" that is meant to shine out from us and into a darkened world, this much I think we all can agree upon. Secondly, that "Light" we have been given is not our own, which pretty much means that it's not really ours to do with what we want; in other words, it is pretty much borrowed Light that is given to each and every one of us for specific purposes, purposes that have been determined for our lives way before we were even conceived in our mother's womb. I know that is hard to accept for some of us, but it is way things are. The question we need to be asking is not to ourselves, but to God, as in, "What would you have me do, Lord?" That's not really all that difficult to understand; especially if you consider that every day is not your own, it belongs to God! Do you? I am asking myself that question, and I am feeling a little convicted by my answer. We really don't serve the Lord if we are serving ourselves; that's not even possible, because we can't serve two masters. So does my life revolve around me and my agenda, or does it revolve around the Lord's? I know it is very hard to work God into every single area of our lives, because every area of our lives are not totally determined to be God's; they are divided up in our families, our work, our pleasures; you name it, our lives are sometimes so programmed and set to certain schedules, we spend more time asking God to help us with our agenda, then we do asking God what His agenda is for our lives. It is pretty much as if we don't have time for anything else, so why even bother asking God for something to do, because there are only so many hours in a day. The solution is really quite simple, if you are looking for answers; and it's really not that far off from Pastor Mike's prayer for faith every ten minutes. Pretty much, it is all about us knowing who owns the time that we have been given, and then living our lives accordingly... "Because of God's grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building upon it. But whoever is building upon this foundation must be very careful. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we have already -Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials -gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on judgement day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fore will show if the person's work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great lose. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames." (1 Corinthians 3:10-15) NLT

"Faith That Delivers"

"Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers." (Psalms 74:15) We need to get something perfectly clear, we don't deliver anything, as much as we would like to think otherwise. This is also another part of the Men's Conference, and it was a special message about change, as in, you know that you have been changed. In other words, you don't have to wait for something to happen, because it already has! You have been delivered, and that's all there is to it! Based upon Paul's experience, he was changed while on the road to Damascus; from that moment on, Paul's life would never be the same again. That's the thing I took away from the movie "Risen," as I observed the Roman soldier who met the risen Lord, and his life was never the same. That's faith that delivers, faith that changes a life! If your life has not been changed, then you may want to reconfirm where you are headed, because it might not be where you think you are going. What ever you think this verse is speaking about, it basically comes down to God being able to pour out and draw up, meaning that He is the one who makes the change in us, we don't change ourselves! You can try all you want, but unless God changes you, you are fighting a losing battle; one that you are ultimately going to lose. In my notes, I noticed that I had written my birth date; not my original birthday, but the date that I was Born Again. The date was September 1981; which Sunday it was, I can't totally remember, but I am pretty sure it was around the middle of the month. That was the day my life changed! I went from death to life, from darkness to light; from being filled with sadness, to being filled with joy; from being without hope, to having hope like I had never knew before. It was not anything that I could have ever done on my own; it was God's work being done in me; in an instant and without a doubt, I was changed! Now, as to that Scripture from Isaiah 1:18, and God saying, "Come now, let us reason together," He is now challenging us to a debate, or asking us to settle our differences; He is asking us to consider the cost of not doing things His way! That was pretty much the message that Jesus delivered: 'It's either My way or the highway!' The highway being the road to destruction, which happens to be a very wide road... ""Don't let you hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in Me. There is more than enough room in My Father's home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I was going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with Me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going." "No, we don't know, Lord," Thomas said. "We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me. If you had really known Me, you would know who My Father is. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him."" (John 14:1-7) NLT

"Victorious Faith" -Too

"Thou breakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness." (Psalms 74:14) Interesting enough, Pastor Bryan mentioned something about the parting of the Red Sea yesterday at church, saying, "Some people might say that the portion of sea that God parted was only 18" deep, so it wasn't such a big deal; but if so, then that's amazing, because God drowned the whole army of Egypt in just 18" of water." Matthew Henry uses this verse as that point in time when the children of Israel were delivered from Egypt, and it very well may be just that. But, if you haven't figured it out yet, I like to go exploring the Scriptures; kind of like an "Indiana Jones" looking for artifacts, I like to connect dots and put things into current context. Hey, did you realize something about that first "Passover" when Israel was taken out of Egypt; it might not seem like much, but it is just as amazing as the parting of the Red Sea. Well, the general point is that of God passing over the houses that were marked with the blood; in other words, He did not look inside to see if they had followed His directions, He simply saw the blood on the doorposts, and He passed over that household. Talk about attention to detail, well this is like the opposite of that! Maybe you don't see things quite the same; but God really does look at us through Rose Colored Glasses! Sure, we have sins that we all deal with, but God sees the blood of His Son when He looks at those of us who have excepted His free gift of salvation. In Isaiah 1:18, God says, "Come now, and let us reason together: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." We might not be perfect, but we are perfect in the eyes of the Father! Abraham was not perfect, by any means; but when it came to being the father of God's chosen people, he was perfect to God. Look at Romans 8:1, which follows that portion of Scripture where Paul says, "O wretched man that I am!" The meaning of that text gets so misused in so many ways, mostly by those who would like to justify their sins; when in fact, the true meaning is that of being "justified by Christ," which has nothing to do with our sins being justified at all! Sin is never justified! On the contrary, sin is always to be dealt with in one way or another; it just so happens, that Jesus died on the cross so that are sins could be forgiven, not justified. We on the other hand do get justified; as long as we are washed in the blood of Christ, then we are just as if we had never sinned. But that does not mean we get to sin because our sins are justified; it means we get to be righteous because our sins have been removed, and we get to walk in the Spirit; the perfect Spirit of God...
"Well then, since God's grace set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! Don't you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living. Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:15-23) NLT

"Victorious Faith"

"Thou breakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to the people inhabiting the wilderness." (Psalms 74:14) Just so I don't mess this up, I need to mention one other thing about Abraham that makes him a little different than most: Abraham was chosen by God! Not that he was any different from those other people in Ur at the time, but that he was called by God because God chose him for a certain purpose. I really don't know if we totally understand the depth of what that means, because it's not based on our works or our righteousness in any way. James gives us a pretty good argument for living out faith by works; which to a certain degree is absolutely certainly true. But our righteousness in no way is based upon works, it is based upon the faith that we put in God. Did Abraham lack faith? You bet he did; he had doubts about God giving him a son, he had doubts about God fulfilling His promise, and he had doubts about God protecting him in foreign lands. Not that his doubts weren't an issue with God, because they were; but they were not enough of an issue to discount the faith that God accounted to Abraham. We make things so very complicated, when in reality, we just need to walk in the grace that we have been given, and stop worrying about whether we are good enough for God. We can never be good enough for God; not on our own, that is for sure! We have been accounted righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ; God's Master Card of righteousness has been awarded to all that will receive Him, and any righteousness that we might have, we have because it's on that card. That might be a strange way to see it, but it's pretty much how it works in God's economy of faith. Now that we get that, how do we get victorious? Well for beginners, we can't! What you say? You say I can't win? Yes and no. We can win in Christ, but outside of Christ we fail; epic fail! That was Paul's point of Romans 7:24, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Because in reality we all have already been delivered by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. His righteousness has been accounted onto us, and now we get to walk in His righteousness. So when you are questioned on the issue of righteousness, you pull out your Master Card, which by the way has no limit, and pay your debt, a debt that Christ has already paid...  "Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, "Abba, Father." For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children." (Romans 8:12-16) NLT

"No Contest!" -2

"Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters." (Psalms 74:13) It's the second part of this verse that has me wondering, Why are we so easily given in to sin? I mean, if we have God's Spirit in us, Why are we not using the power of the Spirit more often than we do? I was listening to Pastor Matt yesterday, and he was speaking about Abraham and Sarah, and how much they were just like you and I, sinners who had been given grace. There were some interesting points to his teaching that I had never seen before, and that I could easily relate to. For starters, the point about Sarah's handmaid Hagar, and Sarah's comment from Genesis 16:5, "My wrong be upon thee." It's interesting because Abraham was to be the spiritual leader of his house, and he should not have listened to Sarah to begin with; however, he was not thinking with his head, if you get my meaning. I am willing to bet that Abraham got a little aroused by the idea, thinking, "Are you kidding me, sure I will do this!" It had only been maybe six years since Abraham had left Egypt, and Hagar was most likely still very young. It was most likely hard for Abraham to take sides between Hagar and Sarah, so he just left it up to Sarah to do with her what she pleased. (Genesis 16:6) I can see that scenario playing out, as if Abraham had grown attached to Hagar in some way, and did not want to disturb their relationship by taking sides, so he just pushed it back on Sarah. The most interesting thing about that whole complex story, is how it all shows the war between the flesh and the Spirit. Each and every aspect of that whole story, be it Hagar verses Sarah, Ishmael verses Isaac, or Abraham and the choices he makes, they all speak to the daily struggle we have between the flesh and the Spirit. Will I walk in the Spirit today, or will I walk in the flesh? Taking Pastor Mike's version to heart, it more like, "Will I walk faithfully in the Spirit for the next ten minutes?" Some people think that God and the devil are equal adversaries against one another; not nothing could be further from the truth. The devil is a created being and has no power against the Creator, he only has power against creation; and even then, his power is limited by God. Unfortunately, we really don't need any help from the devil to sin, so we really can't say, "The devil made me do it," because we sin just fine on our own. But, if we are going to overcome sinful desires, then we are going to need to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, because we only have two choices: we either walk in the flesh, or we walk in the Spirit; there are no other options, and there surely is no contest between the two! If you walk in the Spirit, the flesh has no chance of winning! Now, I do not have the time to break it down for you, but study for yourself the significant meanings behind those words, because they speak of Spiritual warfare, verses the first part of the verse, which speaks of a signs and wonders. The children of Israel saw many signs and wonders coming out of Egypt, but that did not stop Egypt from coming into them... "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for our weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete." (2 Corinthians 10:3-6) NASB  

"No Contest!"

"Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters." (Psalms 74:13) Now, I don't know what kind of experience you might have had with your faith being tested, but I can almost guarantee, that if your faith was in God, then it stood the test. Surely you don't put your faith in anything else, right? Yea, right; and I can fly like a bird when I want to also. The last speaker at the Men's Conference used ten minute periods of being faithful as a way to describe how strong we are, saying, "Lord, help me to be faithful for the next ten minutes," and then having an alarm on his watch to remind him to pray in eleven minutes for another ten. It's not that hard to imagine the need for that kind of discipline, given how easily we can be tempted by the things of this world. One thing is for sure, we can never think we have it all under control, or that we have somehow arrived at a place where we are strong enough to overcome being tempted. If you are thinking that keeping the faith and overcoming temptation are not the same, then think again, because they are one in the same. We overcome temptation by the strength of the Lord, and we keep the faith by keeping our eyes on Jesus; so it's pretty much all about abiding in Christ for all things, both faith and discipline. In other words, we are made holy in Christ, and we remain holy in Christ; we are never holy in our own strength or on our own. Let's just assume for a moment that God is the one appealing to us; not that I haven't already established that; but let's assume it in this moment. Having stooped low enough to doubt that God is even listening, and having entertained the thought that God has lost control of what is going on, what does God need to do to get our attention? He could flash some spectacular lights across the heavens, or part the oceans, as spoken of in the verse above; or He could simply remind us who He is! It's like the powerful moment when Elijah heard that "still small voice" on the mountain of God, or when Jacob spent all night wrestling with the Lord and the Lord touched his side. God has more strength in His little pinky finger than will ever be needed to do anything or overcome any obstacle that we could ever imagine. Why would we even consider trying to do something on our own? We serve such a great and mighty God!      
"That same day two of Jesus' followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem. As they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them. But God kept them from recognizing him. He asked them, "What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?" They stopped short, sadness written across their faces. Then one of them, Cleopas, replied, "You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn't heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days." "What things?" Jesus asked. "The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth," they said. "He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago. Then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report. They said his body was missing, and they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive! Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough, his body was gone, just as the women had said." Then Jesus said to them, "You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn't it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his Glory?" Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from the Scriptures the things concerning himself." (Luke 24:13-27) NLT

"Faith Contested"

"For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth." (Psalms 74:12) I can't imagine what it might be like to be without the Lord, especially going through something as harsh as this. But when you have Jesus in the midst of it all, there is really nothing to worry about; nothing can come against us that the Lord can't turn for the good, absolutely nothing! Currently my son is in the hospital and they have him in an induced coma, after having performed two operations on his brain. I haven't taken much effort over these last six years to take care of my son, mostly because he doesn't take much effort in taking care of himself. When my wife got injured back in 2003, I pretty much kicked him out of the house and focused on taking care of my wife. He was almost 25 at the time, so I thought it was time he moved out on his own. I have kept him in a rented house for the last 6 years or so; and I am currently working on getting him situated into another home, once he gets out of rehab, whenever that might be. The Lord surely works in mysterious ways, that's for sure. You pray for God to do something to wake somebody up, and He causes them to go to sleep. How all that works out, we only can hope for some kind of powerful intervention and God's mighty grace. But, it's times like this where the rubber meets the road when it comes to our faith. Really, faith that is not tested, really has no way of being used. I mean, how do you know what your faith is made of, if you never get a chance to stretch it out. Can it even stretch at all? You will never know until it gets stretched! I do not claim to have all the answers, none of us do; but this much I know, that God does! He knows every little hair on our heads, every little ache in our body, and every little tear that we've ever shed. Don't you think for a moment He does not know what you are going through, because He is right there, going through it with us! I think I understand that video I watched with the runner, because it's not about the runner's determination to finish the race, it's about the father's desire to help. The father, who sees his son fall during the race, then watches him get up and hop towards the finish line, rushes out to his son, saying, "You don't need to do this, son." But the son responds, "Yes, dad, I need to finish this race!" Then the dad responds, "Okay, if you're going to do this, then we will do it together!" Whether we give up, or press forward, God is always by our side! Oh, He wants us to finish well, that's for sure; but if we are hurting, then He is right there to help us in our pain, and He even encourage us to rest; and if we are determined to continue, then He is right there to give us His strength, His guidance and His encouragement to help us press forward, despite the pain...
"And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God's message without fear. It's true that some preach out of jealousy and rivalry. But other preach about Christ with pure motives. They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. But that doesn't matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice. For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance. For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better." (Philippians 1:12-21) NLT  

"Contested Faith"

"Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? Pluck it out of thy bosom." (Psalms 74:11) As I was praying over this verse, I could not help but think of "The contest on Mount Carmel" from 1 Kings 18, which is where Elijah takes on the 450 prophets of Baal; particularly the part when he tells those prophets that Baal must be daydreaming or relieving himself, so they must shout louder. There is no concern as to God's ability to hear us, or His activity in Heaven that might cause Him to be distracted from us. We must believe that; and if we don't, then we need to convince ourselves that it is true. Have you ever had to convince yourself of something that you should otherwise just accept as truth? Are you a robot? I hate those little tests at the end of a Comment Page; I can never seem to past the test, and they just keep giving me another one, and another, until finally I decide to forget the comment altogether. It is natural for us to doubt, and we can have doubt without loosing faith; the problem we run into, is when we act upon our doubt! Not such a good idea! It's best to just do nothing, then it is to act out your doubt; just be still and know that He is God, that's the best solution to what we should do with doubt. Besides, you can't make too many mistakes if you are not moving; unless you are in the way of a train, or being charged by a wild animal, then it's okay to react. But when we doubt that God is listening, it is usually because we want something now, or perhaps we do not feel as though we are worthy of a response. If you grew up like me, I was always told, "You got yourself into this mess, now get yourself out of it." God is not like that, so we don't need to think that is His stance, or that He expects us to correct our own wrongs before He will listen. We make mistakes, it's only human; we have doubts, it's only natural; but that is why we put our faith in God, and in Him alone! He is perfect in every way! He does not sleep or slumber! We have got to convince ourselves of that, because it has got to be the ground on which we stand! If God is not answering you, you're asking the wrong questions, or your not being patient; you are focusing on your doubt, when you should be focused on hope! That is how we convince ourselves, is by focusing on hope and believing in God's word, above all else, and no matter what things might look like, or how things may appear. I would share my situation, but I might loose it if I tried. I will just say this, Be Careful What You Pray For!!!
"Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again -rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."
(Philippians 4:4-7) NLT

"Faith That Endures"

"O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?" (Psalms 74:10) These are titles from the sessions of the conference, they all had titles that spoke of "Faith" doing something, and how important it is to keep the faith. The entire teachings, eight in all, where all based upon the three verses from 2 Timothy 4:6-8, which very well could have been Paul's letter written, as he was waiting to be executed for his faith. Jesus said, "Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also." (John 15:20) It's just how it is, and there is really nothing we can do to change it, not if we are keeping the faith. I have meet people who have quit and walked away, and I can't for the life that lives in me, understand how they could simply stop believing. What is it that makes a man or a woman turn away from the gift of eternal life? In John 6:47-69, Jesus was speaking about being "The Bread of Life," and how, "Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6:54) In verse 66, it says, "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." I think we have a tendency to complicate the Gospel and make it harder to accept than it really is. It's not meant to be complicated, you either believe or you don't, that's really all there is to it. But we make it based upon actions we perform, not based upon what God has done for us. Case in point, the "thief on the cross," who for the most part, had no opportunity whatsoever to do anything, yet, he did all that he needed to do to be saved, he believed! It's not my goodness that saves me, it's the goodness of Jesus Christ! Even one little sin in my life tips the scale to disobedience; but the blood of Christ makes me spotless and clean. How amazing is that! Why would someone walk away from that? John gives us a little explanation in 1 John 2:19, saying, "They went out from us, but they were not of us." Time will tell, but it hurts to see the people you love turn their backs on something so vital. Then again, it is really not that hard to find ourselves turning also; maybe not to the point of giving up, but we sure do like to turn back to some of our old habits. There is no other way to say no, than to just say "NO!" You can't get any more simple than that! I can't remember how, but I am pretty sure it's not by something in my own strength. You would have thought we would have learned that by now! I must abide in Christ if I am going to defeat the devil, and I must abide in Christ if I am going to have any power whatsoever over this flesh. Something else that was mentioned at the conference, was that, "With the helmet of salvation, all the other pieces of the armor are by default." It really is as simple as that, believe and be saved... "For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me." In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant between God and his people -an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me as often as you drink it." For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord's death until he comes again. So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God's judgment upon yourself. That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have died. But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way." (1 Corinthians 11:23-31) NLT

"Faith That Watches"

"We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long." (Psalms 74:9) The idea is based upon "those that eagerly await or look forward to the Lord's return." Are you that man or woman who fits that description? More and more I hear people say, "It's time, but if the Lord tarries, I am going to do this or that." I can only imagine how we are going to react if we are not taken; what the average Christian might think, if they are still here and others around them are gone. I am 100% a pre-tribulation believer, and I fully expect that the Lord will snatch His church out of this world before He releases His wrath upon it; no, I more than believe it, I know it to be true; I know it, because I know the Lord would not beat His bride! That said, there are going to be multitudes of people that get saved during the Tribulation, millions! And out of those multitudes, I am pretty sure that there will be many who wanted a "sign" before fully committing their lives to the Lord. That's not to say that they were not committed before, because they most likely were to a certain degree; but they just weren't fully committed, committed enough to give Him 100% of their lives. Yesterday at church I heard something interesting from Pastor Rick, who was teaching out of Joshua 10:1-24; he said, "Partial obedience is disobedience." As I thought about his statement, I could not help but think about what Jesus said regarding those that plow looking backwards. It comes from the portion of Scripture in Luke 9:62, where Jesus is speaking about "God's Kingdom Must Be First" in our lives. It starts in verse 57, where a man walking along with Jesus said, "Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest." Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." Then there are some discussions about some people who want to follow Jesus, but they need to do something first, like, bury their father, or say goodbye to loved ones; to which Jesus answered: "No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." It is really about giving Christ your all, whatever that might be worth; because for some, it's full time ministry, but for others, it might be living out an occupation or raising a family; either one of those can do so wholeheartedly for the Lord, or can do so looking back. In other words, just because you are in ministry full time, that does not exclude you from not giving the Lord your all. It's just like the "Love of Riches" is not just for those who are rich or wealthy; because even the poor can be guilty of having a love of riches; they are just miserable because they don't have riches, while the rich can be miserable having riches. Either way, they are looking the wrong way for what matters the most...
"So don't be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven never get old or develop holes. Your treasure will be safe; no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning, as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat! He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn. But whenever he comes, he will reward the servants who are ready. Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would not permit his house to be broken into. You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected." (Luke 12:32-40) NLT  

"A Price to Pay" -Too

"They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land." (Psalms 74:8) Just for your information, a chain is only as strong as the weakest link. If you are the body of Christ, then you must do your part in shinning the light of the Lord; we all must be a light in this dark world, it is the reason we are here. If you really want to get right down to it, then you are to be doing just as Jesus did, you are to be a servant and pour out your life for others. It's really not a question of if you have to do anything, it's more about us asking the Lord, What would you have me to do? We can be such hypocrites sometime, it's not even funny; in fact, it's downright unholy and ungodly. We are just fine when we get around our fellow believers, but as soon as we are out in the world, it's all about me, myself, and I. There is absolutely a price to pay for this salvation that we have been given, and that price is our lives! We have got to surrender our old lives to the Lord and start living in the Spirit; there is no way we are going to do any good if we continue to live in the flesh, none whatsoever! As I was sitting through yesterday's Men's Conference, I was amazed at how much of the teachings were speaking directly in line with what I shared yesterday; it was no doubt that God had prepared my heart for what was going to be taught. We have got to stop living for ourselves and start living for others, that's all there is to it! The lost souls that are waiting for proof need to see the proof in our lives, and they are not going to see it without God's love being evident in us. The enemy has been very successful in making us look no different from the world. One or two bad apples, that's not such a big deal; but whole churches filled with bad apples, that's something totally wrong; and it's not going to be of any service to the Lord. Something that was said during the third session, was, "Paul knew that his relationship with Christ would cost him something." As I heard that, I could not help but think about my own salvation, and how I knew also; on that very first day, I knew that I was no longer the same man that I once was. I knew that this new life was going to cost me something; be it my pride, my sexual cravings, my anger, my love for the things of this world, or even my relationships with friends and relatives. It was not going to be the same life that I once knew, and I was totally fine with that. It's not easy to say this, but some how, those things I once was willing to freely give up, have somehow become things I still want to hold on to. It surely does not happen over night; because if it did, we would not stand for it. But little by little, we let certain things remain; certain little idols, which become a life of their own; and before you know it, you're building shrines, making sacrifices, and burning incense to your little idol; until those little idols are not so little anymore; they have become big idols, which stand between you and your God. Something else I heard yesterday that I need to share, it was spoken in the last session: "Jesus did not come here to die for our sins; he came here to reconcile us back to the Father; just so happens, dying for our sins was the only way for him to do what he came to do." Don't think for a moment that your salvation is not going to cost you something, because it was not free; God gave His all for you, now give your all for Him... "If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. Either way, Christ's love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we all have died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know Him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, "Come back to God!" For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ." (2 Corinthians 5:13-21) NLT  

"A Price To Pay"

"They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land." (Psalms 74:8) Not that is matters, but do you really think this is the end, or what? I mean, we really can't get much closer to the edge of our seats than we are right now, on almost every single topic and area of life; be it the economy, the climate, ballistic air strikes, earthquake's, plagues and global sickness, technology running our lives; it's all pretty much coming to a climax in almost every area of life. Not to mention the social and physical areas, such as family structure, sexual identity, and even mental stability. There is more reason for people to turn to God now than there was ever before; if they would just listen; if they could just see; but the devil has blinded their eyes and filled their minds with strange sounds, so that they cannot see God nor hear His appeal. We might not understand everything that is happening, but we cannot keep looking the other way when it comes to caring for the lost. Just in case you might not know this, but we have a job to do when it comes to spreading the Gospel. Each and every believer has been given something that they must share! "Living Water" is water that flows, it does not become stagnant because there is life within it. That is more important than any building to assemble in, or any temple to worship in; we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, each and every one of us that have been washed in the blood of Christ. You cannot keep silent! You cannot keep Jesus all to yourself! You must share what you have been given, or it does not count for anything! I know that might be hard to swallow and it might sound legalistic or like faith based upon works; but it is really not about doing anything to earn our salvation, it's more about living out our salvation. It goes back to that story about the "Wedding Garment" and how the master of the house was offended that his guest did not put the garment on. The garment was a way of respecting the wedding party and it's host; to not put on the garment showed great disrespect; more disrespect than those that refused to even show up! Please don't misread what I am saying, because it's a lot like tithing. Tithing is not a law that is written, as in, "Thou shalt give ten percent," but it's an obligation of respect and worship. But everyone that does not tithe uses the law to justify their freedom to not tithe, saying, "We are not under the law, so we don't have to do it if we don't want to." Sure, you don't have to do anything, but you get left out of many blessing if you don't! Maybe you don't understand what the Bible means, saying, "God loves a cheerful giver;" because the word 'cheerful' does not just mean joyful or hilarious, it also means ready or prepared at a moments notice...
 "So then, Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. You won't spend the rest of your life chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God. You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy -their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols. Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander you. But remember that they will have to face God, who will judge everyone, both the living and the dead. That is why the Good News was preached to those who are now dead -so although they were destined to die like all people, they now live forever with God in the Spirit. The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay. God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it will all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen." (1 Peter 3:1-11) NLT

"Burning Down the House" -2

"They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground." (Psalms 74:7) Is it not comforting to know that God is bigger than our mistakes? Come on, you have got to see the connection, because there is nothing we can do that God cannot undo, and there is no power on this earth that God can not defeat. So, sure enough, we can totally neglect our part of any covenant with God, and we almost always do, but that does not mean God's covenant with us is made any less binding. Do you know why that might be? I just got chills! I could not help but think of Jesus lifting His cup up to His disciples, saying, "This is the cup of My covenant with you; drink." It's not that we are totally left out of the contract, because the contract is for us; but we have no part in the guarantee of what causes the contract to be binding and whole. If anything, any part that we might have in the producing of the contract was due in part because of our need for the contract to be produced. It's like building a home for the homeless; you don't expect the homeless to take part in the production and establishment of the dwelling, you are only expecting them to enter in and find shelter. So, if you really wanted to get technical about who is appealing to whom, then you need to examine who it is that has the most power in the game; meaning, who is it that is the most persuasive! Surely you don't think that you can persuade God of anything? No, it is God who is the one doing the persuading; it is God who is trying to get us to listen to Him, not the other way around. When God says, in Isaiah 1:18, "Come now, and let us reason together," it is not as though God has anything He is going to do to change, His purpose to get us to reason is for us to accept the contract that He has already established, not that we can add to or take away anything of the contract, because it is already finished; it was finished on the cross, with the words of Jesus Christ, and signed with His blood. Wow, we didn't even get to supply the ink for signing the contract, God took care of that also! I was just thinking of something else that relates to what God is speaking into my heart; when Jesus said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." (John 2:19) There is really only one thing that gets in the way of our ability to enter into God's covenant, and it is our own temple, which just so happens to be this tent that we dwell within; it must be destroyed in order to be lifted up... "So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am too human, a slave to sin. I really don't understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is good, but I don't. I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don't want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. I have discovered this principle of life -that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God's law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin." (Romans 7:14-25) NLT