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Category: Joshua – Esther – Old Testament History

Old Testament History lessons: Joshua – Job

scriptures from Old Testament history. (Many lessons for a 21st c. world.) SHARE history’s lessons with your SOCIAL ‘Friends’ who think the TV News is ‘new.’ What is your WITNESS for Christ Jesus?

Running from God – 3 – Elijah

Are you loyal to God?

A fair question.

Deuteronomy 6:5 KJV And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

You shall love the Lord your God with ALL.

Jesus even adds some definition for us of the well-recited Hebrew in the familiar Greek.

Mark 12:30 ESV And you shall love [agapaō] the Lord [kyrios {Note the meaning & implication of calling God, ‘Lord‘}] your God with all your heart and with all your soul [ psychē] and with all your mind [dianoia] and with all your strength.’

I don’t want to get into the subtlety of this (a whole other sermon), but note that ‘psychē‘ is the Greek word for ‘soul,‘ not ‘mind,’ as you might imagine from all the false teaching of the world and those opposed to God. Jesus and Moses both taught that GOD is to be worshiped personally with ALL of our grateful being.

Peter had stood on the Mount of Transfiguration and witnessed Jesus and Moses and Elijah together! So how could this man deny three times that he knew the Christ, Jesus, his friend being beaten for our sins?

As I cautioned earlier, let’s not to hold Peter to a higher standard than we hold ourselves. Elijah also had run.

1 Kings 17

Elijah Predicts a Drought

17 Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”

… ⁵So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan.

[So far, so good; like Peter when he wanted to build shines for worship. (But then, of course, Jesus told Peter not to build shrines.)]

⁶And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.⁷And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

It was Elijah’s familiar faith to which Jesus pointed when He taught us:

Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! – Luke 12:24

God feeds the ravens; the ravens fed Elijah; therefore have faith: God can even send ravens to feed us.

The drama and the drought progress.

1 Kings 18

After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year… Now the famine was severe in Samaria.

The King and God’s people are indicted through Elijah of turning their backs on God.

Are our national and world leaders – is the 21st c. church so different in our ineffectiveness?

17 When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?”

18 And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals. 19 Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

A contest! It would be like saying: Bring in all the Oprahs and Choprahs and Hawkings and Dalis; bring in all your priests who worship ancestors and cows and earth; bring in all your princes of oil and casinos and sports; bring in all your stars of Hollywood and Bollywood and worldwide web brothels!

Need I suggest more to add up to more than these 850 prophets of false worship in these last days? You know the sects of prophets of angels of destruction and men of reproduction. You know well the crowds opposed to the rule of the Living God!

A contest here: Almighty GOD and his one Prophet Elijah vs. 850 prophets of idols the people loved.

To be continued…

March 6, 2015
My love – 2 – Friendship

A friend loves at all times,
and a brother is born for adversity. – Proverbs 17:17

[Eleanor Rigby] All the lonely people… where do they all come from?

Are you one of them (at least sometimes in your chaotic busyness)? I think we all are at times; yet not for a lifetime, I pray.

Can you think of any love more important and personal in those times when you need compassion, empathy and perhaps even an embrace of love? Is any relationship on the planet more necessary to you at that moment than the support of a friend?

History and the Bible retell many stories of the great love of friendship. Like the word ‘love,’ we have also cheapened the very love of friendship, philia, or brotherly love. Wisdom and the pens of poets caution us against ignoring, confusing or devaluing the true love of friendships God would put in our lives.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend;
profuse are the kisses of an enemy. Proverbs 27:6

Has there been a Judas in your life? Yet the love of a friend loves you when you are wronged, embraces you with kindness and defends you in the battle of righteousness. A loyal friend holds near the double-edged sword of truth.

“The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

The incalculable value of your friend is the faithful love of trusted relationship.

A man of many companions may come to ruin,
but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. – Proverbs 18:14

Jonathan was such a friend to David, who would not have become King of Israel without him. Jonathan was a hero to Israel even before David slayed Goliath (many of us will not recall).

1 Samuel 13:3 Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear.”

Jonathan, son of Saul, was in line to be King.

1 Samuel 17:

57 And as soon as David returned from the striking down of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. 58 And Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”

18:1 As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 2 And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house. 3 Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. 4 And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt.

The high value of David’s love for Jonathan and the love of Jonathan for David is well-documented in the many encounters between Saul and David prior to Saul’s death and David’s God-anointed ascent to the throne.

Are you a friend like Jonathan to someone you love?

Jesus was a friend to His Apostles.

John 15

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

Imagine, a friend and equal to Jesus! This is the great humility of God. This is the greatest love of all, that He makes us once more His friends and commands us to love each other.

17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

Friendship!

This love is the relationship of the church, modeled many times in the Acts of the Apostles and the letters. Perhaps a favorite early unlikely friendship is the one which brought Saul of Tarsus and Barnabas together as friends in the Lord. Here is the beginning of Saul’s story after seeing the risen Christ (you may remember):

Acts 9

Saul in Jerusalem
26 And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. 28 So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.

Barnabas took Paul to Cypress to his home for their first missionary journey. When Peter heard of the gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit, the church sought out Paul, who would become known as the Apostle to the gentiles.

Acts 11

21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number [of gentiles or Hellenist Greeks] who believed turned to the Lord. 22 The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, 24 for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.

25 So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.

Acts 14: Barnabas & Paul refuse to be worshiped as gods in Lystra after God performs a miracle through them.

And later, in Jerusalem:

Acts 15:12 And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

It is a lasting friendship, a faithful love, that blesses the life of a Christian (even that of an unbeliever, who my be won by your faithfulness to God).

The Letter of Paul to the Galatians:

2:1 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me.

My love, my friend: my dear brother, my dear sister in our Lord and savior Jesus Christ,

Do you have a friend you love in the Lord?

We should, in fact, have more than one love, a fellow like-minded believer.

Do you LOVE your church friend? Do you hear in your heart and soul the command of our Lord and friend, Christ Jesus?

To be continued

February 6, 2015
Thank Who?

Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name. – 2 Samuel 22:50 KJV

Thanksgiving: celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year… Thanksgiving has its historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, and has long been celebrated in a secular manner as well.

gratitude

The quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.

[Oxford Dictionary]

Yet why would a ‘heathen’ give thinks ‘in a secular manner,’ as opposed to thanking God?

Who does the heathen, the unbeliever, thank?

Do you thank yourself for what you have given yourself this past year… for your successes in this brief moment of your mortal time in human flesh? Do you thank your boss, your neighbors, the leaders of your country and community, your family, your friends?

Why would you have gratitude to any, if you have not gratitude to God?

Last year at this time I reflected on the well-known Thanksgiving hymn: We Gather Together. Even unbelievers in these places of Thanksgiving tradition may briefly hope for some gathering such as the Rockwellesque images of families (yes families: husband and wife, sons and daughters) gathered together to thank God for one great Turkey dinner (with all the trimmings and treats).

The traditions of thanking God for our blessings acknowledge by our humility, that we remain in debt daily to a Power higher than ourselves for our very life and existence. God IS and God provides.

By the higher Authority of God the King is made King (the President is made President and the Prime Minister made Prime Minister). No man or woman, even those in highest authority on earth, is in charge of the blessings of God – and for this we give thanks.

David, King of Israel, which God would judge and destroy into a remnant for a time, gave thanks to God. (You may be familiar with some of David’s many Psalms of thanksgiving.)

The Book of Samuel records the thanks given by David to God for delivering him out of the hands of his enemies. We should be so thankful for the same so much more often; for God has many enemies among the heathens, as do the faithful of Christ Jesus.

2 Samuel 22

“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
3 my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation,
my stronghold and my refuge,
my savior; you save me from violence.
4 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.

Is there any question who David is thanking for his life – for his deliverance from Saul? David thanks God. David praises the Lord for saving him. David takes refuge in God. Do you?

8 “Then the earth reeled and rocked;
the foundations of the heavens trembled
and quaked, because he was angry.

14 The Lord thundered from heaven,
and the Most High uttered his voice.
15 And he sent out arrows and scattered them;
lightning, and routed them.

Would you want to anger the Living God?

Would it not behoove us to rather give thanks to the Creator of all the heavens and earth, who is mighty to save the indefensible man of this flesh?

18 He rescued me from my strong enemy,
from those who hated me,
for they were too mighty for me.
19 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my support.
20 He brought me out into a broad place;
he rescued me, because he delighted in me.
21 “The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.
22 For I have kept the ways of the Lord
and have not wickedly departed from my God.

Will the Living God not reward the righteousness of His servants – those who give thanks to Him?

26 “With the merciful you show yourself merciful;
with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;
27 with the purified you deal purely,
and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.
28 You save a humble people,
but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them down.

47 “The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock,
and exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation,
48 the God who gave me vengeance
and brought down peoples under me,
49 who brought me out from my enemies;
you exalted me above those who rose against me;
you delivered me from men of violence.

50 “For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations,

and sing praises to your name.

51 Great salvation he brings to his king,
and shows steadfast love to his anointed,
to David and his offspring forever.”

The word, ‘thanks,’ given by David demonstrates an imagery even beyond the scope of our discussion which further explains other verses of this psalm in 2 Samuel. The traditions of giving thanks to God go back as far as Adam and forward beyond the example of Jesus Christ until this day.

Even many Christians giving thanks at Thanksgiving will not know even the meaning of ‘thanks’ as spoken by our Lord and God, Christ Jesus. In this word you will see the deeper significance of Thanksgiving in the community and family of Christ Jesus.

eucharisteō – eucharist or communion

Matthew 26

NKJV

26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”

27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks,

and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

29 But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”

30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Yes, our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, gave thanks to God the Father for His own sacrifice about to take place for your sins and for mine.

Gratitude – The quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness. Jesus gave thanks to God. Jesus showed His readiness to show appreciation for the kindness of God our Father to save whose God loves from the deserved wrath of sin. This is the new testament, the new covenant of love with God.

It is God’s love and provision for which we give thanks in communion, in the breaking of the bread, in our daily lives (hopefully), and also as celebration of just one Thursday in one month of one year of one mortal live given to us by God.

From Adam to Noah to David to Christ Jesus; to you and me, and until the Kingdom is proclaimed in the highest heavens: we will give thanks to God.

Revelation 11: NKJV

Seventh Trumpet: The Kingdom Proclaimed

15 Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”

16 And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying:

“We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty,
The One who is and who was and who is to come,
Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.

18 The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come,
And the time of the dead, that they should be judged,

And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints,
And those who fear Your name, small and great,
And should destroy those who destroy the earth.”

November 26, 2014