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Tag: Christ

  • Running from God – 3 – Elijah

    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 

    elijahs journeysElijah 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.”

    …  5 So 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.)]

    6 And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.7 And 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…

  • Running from God – 2 – Peter

    Running from God – 2 – Peter

    Stepping back a moment into the opening days of Jesus’ earthly ministry we take a look at the Apostle who denied Jesus three times before the cock crowed twice:

    Luke 9:

    And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal…

    6 And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

    7 Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, 8 by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen…

    18 Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” 19 And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.” 20 Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”

    Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus

    23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?

    26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

    The Transfiguration

    28 Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. 30 And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

    The work Jesus was ‘about to accomplish at Jerusalem‘ at the end of His earthly ministry was His Holy Sacrifice of His Body and Blood on the Cross of our Redemption.

    The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world would die for Peter, the very Apostle who had witnessed Jesus with Moses and Elijah!

    Peter, the very Apostle who would deny knowing Jesus three times,  knew with certainty that the man being beaten and bloodied beyond recognition for our many sins was the Messiah, that Jesus IS the Christ Who IS.

    To be continued…

  • COMPLAINT!

    COMPLAINT!

    Job Replies: My Complaint Is Just

    6 Then Job answered and said:

    2 “Oh that my vexation were weighed,
    and all my calamity laid in the balances!

    Ever had a bad day?

    The Lord had already put on my heart to write from Job’s experience as continuation for our Lenten preparation in consideration of the cost of the Cross. And then I had yet another ‘bad day.’

    Job was angry and frustrated with what GOD had allowed to happen to him after all of his faithful worship and righteousness in every part of his life. GOD had always rewarded Job’s righteousness.  GOD had always brought blessing into Job’s life.

    Blessing or curse: Is it from God?

    WHY! Job asked?

    Why ME! we ask?

    Why, Lord, have you brought me very low to this place?

    I know that I am a sinner. I know that I do not deserve your grace in Christ Jesus. I know that.

    But you have done all these things to me. You have afflicted me with my own sin and the sin of those I love. WHY?

    Prior to Job’s complaint (and God’s eventual answer and restoration): Job 2:

     9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.”

    10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

    It’s OK to have an argument with God; Job did. It’s called prayer, private petition; and you had better be ready to brace yourself for God’s answer, if you have ears to hear as our Lord would instruct.

    It is a fearsome place… to be alone in the place of God… no wife (or perhaps, husband) to support you in your love of the Lord and care for your over-abiding love for her by God’s grace. It is a lonely place to sit among friends (even so-called ‘christian’ church friends) who feel sorry for you and fill your wearisome ears with misguided uncompassionate advice.

    Prayer for yourself

    Just between you and God

    Waiting to hear

    The answer of the Almighty

    Should bring us to our knees

    And bow down our sinful souls

    Into the dust and ashes

    Of repentance.

    Let you with ears to hear hear, before you would speak so boldly into the ear of the One who hung upon the Cross for your sins.

    Yet we have questions. And we have an Advocate in Christ who knows our pain. Jesus hears and will answer if only we will hear Him. Allow the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart.

    In our strong will to tell GOD what to do, will we hear His answer?

    Job 6:11 What is my strength, that I should wait?
    And what is my end, that I should be patient?
    12 Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze?
    13 Have I any help in me,
    when resource is driven from me?
    14 “He who withholds kindness from a friend
    forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
    15 My brothers are treacherous as a torrent-bed,
    as torrential streams that pass away,
    16 which are dark with ice,
    and where the snow hides itself.
    17 When they melt, they disappear;
    when it is hot, they vanish from their place.

    Yes, prayer with the Almighty, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is a fearful place. Prayer is a fearful place for battered flesh and broken heart of one so continually refined by the fire of the Holiness of GOD.

    Yet the grace of His love comes at high cost. The ransom paid for our continuing sin is more than sufficient before the King for Him to be gracious to those He loves.

    Let us repent once more and listen. Let us this time obey and follow His Cross without turning or regret.

    John 12

      4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said…

    23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified…

    27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’?

     40 “He has blinded their eyes
    and hardened their heart,
    lest they see with their eyes,
    and understand with their heart, and turn,
    and I would heal them.”

    (Are you praying, you with ears to hear?)

    Jesus Came to Save the World

    44 And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. 45 And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. 47 If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.

    48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day…

    You with ears to hear hear… and pray.

    Pray also for me, sinner though I be.