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A dear friend comes to you telling you that they have fallen in love with someone and they are so excited about the relationship. There is only one problem; the other person acts lovingly toward them and is considerate, giving and all the other qualities one would want in a relationship but they won’t open up. It seems that the other person is guarded, holding back some of themselves, not giving themselves totally to the relationship.
What would you advise this person to do? What if it were they who were the one holding back, not opening up, what would you say then? Maybe you are in that kind of relationship where one of you is holding back, not giving yourself totally to the other. What are you or they missing out on if that is the case? Sure you are missing the intimacy that you could experience with the other person, that deep connection we make when we open our lives up to another. People who have been burned in relationship are the most difficult to open up because they know what it feels like to have your guts ripped out by someone you love. So, they tend to hold back, are reserved with their whole self, so not to get hurt like that again. It will take the right person with patience and perseverance to get into their lives again in deep intimate ways. When that person comes along they will once again open up and trust and give finding the intimacy we all long for.
There is one who waits for us to come to Him with open hearts and spirits to develop that deep relationship with. One, who will never let us down, hurt us or walk away from us and has great patient perseverance. It is the Lord who waits behind the veil of us to come. He waits for us to remove the veil that we put up that separates us from the depth of relationship He desires with us and that we truly desire but are unwilling to risk tearing down. It is because we refuse to tear down the veil that separates our hearts from His that we do not have the depth of relationship with God we truly desire. The veil separating us is the sin nature, shutting out the light of God that wants to enter in. We have failed to tear it away because we allow our sin nature to go unchecked, unjudged for the evil that it is. We have failed to crucify it and its sinful desires. Too often we excuse it away as our being only human and the like. Rom. 6:6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— We fail to allow the sin nature to be completely crucified because we are not honest with ourselves about it, seeing it for what it is.
Is there anything you would not do for the one you truly love? If we truly desired to pursue a deep relationship with God, a burning passion for Him in our spirits and hearts, we would push through the veil of sin that separates us from God, facing our weaknesses asking God to forgive us for those sins that have separated us. We would then ask Him to go to work in us cleansing us and bringing us to the place He desires us to be. Gal. 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Heb. 12:1-3 In our verses here we have an encouragement to throw off all that hinders us from having the kind of relationship with God that He truly desires and the one we truly desire. We can see from times past that there were those who were able to do this, those who are listed in chapter 11. They had a depth of relationship with God that no matter what they were fully invested in their relationship with God. They are our examples of where we need to be heading. Getting rid of those things that hinder us, things that weigh us down, slow us down, in having the kind of relationship God wants for us with Him. We need to fix our eyes on the goal of relationship with God through Christ, just as Jesus had His eyes focused on the goal of our salvation, pushing through all the obstacles that would keep us from God. Jesus is our greatest example of what it means to push forward for the sake of relationship. Just as Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before Him, of opening the way for us into a relationship with Him, and the Father through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us, so we must endure. Phil. 2:12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, We have to ask ourselves if we will allow our selfish sin nature to keep us from a burning relationship with God. That self- righteousness, self-pity, self-confidence, self-sufficiency, self-loathing, self-admiration or any other of the self’s in us that keep us from the true depth of love we can experience with God. Gal. 5:24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Will we not stop and recognize the things in our lives that keep us from God, the things that weigh us down. Will we allow the light of God to shine into our lives and expose those things that are weighing us down, holding us back, so that we may confess and turn from them? Eph. 5:8-17
We will only experience this when we experience God moving in our spirits, by allowing Him to go to work in us to destroy all that would keep us from the depth of relationship we long for. 1 Peter 1:2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Someone you love suffering through withdrawal from drug addiction, lots of pain. Heb. 12:3 Jesus suffered at the hands of sinful men, we will suffer a great deal of pain and opposition from the sin nature when we are withdrawing from it, giving ourselves over to God. That suffering will be a cleansing from that which for so long kept us from God, as He tears away the things that separate us from Him. So what should we do in the times of pain and suffering while the sin nature is being torn away? Hold tight to our faith in Christ. That alone will get us through. Remember that in the times Jesus suffered and was tempted, He went to the Father in faith through prayer to gain the strength He needed to get through. Heb. 2:13 “I will put my trust in him.”
When Jesus prayed to the Father it shows us that He lived by faith just as we do. We also need to pray in those times when we are tested and tempted, to gain the strength to get through.
Just as Jesus suffered the pain of the cross, crucifixion, so we must take up our crosses and suffer the death of our sin nature, which keeps us from pursuing God. Phil. 3:10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, This needs to be our mantra, that no matter how painful it gets at times it will all be worth the pain. Fix the fix. Don’t get trapped in the idea that this is something we can get accomplished ourselves, we can not do it on our own. God must be the one to do the work in us. We are only to trust Him and give way to His work in us. Phil. 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. We must confess all the sins revealed to us by Him, repenting of them, turning away from them, rebuking the self life, considering it crucified. Gal. 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
If we want to enter into the Holy of Holies, behind the veil to be with God we must insist that He do the work in us that needs to be accomplished, crucifying the sin nature in us. Taking up our cross is giving ourselves’ over to God completely, surrendering to Him.
A.W. Tozer puts it this way; “The cross is rough and deadly, but it is effective. It does not keep its victim hanging there forever. There comes a moment when its work is finished and the suffering victim dies. After that is the resurrection glory and power. The pain is forgotten for the joy that the veil is taken away. We have entered in actual spiritual experience to the presence of the living God.”
This is what we are to focus on, Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. The goal of all that we will suffer is the depth of relationship available to us with God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It will take us allowing Him to tear away the veil of sin nature from our hearts so to open us up to the beauty of depth of relationship never known before. It will all be worth it as it says, for the joy set before Him He endured. This can be our joy as well.
Benediction: Eph. 2:4–7 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
Listen now (Open Message then to listen now or to Save: Right Click and ‘Save Target as’) You are a young woman who has recently met a young man. The 2 of you have spent hours talking together about everything, or at least it seems so. You are so thrilled about him that you are just bursting at the seams. What is the first thing you want to do? Call your best friend and tell her all about this time you spent with him. She asks you: “What is his name and what is he like?” How would you respond? You would begin by telling her all about him and what he is like, his characteristics. You might even give names to those qualities that have drawn you to him, like Mr. Right. The words you use to describe him will tell about his character and his personality. You may even identify some of the things in your own life that might keep you from being all you can be in the relationship, things that might get in the way. But a good friend will advise you that these are all things that can be worked out together with him if there is truly a loving relationship there.
Moses was in the wilderness working as a shepherd. He was on the run from Egypt because he had killed an Egyptian for beating an Israelite slave. He had been gone from there for many years. When God comes to Moses in a burning bush and calls him to the work of leading Israel and into relationship with God. God tells Moses to go to the Israelites and tell them that God has sent him to rescue them from slavery. But Moses wants to know who he should say has called him to do this. God tells Moses to tell the Israelites that it was God, the great I AM who has sent him.
That He is the LORD, YAHWEH The covenant name of the God of Israel, the covenant keeping God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of their fathers. This name became so sacred to the Israelites that they chose to call Him Jehovah, so not to insult His holiness by speaking His name. Instead they revered His name so that it was not to be spoken. To bad they were still separated from God by the veil of their sin and rebellion. They could not enter directly into His presence. This is the same One who invites us His chosen children into His holy presence, into relationship with Him. He invites us to come behind the veil and has given us the authority to come boldly into His presence. What is He like who waits behind the veil for us to enter? Isn’t this the question most people want answered when we tell them we have entered into a relationship with someone? So, what is God like? He is an eternal God, Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. He existed before time began and will continue to exist after the end of time. Time has no effect on God in any way. Why? Because He is immutable, unchanging, the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, Malachi 3:6 “I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” He is as dependable today as He was yesterday and will be tomorrow. If He says He will do or not do something that is the way it will be. To change is to go from better to worse or worse to better. God cannot change because He is perfect. If He were to become better, more perfect than He would not be God, immutable, unchanging, the “I AM who I AM”.
He is omniscient, all knowing; Ps. 139:1-6 There is nothing He doesn’t know now or that will be in the future or even happened in the past. He is. He knows in one free and effortless act all matter, all spirit, all relationship and all events. Nothing surprises Him. He is omnipresent, present everywhere; Psalm 139:7-12 There is no where we can go to hide from Him; no act that we could commit that He would not know about, even the darkness is like daylight to Him. Love, mercy and righteousness make up His character along with His holiness. There are no figures of expression that could describe how great these characteristics are and no examples that would give a full or clearer picture. There is only one example that could help us to understand Him better, fire. He appeared to Moses in the burning bush, as a Pillar of Fire to the Israelites in the wilderness and when the Ark of the Covenant was placed in the Tabernacle, He was there present as the Shekinah glory. At Pentecost He came down as tongues of fire resting upon the disciples. The writer of Hebrews relates: Heb. 12:28–29 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” The brilliance of the fire brings light and life, warmth and comfort. It is untouchable but inviting and comforting. Something you want to be around but cannot touch. A person’s soul mate. For one to be in relationship with God it has to be more than just an intellectual relationship, it needs to be a spiritual one. Without the spiritual there is no connection. John 4:24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” God is spirit and the only way we can know Him is by our spirits connecting with His. In our spirit the fire of God must glow or our love for Him is not true. Eph. 2 passage on the reviving of our spirits. Think of the disciples who changed the world for Christ. The thing that moved them to do all they did, to make all the sacrifices they made was a burning love for God in them, burning in their spirits. 2 Cor. 5:11-25 It has been the same for generations since. Those who had a burning passion for God in their spirits did great things for God. Think on a Teen who sneaks out to meet their girl or boy friend. Think of King David, he had a burning passion for God, his soul panted after God, for fellowship with Him. Psalm 42:1–2 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? God is so wonderful, so delightful that He can meet all the demands of our hearts for the true fulfilling relationship we need, that we were designed for. Those who have entered into the presence of God, seen His glory are changed forever. Nothing will ever be able to substitute for the presence of God in their lives. These are the ones who can speak with authority of relationship with God. 2 Cor. 12:2-6 These are not those who have only studied and read the Bible, these have experienced God through His word and His Spirit. Luke 24:31–32 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” Now, Wait! Don’t think that these are any more special than any of us, they are not. The only difference is that they pushed forward in their relationship with the Lord, into the throne room of God, to experience Him in their lives.
They and we can do so because it was Jesus who made the way possible for us. He opened the way when we could not. So, why do we wait outside the veil? God is calling us to enter in to be with Him. Song of Solomon 2:14 My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. God is calling out to us as Solomon called out to his love and she to him, to come and dwell in the place where they could be together, sharing their love for one another, with one another. A love that burned deep within each of them every minute they were apart. This is the way that God is calling out to us. We must remember that God included this love book in the scriptures, Song of Solomon, because that is the way He yearns for relationship with us. He waits behind the torn veil for us to come.
If you were to share with a friend what kind of relationship wait for you if you were willing to commit to it, what would they tell you? You have told them of all the wonderful qualities of the one who waits for you, what will they say? Stop hanging around here get going into the arms of the one who waits for you. The great I AM. Will we wait or will we go? What is keeping us from going? This we will look at next time.
Benediction: Rev. 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
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Why do most people desire to have children? Why are some willing to put themselves through such an ordeal, at times, to do so? Then when we do have them they can be so hurtful to us by some of their words and actions, whether intended or accidental, that it often feels as if a knife has cut through our souls. Why do we have this desire within us as couples to have children as part of our lives? I believe we desire to have children because it is a way for us to share our love for each other in a greater way, through a family, increasing the love by spreading it out to our very own offspring even though we know there will be times they hurt us. One of the early church fathers, Augustine, once said about God; “You have formed us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in You.” I believe that what Augustine is saying is the reason for the creation of man and mankind’s history because God desired to share His love, through the Trinity, with us, His children, formed in His likeness and formed for relationship with Him. Gen. 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,” God made us for Himself. This is the only satisfactory reason for why the heart of man longs, feels empty, until we come to know God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. No matter what man’s so-called higher learning may try to convince us of, that we evolved or that we are independent spirits seeking self fulfillment, or any other momentary idea pushed forward, none truly answer or fulfill the longing of our hearts until we come into relationship with God through Jesus Christ. There seems to be a deep emptiness in every human being that can only be filled by the infinite, eternal presence of God. I believe this is why people will go from thing to thing to thing trying to find that which is missing from their hearts. Acts 17:20–21 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.” (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) Even the people of Paul’s day were searching for what was missing from their lives, when all the time it is only God that can fill that emptiness in us. Today’s self help books and infomercials. God made us for Himself. That is why we have this longing in us, as the Westminster Catechism teaches; “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” The 24 elders before the throne of God agreed as seen through their actions before God. Rev. 4:11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” God formed us for His pleasure and fellowship with Him, so we could enjoy the mingling of our personalities, His desire for our relationship with Him. Psalm 37:4 Delight in the Lord
Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, before sin entered, is a wonderful example of this fellowship with God. The close relation-ship they had with Him. Gen. 2:15-25 Those who have little children or younger siblings; when they draw a picture they run before you to get your approval. No matter where Adam went in the garden, God was with him. It would be easy to imagine that when Adam was naming the animals, each one he named, he would have looked to his heavenly Father for approval. Then when Eve comes along, Adam would have shown her all that the Father had created for them. She would have been in awe over it all, all that God had made for them and their happiness. But even more so, she would have been in awe of the fellowship they shared with God, the times He walked with them and talked with them, explaining things to them. Why questions of a 5 yr. Old. Answering all the whys they had, there in the garden with God as He answered softly with loving words to their hearts. Worldliness creeps into our children. But then sin entered into the bliss of the situation and mankind knew they had done wrong before God. Psalm 51:4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. For the first time in their relationship with God they feel ashamed because they knew they had done harm to their relationship with God. So they hid themselves from the One who loved them so, because sin separates. Luke 5:8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” Now because of sin and its consequences man was cast out from the presence of God. Gen. 3:23-24
Now their lives were lived in separation from God, the Biblical definition of death. Not at all the life God desired for man but the consequences of the decisions of man. Yet, God still yearned for the relationship He had created man for with Him. So, God continues with the plan He had from before creation to redeem man back unto Himself. 1 Peter 1:18-21 Christ would come and heal the rift of sin between God and man, restoring the way to relationship with God and man. Mediator to restore our relationship. Heb. 10:19-20 So, it is by His sacrifice that we can once again enter into a loving presence of our God. But we need to take the step toward God by recognizing who we are before Him, sinners who deserve death, separation from God. But realizing that God has done the work for us to return unto Him.
Think of the Tabernacle of God, built by Moses under the direction of God. It symbolizes man’s state before God; The walls and the curtain represent our sinful state, separated from God. To gain access to Him we must go by the way of sacrifice, the bronze altar, Christ’s sacrifice for us. Then we can be washed clean, the laver. Now we are clean before God but to come into His presence, into true fellowship with God, this will only come as we move through the Holy place, through the Light of the Golden Lamp stand, Jesus, the Light of the world. Through the showbread and wine offering, Jesus body and blood given for us, the fellowship offering before God and the blood, sprinkled, that makes us holy and righteous. Then and only then can we enter into the Holy of Holies, the very presence of God, to see His glory and experience His presence. This is what the writer of Hebrews refers to in these verses. God desires a deep relationship with us and we know in our heart of hearts that is what we need and desire most, what is missing from our lives. Not just the fact that our sins are forgiven but that God desires that we push forward into the Holy of Holies, to be in His presence and to live in that presence. Children restored to their Father.
This is more than just a decision to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior over our lives, to have our sins forgiven. This is a desire from our hearts to live our lives out in relationship to God through experience. Getting to know God better and better, relating to Him and He relating to us and our walk with Him, experiencing Him in our lives daily. Knowing His touch, His words, and His love in us. Spouse bringing kids to your work, they run and jump into your arms. God is waiting there for His redeemed children to push their way forward into His presence. He waits beyond the veil that kept man so long from His presence but now is opened by Jesus so we can enter in. Matt. 27:50–51 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Who is it that waits beyond the veil that separated us for so long? God, Himself waits for us to enter in; One God, the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, all things visible and invisible. The Lord Jesus waits, the Only begotten Son of the Father, begotten before anything existed, God of God, Light of Light, True God of True God, begotten not made, of the same substance with the Father. The Holy Spirit waits, the Lord, the giver of life, He who proceeds from the Father and the Son. Who with the Father and the Son is worship and glorified. They wait for us to push forward into His presence, with confidence.
God has left evidence of His desire for us to come. Acts 17: 24-28 He has revealed Himself to us again and again so that we might desire to come. He waits to show Himself to us in the fullness of His glory. He waits for the humble and pure in heart, because of the work of Jesus in their lives. He waits for us to come.
The world is going to hell in a hand basket because of its lack of knowledge of God. The church is starving for the presence of God. The cure for both is for us to push forward in relationship with God, to be aware that we are in Him and He is in us, through Christ. When we take this reality to heart it will burn away the impurities in our lives and begin to move us to a deeper relationship with God, who waits for dear His children, to enter in. Benediction: Rev. 1:5b-6 To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
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– Matthew 16:24-27 You are 5 or 6 years old and it is your birthday. Mom and Dad have given you some really great presents and you are out in the back yard playing with them. With you are all the kids that came to your party. One of them, your best friend sees you playing with one of your new toys and comes over and asks to play with it. The conversation quickly irrupts into a fight over the new toy. Mom and Dad come running to see what the yelling is all about. Here you and your now ex-best friend are fighting over the new toy and who should be able to play with it. Your folks look at you and tell you that you should be willing to share your things with your guests. What is your response? No! It’s mine. You gave it to me for my birthday. How would a good parent respond? Before God created man to be in relationship with Him He created the world and everything in it for man. Genesis 1:26-28 (NIV)Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” God did this so that man would have all he needed for life and happiness. It was up to man to care for the earth and all that God had created for him. But sin entered into the equation of man’s relationship with God and everything changed. Even though God had created all things on earth for man, all things began to get in the way of man’s relationship with God. Things began to take the place of God in the heart of man; mankind began to worship and honor the created in their hearts more than God. Rom. 1:25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator
The sin nature took over and self became exalted above everything else, the desire to posses became a stumbling block to mankind. The words “my and mine” took on greater meaning in our lives, expressing the true sin nature of man, moving God from the throne of our lives and putting things there. Stuff quickly began to take God’s place as Lord in our lives. Jesus recognized the problem and as He does most problems, came head on at it. Vs 24-25. The main characteristic of the problem reveals itself as possessiveness. Even the words Jesus uses suggest this: gain and loss. When we enter into relationship with God through Christ we must give everything up in our hearts to Christ. If we can do this we will lose nothing at all. There are no U-Hauls behind a hearse. Fail to lay it all down at the feet of Jesus means to give up the one thing we can take with us into eternity, our souls.Matt. 19:16-24 Look Together Stuff will never make us happy. Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdm of heaven. Here we are told that those who have broken the yoke of slavery to things and their rule over our hearts, putting God first will gain all that God has for them in His kingdom. Theirs will be the kingdom of God.
It is difficult at times to understand what some of these principles mean so the best way to understand them is to look at an example: Abraham is a good example of how this worked out in his life. God had chosen Abraham and covenanted with him to give his descendents the land of Canaan. God also promised to give him descendents as numerous as the stars in the sky. Abraham and Sarah, his wife, grew old and still had no son to be heir of all that God had given Abraham. Then in their old age God gives them a son through Sarah who would be the heir of all that God promised Abraham and the messianic hope through him. When Isaac was born he quickly became the apple of his father’s eye, even though Abraham was old enough to be his great grandfather. Isaac became Abraham’s great love and delight, almost bridging on the edge of idolatry. Isaac grew and Abraham’s love for his son grew with him. They did everything together. Abraham even made some bad choices trying to protect his beloved son. He watched his son grow into manhood and his love for his son grew deeper and deeper until it reached the point of being perilous, dangerous.
This is when God stepped in to save both the father and the son from the consequences of an idolatrous love. Abraham had put Isaac on a pedestal much to the danger of his soul. Gen. 22:2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Abraham was to offer his son Isaac up to God as a sacrifice on Mt. Moriah. We can only imagine what a restless night sleep and despair Abraham faced that night as he contemplated what God had asked him to do. He may have wrestled as Jesus did in the garden of Gethsemane before He went to the cross, on the same mount Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son. How much easier would it have been if God had asked for Abraham’s life instead, but God knew where the problem lie, Abraham had began to idolize his child in the place of God and God needed to remind Abraham where his 1st love and worship should be. But how could Abraham kill his own son?
But, Abraham knew God, he had pursued a relationship with Him, he knew the character of God, the promises God had made and how He never went back on His promises. So, he reasoned that God could raise Isaac from the dead. Heb. 11:17-19 Look So, Abraham rose early in the morning and took his son and the wood for the sacrifice and went up the mountain. In order to save his life and that of his son’s he would have to offer Isaac up to God, removing the one thing that Abraham has raised above God, getting in the way of his relationship and submission to God. Gen. 22:9–12 Look Together Abraham was wholly surrendered to God, a friend and a favorite of the Most High. Abraham was utterly obedient to God, a man who possessed nothing because he had consecrated his all to God. When it comes to the stuff that gets between us and God, God could easily work on the edges of our lives and then move inward. But just as a good surgeon goes in to cut out the disease in us causing all the bad symptoms so God cuts to the heart of the disease that keeps us from pursuing a good relationship with Him. Abraham considered himself a man who possessed nothing but had everything. He had God first and foremost in his heart and was blessed by God with riches beyond compare. The words “my and mine” had a whole new meaning to him. Our possessive clinging to things is a harmful habit. It brings no peace or joy to our lives. But because it is such a natural thing for us, due to the sin nature we have, it has rarely been recognized for the evil that it is. We need to realize that stuff will never make us happy unlike the rich young ruler. We are often hindered from giving up our treasures to the Lord for the fear of their safety.
This is especially true for our friends and loved ones. There should be no fear in doing so because Jesus did not come to steal kill or destroy, there is already one here who is doing that. Jesus came with another purpose in heart. John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
The things we have today, our gifts and talents, need to be recognized for where they came from, gifts to us from God. 1 Cor. 4:7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? If we were to recognize that our stuff is getting in the way of our relationship with God, knowing Him and our pursuit of a deeper relationship with Him, we must put away all of our defenses, all the “but its mine” and make no more excuses. We must come before the Lord and lay down all the “my’s and mines”, giving it all over to Jesus, taking up our cross, insisting that God take it all. We need to get rid of all the things we are holding to tightly to in our hearts instead of the Lord. Then God alone would be our all in all, ruling and reigning over our lives. Doing so will give us peace and happiness beyond our under-standing and a deeper knowledge of God and all He has for us. If we want to grow in relationship with God we must go the way of renouncing stuff from the thrones of our lives. At times it will be a bitter and harsh experience, letting go of things we held so tightly, but just as the weeds need to be pulled from the garden so its fruit increases, so we need to pull down the strongholds in our lives so we can have an increasing fruitful relationship with God.
Benediction: 1 John 2:15–17 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
Romans 6:13-22
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Introduction: You have a huge project going on at your place and you need help. Someone comes by and tells you that they have a free day and that they are at your disposal for the day.
What is the first thing that comes to mind? How serious are they really about being at your disposal? What does that really mean? How would you describe what being at someone’s disposal means? For me it means that what ever they ask me to do I will do with all my ability. I will strive to do it right and with care.
How is this proved out? By how they work and act during the time they offer to you, right? If they don’t do what you ask or goof off when ever they get the opportunity, were they really serious? No. When we asked Jesus to be Lord and Savior of your life what did we have to confess to Him? That we were doing things our way, which doesn’t work and only leads us into sin, that being so, then what way should we be living our lives now? His way.
As we have gone through our study on the power available to us from God, we have seen first and foremost that all power belongs to God. The power of the Blood of Jesus to save us from sin’s consequences and deliver us into relationship with God, as His children, the power of the Word of God to give us all the wisdom and understanding we need to live a godly life and to know all that God has available to us. The power of the Holy Spirit to lead us and direct us in Christian life and service, defeating sin in us and sanctifying us, The Power of Prayer, asking as God’s children.
All this power is available to us but there is a condition to receiving it; the condition is that we put ourselves completely at God’s disposal, offering ourselves up to Him in complete surrender to His will and way. Vs 13, 22.
How would you treat someone who does everything you ask?
Only when we have put ourselves completely at God’s disposal will we know the blessedness and power available to us from God. Vs 13 is the secret revealed to living a life of power from God. When we offer ourselves to God we are putting ourselves fully at His disposal. We have now become His property, 1 Pet. 1:18–19 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. We were redeemed, bought back, and as His property we must allow Him to use us how ever He will.
By doing this we will be making the wisest choice we could ever make for our lives, because by doing so we will secure all the blessedness that is possible for man to receive from God. He will bless all who surrender to Him, putting them selves at His disposal, blessed with an ever increasing measure. James 4:6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
Every day when we rise up there should be a new prayer upon our lips as R. A. Torrey prays; “Heavenly Father, from now on, I have no will of my own. Let Your will be done in me, through me, by me and regarding me, in all things. I put myself in Your hands. Please do what ever You desire with me.”
How do you think God, who is infinite in love, wisdom and power will answer this prayer? Luke 18:1-8 God would do His very best for us. We may not see it immediately, but trusting God for who He is, we will see the result of this sooner more than later. God will pour out His love into our hearts, filling us with joy, peace, the light of Jesus and with power. Rom. 5:5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Absolute surrender to God and His will is the secret of being blessed by God and filled with power for Christian life and service. The truth of God’s word will begin to fill our being and will illumine, light up, our path that lay ahead. 1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all
When we act in self will instead of a surrendered will the darkness of our understanding takes over and we grope about in the dark trying to find our way. When we put ourselves at God’s disposal the questions that have bothered us for a long time begin to be answered. When we walk in the darkness of our own understanding and will we begin to be filled with doubt and unanswered questions, like we are slipping and sliding about in moving water neck deep on slimy rocks.
Vs 15-16 The deep truths of God and of life can not be learned by mere study or investigation. They can not be reasoned out. They must be revealed to us. This will only happen when we have laid our lives and wills into the hands of God. Matt. 6:24
When we surrender ourselves completely to God’s will for us we will begin to know the power of prayer at work in us and through us. 1 John 3:22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.
When we are fully submitted to God’s will we will begin to pray for the things God wants us to have and to pray for and when we pray according to His will we are promised to receive what we have asked for. 1 John 5:14–15This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
Vs 17-18 This is so because when we are at God’s disposal we are keeping His commands for our lives which are pleasing to Him.
When we don’t receive it is because we have refused to be at His disposal and are no longer are asking according to His will for us but asking for our own selfish desires. Jam. 4:1-4
Jesus had confidence that the Father heard His every prayer and would answer them. John 11:42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
Why? Because He came to earth and lived His life here completely surrendered to the Father’s will for Him. John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.
If we will put ourselves at God’s disposal we will know the power of God working in us, through us and by us. There will be great joy in our lives by living a surrendered life.
John 15:10–11 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. Jesus knew the joy of a surrendered life and we His disciples can know that joy as well.
Ever meet a half hearted Christian?
Even when we are going through the toughest times of life we can know the joy of God’s love and will, carrying us through.
When we live a surrendered life to God we will see God go to work in us giving us peace, revealing truth to us, watching our prayers get answered and having our hearts filled with the joy of His presence and knowing Jesus active in our lives.
John 14:21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”
Jesus will be evident to us, loving us, walking with us and even carrying our burdens. We will know His gentle leading and instructing. Matt. 11:28-30
Living our lives at God’s disposal will give us all these things and even a fullness of the Holy Spirit in us, as we have never known before. We can ask all we want for the fullness of the Spirit but will never know that fullness unless we are completely submitted to doing God’s will in our lives. Only then will we know the power of the Holy Spirit in us and working through us.
Crumbs to feed our hunger. Oh, we can know bits and pieces of God’s power at work in us. But if we want the fullness of God’s power at work in our lives then we need to put ourselves at God’s disposal, willing to do His will for our lives no matter what.
Doing so we will begin to operate in the power of the Blood, the power of the Word, the power of the Spirit and in the power of Prayer, but we must ask for it and tell God we are His to do with as He pleases because we are fully submitted to Him and His will for us. Then as we saw in vs 17-18, we must obey and do what he says, showing we are serious.
Vs 19-23 What benefit do we have in not surrendering to God? Living according to our will only leads us away from God and His blessings. Will we surrender to Him today? Will we know the joy and power that will fill us if we put ourselves at God’s disposal?
Will you come and pray with me the prayer the prayer Torrey prayed; “Heavenly Father, from now on, I have no will of my own. Let Your will be done in me, through me, by me and regarding me, in all things. I put myself in Your hands. Please do what ever You desire with me.”
Benediction: Rom. 6:22-23
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John 6:43-51
Introduction: If you are in a relationship now or have ever been, maybe husband or wife, boyfriend, girlfriend or good friends, who was the first to make a move on the other? Who was the first to pursue who? What happened after one of you made the first move?
Was the other encouraged to pursue the relationship further?
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For Sheri and myself, it was I who made the first move to pursue her, how about you?
If you saw someone today whom you were interested in would you pursue them or wait to see if they would pursue you?
The Bible teaches us that God sought us out first before we sought after Him, by God making the first move to pursue us that gave us the beginning desire to want to come into relationship with Him.
We must take great hope from the fact that God was interested enough in us to make the first move in pursuing us. If He had not done so we would never have gone looking for Him. We were completely lost in sin and somewhat content with that.
Rom. 3:10–11 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
1st election when Obamma’s follower was saying how he would take care of her needs if he was elected.
Even Jesus understood that when He was there speaking to the crowd of people. He knew that the only reason they were looking for Him was because He took care of a need they had across the lake on the mountainside. Vs 26
Vs 44-45 The Father is the one who sends His Holy Spirit to touch our hearts, softening them so we might know His call toward us. If it were not for God making the first move none of us would know salvation at all.
In the pursuit of your relationship, did it end when you got it or was that just the beginning?
When you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, becoming a child of God, is that where the pursuit ended? Is our salvation the goal or the beginning of something new and wonderful?
Psalm 42:1–2 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
God makes the first move on us, softening our hearts so we would know He is there, that He loves us and desires that we choose to get to know Him. He even went to the extreme to open up a pathway for us to enter into relationship with Him. John 3:16“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
God knew that if we were left to ourselves we would not be able to come into relationship with Him unless He made a way for us.
Rom. 1:16–17 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” So, it was God who made the first move on us, desiring that we enter into relationship with Him through faith in Christ. Vs 6:27-29
So let’s say you have come to faith in Christ through the nudging of God upon you, what next? Have we arrived, accomplished all we need to do or desire to do?
Make a trip to Disney World to only stay in hotel room.
That is not what Jesus expects from us; John 17:2–3 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Our receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior is just the beginning of the relationship we can have with God, the beginning of our journey. We now have an opportunity to get to know God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, personally. Who they are, what they feel, what they are thinking. We can know what hurts their feelings and what pleases them, what makes them happy.
We can get to know them as we now pursue them in relationship, seeking to learn all we can about God, beginning with His word, from His actions toward us and even from every promise He gives us, the things He says He will do for us, unconditionally and conditionally. 2 Pet. 1:3-11 Look Together
God is a person, even though He is infinite and eternal, He still thinks, wills, enjoys, feels, loves, desires and suffers as any other person would. When He makes Himself known to us it is by His personality that He does so. He communicates with us through our personalities, our minds, our wills, our emotions, pouring out His love to us.
The best way to understand this is to look at who Jesus is:
John 14:5-11 Look Together
Jesus is the physical representation of the Father; Col. 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
If we were to look at His life here on earth we would see that he had a personality, He loved, felt emotions, hurt, rejoiced, willed and desired, all the emotions and things we do within our personalities. He related to others through their personalities and the disciples related to Him in the same way.
This is how God desires to relate to us.
It is up to us to choose whether we want to get to know God deeper and deeper in relationship. If we desire that, He will show us more of Himself, reveal more of Himself to us. Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
A complicated person.
Understand though that God is infinite and we are finite, we will not be able to understand all there is about God while here on earth. 1 Cor. 13:12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
When we are born again by the Spirit of God our spirits open up to this new relationship with God. We can now get a glimpse of the kingdom of God and begin to understand all that is available to us.
And this is just the beginning of a glorious relationship with God, not the end or the goal of our coming to faith. We now have an opportunity to explore our new relationship with God.
If we look at the Apostles we can see that they knew the opportunity available to them, even when others thought it was a bad idea or a waste of time. John 6:66-70a Look Together
If we look to the scriptures we can find example after example of people who desired a deeper relationship with God and asked for it. Exodus 33:13-18 Look Together
Moses was even bold enough to ask God to show him His glory and God was so pleased with His relationship with Moses that He agreed to reveal His glory to Moses.
David’s life was one filled with heart ache and rejoicing, but by reading through the Psalms we will find that he desired to know God deeply. David wrote Ps. 37 our memory verses.
The Apostle Paul, who made a mark on history with the gospel of Christ, had one great desire, that he know Jesus, even if it meant suffering. Phil 3:7-11 Look Together
So, is salvation our goal or are we just beginning a growing relationship with God, who was the first to pursue us?
Marriage counselor who directs a relationship.
Do we expect others to be the ones to help us grow in relationship with God or are we willing to put forth the effort needed to pursue God and a growing relationship with Him?
Will we ask God to show us His glory or will we be satisfied with a surface relationship with Him?
Do we desire to taste and see that the Lord is good and have Him come and touch our hearts and lives in special ways?
Today the church is in decline because for too long we expected others to show us God. This has led to a sterile religion where experiencing God in our lives is a foreign concept, when all the time God wants to be involved in our lives, revealing Himself to us, showing us His glory.
He wants to be our all in all, the one we seek out and desire a relationship with everyday of our lives.
He went to great extremes to pursue us and a relationship with us, are we willing to make any effort in our getting to know Him better and deeper?
The choice is ours.
Benediction: Revelation 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
Have you ever noticed that when you meet someone new, especially a person who claims to be a believer, we have a tendency to place them on a scale of whether they are mature or have integrity? Whether we can trust what they say about themselves. In a sense we judge them for who they present themselves to be. When you meet a new person where do they get placed on your scale for maturity and integrity? Do they get placed at 50%, 75% or 100%? How do you view them as a person on your scale? You know it goes both ways. They also make a judgment about us when they first meet us. How do you think you fit on their scale? Would you like to start out at 100% with them, that you are honest about who you are in the Lord and where you have come from in maturity and growth in Christ? I am not talking about the fact that we pretend to be full of knowledge and understanding in the Lord but being honest about where we truly are, still trying to figure it out, striving to grow in Christ, learning from the lessons we are taught by God. Where do we put others and where do they put us on the scale we so often use to judge the life of others we first meet?
Paul was very zealous about his task to persecute the believers in Christ when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. Jesus knocked him off his high horse of legalism and introduced Himself to Paul. From the moment Paul received Christ he was set at 100% on the Lord’s scale, where he went from there was up to Paul in how well he obeyed and served the Lord. Acts 9:15–16 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” How well do you think Paul did on the scale the Lord used? Did he mess up? Where did that put him? What did he do about it? We are moving into the last section of the letter to the believers in Rome. In this section Paul mixes his personal plans in with the practical lessons he still wants to get across. Paul has been careful not to refer to himself very often in his letter. He only used himself as and example or gave his personal opinion a handful of times in the whole letter. Something only a humble person could do. Would we be talking about ourselves the whole time or what the Lord wanted us to say?
But now Paul is closing his letter and wants the folks in Rome to know what his future plans may be if the Lord wills it. James 4:13–15 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” This is one way to stay at 100% with the Lord. Vs 14-16 Paul understood what it takes to build a good relationship with others; give them the opportunity to start out at 100%. He does that here in his letter by calling them brothers, a term of endearment. He goes on to recognize in them the qualities needed to be a mature believer; goodness, complete in knowledge and competent. 2 Peter 1:5-9 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. These are the qualities every believer should strive for so to grow in Christ and stay at 100% with Him or at least in the 90’s. They will make us useful to the Lord and to one another.
Paul did not have a low opinion of the believers in Rome. They all started at 100% with him and he gave them the benefit of the doubt that they were growing in Christ, spiritual and maturing, willing to grow and be used of the Lord. He even begins his letter with an encouragement to the believers telling them he can’t wait to visit them so they can build each other up in the faith. Rom. 1:8-12 8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. 9 God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you. 11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— 12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. Vs 15 When you first came to faith in Christ what was the first thing you wanted to study? Most likely Revelation or the prophets and the prophecies about the end times, the fantastic stuff, but someone had to remind you that you needed the basics of the faith first. The foundation we will build upon to grow and be steadfast in the Lord. 2 Peter 1:12-15; 3:1-2 12 So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14 because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things. Paul like Peter had a responsibility and the qualifications before the Lord to remind the believers about the basics of the faith. This will keep them and us firm in the faith no matter what comes. At times when we are dealing with other believers we need to speak truths they do not want to be reminded of. When we speak hard truths we need to be careful to not cross a line of bitterness but always doing so in love. Eph. 4:15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
Paul had been appointed by Jesus to carry out the priestly duties of proclaiming the will of God to the Gentiles. He was sent to them to bring the good news of Christ and see many come to faith, a fragrant offering to God. This was the mission Paul was sent on, to bring in the lost Gentiles as a sacrifice to God, a fragrant offering. Eph. 5:1–2 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Isn’t this the mission we are sent on to rescue the lost from their sin and the judgment to come? Staying at 100% in obedience to be a witness for Christ. When they come the Holy Spirit moves into their lives to begin the sanctifying process, setting them apart from the world and its ways to God and a life that will be glorifying to Him. They then start at 100% and where they go is up to them. Phil. 3:7-16 7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 15 All of us, then, wwho are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained. Striving to stay at 100%.When Jesus knocked Paul off his high horse He gave Paul an opportunity to start over again beginning at 100%. Where Paul went from there was up to him in Jesus eyes. Paul went forward in faith to be all the Lord wanted him to be. This was the attitude Paul had with the believers in Rome as well. They had been given the opportunity to begin again in Christ at 100% and Paul believed they continued to strive for that place before the Lord. In that they can move forward in faith and obedience to Christ to be productive and useful to the Lord.Jesus has done the same for you and I. He gave us the opportunity to begin afresh and anew, to start out at 100% in His judgment. Where have we gone from there? Can we say with Paul that we are striving to be all that we can be in the Lord or do we find ourselves making excuses about our lives and having others come to us speaking some hard truths to us in love?
What do we do when we fall from the 100% in Christ’s point of view? 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
What do we do if another sins against us and comes to us to ask for forgiveness, to get back to 100%? We forgive them.
Matt. 18:21–22 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. In doing this we will stay at 100% with God. Remember what Jesus said right after the Lord’s Prayer; forgive as God has forgiven us.
Next time we meet someone who claims to be a believer, be careful where you put them on your judgment scale, remembering that they are putting us on theirs as well.
Let us always strive to be at 100% in the Lord’s eyes and the eyes of others will take care of themselves.
Benediction: Phil. 3:12–14 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Have you ever heard the term “Friendly Fire”? What do you think it means? How do you think it applies to the church and believers today? Have you ever heard someone say that Christians shoot their wounded? What do you think that means and how do you think it relates to friendly fire? I believe that all too often in the church today there is a judgmental attitude drifting about that says if you don’t do and see things the way I do or you are struggling with a sin in your life, then you are wrong and condemned for it. Read the rest of this entry »
Life’s Little Reminders
Deut. 6:4-9
Introduction: Do you ever have those times when you just can’t remember something? What do you do about them? Post Its?
Have you ever noticed what short memories we have as people?
It seems to me that unless we have some kind of a reminder for different things, we never remember them.
Today many of us have calendar books we carry with us to help us remember, calendars on our fridges or mirrors as reminders of important appointments that day or coming up. Electronic devices.
We have national holidays as days of remembrance of people and events of the past that need to be remembered and celebrated.
In just a few weeks we will celebrate Lincoln’s, Washington’s and other presidents birthday’s because we need to remember the contributions and sacrifices they made for our benefit.
I think one of the problems we have in this country today is a short memory over the events that have taken place in our nation and what the cost was for many of them.
We forget the founding fathers and the ideals they established for the good of all the people. Because of this we have a nation filled with complacent voters who are willing to let their rights and responsibilities as citizens be taken from them as long as someone takes care of them. Application.I believe that God knew that if He didn’t do something to remind the people of the wonders He did for them and the wonders He had planned for them, that the people would forget Him, getting caught up in the struggles and successes of life. They would wander away after other things and allow them to be gods over their lives.
So, I believe God established the holidays and feasts as times of remembrance and promise of all that He would do and had done for them. When they faced times of trouble and distress these celebrations would remind them that God was there and He cared. They were the little reminders of God’s work and promises for them.
When we study the holy days and festivals of the Jews we get a picture of God’s relationship with them and with us. We also see the story of redemption played out through them.
Think about some of them: Passover was the deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt. They were held captive to do the will of the Egyptians. Why did Jesus die at Passover? To deliver us from sin which held us captive to do its will.
At the Feast of Unleavened Bread the Jews celebrate the fact that God took them out of Egypt, setting them apart for Himself, by the need to make bread made with out yeast so they could hurry away from Egypt. The 1st fast food for travel.Peter tells us that we as believers have been set apart for God as a holy priesthood. We have put off the leaven of sin in our lives and called by God to be His own. 1 Pet. 2:4-5 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.The Feast of Firstfruits was a celebration of the abundance God bestows on His people and a giving part of that blessing back to God for His purposes. To us it teaches the purpose of salvation: fruitfulness for the kingdom of God by abiding in the true vine.
John 15:1-5 Look Together
The Feast of Weeks, Pentecost, points us to the fruit that we should bear as believers through the power of the Holy Spirit indwelling and empowering us. Gal. 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.The Biblical holidays and feasts were instituted by God as a rememberence of all that God did for His people.
They were a little reminder that the people could use to remember for themselves that God loved and cared for them and they also could use teach their children about God through them. Deut. 6.
The holidays of Hanukkah and Purim were instituted by the Jews as reminders of God’s continued work in their lives by the miracles done and celebrated in them.
Application.
The Feasts and Holidays were an integral part of worship for the Jews and the early Church believers. They were celebrations of rememberence in honor of what God had done for His people. They were also a reminder that God would work for them in the coming days as well, as long as they remained faithful to God and His commands.
The feasts and holidays are not only celebrations of rememberence but also point to Christ and His work for us. Col. 2:16-17 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.The apostles celebrated the holidays and feasts remembering what Jesus had done to fulfill them. They encouraged others to do the same. 1 Cor. 5:6-8 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth. Paul encourages the believers in Corinth, mostly Gentiles, to celebrate the Feast of Passover and even uses the symbols of the Feast of Unleavened Bread as an illustration to get his point across.
Acts 20:16 Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, for he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.
Do you think the holidays were still important to him?
Application.
In the first century there were numerous believing Jews. All of which celebrated the holidays and feasts God had established and the way Jesus had fulfilled them.
As new converts were brought into the church from non-Jews, the Gentiles, these were incorporated into Jewish worship. They and the Jews were considered one family. The believers considered themselves as being grafted into the vine. They did not consider themselves a new vine but part of the true vine.
Rom. 11:11-24 Look Together
The early believers were not called Christians until about 42 A.D. in Antioch. Acts 11:25-26 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. The word Christian means “an adherent of Christ.” This term was later used to separate the believing Jews from non-believing Jews. Ultimately it became the identity for the entire church.
The Bible makes it clear that any non-Jew who trusts Jesus as Lord and Savior becomes a child of God, equal partners with believing Jews in the Body of Christ. Rom. 3:21-31 Look TogetherAll are declared righteous by God without having to adopt any further Jewish distinctions. I say this because we are not required to celebrate the feasts and holidays as the Jews were, but we can learn a lot from them and gain a richness of understanding of God’s greatness as we see how they celebrated them in remembrance of what God had done for them.
By the 2nd century Gentiles had taken control of the church and began removing Jewish influences. There was a growing resentment toward non-believing Jews and their customs.
As the church grew it became increasingly Hellenized (Greek influenced) and Latinized (Roman influenced).
These groups focused on the resurrection and distanced themselves from Judaism, even changing dates, for Christ’s resurrection, from the Hebrew calendar of the 3rd day of Passover to Sunday, this is how Easter became separated from Passover.
For example, this year Passover is the 30th of March and Easter is the 4th of April. What day did Jesus rise from the dead? The 3rd day after the beginning of Passover. This means in reality we should be celebrating the Resurrection of Christ on Friday the 2nd of April.
The church of the 2nd century began to separate itself from its Jewish roots because of political correctness. Even though they did so God considers us one in the Body of Christ and a fulfillment of the promise given to Abraham of the blessing that would come from him to the world. Gal. 3:28-29 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. God has given us the little reminders in the scriptures of the feasts and holidays to show us that He was at work from the very beginning and is still at work today. There is much to learn from the holidays and feasts that the Jews celebrated.
It has been written in history of our nations that the Puritans, the first settlers in the new world, Pilgrims, recognized that fact and studied the feasts and holidays of the Hebrews. They deeply immersed themselves into the history and heritage of the Hebrews. It is even believed that they modeled the American Holiday of Thanksgiving after Sukkoth – the feast of Tabernacles.
So, as we go deeper into our study of the Jewish Feasts and Holidays let us remember how God worked in their lives and how Jesus fulfilled them in His coming and how some even point to His return again.
God has given us these little reminders to help us learn and grow so we can teach others about them and Him as well.
Eccl. 12:1-7 if time allows.
Benediction: Col. 2:7-8 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth. Where was Paul going in such a hurry? What point in his ministry was this happening?