Salt & Light Blog

The Life of David Part 1: You Were Made to be Extraordinary

8/16/2016

For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart 1 Samuel 16:7

I want to begin a series looking at the life of David. David is first mentioned in the book of Ruth. Ruth 4:16-22 read,
Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. 17 And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
18 Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, 19 Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, 20 Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, 21 Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, 22 Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.

David was Israel’s greatest king, and a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22). We read first that his lineage contains Ruth, a Moabite, not a Jewess at all. Ruth was born a Moabite but out of love and faithfulness to her husband and her mother in law she chose to follow the One True God. Her life’s circumstances were difficult. She lost her husband and followed Naomi to a foreign place because of her faithfulness. In a picture of wonderful redemption Boaz married Ruth and that union created Obed, who led to Jesse, and then David.
God chooses to use ordinary people to do His work. He uses the small, the weak, the broken, the humble, the willing, and the unwilling. Ruth was an ordinary woman who worshipped a foreign God, but The Lord chose her and brought her to know Him through a family of Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah, Naomi and her sons, one of whom married Ruth. When Ruth was widowed rather than choose to be released from her responsibilities to Naomi and return to idols, she stayed true to The Lord and remained with Naomi. That simple woman gave Naomi a reason to keep going after losing her husband and both her sons. That commonplace woman worked hard and proved to be extraordinary, caught the eye of Boaz and became part of the lineage of Jesus our Christ.
God doesn’t look at us the way we look at one another or ourselves. He sees the true us, the us with unlimited potential, the us He made us to be. He knows we were made in His image and can be made in the image of Christ to glorify Him.
The next time we see David is 1 Samuel 16. The Lord had rejected Saul as king of Israel because he had stopped following the commandments and had set up a monument to himself (1 Samuel 15). Samuel was sent to Jesse in Bethlehem to anoint one of his sons as the new king in Saul’s stead. He went in the guise of sacrificing to the Lord (Verse 2). Jesse had eight sons and Samuel did not know which of them would be God’s elect king. He looked at each son. 1 Samuel 16:6-10 reads,
When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord's anointed is before him.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.”
Jesse’s elder sons each looked outwardly good. Eliab was so impressive that Samuel assumed God had selected him, but God said no. He sees the true person and though Eliab looked remarkable to Samuel, he nor the other six were God’s anointed. Verses 11-13 continue the narrative.
Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.” 12 And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

Not one of his brothers or even his own father had considered including the youngest son in taking part in the sacrifice. He was out tending the sheep and they didn’t think of including him. But God did. God invited him, chose, him, and anointed him. He didn’t leave him alone from then on to struggle through either. His Spirit rushed upon David and stayed with him from that day forward. Because David had the Holy Spirit on him, he was able to be courageous, faithful, authentic, and passionate for The Lord. This ordinary boy became an extraordinary king.
Believer, you have the Holy Spirit indwelled in you! He is not just on you, He is in you! And He will not leave you. You have the power of God on your side and within you. Ephesians 1:16-21 in The Living Bible reads,
I have never stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you wisdom to see clearly and really understand who Christ is and all that he has done for you. 18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can see something of the future he has called you to share. I want you to realize that God has been made rich because we who are Christ’s have been given to him! 19 I pray that you will begin to understand how incredibly great his power is to help those who believe him. It is that same mighty power 20 that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in heaven, 21 far, far above any other king or ruler or dictator or leader. Yes, his honor is far more glorious than that of anyone else either in this world or in the world to come.
You don’t have to look good to the world, God knows who you are and what great intention He has for you. He will make the way for you to do whatever He has purposed for you. Isaiah 46:8-11 says it this way,
Remember this and stand firm,
    recall it to mind, you transgressors,
9     remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
    I am God, and there is none like me,
10 declaring the end from the beginning
    and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
    and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
11 calling a bird of prey from the east,
    the man of my counsel from a far country.
I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
    I have purposed, and I will do it.
You were not meant to live a common life, you were made to live an exceptional life in which the supernatural power of God is natural to you, the power of love abounds through the Spirit more and more, the Kingdom of God is impacted and God is glorified. You were anointed to be a holy nation, a kingdom of priests, God’s very own!
Deuteronomy 7:6-8 says,
For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

You were made for more than this world, you were made for eternity, you were made for God and by God. Live with the courage and confidence of who you are in Christ.

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Romans 9 Sovereign God Chose You

5/14/2016

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Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you Matthew 7:7

Romans 9
Believer, you were chosen by God to be His very own. Not everyone will answer God’s call to faith, but you did. He chose you, He offered you the right to become His son or daughter, and you seized the opportunity. So many people don’t answer. So many choose to seek redemption through other roads, by erred philosophies, or don’t seek at all and choose ignorance. But you were selected and you answered the call. In Revelation 3:20-21 Jesus said,
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.  The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.”

If you are a believer, then you answered and you sit with God on His throne as His son or daughter. You were elected, you are preferred, desired, and cherry-picked to be the cherished child of God. Though He knocks, not many answer. Some cannot muster the faith to believe such a simple truth as the Gospel. Some cannot submit their own will to His and insist on finding their own way to salvation. They won’t hear Jesus tell them, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6). I have loved ones who have rejected Christ. I have loved ones who will not give in and believe that He died and resurrected to give them life. And it breaks my heart. I would do absolutely anything if it could save them. But their salvation is not up to me. I can only tell them the truth and live out the truth in my life. It is up to the Lord to call and them to answer.
Paul described this using his fellow Jews. They had been offered the truth from the beginning but most of them chose death in the law over life in Christ. His heart broke for them but he couldn’t force them to choose faith. He could only move on to those who might listen and believe. Verses 1-5 read,
I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

Look at how passionate Paul was that the Jewish people believe. If he could have given up his own salvation for their sake, he would have. Do you love people that much? Really? Many of us are not even willing to give up a bit of comfort or pride in order to share the Gospel with someone. If we are not willing to endure a minute of awkwardness for someone I seriously doubt we would be willing to endure an eternity of torment for them. God loves the lost as much as He loves you and that love is immense. In his letter to the Ephesians Paul described God’s love like this as he prayed for them to understand it,
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,  that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,  may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,  and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:14-21).

He loves you with a love so wide, high, deep, and long that you can only even begin to fathom it through the Holy Spirit. He loves that person God is prompting you to speak to just as much. He suffered the cross for you and for her, can you suffer a little discomfort to let her hear Jesus’ knock?
If there are so many people lost, if the Jewish people had the whole thing and still didn’t believe, if the people you speak to still reject Him, then is God’s word a failure? No. Verses 6-13 read,
But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. 9 For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

Esau had the same parents, the same choices, even more so than Jacob. Esau was favored by Isaac. But it was Jacob who was chosen by God to become Israel. It was Jacob who answered God’s call. Does it seem unfair? Does it seem like God just threw Esau away before he was even born? It was Esau who sold his birthright to Jacob for the price of a bowl of stew (Genesis 25:29-34). He chose to give his calling away for the satisfaction of his stomach. God gave him freewill and he exercised it. Did the Lord know he would? Yes. Did the Lord want him to do it? Of course not! God doesn’t want a single one of us to choose death (Ezekiel 33:11, 1 Timothy 2:4). If Esau had chosen not to sell his birthright, Jacob still would have become Israel. God always sees to it, that those who follow Him in faith become the people we were created to become.
God is God! He created you. He created the universe. He chose your lineage. He chose you! He is Sovereign Almighty. Verses 14-18 read,
What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

It may be very difficult to understand why God didn’t simply save everyone or why He gave us freewill. But there would be no relationship in that kind of salvation. We would be mindless lemmings. We all have the freedom to choose Jesus Christ. So many don’t. God knew from before our birth, before our grandparents’ birth, and at the creation of the world who we would be and if we would choose Him. He knows if Jenny from the block will bow down and proclaim Jesus as Lord. We do not. If He chooses to harden her heart it is not because He is rejecting her, it is for a good purpose for those who have loved him and answered the call to follow Him. He knows who will choose Him. He can harden hearts, soften hearts, make breakthroughs, and build barriers. He can remove stumbling blocks and place them. He is God.
It seems unfair. It seems like He’s playing favorites. It is not He who is playing favorites, it is us! He pursues, opens, and gives. It is up to us to seek, knock, and ask. In Matthew 7:7-11 Jesus said,
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

Maybe you still find it unfair. But remember this; you are human and God is The LORD. His thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are not our ways. He is God, His thoughts and ways are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). Verses 19-29 read,
You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25 As indeed he says in Hosea,
“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
    and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
    there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”
27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, 28 for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” 29 And as Isaiah predicted,
“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,
    we would have been like Sodom
    and become like Gomorrah.”

The Jewish people who rejected Jesus as Messiah, made it so that the Gospel of Christ would be preached to rest of the world. God knew from the beginning that most of the world would not receive Him, He made the way from the beginning for us to be His people, His children, and His beloved bride. God did not condemn the ones who rejected Him to death, they condemned themselves by refusing to answer the call. He, being All-knowing Loving God, used their stubbornness for our good. We are not better than them. We are chosen by God. Our salvation is not from any effort of our own. It is God. God can and will save whomever He chooses. Romans 11:17-20 says it like this,
But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear.

There is one difference between the saved and the lost and that is in how we answered God’s call. We either answered with faith to submit to His work, or pride and choose our own work. Verses 30-33 say,
What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
    and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

Believer, you can be called Believer, Beloved, and Chosen because of God. It is His work, His call, and His love which has saved you. You didn’t do it. You only answered the door and let Him come in. Relish that blessing. Celebrate your election! Don’t be arrogant and think you’re better than anyone else because you are chosen. Look at them and realize that God loves them deeply and vastly and be the instrument He uses to call them into that relationship with Him. Give up a few moments of discomfort so they can enjoy an eternity of abundant joyful life.

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Galatians 1 Chosen and Saved by Jesus, No one else.

4/13/2016

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Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20

Galatians 1
I’m excited to begin reading Paul’s letter to the Galatians today. Paul’s writings are so multilayered and there is so much to glean regardless of how long you have been a Christian, how knowledgeable, or how mature you are.
You were chosen by The LORD to be His royal child and like Jesus a servant of the Gospel. God didn’t choose you, save you, and then leave you hanging, He chose you, saved you, and gave you His Word, The Truth, The Gospel. Verses 1-5 read,
Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers who are with me,
To the churches of Galatia:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Paul was made an apostle, not because men chose him, but because Jesus Christ chose him. Jesus chose every apostle personally, except for Matthias and His own brother James but even they was chosen providentially. Matthias was chosen through casting lots before the Holy Spirit had come (Acts 1:26). James was called an apostle and chosen through the Holy Spirit by agreement of the rest of the apostles. Though the story is not told, he is referred to as an apostle (Galatians 1:19) and was with the apostles and the other disciples from the beginning after Jesus ascended (Acts 1:14).
You were not chosen to be a follower of Christ by your Sunday school teacher, your parents, or the person who obeyed Him and told you how to be saved, you were chosen by Jesus. He called you to follow Him, He knocked at the door of your heart and said, “Follow me, let’s hand out and be friends.”
When He did that, Jesus not only saved you in the figurative sense, but in the literal sense. He raised you from the dead (like you once were) and gave you new life. He resurrected from the dead and He resurrected you too. No one but The Lord God did that for you. His blood delivered you, His grace saved you. It was and is His will for you to be saved, to be like Jesus and glorify Him forever.
The letter is to the church in Galatia, an area in what is now Turkey where Celts settled and lived but were not often united. They were a warrior people who intermarried with the surrounding Phyrgians and Greeks, adopted the Greek culture and eventually became part of the Roman Empire. Although it was Paul who planted the church in Galatia and Paul who preached the Gospel of Christ to them, it was Jesus who chose them and Jesus who saved them. But the diverse cultures surrounding them tried to pull the new believers back out of their new lives and into their old lives.
Isn’t that what happens today? The devil cannot stand to lose a soul to the Lord, he uses old lifestyles, sages, and even pious leaders to change the Gospel into a story, a cultural choice, or a perversion that cannot save or transform. How many people try and convince believers we are fools, we are hypocrites, and we are wrong? How many others try and persuade us we are on one of many paths to a heaven? It happens to us now and it happened to the Galatians then. Verses 6-9 read,
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
Have you turned to some other gospel? Does the word being taught to you, the one you are choosing to believe involve anything or anyone other than Jesus Christ as your redeemer? Does it include earning salvation through any kind of work be it charity, flagellation, or other steps? Then you are deserting Christ! Salvation does not come from being good, forgoing pleasure, living in scarcity, or rituals of baptism and communion. Salvation comes from Jesus Christ and transforms you into His righteousness by grace.
People find it so difficult to believe that the Gospel could be so simple as, “confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9) that they complicate it, they pervert it with additions of laws, rituals, and traditions. There is only one command and that command is the one that encompasses the entire Word, the whole Gospel, the prophecies, the Law, and the praise of God. Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).
No one should tell you any differently! If someone adds conditions to salvation, if they say that there is a single other requirement than repentance, belief, and profession of Jesus as Christ then they are lying! Christianity is not just another culture, another path, or a different lifestyle. It is a relationship with Christ which gives us new life and changes us forever to live as new beings forever. We are not seen by the outside, we are known by the heart and Spirit. We do not make the changes in us, God makes them. We simply submit to His will and Lordship (That is what it means to confess Him as Lord). 1 Corinthians 5:16-21 reads,
From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
When we give in to all these additions, when we even let these people try and teach us or our fellow believers these perverted messages we are suddenly trying to please them. We please the world by being “kind” to these messengers from Satan. It doesn’t please God for us to listen to their lies. It hurts the church, it injures the new believers, and it forever harms the ones who might have believed the Gospel when we entertain these liars, false teachers, and perverters of truth. Verse 10 reads,
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
The world calls us haters for refusing to listen to lies. The world hurls accusations of prejudice, narrow-mindedness, and bigotry at us when we claim there is only one way to salvation. No, serving Christ means we do not serve the world. It pleases God when we love one another enough to keep the lies out of doctrine. We can’t lead the lost to Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life with lies and false gospels. We can only lead them to Him and let them answer His call by the truth.
Paul was taught the truth by The Truth Himself. Jesus spoke it to Him directly, The Holy Spirit spent time with Him before He let Paul go to any man to learn. When Paul did finally go further his spiritual education with Peter and James first. Paul was taught the unpolluted truth and years later he went on to teach the pure uncontaminated truth to much of the world. Paul described it in verses 11-24.
For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. 12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone ;17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother. 20 (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.22 And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they glorified God because of me.
Do you trust God to be God? Refuse to let Satan in through the false teachers he sends along. Let’s dedicate ourselves to ensuring only the truth gets taught and let God teach the new believers through His Word, His Spirit, and His true children. It is important to make sure that even in the church, the people teaching are mature enough in Christ to know the truth, to have a solid foundation in it and so teach the Gospel and sound doctrine rather than lies. Letting a person without that foundation teach and preach before it is time, is how lies like “God doesn’t give us more than we can handle” and “Everything has a purpose” thrive and pervert the truth.
Paul after three years learned only with Peter and James, perhaps the two greatest leaders of the early church at the time (along with John and eventually Paul himself). New believers of course can share the Gospel, share what they have been taught and edify the church by their gifts but to let them teach before they are mature enough would be like having a high school senior teach a doctorate class. The senior needs to be the one sitting at the feet of the doctoral professor, not the other way around.
You were chosen by The Father to be saved by Jesus Christ and transformed by The Holy Spirit. The Gospel is simple and pure. There is one Truth, no other “truth” should be preached or taught. Jesus saved you by His choice and His work, not yours. Love one another, guard the Truth.

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Deuteronomy 34 Moses Remembered for Who God Made Him

4/11/2016

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But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day. Deuteronomy 4:20

Deuteronomy 34
Today we read the final chapter of Deuteronomy, a chapter not written by Moses but probably by Joshua or Ezra to complete the writing and honor the man who had led Israel from Egypt through the wilderness. It is a chapter written with love and esteem, a chapter which remembers Moses for the man The Lord made him to be.
How do you hope to be remembered after your death? What would be the greatest memorial to you? Do you hope for a statue that declares your great courage during the battles of life? Do you want a funeral where people stand and your grave side, cry and talk about the good deeds you did? What are the deeds and character they will remember about you?
Who are you? Are you the person your parents hoped you would be? Are you the person the prince of the world hoped you would be? Are you the person God called you to be? Moses birth mother parents gave up their son as an infant to save his life. They were probably not exactly thrilled that he was raised in Pharaoh’s home as a royal son but he was alive and thriving. His adoptive mother probably wanted a royal life for him. She likely imagined him serving as the leader of Pharaoh’s army or doing some great work in his administration. Satan wanted him ashamed, living in banishment over the guilt of murder that he never would have been punished for. He wanted him disqualified from the life God had called him for. But God called Moses to be His friend, His prophet, and the leader of who would set His people free. Every circumstance his parents created to make Moses into who they hoped and every circumstance Satan put forward to turn him in the man he wanted, God used to make Moses into the man of God we remember him to be.
Verses 1-4 read,
Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, 2 all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, 3 the Negeb, and the Plain, that is, the Valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. 4 And the Lord said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.”
Moses was at the end of his life and he spent the last hours with God alone. God showed him what He had accomplished and what His people would inherit. The Lord gave Moses a peace, letting him know he had done his job and done it well. In a way, He said, “Well done my good and faithful servant.” But now it was time for Moses to enter true rest. Verses 5-9 read,
So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord, 6 and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day. 7 Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated. 8 And the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses.
God spared Moses from becoming an idol. He was truly a man of God and God knew well enough that had Israel known where he was buried, they would have built an altar and worshipped him eventually. Moses didn’t have a grave, a statue, or a memorial stone. God Himself buried the man and no one knew where he was buried. It is not the physical monument that indicates the life a person lived. His legacy is in his life, character, deeds, and the people he mentored. Israel was able to mourn for the Moses but when the time for mourning was over, it was time to enter The Promised Land. Moses had not left them without a leader. God had appointed Joshua to take his place.
Though Moses did not have a gravestone, He was remembered. He was not remembered for killing a slave, for being slow of speech, or having a temper. He was remembered for being who The Lord had called him to be. Verses 10-12 read,
And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 11 none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 12 and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
Moses knew God more intimately than any man before him and better than any prophet since. The people remembered him as strong virile man even at 120 years old. They remembered him for the miracles God worked through him, for the parting of the Red Sea, bringing water from a rock, and leading them through the wilderness. They remembered him for his wisdom, judgements, andhis relationship with The Lord.
Moses parents wanted him to live and so did God. Maybe his mother didn’t want him to be among her own oppressors but she was probably glad he was alive at all. His adoptive mother wanted him to be a prince. Satan wanted him to be anything or anyone other than Israel’s deliverer. But God made Moses a prophet unlike any other in history, His friend, and the leader of a nation.
Who has God called you to be? Did you know He has called you to be His friend and His son or daughter? Are you a prophet? A teacher? A miracle worker? A healer? An evangelist? A shepherd? Whoever God has called you to be, you can be. The Father called you. Ephesians 1:3-6 reads,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Jesus Christ saved you. Ephesians 1:7-11 reads,
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,
The Holy Spirit indwells you, manifests in you, and transforms you. Titus 3:4-7 says,
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
And 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 reads,
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
God has made the way for you to be who He created you to be. Whatever people have done to make you who they want you to be, God can use for your good and His glory. Whatever Satan, the accuser of the brethren has used to quell you, God will use for your good and His glory. Romans 8:27-30 reads,
And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Are you who God has called you to be, who He predestined you to be or are you who the prince of the world wants you to be? Are you a prince in Egypt or are you a King in the Promised Land? You were called to be distinctive, the amazing beloved child of God. 1 Peter 2:9-10 reads,
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Proclaim the excellencies of The Lord, your Father, Savior, and Comfort; be the chosen and royal son of God that you are meant to be. What will they say about you after your death? Will they say, “She was a good accountant” or whatever job title you held? Or will they say, “She was the glory of God, a teacher (prophet, healer, evangelist…) like no other, a good and faithful servant of her Father in Heaven.”

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1 Peter 2:1-12 Jesus is Either Your Cornerstone or Your Stumbling Block

3/30/2015

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1 Peter Chapter 2 Verses 1-12

It is a choice to follow Jesus and live a holy life. But it is a choice that believers want to make as we mature in the Word. That maturation doesn’t happen automatically. The fruit doesn’t just suddenly appear. The Holy Spirit purifies us through the fires we face. (1 Peter 1:6-8). He transforms us through the Word that we read, hear, and experience. Verses 1-3 read,

“So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

Leaving sin behind is not easy at first. Malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander are common and quite natural to the flesh. But as we continue and we long to grow, as we get to know our Lord more and more closely, we want to be like Him, not the world. We know that life in Christ is so much better than life in the world. The Lord is good! The spiritual food of His Word, intimacy with Him, and the relationship He gives us is sweeter than words can describe. We want it increasingly, progressively, and deeper.

The world can’t understand. They look at us from the outside and wonder why anyone would choose to live a life of putting sin away, of purposely choosing to walk the more difficult road of love, truth, sincerity, good will, and encouragement over natural longings of the flesh. They rejected Christ because His teachings didn’t make sense to them. What looks absurd, preposterous and unreasonable to them, is beautiful, perfect, and wise to us. It is perfectly reasonable to us, because we accepted Christ. We were given the Holy Spirit and He changes us and allows us to see the excellent and flawless truth and wisdom of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus is the foundation of that wisdom. Without Him we can’t possibly understand. Isaiah compared Him to the cornerstone a building and Peter quoted him to get across his point that we as Christians are different than the world. Verses 4-6 say,

“As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture:

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

The cornerstone is the foundation upon which the rest of the building is constructed. It is essential and it determines the position of every other stone. Jesus is our cornerstone, our foundation and we are stones in the building with Him. Without Him, the temple would crumble. For believers Jesus is our keystone and basis. He builds us up. He makes all things possible. But for outsiders, He is a stumbling block, an obstacle which they do not understand. They disobey because they are led by the flesh and see Jesus not as God, the Lover of their souls but an offense and insult to who they are. (Verses 7-8).

We are different. We are not like the world. We see the beauty of Christ. We have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. He is essential to our being. He makes it possible to obey. He makes it possible to live lives of love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And as we mature we do not have to struggle to manifest those characteristics, we become more like Christ so we look and act more like Him. It is still a choice to stand out from the world. We have to keep in mind we are not like the lost. We choose to obey. We choose to be founded on Love. Verses 9-10 put it this way.

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

We should celebrate our distinctiveness. Our idiosyncrasy is the Holy Spirit alive in us. Our difference is Jesus. Our calling is holy. We are chosen by God, we belong to Him. Honoring that awesome mission and identity is not always easy. It is not easy to elect not to lie, to forgive rather than hate, or to be kind person who hates us. But we are established in Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit and chosen by the Father. We are special. We are not like the world, we are exiles among them. And we should be conspicuous. Verses 11-12 read,

“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

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1 Peter 2:1-12 Jesus is Either Your Cornerstone or Your Stumbling Block

Donna Campbell

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