Twelve Ebenezers

Posted on May 30, 2019 by bibleteacherorg

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Photo by Austin Neill on Unsplash

Joshua 4:1-7 (KJV)  And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over Jordan, that the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying,  [2]  Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man,  [3]  And command ye them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests’ feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night.  [4]  Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man:  [5]  And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of Jordan, and take ye up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel:  [6]  That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?  [7]  Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.

Sunday night we talked about Israel crossing the Jordan River. But we didn’t finish the story. One of the greatest events that God brought Israel to was the crossing of the Red Sea when they left Egypt. I looked it up Monday morning. The Red Sea crossing is in Exodus 14, and is recounted in about 964 words in my King James Bible. But the Jordan River crossing is in Joshua chapters 3 & 4 and is recounted in about 1318 words in the same Bible. It is almost as if God puts more weight on what happened at the Jordan with the second generation of Israel than He does with what happened at the Red Sea. Why is that?

I think it has to do with the Ebenezers.

What in the world is An “Ebenezer”?

You’ve sung about “Ebenezers” in Church. Our worship leader has led you in singing about them. Don’t believe me? We have all sung the song “Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing”. The second stanza of the song says:

Here I raise my Ebenezer
Here there by Thy great help I’ve come
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wandering from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood

When Baptist Minister (Stone-Yard Baptist Chapel, Cambridge, England) Robert Robinson wrote Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing in 1758 the Bible, the Word of God, was cherished by that nation. People knew what an Ebenezer was. After today you will know what it is as well. To understand an Ebenezer we need to look in 1 Samuel.

In 1 Samuel 3 we see the Lord calling the Prophet Samuel to service. Samuel’s momma Hannah was blessed by God to have Samuel. She promised the Lord that she would dedicate little Samuel to God, and she did as she promised. She took the child to the Temple to serve God with Eli the High Priest. The Bible says (1 Samuel 2:12) “the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD”. Rather than correct his sons Eli looked the other way. This would come back to kill him. But Samuel from a child was taught to love God. His heart was dedicated to the Lord. And the Lord rewarded him by calling him to be a Prophet.

As goes the Pulpit, so goes the Church. Eli’s sons (1 Samuel 2:17) “sin … was very great before the LORD”. Like many preachers today they not only sinned, but tolerated sin within the camp.

Because of the sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, God was not respected. The Bible says that “men abhorred the offering of the Lord” (again 1 Samuel 2:17). But “Samuel ministered before the Lord” (1 Samuel 2:18). Here you see the forces of God and satan struggling. Oh Beloved, we must follow Jesus!

As goes the Pulpit, so goes the Church.
As goes the Church, so goes the Nation.

Israel went to war against the Philistines. No one believed in the God of our Bible, and Israel proved it by going to war without the Ark of the Covenant. Sunday night I spoke of the Ark of the Covenant and showed you in Scripture where the Ark represented Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. As Israel crossed the Jordan they were to keep their eyes on the Ark – but their focus was to be Christ. When Israel fought the enemy they were to keep their eyes on the Ark, but their focus was to be Christ. Israel went out against the Philistines with neither Ark nor Christ.

1 Samuel 4:1 … the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Ebenezer: and the Philistines pitched in Aphek.

Israel Lost To The Philistines At Ebenezer

Here we see the first use of the word “Ebenezer” in Scripture. Israel set up camp next to a place called “Ebenezer”, the Hebrew אֶבֶן הָעֵזֶר ʼEben hâ-ʻÊzer, (pronounced eh’-ben haw-e’-zer) which means “Rock of Help”. Our God is “The Rock of Help”.

Psalm 18:2 The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

There are no coincidences in life nor in the Bible. Israel is fighting an enemy from “The Rock of Help”. God is trying to speak to Israel, but they are not listening. “The word of Samuel” the faithful Prophet came to all Israel, but they would not listen.

Israel is fighting the enemy without God!

Israel was not glorifying the Lord Who saved them. Israel was lazy and lethargic, faithless, sadly influenced by the likes of Hophni and Phinehas. The High Priest Eli was no help either. Israel set up to do battle in Ebenezer thinking they would win. They didn’t. Israel was soundly beaten by the Philistines, losing about 4000 men (1 Samuel 4:2).

Beloved, if we will do great things FOR God we must do all things FOR God and FOR His Glory!

Jesus said in John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Israel should have regrouped, repented, and recommitted themselves to God our Savior. Instead of doing this Israel went and got their “lucky rabbit’s foot”,
the Ark of the Covenant.

The Bible tells us in (1 Samuel 4:5-7) … when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again.  [6]  And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the LORD was come into the camp.  [7]  And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore.

The Israelites were happy and knew they were going to win because “The Ark of the Covenant” was in the camp. Israel didn’t have God, but they had a Lucky Rabbit’s Foot. I once chanced upon a video of a famous “Rap Singer” who spoke some of the most horrific words I had ever heard. As he spoke and cursed around his neck hung a golden chain with a Cross hanging upon it. The Cross to him was nothing but costume jewelry. The Cross is to many no more than a Lucky Rabbit’s Foot, a Four Leaf Clover, or costume Jewelry. That’s how Israel was regarding the Ark of the Covenant. It was a “good luck charm”. When they brought it into the camp they had a party!

The Philistines heard that the Ark was in the camp of Israel, and began to fear. They thought they were going to lose because the God of Israel had come into the camp. Both were wrong. The unbelievers rallied themselves, attacked, and beat Israel soundly. As a matter of fact the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant and took away Israel’s rabbit foot at Ebenezer.

1 Samuel 4:11 (KJV) … the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.

When Eli heard this the High Priest (1 Samuel 4:18) “fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died”. Israel was without God and without hope. The glory of God had departed His people!

Ichabod Was Written On That Nation!
The Glory of God had departed!

For twenty years – yes 20 – the Philistines dominated Israel. It was not until “all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD” (1 Samuel 7:2) that the people would hear the Prophet Samuel. Samuel told them:

1 Samuel 7:3 (KJV) … If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.

Israel was to REPENT and RECOMMIT themselves to God. God does not give victory to His people because they follow a rabbit’s foot. He gives victory to His people when THEY ARE HIS PEOPLE. When the hearts of God’s people are on the Lord He knows.

Psalm 119:1-3 Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. 2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. 3 They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.

We Serve A Mighty God Who Loves Us So

When Israel repented of their sin and turned their hearts back to God “putting away the false gods, the Baalim and Ashtaroth, and serving the LORD only”. Israel heard the message and turned their hearts to the Lord. Guess what?

Their hearts on God, Israel beat the Philistines.
Israel was beaten at Ebenezer because of their hearts.
Israel lost the Ark at Ebenezer because of their hearts.
Now Israel beat the Philistines because of their hearts.
God was in their hearts!

When Israel committed their hearts to God the Lord fought through them. They defeated the Philistines. To help Israel remember this day the Prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 7:12) “took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us”. Samuel established a SECOND Ebenezer.

The Ebenezer is a reminder that God is the Rock of Help.

This is what is at the heart of what God has the Children of Israel do on the other side of the Jordan. Let’s read again:

Joshua 4:1-3 (KJV)  And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over Jordan, that the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying,  [2]  Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man,  [3]  And command ye them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests’ feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night.

What God asked was simple. Israel had crossed over the Jordan as if on dry land. The priests holding the Ark of the Covenant – a picture of Jesus Christ our Lord – were still standing in the middle of the Jordan. The raging water was stopped by God upstream, and stood up like a crystal pillar for all to see. God was in no hurry.

Pick a leader from each of the twelve tribes.
Let each man go into the middle of the still dry Jordan.
And bring one stone per man back to where Israel is.

Why pick a stone? It is an Ebenezer. It is what Samuel would do over 400 years later. Joshua explains to the Israelites:

Joshua 4:5-7 (KJV)… Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of Jordan, and take ye up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel:  [6]  That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?  [7]  Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.

The stones that the men were to carry from the middle of the dry Jordan were to be “carried on their shoulders”. These were not to be insignificant little rocks you put in your pocket. These were to be BIG stones, something heavy, something that took effort to lift.

God Did The Impossible
The Twelve Did The Hard But Possible

God held back the Jordan, but now these twelve men were to do their BEST. They were supposed to go above and beyond what I like to call “close enough for government work”. They were to understand that the Ebenezer they picked up was to glorify God.

1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Colossians 3:23 … whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

They were to seek EXCELLENCE for the Lord. Not half hearted. With Excellence! These stones were to be used as an example and a memorial for the future generations of Israelites. When the children of their children would look at these stones and ask “why are these stones here?” that their parents could remind them of the great things that God did with Israel. God is so good to us all. He deserves our excellence. He deserves our praise.

When our children and children’s children look back at what mark we make, what will they see?

Joshua 4:18-24 And it came to pass, when the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord were come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted up unto the dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his banks, as they did before. 19 And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho. 20 And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal. 21 And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? 22 Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. 23 For the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over: 24 That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever.

What mark will you leave for the Lord?

In 1880 a Wells Fargo agent named Lester Moore was killed and buried by Frank Dunston (or so I’ve been told). Dunston was angry over a package that arrived both late and damaged. Having words with Moore, Dunston pulled his .44 hogleg and shot him to death. Lester allegedly was buried in Boot Hill Cemetery in Tombstone, Arizona. His grave marker – his Ebenezer – reads:

Here Lies Lester Moore
Four Slugs From A 44
No Les
No More

Jesus gave everything for you. What will you do for Him? Let us live to glorify the Lord Whom we love! May God lead someone to Christ through this message.

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Raising The Standard Of Faith

Posted on May 27, 2019 by bibleteacherorg

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You who are Christians are believers and priests before God. The Scripture tells us in 1 Peter 2:9 “YOU ARE a chosen generation, a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD …”. The priests of Joshua’s day TOGETHER held up the Ark of the Covenant.

Joshua 3:17 … And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.

You who are Christians are believers and priests before God. The Scripture tells us in 1 Peter 2:9 “YOU ARE a chosen generation, a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD …”. The priests of Joshua’s day TOGETHER held up the Ark of the Covenant. They TOGETHER marched to the voice of Jesus Christ our Lord. They TOGETHER did as the Lord told them and the miraculous occurred. O Lord, we need a miracle!

When Israel got to the edge of the Promised Land on this side of the Jordan they saw something discouraging. The Bible says:

Joshua 3:15 … the Jordan OVERFLOWETH all his banks
all the time of harvest

The Jordan River is usually a gentle river, but during the time of harvest rains have caused it to swell. It is absolutely uncrossable! When the Jordan flood the currents reach 40 miles an hour. Besides this, there is brush and debris that has been cast about by the hard flow. The Prophet Jeremiah wrote of the swelling of the Jordan (Jeremiah 12:5). The river is about a mile wide, white water rapids. Yet Joshua tells the people that tomorrow they are going to cross this impossible crossing. How? TOGETHER following the Lord.

Beloved, God is ABLE!

Tonight we’re going to talk about Raising The Standard Of Faith. I looked up the word “Standard” in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. It is …

“a conspicuous object (such as a banner) formerly carried at the top of a pole and used to mark a rallying point especially in battle or to serve as an emblem”

“something set up and established by authority as a rule for the measure of quantity, weight, extent, value, or quality”

Before the American Christian can make an impact on the darkness that has become our nation we must raise the standard of faith. Before the Israelite can enter into the Promised Land and take the land for the glory of God they had to raise the standard of faith.

We looked at the life of Rahab this morning, and how the Lord saved her soul. The Bible tells us that she hid the two spies from Israel, and sent them back safely to Israel. Rahab believed the Lord. The Bible says:

Joshua 2:21-24 {Rahab} sent {the spies}, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.

The Scarlet Line was Rahab’s standard. She obedient raised this Standard, believing that she and all her household would be saved by it. When the two spies got safely back to Israel they told Joshua …

Joshua 2:24 … Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us

The spies returned to Joshua with a faith filled message. Rahab was saved. Her faith and her witness inspired them. Listen Beloved:

You can be a witness to faith,
Or you can be a witness to failure.
You can trust God like Rahab and inspire others,
Or you can be a wet blanket. You choose!

God is in control. God is moving ahead of His people. The spies did not focus on the threat of the enemy seeking their lives, but focused on Rahab and what God did in her life. How does Joshua respond? He looked up, and listened up.

Faith Follows God Not Fear – It MOVES

Joshua 3:1 Joshua rose EARLY in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.

Joshua did not hesitate. He got up EARLY in the morning. Joshua then positioned the people physically to obey the Lord. He had Israel move from where they were to the edge of the raging Jordan.

There are times you SIT and SERVE,
But other times you GET Up.

The Bible commands the believer to walk by FAITH and not by SIGHT (2 Corinthians 5:7). W-A-L-K! We are to follow the Lord. We are to position ourselves to do God’s will. The Great Commission that Jesus gave His Church is found in ..

Matthew 28:19-20 GO ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

The first part of our Commission is “Go”. We help others to go, and that is great. But God expects us to GO as well. To GO to our neighbors. To GO and share Christ. Unless GO is first done then there is nothing else. We need to position ourselves physically to serve the Lord.

The reason that Joshua is leading the Children of Israel NOW is because Joshua always positioned himself THEN to serve God and support Moses.

Nobody had to chase Joshua to get him to worship the Lord. I’ve told you all before I will not chase anyone to get them in Church. God has not called me to this. I will visit you if you’re sick, pray for you, encourage you. Heck, I’ll even bring you food! But I will not chase and babysit you. If you want to be a WINNER do what God says. Joshua did what God said. Joshua wanted to be on the front pew at the Church. You see this over and over again.

Exodus 33:8-11 And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle. 9 And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. 10 And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door. 11 And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.

Joshua is like the little brother that wants to tag along with Moses. You see Moses gets up and goes into the Tabernacle. There goes little Joshua. Moses enters the Tabernacle for a one on One with God. There goes little Joshua. Moses speaks to God, and God speaks to Moses face to face. Where were the people of Israel? They stood in their tent openings. They stayed home that day. They watched Charles Stanley and Adrian Rogers on the television. They listened to that nut from Shepherd’s Chapel. But where was Joshua? Why there’s little Joshua. He’s hiding behind a pew. He’s tagging along. One day Joshua will be GREAT.

Joshua departed NOT out of the Tabernacle.
He wanted what Moses had.
He wanted to be near God.
So Joshua POSITIONED himself near to God.

Do you want to be closer to God? Then position yourself where God is apt to be. Has He not said “where two or more are gathered together in My name, there AM I IN THE MIDST OF THEM” (Matthew 18:20).

When Moses went up the Mount at Sinai in obedience to God who was with him? You’ve got it. There goes little brother Joshua!

Exodus 24:13 …And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua …

A.W. Tozer, a mighty man of God said “I want the presence of God Himself, or I don’t want anything at all to do with religion… I want all that God has or I don’t want any.” That’s how Joshua lived his life. He wanted to be near God, and so he was. You will have as much of God as you want in your life. If God seems far from you, it’s because that’s what you want and what you do. Stop it! Follow the Lord!

Faith Follows … Jesus

The Leaders Of The People Raised ONE Standard To Follow. We read:

Joshua 3:2-4 … the officers went through the host; 3 And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it. 4 Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore.

The Leaders of Israel did not promote themselves. If you have leaders who promote themselves, they are BAD leaders. When I was in the Air Force I saw several commanders busted down and fired from their jobs. Why? Because they made something else their standard. They stopped standing for the mission of the Air Force and, thank God, they were removed. These leaders were good leaders. They encouraged the people to follow the Ark of the Covenant.

The Ark of the Covenant is an Old Testament picture of Jesus Christ. There are three things in the Ark:

Hebrews 9:4 …. ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;..

  1. The Ark contained the Golden Pot with manna in it, a reminder of how God fed His Children – disobedient though they were – in the wilderness. Jesus said …

John 6:32-35; 47-51 … Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. … 35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. … 47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. 48 I am that bread of life. 49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

The Manna in the Golden Pot was a picture of our Jesus Who is pure, without sin (see 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:22).

  1. The Ark contained Aaron’s Rod that budded (Numbers 17:5). This again is a picture of Christ. Crucified on the Tree of Calvary our Lord rose from the grave. Our Jesus has conquered death, and tells all who will receive Him as Lord and Savior:

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (see also John 11:25-26)

  1. The Ark Also Contained The Law On Tablets Of Stone. Our Jesus fulfilled the Law of God, keeping it perfectly for us. He said “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). Jesus is the High Priest (Hebrews 3:1; 4:14; 5:10; 6:20) who shed His own blood for the forgiveness of our sins (Hebrews 9:12, 14; 10:10, 19; 13:12, 20). Jesus is the Messiah, the one born of the virgin (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18, 25), who is the seed of Abraham (Genesis 22:18; Matthew 1:1). Jesus was crucified (Psalm 22:1, 11-18; Luke 23:33), and rose from the dead (Psalm 16:10; John 2:19-31; Matthew 28:6-7; Luke 24:6).

The Scripture declares in 2 Corinthians 5:21 For {God the Father} hath made {Jesus Christ} to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

The Ark Is A Picture Of Christ.
Keep A Space Between The Ark & Yourselves!

Joshua 3:4 … come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore

We are to see the ARK, not OURSELVES or SOMEONE ELSE. Look to Him. Look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). He is

… the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE (John 14:6)

Faith Dedicates Itself To God

Joshua positioned the people Spiritually to obey the Lord.

Joshua 3:5 And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the Lord will do wonders among you.

The word “sanctify” is the Hebrew קָדַשׁ qâdash, (pronounced kaw-dash’) which means “separate yourself, consecrate yourself, to be hallowed or dedicated to God”. Israel was to be spiritually clean, renouncing all sin, before they could be used of God. God will not work with a sinful and uncommitted people. The Scripture says:

Isaiah 59:2 … your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

Proverbs 28:13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

1 Peter 1:15-16 … as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all {your way of life}; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

God does not call His people to penance, but to repentance. Turn from your wickedness. Grab hold of the Mercy Seat, and rely upon the Blood of Christ. His Blood will cleanse you from all sin!

If we confess our sin to God, He is faithful and just to forgive us all sin, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Do not be lukewarm as Laodicea (Revelation 3:15-16). Do not forget Who our first love is as Ephesus did (Revelation 2:4). God wants ALL of us. He wants the WHOLE person dedicated to doing His will for his glory.

Our God Is Faithful

Joshua 3:10-17 Joshua said … Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan. 12 Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man. 13 And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap. 14 And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people; 15 And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,) 16 That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap … and the people passed over right against Jericho. 17 And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.

What a beautiful picture this is! God’s people have their hearts focused upon the Lord. They are where God told them to be. Their hearts are focused on glorifying the Lord. What happens? God’s people cross the uncrossable. Beloved:

To Cross the Uncrossable Lift Up The Cross
Follow Christ in Love and Obedience
Take The Step of Faith
For God is Faithful!

The priests stepped out into the raging waters – and they parted. Somewhere up river the water is stood up like a crystal pillar. The riverbed is not just free of water – it is DRIED. The thunder of the river is replaced with the thunder of God’s people stepping forward in uniform obedience to the Lord. This event was so significant in the life of Israel that the Lord wrote a song about it:

Psalm 114:1-8 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language; 2 Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion. 3 The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back. 4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. 5 What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? 6 Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs? 7 Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob; 8 Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.

A turbulent Jordan stretches before this and every Church in America. We live in atheistic times. How can we overcome? We cannot, but God can. We cannot win, but Christ can. God can do the impossible. He has done the impossible before. He can do it again. Will we look to Him or will we, as many other Churches have done, compromised and died? I want to see God part the waters once more. I want to see God do a miracle. I want to see Jesus make a difference in our community. Will you go with me, and look to Him, stepping out in faith? Surrender to Him, and look to Him. He is able!

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Bind The Scarlet Thread

Posted on May 26, 2019 by bibleteacherorg

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Joshua 2:21 .. and she bound the scarlet line in the window.

Only Your Unbelief Hides God

One of the great objections I often hear as to exclusivity of Christ – that is, that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life … and that no one can come to the Father but by Him (Jesus’ words in John 14:6) is the question:

“What about those who have never heard of Christ?
Will they be condemned by God?”

Those who ask such questions may or may not be sincere – I don’t know their hearts. But I do know this. My God is big enough to make sure that EVERYONE who wants to be saved CAN be saved. The Bible begins with this truth. Abel was saved by Christ, though he was murdered by his brother Cain:

Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered unto God …

  • Enoch – another early Saint – walked with God and did not see death (Hebrews 11:5). He walked with God prior to Scripture and missionaries. God is able.

  • Noah was approached by God (Hebrews 11:7) and built an Ark based on God’s direction. Again, no one told Noah about Jesus but God.

  • Abraham – an ancient Babylonian man – came to Christ by faith (Hebrews 11:8). Jesus said of Abraham:

“Your forefather Abraham was overjoyed to see My day. He saw it, and rejoiced!” (my paraphrase of John 8:56)

God is bigger than most of us conceive. God has said:

Proverbs 8:17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find Me.

Before God wrote this Bible that we cherish God wrote Himself on nature.

Only the most foolish can look at the design all about us and not know that such beauty cannot come from chaos, but from a Creator and a Master Designer. Only the most spiritually blind person – someone who my mamma used to say “doesn’t have the sense God gave a billy goat” – can look at creation and not know there is a Creator God. God is. God is.

But beyond this, God sees.
God watches the hearts.
God does not hide Himself.

God clearly reveals Himself to whosoever will believe in Him. The Israel that believed in the Lord and followed Him was blessed. The Israel that disbelieved – the Exodus generation – brought cursing upon themselves. The first generation of Israel “forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of their salvation” (Deuteronomy 32:15). An evil heart of unbelief manifested itself over and over again, until God finally said:

Hebrews 3:10-11 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. {11} So I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)

Christ has never hidden Himself from seekers. He woos us. If you go to hell, it is because you have heard Him call but have refused Him.

Hell is not God’s problem or God’s error.
Hell is man’s willing choice.

How terrible is sinful unbelief! The disciples could not cast a devil out of a child because of unbelief (Matthew 17:20). Unbelief caused some of Israel to be broken off (Romans 11:20) from the blessings of God for a time. Unbelief is the source of all blasphemies against God (1 Timothy 1:13). Sin and unbelief caused Sodom and Gomorrah to be destroyed of God (Genesis 18:20). Sin wrecks kingdoms and destroys civilizations (Genesis 20:9). The mighty Grecian Empire that once ruled the world died under the sins of hedonism and debauchery. The mighty Roman Empire died under the weight of evil and unbelieving rulers like Nero and bloody Caligula. The great and ancient city of Jericho died under the weight of Divine Judgment.

God Will Save The Rahab Who Hears

Joshua 2:21 .. and she bound the scarlet line in the window.

Who is this “SHE”? This “SHE” is named Rahab. The word “Rahab” is actually the Hebrew רָחָב Râchâb, (pronounced raw-khawb’) which means “proud”. What is Rahab’s story? How did she even get into the Bible?

God had told Joshua that it was time for him to lead Israel into the Promised Land of Canaan. When God told Moses to go into the Promised Land the Lord told Moses to send twelve spies – one from each tribe – into the land (Numbers 13:2). Of those twelve all but two of them fell under the sin of unbelief. Their unbelief caused Israel to wander for forty years in the wilderness until the generation of all the unbelievers died. Now Joshua takes over. Forty years of misery is past. Israel and her leadership has learned the lessons of faith. The Bible says:

Joshua 2:1 … Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.

The spies went to a Harlot’s house. What is a Harlot? This is a woman who sells herself – her body – to others for profit. In the modern world we call such a woman an “escort” or a “Geisha”, or perhaps “Lady of the Evening” or just prostitute or whore. The Bible speaks in the harshest of terms about those involved in sexual sin, especially of those who act as or support whoredom. The Bible says:

Proverbs 5:3-8 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: 4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. 5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. 6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are movable, that thou canst not know them. 7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. 8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:

God tells His people “do not go to the door of a whore’s house”.

Ephesians 5:5 … this ye know, that no whore monger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

You will find no place in Scripture where God speaks lightly of those involved in sexual sin, whether it be as client or provider. Sexual sin is grievous according to the Lord. The Bible says:

1 Corinthians 6:18 Flee {sexual sin}. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth {sexual sin} sinneth against his own body.

Sexual sin brings with it disease and disaster. It destroys families. It confuses heritage. By it nations have collapsed. It is no joking matter!

Yet we see the two spies going – deliberately going – to the house of a prostitute. Why? And why would God put this in the Bible? Because God wants you to know that He sees you, and He loves you. God sees the heart of every person. God had a plan for Rahab’s life much greater than that of debauchery and debasement. The Bible tells us that Jesus said:

Luke 5:32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

1 Timothy 1:15-16 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners …

Luke 15:10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

Oh Beloved, how can I make this clear? Oh that God would give me the tongue of Gabriel, for I am so limited. God watches the heart. God watches His creation. I believe He was watching the hearts of all of Jericho that day … and then He saw Rahab. Why was she a prostitute? Why did she fall into this most grievous of sins? The Scripture does not tell us. We do not know the backstory of many of those the Scripture uses as examples. But we do know this. God is able. God sees. God knows. God is watching. He sees your heart today.

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is … not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Rahab Laid Her Life Down

Joshua 2:2-4 And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to night of the children of Israel to search out the country. 3 And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house: for they be come to search out all the country. 4 And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were:

A prostitute sells herself for profit. Here are two men in her house, and the King of Jericho hears of these men. He knew their business. How did he know what business they were on? Probably because an Israelite betrayed Israel. Just as Judas Iscariot betrayed Christ so there are false believers in the Church and in Israel. Some sell their Lord for thirty pieces of silver. Others sell their Lord for temporal pleasure. But God knows. God knows.

The Lord knows those who are His. (2 Timothy 2:19)
The Shepherd knows His sheep (John 10:14)

The spies are found out. But Rahab – amazingly to us – saves these men. At the risk to her own life she hides these men, then lies about it. The Bible doesn’t mince words. She lies. But she lies to save life. She lied as Germans lied to hide the Jews in their homes from the concentration camps during World War II. She saved their lives by risking her life. She hid these men until the search party went away. Why would she do this? The Bible tells us that before the men rested that night:

Joshua 2:8-11 .. before {the spies} were laid down, {Rahab} came up unto them upon the roof; 9 And she said unto the men, I KNOW1 that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. 10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. 11 And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.

“I KNOW” the LORD – the Eternal Great I AM – has given you this land”. Here we see saving faith. This was not merely an intellectual assent of knowledge. It was not “I know” like people say “I know the grizzly bear is dangerous”. Many people say that, and yet every year hundreds of people are mauled by grizzly bears. Why is that? Because they have an intellectual assent to the fact that grizzly bears and dangerous, but have not internalized that knowledge.

There is a difference between an intellectual assent to truth
and an internalizing of spiritual truth.

Rahab knew Who God was. The reason she knew is not because she read her Bible. She knew because she had the witness of what God did in Israel.

Joshua 2:10-11 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that [were] on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. {11} And as soon as we had heard [these things], our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he [is] God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.

The world watches God’s Israel, and the world watches God’s Church. When you go home after a Church fight and call your unbelieving friends to gossip, the world hears all about it. The world knew that Joshua sent spies into Jericho. The world knows how you as believers live your lives. Live for Jesus, Church, so that others will be saved!

Rahab’s confession of salvation is found in the words “the LORD your God, He is God in Heaven above and in earth beneath”.

By Faith Rahab Perished Not

Here is the wonder of God’s Grace. No matter how deep your sin, no matter how far you may think yourself from God, Jesus Christ laid His life down for you. The Scripture promises:

Romans 10:9-10 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. {10} For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Those who believed in Jesus were saved when Israel entered the land. Rahab was saved by her CONFESSION. But Rahab was also saved by her OBEDIENCE. Rahab wanted herself and her family saved from death. So she said:

Joshua 2:12-14 12 Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father’s house, and give me a true token: 13 And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death. 14 And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the Lord hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.

The men once saved from death told Rahab:

Joshua 2:18-19 Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee. 19 And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him.

When God sent the death angel into Egypt he looked for the blood of the Lamb on the doorposts of the believing home. When God came to Jericho He looked for the scarlet thread. The scarlet thread is symbolic of faith, of the Blood of Christ. What does the Bible tells us about Rahab? We are told in ..

Hebrews 11:31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.

You cannot go so low that salvation by Grace cannot reach you. I can show you time and time again in the Scripture where God’s grace has been sufficient to save even the most lost.

Who cannot be reached by Grace? The person who clings to their sin as if it be an idol cannot be saved. The person who believes themselves to be sufficient unto God cannot be saved. The person who believes that there are many ways unto God cannot be saved.

But the Scripture promises that whosoever will …

Psalms 116:13 … take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD…

… shall be saved.

Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Rahab was saved by OBEDIENT faith, a faith that looked to God and His purpose. The Scripture says:

James 2:25-26 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Rahab did not debate the small thing. She did as she was directed – and so she and her whole household was saved. She obeyed God – not with the obedience of a slave, but with the obedience of a dear Child.

That great preacher C.H. Spurgeon said: “… when {Rahab} tied the scarlet line in the window, she expressed her confidence in the fact that Jericho would be destroyed, and that she would be saved because she had received a promise to that effect. Sin would not have hidden the spies if she had not believed in their God … Beloved, obey in faith. The obedience of the slave is worth little; the obedience of the child is precious, for it is the fruit of love. That keeping of God’s commands which comes of slavish fear lacks the very heart and bowels of obedience, for love is absent, but, as God’s dear children, resting alone in Jesus confiding in your Father’s promise, feel that because you believe you must obey, not because you dread hell, or expect to win heaven through any works of your own, but because you have believed in Jesus to the salvation of your soul, and therefore, it is your joy to do his bidding.”

Joshua 2:21 .. {Rahab} bound the scarlet line in the window.

The line was bound in the window. She did not hide her faith under a basket. Rahab made an open declaration. Will you make an open declaration of your faith in Christ today? Will you turn to Him Who loves you, and gave His life for you? Do not delay. Do not tarry. Trust Him. Trust Jesus. Bind the scarlet thread in the window of your life. Give yourself to the Lord openly, publicly. If you do, you and your household shall be saved.

May God touch your hearts with his Word.

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United We Stand

Posted on May 24, 2019 by bibleteacherorg

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Joshua 1:9-18 {God said} Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. 10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, 11 Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it. 12 And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying, 13 Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, The Lord your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land. 14 Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valor, and help them; 15 Until the Lord have given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the Lord your God giveth them: then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it, which Moses the Lord’s servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sun rising. 16 And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go. 17 According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee: only the Lord thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses. 18 Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death: only be strong and of a good courage.

Beware Lest We Fail To Glorify God

As Israel stood on the border to the Promised Land this second generation was faced with an impossible challenge. They had new leadership. The first generation of Israel had all died in the wilderness for disobeying God. Moses himself had died and been buried in the land of Moab. We don’t know exactly where Moses was buried, for the Scripture says that God …

Deuteronomy 34:6 … buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day.

I find this interesting because Joseph (of the coat of many colors)…

Genesis 50:25-26 … took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. 26 So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

When Moses left Egypt “Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.” (Exodus 13:19). Joseph’s bones went with Israel to the Promised Land. When the first generation of Israel disobeyed God and were left to wander in the wilderness until they died (forty years), Joseph’s bones went on a forty year ride with them. These bones would not be buried until Israel – a unified people – occupied the Promised Land. At the end of the book of Joshua we read:

Joshua 24:32 … And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.

Moses was buried by God and his bones have never been discovered. Joseph’s died and was buried in Egypt, but his bones were carried out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. They found their final resting place in Shechem (also called Sichem) a place where Abram traveled through right after God called him to salvation. The bones of Moses and the bones of Joseph are highly symbolic of faith and failure.

Moses failed God by striking a rock rather than speaking to it.
Moses could not enter the Promised Land.
Though Moses did everything else right.
But when it mattered Moses failed to glorify God.
God loved and buried Moses – but not in Canaan.
Joseph glorified God in his life.
Tried and betrayed by his family, Joseph glorified God.
Tried and betrayed by Potiphar’s wife, Joseph glorified God.
Forgotten by the Chief Cup-bearer, Joseph glorified God.
Joseph’s bones made it to the Promised Land. He glorified God.
Beloved, Glorify God!
It is a terrible thing to not Glorify God!

Those who wait upon the Lord – who are faithful to glorify Him – will ultimately be blessed. Those who do not will bear their own burden. We are to look to our own lives, and remember the words of the Apostle:

Romans 14:8-11 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. 10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at bought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

The Unity Of God’s People Glorifies The Lord

Joshua 1:10-12 … Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, 11 Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it. 12 And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying

As Israel got ready to enter the Promised Land Joshua relayed God’s Word to the leaders of the people. The leaders were to be unified in glorifying God. Everyone communicated with one another. There were no whisper campaigns, no subterfuge. God had given orders, and they were to obey those orders. Joshua said “within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan”. THREE DAYS is a significant number in Scripture. Our Lord Jesus died on Calvary, and laid in the grave three days and three nights (Matthew 12:40).

Then Joshua specifically addressed three tribes: the Reubenites, the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh. These tribes made up roughly 25% of Israel. When these tribes encamped on this side of the Jordan they looked at the land they were on. We read in ..

Numbers 32:1-5: Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle; 2 The children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake unto Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and unto the princes of the congregation, saying … 4 Even the country which the Lord smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle, and thy servants have cattle: 5 Wherefore, said they, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan.

They were well satisfied where they were. They did not want to cross over the Jordan. They were not trying to be troublemakers, but they would just rather have this land rather than the Promised Land. This was something that could threaten the unity of God’s people. Jesus told us as His people:

John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Christ is not honored when His people are in disharmony. The Apostle tells God’s Church:

1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

God is not blessed by, nor will He bless, disharmony and infighting. He will not honor those with “I problems”. Moses is forbidden the Promised Land because of an “I problem”. The first generation of Israel is dead because of an “I problem”.
We must live for God!

Moses tells the Reubenites and the Gadites:

Numbers 32:6-15 Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here? 7 And wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the LORD hath given them? 8 Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from Kadeshbarnea to see the land. 9 For when they went up unto the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the LORD had given them. 10 And the LORD’s anger was kindled the same time, and he sware, saying, 11 Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me: 12 Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed the Lord. 13 And the LORD’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the Lord, was consumed. 14 And, behold, ye are risen up in your fathers’ stead, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord toward Israel. 15 For if ye turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and ye shall destroy all this people.

Moses did not speak sugar coated words to the Reubenites and the Gadites. He spoke the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) which is what we all are to do. God is honored by a divided people. God calls His people to harmony, to unity of purpose. The Apostle said …

Ephesians 4:1-6 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 2 With all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love; 3 Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

God’s people are called to be ONE and OBEDIENT. God wants us to move forward under His direction. To be one Church, one Israel. Not one with the world, but one with God and with one another. We are never to compromise with the world nor with worldliness. “Friendship with worldliness is to make God your enemy” (James 4:4 my paraphrase).

Israel was to have one purpose, to bring glory to God.
The Church has one purpose, to bring glory to God.

We WILL Work Together To Glorify God

The Reubenites and the Gadites proposed a solution to the problem before them. Please note they did not stomp their feet and have a fit. They suggested a godly and peaceful solution. They suggested to Moses:

Numbers 32:16-19 … We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones: 17 But we ourselves will go ready armed before the children of Israel, until we have brought them unto their place: and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities because of the inhabitants of the land. 18 We will not return unto our houses, until the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance. 19 For we will not inherit with them on yonder side Jordan, or forward; because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side Jordan eastward.

Moses agreed with their suggestion. As they prepare their hearts to go into the Promised Land Joshua reminded them of what their elders promised Moses.

Joshua 1:13-15 Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, The Lord your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land. 14 Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valor, and help them; 15 Until the Lord have given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the Lord your God giveth them: then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it, which Moses the Lord’s servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sun rising.

They were all to work together, loving and supporting one another for the glory of God. Joshua warned the people – as did Moses – against betraying the unity of the Body. Let us follow the same example. Let us live together and in one accord for the glory of Christ!

May God touch your hearts with His vision and His Word!

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God Help Not Self Help

Posted on May 20, 2019 by bibleteacherorg

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Joshua 1:1-8 Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying, 2 Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. 5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. 6 Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. 7 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest. 8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

We live in a “self help” age.
Hobby Lobby brings in 4.3 Billion $ yearly.
“My Best Life Now” by Joel Osteen is a best seller.
We worship the words of Oprah and Dr. Phil.
Mega Church leaders are telling us how to GROW!

When I pastored a sweet community Church called Rock Hill I had several preachers that I prayed with every week. I wish I could find preachers now who would pray with me! Anyway, when I got together with my preacher friends and prayer partners the subject of growing the Church always came up. We were amazed at the growth of Churches like Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church with weekly attendance of 22,000 people and Bill Hybels Willow Creek Church with weekly attendance of 24,000 people. I knew I was not called to pastor Churches of this size, but we all wanted to see our congregations grow and reach the communities we were in. We weren’t interested in what the so called “Prosperity Preachers” did, but Saddleback and Willow Creek were conservative leaning Bible believing Churches. Saddleback is part of our denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention.

Bill Hybels surprised us one year when he made a statement about Willow Creek1:

“We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their Bible between services, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.”

I was shocked when Bill Hybels resigned from Willow Creek in April of 2018 amid charges of sexual misconduct. The Church itself is falling into disarray and confusion. I’m not gloating over this by any means. The Apostle warned:

1 Corinthians 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

We are all fallible – we all walk with a limp. We all need to keep our eyes on Jesus!
We all need to rest in His Word!

You will never become strong and effective Christians unless you follow the principles that God has given you. Your families will never produce strong Christian men and women who will lead this Church into the future unless you do as your God has commanded you. You cannot make a difference in the land unless you follow His directives and His Word. You MUST follow the Christian disciplines:

You must PRAY to God through Christ.
You must MEDITATE on His Word.
You must be CONSISTENT in absorbing & doing His Word.
You must be UNIFIED as a people under Christ.
You must be DOERS and not just hearers.
You must be IN LOVE with Jesus!

As Israel prepared to go into the Promised Land what did God emphasize? Did He teach them to build better weapons? Did He tell them the best route to follow? Did the Lord tell them where the best rest stops were, or the best places to eat were at? No, not at all! The Lord said “Focus on My Word” and “Focus on My Leadership”. A strong Israel would be a God led Israel, just as a strong Church must be a God led Church. When the maximum number of believers in the local Church are focused on the daily reading and personal application of God’s Holy Word, that Church cannot be destroyed. When God’s people focus on private as well as public prayer, that Church can pass through the flame of adversity unscorched. God promised those who lovingly follow Him that nothing would stand in our way.

Isaiah 43:2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

Internalize God’s Word!

Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

Look at the first words of this text: “This Book of the Law”. The Bible is not just a neat old Book that we carry to Church with us and sit on the coffee table at other times.

The Bible is a Book of Law!

A Law is something that is decreed by a HIGHER AUTHORITY for the common good.

God gave His people the Bible because He loves us. He has set laws forth in this Holy Book that we must obey if we expect to be blessed in life. God told Israel:

Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth;

What you SAY is what you BELIEVE. We are to let His Word come out of our mouths. The words will not come out of our mouths if it is not IN OUR HEARTS. God does not want you to be a Heavenly Parakeet. He wants you to HEAR, then TEACH what you have head. He tells His people:

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 … these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house,

If you love God in your heart then His Word and His promise will come from your mouth. I have heard it said before – and it is true – We are what we do! The Word of God is YOUR Law, it is MY Law, it is OUR Law – but each of us must be focused on applying it to our own lives.

The way of failure is to hear the Word of God and then spend your time applying it to your neighbor’s life.

“It is the Word of God and the Work of God that changes people’s lives.” – Charles Stanley

The Lord wants you to take His Word and put it into action in YOUR life. Ask yourself as you read it,

“What does this Word have to say to ME”?
Internalize the Book!

King David, a man after God’s own heart, applied the Word of God diligently in His own life. In the longest Psalm in the Bible David wrote:

Psalms 119:97-100 O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. {98} Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me. {99} I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. {100} I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.

When you read and meditate on God’s Holy Word the Spirit Who indwells you empowers you to really live. The more you focus on God’s Word and meditate on its teachings, the more God-minded you will be. David went on to say:

Psalms 119:113-114 I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love. {114} Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.

Though peer pressure and the world may direct us to do the wrong thing, the heart filled with God’s Word will always follow God’s leading. The Christian who “meditates day and night” on God’s Word will be less likely to fall into Satan’s sin pit.

The Apostle Paul directed the wayward Corinthian Church to turn away from selfishness and sinfulness and to turn toward God’s Word. The Apostle said:

1 Corinthians 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

How do we have “the mind of Christ”? Every time Jesus was asked a question or attacked by an enemy, how did He respond?

“It is written”

Jesus lived the Word – He is the Word. His mouth was directed by the Word. God told Joshua:

Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth;

The Word of God should be in your mouth. We experience things through our mouths. We eat great foods – steak and seafood – and delight in their flavors.

We should be discussing the Word with one another, and encouraging one another in its study. We should be building our Sunday School classes, because this is so important to the growth of the Christian. When we are in the midst of suffering we often run to the doctors for relief. There’s nothing wrong with doctors. A doctor called Luke was used of God to write Scripture. But before we seek other sources, let us seek His Word.

Treasure God’s Word!

Jeremiah 15:16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.

The reason why many who profess Christ do not have JOY and REJOICING is because our minds dwell on mindlessness rather than the Mind of God.

We watch mindless TV.
We listen to mindless Music.
We stare at mindless Phones.
And fill our minds with bubbles.

How many times do you just TURN OFF the electronic noise and TUNE IN to God? What you fill your mind with is what you will become. The Scripture says:

Proverbs 23:7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he…

Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

If your heart is focused on God’s Word, your actions will follow your focus. This is why God told Israel “meditate – think on My Word – day and night”. If your mind is on God’s Word it cannot be on Satan’s deceptions.

But we cannot leave out the last part of this Holy Chain:

Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein

God expects us to “do according to all that is written therein”. There is a doing that must not be put away. We can put a piece of steak in our mouths, we can think about eating it, but if we do not DO – chew and swallow – we have no benefit. Jesus told His disciples:

Luke 6:46-49 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? {47} Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like: {48} He is like a man which built a house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. {49} But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built a house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

The doing of the Word of God always produces great results. We do exactly as God tells us to do without equivocation, and we shall be blessed.

We cannot be godly unless we think godly thoughts.
We will not be godly unless we do godly things.

2 Peter 1:4-7 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. {5} And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; {6} And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; {7} And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

God has given His people exceeding great and precious promises that we might be partakers of the Divine Nature. The Lord wants to bless us – but our blessing and prosperity is conditioned on our personal application of the Word of God in our lives. As our focal text tells us:

Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

Let God Take Over Your Life

Joshua 1:2-5 Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. 5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Too often in this life we make ourselves visible, but God invisible.
We need to reverse this if we will be blessed!

The country that would become the United States of America won it’s independence from a vastly superior nation. Great Britain ruled the seas. Her military was the most powerful in all the known world. How in the world did we defeat a vastly more powerful enemy?

At that time in history battles were fought following European methods. Armies dressed up, marched in formation, and fired facing one another on a battlefield. Each army in battle had to stand there and take it. Cannons and flintlocks killed large numbers of soldiers on both sides. There was no way that the American colonies could defeat armies like Britain’s. But we learned from the native American Indians how to fight and win. We hid ourselves. Rather than stand in parade on a battlefield we hid behind bushes, trees, and in ditches that we dug. The British forces were trained to stand out PROUD, EXPOSED to every bullet and cannon ball. Our militia fought from cover. And we won.

The Church cannot win the battle against the forces of satan if we proudly display ourselves. We need to hide ourselves behind Jesus.
We need His Word in our hearts and in our hands!

We who have been saved by faith need to internalize the truth that “the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest”. On the day that you became “born again” God the Holy Spirit came to live in the Temple of your body. He is – as Jesus said – the Promise of God, the “Spirit of truth; Whom the world cannot receive” (John 14:17). This Holy Spirit – very God of very God – lives inside of you. The Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest”. He is the silent Witness Who watches you as you go through this life. He sees you whether you obey God or not. He is with you throughout everything you do.

“When we are faithful to keep ourselves in God’s holy presence, and set Him always before us, this hinders our offending Him, and doing anything that may displease Him.” – Brother Lawrence, Practicing The Presence of God

We need to learn to practice the Presence of God. He is. We need to act as if He is in our presence – for He is. We need to move through this life as if He is in our presence – for He is. When we sit down to watch television we need to be aware that God sees what we are seeing – for He dwells in us. When we speak to our friends He hears every word we say. If we neglect to pray – to speak to Him on a regular basis – He knows that. God is with us because He has promised to be “with thee whithersoever thou goest”. Job even in the midst of adversity declared:

Job 23:11-12 My foot hath held His steps, His way have I kept, and not declined. {12} Neither have I gone back from the commandment of His lips; I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.

Keep your eyes on the Lord. Let Him shine through you. The fainthearted cannot win the land for God. Be strong and of a good courage. Make sure you’re going where God tells you to go – then without hesitating go there. Be strong, for God is with you. Practice His Presence in prayer. Study His Word. Go forward in the Name of Jesus, and God will richly bless you.

May God’s Word richly bless and keep you all!

1 From Baptist Press (November 1, 2007): A Shocking Confession From Willow Creek

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Jesus Is More Than

Posted on May 19, 2019 by bibleteacherorg

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John 20:30-31 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:

31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

Today is the National Day of Prayer for Vacation Bible School. As I pondered what to preach this Sunday God placed on my heart the need to preach our focal text. John 20:31 is the theme and focal verse for our Vacation Bible School In The Wild. Let’s read this verse again:

But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

What must we emphasize to our children – or better yet, what must we emphasize to every person we approach concerning Jesus Christ.

We Must Emphasize That Christ Is More Than Myth
More Than Man
More Than Teacher
More Than Prophet

More Than A Founder
He More Than Most Of Us Conceive
And Certainly More Than America Has Made Of Him

Christ Is More

Context is so important when you are reading the Bible. When you read the verses that we are looking at today you cannot divorce them from their context. We don’t want to ignore them – but we do want to see what’s around them.

Just before John wrote these words he spoke of an incident that occurred with another disciple named Thomas. A few weeks ago I preached a message from our series “Faith of our Fathers” on the Apostle Thomas. I’m not going to preach that again. If you want a copy of that sermon see me after Church. But I do want to speak to the text.

Thomas – like many today – was not where he was supposed to be when Jesus rose from the dead.

Yes, Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus is more than Man, more than death itself. Jesus told all the disciples before He died on Calvary:

Matthew 26 … when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, 2 Ye know that after two days is the feast of the Passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.

Jesus knew He was going to die. When the woman with the Alabaster box of ointment anointed Him (Matthew 26:12) Jesus knew He had to die. Jesus also knew why He had to die. At the end of the Feast of the Passover the Bible says Jesus took the cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Matthew 26:28). Jesus Christ is the payment …

1 John 2:2 … for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

John 3:16 … that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Jesus told His disciples He was to die. He knew why He was to die. But He also knew He would rise again. Jesus told His disciples:

Matthew 26:31-32 … All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. 32 But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.

When Jesus rose from the grave an Angel told Mary Magdalene:

Matthew 28:6-7 {Jesus} is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.

Jesus died on that Cross, but He was more than death. He was more than Prophet or mere Man. Jesus Christ is much more.

Jesus told His Disciples “I Will Rise From The Grave”
Jesus told His Disciples “I will meet you in Galilee”
Jesus had His secretary – an angel – remind Mary that “I will meet you in Galilee”

If you want to see Jesus, you need to be in Galilee. Thomas was not in Galilee. The other ten disciples (minus Judas Iscariot the traitor) were in Galilee. Jesus always does exactly what He says He will do. Jesus is not limited by time or space. He is, was, and always will be. The Scripture says:

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

Jesus Christ is the “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8)

So many who proclaim Christ as Lord and Savior are not where they need to be. I often talk to those who profess Christ as Lord and Savior, who tell me “I am a Christian”, and yet are devoid of the very power of God in their daily lives. Beloved, if you wish to be empowered of God you need to be where Jesus tells you to be. Listen to me, all you THOMAS Christians. Jesus died for your sins, praise God forever. But Jesus is MORE.

Jesus is MORE than Lamb of God.
Yes, He is Lamb of God.
Yes, He is the Payment for your sins.
Yes, He is Heaven’s Key.
Yes, He is the Door to glory.
But He is also SHEPHERD OF THE SHEEP.
He is also KING OF HIS KINGDOM.
He is also RULER OF HIS CHURCH.

Oh, how I wish you would hear me. Oh, how I wish the Spirit of God would open your eyes. Oh, how I pray the Spirit of God will open the eyes of these children during Vacation Bible School. Jesus is MORE.

When Thomas got where he needed to be, when he got to Galilee and gathered with his brothers in Christ, THEN Jesus appeared to him. When you are in God’s directed place doing God’s directed work,
God will be there.

When Thomas was where he was supposed to be

… he saw Jesus,
…he heard Jesus,
… he touched Jesus,
… he experienced Jesus.

Then and only then did Thomas begin to understand that Jesus is MORE. It was at this point that Thomas said:

My Lord and my God (John 20:28)

Evangelists today are selling Jesus as if He were a “Seen on Television Utility”. You know what I’m talking about. Jesus is like the Popeil Pocket Fisherman of the 70’s which looked good but was useless for fishing. Jesus is like the K-tel Veg-O-Matic which dices, slices, chops, and purees … for about 30 minutes, then it breaks. Jesus is a Sav-O-Matic. You walk an aisle, get a little wet, then like the Ronco Rotisserie & BBQ you can “set it and forget it”. When it’s time to die Jesus, like a Cosmic Chauffeur, will drive up in His spiritual chariot and pick up your soul, taking you into Heaven.

No Beloved, Jesus is more. Jesus said Matthew 28:18:

“All power (or authority) is given unto me in heaven and in earth.”

Jesus is the Only Savior, but He is also more. Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. When we receive Him as Savior we receive Him as Thomas did, saying, My Lord and My God. Jesus becomes the Lord of your life when you are saved by Him. Jesus becomes the Shepherd of the Sheep, not the Sheep of the Sheep. Jesus is the Leader and King of His people. But Jesus is More. The Bible tells us several times:

1 Timothy 6:14-15 … until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ … who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;

Revelation 17:14 … the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the Ruler of His people. He is the Savior of those who receive Him as Lord and God. He is our Mediator, our Redemption, our Master.

And we serve Jesus. The Christian who is a Christian indeed lives serving the Jesus Who is “My Lord and My God!”. Author and Minister Ollie Fobbs writes:

“Fundamentally, the idea of Jesus being King of kings and Lord of lords means that there is no higher authority. His reign over all things is absolute and inviolable. God raised Him from the dead and placed Him over all things, “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:21–23).”

The Bible Is More

John 20:30-31 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ…

What is this Book we call “The Bible”? This Bible is more than a human authored Book. Dr. Charles Stanley writes:

“The Bible is more than just another book because it is timeless. The truths of Scripture are never outdated and are still applicable for any situation we might face. {The Bible} is infallible. Since Scripture is the revelation of the one true God, it has no errors. Because He is all powerful, He has the ability to speak through men, guiding them to write only what is true. There may be concepts we don’t understand, but that never invalidates the fact that God’s Word is {without error}.”

Our text tells us that “these things are WRITTEN that you MIGHT BELIEVE”.

The Bible is not a collection of myths and legends.
It is not a story book.
It is not a Children’s Fable.
It is God’s Word from beginning to end.

The Scribes and Pharisees – the religious crowd of Jesus’ day – thought the Bible to be just a book. They prided themselves on knowing the Book, the Bible, but never applied that Bible to their lives. Jesus said of this mindset:

Matthew 5:17-20 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets {the Bible}: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

The Bible was written by God through Prophets and Apostles and about Jesus. These things are WRITTEN that you MIGHT BELIEVE that JESUS IS THE CHRIST. Jesus told the Pharisees and Scribes:

John 5:46-47 … had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of Me. 47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

The Bible is all about Jesus. It is God’s Word about Jesus, and righteousness, and what God expects His people to do. The Bible teaches of Jesus – Old Testament and New Testament. It is a reliable Witness of God.

When Peter preached the first Church Age sermon on the Day of Pentecost what did Peter preach from? Did He preach from a Reader’s Digest or from his opinion? Absolutely not! Peter preached harsh truth and Scripture text to those listening. Peter preached…

Acts 2:23-28 {Jesus}, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: 24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. 25 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: 26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: 27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 28 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.

Peter preached Christ from the Old Testament text of Psalm 16:8-11. Preaching and believing the Word of God some 3000 people were saved that day. Beloved, this Bible we have is the Word of God. It is THE Word of God. There is no other. These things are WRITTEN. The Bible says:

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All scripture is given by inspiration of God {theopneustos = God Breathed} and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

The Bible is written by the hand of set apart people, but is GOD BREATHED. It is the very Word of God.

Scripture Is The Very Exhale Of God
That Breathes Life Into The Believer

As the Scripture comes from God, it is trustworthy. Jesus Christ always countered the errors that He found in humanity around Himself with the Scripture. In the New Testament we see the phrase “as it is written” 31 times. That’s right, 31! When Jesus taught He referenced the Scripture.

Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, {Jesus} explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. (Luke 24:27)

{Jesus said} all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled (Luke 24:44)

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote–Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” (John 1:45)

Luke 4:17-21 … there was delivered {to Jesus} the book of the prophet {Isaiah}. And when he had opened the book, {Jesus} found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

The Bible is God’s Book. It is through it – faith in it – that we are changed from children of Adam to children of the living God. We come from Satan’s kingdom of darkness and are translated into Christ’s Kingdom of light when we believe in Him of Whom the Scriptures speak.

Belief Is More

John 20:31 … these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

Belief is more than a head nod or a mental assent to a truth. We all believe in gravity. I believe in gravity. But it was not until is was walking into my work shop one day that I slipped and fell, cracking my head on the ground. Then I REALLY BELIEVED in gravity. Gravity to me was a truth, a truth I believed and was taught. But saving belief is more than mental assent. It is soul deep.

Belief that saves understands that I am a sinner.
Belief that saves knows that I am destined to hell.
Belief that saves sees Jesus Christ as my only hope.
Belief that saves bends the knee to Him Who loves me.
Belief that saves obeys Jesus as Lord and God.
Belief that saves surrenders to the Savior.
Belief that saves does as Jesus says.

Jesus said “Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46). If you come to Jesus and do as He says He promises that the storms of life will not destroy your lives. But Jesus said:

Luke 6:49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

God wants these little children to be Christ’s little children. He wants you to be His little child. Will you come to Him Who gave Himself for you TODAY? The Bible says TODAY is the day of SALVATION (2 Corinthians 6:2). Tomorrow may never come. Come to Him – to Jesus – today. May God the Holy Spirit use this text for God’s Glory and the salvation of many souls! Amen!

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Who Is The Servant Anyway?

Posted on May 16, 2019 by bibleteacherorg

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Joshua 1:1 Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying …

In a recent address to the 2019 graduates of Liberty University Vice President Mike Pence spoke about religious liberty. He said:

“throughout most of American history, it’s been pretty easy to call yourself Christian. It didn’t even occur to people that you might be shunned or ridiculed for defending the teachings of the Bible. But things are different now. Some of the loudest voices for tolerance today have little tolerance for traditional Christian beliefs.”

Someone asked the question “What must Americans do to stem this tide of bigotry?”. I believe that this is the wrong question. When our Lord Jesus came to this earth, He came as Light into the midst of darkness. From the very beginning Jesus was resisted by Israel – those He came primarily to save – and the religious leaders of Israel. The Scripture says:

He came unto His own (Israel), and His own received Him not (John 1:11)

“The Light shined in the darkness, but the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:5, in my words). Jesus told the Rabbi Nicodemus right after He told him “God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son” (John 3:16) that:

John 3:19 … Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than Light, because their deeds were evil.

The world opposes Christ and His genuine followers because the world is in the grip of the Evil One (1 John 5:19). Jesus told the religious leaders of His day right after He healed a boy blind from birth:

… If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. (John 9:41)

Why was the world that Christ was come to save against Him from the beginning? Why would a King called Herod attempt to kill Him while He was yet in a cradle? (Matthew 2:16; Jeremiah 31:15). Why would every religious leader of not – Pharisee, Sadducee, Scribe, Chief Priest, or Elder – seek His death? Jesus defined the problem Himself, saying:

John 15:21-24 … they know not Him that sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin. 23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.

For entirely too long the Church in America has lowered God’s standard until our ensign is dragging in the dust.

As we lowered the standard, changing what God has told us in His Word to a humanized little “w” word, the Church ceased to be a threat to the darkness. Vice President Pence has been clear in his faith, and is being attacked for it. President Jimmy Carter along with other Presidents went down the road of compromise. In a New York Times interview President Carter was asked:

“One of my problems with evangelicalism is that it normally argues that one can be saved only through a personal relationship with Jesus, which seems to consign Gandhi to hell. Do you believe that?”

His response was typical of what many say today. President Carter said:

“I do not feel qualified to make a judgment. I am inclined to give him (or others) the benefit of any doubt.”

Jesus left no doubt. Whether Gandhi or any person – even Adolf Hitler – is in hell today is not for me to judge. But Jesus was very clear when He said in John 14:6 “I am to Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by Me”. If a person leaves this life without a personal relationship with God in Christ then they have NO HOPE for Heaven. To compromise this truth is to reject the very basic tenet of Christ’s Gospel. It makes the world happier if we who are Christ’s say “I prefer to not make a judgment”, but it inflames the world when we say “Christ said He was the only Way to God the Father”.

Who Is Serving Who?

The reason we as American Christians have not experiences much difficulty in living our faith is sadly because many of us think that God serves us rather than we serve God. We’re going to start studying through the Book of Joshua, an extraordinary believer in God. The Book of Joshua begins where the Book of Deuteronomy ends. The Hebrew Bible is divided into three parts:

“The Law, The Prophets, and the Writings”. The portion known as the Law was written by Moses as God gave direction. The Scripture tells us that:

2 Peter 1:21 … the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Moses wrote the Torah – the first five Books of our Scripture. Moses knew Jesus Christ. How do I know this? Because Jesus told the Pharisees:

John 5:46-47 … had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

As the Law ends and Joshua begins we read:

Deuteronomy 34:1-6 .. Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the Lord shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, 2 And all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, 3 And the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar. 4 And the Lord said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. 5 So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. 6 And {God} buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day.

When Moses died he went to be with Jesus. Moses was 120 years old when he died. The Bible says that:

“his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated” (vs 7)

Moses knew who the servant was. Because Moses failed to serve God at Kadesh by striking the Rock rather than speaking to it (Numbers 20:8-13) Moses would not enter into the Promised Land. Yet God loved him, and buried him with His own hand.

It amazes me that the Hand that wrote the Law on tablets of stone was the same Hand that dug the grave for Moses’ body.

Why would God take such care with Moses? Even though Moses failed God at Kadesh (also called Meribah or bitterness – Numbers 20:13), Moses was still “The servant of the Lord”. He knew and served God. He wrote of Christ. He trusted God the Holy Spirit. He served the Lord. God said of Moses once he died:

Deuteronomy 34:10-11 … there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 11 In all the signs and the wonders, which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land …

God loved Moses because – outside of that terrible day in Meribah – Moses knew whom he served. He lived for the Lord Who saved him. He cared for Jesus. When Moses dies who will God choose to take his place? Will God go by popular vote, or electoral vote? Will God ask the people whom He will choose? NO!

the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister

Joshua Served The Lord

Who is Joshua? His Book is the first Book in the Hebrew division of the bible called “The Prophets”. We don’t know who the human secretary was that wrote this Book, but we do know it was written by God. The name “Joshua” is the Hebrew יְהוֹשׁוּעַ Yᵉhôwshûwaʻ, (pronounced yeh-ho-shoo’-ah) which means “Yahweh is salvation”.

Dr. Thomas Constable in his commentary notes “is the Hebrew name that translates into Aramaic as “Jesus.” What Jesus is to God’s people in a larger sense, Joshua was to the Israelites in a smaller sense. Joshua brought God’s people into the realization of many of God’s plans and purposes for them. ”

Why was Joshua chosen to lead Israel? Judah was supposed to be the ruling tribe of Israel. When Jacob lay dying he directed that:

Genesis 49:10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

Judah was the tribe where Israel’s rulers were to come from. King David came from Judah. Our Lord Jesus Christ is descended from Judah. So what of Joshua?

the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun

Was Joshua from Judah? No. Joshua was from the tribe of Ephraim. When Moses sent twelve spies into the land of Canaan – one from each tribe – we read that he sent:

Numbers 13:8 Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea (Joshua) the son of Nun.

The tribe of Judah was represented by Caleb the son of Jephunneh (Numbers 13:6). So why did God choose Joshua to lead Israel into the Promised Land? Because Joshua was a minister to Moses, and the servant of the Lord. Joshua did not spend his time trying to order God about. He knew he was called to serve God. When the twelve spies went into Canaan 40 years prior ten of the spies brought back “an evil report” which caused Israel to refuse to enter. God told Israel:

Numbers 14:29-30 Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward which have murmured against me. 30 Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

Israel wandered for forty years because of her sin of unbelief. And of the ten spies God punished them:

Numbers 14:36-37 … the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, 37 Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the Lord.

They didn’t know who was the servant. God is not the servant. God is not our servant. We serve the Lord. If we will be blessed, we must serve the Lord! I look forward to going through the Book of Joshua with you. Let us commit to serving the Lord!

Who Are You Serving?

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Faith Of Our Fathers #5: What Are You Doing Here?

Posted on May 13, 2019 by bibleteacherorg

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1 Kings 19:1-9 .. Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time. 3 And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. 4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. 5 And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. 6 And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. 7 And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee. 8 And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God. 9 And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?

Who is this sad and suicidal man who prays that God will kill him? He is depressed, despondent, disturbed. Life holds no interest for him any more. Who is this man?

He is Elijah.

I love studying Elijah. Elijah is a bit of a mystery in the Scripture. His birth and childhood are never discussed in the Scripture. Elijah’s name in the Hebrew is אֵלִיָּהוּ, Eliyahu, meaning “My God is Yahweh”. Elijah is simply introduced in …

1 Kings 17:1 … And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead …

He was a person who dwelt in Tishbe of Gilead, a place east of the Jordan River near Wadi Chorath. Scholars can tell us little about this area, or about Elijah’s origin.

Elijah Was God’s Answer To Evil

We do know that Elijah was born during an evil age. He grew up in Northern Israel under the reign of the evil King Omri. The Bible says:

1 Kings 16:25 .. {King} Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all that were before him.

When Omri died his son King Ahab reigned over {Northern} Israel in Samaria twenty two years (1 Kings 16:29). The Bible says of Ahab:

1 Kings 16:30 ..Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him.

Ahab’s daddy was the most evil king Israel ever had – that is, until his son reigned. As goes the parent, so goes the child. If the parent is godless chances are the child will be godless. Ahab was godless. That isn’t to say he didn’t have a god. He did. Ahab married Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal King of the Zidonians (1 Kings 16:31). Jezebel was a priestess of the false Canaanite god named Ba’al. When Ahab married Jezebel he rejected Yahweh and built a temple for Baal. God raised up Elijah to confront Ba’al and his followers.

Yahweh Confronts Ba’al With Elijah

Elijah’s name means “My God is Yahweh”. He confronts Ahab saying:

1 Kings 17:1 … As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

What gave Elijah his boldness? He had his eyes on the Lord. Elijah said “I am standing before the Lord God of Israel”.
He was focused on Yahweh – not on himself or others.

Elijah stood against Ba’al. Ba’al was not a name of a false god but its title. Ba’al means “Lord”. The Canaanites believed Ba’al to be the god of rain, thunder, lightening, and dew. When Elijah says “there shall not be rain nor dew these years” he is giving a direct challenge to Ba’al and his worshipers. There is only ONE God, and YAHWEH is His Name.

Was Elijah a superman, some super human person like unto Jesus Christ? No, not at all.

James 5:16-18 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

“Elias” is the Latinized form of Elijah. James tells us that the fervent or sincere prayer of a righteous or Christ Driven person does much. Elijah was a person just like we are. He was subject to like passions as we are. He had the same failings as we do. He was just a man – a man who kept his eyes on the Lord. Elijah simply listened to God – and God listened to Elijah.

Elijah listened to God, and God listened to Elijah.
If you want your prayers to have power, listen to God.
Hear His Word. Heed His Voice. Put away your toys.
Get still. Be still. Know that He is God.

Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

God will be exalted among His creation. He does not exist for us, but we for Him. God is not our slave, nor our tool. God is God. He will be glorified by His elect. He will be exalted by those He has saved. Elijah heeded God, and God used Elijah. “He prayed earnestly – with all love toward God – and it did not rain for 3 ½ years!”. Elijah had nothing to do with this drought. This was all of God. God speaks to Elijah:

1 Kings 17:2-4 .. And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, 3 Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. 4 And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.

God protected Elijah. He watched over him.

Why do so many Christians never hear God? Because we will not put ourselves into a position to hear God.

  • We will not hear because of SIN. We allow sin in our lives – unconfessed and unrepentant sin. The Psalmist said..

Psalm 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

Jesus said “If any one serve Me, let HIM FOLLOW ME” (John 12:26). God will not speak to the heart riddled with sin. REPENT! Confess your sin before the Lord. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:8-10).

  • We will not hear because of SELFISHNESS. Often I am trying to tell someone something and someone else will come up and break into the conversation. I was raised to be polite, so I stop talking. And wait. And wait. And wait. And then I give up. God is the same way. God will speak to us, but we are so busy hearing someone or something else that God can not get our attention. So He waits. And waits. And eventually gives up. The Prophet said:

Habakkuk 2:1 .. I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.

What do the words “Stand, Set, and Watch” all have in common? You do these things with your mouth CLOSED. SHUT UP! Listen to God, for He has promised to speak to us. Jesus said “My sheep HEAR MY VOICE, and I know them, and THEY FOLLOW ME” (John 10:27). Start your day listening to the Voice of God (Isaiah 50:4). Elijah listened to God, went to the brook Cherith, and was blessed.

God Takes A Little And Makes It Big

God told Elijah that when he went to the brook Cherith that he would be cared for. Faith means to DO what God says to DO, and to GO where God says GO. God said:

I have commanded the ravens to feed you.

Elijah “went and did according unto the Word of the LORD” (1 Kings 17:5). Every day Elijah woke up, went to the Brook Cherith, drank, and God gave him food by the ravens. What is interesting is that ravens are omnivores. Elijah got a variety of food every day because God love him.

  • It is an act of unbelief to HEAR God and not DO as He says. God can use a raven to feed a man in the wilderness. God can send manna from Heaven. But God will not bless us if we do not DO as He says. He does not ask our opinion. He just directs us to do – and we are to obey. Today if you will hear His Voice, harden not your hearts (Hebrews 3:15). Israel hardened their hearts and lost the blessings of God. Let us not harden our hearts, but OPEN our hearts to Him Who loves us so!

When the Brook Cherith dried up our God was faithful. Our God is always faithful! God gave rest to Elijah, and will give rest to us.

Isaiah 28:12 .. To whom {God} said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

Psalm 85:8 .. I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.

Oh how God wants to bless us. Oh how He blessed Elijah! When the Brook dried up (for God had cursed the land for His sake) the Word of the Lord came to Elijah:

1 Kings 17:9 .. Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.

Faith Is Not Moved By Fear But By God

God told Elijah to first go to the Brook Cherith and be fed by ravens. Now the Lord tells him to go to Zidon or Sidon which was an ancient Phoenician city which we today call Lebanon. Why send Elijah to Sidon? Why was Sidon so important? Because Ahab’s evil bride Jezebel was the daughter of the King of Sidon.

1 Kings 16:31 {Ahab} took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians {or Sidonians}

God sent Elijah into the very center of Ba’al worship, the City of Sidon. God sent Elijah to a widow on her last legs. He put Elijah in the very worst place he could be based on human logic. Why? The Apostle tells us:

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 {God said} My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

God puts us in the least places and gives us the less strength so that we can learn to be empty vessels by which He can fill us.

When Elijah got to the widow’s home in the midst of enemy territory he asks her to bring him a drink of water and a morsel of bread.

1 Kings 17:12-15 … she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. 13 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. 14 For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. 15 And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.

This woman was not a believer in our God. How do I know? She told Elijah:

“as the Lord THY God liveth”

not “our God” but “thy God”. She was probably a worshiper of Ba’al. God sent Elijah to an unbeliever’s home to feed him and care for him throughout the drought. When we have little we need to look up and trust God. We need to understand that the unbelieving world is watching us. They may not hear what we say, but they watch what we do. Are we DOING faith? If not, no one is impressed, neither the unbeliever nor our God. This woman and her child was prepared to die. But God sustained her.

Then her son died. This is the first account of a miraculous resurrection found in Scripture. When her son died she grieved and said to Elijah:

1 Kings 17:18 .. What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?

Elijah took her son up into the loft where he was staying. The Bible tells us that:

1 Kings 17:21-22 … {Elijah} stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again. 22 And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.

Why did all this happen? So that a widow would come to know the Lord our God. After the resurrection of her child she told Elijah:

1 Kings 17:24 … Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth.

What is the greatest cause of atheism in our world today? A Christian group called DC Talk said it best:

“The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” (April 13, 2013)

Elijah lived for the Lord. He kept his eyes on the Lord. In Chapter 18 Elijah stands on Mount Carmel and challenges 450 prophets of Ba’al and 400 prophets of Asherah to a duel. I love this section of Scripture, but I’m running out of time so I’ll abbreviate the story.

Elijah won!

The 450 prophets of Ba’al and the 400 prophets of Asherah were terribly defeated. These servants of Ba’al – who was supposed to send lightening on the earth – would not do so. Of course he couldn’t. An idol is just a figment of the imagination. But God is God. Our God is real.

1 Kings 18:36-38 … Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. 37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. 38 Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.

An entire day of crying and pleading from the 850 false prophets yielded no results. “Our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.” (Psalm 115:3-7). God is real. The God of Scripture is real, and true, and holy. The false gods of the world are nothing but pretend. Our God is real!

Don’t Take Your Eyes Off Of God

When we started this lesson we saw a defeated, demoralized, and self destructive Elijah. Why is Elijah depressed? Why is this great man of God ready to die? Why is his powerful prayer turned to:

1 Kings 19:4 … It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.

Because Elijah took his eyes off of God. When Jezebel threatened him he ran away, and when he ran away he REALIZED he had played the coward. Now he is defeated, because he is looking at himself and not at the Lord Who loves him. The devil defeats us when we begin to look at ourselves instead of God.

Eve looked at the Tree instead of God.
Adam looked at Eve instead of God.
Noah looked at a vineyard instead of God.
Moses looked at the people instead of God.
Saul looked at his strength instead of God.
Samson looked at Delilah instead of God.
David looked at Bathsheba instead of God.
In every failure we look at anything but God.

God took Elijah back to Mount Horeb (Mount Sinai) where Moses received the Law from God (1 Kings 19:8). On this mountain was where the Word of God first came to man. It was here that God spoke to Elijah with a still small voice. It was here that God touched the hurting heart of Elijah, and re-instilled purpose in his heart and in his life.

If we will make a difference for our Lord, if we will stand against the Ba’al of this age, we must return to the Word of God. Only on this mountain can we receive His Word. Only on this mountain can we find purpose for living. Let God take you to His Mountain, and speak to your hearts. Live for Him. Hear His Word. Do as He says. That is where the power of God is – in His Word.

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The Scriptures And The Power Of God

Posted on May 13, 2019 by bibleteacherorg

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Precious Lord God – as we come together today to hear from You, this is what we wish. We pray that You would teach us of your Scriptures. We pray that Your Spirit will touch our hearts and illuminate our conscience. We pray that all external distractions be pushed away, and that we would find the “best part” at Your feet as Mary of Bethany did. We wish to know the Scriptures so that we can know the power of God. In the Name of Your Beloved Son Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

Matthew 22:23-25 The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, 24 Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. 25 Now there were with us seven brethren … 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.

Our text begins with “The same day”.

Let us examine this day.
What happened to Jesus this day?

The Bible tells us that the day before this day our Lord Jesus “went into the Temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the Temple..” (Matthew 21:12). When Jesus did this He emphasized the reason that God’s people should come together. He said:

Matthew 21:13 (KJV) … It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Jesus quoted Scripture from Isaiah 56:7 where the Lord said:

“My House shall be called a House of Prayer for ALL PEOPLE”

God wants to hear from all people.
He wants to talk to everyone.
He gave His Son for whosoever will.

The Temple authorities had allowed the services of God’s House to degrade into a place where communion with God was diminished, but tradition was exalted. When we come together as God’s Church we come together to hear a Word from our God. The Children of the King come together to grow in their relationship with God. The Children of this world come together with us to hear of the God we serve. My prayer is that the Children of this world in gathering with us will hear the wondrous call of salvation and run to the embrace of Christ! It is in His loving arms that God will take you, and like Enoch of old take your souls and …

Deliver you from the power of darkness and
translate you into the Kingdom of His dear Son!
(Colossians 1:13)

Jesus removed the hindrance to communion with God. Oh that He would even now cast out anything in this Temple that is hindering the Gospel and the conversion of the lost. God wants ALL PEOPLE to be saved. God wants ALL PEOPLE to come to Him and know His power.

We Hinder The Power Of God When We Will Not Hear

“The same day came to Him the Sadducees”. God would save anyone. God would save everyone. But God will not force any to the Throne of Grace. What happened on “this same day” in the life of Jesus? Before the Sadducees came to Jesus:

“…the Chief Priests and the Elders of the people came unto Him as He was teaching, and said By what authority does Thou these things? And Who gave Thee this authority?” (Matthew 21:23)

They would not hear Jesus because He was not endorsed by a famous person or a well known Rabbi. But Jesus had something else. Jesus knew the Scripture. The Chief Priests and Elders knew portions of the Scripture. They knew things out of context. But they did not know the Scripture. Jesus told them:

Matthew 21:42 … Did you never read in the Scriptures, the Stone which the builders rejected, the Same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?

The Chief Priests and the Elders were the “builders of the Temple”. They were the pillars of the Temple Community. But they never knew the Scripture. They had memorized Scripture. They had read Scripture. But they had never known the Author of the Scripture. God is the Author of the Scripture.

2 Peter 1:20-21 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Those who were set apart by God to write Scripture wrote as God the Holy Spirit moved them. You cannot take what God has given and use it according to your whims. Scripture matters. Scripture Jesus is the Living Word of God, and He spoke with authority because He spoke the Word of God. He knew its Author. The Chief Priests and Elders did not know the Author of Scripture. They did not know God. This is why Jesus told them “the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof”.

It is not your title or your position that brings you to God.
The Chief Priests and Elders were satisfied in themselves.
They did not know the Writer of Scripture,
and so did not know the Power of God.

“The same day came to Him the Sadducees”. God would save anyone. God would save everyone. But God will not force any to the Throne of Grace. What happened on “this same day” in the life of Jesus? Before the Sadducees came to Jesus:

Matthew 22:15 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle Him in His talk.

The word “His” is added by the King James translators. The Pharisees – which could be compared to the Right Wing of the Church and of the Nation – were very conservative people. They read the Bible. They and their cohorts the Scribes knew and memorized great sections of Scripture. They came to Jesus to attempt to entangle Him in talk. The Pharisees ….

Matthew 22:16-17 … sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. 17 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?

The Pharisees were – according to Jesus – HYPOCRITES. He called them this because they had no respect for Jesus nor for the Word of God. And yet OUTWARDLY they showed Jesus respect. They called Him MASTER or the Greek διδάσκαλος didáskalos, (pronounced did-as’-kal-os) which means A Master Teacher, someone who holds a Doctorate or Rabbinical Status.

Just as the Venus Fly Trap offers pretty colors and sweet nectar to kill its victim, these Pharisees and Herodians (Supporters of Herod) put the sweet flattery out there. As the Psalmist said (12:2-3) “With flattering lips and with a double heart they speak”. Jesus knew they were hypocrites, and called them on it.

Matthew 22:18-21 … Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? 19 Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. 20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? 21 They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.

Flattering Jesus will not bring blessing to your life.
You need to hear the Word of God.
You need to heed His Word … He is the Author.

“The same day came to Him the Sadducees”. God would save anyone. God would save everyone. But God will not force any to the Throne of Grace. The Chief Priests and the Elders came to Jesus, but rejected His Word. The Pharisees and the Herodians came to Jesus, but rejected His Word. Now the Sadducees come to Him. They do not want to hear His Word, but test Him.

The Sadducees were different in their approach. They quoted Scripture. But in the quoting they twisted the Scripture so as to suit it to what they believed.

Matthew 22:24-28 … Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. 25 Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: 26 Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. 27 And last of all the woman died also. 28 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.

This is what many in the world do today.
The children of Adam take the Scripture;
Do violence to its text;
Twist it to conform to their Word.

It is God’s Word. In the Law God established a rule for Israel:

Deuteronomy 25:5 If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband’s brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband’s brother unto her.

Why did God give Israel this command? Because each family in Israel was valuable. God wanted no family to die out. So the brother was responsible to his brother to insure that his blood line continue. That was God’s ruling. The Sadducees came to Jesus with a ridiculous proposition. What if seven brothers lived together, and one died and the second brother married his widow, then number two died, and number three married his widow, etc, etc, until all seven brothers married that widow and then the widow died.

Then they asked the key question,
the question they thought would trip Jesus up.
In Heaven WHO will the husband of this poor woman?

You Cannot Know The Power Of God If
You Do Not Know The Author Of Scripture

Matthew 22:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.

The Sadducees thought they “knew” the Scriptures, but they didn’t. Knowing the Scripture does not mean to just be able to quote portions out of context. The word for “knowing” that Jesus uses is the Greek εἴδω eídō, (pronounced i’-do) which means:

To perceive so as to understand
To fundamentally understand
To experience and therefore know

This word is used of the Wise Men who came to see the Baby Jesus:

Matthew 2:2 … Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen (eídō) His star in the east, and are come to worship Him.

The Wise Men did not just SEE with their eyes the star of Bethlehem. They PERCEIVED it’s significance because they knew the Star’s Creator. When the Wise Men came into the home where Jesus was the Scripture tells us:

Matthew 2:11 … they saw (eídō) the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshiped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

When the Wise Men saw Jesus they did not just SEE with their eyes. They PERCEIVED the significance of this Child because they knew the Child’s Creator.

The Sadducees could not SEE or PERCEIVE the Scripture because they did not know the Creator of Scripture. Why didn’t they know Him?

They were spiritually dead.
Oh, they were animate. They walked and talked.
But they were cut off from God by unbelief.
The Chief Priests were spiritually dead.
The Elders of Israel were spiritually dead.

The Herodians were spiritually dead.

The Pharisees were spiritually dead.

The Sadducees were spiritually dead.

All are spiritually dead who are not known of God. The spiritually dead are those who will not look with they eyes of faith. The Apostle says:

1 Corinthians 2:9-14 .. as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The NATURAL MAN cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God. The lost person cannot process the truths of God. The person bound to sin and self, continually chasing after the things of this life, will not hear the Word of God. The Evangelical Church in America has done violence to the Church itself. We have many times befriended the world. Rather than stand on the truths of God’s Word and holding fast to the Gospel we have compromised. We have tried to be appealing to the …

Chief Priests
Elders
Pharisees
Herodians
Sadducees

yet the natural man cannot receive the things of God. The lost must be told of the Messiah. The lost must learn the Word of God that applies to them, the Gospel that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The lost must be taught that we are all dead in trespasses and sins until we turn to Jesus. It is God that opens the eyes. It is God that gives the perception of Scripture. The lost …

… do err (planao, lead away from the truth) not knowing (eídō, perceiving) the Scriptures, nor the power (dunamis, dynamic power) of God …

The lost must have Christ. They must not debate Christ, nor judge Christ. They must come to Christ. If they would come to Christ then they would experience the power and eye opening majesty of His glorious Gospel. They would understand what we speak of when we say with the Apostle:

Ephesians 2:5-6 … Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

The Christian was DEAD. Like the Sadducee that person without Christ – debating Christ – rejecting Christ was DEAD. A corpse can perceive nothing. The dead can perceive nothing. We are told in Ecclesiastes 9:5 “the dead know nothing”. The Chief Priest, Elder, Pharisee, Herodian, Sadducee – they know NOTHING. We knew nothing until we knew Jesus.

Those who know the Creator of Scripture know the Scripture. Those who seek to love God will know of God. God sent us all that we need to know of Him in His Word. He sent us all that we need to know of God in His Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus came to raise the dead.
Jesus came to raise the dead.
Jesus came to raise the dead to spiritual life.
Jesus came to raise the spiritual to eternal life.

Jesus told these Sadducees – these spiritually dead people:

Matthew 22:31-32 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, 32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

God Is Not The God Of The Dead
He Is Not Your God If You Are Dead In Sins

Jesus explained eternal life and spiritual life in a very simple way. God came to Abraham and spoke to Abraham – and Abraham loved God. Abraham had a son named Isaac when he was a hundred years old. Abraham lived to the ripe old age of 175 years old. After Abraham left this life Isaac went to a place called Beersheba. While at Beersheba the Bible tells us:

Genesis 26:24 … the Lord appeared unto {Isaac} the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake.

If Abraham had ceased to exist then God would not have said I AM the God of Abraham thy father. He would have said I WAS the God of Abraham your father. But Abraham yet lived. And when Isaac had a child named Jacob, and Jacob grew up, God appeared to Jacob and said:

Genesis 28:13 … I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

Abraham had been dead for some time when God appeared to Jacob. Yet the Lord says I AM the Lord God of Abraham who was actually Jacob’s grandfather. Not I WAS, but I AM. Our God is not the God of the DEAD, but of the LIVING. God’s Word to whosoever will cease to debate Him and just hear Him is very clear. Jesus said:

John 11:25-26 … I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

There is life beyond this life. There is life IN this life. Jesus Christ came to this earth to bring us from spiritual death to spiritual life. Jesus Christ came to this earth to give us life, and life more abundantly (John 10:10). Jesus promised whosoever believeth in Me shall never die. Here our Lord used a DOUBLE NEGATIVE for emphasis. Ἀποθνῄσκω οὐ μή εἰς αἰών ἀποθνῄσκω (apothnēskō ou mē eis aiōn apothnēskō) which is literally “shall not die forever”. There is life in Christ. Oh Beloved, do not debate Him. Do not reject Him. The Scripture promises:

Romans 10:9-10 … if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Oh believe! Oh believe! Do not go the broad way of the Chief Priests, the Elders, the Herodians, the Pharisees, the Sadducees. Go the way of Christ. May God the Holy Spirit open your eyes to this great and wondrous Gospel! It is in Your hands, O Lord, in Your hands!

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God Is Watching

Posted on May 9, 2019 by bibleteacherorg

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Photo by Victor Freitas on Unsplash

Deuteronomy 23:9 When the host goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep thee from every wicked thing. … 14 … For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.

When we started studying through Deuteronomy we discovered that this second giving of the Law contains three sets of Laws.

  • It contains Laws that related only to Israel.
  • It contains Laws that are prophetic and are fulfilled in Christ.
  • It contains Laws that are on all of God’s creation.

You may rely to me “but I thought we were NOT under Law, but under GRACE. Isn’t this what the Apostle tells us?” That is very true. But the phrase “not under Law but under Grace” is found in THIS context:

Romans 6:2-18 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin. 8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

The doctrine that says “once I am saved I may freely and guiltlessly break the Law of God” IS A LIE FROM THE PIT OF HELL. The Bible tells us that Christ out Savior went OUTSIDE THE CAMP to save us. We are told in Hebrews:

Hebrews 13:12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.

Jesus died outside the gate – outside the camp – to make payment for our sins. He died to save us from that terrible slavemaster. Jesus gave Himself to PAY for our sins, then rose again to establish command over our lives. As Pastor Wes McAdams said:

“You cannot be a child of God, free from the burden of the law, so long as you still live to sin. That kind of a person is unconverted and is still a slave of sin. That kind of a person needs to be under law. But the true convert, has died to sin and has been baptized into the death of Christ. Paul asks again, in verse 15, “Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace?” And again answers, “By no means!” Through the power of the cross, and the work of God’s Holy Spirit, Christians have become slaves of righteousness. We do what is right, not because of a law written on stone tablets, but because we truly want to please our heavenly Father. Our hearts and minds have been converted by God’s grace.”

I could not say it any better. God expects the people whom He has saved to be at one with Him.

Our Power To Win Is Found In Our God

Our power as God’s people does not rely on our strength, but on the strength of Almighty God. God tells His people – the people whom He loves:

Deuteronomy 23:9 When the host goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep thee from every wicked thing.

Israel was a people loved of God. They were a small group of believers compared to those nations that were around them. God didn’t want His people to worry about the odds that were against them. No matter how big the enemy is, God is much bigger. What God commanded of His people was very simple.

Keep thee from EVERY wicked thing!

God does not call His people to worry about the enemy. Christians have always had enemies. Those who love God are in the minority. I was thinking about martyrs this morning. Do you know who the FIRST martyr in the Bible was? It was Abel.

What did Abel do to be martyred for his faith?
What WORDS did Abel speak that led to his death?

If you study your Bible you find out that Abel NEVER SPOKE A WORD with his mouth – at least no word that was recorded. The Bible tells us that:

Genesis 4:8 … Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

What did Abel say to Cain? We don’t know. But we do know this. When God came and asked Cain where Abel was, that unbeliever said …

“I know not. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Genesis 4:9

God told Cain (Genesis 4:10) “What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground”.

Abel never preached a sermon from a pulpit, but his shed blood preached of the obedience of faith. The Scripture says:

Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

God honored Abel, but marked Cain. God watches what we do. God expects His Children to cast out all that is offensive to Him.

Beloved, we live in a wicked world. The Bible tells us that we are to be light in the midst of this darkness. Lifeway Facts and Trends director Thom S. Rainer stated:

“Between 6,000 and 10,000 churches in the U.S. are dying each year. That means around 100-200 churches will close this week. The pace will accelerate unless our congregations make some dramatic changes. It’s tempting to blame secular culture, national politics, or church leaders for the declining evangelical influence in today’s culture. If outside forces and culture were the reasons behind declining and non-influential churches, we would likely have no churches today. The greatest periods of church growth, particularly in the first century, took place in adversarial cultures. We are not hindered by external forces; we are hindered by our own lack of commitment, selflessness, and evangelistic urgency.”

God told Israel not to worry about what was outside the camp, but to make sure that the camp itself was holy. God said that if we are to be blessed we must remember that it is God Who fights for us. Therefore we MUST NOT OFFEND GOD. God says:

Keep from thee EVERY wicked thing!

This is a far cry from what many Churches are doing today. Too many Churches have compromised with evil. The Church is to be the Light of Christ. We are to live so as to please Him.

God Is Watching Us

Deuteronomy 23:14 For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.

God is watching His people. The Lord thy God walketh in THE MIDST of THY CAMP. God is with us. We have a tendency to compartmentalize God.

What does it mean to “Compartmentalize God”?

It means to use God like we use our tools. In my workshop I have a SawsAll. It sits in a grey case. A SawsAll is invaluable when you need to do tight repair work. With the SawsAll I can cut plumbing lines or remove a stud from a wall. You can use it on trees to cut larger branches safely. The SawsAll stays in it’s grey case until I use it – which is only about ONCE or TWICE a year. When I need it, I have to have it. But when I don’t need it it sits in it’s little compartment, waiting patiently until I call.

This is how some people see God. He is a TOOL to be used, and forgotten until He is needed. But God is no TOOL. He is the CREATOR. He owns EVERYTHING, even the stuff that the unbeliever thinks he owns. God owns our bodies, our souls. Our lungs pump because He gives us energy and lets us have oxygen. God is there, ALWAYS.

The Lord thy God WALKETH In The Midst Of Thy Camp

God takes an active interest in what His people are doing. He knows what you are doing. As Pastor I many times don’t have a clue what you are doing, but God knows. He knows what you’re planning for Vacation Bible School. He knows how often you read your Bibles. He knows what you are watching on television at night. He knows what you do in the privacy of your homes. God walks in the MIDST of you.

One of our founders was Thomas Jefferson, and Jefferson was not a Christian but a Deist. The Deists believe that God created the earth then stepped back and let it go. God is a non-interventialist Creator. But this is not the God Who reveals Himself in the Holy Scripture. God walks in the midst of our Camp. The Scripture declares:

Psalm 46:1-3 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

God does not stand outside the camp looking in. As a Good Shepherd He walks in the MIDST of the Camp. God is not a God Who is far away fromn His people. Has He not promised:

Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

God walks in the midst of the Camp. Our Lord is with us. Our Lord is with us though we may be a small people. Did not Jesus promise:

Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

If we will succeed, we will only succeed if God causes us to do so. Let us cast out all that is wicked. Let us put away the toys of sin. Let us live to please our Jesus. God will not remain in the midst of a sinful people. We are to put away all that offends our Savior, and let Him shine through us. What is the alternative? God says so plainly:

that He see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee

Do not believe that God will justify sin. God tells us clearly:

Romans 13:8-14 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. 11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Be like Christ. Be like Him Who died for you, and rose again so that He could live in you. May God touch your hearts with His Word.

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