"The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and He shall thrust out the enemy from before you, and shall say destroy them.”
You are probably familiar with this text. Its context is a message to the Jews by Moses as they were nearing the time when they would enter the Promised Land. It was God’s assurance that He would see that they were able to take the land. That is the immediate context of the text, but we can also apply it to our lives, for God still looks out for His people. Let’s see what a great promise it is. It promises us that the “eternal God is our refuge.” The American Century Dictionary defines the word “refuge” as “shelter from pursuit, danger or trouble.” It is good to know that when we have problems in this life we can take them to God and find refuge in Him. David had the right idea about this in Psalm 23:4: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me.” God is our refuge as we walk through the crises of life. Many times He will escort us around them, but He also often takes us through them and makes us stronger in the long run. I know that it is a comfort to me when I am going through hard times to know that I can take refuge in God and that He will be with me in whatever I encounter. Of course, there are those times when He will just come to our rescue and take us around the hard times. I think that the spirit of the text is caught in Psalm 57:1: “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusts in you: yea, in the shadow of your wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.” When you are facing life’s hard times run to God, run to Jesus and you will find refuge in Him. It promises us that when we seek God’s refuge, we find that “underneath are the everlasting arms.” In other words, the Lord is our safety net. We don’t ever need to fear that we will be without that safety net, for they are “everlasting arms.” That means that there is nothing that can keep God from catching us. We will never have to worry that He will be asleep, that He will ignore us, or that He will be indifferent toward what we are encountering in our lives. We will have to go through hard times in this life, but we will always have our safety net. It is good to know that even when we are very ill, God’s everlasting arms are there to catch us. There are times when the presence of God is so strong that it is almost like He is sitting next to us. I would not want to be one of those people who say that they do not need God, or that they don’t trust that Jesus can save or help them. We who claim Christ as our savior, should thank God every day for His “everlasting arms.” How can we know that He will catch us in those arms? Well, because He promised this and because He is real and His “everlasting arms” are real. It promises that He will “thrust out the enemy before us.” In our case, the main enemy that we face is Satan. As Peter wrote in 1 Peter 4:8: “Be sober, be vigilant: because your adversary the devil walks about seeking whom he may devour.” Only God can be our defense against this powerful enemy. In Ephesians 6:11 Paul reminds us to “put on the whole armor of God that you might be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (You can read about the armor in Ephesians 6:11-18.) The bottom line of Deuteronomy 33:27 is that we are not alone, for God is ever-present in our lives to watch over us and be our refuge. Take God at His word and trust Him. Bro. Joe
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"And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season (for a long time), because he had heard many things of Him; and he hoped to have seen some miracles done by Him."
This incident took place at Jesus' trial when Pilate sent Jesus to Herod for judgment. Herod was glad to see Jesus for he hoped that Jesus might put on a magic show for him. He did not realize that Jesus' miracles were not a show, but acts of God to actually do good in the world and to reveal His power. Herod wanted to see Jesus do God's work for his entertainment and leave his own life untouched. This leads me to a thought that I have about people in the world today. Like Herod, many want Jesus to perform for them, but they also want Him to leave their lives alone. They want Jesus and his power without the responsibility of following and obeying Him. There are people who do not accept Jesus because they think He has done nothing for them. They forget about His dying on the cross for them. They see His miracles and His claims of Sonship as myths foisted on the world long ago by His disciples. They do not realize that to experience God's power in their lives, He has to actually be present in their lives through the Holy Spirit. Jesus is not interested in putting on a magic show for us, so that we can applaud Him. He is more interested in our putting our faith and trust in Him, giving our lives to Him and living in obedience to Him. Serving Jesus is more than getting favors from Him. The appeal of some preachers is to follow Jesus because of all that He will do for you and all that He will give you. To be sure He has given us all of His "riches in glory," but the impulse to follow Him should not be because of all that He will do for us, but for all that we can do for Him when we love Him and live in obedience to Him. I am not trying to convince you that Jesus does not do great things in our lives. What I want to convince you of is that Jesus wants what He does for us to make a difference in our lives - and in the world. He wants what He does for us to be a witness to the world of His power to save. In other words, don't be like Herod and expect Jesus to perform for you and never touch your life. What Jesus does in our lives is not a performance but an act of love from a powerful, loving, and all-knowing God. For that reason, we should follow and obey Him. Think about this today! Bro. Joe “There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.” KJV
“Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” NIV I sometimes feel like David when he wrote Psalm 57:4: “My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.” This is not because of sharp words said to me necessarily, but because I hear so many wicked things said about other people. Sharp-tongued “lions” are all around us. Being a man who makes his living primarily using his tongue to speak to people, I want to be real careful that I do not “speak with a forked tongue.” I want to be careful that my words do not cut a negative swath through people’s hearts. I think that you should feel the same no matter what your occupation. Let me explain what I mean. We speak with “healing tongues" when we say positive things to people. Think about it for a minute: Don’t you like it when people say nice and kind things to you? In my preaching I try to speak positively to people. This doesn’t mean that I never say negative things. (More about this later) What it means is that I want my words to help bring healing to the hearts of the people who hear me preach. But this does not just apply to preaching; rather, it applies to all of our relationships in life. We need to be careful that we do not say hurtful words to people. All you have to do before you say a hurtful thing is to ask yourself if you would want such a thing said to you. There are some people who are so negative, and their tongues so “piercing” that we would really prefer not to be around them. We speak with healing tongues when we say negative things to people in a positive way. Are you confused by this? Well, I’m going to explain what I mean. Paul gave us some direction on this in Colossians 4:6: “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” I think that “seasoned with salt” means that we should not be mealy-mouthed when we speak to people, nor should we give false flattery. Speaking with grace, means that we want to be careful not to hurt the other person’s feelings by what we say. If your purpose is to hurt someone’s feelings, you are wrong from the outset. Let me give you an example of speech not done with grace and not seasoned with salt: “Preacher, that’s about the worst sermon I’ve ever heard.” Or you might say: “Jane where in the world did you get that tacky hat?” Now let’s see speech given with grace and seasoned by salt: “Preacher, that sermon gave me some things that I need to think about.” You didn’t say “I enjoyed the sermon,” you just told him the truth that he did say some things that you need to think about. If he didn’t, just don’t say anything. As for Jane with her “tacky” hat, you might say: “Jane it is good to see you today.” You notice that the hat was not even mentioned. The point: If what you are going to say is going to ruin someone’s day, keep your mouth shut. Jesus said both positive and negative things to people. He took the self-righteous Pharisees to task, and He let the people who were making the temple into a “den of thieves” know that He was not pleased with them. We need to remember, however, when we talk to people that we are not Jesus. But we also need to remember that sometimes we need to just tell people the truth and let the chips fall where they may. But we don’t need to do this in a nasty, judgmental way, and make it seem that we are looking down our noses at them. Even negative things that we say should be with “grace, seasoned with salt.” We just need to remember that too much salt is worse than not enough salt. Even when we are correcting people, we need to be redemptive, and not just negative or mean-spirited. I know that it is not always easy to do this, but if we want to be effective witnesses for Jesus, we will certainly be aware of the impression that we leave. If our purpose is to give “a piece of our mind,” we need to remember that we don’t have the mind to spare. If our purpose is to help keep someone from the error of their way, then we will have healed and not hurt. Keep in mind that not everyone will appreciate even speech given with grace, but you will know that you have said the right thing in the right way. My closing advice here is that if you are not sure what the motives of your heart are when you are speaking with other people; just don’t say anything – kyms (keep your mouth shut). Bro. Joe “I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knows quite well.”
This thought came to me: “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Of course you know that this is not original with me, but came from the text printed above. As I was looking in the mirror this morning while I was shaving, this thought came to me as an old man was staring back at me. (That was me of course.) But no matter how old we become, we are still “fearfully and wonderfully made.” The bodies that God gave us are fearfully and wonderfully God-made computers that amaze us when we think about it. Bear with me as I chase this thought through. For example I thought of our hands and arms. I knew a man in the nursing home that my mother was in who had no use of his hands or arms. When I thought of all the things that he could not do because of this, I thanked God that I could use mine. Think of the thumb. Just think of the things that you couldn’t do if you didn’t have thumbs. God gave us this opposing digit so that we would be able to pick things up. You can pick things up, but it is much more difficult without the God-given thumb. (Pause and thank God for your thumbs.) I thought of our brains which tell our hands and arms, and legs and feet what to do. We take all of this for granted and forget to thank God for the manifold gifts that He has given us in our created bodies. When I think of the intricacies of our body parts, like our hands and arms, I know that we have them by design. All of the “fearful and wonderful” things that our bodies can do had to have a designer. Of course, this designer was God. God did not create us fearfully and wonderfully to disobey Him. Oh, I know that beginning with Adam and Eve we have disobeyed Him, but He created us to serve Him. He wants us to use these great faculties that He has given us to serve Him. He gave us creative minds so that we would be able to devise (if that’s the right word) ways to serve Him. He gave us our hands to do things for Him. He gave us our feet to go places for Him. He gave us our voices to speak out for Him. I think that this is what God wants for everyone of us, but He knows that it will not always be that way. I don’t think that our lives are really complete until we know what it is that God wants us to do. So you say that most of the people in the world do not do that. I know they don't, but that does not mean that it is not true that God created us to obey Him? Our disobedience is our fault and our problem, not His. The Bible is the story of humanity’s disobedience and God’s plan to bring people into obedience to Him. It is called the story of redemption. The Bible does not ignore the fact that we disobey God, but it deals with it in detail. The Bible gives us the whole sordid story of our disobedience. We even see the disobedience of people like Moses and David who were real men of God but who depended on God’s grace just as we do. The Bible is the story of God’s forgiveness of those whom He fearfully and wonderfully made. He even sent His Son to redeem us. We are not just “fearfully and wonderfully” made; we can be wonderfully forgiven. Thank God for that. Bro. Joe "Psalm 36:5: "Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.”
Messages about God's nature can be very confusing today. If you listen to some preachers, God has given up and encourages us in any old kind of lifestyle. If you listen to others they tell you that God is so mad at you that He literally wants to send you to hell. Of course, both of these are caricatures of the two natures of God portrayed in the Bible. He is a God of wrath. Anyone who reads the Bible knows that. You could talk to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah about whether or not God will show His wrath. Ask the spies that Moses sent out to spy out the “promised land.” Because they refused to go in and take the land, that whole generation (40 years) had to die out before the Jews could go into Canaan. Ask the people who were buying and selling in the temple and had turned it into a house of merchandise instead of a holy place. If you remember, Jesus went into that part of the temple and raised havoc with those people. Ask the self-righteous Pharisees, who certainly felt the wrath of Jesus when He literally called them a bunch of snakes. He even refers to Himself as a "jealous God." What He meant by that was not that He was insecure in His relationship with His people, but that He longs for them to live the kind of lives that He would have them live. I think this basically means that our behavior sometimes breaks God’s heart. The Bible teaches us in 1 John 4:8b that "God is love." I hope that you will notice with me that the Bible never says that “God is wrath,” nor does it ever say that “God is jealousy." Thank God that He is the God of mercy (and grace). If He wasn't we would all be in very deep trouble. The greatest example of His mercy, of course, is the coming of Jesus Christ into the world to share His mercy on the cross. Jesus is God's personal statement of His mercy - "mercy in the flesh." Without the mercy of God, we would have to live daily with His wrath. What I know about His wrath from the Bible, I prefer mercy. I do not have space in this post to share all of the references to God’s mercy in the Bible, but I will share two. In Psalm 23:6, in the great “Shepherd's Psalm" David declared that God’s “goodness and mercy would follow him all the days of his life.” Psalm 119:4 informs us that: “The earth, O Lord, is full of thy mercy: teach me thy statutes.” The second aspect of His love is Fathfulness. Throughout the Bible, God proves himself faithful to us. John 1:9 states that "If we confess our sins, He (Jesus) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." This means that if we sin and come to God in true repentance, He will practice mercy and be faithful to forgive us. Being faithful means that when we come to Him in true confession, the Lord will always forgive us. This is one of the greatest promises of the Bible. God is always faithful to His people. For example, we read in Psalm 37:8: “For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not His saints; they are preserved forever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.” Paul gave us an example of God’s faithfulness in Romans 8:31: “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Let us be grateful that in His great love, God did not leave us with only His wrath, but that He practices mercy and faithfulness in our lives. Thank Him! Bro. Joe "And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus receive my spirit. 60. And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep."
Stephen was chosen as one of "the Seven" to administer the distribution of food among the Christians. From this we already know that he was a man filled with the Holy Spirit, that he was honest and was of "good report." But the real test of a person's faith is seen in how far he will take it. Stephen witnessed and debated with those who refused to believe. He was an effective witness because the unbelievers could not shut him up with their own arguments. Because of this, they made up a story about him that they had "heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God." In the first part of Acts 7, Stephen preached a sermon based on the history of Israel and concluded by telling them they were just like their fathers, who had killed the prophets in Old Testament days. Because of this, they condemned him to die by stoning. How far would Stephen take his faith? He was willing to die for it. But this does not tell the whole story, for we must look at how he died. Most people would have furiously lashed out at those stoning them and cursed them. What did Stephen do? The first thing that he did was to ask Jesus to "receive his spirit." Stephen knew that when he left the earthly plane that he would go to Jesus and to a heavenly plane. He was willing to die, because he knew that something better awaited him on the other side. But it doesn't end there. Instead of condemning his persecutors, he asked that this sin not be laid to their charge. How far would Stephen take his faith? He took it as far as Jesus did, for Jesus' first words from the cross were: "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." Stephen's final prayer was in the same vein. To be honest with you, this makes me angry with myself when I realize how easy it is for me to get angry with people who might even dare to disagree with me, let alone stone me. Doesn't Stephen's reaction make all of us ashamed of ourselves when we live petty lives and wear our feelings on our shoulders? It makes me ashamed and I pray that it will have the same effect on you. How far are you willing to take your faith? What a challenge for today. Take it! Bro. Joe "O Lord be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee; be thou their arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble."
In my annual trek through the Bible, I am presently reading in Isaiah. I read this prayer this morning and I saw some things that we need to remember in our prayer lives. The first thing that Isaiah asked for was that God be gracious to them. Throughout the Bible we read of God's grace. If He was not a God of grace, we would be in serious trouble. We can be saved because of God's grace, which is God's undeserved favor. We need to remember that without God's grace, we would be forever lost. As you pray, remember God's grace and thank Him for it. Actually pause here and thank God for His grace. The second thing that Isaiah asked for was God's strength: "Be thou their arm (strength) every morning." Frankly, I do not know how we could make it through life without God's strength to uphold us, and to sustain us. We need to remember the promise that was given to God's people in Deuteronomy 33:27: "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.." We need to remember that we are not in this alone, because "underneath are the everlasting arms." Thank God for His great strength! The third thing that Isaiah prayed was that God was their "salvation also in time of trouble." This should remind us that we do not face the troubles of life alone, because God is our "salvation in the time of trouble." God will be with us and will lead us through, over or around the troubles of life. Pause here and thank God that He is with you in time of trouble. I hope that you have gained encouragement and strength because of Isaiah's dynamic prayer. Bro. Joe "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4. Who comforts us in all our tribulation (trouble), that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God."
"Comfort" is a wonderful word. I think that it is the aim of most people to be comfortable. We work and earn money in order to have a comfortable life. But the comfort that Paul wrote about here is much more than just having a comfortable life. "Comfort" is defined as "a state of well-being." This is what Jesus brings into our lives. He gives us a sense of, not just physical well-being, but a sense of spiritual well-being, In Jesus we have security, consolation and peace in our souls. It is not a shallow comfort that lasts for only a moment. It is a deep comfort that gives us peace and tranquility everyday of our lives. This doesn't mean that because of Jesus, we live a life of ease, with no cares. What it does mean is that because of Jesus' comfort, we are enabled to meet the inevitable problems of life with a sense of security and well-being, knowing that Jesus is with us. Jesus doesn't just give us comfort: He is our comfort. It is interesting that when Jesus told His disciples about His death, resurrection and ascension, He promised to send them a "Comforter." He was talking about the Holy Spirit. When we accept Christ as our Savior, we receive the Holy Spirit, Who comforts us with the comfort of Jesus. Praise God! We have received God's comfort. But this is not where His comfort ends. We do not just receive His comfort and sit back and enjoy it all to ourselves. Look at verse 4 of 2 Corinthians 1: "(God) comforts us in all our trouble, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." This means that we do not receive God's comfort to keep to ourselves. He expects us to share it with other people. It should be important to us that, if God can bring such comfort into our lives, He can also bring it into the lives of others. We should be concerned that people all around us who are faced with all kinds troubles without the benefit of spiritual guidance, should receive the same comfort that we have. We certainly cannot force this complete comfort on other people. I have had people get downright sore at me for trying to introduce them to the One who could give them this comfort. Some have even accused me of "judging" them because I wanted to do them a favor. This doesn't mean, however, that I would be justified to just stop trying to share this great comfort. Let's get this down good: What we have in Jesus is not just ours to keep, rather, it is ours to share. Every "good and perfect gift" that He brought into our lives is given to us to share with others. It is important that we be about the business of sharing the comfort that we have in Jesus.. Bro. Joe “No man puts a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up takes from the garment, and the rent (tear) is made worse. 17. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles, else the bottles break, and the wine runs out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.”
2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things have become new." The point that Jesus made about old and new cloth and old and new wine, was that the old and new do not mix. Jesus was telling the Pharisees that He came to bring a new day and that His disciples were part of the new day. Let me explain: Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament law and the Old Testament sacrificial system. The kingdom of God would now be centered in the person of Jesus Christ, and it was through faith in Him that people could be forgiven and cleansed. Jesus’ death and resurrection ushered in a new covenant. Hebrews 8:13 explains it this way: “In speaking of a new covenant, He makes the first one obsolete and what is growing old is ready to vanish away.” ESV Jesus brought in a new day and to offer new life. Paul explained it 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (creation): old things are passed away and all things have become new.” When we invite Jesus into our lives by faith, we are saved and given new life. When we .truly confess our sins and receive Jesus’ forgiveness, no one has to tell us that we have new life. This is impossible to explain; it has to be experienced. New life in Christ is not something that we brag about, nor does it make us spiritual elitists. It makes us what Paul called “ambassadors for Christ.” He explained this in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20: “And all things are of God, Who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 19. To wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and has committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ stead, be reconciled to God.” We are living in the “new day” that Jesus came to give, and we are “new people” saved by grace through faith in Christ. Let’s share Him with the world…. Bro. Joe "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.
I read this beloved and familiar verse this morning, and felt led to share some thoughts on it. John 3:16 tells us a lot about God, and I want to share three simple thoughts that I had about it this morning. John 3:16 tells us that God loves: "For God so loved the world..." When I think of the greatness and holiness of God, I am just amazed that He loves me. He is so great that we cannot run away from Him. Believe me, there were times in my younger days that I tried to run away from Him. The faster I ran, the faster He ran. In other words, I could not get away from Him. I even discovered when I was in the Navy, that He went to sea with me. He is, indeed, "a friend that sticks closer than a brother." (Proverbs 18:24) I am so glad that this is true, and that it is also true of you. God loves you, and He is aware of you! God loves you. John 3:16 tells us that God gives: "That He gave His only begotten Son." The gift that God gave us cost HIm the life of His Son. God freely gave Him to the world and gave us a salvation that is free, but never think that it is cheap. There is not enough money in the world to purchase the salvation that God gave us through "His only begotten Son." It was offered freely to us through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, His resurrection and ascension.. How could you come up with a cost estimate for the life of God's Son? Our God is a giving God, but have you offered yourself to receive that costly gift that God has offered to you? Take the Bible's word for it, God loves and gave His Son for you. John 3:16 tells us that God saves: "That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." I think that you will agree with me that if God loves us enough to give His Son for our salvation, it does not make sense to turn down such a gift. But people turn down this gift of everlasting life, because they think that the world offers them more. The world can give us comforts, entertainment, and a certain amount of satisfaction, but it cannot give us eternal life with Jesus in heaven, nor can the world give us the life that God offers us through His Son. Well, these are my thoughts on John 3:16. Give God thanks for the salvation that He offers through Jesus, and praise Him. Either praise Him for the gift, or take Him up on the offer. Go ahead! You have nothing om earth to lose and heaven to gain. Bro. Joe |
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