Sundays at 10:45am / 1881 Brodhead Rd., Aliquippa, PA
Part 1 – “The Triumphant Christ” (2 Thessalonians 1:1-12) – June 16, 2024
No video or audio available
Part 2 – “The Man of Lawlessness” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12) – July 7, 2024
Part 3 – “Established in Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:13-17) – July 14, 2024
Part 4 – “A Prayer, a Promise, a Proclamation” (2 Thessalonians 3:1-5) – July 21, 2024
Part 5 – “An Apostle’s Admonition” (2 Thessalonians 3:6-18) – July 28, 2024
Part 1 – “In the Meantime” (1 Thessalonians 1:1-10) April 7, 2024
Part 2 – “Walk Worthy” (1 Thessalonians 2:1-16) April 14, 2024
Part 3 – “Our Joy and Crown” (1 Thessalonians 2:17-20) April 21, 2024
Part 4 – “Unshaken” (1 Thessalonians 3:1-5) April 28, 2024
Part 5 – “Increasing in Love” (1 Thessalonians 3:6-13) May 5, 2024
Part 6 – “God’s Will For You” (1 Thessalonians 4:1-12) May 12, 2024)
Part 7 – “Meeting the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) May 26, 2024
Part 8 – “Concerning Times and Seasons” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11) June 2, 2024
Part 9 – “Final Instructions” (1 Thessalonians 5:12-28) June 9, 2024
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VBS FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY!
Monday, June 17 – Friday, June 21
6:30 – 8:00 PM
REGISTRATION
(Please list each family member attending, along with age in “Other Details”)
Songs to get you ready!
Sponsored in part by:
Part 1 – “Father, Forgive Them” (February 18, 2024)
Part 2 – “Today You Will Be With Me” (February 25, 2024)
No Media Available
Part 3 – “Here Is Your Son” (March 3, 2024)
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Part 4 – “Why Have You Forsaken Me?” (March 10, 2024)
Part 5 – “I Thirst” (March 17, 2024)
Part 6 – “Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit” (March 24, 2024)
Part 7 – “It is Finished” (March 29, 2024)
Easter Message – “Looking For Life” (March 31, 2024)
Week 1 – “Wake Up Now”
Week 2 – “Pray Now”
Week 3 – “His Now”
Week 4 – “Worship Now”
Week 5 – “Family Now”
No video available
No audio available
Week 6 – “Evangelize Now”
Part 1 – “A Living Hope” (1 Peter 1:1-12) August 6, 2023
Part 2 – “A Holy Calling” (1 Peter 1:13-25) August 13, 2023
Part 3 – “A Chosen People” (1 Peter 2:1-10) August 20, 2023
Part 4 – “Servants of Christ” (1 Peter 2:11-17) September 3, 2023
Part 5 – “The Sufferings of Christ” (1 Peter 2:18-25) September 10, 2023
No Video or Audio Available
Part 6 – “Christ in the Home” (1 Peter 3:1-7) September 25, 2023
Part 7 – “Instruments of Blessing” (1 Peter 3:8-22) October 1, 2023
Part 8 – “Stewards of Grace” (1 Peter 4:1-11) October 8, 2023
No Audio or Video Available
Part 9 – “Enduring in the Good” (1 Peter 4:12-19) October 22, 2023
Part 10 – “Standing Steadfast” (1 Peter 5:1-14) October 29, 2023
“Expectant in Pursuing God” – Psalm 42:1-2 (July 2, 2023)
“Expectant in Gathering” – Acts 2:1-4 (July 9, 2023)
“Expectant in Reaching” – Acts 2:43-47 (July 16, 2023)
“Expectant in Growing” – Acts 6:7 (July 23, 2023)
“Expectant in Receiving” – Ephesians 5:18-20 (July 30, 2023)
There are several ways that the Holy Spirit comes upon people:
There are interesting things about these cases. When Jesus breathed on the disciples, they had received the Holy Spirit, but the Spirit did not come upon them IN POWER until Pentecost. In the Old Testament, the Spirit of God came upon those whom He chose, and could leave when He desired. That is most likely why David wrote in Psalm 51:11 :
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
But what is even more interesting in this passage is that these believers had believed on The Lord Jesus Christ, been baptized into The Lord Jesus Christ, but had not yet received the Holy Spirit! It was by the laying on of hands that these New Testament believers received the Holy Spirit. It should be noted that Cornelius and all who were present received the Holy Spirit in power without the laying on of hands when Peter came to visit them. In the New Covenant that Jesus gave to us, the Holy Spirit is a down-deposit of our inheritance in Christ. He cannot, and will not, ever leave us nor forsake us.
In each case, it wasn’t until the Holy Spirit came upon each person IN POWER that they were able to be fully utilized by God. The church today appears to believe that we merely just “need to believe” upon The Lord Jesus Christ to receive the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14). This passage in Acts, however, indicates that this is not always the case.
Before even the disciples could do anything, they needed to wait until Pentecost, having already received the Holy Spirit from Jesus, BUT NOT IN POWER. As a believer in Christ, who has had the Holy Spirit come upon you IN POWER, YOU also have the ability to impart the Holy Spirit upon believers if He has not come upon them, and they believe.
If you do not believe that the Holy Spirit has come upon you yet, and you have believed upon The Lord Jesus Christ, ask your church leadership to lay hands upon you so that you also can receive the Holy Spirit. And pray that the Spirit of God who then indwells you would come on you IN POWER.
Paul notes in Hebrews 6:1-3 that one of the elementary teachings of the faith is the laying on of hands. As disciples of Christ, we should be familiar with this teaching, and as such, this should be taught to ALL disciples of Christ by the church. It is difficult to move on to more advanced subjects without taking the time to learn the basics. Trying to understand calculus without learning addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication is a fool’s errand.
When the church fails to properly disciple believers, believing that it is the Holy Spirit’s responsibility to properly educate each believer (which He does…), we open the door to generations of believers who are ill-prepared to take on the enemy and may become a hindrance rather than a help to the church (observe how many disciples of Christ are not walking in the gifts of the Spirit that He has provided to them!). Paul went to great lengths to teach the believers about these things so that they would be empowered to do the work that God had chosen for them before the foundation of the world.
When we don’t take the time to disciple the church (not only the elementary spiritual truths of the Bible, but also the advanced ones as well) new believers (and even seasoned believers) may not be properly equipped to do what God has called them to do. In the same way, you wouldn’t just give collegiate-level textbooks to a 13-year-old and tell them to read the books and come back to take their baccalaureate test. You would provide them with the foundational education necessary, send them to classes with teachers who are able to teach the subjects, and then provide them with tutors if required. If we do this for secular teaching (which has temporary rewards), why would we not do this for Spiritual teaching (which has eternal rewards)?
Let’s ask a question: Am I seeking to be discipled, and discipling where I am qualified?
Father in Heaven, Thank You for Your word. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit, who leads me into all truth. Thank You for the body of Christ who help me grow and keep me accountable. Thank You for Your love, patience, mercy, and provision in all things. Thank You for the wonderful Gifts Your Spirit has given to me to use for Your glory. Please help me to understand the spiritual truths that I may not know, and to walk in Your gifts. Help me to grow in knowing who You are, and exhibiting Your character to all that I encounter. Grant me wisdom to seek out others who can fill in the gaps in my knowledge, and I pray that Your Spirit would energize the leadership of the body of Christ to grow closer to You, learn the elementary and deeper spiritual truths, and to be faithful to teach the body so that we would be a holy people empowered to do all that You desire us to do. This I ask in the name of Your Most Holy Son, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Want more? Why not try A. B. Simpson or A. W. Tozer?
The Apostles were engaged in very important work. They were feeding the flock by teaching the word of God; church planting; and tending to the other needs of the flock. Part of the responsibility that they were exercising was to ensure that the widows were being fed. Rather than neglect their other responsibilities, they selected several men who were full of (yielded to the control of) the Holy Spirit to take over this aspect of ministry.
One of the failings of smaller churches today is that they need warm bodies to fill positions. I have heard from people (who at the time were baby Christians) who were chosen to be Elders in their church simply because there was no one else to fill the position. And God was faithful in raising them up, for if God calls you to service, He will certainly provide what you need to accomplish His tasks.
One of the outward signs of maturity in Christ is that the person is exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit in how they conduct themselves:
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
The church leadership (or nominating committee) needs to seek out individuals who are exhibiting these qualities in their lives before they consider the person for service. The qualifications for Deacons and Elders are clear on this.
Ministry is not an isolated endeavor where people go off somewhere to do something by themselves; rather, it is a partnership between them and the local body. The partnership can be both financial and spiritual. It is important that the body of Christ provide a prayer covering over those who are engaged in ministry. Anyone engaged in ministry has a target on their backs by our enemies who seek to disrupt the ministry and disgrace those who are in the spotlight. We need to be in constant prayer as prayer partners, just as Epaphras struggled in prayer for the saints.
Paul also warns us that we should be careful in selecting who we should lay on hands (in the context of appointing to ministry):
Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.
It is important that we are yielded to the Holy Spirit and listen to Him as He speaks to our hearts and through the word of God in selecting who we should appoint to ministry. God can certainly use anyone in any way that He deems fit. He can certainly raise someone up, and provide and prepare them for what is to come. Conversely, it is our responsibility to choose people who He wants us to choose. Even in the case of Paul, the elders appointed Paul to ministry after being told by God to do so.
Let’s ask a question: Am I yielding myself to the Holy Spirit as He is asking me?
Father in Heaven, Thank You for Your word. Help me to better understand through Your word and Your Spirit the laying on of hands for dedication to service in ministry. Help me to be better yielded to the Holy Spirit so that I may live the life You have given me for Your purposes. Help me to walk in Your ways, and to a vessel of gold and silver that I would be useful to you. Help me when I am called to discern when others should be chosen for service that it would be Your choice and not mine. This I ask in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Want more? Why not try A. B. Simpson or A. W. Tozer?
Before any spiritually challenging endeavor, we should prepare. Whether giving speech, teaching a Sunday School class/Lay-person sermon, Vacation Bible School, retreat, etc., we should properly prepare ourselves with the same or even greater time and care that we would for any secular activity.
First, seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness. We should each also be offering our bodies as living sacrifices to God by denying ourselves, picking up our cross, and following Jesus. Next, seek the Father out in prayer, and make sure that there is no unrepentant sin in your life. After any un-confessed sin is dealt with, prepare yourself by reading the word of God. Draw close to the Father in prayer. If possible, fast** in preparation for what is to come.
Jesus would regularly withdraw from the masses with His disciples to spend time with God the Father in prayer. He would also frequently fast:
16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer [and fasting*].“
Preparing for what you are about to do is vital to the success of any endeavor. And while many people are able to just “wing it” in their daily lives, God desires us to follow our example, Jesus Christ, in how He did everything.
When Jesus healed, He almost always touched the person that required healing. With some exceptions (for instance the Centurion’s servant and Lazarus), He even physically touched people who, according to the Levitical Law, he should not have touched – those who had leprosy.
1 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. 4 Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
We now know that some forms of leprosy are transmitted by coming into contact with fluid discharge from a person that has it (a sneeze, or possibly on their clothing or body). Jesus, however, reached out and touched the people that he healed. We should do the same.
Touch is a powerful form of communication. For the outcasts, the lonely, the grieving, and people living on the fringe of society (as well as others), touch has an interesting ability to break down barriers and show that you care for the person. Jesus cared for us so much that He allowed Himself to be crucified. What is a little touch in comparison with that?
After laying your hands on the person where the issue is located, using your authority in The Lord Jesus Christ, command what is ailing the person to be healed. In some cases, the issue is that the part of the body that is having issues is not long/large enough. If that is the case, command in the name of The Lord Jesus Christ that the part of the body that needs to grow to grow. You have been given the authority in Christ to do this:
Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
It is imperative that we are yielding ourselves to the Holy Spirit’s prompting. We are to be attentive to His guidance in our lives, and following His leading as He reveals to us what we should do through the word of God and as He prompts us. We need to remember that we are merely conduits for the power of God to manifest itself. We don’t heal people; God heals people through us. As the Holy Spirit guides you, say what you are prompted to say for the healing to occur.
Please note that you may need to command the affected part of the body more than once to be healed. Ask the person after you have commanded it to be healed to tell you, on a scale of 1 to 10 how the pain/issue is. Tell them to tell you the truth, not what they think you might want to hear. If the pain/issue has not gone (but is getting better), repeat the process until there is no pain. God will reveal to you what you are to do as He sees fit.
Jesus never once, as recorded in the Bible, declined to heal anyone. The only passage that would indicate that He did not do all that He intended was because the people refused to have faith. Jesus could have healed them, but they were not open to it. If a person is in enough pain, they will be open to being healed.
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
When you endeavor to step out in faith for the kingdom of God, you are putting a target on your back. You will encounter people who have demons. Stand strong, and use your authority in Christ to bind the demon(s). Ask them their name first, then command them by name or type (“demon of <fill in the blank>”) to go to the feet of Jesus and to never return. Not all sickness is demonic, but some is, and you will encounter these issues, just as Jesus did. Don’t let this dissuade you from what you are called to do. Just be aware, and be prepared.
Let’s ask a question: With regard to my authority in Christ, am I taking God’s word at face value?
Father in Heaven, You continually amaze me in that You have saved me. Father, please help me to understand my authority in Your Son, Jesus Christ. Help prepare me to live out the holiness that You have imparted to me through the righteousness of Jesus. Help me to walk in humility before You, and to keep myself clean through repentance. Help me to be yielded to the Holy Spirit that I may more fully yield myself, my life, and all that you have placed me in charge to His authority for Your glory. Give me more boldness that I might do the works that Jesus did during His ministry, and help me to reach the lost in a more powerful way. Help me to understand what You meant when the Apostle Paul said that I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. This I ask in the precious name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Want more? Why not try A. B. Simpson or A. W. Tozer?
Notes: This blog has been updated to include the second reference to the fasts that Daniel undertook.
*This part of the passage does not appear in all of the texts. If it helps, I can personally attest to the power of fasting when confronting the enemy successfully when previous attempts without fasting were unsuccessful.
**Due to medical issues, many people need to eat regularly. If you are unable to fast, try a juice fast (consult your doctor first). If you need to eat food, try a Daniel fast.
You are under attack. Whether you realize it or not, you are being bombarded in the three main areas your adversary – Satan and his minions – have found to be most effective in derailing your efforts at remaining in Christ:
There is a VERY GOOD REASON that the Western World is not seeing the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus when He said:
Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
The reason? We are not a holy people. We go to church (rather than BEING the church). We seek and revel in the prosperity The Lord Jesus Christ has provided to us but don’t seek as our first priority that His kingdom prospers, even in our difficulties, and we don’t take the time to ensure that God has our full attention to transform us into the image of His Son.
I was recently at a worship/revival service where a man said that every believer should be able to do what Jesus did in His ministry:
Heal the sick, raise the dead (Gasp! Anyone try this one lately?), cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. – (Comments in italics mine)
He then dedicated the people gathered (a local body of believers who knew each other and a few others that were invited) for service to the Lord. He prophesied over their lives in the dedication part of the service with complete accuracy, telling people about themselves that he could not have possibly known (including the strangers among them, of which I was one). After the dedication, he began to heal those who were sick. Broken bones were mended. The crippled and infirm stood up, jumped up and down, and praised God. He drove out demons, calling them by type or name, and released people from their control.
This was a first for me. Never had I seen someone operate with the power of God in such a way. Then he made good on his promise that anyone can do these things. My wife had recently had a concussion, and went up for healing. After being healed, a man with a broken ankle went up for healing. Looking around, the guest speaker at the revival service spotted my wife, and said to her, “Come here – YOU lay hands on him!”
My wife, in faith, walked over, placed hands upon the man’s ankle, and was told by the guest speaker to command the ankle to be healed, and say it with authority. My wife did exactly that. And then the most amazing thing happened – my wife said that under her hands she felt the bones of his ankle moving around and mending! The guest speaker asked the man to walk around, and he did. He could now jump up and down on it. My wife doesn’t have the spiritual gift of healing. She was just being faithful to the Word of the Living God, and He responded.
The following morning, I decided, in faith, to put this to the test. My wife suffered (past tense!) from hypothyroidism. I laid hands on her neck where the thyroid was located, and prayed, “In the name of Jesus Christ, thyroid, BE HEALED!” I sensed the Holy Spirit of God tell me to command it to “BE HEALED!” two more times. But, how do you take a thyroid for a walk? Later that evening, after putting on her bed-clothes, my wife said to me, “I’m hot.” The only way that she was warm in the past was severe sickness (fever). We took her temperature, and it was normal – almost two full degrees higher than normal. It has been that way ever since.
WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND OUR AUTHORITY IN CHRIST
The Western church (at least, a significant portion of it) is not teaching the disciples of Christ how to engage in spiritual warfare and how to use their authority in Christ. I will not speculate here as to why.
God wants us to be free – to live free! – for if the Son frees you, you are free indeed. But we continue to live in bondage. And the reason why? One of the very core reasons of this is that we are not preparing ourselves to meet the Lord.
Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
We are to be a holy people, set apart from sin, and set apart to God. But truly, how are we set apart? Apart from telling people the Gospel, would anyone be able to identify you as a disciple of Christ from your actions? Are we feasting our eyes on the latest R-rated films? Do we feast our bodies with excessive alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, or food consumption? Can anyone tell us apart by the way we speak (not only the words we use, but how we say them)? These are just a few indicators. It was once said (I don’t remember who) that we should ask ourselves, “If there was a trial today, would there be enough evidence to convict you as a disciple of Christ?”
We are to be preparing ourselves as the bride of Christ. The bride removes her old garments and puts on the wedding garment. She waits in eager anticipation for the coming of the groom. She preens and puts on her best makeup, perfume, jewelry, and has her nails buffed and polished to perfection. She selects the very best shoes to wear. She seeks to be as beautiful as possible for him, to be his delight. If we do that just for OUR spouses, how much more so should we be doing this for The Lord Jesus Christ?
It is time that the church takes holiness seriously, and that the holy ones of God are released to do what God has purposed for them to do since before the foundation of the world.
We are to seek the holiness of God in our everyday lives. We need to hunger and thirst for righteousness. It is to be our heart-cry. We are to eagerly desire the transforming work of the Holy Spirit as we grow in righteousness:
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
Does your heart crave the word of God? Do you long for and desire to be in the continual presence of the Lord? Can you say, with complete honesty:
Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
If not, do you WANT to be able to say that with joy?
The good news is that there IS deliverance from the soul-crushing rut of running into the same sins and (to a certain degree the same temptations) over and over again. If that is how you feel, YOU NEED DELIVERANCE. Disciples of Christ can be overwhelmed and influenced by Satan and his minions in many ways. Once we have granted the enemy LEGAL GROUND to afflict us through unrepentant sin, curses (generational and otherwise), and ignorance of the word of God, we are the enemy’s new plaything.
There are several fine resources available to help you to shake yourself free from the grasp of the enemy (a couple of them are listed below). If you want to live free in Christ, please take the time to read these resources, do the hard work, and free yourself:
Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
You have AWESOME authority in Christ! With the same power in you that raised The Lord Jesus Christ from the dead (the Holy Spirit of God), YOU can live a free life, do the works that Jesus did, and even greater works than those, as you consistently yield yourself to the authority of the Holy Spirit as Jesus did when He walked the Earth two thousand years ago, and now sits at the right hand of God praying for you:
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Let’s ask a question – Am I truly walking in the freedom promised to me by My Lord Jesus Christ?
Father in Heaven, forgive me for not taking your word at face value. Forgive me for not believing what You have made plain to me in Your word about Your authority, my authority in Christ, and for not seeking you with all of my heart, mind, soul and strength. Lord Jesus, help me to be the bride that is radiant and adorned with holiness, greeting You when You come for me dressed and prepared for the wonderful future You have promised to me, sealing Your promise with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Help me to tear down any stronghold that holds me captive to the lie and does not comport with Your holy word. Help me to rely completely upon the Holy Spirit so that I would walk in Your ways. Help me to fight the good fight, to prepare as I need to prepare, and to stand for You, even unto death. Help me to put to death anything in my life that would keep me from following you with utter abandon. This I ask in the name of Your Most Holy Son, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Want more? Why not try A. B. Simpson or A. W. Tozer?
Notes: Here are two resources that can be used hand-in-hand for deliverance of demonic oppression and interference in your life. Please note that while I may not agree with everything the authors say or live out in their lives, the information in these resources is extremely beneficial to taking off the last of the grave-clothes, and keeping them off:
“The Bondage Breaker” by Neil T. Anderson
“DELIVERANCE and SPIRITUAL WARFARE MANUAL” by John Eckhardt
If you have not been taught about spiritual warfare and deliverance, these resources may be challenging to both believe and read. Set apart time to fast (a juice fast or Daniel fast if medically necessary) and pray that God would open your eyes when you read the books, protect you from interference from the enemy, and reveal the truth about spiritual warfare and His word to you as you read.
If you find that you cannot read these books (you feel pressure to not read them), pray earnestly that God would show you anything that you need to confess in your life to Him and repent of, anything in your life you need to renounce, and any amends that you need to make first (and go make them). After this, open your Bible and begin reading the four Gospels and Acts. If you feel reluctance to do that as well, seek out a church that will pray over you and help you with this issue (the interference of the enemy). The body of Christ is there to uplift, uphold, bear the burdens of, and hold accountable all of us in our walk with God.
It IS possible to live freely in Christ. Just because you haven’t experienced it yet does not mean that it is not possible or feasible:
Paul encourages us to move beyond the basics. We are not to remain babes in Christ, but, like teenagers, move on to maturity. However, we do need to start with the basics. Paul lists several of the basic principles of the Christian faith:
Each of these is important, as they are part of the foundation upon which we build with Christ as our cornerstone. Without the cornerstone and basic foundation, the rest of the structure that we build will not be sturdy, straight, and sufficiently load-bearing. Paul used these analogies because the average person at the time of his writing would have understood them and their relation to the spiritual truths he was attempting to convey.
The next step in this process is to understand who we are in Christ. One of the reasons disciples of Christ in the Western world seem impotent in their endeavors (not all, but many church bodies don’t seem to have the impact that they should) is that we do not understand our authority in Christ.
The average Christian either does not understand or believe all of the verses in the Bible. If we truly believe something, we will act upon it.
“Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.”
This verse is to be tempered by remembering that Christ completely yielded Himself to the Holy Spirit, and only did what the Father was doing, and only said what He heard the Father say:
1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.”7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
We are to be submitted to God. When we are submitted to God, listening to Him, and obeying His commands, whatever we ask will be given us. And the reason it will be given us is that our focus will be upon the Father’s work, and what we ask will be to the Father’s glory:
And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
The only way to successfully walk the walk of being a disciple is to walk in obedience to God. We hear this over and over again. Why? Because it is FOUNDATIONAL to our victory over sin as well as maturing in Christ.
If we were to go out every night and drink ourselves into a stupor, sleep in until the afternoon, and basically do whatever makes us feel good in the moment, people would look at us as though we were children. Only children don’t understand or take hold of responsibility. Only children put up temper-tantrums when they don’t get their way, and refuse to do what they know they need to do because of petulance and self-righteous anger when they don’t get their way.
Until we get to the point where we fall on our knees and say, “Lord Jesus, Thy will be done in my life”, and we truly mean it and seek His will in our life every second of every day, we will be less than optimally effective for Him in our service to Him. Will we ever get there? No. We have a sin nature. Even Paul said he wasn’t there yet:
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.
God has assigned to each of us our work to do. We need to seek God and get our marching orders. In the case of the Israelites, they were told to possess the land of Canaan. God went out before them and drove the wicked inhabitants out so that they could claim the land that God had given to them.
In the same way, we are to possess the land that we have been given. We are to conquer the sins that so easily beset us. We are to understand, use, and become proficient with the spiritual gifts that God has given us. We are to plug in and yield ourselves to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. We are to grow in holiness and understanding of the Word of God. We are to become fully mature, do our work, and mentor those who are not as far along as we are. We are to seek others to mentor us. And we are to walk with those who can act as accountability partners.
There is significantly more that we should do. But just like the Israelites, we are to take a little land at a time, inhabit it, fully possess it, and move on to conquer more of the land that God is preparing for us.
Let’s ask a question: Have I matured in Christ?
Father in Heaven, You have provided victory of sin for me in Jesus. You have made it possible to live in righteousness before You. You have given me the opportunity to grow in You. Help me to fully mature in Christ. Help me to be a workman who is well-trained in how to use Your word. Help me to overcome the sin that so easily besets me. Give me victory over my flesh and the enemy of my soul. Bind Satan and his minions that they would be unable to react as I plunder their dominion – to seek the lost and to tell them the Gospel. Grant me victory today, and help me to be fully yielded to the Holy Spirit that I may honor and glorify Your name. This I ask in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Want more? Why not try A. B. Simpson or A. W. Tozer?
The word of God is full of the spiritual meat. It provides guidance for every aspect of life, in every situation. And while the word of God does not specifically say, “I want you, <Your Name Here>, to go to such and such a city and get such and such a job and do such and such a ministry…”, it does provide guidance for every area of our lives.
Psalm 119:105 says that the word of God is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path. There is just enough light to see the cliff, or where to put our next foot. We need the guidance of the Holy Spirit through faithful and fervent prayer to God to get anything close to a longer-term indication of what we should be doing (further than our next footstep).
In the word of God, as we mature, we begin to understand the deeper truths of walking in step with God in our spiritual life. God reveals wonderful nuggets of truth that help to transform our lives from merely adoring children into prepared adults, making mature decisions, walking confidently in His guidance and being resources to those who are still maturing in Christ.
Everyone who has been walking with God for more than five years (and for many, perhaps even fewer years…) should begin to mature in Christ. Paul says something very interesting here. He gently scolds the Hebrews (and us!) for their passivity in failing to pursue a more complete understanding and comprehension of the spiritual truths of God, and even says, they are no longer even trying.
Many people believe simply that since they are saved, God will take care of their spiritual feeding through divine revelation through the Holy Spirit. But God says to seek Him with ALL of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. God greatly desires that we mature, just as parents everywhere, wish that their teenagers WOULD JUST GROW UP ALREADY…
There is a great frustration among parents when they watch their 18, 19, 20, 30 year old children act exactly like that – CHILDREN. There is an expectation that their children would mature, and then do something productive with their lives, not live in their parent’s basement until they are 50 only eating junk-food, watching TV, and playing video games all night with their friends. In the same way, God desires that His children mature, stand strong, and do the works that He has prepared for them to do since before the foundation of the world.
The good news is that as we mature, we have a veritable feast available to us to feed upon. As a child, we grow and develop feeding on the rich milk of our mothers. But there comes a time when we need additional nourishment in order to grow our bodies. ONLY drinking milk (or not eating or drinking anything else at all…) will eventually cause malnourishment in our bodies.
In the same way, by feeding upon the “meat of the word”, we become nourished, strong, and able to do the work that we need to do. Those of God’s people who are not seriously seeking him through prayer, reading his word, and seeking out an understanding of his word (its meaning and application in our lives, as well as implementing it as part of our daily routines) are on the path to spiritual malnourishment, as well as being weakened for the enemy of our souls, to pounce upon us, overpower us, and devour us.
As we feed upon the word of God and pray, we grow strong. There is an amazing cornucopia of delights as we delve deeper into the word, and our lives are transformed by its principles and guidance. Cheetos and milk duds may taste good for a snack, but what is better than a ten course meal with all of the trimmings to satisfy your hunger? The word of God is like a good Amish buffet – wholesome, tasty, satisfying food, always with new varieties, to fill us, tantalize us, and give us strength as it satisfies our hunger.
Those who truly are babes in Christ should feed on milk until they begin to mature, being able to distinguish the difference between what is good and what is evil in the sight of the Lord. Just as adults don’t exclusively drink milk, we don’t feed steak to a baby that has no teeth! As we train ourselves, though the transforming and renewing of our minds in the word of God, we are better equipped to understand and implement the deeper truths of the word of God.
We should all seek to want to feed upon the meat of the word, so that God would be able to use us in a greater capacity. God is able to use anyone in Him in any way that He chooses. He, however, is more easily able to use those who are mature in greater ways than the infants.
Let’s ask a question: Am I as mature as I should be for the length of time that I have spent as a child of God?
Father in Heaven, Thank You for your patience, mercy and grace. Give me a heart that constantly seeks after You, and greatly desires to grow and mature towards holiness. Help me to get out of any spiritual ruts that I may be in, and to pursue You as the cheetah pursues its prey. Provide me with strength, guidance, resources, and good mentors so that I can become who You desire me to be. Help me to overcome any strongholds in my mind that may be keeping me from seeking to grow. Help me to turn my eyes more fully upon Jesus, and look full in His wonder face so that the things of this world will grow strangely dim. This I ask in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Want more? Why not try A. B. Simpson or A. W. Tozer?
When Paul had his encounter with the Living God, he was first directed to be the servant of the Lord Jesus. The first concern of God after people come to him is to follow Him and to serve Him:
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
In a culture where we are told every moment of every day that it is all about YOU, this seems to be a foreign concept. After all, if it is all about ME, why should I care about any of YOU? This is a tool of Satan as he attacks our minds:
For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.
This three-pronged attack is very effective at distracting us from being effective servants of the Lord. If Satan can get us to desire fleshly things, or covet with our eyes, or fill our hearts with pride, he can effectively destroy our walk and ministry for the Lord.
Servants have no rights of their own; their master is Lord over them. Many of the letters in the New Testament start with the author identifying themselves as bond-slaves of Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself said:
25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave- 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
A great deal of Christians, when witnessing to the lost say, “God has this wonderful plan for your life” or “Escape the fires of Hell!”. And while both of these are true, we are to be telling people that God desires that people know Him. We are to tell people what God has done for us in our lives – to free us from the bondage of sin, and to give us the opportunity to live life in victory.
We are to show that we are living lives in victory. That is how Paul and Silas were able to sing hymns at midnight after being beaten with rods and thrown in jail, resulting in the jailer and his family coming to know Jesus as Lord. Many have come to faith through the faithful witness of disciples of Christ after people see the peace they have in their lives through difficult time, terrible illness, and other distress.
In order to live our lives in victory, and to help others live in victory, we need to break down the strongholds in our lives:
3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
These strongholds are arguments and pretensions that we have in our minds that are contrary to the revealed word of God. Just a couple of these (certainly not an exhaustive list!) are:
Legalism – There is no law against love
Our works earn us a place in heaven – It is by grace alone through faith that we are saved
God can’t forgive me of my sins, they are too great – If we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive them
We can have strongholds in our lives about finances, sex, and any other number of topics. God, through His word, is the only authority for all aspects of our lives. He created the universe and us. He knows everything there is to know about us. He knows what will harm us and what will prosper us. And since Jesus is the embodiment of Truth, we can trust what He says is correct.
We are to tell of God’s salvation to the lost. Before witnessing, we are also to pray that God will open the eyes of the blind and that the deaf might hear so that the lost will see the goodness of God, and the free gift of salvation.
By being faithful servants, who have been freed from the bondage of strongholds and pretensions in our minds through the word of the Living God, we are then able to go and do what we have been commissioned to do – make disciples of all nations.
Let’s ask a question: Am I a faithful servant to Christ?
Father in Heaven, You are glorious, and Your beauty is beyond description. You shower us with your mercy and grace every moment of every day. If I only knew just how much You provide for me and protect me from, I would not be able to get off of my knees in praising You. Father, open my eyes to the strongholds in my life that keep me from being free to serve You as You desire. Show me in Your word the truth that I need to see in order to shake myself free from the bonds that I have created. Bind the works of Satan, and help me to be free, for since Jesus has freed me, I am free indeed. And Father, please send me to people, or send people to me, that I may witness of what You have done in my life, that You would be glorified and that others would know of Your love for them, that they too might be freed and be saved. This I ask in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Want more? Why not try A. B. Simpson or A. W. Tozer?
There has been a great disservice done to the people of the United States of America. In an attempt to socially engineer an entire generation of people to forget and reject their country’s past as evil and antiquated, for years educators have been excluding the founding documents of the nation from the public instruction of the children. These documents shed light on the foundation of the nation, as provided by the Lord God Almighty Himself, and provides the basis for which the nation has since been, for the most part, a place where people who yearned to be free from the oppression of tyrants and religious persecution to come and live without the fear of repercussion the practice of hard work and righteousness. That era has passed, and now even their children have been deprived of the knowledge of what led to the formation of the nation, as well as the character and intent of the founders of the nation.
In this passage, the Israelites had listened to the reading of the word of God. It is critical that we know our founding documents and laws. For the Israelites, it was the word of God. As disciples of Christ, it is STILL the word of God. We are strangers in this world. As inhabitants in a strange land, we have an obligation to follow the rules of the land where they do not conflict with the word of God.
But how can you follow the rules of the land if you do not know what they are?
How can you know if the leaders of the nation are following the rules of the land if you do not know what they are?
The Israelites, after learning again what was in the law of God, realized that they were not following God’s law, and attempted to make the necessary changes to begin to follow what God had required of them.
One of the first things that they did was to recognize that the word of God had authority in their lives. We too must realize that not only does the word of God have authority in our lives, but that the leaders placed over us have implemented laws to help govern us in our day to day actions. And while not every rule of man is righteous, every directive of God in His word IS righteous.
The people in Jerusalem at that time united together. They had several common bonds:
United we stand, divided we fall – Aesop
It is important that the people of a nation be in agreement with the laws of that nation. In the case of the United States of America, no one has a gun pointed at their heads instructing the people that they may not freely move nor forbid them to leave to go elsewhere. They live there by choice. If people live in a nation by choice, should they not unite in agreement with the laws that govern how they are to behave in that country?
For the disciple of Christ, it is imperative that we practice what we preach. Hypocrisy is a terrible sin and a temptation that each of us faces each and every day as we are presented with the challenges of life. Joseph faced grave consequences for upholding the law of God when Potiphar’s wife attempted to seduce him and he declined. We too must take the time first to know the law, to obey the law (where it is not in direct contradiction to God’s law), and to not only obey the law, but encourage and exhort our leaders to do the same.
The laws of men are not perfect, but should be in place to protect the citizens of that nation from the harm that happens when sinful people seek to take advantage of, harm, impede, or otherwise cause damage to others. If we do not follow the laws set before us, are we not being hypocrites? In the United States of America, the people there have the ability to change the law. This is both a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing when an unjust law is changed so that the people can live in peace and freedom. It is a curse when evil people seek to impose their will upon others by getting into the positions of power that permit them to manipulate the switches and levers of power to their own benefit rather than the freedom of their people.
The law of God is clear and concise. It is not written in legalism, wrapped in an enigma, and shrouded in mystery. It is plain and easy for all who read it to understand it. So it should be with the laws of men.
In the case of the Israelites, the word of God told them to exclude the Ammonites and Moabites from them because they had not helped the Israelites in their time of need, but intended harm to the Israelites, even hiring Balaam to curse them. In the same manner, nations should be permitted to exclude those people who ignore and refuse to respect the laws of that nation who are seeking entrance to live in that nation.
These people intend harm to the people of the nation; for if they are unwilling to submit themselves to the laws of the nation through the established processes that the nation has set for entry into the land, they certainly will ignore any other aspect of that nation’s laws when it conflicts with their own interests. Such people are to be considered dangerous, and are to be excluded from the possibility of ever being permitted entrance into the nation, even for the purposes of visiting. The Israelites took action, and excluded those foreigners from among them. Nations who have leaders who are wise should consider doing the same.
Let’s ask a question: Do I take the time to know the laws of my nation?
Father in Heaven, Thank You for Your word. Thank You for freeing me from the bondage of sin. Thank You for Your great mercy and compassion. Thank You for being holy and righteous in all that You do. Help me to better understand Your word so that I may live in a manner that better glorifies Your name. Help me to understand the laws of my nation so that I may obey them and thus bring glory to Your name. Help me to encourage the leaders of my nation to obey the laws of the land and act in righteousness towards all. Give me the courage to do so, even if doing so may bring about my imprisonment or death. Help me to fear no man, but only to fear You, Lord God Almighty. Grant me the strength and courage to live a life that loves my neighbor, but doesn’t excuse or ignore their evil. Help me to stand up to wickedness through righteousness as You empower me to do so. Give me the words to say to all who ask why I do this. Remember me today, Oh God, as I seek to step out for You. This I ask in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Want more? Why not try A. B. Simpson or A. W. Tozer?
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
As we read the word of God, our hearts should react. The Israelites who were gathered before Ezra when Nehemiah was the governor over Jerusalem after the wall was rebuilt in fifty-two days experienced great mourning when they heard the word of God read to them. Jesus indicated that this was to be our state of heart as well when we hear the word of God and we realize that we are falling short of it.
The word of God is not merely words inspired by God and written by men for us to give historical records and inspirational thoughts; rather, the word of God is living and active:
12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
The word of God is able to show us exactly who we are in our inward attitudes as well as our outer words and deeds. Scripture is able to accurately pinpoint the weaknesses and failings in our character, thought processes, and beliefs. It is able to do so because it is both alive and absolute truth:
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
When our hearts respond to the word of God, we are ready to be trained by it.
Nehemiah records that the ordeal in rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem was taxing on the people. Anyone who has been under the threat of violence, where working with one hand and your other hand on your weapon is not a very peaceful ordeal. The Israelites experience this even today on a near day-to-day basis with the threat of suicide bombers, shootings, beatings, and missiles being directed towards them.
The last thing that God’s people needed right now was to become overwhelmed with dread at the thought of just how far short they were from the glory of God. Nehemiah commanded that the people not grieve on this day, for it was holy to them. They were to embrace the joy of the Lord. This is their strength, and our strength as well. God has sovereignly paid for our sins with the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary. Our natural response is to mourn over our sin. But we should then embrace the joy of our salvation, for it is in that joy that we have strength.
Pain, suffering, misery, mourning, and many other physically and emotionally draining situations sap our strength from us. When we have joy in hope (the certainty of outcome, not wishful thinking), we are able to look at these difficulties and put them in their proper perspective. Until we are able to grasp the joy of the Lord, we will be subject to the storms of emotion. Life is hard. For many, life seems impossible. When every breath is a challenge, and the situations of life threaten to rob every aspect of normalcy in life from you, only the joy of the Lord can lift you out of the pit of despair.
The Levites (the Levitical priests) had counseled the people to be still. Elsewhere in the word of God, that phrase is used as well:
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
But what does it mean to “be still”? One of the best translations of this phrase is “cease striving”. As humans, we have a desire and drive to do things our way. We tend to rely upon the gifts and resources that God has provided to us rather than on the provider of the gifts and resources. When we rely upon God, we will cease striving. Our hearts will “be still”, for we will be expectantly waiting for God to act, rather than acting on our own.
God had done a mighty work in and through those who had rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem. The Israelites were told to celebrate this great victory that God had given to them. Do we take the time to celebrate what God has done in our lives? Do we publicly acknowledge the victory God has given us over our enemies? Do we embrace the joy of the Lord in such a way that it is winsome to others? How we respond to what God has done and is doing in our lives is very important to God.
All of this was very important because of one thing: the people had understood the meaning of the word of God. We too should seek and embrace the word of God and its meaning in our lives. Learning the word of God should be foremost in our minds:
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
[Blessed is the one…] whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.
“Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also reject you as my priests;
because you have ignored the law of your God,
I also will ignore your children.”
Let’s ask a question: Am I living in the joy of the Lord?
Father in Heaven, Your joy is made complete in me through the sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus Christ, for my sins. Thank You for this gift, and for Your joy. Help me to know Your word and to embrace Your word in my heart and my mind. May Your law be on my lips when I first wake in the morning until I go to sleep at night. Help me to understand Your word better so that I can live it out in my life. Help me to cease striving, and to fully receive Your Spirit without measure. Give me the desire and ability to die to myself so that the Holy Spirit can display Your character through the life that You have provided to me. Help me to rely upon You more each day and less upon myself. Help my heart to be attuned to Your word and Your direction so that I might live in a way that pleases You more. Forgive me for my sins, and help me to have a heart that is sensitive to You. This I ask in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Want more? Why not try A. B. Simpson or A. W. Tozer?
In an insightful view of ancient worship, Nehemiah records the gathering of ALL of the people who were able to understand the law of God in Jerusalem after the wall was rebuilt. After he opened the scroll (the book) of the law, the people stood up.
God is a holy God. He desires, and deserves, our respect in all things. In the same way that our Earthly fathers desire respect from their children, God desires (and more rightly deserves!) our respect. Standing up when God’s law is about to be read is a way to show that respect. It shows that we are attentive to it, and that it deserves our full and undivided attention.
Ezra next praised our great God, YHWH. In response, the people raised their hands and responded with “Amen, Amen!” This meant “truly, truly!” It is a sign of acknowledgement and agreement with what is being said. We hear it and we do it. But how often do we think about it? How often do we take the time to truly ponder how we respond to God and His word?
The people then bowed down and worshiped God with their faces to the ground. Do we show the same respect for our Father in Heaven? Are we willing to bow down and worship the King of kings and Lord of lords? Is our view of God so high that we bow down with our faces to the ground? Do we give everything in worship to Almighty God, or do we merely acknowledge Him with words?
Due to the lack of modern convenience of sound systems and, in that location, a parabolic-shaped theater setting, the Levites (designated priests of God amongst the Israelites) were spread in the crowd of those gathered. As they read the word of God to the people, they made sure that the people understood what was being read.
Reading without comprehension is filling time, or even giving lip service to the material being presented. To honor the author, we should take the time to ponder and understand what the author intended for us to get out of their writing. The Levitical priests, as they read God’s word, made certain that the people understood what was being read to them. They took to the time to explain the full meaning of the law of God.
We need to understand what we are reading so that we can apply it in our lives. When we read God’s word, and then don’t understand it, we may say “wow, that was interesting”, but what effect will it have on our lives? How will it draw us closer to God and each other? How will it penetrate our hearts to show us ourselves? The word of God can only act as a mirror to our soul, properly reflecting what is there, when we can see what is in the mirror.
It is imperative that we seek out teachers of God’s holy word who have a clear and accurate understanding of it. The selection of our teachers will greatly influence our understanding and application of the word of God. And while God will certainly honor our attempts to live out what we know, He greatly desires that we understand His word more and more each day, so that we can participate in His character, and know Him more fully through living out His word in our lives.
Today, take the time to re-read the section of scripture that you read, and see if God reveals more about it to you, or more about you to yourself.
Let’s ask a question: Do I take the time to fully understand the meaning of scripture that I am reading?
Father in Heaven, You have graciously recorded for us the history of Your people and how You have interacted with them. Thank You for Your diligence in doing so. Help me to better understand Your word so that my life can be transformed from what it was into what it should be. Help me, Holy Spirit, to better understand the word of God. Show me where in my life that I need to make changes so that I will better honor You, Lord God Almighty. Help me to take more time, and do more research, so that I will have a fuller, richer, and accurate understanding of what I am reading. Help me to put it into action, for Your word is living and active an is able to help me to recognize my innermost feelings and desires. Help me to align my heart with Yours, Oh God! This I ask in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Want more? Why not try A. B. Simpson or A. W. Tozer?
After God sovereignly helped Nehemiah and the returned exiles rebuild the wall in fifty-two days (amidst threats of physical harm from their enemies, threats of false reports sent to the government, and spies leaking intelligence of their progress to everyone who would try to stop the work of God), the people wanted to hear the word of God. They told Ezra that they wanted to hear from the God who had helped them. Should not our first response to assistance from Almighty God be to seek our benefactor out to hear what He has to say?
The group gathered wasn’t just a few who wanted to hear; this was the entire community: men, women, and everyone who was of the age and with the capacity of understanding God’s holy word. The people didn’t have to be coerced into going, or enticed with anything apart from the desire to hear from their God. If only all the people who call themselves “Christians” had this same mentality – to eagerly desire and hunger for the word of God and its understanding…
Ezra didn’t wait until after everyone had the opportunity to get plenty of sleep, and leisurely get ready to be present at the reading of the word of God. Ezra began to read at daybreak, when it was light enough to read in public without the assistance of light from man. Not only did he start reading the moment that he could, EVERYONE was gathered and was ready for him to read the law of God the moment that he could.
They gave up the first fruit of their day – the first half of their day – to hear the law of God. There was nothing more important to them than hearing and knowing God’s law at that time. In our modern fast pace of life in the Western World, how many people would willingly gather from daybreak until noon to hear the word of God, let alone be attentive to it for the first half of the day?
The Bible records that the people listened attentively to the law of God as it was read. How do we fare with that? When we read the word of the living God, do we listen attentively to what it is saying? Do we just skim over it and fill ourselves with the good feelings that we have accomplished our reading (daily or otherwise), and move on with our day? Do we take in and comprehend the deeper truths of scripture? Do we apply what we have learned? What level of comprehension, let alone implementation, do we allocate and achieve for this most important task?
Let’s ask a question: Do I so hunger after God’s word that I would stand outside for the first half of the day just to hear it?
Father in Heaven, I say in my heart that I love You, and that Your word is more important to me than anything else. Help me to truly mean it my following through with my actions. Give me the desire, ability, and follow-through to spend more time in Your word and with You each and every day. May I more greatly desire the bread of life and living water than my own portion of food and drink each day. Help me to have such a longing in my innermost parts that I cannot wait to open Your word and dive deep into it. Like David, help me to pant like a deer for water for time with You. Help me to put everything in perspective, so that I can honor You in this way. This I ask in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Want more? Why not try A. B. Simpson or A. W. Tozer?
God has faithfully fulfilled many of His promises to us already in scripture. Jesus Christ fulfilled the first part of this scripture. He has indeed fulfilled it:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Jesus proclaimed that He was there to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, not to abolish them. Jesus faithfully fulfilled all that was prophesied about Him, down to the minutest detail. He perfectly fulfilled all scripture about Himself so that the Father could be glorified and so that God would not be mocked, for He is not a liar like men.
Jesus promises to bind the brokenhearted. And oh, how many woes await us each day!
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
It is a good thing that Jesus has overcome the world!
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
God restores what was broken and lost. Even though there are consequences for our actions, God is able to restore and bring order and peace into chaos and unrest.
God has freed the prisoners! We were held in a prison of darkness, because we could not see the light. Jesus is the light of the world. Now that we have seen the light, we can join Him in displaying the light. Lies and deceit keep us from seeing the truth. Jesus IS the truth:
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Jesus doesn’t just model truth; He IS truth. “The Truth” is a title, not just a reflection of reality. Jesus is the only accurate model of unvarnished truth that we have. God has been gracious to proclaim freedom from darkness by sending The Truth into the world. Now that The Truth has come, we are without excuse.
God has pronounced His favor upon us. By sending His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ, to take the punishment for our sins as He was tortured and crucified, He has given us great mercy and grace – great favor. He has done so much more than we can imagine! We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing! We are more than conquerors in Christ! No weapon formed against us will prosper, and we will refute every tongue that accuses us, since this is our heritage and vindication from God! Regardless of our circumstances, we have been greatly blessed!
But there is a flip-side to this. For those who refuse to accept the Lord’s favor – His mercy and grace, there will be a terrible day of vengeance. God, after doing everything that He could possibly do to win His image-bearers back over to Himself after His enemies try to drag them away, will eventually need to show the next portion of His character – JUSTICE. God is a perfectly just God, and He will rule and reign in righteousness. God cannot abide evil (rebellion against Himself), and He will, after exhausting every effort, bring forth the penalty for disobedience to a perfect and holy God – first, physical death, and finally, eternal separation from Him – complete spiritual death.
God greatly desires to comfort and console those who are grieving over their sin. He will give us oil of joy instead of mourning and a crown of beauty instead of ashes (used by the culture at that time to show great anguish in grief, mourning, and sorrow). God has provided us, though the sacrifice of the perfect lamb of God, the promised Holy Spirit as our down-deposit for our inheritance. We have Him to console us, to comfort us, and to guide us.
God sees us through the robes of righteousness of Christ that have been imputed to us (legally declared to be ours). As such, He sees us as Oaks of Righteousness. He sees the righteousness of Christ rather than our filthy rags. Just like a bank account, we may not see the money, but it is there, registered in our name. Given the vast wealth of righteousness that is afforded to us through Christ, should we not then incorporate more and more of it into how we live? Should we not display this immeasurable (spiritual) wealth just as we show off our homes, cars, jewelry, and other items that we seem to hold dear and treasure?
Let’s ask a question: Do I take the time to try to grasp just how truly rich I am in Christ?
Father in Heaven, Your generosity is beyond my comprehension. You have given us uncountable wealth in Your Son, Jesus Christ, through His sacrifice for us. Help me to better grasp just how far and wide Your love is for me. Help me to internalize it, and to rejoice in it, as the cares of this world continually claw at me to drag me down to its depths. Give me a right understanding of Your word, that I may embrace it more and more each day. Help me to display to the world Your righteousness, for You have declared me to be an Oak of Righteousness. Thank You for this and for all things, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Want more? Why not try A. B. Simpson or A. W. Tozer?
Notes:
*The word used elsewhere in the scripture for the Gospel means “Good News”.
**During the year of Jubilee, the captives were set free, and land was supposed to be returned to its rightful owners. Jesus may very well have been declaring that particular year a year Jubilee as God was freeing the captives.
In a world where everyone is at odds with each other, it is not always easy to be at peace with people. Although there is great evil in the world, Jesus Christ has overcome the world. And as ambassadors for Christ, we need to live in this victory. This is not to say that we will be able to be at peace with everyone. This command is completely directed at us, not at the outcome. Elsewhere, we are told:
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
This does not mean that you are to be a doormat. Make every effort to live in peace with others. They are responsible for their own reactions. Otherwise, we would be their perpetual slaves, forced to do their bidding in an effort to bring peace at any cost to our relationships.
You can’t please all of the people all the time. – Miranda Richardson
We have been set free, and should no longer be slaves to people’s desires or expectations from us or for us. We are to instead be focused on the expectations that our Lord Jesus Christ has for us.
We are to seek the Holiness of God in how we conduct our lives. This is not works-based salvation, but rather a fulfillment of a Christ-proclaimed directive:
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
1 Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?
Who may live on your holy mountain?2 The one whose walk is blameless,
who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from their heart;
3 whose tongue utters no slander,
who does no wrong to a neighbor,
and casts no slur on others;
4 who despises a vile person
but honors those who fear the Lord;
who keeps an oath even when it hurts,
and does not change their mind;
5 who lends money to the poor without interest;
who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.Whoever does these things
will never be shaken.
God is holy. He cannot abide sin. It is for this reason that Jesus died on the cross, that we might have the opportunity through the righteousness (holiness) of Christ to be in the presence of God forever.
Being a disciple is more than mere intellectual ascent to the creed of your master. It is the moment-by-moment imitation of your master’s activities, thought processes, and character so that you can be as near a perfect imitation of your master. If a person thinks their way is better than their master, why waste the time, money, and effort of trying to learn their ways? Discipleship is the recognition that your master knows how to do whatever it is you desire to learn to do better than you are able to do it. God knows our hearts, and doesn’t seek people looking for “fire insurance.” God desires those who espouse a great conviction that He is holy; He is truth; He is perfect; He knows best how to do everything; and we don’t.
Cain asked God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The simple answer is, “YES!!!” We are to look out for each other. When we see someone else begin to falter, we are to render assistance to them, help them back up, and restore them once they have begun to walk right again.
We are to encourage one another in psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. We are to greatly desire that each member of the body of Christ be built up in the Spirit, fully mature, and lacking nothing. We are to agonize in prayer over this. The world says, “Family First!” The body of Christ needs to place this in its proper perspective: God first, family second, everyone else third. Let us begin to treat other believers in Christ in our local body (where we worship) as our family, just as if you were born and raised with them. Then, after we have that down (how much less strife would be in the church if we did just that!), let us treat the OTHER bodies of disciples of Christ as though THEY were our family as well! United we stand, divided we fall. This is just as true today as the day it was pronounced.
Sexual immorality was just as prevalent two thousand years ago as it is today. We are reminded that we are to put to death anything that impedes our walk with our Savior:
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.”
Sanctification is the process of the renewing of one’s mind in such a way that not only do we desire to be holy, we begin to walk in the holiness of God, accepting the consequences of our actions without regard to their difficulty. God is character-driven. We are to adopt and emulate His character in how we conduct the lives that He has given us. Immorality of any type is to be rejected. God is the one who decides what is moral and immoral, for our hearts (the root of our emotions, desires, and motivations) in their natural state are wicked, and unable to properly discern the truth even about themselves.
Finally, we are admonished to greatly desire the reward that awaits us in heaven. Esau, for a meal, gave away his inheritance. He desired the immediate gratification of the flesh over the (seemingly) far off reward of his inheritance. Like Esau, we are impatient, self-gratifying, self-seeking, and unable to keep everything in its proper perspective. We need to put these things to death in us. We need to embrace the same mindset as Christ, who endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him.
Let’s ask a question: Do I not only long for, but ferociously seek the holiness of God in how I conduct my life every second of every day?
Father in Heaven, You are holy, and You cannot abide sin in Your presence. Thank You again for the sacrifice of Your One and Only Son, Jesus Christ, so that I might have the opportunity to be in Your presence. Thank you for the very life and breath You give to me now. Help me to actively seek and desire the character of holiness that shines forth from You and repels the darkness. Help me to better understand Your holiness, and the principles of character that You desire to be perfected in my life. Sanctify me so that I might draw even closer to You. Help me to live in such a way that You are pleased with my conduct, my speech, and my every thought. Test me during the day, and even at night, so that I will be prepared for the great and glorious day when Your Son returns in glory. Help me to be like the virgins who brought oil with them as they awaited the bridegroom, for our bridegroom is coming, and is coming quickly. This I ask in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Want more? Why not try A. B. Simpson or A. W. Tozer?
CHRIST ALLIANCE CHURCH