Doing as He Says

Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’

and do not do what I say?

- Luke 6:46 (NIV)

You shall observe My judgments and keep

My ordinances, to walk in them:

I am the LORD your God.
- Leviticus 18:4 (NKJV)



When accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, we also accept Him as Lord.  We embrace His sacrifice for our salvation.  We accept His suffering for our sins.  Yet, we stumble when it comes to His lordship over our lives.
 

In Leviticus 18, God addresses His people through Moses the man of God, affirming His relationship with the people by stating repetitively: I am the LORD your God.  The phrase repeats throughout the divine dialogue between God and His people.  God states it through Moses and establishes His relationship with His people based on His decrees and statutes given in the wilderness.

 

Read Psalm 145:13. It speaks of God's "everlasting kingdom." Nathan shared the words of God with David in 2 Samuel 7.  God promised David: And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever (2 Samuel 7:16, KJV).
 
Let us fast forward to Jesus walking the earth as the Son of David.  He came as the Messiah and the Christ, "the Anointed One." The Savior would reign and rule as Lord forever.  His kingdom would extend beyond Jewish bloodlines like He shared through His prophets.  He came and sacrificed Himself for us.  He kept His promise to redeem us.  He offers the sinner in us all reconciliation.  He lives as our Lord.
 

Look at how we handle Him ruling over us as Lord.  We cry out to Him, expecting Him to offer us healing and help.  Yet, we must regard Him as Lord.  We must serve as His loyal subjects, for He is the King.  Those who serve the King do as He says.  They do each and every act according to His commandments in true submission.

 

If He is your Lord, do as He says.  Leave your ego out of it.  Keep your faith as your focus.  Do just as He says.  He is Lord.  Submit to Him.  Do as He says.

 
He is your Lord.
 
Do what He says for you to do.
 
Do just what the Lord says.

Where God Could Exist

What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home
 - Joan Osborne

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
— Oscar Wilde (Lady Windermere's Fan)

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? - Psalm 139:7 (NIV)

We spend a lot of our earthly time debating on whether God exists or not.  We tend to make a big deal about the possibilities of God being the Almighty or just some "supreme being." The truth of the matter is that we just cannot keep debating what natural occurrences make obvious.  God does exist.

Where?

If your only notion of God's existence is in heaven, then you are gravely mistaken.  You may also want to check your thoughts on how you view God.  You do understand that Jesus said it this way: "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:24, ESV).  We have to see God as a spiritual being who occupies any and all spaces possible.

Psalm 139 tells us that we need to be mindful of our feeble efforts to flee God's presence.  He's all over, no matter where we go.  He's here and there.  Let it be understood that we may not fully understand everything about God, but do understand enough to know that His omnipresence means that He is just as real in your life as He is in mine.  He isn't any less present during your hard times just because i got my prayers in earlier than you.  He can still show up for the both of us.

Psalm 139

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

1O Lord, you have searched me

and you know me.

2You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3You discern my going out and my lying down;

you are familiar with all my ways.

4Before a word is on my tongue

you know it completely, O Lord.

5You hem me in—behind and before;

you have laid your hand upon me.

6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too lofty for me to attain.

7Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

8If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths,^a you are there.

9If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.
-Psalm 139:1-10 (NIV)

From Eden to Egypt- Day 2

 In the beginning God...- Genesis 1:1 (NASB)

Trust me! I am being totally honest here.  The rest of this study will not take so long, but I must tread through this slowly.

Genesis starts with an opening phrase that presents God already in existence "in the beginning." It does not presume Him to be existent.  It states that He was there "in the beginning."

God was already on the scene "in the beginning." Elohim was present.  Henry M. Morris says that
Elohim, the "Creator" name of God, also speaks of God as "uni-plural." John opened the first chapter of the Gospel that bears his name by stating that the Word was in the beginning with God and as God, and then restates it again in the second verse of the first chapter.  Therefore, we see that God's existence from the beginning is necessary to establish the deity of Christ (the Word) for the Gospel of John that was written so that people would believe in Him.

Belief is critical at this point.  There is no middle of the road here.  You either believe that God exists or you do not.  You either believe in a big bang theory or a big "G" (God) theology.  The Bible is not seeking to prove God's existence.  The Bible affirms our notion of a "higher power" being more than something.  No, it is someone.  It is the One. It is the true and living God.  It is Elohim.  It is the triune God.

From the very beginning, the Bible requires that you believe God to be true or it's not even worth continuing to read.




*From Eden to Egypt is a series for Life Path Ministries by Rev. Bruce Jackson that chronicles a daily study and reading of the Book of Genesis and The Genesis Record by Henry M. Morris.

From Eden to Egypt- Day 1

In the beginning. . . - Genesis 1:1 (ESV)

I am captivated every single time I read it.

I crack open my Bible and thumb through cheese-cloth thin pages that crinkle like crisp dollar bills as I pass over the preliminary pages.  I bypass the pages that tell of the inerrant and infallibe of God's Word handed down from heaven by His Holy Spirit that allowed power to work through divinely-inspired men that led to the Council of Nicea and other gatherings of rulers and rule-makers alike that led to the creation and compilation of the Bible as we know it today. 

That's when the words hit me.

In the beginning. . .

They seem to linger in mid-air somewhere just above my grasp.  They don't drift or stray.  They just hang there in some solitary space perfectly fit to between understanding and faith.  They are wedged between belief and some alternative instinct that leads me to desire to fully understand something by laying out as much as evidence and facts as possible to arrive at a solution.

In the beginning. . .

Was that in the beginning as far as I can remember? Or, are you talking about in the beginning in reference to some time even prior to Moses' being born in the midst of a cruel regime of Egyptian bondage or Noah even entertained the Lord's leading of building an ark?

In the beginning. . .

No matter how you look at it, "In the beginning" works for Genesis since it means "origin."  It is the story of creation.  The family line of Adam stems from the beginning. The animal kingdom initiates in the beginning.  Everything comes out of the creation, which marks our very beginning.

Awe seems to sink into my members as I settle in for the ride of a lifetime.  I have restarted with Genesis again as many times before.  As I restart reading God's Word again, I restart from the same famed verse and very simple prepositional phrase that says so much in three little words.

In the beginning. . .

*From Eden to Egypt is a series for Life Path Ministries by Rev. Bruce Jackson that chronicles a daily study and reading of the Book of Genesis and The Genesis Record by Henry M. Morris.

Foolish About Faith

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.- Psalm 14:1 (NIV)

The words of Psalm 14:1 are echoed in Psalm 53:1 verbatim.  I believe BibleTrack's Bible commentary on the Psalms does an apt comparison of the psalms.  What David says to open each psalm speaks clearly about the fool and what the fool has to say.  Much like David, we have to learn to identify, discern and detect when we are in the presence of a fool.  For those who may not know, here is part of how the foolish deal with faith.

The foolish believe that you can have favor without faith.

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.- Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)

The foolish believe that you can have freedom without faith.

Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.-Galatians 3:25 (NIV)

The foolish believe that they have a right to offend others.
A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.-Proverbs 29:11 (NIV)

The foolish are foolish for a reason.  The foolish live by foolish ways.  Others should see a fool and beware.  The fool can be a danger to himself as well as others.  His destructive ways can lead to his own destruction or the destruction of others.  Understand that fools don't lead people to faithful living.  Fools lead people down a road of destruction and danger.   Don't be surprised by what comes out of a fools mouth.  Be surprised at what a fool says about God, faith and other such matters.



 

Putting Principles into Practice

The church has a duty to both God and its people. The church must honor and give glory to God. That is simple. Most people won't argue with that one. Yet, the church also has a duty to its people. The church must teach and train its people. Look at Ephesians 4:11-12, 13. we've been put into position for a distinct purpose,"for the perfecting of the saints."
We should teach and train our people. We need to teach our people the principles that come from the Word of God. Many will call them the statutes or tenets of our faith. however you would call or name them, these principles should be taught to the people by leaders and teachers within the church. Then, we must train our people in the practices of our faith. Teaching tends to fall by the wayside when we fail to follow it up with training. The teaching sounds good but does us no good because we have not applied it to our own lives through daily practices of life application. the two go hand in hand. wemust teach and train our people to put the principles into practice throughout their daily lives.

Another Day, Another Gift

Today is a gift from God. He has allowed us to see today that we might further the expanse of the kingdom of God today by word and deed. Check out http://revbruce.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/quitting-time/ and see what God can do when you are ready to call it quits. I think we need to look on today as an opportunity to do great things in His name, not just another day. It's another gift directly from Him. As the gospel melody tells us, 'He didn't have to let it be.'

Think on It

"As a man thinketh. . ." seems to be the type of quote that leads to a lot of discussion on mental stability versus instability, illness versus wellness, and overall mental health issues. Truly, it does not bring much philosphy to mind. However, it address some philosophical junk that has been piling up for years. Descartes sahred: " I think, therefore, I am" as a means of explaining his very existence. Even the African proverb that says,"Man, know thyself" places knowledge and awareness together as akin or at least bedfellows. For the Christian, however, we must remain in think on the things above. not earthly things. Consider where your mind wanders. Think about how things come to mind for a short time, and then they are gone. Let your mind focus on the things above, not the things on earth.

Starting Small

If you starting a new venture in business or ministry, here are a few things to keep in mind. The size of your new baby can grow over time. Starting small should not be connected with anything shameful. Start and stay in it for the long haul.

Focus on a "small"start by:

• Starting small
• Starting smart
• Starting smooth

Try it this way and expect to take your next venture all the way to the next level.

Where are You Headed?

I want to say this with as much sincerity nd gentleness that I can muster up in times like these. There seems to be a great falling away from what we know and believe. Some of us may have started out wrong by putting our faith in the man of God rather than what he was supposed to be preaching about. Some may have taken the low road and just slid out of church through some back door or open window, but you voted with your feet and didn't sy a word when you went out. Others just stayed and stuck around waiting for something better, so when the next big thing came along and the church wasn't moving fast enough, you got yourself up and went to the next big thing until better things come along. It's just sad. Faithless followers filling up pews, waiting on the "show." They don't want church. They want to be entertained by praise and worship duets and quartets that are professional without professing Christ. They want a preached word that may not even be the Word but that sounds good to what Paul called itching ears. It's just sad to see.

Where are you headed? Where are you going as you go away from the church? Will you find Jesus in your escape? Will He visit you as you depart? Consider carefully how you answer. If you have one foot in the sanctuary and another foot hovering over uncertainty, please reconsider. Take a moment and pray before drifting and straying away from the flock. We've all been there in one way or another. Talk to an experienced Christian who has walked with the Lord for some time. We all lose people. We will suffer losses great and small, but we have assurance in Christ for our souls.

Trust God. Keep the faith. Stay strong in spite of adversity. Live like Christ, loving those around you. Stay the course.

Expressions on Evangelism

Some things that I have learned about evangelism over the years:

Lead someone to Christ, not church.

• Christ is the focal point of the message. We're to preach and proclaim Christ. Our message is about Christ, Christ crucified and Christ risen from the dead, seated at the right hand of God the Father.
• Church is secondary to Christ. Too many are in the church without having a personal relationship with Christ. If we can lead people to Christ first, then we can get them into church (as long as we have some Christians who understand being Christ-like is part of our calling).
  

Share the good news of Jesus, not the good things about your church.

• The best we have to offer unbelievers is an invitation to have a relationship with Christ. He is the good news embodied in both body and spirit.
• It's good to have a depth of knowledge about the various programs and ministries of your church. Yet, at some point, you will need to know who Christ is and what He did in order to give the world hope for salvation.
• In evangelism, the core of our knowledge must center around Christ and His mighty works.
  

Christ is the Savior, while church is the sanctuary.

• Christ said it best. No one gets to the Father except by Him. He is the Way.
• There is no salvation without the Lamb of God. Church cannot save anyone. A person can be in church all of their life and still go to hell if he or she doesn't know Christ as Lord and Savior.

We are to make disciples of the Divine, not our denominations.

• The Lord gives the increase just as added to the church those who would be saved in the early church of Acts.
• We are called to make disciples of Christ, not disciples of our denominational creeds and charters.
• Check your Bible. Identify any denominations by name in the New Testament. We are to hold on to the Word of God, not the words of the founding fathers of our particular practicing denomination. Theology isn't relative; it's relational as it relates to Christ.

For Your Information:
Operation Reach Out launches Love Your Neighbor April 5th through April 12th. Join the effort to reach out to the local community with Christian love day by day.

Waiting on the Lord

Wait on the Lord. . .- Psalm 27:14 (KJV)

Imagine what it is for those who do not know God. These are those who have nowhere to place their hope. They cannot say that they have placed their patient hope in the true and living God. Such claims are reserved for the righteous, those who have embraced the salvation of the Lord.

As a believer, I believe in Him as God the Almighty. However, my belief must transcend into faith that trusts God to be God. It is through such faith that I am able to wait patiently on the Lord without imposing my deadlines on Him. Waiting on the Lord is the ability to wait and watch life go by while I wait without losing faith for what it is that I desire.

Have you had to wait on Him lately? Trust Him. He can do it.