It's Not Even Close!

Throughout recorded history, and yes I am talking about Biblical recorded history, man has repeatedly tried to do two things.  The first of these, and understand that the order in which we'll look at these two things in no way reflects and precedence of one over the other, is that man has over and over again tried to reduce God to man's level.  Secondly, man has never stopped trying, to this very day, to elevate himself to God's level.  Hey, don't take my word for this, let's just take a look at a couple of instances. 

Let's put everybody from Joseph Smith to Muhammad to Allah to just about every person that man has chosen to worship instead of God into one big pot, and have no doubt that it would have to be a BIG pot.  They all have several things in common that are relevant to my ramblings today.  Each of these mentioned, and be sure that this short list is by no means complete, all felt themselves worthy to be worshipped [by man].  They also felt themselves to be an equal with God.  Finally, they were all sinners.  This in itself should have been the dead giveaway that something was wrong in the kitchen, so to speak.  The point I'm after here is that not only did these men, who sinned every day of their lives, feel they were worthy of the worship of their fellow [sinning] man, but also that their fellow man felt they deserved to be worshipped.  So here we have in one big mess those who put themselves on God's level and others who chose to worship mere man instead of God. 

We do have another factor we should look at today, and by identifying this action we may be able to connect the dots as to what both of these groups do, why they do it, and what the end results are.

^'4 For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him.    ⁵ You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways.  You are indeed angry, for we have sinned—In these ways we continue;  And we need to be saved.  ⁶ But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousness are like filthy rags;  We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.'  (Isaiah 64:4-6    NKJV) 

The Old Testament prophet has a clear understanding of not only who God is, but also why God is who He is.  It all comes down to one thing, the same thing that made it possible for God the Son to stand as man's perfect Atonement, or payment, for sin.  This is the same thing that some men at different times down through [Biblical] history claim to have, or to have in a much greater degree that everyone else.  Okay then, let's get to it.  God the Father is who He is because He is righteous.  God the Son was able to shed His blood for man because He was, and is, righteous.  Man can present himself as righteous before his fellow man and God all the day long, and like as Isaiah says here, "all our righteousness are like filthy rags;" 

The apostle Paul, in his letter to Titus at the [Early] church on Crete, was very clear in his understanding of what we can think of as a 'before and after' status of man in regards to our own righteousness and the righteousness of God.

^'3 For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. ⁴ But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, ⁵ not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,'  (Titus 3:3-5    NKJV) 

If man's worthiness to expect or to receive anything from God were to be based on how 'good' we are, then every single one of us is destined straight to hell, no passing Go or collecting $200.  God's gift of grace, which brings with it eternal life by the shed blood of Christ, is based on His mercy, and His righteousness, and last but by no means least, His love for us.

'2 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, ² in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, ³ among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.  ⁴ But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast.'  (Ephesians 2:1-9    NKJV) 

So there we have it.  Without God's great love, which everything else revolves around, the best that man can do in the righteousness department is not even close to what real righteousness, like that of God the Father and God the Son, is like.  That is what makes everyone who either tries to bring God down to their level or to raise themselves to His level fail.  It's the righteousness factor that man simply cannot duplicate.  Do you want to know the best thing man can do?  Quit trying.  Hey, know when enough is enough, quit beating your head against the wall.  Yeah, I'm talking to every single person who hasn't accepted God's merciful gift of grace.  I'm talking to every person who denies God's existence.  I'm talking to anyone who would question God's sovereignty and power.  Am I talking to you?  If I am, send me a comment, Email me, call me (1-406-290-4227), at the very least, pray.  Be blessed brothers and sisters before the Lord and any who haven't made it to the Throne of Grace just yet, be blessed!

Rev. Terry Keiner

Absarokee MT

One Time Renting Was Good!

All of the experts have an opinion on just about every single thing.  It used to be that only the tabloids and 'smut' papers carried the most updated 'facts' about what was good and what wasn't so good, what was health and what was sure to take years off of our life expectancies. Up until just a few short years ago, it was the general consensus among real estate and financial experts that renting was just about the worst thing a person could do, and that their was no 'upside' to renting.

(By the way, and I promised myself that I would not detour off topic today, I spent some time trying to get some information about what it is that makes a person either a real estate or financial expert.  I was after what I thought was some fairly simple answers, like what college degrees to take, or what kind of career paths to pursue, and how many years needed to be spent working in your degree field or career path before a person would be accepted as an expert.  Guess what?  I couldn't get a single consistent answer other than for the most part the 'solvency and mobility' of the real estate and financial markets played a huge role in whether a person was an expert or an idiot in either the real estate or financial fields.  Go figure!) 

Okay, back on track!  Well people, I can tell you one time when renting was without doubt a very good thing that happened for all of us.

^'45Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. ⁴⁶And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? ⁴⁷Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. ⁴⁸And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. ⁴⁹The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. ⁵⁰Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. ⁵¹And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;'  (Matthew 27:45-51    NKJV)  (See also; Mark 15:37-39; Luke 23:44-46).

As some may have figured out by now, we're not talking about paying a certain amount of money on a regular basis for the use of a property.  What we are talking about is one very important effect caused by the One who chose to pay the highest price imaginable in behalf of people, who literally hated Him, so that they could basically live rent free for all of eternity.  It's obvious here that we're dealing with two different meanings for the word 'rent'.  Both meanings are literal to the secular world, one being to 'tear' and the other to pay to rent a property, as we've already talked about.  In verse fifty-one from the Scriptures up above, the contextual meaning is that the veil, a hanging curtain separating the 'holiest of holies' from the rest of the sanctuary, was quite literally torn in two.  I've heard some, in trying to take God out of the happenings on that very fateful day about two thousand years ago, explain that the veil, along with the rocks also mentioned in the same verse, were destroyed through the event of an earthquake, nothing more and nothing less.  Just one of many things that occurred to me in response to this kind of silliness is that why was that one particular earthquake, out of all of the millions that have taken place in that fault-ridden part of the world, so important as to have noted the damages that resulted.  Anyways, moving on...let's take a look at the real meaning behind the veil being rent, or torn, in two at the exact same moment that Jesus, '...yielded up the ghost.'   (Matthew 27:50    NKJV).  What we have to understand in order for the torn veil to have any meaning is the process, or ritual, that was a very  important part of the Jews worship of God at that time.

9 'Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. ² For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary; ³ and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, ⁴ which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; ⁵ and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. ⁶ Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. ⁷ But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance; ⁸ the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. ⁹ It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience— ¹⁰ concernedNKJV) 

Some denominations, and it truly saddens me to say this, still follow the ritualistic tradition we see here, which dates from the time that God chose the Children of Israel as His own.  In a nutshell, the normal everyday man did not have access to God, for any reason.  The priests were the intermediaries between God and man, but even the 'regular' priests were not allowed into this curtained alcove behind the altar.  Only the high priests were allowed to enter the Holiest of All, and that only once a year, in order to ask of God, by petition, just what the people should offer as an atonement for each of the sins confessed to the High Priest.  It wasn't that God is stand-offish, it's that man kept himself from God by his own sins.  But when Jesus, through His acts of obedience, paid man's sin offering in full, He also took on the permanent position of our Eternal High Priest, and since He is also God as well as mans intermediary, now man has permanent full-time access to God.  This is the figurative meaning behind the literal act of the veil being rent.  The Holiest of All was, and is, now wide open to man and for man.  Now, the only thing that can stand between God and man is mans own sin, and with Christ as our perfect atonement for that sin, it's our own fault if we're still separated from our Lord God. 

Another point to be made here, and this is just as important as understanding the meaning of the rent veil on that day, is that just as Jesus assumed His position as our Eternal High Priest able to stand as our perfect Atonement for sin by His acts of obedience, so our obedience is necessary for us to claim Him as our High Priest and His shed blood as atonement for our sin. 

4 'Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. ² For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. ³ For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’”

although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. ⁴ For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”;  ⁵ and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.”  ⁶ Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, ⁷ again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.”  ⁸ For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. ⁹ There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. ¹⁰ For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. ¹¹ Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. ¹² For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. ¹³ And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.  ¹⁴ Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.'   (Hebrews 4:1-16    NKJV) 

It's only by the obedience of Jesus Christ that we're given the promise of the Throne of Grace, and only by our obedience that we're able to, with boldness, to claim that promise.  One way to look at the God/sin/man relationship is that the shed blood of Christ removed sin, signified by the veil in the temple, from between God and man.  But, man through disobedience can once again place his sin as a barrier between himself and God.  Through disobedience, man can effectively repair that torn veil and separate himself from God.  It is only be obedience, and not just a single act of disobedience in order to obtain salvation, that man can dare have the boldness to stand before God and claim sonship with the Author of Salvation.

How about you?  Do you dare to have the necessary boldness to approach the Throne of Grace?  Have you the obedience to God's Will as the most important part of your life?  Be Bold!

God bless you all,

Terry

Yes, Lord!

'Yes, Lord!'  What do we have here?  Two simple words, a total of seven letters made of up five consonants and two vowels.  Throw in a couple of punctuation marks and we have one of the most important [to God] and abused [by man] phrases in the Christians vocabulary.  I'm not just rambling on today about New Testament Believers, because my point to be made covers everybody from the beginning of Biblical History forward.  Think about it for a minute...  It's easy to imagine the response of Adam and Eve there in the Garden when He gave them their marching orders, when they would've said 'Yes, Lord!' to His instructions.  Choose any of the Biblical characters down through history, and while most of them initially responded with something like, 'I can't do that, Lord.', a vast majority of the time the final response was, 'Yes, Lord!'  Look at the process Jesus undertook to choose His original disciples.  He would select someone, tell them to follow Him, and the response inevitably was, 'Yes, Lord!'  Look around you today at people called by into specific ministries and what you'll find the final response was, even though some like myself didn't have the desire to by in ministry, a heartfelt, 'Yes, Lord!'  Now let's each take a long hard look at ourselves, and this is always hard to do and be honest and objective.  Scripture tells us that while God has called many, few are chosen.  The Parable of the Wedding Feast is a perfect illustration of this.

'22 And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, ³ and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. ⁴ Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.”’ ⁵ But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. ⁶ And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. ⁷ But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. ⁸ Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. ⁹ Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ ¹⁰ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.  ¹¹ “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. ¹² So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  ¹⁴ “For many are called, but few are chosen.”'   (Matthew 22:1-14    NKJV)

The planning of the Wedding Feast is a figurative comparison to the plans, or Will, that God had in His heart of hearts for all of humankind.  Just as the planning of the king provided for every conceivable need of his guests, so did the Will of the Father include every possible need of those He called, or invited.  And, just as those invited by the king didn't accept their invitations to the Wedding Feasts, so has the vast majority of those called by the King of kings either not responded to His calling or failed to respond in a sincere and diligent way.  Now I know that I've only touched on the high points of this Parable, but my rambling about today isn't about this Parable, it's about two simple words and the impact they should have on man's relationship with God.

When each of us make the conscious decision to come to the Throne of Grace, we are effectively saying, 'Yes, Lord!'  But, and this is a very important and often misunderstood point, we are not saying, 'Yes, Lord!' only to our acknowledgment of our absolute need and acceptance of the atoning blood of Christ.  We're also saying, 'Yes, Lord!' to every single part of the Father's Will for our lives from that point forth.  This is not something that we're able to pick and choose what we want to be in our lives and what we don't want to be responsible for. 

So where are you?  Was, and is, your, 'Yes, Lord!' just that, or is it more like, 'Yes, Lord, but....?' 

Hey guess what?  I've made the point for today, my rambling is finished, for now.  Yeah, I know that this is kind of short for me, but don't let the length of this post lead you to believe that it's any less important than any of the longer ones I've posted in the past.  'Yes, Lord!' is a very important part of your life before the Lord, and all that He has in His Will for you, and my prayer for you today and every day is that your 'Yes, Lord!' is truly 'YES, LORD!!!!'

Be Blessed Brothers and Sisters, today and every day!

Terry

Sin = Death, Period!

Here we have one of the most misunderstood, misapplied, and misused Scriptural truth that is used to ignore facts, justify lives that are being lived contrary to what God's Will would mandate, 'water-down' the most basic of Biblical teachings, and all of this is not even the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

First, let's do what I usually do, let's go back to the beginning.  I'm not talking about the beginning when God said, 'Let there be light.' (see Genesis 1:3    NKJV).  I'm talking about one of the first teachings of Christ in which I feel He was laying the groundwork for the purpose He came to serve before our Lord God in Heaven.

^{12 '}When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.'  (Matthew 9:12-13    NKJV; see also Mark 2:17; Luke 5:32    NKJV)

We have a number of things going on here that we have to have a clear understanding of in order for the gift of Grace, with the resultant Salvation, to have any meaning and/or value to us at all.  First, there can be no doubt at all that Jesus is making it very obvious that so far as He and the Father are concerned, sin is a terminal illness.  Second, the reference here to sacrifice is clearly meant to establish a distinction between Spiritual Mercy and the  ritualistic sacrifice necessary to Old Testament worship.  Third, and last, Christ wasn't interested in 'unlearning' anybody the facts concerning their status before God.  The point to be understood here is that before any of us could accept the shed blood of Christ as atonement for sin, we each have to have clarity in regards to not only our position before God, but also our position without God. 

'For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.'  (Mark 8:38    NKJV)

These words of the apostle Mark as he recorded the life of Jesus have to be understood to be a very direct and powerful warning as to what will happen, not what maybe will happen, but what will happen in regards to man's position before God, should any person decide to allow public opinion or peer pressure or anything at all to come between themselves and God.  I'm sure that everyone reading my ramblings today has at one time or another has witnessed someone who is a professed Christian not stay true to that position before God at a time when it wasn't 'fashionable' or 'politically correct' to do so.  Maybe you yourself was that person who found yourself feeling ashamed of standing up and declaring that Jesus was the Lord of your life.  Maybe you didn't want to be teased or ridiculed.  I [literally] thank God every day for having a Son who didn't mind being teased and ridiculed and beaten and tortured and then killed, for you and I alike. 

Now, to get back on track here, and yes, I have wandered a bit (like that's never happened before, right?), let's get a clear understanding of just exactly what it is that both separates man from God, and is utterly repulsive to God. 

'But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.'  (Isaiah 59:2    NKJV)

There you have it, plainly spoken in easy language to understand.  What I want everyone to make note of here is that while these words by the prophet make it clear that mans iniquities and sins have brought the Lord God to not only turn His face from mankind, but to also refuse to hear anything man has to say, there is something that these words do not say.  I'm talking about some specific things that a lot of people, and church doctrines, wrongfully attribute to God that are not only not in this particular Scripture, but are not in His Word anywhere.  Take another look, and then dig down deep in your frontal or sidal or backal lobes, or anywhere else in your brain where there might be some tidbit of information lodged that points a finger at anything else that would separate man from God.  I'll give everybody a hint:  Cause and Effect.  This particular issue actually goes all the way back to when man got crosswise with God there in the Garden of Eden.  Here's another hint in the form of a question:  What was it that man did to violate the Covenant that God had established with man?  I'll tell you right now that it was not specifically eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 

Okay, it's time to wrap this thing up, so let's look at our last Scripture, which should give everyone the answers to all of the questions I've asked today.

'For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.'  (II Corinthians 5:21    NKJV)

a sin is a sin is a sin is a sin... period. I'm sure that some of those who read this post will accuse me of oversimplifying things today, and you want to know something?  I'm okay with that, because if everyone will just think about it for just a sec, it'll become pretty obvious that God kept things pretty simple.  He said things like, 'Thou shalt have no other God before Me.' (Exodus 20:3    NKJV)  Even in His declaration of love for mankind who've made it pretty clear at times that they couldn't care less how He felt, He still kept it pretty simple, 'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.'  (John 3:16    NKJV)

Okay then, I'm done for the day.  This bit of rambling wasn't so bad now was it?  Be the way, I know that I haven't mentioned it in awhile, but, 'Yeah, I'm a Believer!'

Be assured that you are all in my prayers!
Terry

Perfect Rest by Perfect Redemption!

I've often made the statement that we have a God of second chances.  Let's look at just a few of the 'second' chances He gave the first of mankind as a complete entity, followed by His chosen people the Children of Israel, and lastly mankind as a whole once more. 

'Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. ² And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. ³ Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.'  (Genesis 2:1-3    NKJV)

What is sometimes not understood, in regards to the Creator declaring a day of rest, was that the reason for the day of rest was in reality far more important than which day of the week it actually took place.  God took six days to create all that He created.  As a celebration of the completion of His work, which He found was good, He declared the day that followed the end of His work to be a day of rest. That day [of rest] came to be called the Sabbath, and that is, as we all know, Saturday on our calendars today.  Just so we understand that the Sabbath was indeed important to God, we need to pay close attention to v. 3 of our Scriptures up above.  God never intended that man was to see the Sabbath as a day off from work, with the only thing being different about the Sabbath and any other day of the week being that on the seventh day of the week man didn't have to work.  God intended for man to have a different view of the Sabbath day, and that is why He 'blessed the seventh day and sanctified it,' to emphasize it's importance.  While it can be pointed out that every day before the Lord is a blessed day, we have to keep in mind that He 'blessed the seventh day and sanctified it,' way before He declared man to be a holy people of His own.  Even with this in mind, the fact that in addition to blessing the seventh day, He also 'sanctified it' as His own is a point to be well noted.   We know that to sanctify something is to 'set it apart' so that it is seen to not be common with any other.  The seventh day of the week, Saturday, was set apart by God as a special day not to be considered as 'just another day.'  As we mentioned earlier, this was an act by the Lord God of all before He had declared His position in regards to identifying any certain people as His own. 

Now lets just jump ahead just a bit to when that situation changed.  At this point in time, there had been some major changes in the live of man.  The fall from grace by man by an act of disobedience had resulted in man no longer living on the 'easy street' God had placed him in originally that we know as the Garden of Eden. In between that incident and the giving of what is commonly called 'the Law', God had formally declared the people of the Hebrew nation to be His Chosen People.  After that momentous occasion, there had been several instances of God's Chosen turning their backs completely on Him, with the results each time that the whole of the Children of Israel suffered loss and affliction in some pretty heavy-duty ways.  But through it all, God was always consistent in all things He desired for His people and demanded from them, including His position in regards to the seventh day.

^{8 '}Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.'  (Exodus 20:8-11    NKJV)

There you have it, plain simple language with no need of convoluted interpretation or prophetic discernment.  Remember that this instruction took place as a part of the Ten Commandments, so it's pretty obvious that this was of major importance to God. If you'll look closely at the last part of v. 11 here you'll see that once again God stressed the importance of this day to Himself with the affirmation that He 'blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.'  Now we don't need to let the word 'hallowed' throw us for a loop and cause us any undue anxiety.  This part of v.11 from the book of Exodus doesn't tell us that God did something new in regards to the Sabbath, apart from blessing and sanctifying it.  To 'hallow' something is to sanctify or consecrate it, same concept just a different word.  Maybe God was simply trying to let people know that He is a very literate Creator. 

I've probably got everyone wondering just how the Sabbath being sanctified by God has anything to do with 'Perfect Rest by Perfect Redemption', and I'll be the first to admit that the question is a good one.  So, let me ramble just a bit longer and we'll tie it all together.



^{8 '}You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes— ⁹ for as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you.'  (Deuteronomy 12:8-9    NKJV)

Just so we're all on the same page here, yes, I know that these words of God recorded by Moses were in fact giving instruction as to how pagan places of worship and pagan articles of worship from lands and peoples conquered by the Children of Israel were to be disposed of.  But, if we look close and combine our scrutiny with the words of Christ to the Pharisees after they had once again tried, and failed, to trap Him by His own words and actions, we'll find that the spoken words of Moses to the people serve as a description of what was not acceptable before God followed by the words of Christ in describing what provides evidence that what is desirable to the Lord is near at hand to the New Testament Believer. 

^{22 '}Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. ²³ And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?  ²⁴ Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.  ²⁵ But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. ²⁶ If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? ²⁷ And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. ²⁸ But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.'  (Matthew 12:22-28    NKJV) 

This whole bit of Scripture is basically summed up with the last verse.  What Christ was trying His best to make clear to these Jewish leaders was that before something, whether it be Beelzebub or the Spirit of God, could have any kind of authority over anything or anyone, from demons to any of mankind, first that entity had to be well established by their presence.  It is not necessary for the demons or us humans to acknowledge the authority of the Spirit of God, which is directly opposite of the fact that before any demon can have any kind of authority over man, that power has to be given to the demon by the man.  This is evidenced by the words of James to all of the twelve tribes who were scattered, or dispersed, to all points of the known civilized world.

'Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.'  (James 4:7    NKJV)

There are two instructions and a promise at work here, but it is kind of an odd setup in that the instructions are not what I would call 'stand alone' instructions.  By that I mean that if we follow the first instruction to 'submit to God.', then the second to 'Resist the devil' will follow as a natural event.  This brings us back to verse twenty-five in chapter twelve of Matthew up above in which the apostle
recorded the words of Christ, to read, 'But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.'  Let's break this down to make sure we all get it before we move on.  If a person chose to not submit to God, then it would be extremely hard to resist the devil.  What's even more disturbing for a great many people to hear, and they will have to acknowledge this fact on a certain day to come, is that if a person has not submitted to God, then it does them absolutely no good at all to resist the devil, even if they are able to do so.  Now let's get back to our instructions and promise.  By submitting to [the will of] God, we are resisting the devil, because it is the firmly established will of God for all of mankind to resist the devil.  Then we come to the promise, and in my mind this is one of the most powerful promises made by God to mankind in that if this promise were not found to be true, then the Throne of Grace would be just another lie in a whole shadow-land of deceit.  If we submit to God, it follows that we are actively resisting the devil, and if we resist the devil, then he has no choice but to flee.  That little four letter word is what makes this promise so powerful, and the definition for that word according to The Oxford Dictionary (1996) is, 1. a) run away. b) seek safety by fleeing 2. tr. run away from; leave abruptly; shun. 3. intr. vanish; cease; pass away.  When I plug any one of these meanings into our verse in James, and substitute it for the word flee, it sure seems to me as if the devil has no choice in the matter.  Do you see now why I feel that this little [promise] verse is one of the most powerful in Scripture?  And here is the best part of it all, the power behind this verse is all yours.  If you are a Born Again, Spirit Filled, Redeemed by The Blood Christian, then the power to force the devil to flee from you is all yours!  We've already seen how we get that power, by submitting ourselves to God [alone].  This brings us back to Matthew 12:28 and the promise spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ, that the mere fact that He was casting our demons by the [authority of] the Spirit of God was evidence that the Kingdom of God was no longer something to be talked about, it was the here and the now.  The 'here and the now' I'm talking about isn't just for those Pharisees in front of Jesus Christ two thousand years ago, it's also about you and me, right now!  While the evidence that the Kingdom of God was upon those long ago Pharisees was that Jesus was casting out demons by the [authority of the] Spirit of God, so we today have much more in the way of proof that the time of the Kingdom of God is now.  Remember that the Holy Spirit had not yet descended to man at the time of the events described in  Matthew 12:28, so the work of the Holy Spirit was strictly through and by Jesus Christ.  But now, in today's time, the authority and sovereignty of God is more than available to every New Testament Believer through the work of the Holy Spirit within each of us.  With all that we've gone over, be assured that we've almost gone full-circle to where all of this ties in with the 'Perfect Rest by Perfect Redemption!' thing.  We're almost there, just hold on just a little bit longer!

^20' Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; ²¹ nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.'  (Luke 17:20-21    NKJV)

I can promise you one thing, and that is that this answer from Jesus was not what the Pharisees expected or wanted to hear.  By the same token though, each person who comes to the Throne of Grace has the last part of this Scripture, 'For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.' as a promise from God.  Just so that we understand the facts concerning the Kingdom of God I'm going to take a little side trip here, but I promise it won't be long.

Back in Genesis, Scripture says that God made man in His [their] own image.

^{26 '}Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.'  (Genesis 1:26-27  NKJV) 

We know that God wasn't talking about a physical image because God doesn't have a physical image (see John 4:24), and this cannot be confused with the time that God the Son walked the earth as Man.  As a preemptive strike, I'm going to throw some Scripture out here in support of the fact that in spite of man's sin of disobedience there in the Garden of Eden, man still has the Spiritual image of God.

^{11 '}For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, ¹² teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, ¹³ looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, ¹⁴ who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.'  (Titus 2:11-14    NKJV)

This epistle, or letter, was written by Paul to his emissary Titus, who was overseeing the [Early] Church in Corinth, and the part of Paul's letter we have here is written as an assurance of several things.  First, that God has made grace available to every single person.  It's important to understand this because just as we saw earlier in Matthew 12:28, the fact that the presence of the Spirit of God is evidence of the presence of the Kingdom of God, and equally important the availability of God, so the presence of the 'the grace of God that brings salvation' is also evidence of the presence of the Kingdom and availability of God, and being that it 'has appeared to all men.'  is more than ample to put to rest any thinking gone wrong that would limit the presence of the Kingdom of God to just those early members of the church built without hands.  The second point to be taken from this letter to Titus is the promise made by God that this 'grace of God...' is one of the several means by which man is guided and prompted by the Holy Spirit, and for this to have any value to a person we have to keep in mind that each of us has been created in His own [Spiritual] image, (see John 16:7-8).  This second point here is joined by necessity to the ultimate purpose of my rambling about today, that being the Scriptural truth that it's only by the New Testament Believers perfect redemption by the shed blood of Christ and the promises kept from God that Christians are able to enter into His perfect rest, which is found in  the Kingdom of God which is within each and every person who has come to the Throne of Grace for Salvation.  The author of Hebrews makes it pretty clear that entering into His rest is both something that all Christians have the choice of doing in our times today, and also that we will be under the ever watchful scrutiny of our Lord God Himself.

^{11 '}Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. ¹² For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. ¹³ And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.'  (Hebrews 4:11-13    NKJV)

To make a very important point clear, we have to be sure that we know that our ability to enter His rest is not based on our being worthy of that privilege.  We're only given the opportunity to be declared righteous before the Lord because of the obedience of Another.

^{14 '}Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.'  (Hebrews 4:14-16    NKJV)

Okay then, there we have it, the bottom line is that yes, we as Christians do have the invitation to enter into His rest while still here in this world gone bad.  And yes, that invitation to enter into His rest is only available by the shed blood of Christ.  And again, yes, His rest for us in today's time is within the Kingdom of God, which is within each of us.  Keep in mind the parable of the Bridegroom.  Since we, the church [built without hands] don't know exactly when our Bridegroom will return for us, we have to make sure that we're firmly lodged within His rest at all times, (see Hebrews 4:11-13).

Be Blessed before the Lord!
Terry

Whose horse? What saddle?

Here's the point that some people will go their whole lives and never get, you can put a thousand dollar saddle on a hundred dollar horse, and at the end of the day you still have a hundred dollar horse.  Yeah, yeah, I know that some of you reading this figure that I've finally gone all the way 'round the bend.  But, believe it or not, there is a method to my madness, so just hang in there! 

Let's call it whatever you want to, thousand dollar saddles and hundred dollar horses, smoke and mirrors, mirrors and smoke, sleight of hand.  You figure out what you want to call it, whatever you're comfortable with.  Because that seems to be the most important issue in our country today.  The most important issue is not  the issue at hand, but how we reconcile the issue at hand.  Example (I'll use a favorite peeve of mine): A majority of churches no longer have an altar call at the end of services.  When I have personally have asked a number of other ministers why this is, I get the answer that the issue of altar calls makes too many of their congregants uncomfortable, so it's something that isn't discussed.  Notice that it isn't the altar calls themselves, but the issue of not having them, that makes the people uncomfortable.  This particular issue is a kind of 'double-end-around' issue.  What I mean by that is that the reason why the altar calls were stopped is safely tucked away out of sight, and therefore out of mind (unless that pesky Holy Spirit gets involved, and I pray He will!).  So by refusing to discuss the fact that there are no altar calls, people are spared the uncomfortableness of having to discuss the original reason, which would by necessity have to be part of the discussion on the issue of no altar calls.  There, have you got it?  What really concerns me here is that not too many years ago, just about the only place you saw or read about this type of illusions, or disillusions, was in politics.  But now, unfortunately, this is the case no longer. 

Before we go any farther, let me try to answer a question that may be popping up in some minds.  Some of you may be wondering if I'm a liberal Democrat, or a conservative Republican, or maybe a liberal Republican or a conservative Democrat.  I suppose that these are fair questions, but for me the problems began when church members start identifying themselves as a liberal this or a conservative that.  Maybe some of you are wondering which of those I am in church, a liberal or a conservative.  Okay, I'll give it a shot to describe myself in both the church setting and the political venue.   I'm a Christian.  I'm not a liberal Christian, or a conservative Christian.  I'm not a Republican Christian, or a Democratic Christian.  I'm a Christian, and just like those early disciples at Antioch were identified as Christians, so am I called a Christian.  That's it, the whole sheebang, the whole kit-and-cabootle, the big cheese.

'And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.'  (Acts 11:26    NKJV)

As you may have figured out already, I'm not denominational, and that's because I've yet to read anywhere in the Scriptures that Believers are to be identified by any name, title, or label other than what the disciples were called there in Antioch.  Do I think that denominations are evil or against what the Scriptures teach? I'll answer this question with a 'conditional' no.  So long as the doctrines taught and preached are in no way contrary to Scripture, then no, I don't see denominations as evil or against the teachings of Scriptures.  My primary concern with different denominations is that most of them have the tendency to add doctrinal elements to their worship rituals that are not based on Scripture.  (We used to call this practice 'legalism' back in the day, but I understand that the word 'legalism' isn't politically correct these days, so we just ignore these things, we mustn't make anyone uncomfortable you know.) 

Let's get back to our issue today, and yes, I do have the tendency to wander a bit, I sure hope that doesn't make anybody uncomfortable. 

It seems to be the question at the top of every bodies list(s) these days as to whether or not Obama is a Christian or a muslim.  This question itself is actually what prompted my ramblings today.  A wide variety of people have a wide variety of answers, and explanations, and accusations, and..... It just goes on and on, continually feeding on itself.  The most troubling aspect of this whole issue is the thousand dollar saddle and hundred dollar horse thing.  Most of those who weigh in on this debate don't really care about whether he is a Christian or a muslimboth foreign and abroad. 

Now I'm going to do something different, that I've only done once or twice before.  I'm going to stop right here and leave it up to you to spend some time (hopefully a considerable amount of time) in prayer over these questions.  My prayer is that you will come before the Lord, and claim His promises that He will guide you in any decisions you may need to make.  These changes aren't only to do with who you may or may not vote for any time the election polls are open.  These changes are much more important than that.  These changes, should there be need for changes, are directly related to your status before our God in heaven.  Liberals, conservatives, moderates, Democrats, Republicans.  Before you decide anything, read your Bible!  See what the Scriptures says about how we, as New Testament Believers, should not only be identified by others, but more importantly, how we have to see ourselves before God.

Be Blessed my Brothers and Sisters before the Lord!
Terry.

Choose Your Environment!

Not too many times will we find that certain ideas, or 'notions' as my Great-grandmother would have said, put forth from professionals in the secular world agree with truths claimed by Christians.  Maybe I should rephrase that last bit to read something like, 'with truths that should be claimed by Christians.'  There, that's much better, don't you thing? 

If you've ever spent much time studying, or just reading maybe, about the 'professionals' thoughts and opinions in regards to the development of our childrens minds and personalities, then without a doubt you've come across terms and phrases like 'conditioning' and 'formative years' and 'positive environment' and 'negative environment' along with many others.  I believe that along with these terms, and the many, many more that we don't have nearly enough room to list, it's a well-established fact that the development of children's personalities and characters is affected in large by the environment(s) they are subjected to.  We're not going to get into a bunch of the gory details like 'socio-economic influences' and others. For the purpose of my rambling today, we'll be satisfied with the premise that humans are influenced by and in many ways, become one with, their environment.  Now let's take this to the next level, and by that I mean let's look at this secular statement as a Scriptural truth. 

'And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.'  (Hebrews 10:24-25    NKJV)

The author of Hebrews may not have been addressing the issues of conditioning or becoming one with your environment, but we have to note that the writer had some very specific reasons to '...not forsak[ing] the assembling of ourselves together...'   From the beginning of this piece of Scripture, we, as Christians, are told that for the purpose of 'stir[ring]'  up what is accepted as the most important instruction given to New Testament Believers, we need to not hinder this instruction in any way by not coming together with other Believers.  In other words, in order to fulfill this instruction, along with doing good works, we need to create an environment that we will become one with and are greatly influenced by.  That environment can not be created, sustained, or built upon except by and through God, Christ Jesus, and Fellow Believers.  I'm sure that like most of us, you may have been told by people that they didn't need to be in church to worship God, and that is very true.  But we have to understand exactly what the Biblical meaning of 'church' is.  If we go back just a bit into the Greek, which we know was the original language that most, if not all, of the New Testament was written in, we end up with the word that has been translated a vast majority of the time by most scholars into the english word 'church' that actually has a slightly different meaning.  While the difference may not be noticable in most cases, for our purpose here today we need to identify what I think I'll refer to as the 'suble differences' in an applied, or practical, meaning of the words 'church' and 'assembly.' 

Most of the time when someone uses or hears the word 'church' the mental image that pops to mind is a white building with a tall steeple set on top of a bell tower.  This image will have as it's backdrop a setting of large shade trees, and there might even be a slowly running creek at the edge of the property.  Now, just how close was I?  Come on, let's be honest, I pretty much nailed it, didn't I?  But let's use the word that more closely reveals not just the etymology of the [Greek] word loosely translated into the english word 'church' and see where that takes us.  According to [James] Strong, the [Greek] word 'ekklesia' does not have as an absolute meaning anything that comes anywhere near this mental image we were looking at just a minute ago.  In fact, Strong finishes his definition of this word translated into the English as 'church' with the statement that, "In the N.T. a church is never a building or meeting place."  He does note earlier that 'ekklesia' describes a 'church, congregation, assembly; a group of people gathered together.'  Let's follow this track and see what an examination of the more accurate meaning of our Greek word 'ekklesia' can tell us.  Ekklesia takes us to 'koinonia', which gives us the meaning, "Fellowship, the close association between persons, emphasizing what is common between them; by extension: participation, sharing, contribution, gift, the outcome of such close relationships: fellowship, communion, communicate, communication, contribution, distribution."  Do you see the meaning of the Greek 'koinonia', which has a literal meaning of 'fellowship' being displayed in the words of our Scripture from the book of Hebrews that we looked at earlier?  Tie that in with what the illustrious Mr. Strongs noted was the product, or end results, of this kind of church (ekklesia) or fellowship (koinonia), that being 'fellowship, communion, communicate, communication, contribution, distribution.'  To my way of thinking, which I do my best to keep consistent with God's Will with a lot of praying and communion, the end results of mans fellowship with man, as well as man's relationship with God, has to have as it's [Spiritual] focus these products listed by Strong. 

Okay, now lets tie up all of our loose ends.  We began by acknowledging that both secular man and Scripture agrees that the environment that man finds himself in, whether by design or coincidence, in large part determines who and what man is and will become.  Just as each of us has to make the conscious decision to come to the Throne of Grace and accept the blood of Christ as atonement for sin, so does each of us have to make the conscious decision to decide the who's, the what's, and the where's of our own individual environment(s).  No one can make any of these choices for us, and by that same token, no one except me is responsible for my decisions and no one except you is responsible for yours.  I know that it sounds pretty simple, just make a couple of choices and all will be good.  But I also know that making these choices, and then living these choices is anything but easy.  I take comfort that no matter how hard or inconvenient my choices to make may be, they are not nearly as difficult as a Fellow I've read about who lived His whole life based on a choice He had made, and knew that the final act of His choice would be to demonstrate the greatest [kind of] love any person can have for another.  If I look at it from His perspective, my choices don't really seem all that bad. 

How about your choices?  Have they been made?  Have you decided the who's and what's and where's of your environment? 

Be Blessed!