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The 09/02/2016 edition:
Deliverance

You’ll get through this! You fear you won’t. We all do. We feel stuck, trapped, locked in. Will we ever exit this pit? Yes! Deliverance is to the Bible what jazz music is to Mardi Gras…bold, brassy, and everywhere. Out of the lion’s den for Daniel, the whale’s belly for Jonah, and the prison for Paul. Through the Red Sea onto dry ground; through the wilderness; through the valley of the shadow of death…through! It’s a favorite word of God’s! Isaiah 43:2 says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. . .when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned.”

It won’t be painless. Have you wept your final tear, received your last round of chemotherapy? Not necessarily. Does God guarantee the absence of struggle? Not in this life. We see Satan’s tricks and ploys but God sees Satan tripped and foiled. You’ll get through this!

From You’ll Get Through This
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Edward Fudge

JUDGED BY THE LIGHT THEY HAD

THE THIRTY-FIRST DAY OF JULY IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND SIXTEEN

I love discussing scripture with my new friend, Neal. He receives the Word eagerly and “with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit” (1 Thes.1:6). He is one of those who “draw water with joy from the wells of salvation,” the theme verse of my website (edwardfudge.com). At our last meeting, Neal asked about people who never heard of Jesus. Can they also possibly enjoy eternal life, and if so, how? God assures us that he will judge fairly, or “in righteousness” (Acts 17:30-31). Among other things, that means God will judge each person for the way they respond to the light they actually had from God.
The first light of divine revelation is the Creation outside us, which teaches us to revere the Creator and to thank him for his gifts (Rom. 1:20-21). Second is the conscience inside us, an internal moral compass that broadly distinguishes right from wrong (Rom. 2:14-16).The Old Testament scriptures bear witness to many other portions of divine revelation God gave “to the fathers through the prophets,” as Hebrews puts it (Heb. 1:1-2). Then there is the gospel, God’s greatest light other than Jesus himself of whom it tells.

In the end, we are not saved by divine revelation, whether little or much. To learn whether anyone can be saved who never heard the gospel, we must remember how anyone can be saved who did hear it. Here we recall three fundamental truths, and each of them is equally true of those who hear of Christ and of those who do not. (1) All who are finally redeemed are redeemed on the basis of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice. (2) All who are finally redeemed are redeemed because of God’s grace. (3) All who enjoy God’s grace enjoy it through faith of the sort that Abraham had.

I conclude that every person who responds in faith to the light they have from God, regardless of the brightness, content, or quantity of that light, can be saved by God’s grace, based on the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That is what I explained to Neal and he rejoiced to hear this explanation.

In the USA we are involved in a year long+ process of selecting a new president November 8, 2016. Donald Trump, Republican Party nominee and Hillary Clinton, Democratic Party nominee will be on the ballot as PRESIDENT of the USA. Each of these candidates are campaigning to get our vote. As important to the USA as this election is, it is not the most important thing that we need to be thinking about.

When we come to the end of our life it will not matter in what country we lived, or under what government leaders we were led. The ONLY thing that will matter is our belief in and relationship to Jehovah God through Jesus Christ. He is my Lord and Savior. He is the one I’m following. He is the ONLY one who promises Eternal Life to all who are His disciples. Life and Destiny are His to give. No matter what our political leaders promise they cannot make it happen with God’s blessing of life.
James the brother of Jesus said this,
13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”
14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” (Jas. 4:13-15 NIV)

20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. (Phil. 3:20-21 NIV)

Jun 19, 2016
Abba, Father
Tim Gustafson
Romans 8:12–17
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. Psalm 68:5

The scene belonged on a funny Father’s Day card. As a dad muscled a lawn mower ahead of him with one hand, he expertly towed a child’s wagon behind him with the other. In the wagon sat his three-year-old daughter, delighted at the noisy tour of their yard. This might not be the safest choice, but who says men can’t multitask?

If you had a good dad, a scene like that can invoke fantastic memories. But for many, “Dad” is an incomplete concept. Where are we to turn if our fathers are gone, or if they fail us, or even if they wound us?

King David certainly had his shortcomings as a father, but he understood the paternal nature of God. “A father to the fatherless,” he wrote, “a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families” (Ps. 68:5–6). The apostle Paul expanded on that idea: “The Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.” Then, using the Aramaic word for father—a term young children would use for their dad—Paul added, “By him we cry, ‘Abba, Father’ ” (Rom. 8:15). This is the same word Jesus used when He prayed in anguish to His Father the night He was betrayed (Mark 14:36).

What a privilege to come to God using the same intimate term for “father” that Jesus used! Our Abba Father welcomes into His family anyone who will turn to Him.

Heavenly Father, I want to be part of Your family. I believe that Your only Son Jesus died for my sins. Please forgive me and help me live a life that pleases You.

A good father reflects the love of the heavenly Father.

The Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Christ and is the source of our spiritual life (Rom. 8:9–14). He is the seal and guarantee (Eph. 1:13–14) that we are God’s children (Rom. 8:15–16; Gal. 4:5). As His children, we have a duty to the Father not to live according to the sinful nature (Rom. 8:12) but to “put to death the misdeeds of the body” (v. 13; Col. 3:5–11). We are to be “led by the Spirit of God” (Rom. 8:14; Gal. 5:16–18) and to “keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25). In the Spirit’s power, God’s children display the characteristics of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control Galatians 5:22-23.

On my mind is the problem of WORRY.

Worry Is Worthless

My soul takes refuge in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge until destruction passes by. — Psalm 57:1

Worry is a complete waste of energy. It solves nothing. That’s why Jesus said,

Which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life’s span? — Matthew 6:27

In essence He was saying, “You go to bed tonight and fret and fuss because you’re not five feet, eleven inches; you’re only five feet, nine inches. But when you wake up in the morning, you’re still going to be five feet, nine inches.”

Worry will never make you stretch!

And it won’t solve that anxiety on your mind either.

Let me be completely candid here. Do you know why we worry? We have a quiet, hidden, love for worry. We enjoy it! When one worry is gone, we replace it with another. There’s always a line of worries waiting to get in the door. So as one goes out the back door, we usher in the next one through the front door. We enjoy entertaining them.

Worries are our mental and emotional companions. But Jesus says, in effect, that they’re worthless!

* * *

God Takes Care of You

Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go. — Joshua 1:9

Did you know that worry erases the promises of God from your mind. Jesus implies this when He says,

O men of little faith. Do not be anxious then, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘With what shall we clothe ourselves?’ — Matthew 6:31

The promise of God is that He will not allow His children to beg for bread. He will care for our needs and that’s the promise you can claim. Since He took care of our greatest need at Calvary by giving us Christ, then you can be sure He will take care of everything else He considers important for us.

Excerpted with permission from Wisdom for the Way by Charles R. Swindoll, copyright Thomas Nelson.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7 NIV

God is Sovereign Ruler of our world and the whole universe. So Christians be at peace about it. Let’s go about our daily life as disciples of Jesus Christ sharing the good news of a new world coming for those who are saved in Jesus, by Jesus for Jesus. This world is not our home we are just passing through.

“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” Philippians 3:20-21 NIV

John Mark Hicks reminds us with this excellent article.

“Say Among the Nations” (Psalm 96:10)
It is rather distressing to see Christians wringing their hands over the state of the nation. Facebook is populated by “Christian rants,” which reflect a state of anxiety, anger, and angst. Many live in fear.

Believers, however, worship God.

Perhaps the contrast is not apparent. Perhaps Christians are so filled with fear, it is difficult to see how faith-filled worship subverts fear and projects confidence.

It is not, however, a confidence in whether a particular political party will win an election, nor is it a confidence that a particular law will be enacted or reversed. It is not confidence in the political system.

It is a confidence in God, which is reflected in Psalm 96.

The people of God gather to worship–to sing “a new song” (because God is always doing new things) and invite “all the earth” (both nations and creation itself) to join in the chorus. In this worship, we declare the God’s glory and saving works, and we confess God is the “maker of heaven and earth.”

This worship bears witness and addresses to the nations (Psalm 96:10):

Yahweh, the Covenant Lord of Israel, is king.
What God has created remains secure.
God will establish justice among the peoples.
In other words, God is sovereign, God upholds the creation by God’s power, and God will set things right.

The future of creation and justice among the nations are not, ultimately, in human hands. This rests in God’s hands.

Worship, when we are gathered with others to honor and praise God, reorients our anxieties. In community, among fellow-believers, the lenses through which we see the world are corrected. Instead of wallowing in the turmoil that envelops the nations, we approach the face of God to see the enthroned Lord who assures us that the earth is secure and justice will prevail.

Amidst the anxiety and angst of the political season as well as the distress that fills the world with terror, violence, and economic pain, we affirm the sovereignty of God, the stability of the earth, and the certainty that God will set things right when God comes to judge the earth.

In response to this assurance, the heavens and the earth rejoice, the seas–and everything in it–celebrate with a roar, and the animals, who fill the fields, along with the trees of the forest sing for joy!

God is coming to judge the earth; not only to rescue humanity from its own chaos and injustice but also to rescue the earth from its bondage to decay.

Yahweh is king!

Yahweh secures the earth!

Yahweh will set things right!

This is the confidence in which believers rest, and, therefore, we are not afraid.

This entry was posted on May 16, 2016 at 3:25 pm and is filed under Biblical Texts. Tagged: Assembly, Creation, Psalm 96, Sovereignty, Worship.