“(Listen intently) unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by Me from the womb, which are carried from the womb. 4. And to even your old age I am He, and even to gray hairs will I carry you: I have made and I will bear, even I will carry, and will deliver you. 5. To whom will you liken me, and made me equal, and compare me, that I may be like.”
When I see a personal message to Israel in the Old Testament I take it personally as referring to you and me. Here is what I found: God wants us to remember Who and What He is in our lives. In our case, because of Jesus we have been born again. It was His gift to us. (vs. 3) WE BELONG TO HIM! As Paul wrote: “You have been bought with a price.” In verse 5, God reminds us that He is the only God; there is no one, or nothing to which we can compare Him. He is the Lord of our lives. God will be with us. We need not wonder whether or not He will abandon us. From the time that we were born again, He promised to be with us. Jesus promised that when He ascended to the Father, He would (and does) send the Holy Spirit to guide us in every aspect of life. He is not just a part of our lives; He is the integral part of our lives. I read about an old time preacher who said: “I run from God, and He catches me.” Depend on it; depend on Him. God will carry us. In verse 4 He promises: “And to even your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs will I carry you.” I am sure that you have seen the painting of the “footsteps in the sand.” There were places in the path where there were no footsteps. When asked why, Jesus said: “That was when I was carrying you.” To put it in our southern vernacular: We are His children and He picks us up and totes us. I have found in my life that where there were no footprints, He had carried me through a very rough time. God will deliver us. In verse 4, He promised that He would “carry (us) and deliver us." We need to write it on our hearts, and stamp in our brains that Jesus is in the deliverance business. He delivers us through, under, over the various problems that we encounter in life. He just wants us to look to Him, accept His deliverance, and thank Him for it. Take this promise personally and enjoy the reality of it in your life. Bro. Joe
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“Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me. 2. In my Father’s house are many mansions: If it were not, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”
Jesus was about to leave His disciples and return to the Father, and their hearts were heavy with sorrow. Jesus sensed their sorrow, and He gave this word of comfort, which is also a word for our encouragement. Jesus was saying that our faith in God is sufficient to meet all of the needs of our lives. This faith sustains us today. It helps us to understand Paul’s words in Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” Our faith tells us that God’s grace is sufficient for us in our struggles and problems. Think about this: What are you putting your faith in at this moment in your life? Are you putting your faith in Christ, or do you think that you are in this alone. Our faith in God, in Christ, is sufficient. Jesus was saying that death is not the end. There are people who say that when we die that is it, and we will put in our “final resting place.” I think that when we realize that Jesus is in charge of our lives, we will realize that He is also in charge of our deaths. He even mentioned an eternal home: “In my Father’s house are many mansions…” He is preparing a dwelling place for us in heaven. Jesus was telling His disciples that when He died on the cross, that would not be the end, for He would rise again. Death did not defeat Jesus; rather, Jesus defeated death. Death could not hold Him. This means that it will also not hold us . There is a heaven awaiting believers in Jesus Christ. Jesus said that we would join Him in eternity. Jesus said that if that was not true, He would have told them that it was not true. He has gone to prepare a place for us and we will be with Him as the ages roll. When we get there, we will see Jesus and we will know Him. This also leads me to believe that we will also recognize all of those who have gone before us as we gather at the feet of Jesus. Think about it. Moses will be there. Paul will be there. Peter, James and John will be there. Think of all of the great things that we can spend eternity learning from those who have gone before us. Take this word of encouragement from Jesus personally and claim it for yourself. Bro. Joe “Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6. That you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Toward the close of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, he admonished them to be like-minded. That was wise advice. We need to heed it in our own churches. What does it mean to be like-minded? We should be like-minded “according to Christ Jesus.” Out of love and commitment to Jesus Christ, we should seek, and pray, to be like-minded. This is the motivation for like-mindedness. First, we should think alike: “That you may with one mind…” I want to warn you that this does not mean to have group-think. This is what happens when one group, or one powerful man or woman, do all of the planning for the church. It does not mean that we have to walk in lock-step. True like-mindedness occurs when Christians meet together to make a decision, ideas are shared and discussed prayerfully and respectfully. When a decision is reached after prayerful agreement, the church of Jesus Christ moves on with the mission of Christ. It will pay to learn to disagree like Christians. Second, we should speak alike: “and with one mouth…” When we speak of and for the fellowship of our church, we should stress agreement rather than disagreement. In other words, the whole town, county, or state does not need to know about our disagreements. (That is part of what I meant about disagreeing like Christians.) Actually, if you cannot think of something good to say about your church – which would be a shame on you or your church - then don’t say anything. I don’t mean to be harsh on this matter, but I have seen mouths destroy many a church. Third, the purpose of like-mindedness is to glorify God: “That you may with one mind, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Actually, this is the purpose of the church – period. He put us here to glorify Him. Sometimes to do this we have to speak prophetically to a lost and dying world about Jesus Christ. Often, we have to disagree on moral matters with the world at large. To disagree with the world does not give us permission to hate the world, for we are called to love as Christ loved. I think that you will agree that this makes like-mindedness all-important. Say “amen.” Bro. Joe Note: I will have a wedding in Colorado Springs on Sunday. I'll be traveling on Sunday. I will return on Tuesday. “Hear O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy upon me, and answer me. 8. When you said, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.”
Thinking of what we looked at yesterday, David was unafraid because he took his burdens to the Lord in prayer. Verses 7-8 are an example of David’s prayer. These verses can give us guidance in our own praying. There is an appeal for God’s attention in this prayer. Notice that David called upon the Lord. That is the first thing that we need to remember when we have a need. When we face some struggle, some temptation, some trying person, we should just call out to the Lord. We can do this mentally and God will hear us. We should take whatever need we have to the Lord in prayer. It should be an automatic reflex. He will hear our voices when we cry out to Him. He knows what the need is, and is waiting to meet it. David looked for God to answer his prayer: “…and answer me.” God has an answer for you….Pray! There is an appeal for mercy in this prayer: “Have mercy upon me.” David expected God to be merciful to him, but he knew that he did not deserve the help that God would give. We know enough about David’s life to help us understand his humility in this prayer. God will be merciful to us, but we need to realize that we receive that mercy by grace, not because we deserve it. God will give us His mercy in the way that we need for him to give it. As Jesus taught us to pray: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10b) Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane gives us guidance: “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Matthew 26:39b) Be grateful for God’s grace and mercy that He gives freely. There is an appeal from the heart in this prayer: “When you said to me, Seek ye my face, my heart said unto Thee, Thy face LORD, will I seek.” David made his prayer a matter of the heart. We put our heart in everything that really means something to us. David said that from his heart he would seek the Lord. God is not looking for rote prayers from us. Seek God’s face from the depth of your heart, the depth of your need and your emotions. He will answer! Make your own appeal to God today. He will give His mercy and He will hear the cry of your heart. Amen Bro. Joe “The Lord is my light, and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”
Psalm 27was written to help us deal with fear. The first verse, printed above, sets the stage for living victoriously “when afraid.” When afraid, David depended on the Lord as his “light.” This is why Jesus told us in John 8:12, that He is “the light of the world.” It’s like turning the lights on to keep from stumbling in the darkness. Walking in the light of the Lord will help us be careful, and wise, about where we put our feet. I have tried to remember this as I have encountered the troubles that I have encountered in my life. That light is available to you at all times, and it is only a prayer away. Call on the Lord and He will make the way plain for you. Well, don’t just read it…..do it! (That was to me as well as you.) When afraid David was aware that the Lord was his “salvation.” Salvation is a double edged sword. When we trust in Jesus we are saved and we have His salvation. Notice that he wrote that the “Lord is….my salvation.” We would call this “soul salvation.” This means that we are depending on the Lord to take us to heaven when that time comes. The other edge of the sword is that we depend upon the Lord to save in the midst of all of the struggles of life. King David’s life was not trouble-free. He was saved through the struggles, just as we are. Some of those struggles were the result of his own doing, but he was saved from those too through repentance and prayer. Look to the Lord today to save you with the double-edged sword of salvation. When afraid, David depended on the strength of the Lord: “The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?” Notice that when David encountered his struggles he had the strength of the Lord. He had actually made God the strength of His life. In these trying days we need to depend upon the strength of the Lord. When we walk in Christ’s light and have His salvation, we have been given the strength to meet whatever life brings. This doesn’t mean that we will never be afraid. What it does mean is that our lives will not be ruled by fear. Look to the Lord for strength! When afraid, we should walk in the light, claim God’s salvation and lean on the Lord’s strength. Bro. Joe "Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works.”
I woke up this morning with the word “consideration” running through my mind. I figured that God wanted me to write about it this morning, which I am obviously doing. It occurred to me that we are becoming an increasingly inconsiderate society. This inconsideration bleeds over into the church. The writer of Hebrews even detected this problem and reminded his reader to be considerate. If you wish to be a considerate person, you need to think about someone besides yourself. Now that I think about it, I have been praying for myself about this very thing. I want the Lord to instill in me a desire to always be considerate of other people. That is the least that we can do to be witnesses for Jesus. (You notice that with the “we” I added you to this thing.) To be considerate is a biblical command. We need to be careful what we say to people. Going back to my younger days, I remember that I would make cutting remarks. After awhile it finally got through to me that words can hurt people. Even before she was my wife, my late wife, Mary, used to tell me that what I thought was a “cute remark” was taken seriously by other people. I had to learn to be considerate in what I said. To this day, I remind myself of this. When you speak to someone, be considerate. We need to be careful that we do not let other people’s inconsiderateness get to us and cause us to be inconsiderate to them as well. We need to remember that we represent Jesus by what we say and do. When you feel like chewing out that rude clerk --- DON’T! That is just one example of what I mean, but I think that you understand that it reaches into all areas of our encounters with people. What is the aim of being considerate? “Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works.” Here is the NIV translation: “And let us consider how we may spur one another to love and good works.” Consideration is contagious. (Inconsideration is also contagious.) Think of what a witness your church could be if the members provoked, or spurred, each other to love and good works. Isn’t that the basic call of the people of God? Has what you said and did around people in your daily life, and in your church fellowship recently spurred people to love and good works? What about you preacher? What about you deacon? What about you Sunday School teacher? What about you choir member? What about you usher? What about you............etc.? I think you get the point. Let’s make it a point to “provoke unto love and good works.” Bro. Joe “I have showed you all things, how that so laboring you ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
It is duly noted that this statement of Jesus is not given in the four gospel accounts. Keep in mind that it would be impossible for the gospel accounts to tell us everything that Jesus said to all of the people who followed Him. It was allowed into inspired scripture – case closed. To quote Jesus: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” We often apply this to giving to Christian ministries through the church. This is certainly a good interpretation; for it is a blessing to give financially to the church’s mission. I know that it blesses me that the money that I give to my church is being to promote the gospel in ministries here and around the world. I trust you feel the same. The context of the quote is about “supporting the weak.” The Greek word “astheneo” can be translated as “feeble, ill, diseased,” etc. It leads me to believe that what Paul meant by “support the weak” was that when you find a need, as much as you are able to help, do it. I want to give a few possibilities: There are people who really need financial help. Many churches have ministries to help in this area. The Baptist association that I served had a ministry that included helping people, for example, to pay their monthly utility bills. To be a good steward of the money that the association’s churches contributed to meet those needs, we had checks and balances on giving financial help. (If you find fault with that, you have probably never served in such a ministry.) In that association we also had a clothing ministry, and a food ministry. I was blessed to see the “weak” helped. If some people got by all of our checks and balances, and were not really "weak," my thinking was that we had done what Jesus told us to do in Matthew 25:34-36.(Look it up and read it.) I let them answer to Jesus. If you are worried about people who do not need help, you will never help anyone. (Matthew 10:16: "Be ye therefore wise as serpents and as harmless as doves.") There are people whose needs are not financial but personal. This might seem to be an oversimplification, but you could be blessed by giving a word of encouragement to a discouraged person. It is quite possible that you are aware of people who could benefit from an encouraging word from you. Hey, just do it. You will be blessed. There are people who need to receive a witness about salvation. You will be blessed. If you put your mind to it, you can find several things that could be a blessing. Do it! Bro. Joe “Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; 17. For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.” (Beauchamp translation: “He can’t take it with him…”)
Echoing the above text, Job said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will leave this life. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, praise the name of the Lord.” Job 1:21 (CSB) The Christian comedian, Dennis Swanberg said: “Here’s a simple test: if you can see it, it’s not going to last. The things that last are the things you cannot see.” The great figure of the Reformation, Martin Luther, wrote: “Many things I have tried to grasp and have lost. That which I have placed in God’s hands I still have.” The point here is that there is nothing in this world that you can take to the grave or to your eternal destiny with you. One of my favorite sayings is that: “You never see a U-Haul behind a hearse.” I want you stop and think about this with me: Ultimately, when we die it will not matter what kind of clothes they bury us in. It will not matter what kind of house we lived in, whether a mansion or a hovel. It will not matter whether we were considered winners or losers. It will not matter whether we were rich or poor. The only thing that will matter is whether or not Jesus Christ was our Savior. The stuff that we accumulate here will lose its significance to us if we will just stop and think of how temporary they are. As we grow in Christ, we come to realize that our real treasures are eternal. David wrote in Psalm 23:1 “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” I think that what He meant was that the Lord simplified his needs, and that He wanted for himself what God wanted for him. At least, that is the ideal. We cannot build our lives on things that we can touch, or see. We have no possessions that are eternal That is gospel truth! What is the “stuff” that you hold so dear to your heart? They might be precious family heirlooms, or expensive baubles, but you cannot take them with you when you go. One fellow who had a very wealthy friend, who had died, was asked by another friend, “how much did Sam leave?” His answer was “all of it.” Exactly!!!! Think about it. Bro. Joe “(Jesus)has done all things well.”
Since this statement about Jesus is true; what has Jesus done well in your life lately? What has Jesus done lately that brought about a needed change in your life? I’m not assuming that He hasn’t, but can you name a good change in your life lately? Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is always at work improving our lives. We never reach a stage of ultimate personal growth? In Philippians 3:13, Paul wrote, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended…” The great apostle did not say that he was not saved. What he was saying was that he needed to continue to grow in his walk with Christ.” A fellow told me one time that he knew he was perfect. I said, “no you are not, because you just lied.” I’ve been a Christian for a long time, and I can say with Paul that “I have not apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14. I press forward toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” What has Jesus done in your life lately that brought about a needed change in your life? What has Jesus done in your life lately that helped someone else to change? I’m not assuming that you have not, but just asking you to think about your daily relationships. Jesus saved us to shine for His kingdom. In Matthew 5:16 Jesus said: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in heaven.” Jesus put us here to shine for Him. We cannot make people make the changes that they need to make just because we think they need to make changes. But we can live before people and reflect the light of Jesus, and help them to see what it means to change. Do people see Jesus in our lives? Do they see in our lives what would be a catalyst for them to change? Do they see what they need to see of Jesus in our lives? Wow! You probably think that I am really self-righteous. I’m not self righteous, I just want to positively reflect Jesus before others. Do I always succeed? Nope! But I sure keep trying. What would you be willing to do today to make positive change happen in your life? You can begin with prayer, and by seeking the leadership of the Holy Spirit in your life. Bro. Joe 1 John 5:4-5: “For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. 5. Who is that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
1 Corinthians 15:57: “But thanks be to God. Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” One of my favorite hymns is “Victory in Jesus.” It is a triumphant song of praise with a lilting tune. Look at these words from the chorus of this hymn: “O victory in Jesus, my Savior forever, He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood, He loved me ere I sought Him and all my love is due Him. He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood.” What a triumphant theology this hymn promotes. What does it mean to have victory in Jesus? Jesus won the victory for us when He: “humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:8) Jesus willingly died on the cross to give us victory. Look at what John 10:17-18 tells us about the victory that Jesus bought for us with His own life: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18. No man takes it from me, but lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received from my Father.” Then in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed: “Nevertheless not My will but Thy will be done.” Jesus surrendered to death and took our sins upon Himself in order to give us the victory. While the victory over Satan and sin was won on the cross, the victory was sealed in Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus said: “I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to take it again.” This is a reference to His resurrection. Paul was referring to Christ’s resurrection when He wrote: “But thanks be unto God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” How do we claim this victory? Well, we don’t earn it. Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace through faith are you saved and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.” John wrote: “…and this is the victory that overcomes the world even our faith.” John recorded in the first chapter of his gospel: “He came unto His own and His own received Him not. 12. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” Throughout the New Testament we are reminded that the victory that we have in Jesus is not really our victory but His. If you have victory in Jesus, rejoice and thank Him. If you don’t, you can claim it by faith today. Confess your sins and invite Jesus into your heart by faith and He will come into your life and give you His victory! Bro. Joe |
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