"Representation" -Too

"So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands." (Psalms 78:72) I don't pretend to have it all together, because I don't; but what I do know, is that I love the Lord. Does that mean I can't be unloving sometimes? I wish it were so, because there are times I wish I could take back, as there are in relationships with family and friends. I really can't love the way that I should, not unless the Holy Spirit is helping me to love, because without His help I tend to make loving about me. David is a pretty good figure for understanding God's standard for forgiveness; and believe me when I say this, God does have a standard, it's called forgiving others; just as He has a standard for love, based upon loving others. In our own abilities we lack what it takes to do either one; we can't love as we should, nor can we forgive as we have been forgiven. But there is someone who did; who lived here among us, in flesh as we are flesh, yet He overcame the desires of that flesh, and He forgave everyone who nailed Him to that cross! That is a pretty big deal, because the multitude of those that had to be forgiven is enormous; it includes all the human race, all the way from Adam to the final day of judgment, we are all guilty of nailing Him to the cross because of the sin in our lives. There is someone else that comes to mind, someone who represents God's standard of forgiveness well, and it's Simon Peter. You have to see the irony in Peter's denial of Jesus, it plays into every single moment we turn and walk back into the flesh. Do you think Peter would have denied Jesus if he would have fled? Yet he hung out where he was most vulnerable to be tested, where people were bound to ask him if he was with Jesus. Not only did Peter think he was strong enough to not leave Jesus, but he challenged the Lord's prediction of what he would do. Jesus was not upset with the fact that His disciples would flee, He was just informing them that it would happen; and when Peter refused to accept it, Jesus just showed him his true colors. Jesus was not even upset by Peter's denial of Him, He knew it was going to happen, and it did. Talk about love and forgiveness...
"After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" "Yes Lord, Peter replied, "you know I love you." "Then feed my lambs," Jesus told him. Jesus repeated the question: "Simon son of John, do you love me?" "Yes, Lord," Peter said, "you know I love you." "Take care of my sheep," Jesus said. A third time he asked him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, "Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you." Jesus said, "Then feed my sheep."" (John 21:15-17) NLT

"Representation"

"So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands." (Psalms 78:72) How do we know that God loves us? It's only obvious that He does, but it needs to be made personal and it needs to be accepted on His merit not ours. That's where we tend to screw things us, when we start basing the love of God towards us on our reaction or dedication to His love. If we could just learn to get it right, and if we could just rest in His love; then maybe, just maybe, we could actually persuade others that His love is real and that it's unconditional. I'm just speaking to myself here, so don't get offended if it seems that statement includes you. Whether you can accept it or not, we are not perfect people; at least not yet, not here on this earth. But, dear friends, we are perfect in heaven! As far as I see it, the deal is done! It was done the very first time I raised both of my hands and said, "Yes, I accept your free gift, Lord!" Even though I went forward numerous times after, those were just me saying, "Lord, help me love you back!" But as far as my eternal salvation, it was secured in heaven the very first day of my new birth; placed there out of the reach of anything here, including myself! What kind of guarantee do you need beyond that? Okay, so we mess up from time to time; as well as to be expected, because we are not home yet; and we are going to continue to mess up as long as we are living in these sinful bodies, but don't get used to it! It's not good to mess up! It is bad for us to mess up, and we should hate when it happens; but when it does, and it will, we need to remember that it's this stinky dead flesh that keeps fighting against our new spiritual nature, and to have the upper hand we need walk in the Spirit. Easier said than done, you say? Just do it! That's what the Bible says! Just try it and see if it does not work, because it will! That's what that whole "as far as the east is from the west" thing is all about, besides the fact that we have been eternally secured; on this earth, it's how we learn to walk in the Spirit: Don't turn back...
"Out of the stump of David's family will grow a shoot -yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. And the Spirit of the LORD will rest upon him -the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. He will delight in obeying the LORD. He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay. He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited. The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked. He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment. In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with a baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all. The cow will graze near the bear. The cub and the calf will lie together. The lion will eat hay like a cow. The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra. Yes, a little child will put its hand in the nest of deadly snakes without harm. Nothing will hurt or destroy in my holy mountain, for as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the LORD. In that day the heir to David's throne will be a banner of salvation to all the world. The nations will rally to him, and the land where he lives will be a glorious place." (Isaiah 11:1-10) NLT

"Earthen Vessel"

"He choose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds: from following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance." (Psalms 78:70-71) When it comes to being a servant of God, we are chosen by God for His particular service; and not just that, but He is the one who made us for His particular service. I know it's hard to wrap our limited minds around that thought, but being an 'Earthen Vessel' is the result of a Potter who formed us, long before we had a choice to choose to obey Him. Wild, isn't it? I know it's pretty old school to consider a study of the basic Gospel, but it's something we need to keep at the forefront of our minds and fresh in our hearts. We are what we are because God has created us to be a peculiar people; He has given us a purpose to be used of Him and for His glory. It might sound a little weird, but we are a lot like His trophies. When you think about it, there are are really many different ways that God uses any one of us to achieve His purposes; even in the most out of the ordinary and sick looking ways, He is able to cause good and long lasting results for His kingdom. That's just how He gets things done! I don't care what horrible experience you might have gone through or are currently going through, God can take your situation and use it for good. Where is gets exciting is when you actually come to terms with that in your own heart; then you are no longer feeling beaten upon, but that you're in the hand of the One doing the work, an actual tool being used to make glorious trophies for the Lord, to be displayed for all eternity...
"All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance -an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see. So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold -though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world." (1 Peter 1:3-7) NLT

"Above the Earth"

"And he built his sanctuary like high places, like the earth which he hath established for ever." (Psalms 78:69) Don't misunderstand God's reason for choosing to do things the way that He has, because it's all about who get's the glory; and from our vantage point, it's 100% God, no question about it. Did you catch the list of offenses from Jeremiah's quote? That's our list of sins, whether you care to omit it or not. Yes murder is included: Jesus said, "If you hate your brother, you are a murderer." So yes, murder is part of the list of our offenses. I am pretty sure that we are all very much guilty of every single one of those Ten Commandments, if we were being totally honest. Why else do you think God gave them to us in the first place? They were given to show us how much we needed a Savior! Obviously God has not actually established this earth for ever; the end of Revelation shows us what will happen to this earth, as Peter also tells us in 2 Peter 3:10. But there is something else God wants us to see, something which came up from the earth, that will be established for ever and ever. Yes, I am talking about our great sanctuary that we have in Jesus Christ! Only Jesus is our hiding place, the place where our sins can be made no more, and where we can have the ability to be made white as snow! It just does not get any better than that! And the greatest thing of all, is that it is all God's doing! He finds us, He picks us up from the mud, and He makes us clean and purified; as pure as the whitest snow, not a speck of sin left, just as if we had never sinned! So, you have a question as to why Jesus might be the only way? There is nothing that can take away our sins, but the blood of Jesus...
"Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on the earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see -such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were he enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault." (Colossians 1:15-22) NLT  

"Above All Else"

"Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephriam: but chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved." (Psalms 78:67-68) Don't think for a moment that God has left you, because His love for you surpasses all that you can possibly do; He might change some of your surroundings, but He will still be right there, just as He always was. I hope we get the point of all of this, because God's love for His people is a powerful force to be reckoned with. There is more at work here than meets the eye, if you get my meaning. Actually, there is more that we don't see that happens than what we can see; even when we have on our spiritual glasses, we still only get a small glimpse of all that God is doing all around us. But the real bottom line has Jesus as the foundation; it's always been about Jesus, every last bit of every single line. It's all about God's redemption and mercy, for all who choose to accept it, regardless of who they might be or where they might be from or what sins they have committed; as long as they come to Jesus, they shall be redeemed! Yes, it's the only way, but it's not just because Jesus Christ is the only way, and He is; it's also because that is man's only way to be made right with God. It's not just about the Man, it's about the whole principle of God's providing forgiveness of sin, freely and base totally on faith in Him. What's so hard about accepting that? It should be easy, but it's not. It's not because we our so weak when it comes to having the faith required to accept what has been so freely given. It's not that the faith required is complicated, because it's not. But it's because we always seem to find a way to complicate God's simple plan of redemption...
"'Don't be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the Temple is here. It's a lie! Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours, and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, "We are safe!" -only to go right back to all those evils again? Don't you yourselves admit that this Temple, which bears my name, has become a den of thieves? Surely I see all the evil going on there. I, the LORD, have spoken! Go now to the place of Shiloh where I once put the Tabernacle that bore my name. See what I did there because of all the wickedness of my people, the Israelites. While you were doing these wicked things, says the LORD, I spoke to you repeatedly, but you would not listen. I called out to you, but you refused to answer. So just as I destroyed Shiloh, I will now destroy this Temple that bears my name, this Temple that you trust in for help, this place that I gave to you and your ancestors. And I will send you out of my sight into exile, just as I did your relatives, the people of Israel.'" (Jeremiah 7:8-15) NLT

"The Bottom Line"

"And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them in a perpetual reproach." (Psalms 78:66) Here is the thing I love about our Heavenly Father, He is serious about His redemption! It really does not matter who you are or what you have done, if you want to be redeemed, then He is all for it! But, for those that want nothing to do with His redemption, well let's just say, it's going to burn a little down there. I think we need to remember something as a nation, and I am being very serious when I say this, that the enemies of Israel are the enemies of God. Any nation that comes against God's people, do so with disregard for God's redemption! That is the bottom line, because Israel is the symbol of God's redemption of all mankind. We might think that because they have rejected Jesus as their Messiah that God has left off protecting them, but not so; God will never abandon His promises towards Israel, and everything that might have happened to them has been written that it would happen; so in reality, even the bad that happened was part of a promise. That might be the part we tend to overlook in our own relationship with God, that He keeps His promises, all of them! That includes those promises about what happens when we go astray and when we sin. Never was anything God warned about happening part of a trick or a lie to try to scare us or to keep us in line. That is not how God is, He cares very much for our welfare and wants to protect us from getting hurt; everything that He tells us not to do, He does so that we don't get burned! The devil is going to get burned and he wants to take as many of us with him as he can. Look at the big lie in the beginning, as the devil told Eve, "Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." LIE!!! Nothing but a liar, that's what the devil is! God does not try to trick us into obedience, He wants to protect us from death and destruction. What the hack is wrong with some people and why are they so easily swayed? Oh, I forgot about that thing called the flesh. That's the thing about the flesh, when it gets an itch for something it wants, there is simply no way it can be pleased or satisfied until it gets it...
"This is what the Sovereign LORD says: "The people of Israel will again live in there own land, the land I gave my servant Jacob. For I will gather them from the distant lands where I scattered them. I will reveal to the nations of the world my holiness among my people. They will live safely in Israel and build homes and plant vineyards. And when I punish the neighboring nations that treated them with contempt, they will know that I am the LORD their God." (Ezekiel 28:25-26) NLT

"Daddy's Home" -2

"Then the Lord awaked as one out of a sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth be reason of wine." (Psalms 78:65) As many of you know, God does not sleep (Psalms 121:4), so something else has to be at work here. Personally, I believe it's like the "getting off the coach" thing we looked at earlier; only this time, instead of getting up to chastise His children, He's getting up to protect them and protect His honor. Yes, His honor is His to protect. What in the world could we ever do to protect God's honor? Nothing that we might live to talk about, that's for sure. We can honor God by doing certain things well and staying on the path of righteous living; but when it comes to protecting His honor, only He is fit for doing that; and can He do it! As much as I would love to take credit for making anything happen, it's really not our duty to make things happen; servants don't make things happen, servants just do what they are told to do; much the same as children. As a matter of fact, to be like a child we must walk humble with an attitude of being cared for; instead, we tend to check in and check out with God, more like a kid that is off in college, instead of a child that needs a parent. That's more a personal observation of myself, so don't think I am including you in that category of character. In Matthew Henry's words, "God's return" is about His return "in mercy, to them." God never left them, not even for a moment! His love never stops for us, because His love is eternal and never ever fades. That might be something hard for us to grasp, because it's not something that we can put into practice ourselves. We don't have it within ourselves to love each other unconditionally, let alone to love God that way; but He can help us love, if we choose to let Him do it. It's all about just being His child...
"I, yes, I, am the one who comforts you. So why are you afraid of mere humans, who wither like the grass and disappear? Yet you have forgotten the LORD, your Creator, the one who stretched out the sky like a canopy and laid the foundations of the earth. Will you remain in constant dread of human oppressors? Will you continue to fear the anger of your enemies? Where is their fury and anger now? It is gone! Soon all you captives will be released! Imprisonment, starvation, and death will not be your fate! For I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea, causing its waves to roar. My name is the LORD of Heaven's Armies. And I have put my words in your mouth and hidden you safely in my hand. I stretched out the sky like a canopy and laid the foundations of the earth. I am the one who says to Israel, 'You are my people!'"" (Isaiah 51:12-16) NLT  

"Daddy's Home"

"Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine." (Psalms 78:65) This is what I woke to this morning; but I actually think it was what I went to sleep to last night; and then after waking up to it, I thought that it was a little corny. So, as I started this blog, I checked out what Matthew Henry had to say, and then used his opening, "God's Return," instead. However, as I started to type out my confession of using his line, I had a change of heart; so here we have it, "Daddy's Home" has won the argument! Pastor Mike has this expression for God's eternal knowledge, in that he says, "God cannot learn." When I first heard this, I didn't quite know how to accept it; it almost sounded as though it was some kind of a put-down; but instead, it is glorifying the fact that God already knows all that there is to know, even though those things might not yet have happened. As you consider that amazing fact, think about your calling, that day when God first spoke into your heart about how much He loves you, and then realize something important about God's love for you: It has not change! Do you know how I know that and how I can say it with such certainty? Because He knew everything about you when He first called you; everything! He knows what you will do long before you could have even had the power to think about doing it, because you were not even conceived yet when He knew it! I find that more than amazing, it's comforting to know how much He loves me, regardless of what I might do or not do, He still loves me! With that in mind, He is deeply concerned with our eternal position, as well as our temporary condition. It might not seem like He is concerned with what goes on down here, but He most certainly is; nothing that happens to any of His children does not have a reason or a purpose; so He allows certain things to take place, in order to achieve His perfect will, even though those things might look very ugly. However! He is a compassionate Father! He might observe His children being mistreated, awaiting there plea for help; but He can only allow so much, and then the 'Daddy' in Him awakens; regardless of their cry for help, or even their repentance...
""Listen to me, you who know right from wrong, you who cherish my law in your hearts. Do not be afraid of people's scorn, nor fear their insults. For the moth will devour them as it devours clothing. The worm will eat them as it eats wool. But my righteousness will last forever. My salvation will continue from generation to generation." Wake up, wake up, O LORD! Clothe yourself with strength! Flex your mighty arm! Rouse yourself as in the days of old when you slew Egypt, the dragon of the Nile. Are you not the same today, the one who dried up the sea, making a path of escape through the depths so that your people could cross over? Those who have been ransomed by the LORD will return. They will enter Jerusalem singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Sorrow and mourning will disappear, and they will be filled with joy and gladness." (Isaiah 51:7-11) NLT

"Dead and Dying"

"The priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation." (Psalms 78:64) There are a few things in this life that get me excited, seeing evil being pushed back is one of them. We are what is commonly called the 'silent majority' because we don't raise our voices or take to the streets like those who are the progressive and worldly ones. It is much like when Elijah fled to Mount Horeb, thinking that he was all alone, saying, "I have been very jealous for you LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." (1 Kings 19:14) It sure can feel like we are outnumbered, and most of the time we are; but it's more about degrees of concern or involvement; those that get involved wonder why others won't, and those that don't, don't want to be bothered. If we are the majority, then it sure does not look that way, because we are being outnumbered on almost every issue. To the verse we have before us, I can't quite get this thought out of my mind as to whether "their widows made no lamentation" because they could not or they would not. It's hard to describe what I'm feeling, but it comes from mostly being an observer for so long, that I feel like we deserve what we get. I know that sounds a little like giving up, but it is exactly what I see is taking place. The answer is that they could not lament, because they knew they had it coming! If they did anything at all, they would just have given up and killed them self, having nothing left to live for. This is not just a sad reality, it is what it is because of the compromising life of the spiritual leaders; whether those be the priests and their roles in the church, or the husbands and their duties in the home. Quite honestly, if there is no example of spiritual leadership, what happens when the spiritual leader is gone...
""What is the noise about?" Eli asked. The messenger rushed over to Eli, who was ninety-eight years old and blind. He said to Eli, "I have just come from the battlefield -I was there this very day." "What happened, my son?" Eli demanded. "Israel has been defeated by the Philistines," the messenger replied. "The people have been slaughtered, and your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were also killed. And the Ark of God has been captured." When the messenger mentioned what had happened to the Ark of God, Eli fell backward from his seat beside the gate. He broke his neck and died, for he was old and overweight. He had been Israel's judge for forty years. Eli's daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near her time of delivery. When she heard that the Ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and husband were dead, she went into labor and gave birth. She died in childbirth, but before she passed away the midwives tried to encourage her. "Don't be afraid," they said. "You have a baby boy!" But she did not answer or pay any attention to them. She named the child Ichabod (which means, "Where is the glory?"), for she said, "Israel's glory is gone." She named him this because the Ark of God had been captured and because her father-in-law and husband were dead. Then she said, "The glory has departed from Israel, for the Ark of God has been captured."" (1 Samuel 4:14-22) NLT  

"Slow the Growth"

"The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage." (Psalms 78:63) I know it's a stretch, but do you think there really is any hope for this world? I watched the Convention last night, and I was very impressed on how much people that know the Donald, really believe that he is the right man for the right time. Ultimately, God is still in control; but can you get excited about the thought of some common sense leadership? I don't mean to get political, but there really needs to be something done to stop the bleeding away of values, justice, and common courtesy for one another. How about a little respect for law and order? I'm sorry, but I really have no respect for people that have no respect for defenseless lives; never mind having a heart, because that went out the door long ago; but a little respect sure would help to give our youth a different perspective. We know that things will most likely get worse the closer we get to Jesus coming back for His church; but couldn't we pray for some sort last minute fight to be people that actually care to make a difference? After all, if we don't do our part, then we are just part of the problem! You need to understand something about being motivated by passion, it only works when you grab hold of the passion. In other words, you cannot truly be motivated by someone else's passion to do something, it must be your own passion that motivates to make a difference. But you can truly be led by passionate people who know how to make more passionate people. Benjamin Franklin said, "Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn." Moving on to what God is showing me through this verse. God is ultimately in control, and when He wants to put the brakes to something, He knows how to do what ever needs to be done to make it happen. This is something God does in large portions and in small, on whole nations and on individuals, He controls the outcome of events...
""But the time is coming," says the LORD, "when people who are taking an oath will no longer say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.' Instead they will say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from all the countries to which he had exiled them.' For I will bring them back to this land that I gave their ancestors."" (Jeremiah 16:14-15) NLT

"Cause and Effect"

"He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance." (Psalms 78:62) Simple logic should have convinced anyone trying to worship idols, you're not going to please God by doing that, so don't do it. But do you think that stops anyone bent on believing the lie? In case you missed it, idols are false gods; typically, false gods are established upon false beliefs, which are all originated in wickedness; and wickedness originated in one place. I know we want to point the finger at Adam, because Adam's sin is what made us all to be sinners by inheritance; but it actually started in heaven, most likely before the earth was even created. There is only one being to point the finger at, and his name is the devil. Whenever Jesus replied to any accusation that He was some how associated with the devil, He made sure to reference the sharp contrast between the truth and the lie, light and darkness, and holiness and wickedness. There is really no way to associate any of those things together, yet we seem to try and assume that we can somehow take part in all those things that are of the lie, darkness and wickedness, without somehow being separated from the truth, light and holiness of God. One of the first verses I remember memorizing as a new Christian was Psalms 103:12: "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." This was not the very first, but it was one of the first. It is an important verse to memorize and keep the proper perspective on what it means, because there are a couple rules of thumb on the simple logic the is associated with 'east verse west' and what different directions have to do with truth, light and holiness. I remember this verse first being illustrated to me as the proof that the Bible shows us the world is round; which might be the reason I made it one of my first memory verses. But in relationship to sin, there are a couple different points made it this illustration; one is what God does with our sin, and the other is what we do with sin...
"And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savor Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. They prove the truth of this proverb: "A dog returns to it's vomit." And another says, "A washed pig returns to the mud."" (2 Peter 2:20-22) NLT  

"Presumption Verses Faith" -2

"When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel: so that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men; and delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand." (Psalms 78:59-61) So, does this mean that God would abandon His people? There it is! That is what 'presumption' stands for, because faith would never go there! God would rather disgrace Himself than to abandon His children! What do you think these last two days were speaking to? In Luke 11, just prior to Jesus speaking about the whole, "and say, "Trouble me not" example, Jesus was teaching His disciples to pray; within that portion of Scripture you see the famous "Lord's Prayer;" which isn't really actually the Lord's prayer, because His prayer is found in John 17, the whole chapter! Understand this very important thing about God's word, His word is more than His bond, it's who He is; from the very beginning to the very end, His word never changes. What does that mean for you and your faith? Well, if you are basing your faith upon your own capacity to understand anything, then it's faith that won't survive the light of day; but if your faith is in God's word, the Word of God, then there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that can shake you off! Does that mean God does not turn His back on us? No, I am sorry to say that is part of the reality of sin, and what sin does in the relationship between God and His children. Why would we assume God would not turn His back on us, if He turned His back on His Son? That might have been the biggest part of the whole experience that Jesus hated most, more than the beatings, or the ridicule, or the humility; the fact that the Father would turn away from Him, as He took our sins upon Himself, that was the part that hurt the most! For God to turn His back on His people does not mean that they are forsaken, by any means. Did God forsake His Son? No chance in hell! (Pardon the pun.) Who abandoned who in the first place? It is not God that abandons us, it is our doing; we are the ones who do the abandoning, not God. But God will do whatever it takes to get us back, even if it might bring some temporary disgrace upon Himself...
""I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one -as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began! O righteous Father, the world doesn't know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them."" (John 17:20-26) NLT

"Presumption Verses Faith"

"When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel: so that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men; and he delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand." (Psalms 78:59-61) There are few things in this life that compare to what faith really looks like, because faith really does not have a face, it's more than a feeling, and it is not able to be held onto. Faith is believing that something is so, because it is so vitally important that you believe it is so, you could not find yourself believing otherwise. A good example is for those who suffer through devastating lose, yet still continue to cling to the One who gives them hope; they do so because, where else can they go! Really! There is nowhere else in this world where comfort is found than in Jesus! Obviously, there are some things that can cause us to turn away from following the Lord, but I would hope that devastation is not one of them; sadly, for some it is, and it is because they placed their faith in something other than the One True God. When Jesus was speaking to 'the woman at the well' (John 4:7-26), He mentioned to her about those who worship God in truth, worship Him in spirit, for God is a Spirit; therefore, "they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." There is really nothing here that can be associated with that kind of worship, because it is not tangible or seen; that does not mean it's not real, because there is most assuredly a real relationship to be had in God, but it is not connected to anything that is of this world, not even life itself. That is hard for some people to come to accept, because they put their faith in God assuming He will give them blessing upon blessing, and everything is going to be a bed of roses. That is really not the agreement that He has made with us. His agreement was to get us safely into heaven, saying, "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." (John 14:2-3) After saying that, Jesus went on telling the disciples He would be leaving, but that it's good that He leaves, because then the "Father will provide them the Comforter." He is not called the "Comforter" because He makes us comfortable, but because He gives us comfort in our devastation...
"You fathers -if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give then a scorpion? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him." (Luke 11:11-13) NLT

"Counterfeit Faith"

"For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images." (Psalms 78:58) What is an idol in your mind? Is it a graven image, something like a statue or molten image that is set up in your home as something you burn incense to, or leave little messages to as prayers? No, I doubt any of us that serve the Lord have such things; but what we do have are habits, habits that take us to a place where we choose certain things or perform certain tasks as a token of chance; maybe even out of superstition that God will bless us differently, or curse us if we don't do things a certain way. I expect some of you don't really get what I mean, because that seems so weird and out of sorts. But truth be told, I am willing to bet that almost every single one of us have practiced it so much all of our lives, we don't even realize that we are doing it; it's so much a part of what we are, that we just have accepted it as second nature. What shoe do you put on first in the morning, your right foot or left? Do you pick up a penny with heads up and leave a penny that is tails up? How about walking under a ladder? If you don't worry about it at all, do you give it a thought, as if to challenge the concept of it's truth? These all seem so trivial, I know, but there are certain aspects to their control over our lives. Just so happens that I named the ones I am familiar with finding myself doing; how I came to do them I do not know. You see, faith is not something that is based upon anything we do or do not do, it is based upon what God can do or does or did. If we are basing our faith upon anything else but the fact that God loves us, then we might be involving our own 'high places' in the relationship; and if that's the case, we are most likely also worshiping a graven image, which is really nothing more than what we think God looks like, or how we think God is when it comes to loving us. This is more critical than we might think. Another good reason that we must remain in the word and not get distracted by other forms of information. There is only one truth, and the devil loves to distract us from that truth...
"Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: "Suppose you went to a friend's house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, 'A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.' And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, 'Don't bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are in bed. I can't help you.' But I tell you this -though he won't do it for friendship's sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence. And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be open to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And everyone who knocks, the door will be opened." (Luke 11:5-10) NLT

"Ungratefully Gifted"

"Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies: but turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were tuned aside like a deceitful bow." (Psalms 78:56-57) You have to understand something about free stuff, it is seldom appreciated; and it is hardly ever paid back! Never mind that there were untold multitudes of people that were killed, because the children of Israel participated in their destruction; we are talking about the land, more than anything else, the land is what God promised; and He made good on His promise. Had God removed the people who dwelt in the land prior to letting His children occupy it, it would have been overrun with wild beasts and would have not been cared for. It was bound to happen, only because they were fallen people; they might have been God's chosen people, but they were His chosen fallen people. I see the land of Canaan a lot like our life in these temporary bodies; there is so much potential to be blessed and cared for by God, yet there are so many things in our flesh that make us unfaithful and turn us aside. God has provided everything we need to defeat the enemy, to live victoriously, and to honor all that He has done for us with appreciation and love, but we always are turning back. It might not seem like it at first, because usually our turning back is subtle and happens in stages; but the way things are described in this example above, you would have to think it happened instantly and overnight. The writer points out that "they were turned aside like a deceitful bow," almost as if they were still in the hands of God, and yet they slapped Him in the face; much like a bow might do to the archer, had it broken while he was using it. But don't you think that is true to our nature? If you think about it, we all have this same capacity to be prideful and to take credit for things that God should get the credit for, only because we participated in whatever God made to happen. As if we could have figured it out on our own! There is no way we could have planned anything of the sort; mostly because nothing comes from all mountaintop experiences, and we would never plan to go through the valley and the storm. The bow is broke because it is broken! But God is not done with it yet! God does not throw the bow away and get a new one! God is the Master Archer, don't you know...
"The LORD said to Moses, "You are about to die and join your ancestors. After you are gone, these people will begin to worship foreign gods of the land where they are going. They will abandon me and break my covenant that I have made with them. Then my anger will blaze forth against them. I will abandon them, hiding my face from them, and they will be devoured. Terrible trouble will come down on them, and on that day they will say, 'These disasters have come down on us because God is no longer among us!' At that time I will hide my face from them on account of all the evil they commit by worshiping other gods. So write down the words of this song, and teach it to the people of Israel. Help them learn it, so it may serve as a witness for me against them. For I will bring them into the land I swore to give their ancestors -a land flowing with milk and honey. They will become prosperous, eat all the food they want, and become fat. But they will begin to worship other gods; they will despise me and break my covenant. And when great disasters come down on them, this song will stand as evidence against them, for it will never be forgotten by their descendants. I know the intentions of these people, even now before they enter the land I swore to give them."" (Deuteronomy 31:16-21) NLT  

"Free But Not Free"

"He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents." (Psalms 78:55) Not much to commentate over this verse, at least on it's own description; it pretty much tells how God drove out the inhabitants, divided the land to all the tribes, and then had Israel freely live off of the labor and riches of those who had been driven out. Pretty much cut and dry; wouldn't you say? Matthew Henry ends his thought over this verse by saying: "God could have turned the uninhabited uncultivated wilderness (which perhaps was nearly of the same extent as Canaan) into a fruitful soil, and have planted them there; but the land he designed for them was to be a type of heaven, and therefore must be the glory of all the lands; it must likewise be fought for, for the kingdom of heaven suffers violence." Said to be one of the most misunderstood Scriptures, Matthew 11:12 has Jesus saying, "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." There is something to consider from this very misunderstood verse; first of which is the one who is speaking, Jesus Christ, "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world." It is easy to believe that Jesus died for our sins; just the fact that He hung upon that cross and died, and the writings of the witnesses is enough to convince that average person; but to understand the cost and the sacrifice of all that was spent and all that was planned; never mind all that was plotted by the enemy to undo that very specific plan. The other thing to consider is the word "suffers" and how it actually may not speak of suffering, as if we were to suffer through some hardship; because it also could mean 'allow' as in, "heaven allows violence." There is another example of how this might look, which is Paul's description of what we call the rapture, which is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 and is the words "caught up," which means taken by force. Combine that with the alternative meaning of the word "violent," which does not have to refer to someone out to hurt or kill, because it also could mean someone who being forceful or aggressive; basically, it means doing whatever needs to be done. I guess what it all comes down to is that we blessed beyond measure, because what God did for us was the most extreme and costly thing He could have done...
 "For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He did this by ending the system of law with it's commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done. So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God's holy people. You are members of God's family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit." (Ephesians 2:14-22) NLT

"God's Masterpiece" -2

"And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased." (Psalms 78:54) I wish I could listen to the radio all day, but I only get little pieces of each of the lessons, as I am in and out of my car so often. But I did hear Pastor Matt say yesterday, he was going to be teaching on "God's Masterpiece," and I had chills. But I have come to realize that it's pretty normal, because the Holy Spirit usually works that way; and also, seeing that so many of the Calvary pastors are making quotes from the New Living Translation these days. In case you are wondering what I am talking about, it's from Ephesians 2:10, where Paul says, "For we are God's masterpiece." The King James has it a little different, saying, "For we are his workmanship," but it still means the same thing, it's just that masterpiece sounds more like it's all God's doing, and none of our own. The bottom line, is for us to get the message that we must be in Christ for it to be anything worthy of heaven! Simply put, if we are not in Christ Jesus, we are not God's masterpiece, because His masterpiece is all about our redemption and taking us from a little lower than the angels, to judging angels, if that makes any sense to anyone. Actually, many believe that is what caused the revolt in heaven, and for one third of the angels to join Satan in turning against God. But in reality, it's only speculation; we really don't know for sure what caused it, except that it had something to do with vanity. Anywho, you have got to realize how special you are in Christ; not just in Christ, but in the body of Christ. We are more than just a body of believers, we are His Holy Temple; the Bride of Christ! I know it's hard to accept it, seeing how imperfect we are in these temporary tents. But this is only for a very short season; and when I say short, I mean it's like a flash of light compared to what comes next. Do you believe that? I hope that you do, because if you don't, you need to adjust your vision and perception on reality! The world sees this as being the most important time of their lives; the church should see it as the beginning of the rest of our life, a life of eternity in heaven...
"As the Scriptures say, "I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem, chosen for great honor, and anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced." Yes, you who trust him recognize the honor God has given him. But for those who reject him, "The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone." And, "He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they do not obey God's word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them. But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people, a holy nation, God's very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he has called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. "Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God's people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God's mercy."" (1 Peter 2:6-10) NLT

"God's Masterpiece"

"And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased." (Psalms 78:54) You know, sometimes it might take a little doing, but we usually will actually learn to listen sooner or later. All that God has done to provide for us a perfect solution to our horrible situation, and we seem to always try and mess it up by making it not so perfect. When we consider what it means to enter God's rest, it's actually a place where we are not burdened by rules, such as keeping this command or performing a certain task to comply with tradition. It's all about resting in God's perfect plan, in God's perfect place, and with no other concern but knowing God. There really is no other way to explain it, except to say that we surrender completely to Him. In this life that is hard, really hard for the average Christian to stay above water; we might start out walking on the water, but it's only a matter of time, and we are sunk, treading water just to stay in fellowship. There are three very important things we need to contain as part of our daily lives, communication with God, a hunger for His word, and the desire to fellowship with other believers. Communication with God is our number one priority, because it is our number one gift, that we can have the right to enter into fellowship with our Holy Father. We have been given this right by the fact that we have been made holy ourselves, by the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. This purification that allows us to enter into fellowship with a Holy God has been illustrated for us throughout the word of God. Over and over, God has written, though the hands of men, by the power of the Holy Spirit, His perfect plan for our eternal salvation; of which, we must continue to have a hunger for, knowing full well that we can never get enough. There is more to His word that we do not know than what we think we know; the sooner we learn to understand that, the bigger our appetite gets for more of it. And the desire for fellowship with one another is not to be minimized; we need one another for encouragement and support. When we get off to ourselves we begin to either think to highly or lowly of ourselves, and can easily find ourselves out of fellowship with God; not that we are not trying to communicate, but the fellowship is lacking...
"So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you can grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord's kindness. You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God's temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor. And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What's more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God." (1 Peter 2:1-5) NLT  

"Spiritually Guided" -2

"And he led them on safely, so that they feared not; but the sea overwhelmed their enemies." (Psalms 78:53) Yesterday I heard two different messages that mentioned Jacob and Israel, the names of Jacob used in the Bible; one was by Dr. Chuck, the other by Pastor Matt. Apparently, after over three decades of reading and studying the Bible, it is something that went right by me, but Jacob is one on the few characters in the Bible who were renamed by God, where God would refer to him using his old name from time to time. If he was doing well or was being used in reference to God's good plan going forth, then he was Israel, but if he was being a knucklehead or was being used as a reference to God's redemption, he was Jacob; or something to that effect. If he was trying to do something in the flesh, he was Jacob; that's pretty much the point Pastor Matt was trying to make; which was also the point of what I was trying to say yesterday. We cannot do anything to overcome the fleshly desires in the the flesh; it is totally useless for us to even try. It is by God's Spirit and His word that we overcome the desires of the flesh, not by using the flesh, because the flesh will just give in. The same is true for love. If we are going to love as God would have us to love, then we need to be having God love through us. We are terrible at loving God the way that He deserves to be loved; we can't even unconditionally love one another, how do we expect to unconditionally love God? If you think that you some how found a way to do it on your own, then you should get it published, because without the Holy Spirit living in you, your love has limits and conditions. I know we think that we can love a certain way; all couples who get married are thinking they have a certain love to maintain the marriage; that is until one of their conditions are not met. It's really pretty simple; at least it appears to be... "God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." (Ephesians 2:8-10) NLT

"Spiritually Guided"

"And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies." (Psalms 78:53) I absolutely love 1 John, it is purely a love letter from the Father's heart to His children; but more specifically, to His children that are having doubts, fears, and feeling overwhelmed by the sickness all around them. You can't take your eyes off of glory, for even a moment, because as soon as you do, you going to feel the weight of this world upon your shoulders. And it really takes no time at all before you're overwhelmed by cares that really don't matter, at least not the way that they do when you make them your own. I want to try to get a better perspective on life's issues and complications, as I am sure most of us want to do from time to time; so, do I focus on the issues and complications, or do I focus on the Lord? I would like to say that I focus on the Lord and leave all that other stuff for Him to take care of; but nine times out of ten, I try to figure out way to calm the ragging seas; something I have no power to do, but that doesn't seem to stop me from trying to do something anyway. Did you ever try and stop a wave when you were a kid? I remember trying to do it once, as I held up by boogie board like a shield, and ended up with a bloody nose. There are some things we should not even attempt to control, but somehow we think we can anyway. To put this into the proper perspective, there are two totally different planes of elevations; actually, two totally different directions would be more like it. Picture yourself standing at the foot of the cross, gazing up at Jesus as He is hanging there. If you notice, there are two different directions that the cross is going; the main direction is the pole, the one that goes into the ground and points upward; and the one that goes side to side, which is the beam. Jesus had His hands nailed to the beam which went from side to side, indicating that He had outstretched arms, which are the arms to handle all of this this life's issues and complications, even all sickness and death. On the pole, Jesus had His feet nailed to the bottom and His head at the top, which indicated the direction we are to be focused, even though we are still attached to this earth. Now believe it is so, and that He has everything under control; because He does! Or, you could just picture yourself in the boat when Jesus was asleep, as the waves were seeming overwhelming and you're thinking you need to wake Him up...

"We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first. If someone says, "I love God," but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don't love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters." (1 John 4:16-21) NLT  

"Spiritual Prognosis"

"He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to pestilence; and smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham: but made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock." (Psalms 78:50-52) Have you ever tried to figure out something that is impossible to figure out? It is absolutely mind bending. There are just some things we are not going to know the answer for; not in this life, but maybe in the next. Regarding the purpose for that closing Scripture yesterday, it's really quite simple to figure out how salvation is obtained or rejected, because it is real. Unlike some things in the spiritual world of the supernatural, things that cannot be figured out, our salvation is unlike any other spiritual encounter, it is as simple as turning on a light in a room; you know when the light goes on or not! I heard an interesting word the other day about predestination, if you are someone who believes in such a concept. Although God might know the outcome for our life, we on the other hand don't have a clue; all that we can be assured of, is that God's will is for everyone to be saved, and those that reject His offer of salvation will not. That said, we are in a wilderness, in a spiritual sense; this is not where belong anymore, because God has called us out of the world and has prepared a place for us to dwell in, where He is. Does that cause us to live different that those in the world? It should, because if you are really in the wilderness, then you not attached to those things of the world; you cannot be attached any longer, because you have been taken out of that environment, spiritually. You might still have cravings for what you once knew, but you are not that same person anymore, and you have a new destination. That is by far the greatest proof of our salvation, the destination has changed! You know where you are going, because God has placed you on the path, and His path is as clear as day; all that is behind you is pestilence and death; all that is before you is life everlasting...
"All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don't believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don't believe what God has testified about his Son. And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God's Son does not have life." (1 John 5:10-12) NLT

"Satan's Domain"

"He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them." (Psalms 78:49) Well, let's just say it wasn't my first choice, I woke up thinking, 'Makin' Satan,' but could not bring myself to using it. I have long wondered where Satan came into existence, and how it is that he has so much power to be so destructive. Obviously it was pride; being made to contain such beauty and leading worship in heaven, could be something that makes one prideful. But this is an angel we are talking about; and not just any angel, but one that had position and a purpose. I say where because I think I known why, and it's not for the reason I just explained; but where is the part that I struggle with, because it can be so controversial of a topic to bring up. I know how this world became his kingdom; a kingdom that once was given to Adam, who gave it over to Satan by doing the one thing that God warned him not to do. At which time, we are meant to believe, that this world became 'fallen' and death began to take a place in the life of mankind. That one tree within the garden, that man was to not eat of, was called, "The tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Interesting to think about, but why mention 'good' and not just call it the "The tree of the knowledge of evil?" Good was something God used in creation, saying, "And God saw that it was good." But here is the thing that continues to blow my mind, in the God said, "Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil." (Genesis 3:22) With God, all things are good, there is no evil within Him. (1 John 1:5) So then, where did the evil that existed go? If there was knowledge of evil, it needed to have an original existence, right? There are a couple of questions that I have for God when I get to heaven. Then again, I think that all of our questions will be answered once we get there, because it will be 100% Light. So, in the meantime, we must understand real evil to be unrepentant sin, which is Satan's domain and why hell was created for him and his angels. Those that do not repent and receive God's offer of salvation will be joining him there for all eternity; ouch, that's a domain I want nothing to do with...
"This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but we go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts." (1 John 1:5-10) NLT

"Meaty Message"

"He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts." (Psalms 78:48) Just in case you did not know this, Egypt represents the world and all of it's pleasures. In truth, it actually represents the old nature that the flesh did live for, which is the world; but without a doubt, it represents everything that the flesh lives for and more. As a matter of fact, there is typically nothing that we could place between us and God that does not have some sort of connection to what took place in the "exodus " of Israel out of Egypt; every sin you could think of, every vise, every idol, even every lack of dedication; it's all demonstrated in the beautiful picture of God's redemption of His people from the bondage of Egypt. As many of you ought to know, God is not done with Israel; in other words, the church has not replaced Israel, because Israel is still God's prize possession. What has actually happen, is that the church has been grafted into or onto God's chosen people. We have become the 'children of Abraham' or, if you will, 'the children of promise.' God made that perfectly clear throughout the entire Old Testament, Paul made that perfectly clear in several of his Epistles, and Jesus himself made it clear in the the Book of Revelation. It is good for us to know that, because God does keep His promise! If it were not so, and if God were willing to abandon His children over their lack of obedience, then where would we be, and what hope would we have as His adopted children? Are we to think that somehow God will have more favor over the adopted children than the children who are actually of the promise? Absolutely not! We have been grafted into that same promise by the mere fact of us being in Christ Jesus, who was the Offspring of that promise, fulfilled in the flesh. Don't you think that it's interesting how God used the flesh to defeat the flesh? Talk about fighting fire with fire; it must really just count on which fire is hottest, or Holiest...
"So he took me in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone -like jasper as clear as crystal. The city wall was broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. There were three gates on each side -east, north, south, and west. The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb." (Revelation 21:10-14) NLT

"Outside the Box"

"He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost." (Psalms 78:47) Not your ordinary way of living, but it sure keeps you on your toes; or better yet, on your knees! That is where God really wants us to be, in a place where we are dependent upon Him for what comes next, whether that be our finances, our health, or our ministries; we should always be looking for God to be in control and trusting in His perfect will for our lives. These things that are destroyed are a little different than those in the previous verse; those were more recently performed, more like day to day, week to week, or month to month; these are more stationary and longer established things, that have roots that last a lifetime. It's like we need to be living in such a way that we know we have no control over the outcome of our living. In other words, it is not within our power nor within our control to determine the amount of time we have left, no matter how hard you try to keep yourself in perfect health, or how careful you are to avoid doing something risky, you really have no control over anything when it comes to death. What you do have control over, is where you are headed at that moment you die; that is something God has established from the time He created man, a free will to love Him or to reject Him. You might have thought I was going to say obey, right? Yes, it's really what we always focus on, so why not put it at the top of the list. But it's not!!! Do you actually think Adam had any control over what he did by eating of the forbidden fruit? It was only a matter of time, because it was bound to happen. And don't think for a moment God did not know that it was going to happen, because He did; from the foundation of the world, Jesus Christ was going to be sacrificed upon that cross, so it was well planned from the beginning. It's really all about love! God has given us free will that we might love Him, not that we obey Him, although obedience is par for the course. He knows how weak we are when it comes to being obedient; we can never obtain His level of righteousness or holiness. But we have a link, a common link, and it's love! Amazingly, it's outside of our natural abilities, but God's love is enough for us too...
"This is real love -not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them." (1 John 4:10-16) NLT

"Depending on God"

"He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, and their labour unto the locust." (Psalms 78:46) If I had a nickle for every time I worried about money, I think I would be set for life. Seriously, money is the least thing that we should be worried about, but instead, it seems to be the thing we think about most. Even when we are not thinking about it, we are having something planning in our minds about what to do with it, whether we have it or not. I bring this up because I learned something a long long time ago: You cannot depend upon money to be there for you! It's just a fact; the more you depend upon money, the more liquid your money becomes. Years ago I learned a lesson about trusting and depending upon God for my finances; not just His ability to provide for me to pay my bills, but His ability to manage my life. We tend to look at it from the perspective of doing for ourselves with what God gives us; but in reality, we should be looking to do for God with what we have been given. Tithing is the primary way that we give; well, at least some of us tithe, the majority of Christians hardly give 5% of what they have left over after paying their bills. To let you know how I know, I took care of counting the tithe and entering the offerings into the books for many years; so I know who gave and who didn't; I also know who gave little and who gave much. Interesting enough, those that seemed to always give faithfully were the ones that seemed to be doing the best financially. Talk about what came first the flies or the frogs; what comes first, the harvest or the tithe? I will tell you, that without a doubt, the tithe comes before the harvest! Your tithe is something that you determine in your heart to give. It could be ten percent of what you have after taxes, or ten percent of your total income; but what ever it is, it is something that you pray about and determine in your heart to give, unconditionally. In other words, whether you are able to see how you can make your other obligations or not, you first pay your tithe, and let God take care of the rest. That is how you become dependent upon God...
""Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me! But you ask, 'What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?' "You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due me. You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies, "I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will poor out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies." (Malachi 3:8-11) NLT

"Counting on God"

"He sent divers sort of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them." (Psalms 78:45) If you believe in the God of the Bible, and if you believe the Bible is the word of that God, then you have got to believe that God can do anything anytime anywhere; it doesn't even need to make sense, as long as God does it, it has got to have a good reason for being done. Additionally, if God is doing something by way of nature, He has every right to do so, sense it is all His to begin with. As a matter of fact, every single thing that was ever made, the same God who hung on that cross did make! You would be surprised by how many people either do not know that, or if they do, don't really believe it is absolutely true. They say things like, "How could Jesus have created all things, he was created himself?" If you are talking about the Jesus that came and hung on the cross, you might be right about one single point of your statement, His flesh was created to die so that we might live; other than that, He was, and is, and always will be, Creator God! So get past the questions and start believing! Besides, what came first, the flies or the frogs...
"First, Christ said, "You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them" (though they are required by the law of Moses). Then he said, "Look, I have come to do your will." He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect. For God's will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time. Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God's right hand. There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. For by one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy." (Hebrews 10:8-14) NLT

"Counterproductive"

"How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan: and had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink." (Psalms 78:43-44) Just in case you missed the point of all of that, it was simply a message about pushing forward, regardless of how things might appear. The message of the cross is amazing to think about, because there are so many different applications found throughout the Scriptures as to how the cross is a sign of both surrender and victory, all in one. Christ could not have victory unless He surrendered His life; neither can we have victory over the flesh unless we surrender our lives over to Lord. Our relationship with God is only as strong as we make our desire to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ; a halfhearted desire to be conformed to the image of Christ, produces a halfhearted relationship with the Father. That's not to say that things can not improve in the relationship, because they can and they do; but there needs to be the desire within us to make it happen. Where might that desire come from? Well, one thing is for sure, it's not found in the flesh! The answer is the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit of God within us that produces the desire within us to be conformed to the image of the Son; we will never be conformed into His image without yielding to the Holy Spirit within us. He isn't called the Helper for nothing. He is within us to help us! But, in order for Him to help us, we need to want to be helped! Obviously it is easy to see how that works; I mean, if you're falling off a cliff, and there is someone there to help you, you're going to ask for his help; right? If only it were that simple! Most of the time we don't even see the cliff, let alone know that we are falling off of it; because if we are not walking in the Spirit, it's hard to tell what's up and what's down, or which direction we are heading into. But, the beauty of the cross, thank's be to the Lord Jesus Christ, is that of surrender! Just surrender! As simple as that might sound, it is just that! We don't even try to correct ourselves, or look for solutions to our problem, or even seek out the cure for our inability to comply; we simply surrender our life over to the Lord and let Him fix everything. If we continue to look for solutions or cures through worldly means and practices, we are going to continue to fail, every time. Only God's way will work; only God's way keeps pointing upwards...
"Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other's burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct. Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them. Don't be misled -you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit." (Galatians 6:1-8) NLT

"Limited Memory" -2

"They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy." (Psalms 78:42) Now, if we had some sort of great wisdom and understanding, maybe we could piece all the puzzle parts together, and actually be able to determine what's going on. But the simple fact is that we don't. If we did and we could, then this short life here would be so much easier navigate through, and we wouldn't have so many mistakes along the way. When you read Proverbs, you get the notion that wisdom is one of the most important things that we should be seeking after; however, before you can truly find wisdom, you must be rid of pride and envy. In other words, vanity gets in the way of true wisdom! Now, I am not an expert, by any means, but I know enough to understand how our vanity causes us to loose sight of certain memories. It's not that we can't remember certain things, it's more about how we prioritize certain things to best represent our own understanding; and if we are full of pride and envy, our understanding is totally upside down. You really need to see the drama that was unfolding there on the bank of the Red Sea. Those children of Israel had just went through the most powerful and sacred deliverance that they could have experienced, the Passover; and yet, they still did not understand how powerful God was to deliver them. Did they think it was what they did that saved them? It was only the blood on their doorpost that saved them, not anything that they did inside of their houses. Yet, what did they see now? They saw an army behind them and the sea in front of them, but they forgot the God above them. As simple as that might sound to understand, it's even more simple once we understand the 'cross of Christ' and where are redemption is found... "As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world have been crucified, and the world's interest in me have also died. It doesn't matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creature. May God's peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle; they are the new people of God." (Galatians 6:14-16) NLT   

"Limited Memory"

"They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy." (Psalms 78:42) You can bet that no one actually sets out to do what we sometimes do, but don't think for a moment we don't have control over anything, because I think we always do. As I was praying, I caught a small little glimpse of what Peter's face might have looked like; the look of determination in his eyes, as he was telling Jesus how much he was even willing to die with him, if it should come to that. And then seeing the same look of determination, as he was trying to convince others that he never new the man. It might appear that Peter had no control over what he would do; almost as if he was under a spell or a curse; after all, Jesus did tell him that Satan was going to sift him as wheat. Obviously there is more to it than that; but the basic point Jesus was making is not that Satan was going to make Peter deny Him, but the fact that Peter was going to deny Him was going to tear him up, and Satan would be right there encouraging him to give up. You see, it's not that we are going to fail that is our problem, because it's bound to happen, it's just what we are. But it's our tendency to let those failures take away from what God has done or can do in our lives, those are the real problems we face. We cannot look at what we do as the proof that God has power enough to save us, yet we have been programmed to think of it in that light. Our salvation started the day that we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, but our salvation will not be complete until we are with Him in heaven...
"As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried to the LORD, and they said to Moses, "Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren't there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? Didn't we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, 'Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It's better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!'" But Moses told the people, "Don't be afraid. Just stand still and watch the LORD rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The LORD himself will fight for you. Just stay calm." Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving!"" (Exodus 14:10-15) NLT

"Apostatize"

"Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel." (Psalms 78:41) Yes, it's more that just attitude, because attitude also comes from the heart. It's more about want, as in what do we want more, the world or God. When you look at this word "limited," it can mean so many things to so many people. Some might think things are the subject, like, I am going to be giving up things by following God. While others might prefer to use relationships, as in, my family and friends are going to not want to associate with me, if I commit to following Jesus. But these are really not what this word means, because those things are not really important to someone that is serious about the Lord. No, it's more about limiting God on a personal matter, as in setting limits to how far we might go in our relationship with God. So, in a sense, many of those other things could be a factor, although underlying in nature; they can prevent us from fully giving our lives over to the Lord, without even realizing it is happening. If you think about it, there are some things we do not participate in, only because we think it will change us; but isn't good for us to be changed? I think of being filled with the Holy Spirit as being one of those; like who doesn't want to be filled with the Spirit? Oh, you had that already, so now your good? No, it's more than that, it's about wanting all that you can get, and then some! It's like saying, "Lord, I still have this thing going on in my life, and I need you to fix it!" And if you don't see what needs fixing, you say, "Lord, show me what I need to give up next, that I might be wholly devoted to You!" I get that we like certain things to remain the way that they are; believe me, I am really quite aware of how that works. But holding on to certain things is like holding onto idols, and idols are things that get between us and God. Those things that get between us and God limit our relationship with God! Not that we can limit God on any level, because God always stays the same; but how we make ourselves to be with God, that's a totally different matter. It is always our move! God always remains the same, we are the ones that need to draw closer to Him. Oh, and by the way, this word "limited" is only here, right here in this verse. There are other words that are similar, but the word 'tavah' is only right here, and it gives meanings such as, to cause pain, to wound, or to trouble. How about 'muddy the waters' as a good example? I mean, since we are being honest about it, it only makes sense to say it like it is. You can't have light and darkness dwelling together, so why would we think it would work any other way...
"Don't store up treasure here on earth, where moths eat them up and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is! No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." (Matthew 6:19-24) NLT

"Provocation"

"How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!" (Psalms 78:40) It is usually a matter of being hardhearted that causes us to continue in a life of sinful living, but in some cases, there is a issue called 'stiffneckedness.' Is there really a difference between the two? I believe that there is, because one involves the heart and the other involves attitude. A person could say those are very closely related issues, and in a matter of speaking, they are very closely related; but they are separated by the distance between your heart and your mind! If we really wanted to get technical, we could reference those that are stiff necked as being haughty or stubborn; these are issues that are mind related, and even though our heart might break for what we do, our mind convinces us to do it anyways. Paul uses this illustration in Romans 12:2, as he says, "Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." You see, our biggest problem when it comes to having victory over sin, is our inability to separate the natural from the supernatural. We are never going to overcome our flesh in the natural, which is basically the flesh dealing with the flesh; the flesh must be overcome in the supernatural, which is the Spirit dealing with the flesh. The reason that is our biggest problem is because of the big obstacle we have resting above our shoulders, our head; our head always gets in the way of God doing His perfect work in our heart! Another way we can see this is in the way of acceptance, and the difference between the heart and mind when it comes to accepting the supernatural. Our hearts are easily drawn to and willing to accept the supernatural, because there is always hope in what we do not see. But our mind needs proof, and is always trying to analyze what is going on, saying, "Never mind hope, show me something I can hold onto." But that's not how God works! He does not just give us some kind of power that we might be able to move out on our own and be victorious; He is the power...
"Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, while it is still "today," so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. Remember what it says: "Today when you hear his voice, don't harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled." And who was it that rebelled against God, even though they heard his voice? Wasn't it the people Moses led out of Egypt? And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn't it the people who sinned, whose corpses lay in the wilderness? And to whom was God speaking when he took an oath that they would never enter his rest? Wasn't it the people who disobeyed him? So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest." (Hebrews 3:12-19) NLT