In Exodus 12 we read the story of how God appeared on Mt. Sinai in the presence of the children of Israel, in a mighty display of power, with smoke and thunder on the mountain. And it says that the people trembled at the thunder and the lightning and the sound of the trumpet. So fearful were they that they asked Moses to speak to God for them. They were afraid to hear God speak and preferred the words of Moses rather than the words of God. So Moses went up on the mountain in the presence of God for forty days and forty nights. During this time God gave Moses the Law. The very words of God were written by His finger in stone tablets.
When Moses finished receiving the word of God, he started to come down the mountain, having been warned by God that the people had defiled themselves. God said, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.” They said to Aaron, “Come, make us a god who will go before us, as for this Moses, we do not know what has become of him.” So Aaron asked for their gold and made it into a molten calf. And the Bible says that after they offered sacrifices to the calf, “the people sat down to eat and rose up to play.” Soon, they were out of control. Debauchery reigned in the camp. As Moses came down the mountain he heard the sound of singing and saw them dancing around the golden calf. He smashed the tablets of God’s word to the ground and called out to the people, “Whoever is on the Lord’s side, come to me!” And Moses slew 3000 men that day with the sword for their rebellion against God.
This actual, historical event is also a prophetic picture of the church. We have been redeemed out of slavery to Satan as the chosen people of God. We have received the promise of eternal life in the promised land. But today, the church often finds itself like Israel, drawing back in fear from the holiness of God. We prefer humanness, fleshliness, rather than Godliness and holiness. Like with Israel, God has given to the church His written word, the very breath of God. Yet today the church has exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and prefer to read and listen to the foolishness of man, rather than the pure wisdom of the Word. In this present age, God has commanded us to offer to God the sacrifice of ourselves, taking up our cross, yet we have done like the Israelites and asked our leaders for a god according to our desires, made of what we value, which we can see and feel and touch. We often find we don’t really worship God in spirit, but we worship the spirit of this world, that which enables us to experience the desires of our flesh. And sadly, like ancient Israel, our attempts at fleshing out our worship often results in a corruption that is an offense to God.
“For you have not come to a mountain that may be touched....and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word should be spoken to them…but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God…See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking.” Heb. 12:19-25
“Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” Heb. 12:28,29
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Saturday, May 8, 2010
This is love
A friend told me about an experience he had while visiting a group foster home recently. He was speaking with a young black girl of 16, who had already had a baby, and tearfully told him how as an orphan she had been bounced from one foster home to another her whole life. She said no one had ever loved her. My friend tried to tell her that God loved her more than a mother or father ever could. As I listened though, I could not help but think that if I were that young girl I would have a hard time believing that statement. In her case, it sounds like a good theory, but not much of a reality.
Most of us don’t really have a biblical understanding of love. To us, it’s a feeling that is given or received by another. In theory, we believe God loves us, and in theory, we love God. In I Cor. 2 it says, “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM." My question is, how do I love God? Is it just some feeling that I have for God?
God wants our love to be more than a feeling, or emotion, or just a theory. He says we don’t really even understand it. “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” I John 4:10. So Jesus is our example of love. He was our pattern, laying Himself down for others to know the love of God.
So how do we show our love to God? 1Jo 4:11 “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” God is basically saying, Look, I am in heaven, you are on earth. If you say you love me, I want you to show it by serving my people here on earth. He doesn’t just want us to offer up a few praises, flatteries and a “love you God!” as we head merrily out the door about our normal business. He gave us an example of love in Jesus and expects us to follow that, sacrificially showing love to the people around us so that they might come to know the love of God by the love which we have shown them.
1Jo 4:20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. 1Jo 4:21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
True love cannot be a one sided and self centered. As God loves us, we should reciprocate by showing love to others. That is all of the commandments in a nutshell. We should love God, and our love our neighbor as ourselves.
Note: Our first worship on the beach of the season is coming up May 23. We will be meeting there for the next five months or so. This is a weekly outreach that we hope you will be praying for diligently and supporting through your participation as we take the gospel to the beach every week.
Most of us don’t really have a biblical understanding of love. To us, it’s a feeling that is given or received by another. In theory, we believe God loves us, and in theory, we love God. In I Cor. 2 it says, “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM." My question is, how do I love God? Is it just some feeling that I have for God?
God wants our love to be more than a feeling, or emotion, or just a theory. He says we don’t really even understand it. “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” I John 4:10. So Jesus is our example of love. He was our pattern, laying Himself down for others to know the love of God.
So how do we show our love to God? 1Jo 4:11 “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” God is basically saying, Look, I am in heaven, you are on earth. If you say you love me, I want you to show it by serving my people here on earth. He doesn’t just want us to offer up a few praises, flatteries and a “love you God!” as we head merrily out the door about our normal business. He gave us an example of love in Jesus and expects us to follow that, sacrificially showing love to the people around us so that they might come to know the love of God by the love which we have shown them.
1Jo 4:20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. 1Jo 4:21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
True love cannot be a one sided and self centered. As God loves us, we should reciprocate by showing love to others. That is all of the commandments in a nutshell. We should love God, and our love our neighbor as ourselves.
Note: Our first worship on the beach of the season is coming up May 23. We will be meeting there for the next five months or so. This is a weekly outreach that we hope you will be praying for diligently and supporting through your participation as we take the gospel to the beach every week.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
The foolishness of God
God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. I Cor. 1: 27.
It almost seems sacrilegious to use foolish and God in the same sentence, doesn’t it? But Paul was trying to make the point to the carnal church of Corinth that what seems foolish to the world, i.e., the message of the cross, is actually the power of God. In that day as well as in these days, the message of the cross has been subverted by a different message. The gospel has been replaced by a social gospel in which Jesus lived an exemplary life to be an example for how society should try to live, or Jesus came to earth so we could have a better, more enjoyable life here on earth, or my own personal favorite, God is love and he loves me just the way I am so I never have to change.
“But the message of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God”. I Cor. 1:18 Lots of people are seeking power in their Christian lives today, aren’t they? They want some supernatural power to heal people, or they think that some spiritual power they can possess will enable them to live a godly life or show others how godly they are, or they are looking for some special power to be able to accomplish all their goals in life. But the problem with all of that type of thinking is that too often I am the beneficiary of that power. I want it not to build up the kingdom of heaven, but to build my own kingdom right here on earth.
But God said, “not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong. That no man should boast before God.” I Cor. 27-29 God said He will not share His glory with man.
Jesus was our example. And Jesus considered the glory that was His with the Father in heaven nothing to be held onto, but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a servant, and while being whipped, beaten, spit upon and reviled by His creation, crawled to the cross with his last ounce of strength, to take our place on the cross. So we too, if we want His power to manifest itself in our lives we must first die to our fleshly desires and will. Jesus said we were to take up our cross and follow Him.
Gal 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” Sounds foolish to the world, but that’s where power comes from. Dying to ourselves, not trying to manipulate God to fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
It almost seems sacrilegious to use foolish and God in the same sentence, doesn’t it? But Paul was trying to make the point to the carnal church of Corinth that what seems foolish to the world, i.e., the message of the cross, is actually the power of God. In that day as well as in these days, the message of the cross has been subverted by a different message. The gospel has been replaced by a social gospel in which Jesus lived an exemplary life to be an example for how society should try to live, or Jesus came to earth so we could have a better, more enjoyable life here on earth, or my own personal favorite, God is love and he loves me just the way I am so I never have to change.
“But the message of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God”. I Cor. 1:18 Lots of people are seeking power in their Christian lives today, aren’t they? They want some supernatural power to heal people, or they think that some spiritual power they can possess will enable them to live a godly life or show others how godly they are, or they are looking for some special power to be able to accomplish all their goals in life. But the problem with all of that type of thinking is that too often I am the beneficiary of that power. I want it not to build up the kingdom of heaven, but to build my own kingdom right here on earth.
But God said, “not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong. That no man should boast before God.” I Cor. 27-29 God said He will not share His glory with man.
Jesus was our example. And Jesus considered the glory that was His with the Father in heaven nothing to be held onto, but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a servant, and while being whipped, beaten, spit upon and reviled by His creation, crawled to the cross with his last ounce of strength, to take our place on the cross. So we too, if we want His power to manifest itself in our lives we must first die to our fleshly desires and will. Jesus said we were to take up our cross and follow Him.
Gal 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” Sounds foolish to the world, but that’s where power comes from. Dying to ourselves, not trying to manipulate God to fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
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