Job 36:24-26 (ESV Strong's)
24 “Remember to extol his work,
of which men have sung.
25 All mankind has looked on it;
man beholds it from afar.
26 Behold, God is great, and we know him not;
the number of his years is unsearchable.
God is Great
We get moving so fast in life and have so many aspirations, dreams and disappointments to those dreams, that sometimes we forget that God is Great. We sing about His works but we don’t always stop to contemplate them and take them all in. The work that God has done in our midst and around us and in our hears is to be praised above all works. We stand in awe of what man has made and, in many cases, it is truly remarkable. But, when we simply gaze a small cloud we are truest blown away by the majesty of God. When we look at a little hand and watch the coordination grow and take hold of life, we should stand in amazement of God’s great work. He is truly Great!!!
Thursday, April 30, 2020
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
What God Creates Within Us is Steadfast! - Psalms 51-53
Psalms 51:10 (ESV Strong's)
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
What God Creates Within Us is Steadfast!
Psalms 51 is one of the familiar and famous pieces of pottery in the entire book of Psalms, and perhaps the Bible. It is the prayer of King David after he committed his sin with Bathsheba and arranged the circumstances that would guarantee her husband, Uriah’s, death. David is in a very bad spot when he prayed this song and composed this poem. This would be the very lowest part of his life. He begins by asking for mercy - he ends by promising service and sacrifice. In the middle something had to happen. It did not happen by the act of David. It happened by God doing something in David’s heart. In the above passage we read about David asking for a “clean heart.” Only God can clean the heart. That is what He does in salvation via justification and sanctification. God cleans the heart by creating a new one. But, He does more. God not only creates a new heart in us, God also renews us with a “right spirit.” The word “right” in this text is better translated “steadfast.” The word means to be “fixed, or established,”. God not only gives us mercy to forgive us of are terrible sins, but God also lifts us up and creates in us a new heart that He fortitudes with a steadfastness that will not quit. Not how the writer of Hebrews stated it in the end of that great book on the preeminence of Christ in our lives:
Hebrews 13:20-21 (ESV Strong's)
Benediction
20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
God equips us to do His will by giving us a steadfastness.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
What God Creates Within Us is Steadfast!
Psalms 51 is one of the familiar and famous pieces of pottery in the entire book of Psalms, and perhaps the Bible. It is the prayer of King David after he committed his sin with Bathsheba and arranged the circumstances that would guarantee her husband, Uriah’s, death. David is in a very bad spot when he prayed this song and composed this poem. This would be the very lowest part of his life. He begins by asking for mercy - he ends by promising service and sacrifice. In the middle something had to happen. It did not happen by the act of David. It happened by God doing something in David’s heart. In the above passage we read about David asking for a “clean heart.” Only God can clean the heart. That is what He does in salvation via justification and sanctification. God cleans the heart by creating a new one. But, He does more. God not only creates a new heart in us, God also renews us with a “right spirit.” The word “right” in this text is better translated “steadfast.” The word means to be “fixed, or established,”. God not only gives us mercy to forgive us of are terrible sins, but God also lifts us up and creates in us a new heart that He fortitudes with a steadfastness that will not quit. Not how the writer of Hebrews stated it in the end of that great book on the preeminence of Christ in our lives:
Hebrews 13:20-21 (ESV Strong's)
Benediction
20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
God equips us to do His will by giving us a steadfastness.
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
God Brings About Greatness - 2 Samuel 5-9
2 Samuel 7:20-22 (ESV Strong's)
20 And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord GOD! 21 Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it. 22 Therefore you are great, O LORD God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
God Brings About Greatness
David wanted to build a temple for God. God said no ... David would not be allowed to build the temple. God would, however, allow one of David’s sons to build it and promised David that he would ALWAYS have someone from his family on the throne to reign. God did this through Christ. In the above passage we see the results of God saying no to one thing, but opening the door up to another thing. God told David no to the thing he wanted in his heart, only to open up the door to something greater than David could imagine. This is what God does in our lives. We see one thing and God sees another. David breaks fourth in praise as God opens up a door after the one that was in his heart was closed. For there is NONE LIKE YOU David states. That is the God we serve. When we see closed doors, God sees open opportunity to rest in His great plans.
20 And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord GOD! 21 Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it. 22 Therefore you are great, O LORD God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
God Brings About Greatness
David wanted to build a temple for God. God said no ... David would not be allowed to build the temple. God would, however, allow one of David’s sons to build it and promised David that he would ALWAYS have someone from his family on the throne to reign. God did this through Christ. In the above passage we see the results of God saying no to one thing, but opening the door up to another thing. God told David no to the thing he wanted in his heart, only to open up the door to something greater than David could imagine. This is what God does in our lives. We see one thing and God sees another. David breaks fourth in praise as God opens up a door after the one that was in his heart was closed. For there is NONE LIKE YOU David states. That is the God we serve. When we see closed doors, God sees open opportunity to rest in His great plans.
Monday, April 27, 2020
Justice - Exodus 17-21
Exodus 21:23-25 (ESV Strong's)
23 But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Justice
God is a just God. He is a God of love. He gives love unconditionally, but He is also a God of justice. The above text shows us how He wanted His justice worked out in the lives of the nation of Israel. God, in His giving of commands to the nation of Israel, makes sure that they are a duplicate of His character in the way they treat each other. In fact, if you simply boiled all THE LAW down to a basic thought it would be that it is all designed to reflect the character and purposes of God. Man’s innate sense of justice is a reminder that we were created in the image of God. When we see things and have a sense of “unfairness” about them, we see a reflection of God’s character in our own lives. The concept of the “rule of law,” is a good image of mankind being created to mirror God. Today when we go about our business we should note the times we sense and unjust act and try to correct it. The reason we even sense that it is unjust is God’s image stamped upon us. The sense that we want to correct it and make it right is the character of God within us. That is what it means to be a believer in Christ.
23 But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Justice
God is a just God. He is a God of love. He gives love unconditionally, but He is also a God of justice. The above text shows us how He wanted His justice worked out in the lives of the nation of Israel. God, in His giving of commands to the nation of Israel, makes sure that they are a duplicate of His character in the way they treat each other. In fact, if you simply boiled all THE LAW down to a basic thought it would be that it is all designed to reflect the character and purposes of God. Man’s innate sense of justice is a reminder that we were created in the image of God. When we see things and have a sense of “unfairness” about them, we see a reflection of God’s character in our own lives. The concept of the “rule of law,” is a good image of mankind being created to mirror God. Today when we go about our business we should note the times we sense and unjust act and try to correct it. The reason we even sense that it is unjust is God’s image stamped upon us. The sense that we want to correct it and make it right is the character of God within us. That is what it means to be a believer in Christ.
Sunday, April 26, 2020
Body, HEAL Thyself!!! 2 Corinthians 1-3
2 Corinthians 2:5-11 (ESV Strong's)
5 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. 6 For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, 7 so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. 10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
Body, HEAL Thyself!
To understand the context of the above passage we have to have the benefit of reading and knowing the event that Paul is referring to. In the fist letter Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, he confronted a young man who was openly living in sin and NO ONE was objecting:
1 Corinthians 5:1-2 (ESV Strong's)
1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
No only was the man living in the sin, like the rest of the world around him, but the church was not mournful of the sin. Paul, in that first letter, sent them instructions on how to deal with the sin. That discipline was to not have company with the person, until they were repentive. The church did just that. As a result of their obedience the young man repented. That not only brought about a change in him, it did in them. They were mournful of the sin. He was mournful of the sin. That is what ushers in Paul’s above writing in the second letter to the church. Paul is telling the body of Christ to heal itself. What is the medicine for this healing? Mournfulness over sin and love for the repentive heart. The Body of Christ can be healed of sin in its midst with those two pills. Being mournful about sin in our midst necessitates action. Being loving over a repentative soul calls for action. The Body of Christ is not healed by platitudes. The Body of Christ is healed by the holiness of Christ and the love of Christ, in action. If not, Satan takes a foothold. How many churches fail this test when they lack these to healing balms? They fail to be holy and mourn over sin in their midst, or they fail to forgive and practice Christ like love. The Body of Christ can be healed by the medicine Paul outlines above.
5 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. 6 For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, 7 so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. 10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
Body, HEAL Thyself!
To understand the context of the above passage we have to have the benefit of reading and knowing the event that Paul is referring to. In the fist letter Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, he confronted a young man who was openly living in sin and NO ONE was objecting:
1 Corinthians 5:1-2 (ESV Strong's)
1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
No only was the man living in the sin, like the rest of the world around him, but the church was not mournful of the sin. Paul, in that first letter, sent them instructions on how to deal with the sin. That discipline was to not have company with the person, until they were repentive. The church did just that. As a result of their obedience the young man repented. That not only brought about a change in him, it did in them. They were mournful of the sin. He was mournful of the sin. That is what ushers in Paul’s above writing in the second letter to the church. Paul is telling the body of Christ to heal itself. What is the medicine for this healing? Mournfulness over sin and love for the repentive heart. The Body of Christ can be healed of sin in its midst with those two pills. Being mournful about sin in our midst necessitates action. Being loving over a repentative soul calls for action. The Body of Christ is not healed by platitudes. The Body of Christ is healed by the holiness of Christ and the love of Christ, in action. If not, Satan takes a foothold. How many churches fail this test when they lack these to healing balms? They fail to be holy and mourn over sin in their midst, or they fail to forgive and practice Christ like love. The Body of Christ can be healed by the medicine Paul outlines above.
Saturday, April 25, 2020
Awake - Mark 13-14
Mark 13:32-37 (ESV Strong's)
32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”
Awake!!
In this chapter the disciplines have asked Jesus about the signs and timing of the end times. After going through several thoughts, truths and instructions, Jesus ends with the above thought. The main point of the entire passage is that:
1. God has declared an “end” of something.
2. God has declared He is going to do something at the end.
3. There are many, many different types of signs that tell us that we are getting close to the end.
4. There are many, many different prophets that would and will claim they are Christ.
5. We are to watch for Christ’s return.
6. We are not going to know when, but we do know for certain it is going to happen and we are to be AWAKE and waiting in for Him.
This last point is the exact point of the above text. We have to be ready for His coming and we do not know, for sure, when that time will be. From the entire chapter this is the point. We don’t know the time, no one does. We only know the fact and we are to be ready, by faith.
32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”
Awake!!
In this chapter the disciplines have asked Jesus about the signs and timing of the end times. After going through several thoughts, truths and instructions, Jesus ends with the above thought. The main point of the entire passage is that:
1. God has declared an “end” of something.
2. God has declared He is going to do something at the end.
3. There are many, many different types of signs that tell us that we are getting close to the end.
4. There are many, many different prophets that would and will claim they are Christ.
5. We are to watch for Christ’s return.
6. We are not going to know when, but we do know for certain it is going to happen and we are to be AWAKE and waiting in for Him.
This last point is the exact point of the above text. We have to be ready for His coming and we do not know, for sure, when that time will be. From the entire chapter this is the point. We don’t know the time, no one does. We only know the fact and we are to be ready, by faith.
Friday, April 24, 2020
Do What You Will With Me - Jeremiah 22-26
Jeremiah 26:12-15 (ESV Strong's)
12 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and all the people, saying, “The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard. 13 Now therefore mend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of the LORD your God, and the LORD will relent of the disaster that he has pronounced against you. 14 But as for me, behold, I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. 15 Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants, for in truth the LORD sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”
Do What You Will With Me
Jeremiah is a prophet sent by God to deliver a very harsh message. His message for the nation of Israel in the past would not be any more well received in today’s present. He was sent to the nation of Israel to give in to their discipline from God by going into captivity, WILLFULLY!!! This was not an easy message to hear and certainly not to deliver. In the above passage we see what is happening 23 years into Jeremiah’s ministry. Jeremiah is being rejected. His message is being rejected, but they are also rejecting him. We often hear about not taking things personal, but Jeremiah had no choice. They were making it personal. Since he is working for God, what is his response? “But as for me, behold I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you.” This is the spirit of a minister of God. We have no ability to NOT take things personal. That is almost an impossible task. That is not the solution. The solution is to frame the attackers under the character and might of God. When we are doing God’s Work, God takes it personal when we are attacked. He it the one who is to defend us. We do not have to defend ourselves. God can defend Himself and we are simply His representatives.
12 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and all the people, saying, “The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard. 13 Now therefore mend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of the LORD your God, and the LORD will relent of the disaster that he has pronounced against you. 14 But as for me, behold, I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. 15 Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants, for in truth the LORD sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”
Do What You Will With Me
Jeremiah is a prophet sent by God to deliver a very harsh message. His message for the nation of Israel in the past would not be any more well received in today’s present. He was sent to the nation of Israel to give in to their discipline from God by going into captivity, WILLFULLY!!! This was not an easy message to hear and certainly not to deliver. In the above passage we see what is happening 23 years into Jeremiah’s ministry. Jeremiah is being rejected. His message is being rejected, but they are also rejecting him. We often hear about not taking things personal, but Jeremiah had no choice. They were making it personal. Since he is working for God, what is his response? “But as for me, behold I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you.” This is the spirit of a minister of God. We have no ability to NOT take things personal. That is almost an impossible task. That is not the solution. The solution is to frame the attackers under the character and might of God. When we are doing God’s Work, God takes it personal when we are attacked. He it the one who is to defend us. We do not have to defend ourselves. God can defend Himself and we are simply His representatives.
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