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Tag: Lord

… your heart turns away …
“But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, 18 then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. – Deuteronomy 30:17-18a NLT

Thus says the LORD:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the LORD. – Jeremiah 17:5

1 Kings 11:

Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, 2 from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love…

4 For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done…

9 And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice 10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded.

11 Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you.”

14 And the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was of the royal house in Edom.

23 God also raised up as an adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada…

25 He was an adversary of Israel all the days of Solomon, doing harm as Hadad did. And he loathed Israel and reigned over Syria.

26 Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, also lifted up his hand against the king.

29 And at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Now Ahijah had dressed himself in a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the open country. 30 Then Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and will give you ten tribes 32 (but he shall have one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel)…

I remind us that we are a rebellious people since the days of Moses. As Israel turned against the LORD under the leadership of Moses, so too did Israel turn against the LORD under the leadership of Solomon (and more-so under Jeroboam after the Kingdom was torn away).

As the crowds would later desert Christ Jesus when His teachings called for faithfulness in the shadow of the Cross, so has the church fallen away to worship the gods of the flesh and spirits of the age. You with ears to hear, hear the voice of the Lord.

For as God had warned Israel through Moses’ words — as God had warned in the days between the Temple of Solomon and the Temple of Herod — God had also warned Solomon and Israel BEFORE they turned away.

1 Kings 9

As soon as Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD and the king’s house and all that Solomon desired to build, the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.

And the LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.

And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’

But if you turn aside from following me,

you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,

then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

Did it not happen, as the LORD said He would do?

And this house will become a heap of ruins.

Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say,

‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’

Then they will say,

‘Because they abandoned the LORD their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them.

Therefore the LORD has brought all this disaster on them.’”

Do you wail and lament what the LORD has done?

Do you look to only to the salvation promised in the past and not to the redemption which the LORD has done?

Do you pray for a Savior you will not obey?

Do you long for this world and not the next?

What high broken wall of disbelief stands between you and Christ Jesus, the One Lord and Savior of your soul?

Matthew 23:

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples…
- 8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.
- 9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.
- 10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.
11 The greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say,

‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’

17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred?

18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’

19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?

20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.

21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it.

22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

Christ Jesus IS Lord!

God accepted His Holy Sacrifice for your sins.

…but if,

your heart turns away…

Remember you are dust…

Remember the resurrection to the Judgment of all souls…
July 26, 2014
But if…

“But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, 18 then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. – Deuteronomy 30:17-18a NLT

God’s love for us is unconditional; yet God’s blessing is conditional – dependent on our obedience to His command.

God speaks: in Person, through Christ, through scripture, through the Spirit — God shows us his will. We are free to choose. What will it be?

God makes a covenant, God confirms a promise, God confers a blessing and what does it imply?

Will the LORD not surely do what He has said?

Yet we have a part to do. We have an action in the agreement. We have a choice.

We sometimes pray for blessing, while we often live for curse. For we act knowingly against the will of God and the promise of our own mouth. We stand before heaven and earth making our vow, giving our word and pledging our allegiance before the Living and loving God and human witnesses. Then we sin and would hide from heaven and earth and witnesses the sins of our disobedience.

We may even say (on Sunday occasion): Jesus is Lord.

Yet is Jesus YOUR Lord?

When will we repent and return to the Lord our God? It would seem by some of our witness on many occasions that we are no different than our Chosen forefathers.

Deuteronomy 30

English Standard Version (ESV)

Repentance and Forgiveness

30 “And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, 2 and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you…

11 “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off…

14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

If you obey… by loving the Lord your God…, then… the Lord your God will bless you…

17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish.

You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.

19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse.

Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

God charges Moses, as the Lord has charged His leaders – His Kings and His Priests, His Prophets and His angels:

This is the will and word of the LORD.

Will you not do it? For IF you do, I will bless you.

BUT IF you refuse to obey, I must curse and not bless the one I would love.

Moses once more sets before us the blessing and curse:

Follow the LORD or perish without blessing.

We know how soon God’s own chosen ones did turn against the Lord even after many reminders of blessing and cautions of consequence.

Years later…

1 Samuel 1:3 Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord…

1 Samuel 2:12 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord.

27 And there came a man of God to Eli and said to him,

“Thus says the Lord, ‘Did I indeed reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt subject to the house of Pharaoh?

The Lord speaks here of Levi as Eli’s ancestral father of the house of the priests of the Lord.

28 Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel…

30 Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,’ but now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed…

31 Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house… 34 And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die on the same day… ”

Then Samuel faithfully spoke the word of the Lord to Israel as had Moses generations before.

Hear his witness as Priest anointed in place of his Eli’s two evil sons. Samuel would anoint Israel’s Kings; Saul here and David later.

1 Samuel 12

6 And Samuel said to the people, “The Lord is witness, who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.

7 Now therefore stand still that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous deeds of the Lord that he performed for you and for your fathers. 8 When Jacob went into Egypt, and the Egyptians oppressed them, then your fathers cried out to the Lord and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place.

9 But they forgot the Lord their God… 11 And the Lord sent Jerubbaal and Barak and Jephthah and Samuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety. 12 And when you saw that Nahash the king of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ when the Lord your God was your king.

13 And now behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, the Lord has set a king over you. 14 If you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well.

15 But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king.

Now both Priest and King are representatives of God’s chosen people before the LORD.

20 And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. 21 And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. 22 For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.

Two generations (& 3 Kings) later

1 Kings 9

The Lord Appears to Solomon

6 But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,

7 then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8 And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 9 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’”

To be continued

July 19, 2014
Jesus’ Commandment

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” – John 15:13 – NKJV

Christ Jesus, who would lay down His life for us as sacrifice and redemption for our sins, tells the Disciples how God’s love is unconditional and how God’s love is overflowing beyond description.

But what about our love for God? What about our love for Jesus?

I cling to my flesh; I remember my sinful desires. I believe that Jesus died for me, but if He wants me to “follow” Him, I don’t think I can do it. (Isn’t this what we all think when we resist doing what we know God wants us to do?)

While we brandish our ‘freedom’ to choose to do whatever we want (perhaps even as ‘grace’), most of us struggle with two principles of relationship taught by Jesus Christ: sacrifice and obedience.

We want to ignore the advice of Jesus (whom we call, ‘Lord‘) when he said:

“Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” – John 12:25

And:

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” – Luke 9:23

These sound a lot like ‘conditions’ from Christ Jesus (whom we call, ‘Lord‘). For that matter, another thing Jesus said (which we would rather ignore) is:

“… whoever does not obey [apeitheō] the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” – John 3:36b

Are you apathetic about Jesus Christ, the Son of God?

Jesus asked the crowds who claimed His Name:

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” – Luke 6:36

Someone (of a higher authority) gives a command and having no choice, you choose to obey. (But you don’t like it, do you?)

If GOD, the ALL-POWERFUL Creator of life, accountant of your days and judge of your soul – if the LORD GOD gives you a command, can you choose anything but to obey?

Of course… we often (and regrettably) do not obey our Lord.

I remind us of all this to point to what Jesus said just prior to His oft-quoted “Greater love has no man than this…” application, which He did fulfill for us on the Cross.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. – John 15:14

Imagine Jesus ‘commanding’ you to love other Christians as He has loved you. Can you do it? (Many of us are most difficult to love.)

We expect the grace of this Savior we call ‘Lord’ to cover our lack of love for others, but we must not imagine that Jesus has only suggested it.

Our Lord has spoken it to us as His “command.”

Once again, think of yourself as a ‘follower’ of Jesus (even to the cross, if you must… even at some personal sacrifice, if you must) – put yourself in the well-worn sandals of Jesus’ Disciples and hear our ‘Lord’ in the eyes of your heart:

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. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

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

Lord, you have commanded me, your saint and servant, heir to the life and the love of the house of the LORD, forever.

Have you ever lamented: “Where are my ‘christian’ ‘friends? Have you ever wondered, “Where are my’ fellow ‘saints’ who would lay down their life for me?”

It is to our shame that any member of our church should have to ask for the love of Jesus in us.

For our ‘Lord’ and Savior has spoken His commandment to you and to me:

“…love one another as I have loved you,”

July 12, 2014