The Ever Present All Powerful God Psalm 139:1-12

 O Lord, You have searched me and known me.

2 You know [a]when I sit down and [b]when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.
3 You [c]scrutinize my [d]path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
4 [e]Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O Lord, You know it all.
5 You have enclosed me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it

Psalm 139:1-6, NASV

    When someone refers to God as the "big man in the sky" or something like that I think about how different the God of the Bible is to the way that we sometimes think of Him.   Psalm 139 gives us a crystal clear view of the majesty of God and the fact that he is ever present and all powerful.  You notice in several places the psalmist early in this chapter uses words like "know", "scrutinize" and "intimately acquainted".  The word scrutinize in the Hebrew is zarah which means to scatter, winnow, sift.  God literally and figurately sifts through our thoughts and heart and examines it.  The psalmist actually says that the knowledge of God is beyond our human comprehension.  To me, this has several implications.

    Anthony George, who is now at First Baptist Atlanta use to say that God is not sitting on his throne popping antacids wondering what he is going to do about your problems.  While life can sometimes blindside us with things unexpected, God is not one who is surprised or caught off guard.  When you don't know what to do or don't understand or feel you are beyond your knowledge or understanding then we should take comfort in the fact that God understands the situation perfectly. 

    Not only that, but the God of the universe knows and understands us each intimately.  He knows every thought, motive, word, need, circumstance and intent perfectly.  God knows us better than we know ourselves and yet still loves us with a love that is beyond our comprehension.  I find it amazing that God knows me that well and yet still loves me.  In verse 18 of this same chapter it says that God thoughts about me are as numerous as the sand on the shore.  

    In these uncertain times, we need to be reminded that God is in control.  He sees where you are and what you need.  He sees what is coming in the future.  He sees your future as clearly as he sees your past.  He knows what to do when you don't know what to do.  Since he knows everything, he knows what the best way is to solve your problem.   Hebrews 4:13 says that "all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."

Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in [a]Sheol, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will [b]overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,”
12 Even the darkness is not dark [c]to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to You.

Psalm 139:7-12

  In these verses, the psalmist goes on to speak more about the omnipresence of God. That God is every present.  This literally means that there is nowhere we can go in the universe where God is not.  The psalmist speaks of the extremes of the universe, the highest heaven, the deepest ocean and then declares that there is nothing, no darkness, that keeps things hidden from God.  Not even when he was being formed in the womb of his mother did God not know what was going on.

   This raises certain questions such as "Do I live my life as if I am always in the presence of God?"  or do I treat God as if he is on a vacation or lives in the church building and doesn't see me when I lose my temper in traffic or feel frustrated at work due to some problem.  Do I compartmentalize God as if he is only interested in part of my life, when he is interested in all of it?

   I take some comfort from these verses because there are times when I don't feel like explaining everything to God or even feel like I have the words to express how I feel.  But, I don't have to explain everything to God because prayer is not about informing as though he were absent.  Rather, I can hand over a situation  or person or job or problem or area where I need growth and give it to God knowing that He knows about it much better than I do and how to provide for that need.

   The year 2020 has been the year of the unexpected.  I don't feel like it is over yet and we may see other things happen that we don't anticipate.  But, God is not surprised by it nor is he feeling overwhelmed or confused or doesn't know what to do.  God sees it all.  He knows what you need before you ask him and is able to provide what you need.

Related passages: Psalm 94:11, Isaiah 66:18; Matthew 9:4, Romans 11:33, Psalm 40:5, Psalm 92:5

What will be the sign of your coming? Matthew 24:1-5

24 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. ² “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

³ As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

⁴ Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.

     This passage in Matthew 24:1-5 was occurring during the last week of Jesus earthly life before his crucifixion.  He made a comment about the temple being destroyed which shocked the disciples.  It led to them asking Jesus three questions:

1. When will these things be?  Referring to the destruction of the temple (which happened in A.D. 70)

2. What will be the sign of your coming?

3. what will be the sign of the end of the age?

    Jesus first mentions what he calls the birth pangs vs.8.  Birth pangs start off spaced apart and then grow in intensity.  It is the same with the signs of his coming.  As the time approaches, these things will grow both in intensity and duration until His return.  The first sign is that there will be many false prophets or christs that appear.  

   You see this predicted throughout scripture in 2 Timothy 4:3-4, 2 Peter 2:1, 1 John 4:1.  The primary sign of these false teachers is that they will make Jesus less than the Christ and deny who he is (1 John 4:1).  We see this in many churches today and in particularly the Mormon and Jehovah's Witness faith.  They deny the Trinity and that Jesus was fully God and fully man.

    Paul also added that there will be a time when men will not endure sound doctrine.  But, wanting to have their ears tickled and to be told things they want to hear they will gather for themselves teachers who will tell them what they want to hear.  2 Timothy 4:3-4 says that they will turn aside to myths.  With all these warnings in the Bible, it strikes me as important that the believer in Christ study the Bible for him or herself and to be careful who you listen to as a teacher.  There are a lot of "feel good" preachers out there who teach a watered down version of the Bible and leave out suffering or denial of self.   The Bible warns us that we live in a time where there will be many false prophets.  They sound good, the music may be very professional and the presentation first rate, but what about the content.  

Does the pastor or teacher point to Jesus or himself or herself?

Is the sermon about becoming a better person or self help or is it Christ centered.  Worship is not about you.  While it is great to improve yourself, be careful about church just becoming an opportunity to be self centered.

Does the teacher compromise the life, death and resurrection of Christ?  Does the sermon or church call on the believer to make Christ both Savior and Lord?  

   I think a lot of people want Jesus to be their Savior, but not their Lord.  And the thing is, that he is either Lord of all or he is not Lord at all.  Lord means that he is in charge and as the author of all things he has the right to be in that position.

The Fruit of the Spirt Part I Galatians 5:22

^{22 "}But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,...."

In looking at this passage about the fruit of the Spirit, we first need to notice

the contrast between this verse and the one after and the deeds of the flesh mentioned in verses 19-21.  The deeds of the flesh are obvious and destructive and mainly self centered in nature.  Yet, the fruit of the Spirit are not called acts of our own, but rather by products of the Spirits works in our lives.  Paul referenced over 169 times that we are "in Christ, in him or in the Lord, in the beloved" in his writings.  This means that as a believer, the Holy Spirit has come to work within us and to change us from the inside out.  We don't do this by our own effort, but rather we are called in John 15:5 to abide in him because we can do nothing without him.

    The list of the fruit of the spirit starts with the primary fruit which is love.  In 1 Corinthians 13:4 it says that this love is patient, kind, and is not jealous, does not brag and is not arrogant.  This is an agape kind of love that starts with loving God and then loving others.  John felt it was so important that it is primary in his letter of 1 John as he states in 1 John 4:7 "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God."  God first demonstrated this love to us by sending his son to die for us and that Christ would willingly go to the cross for us out of that love.

     Paul goes on to list other qualities of the fruit of the Spirit.  The question is "Do I see these by products of the Spirit growing in my life?"  The qualities in verse 22 are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.  Is there evidence that the spirit is at work in my life or is the Spirit quenched by some sin or area of my life that I am not willing to give over to him.  I have to surrender every area of my life and die to self, so that I can live for him.  God cannot give his good gifts to those who are already holding on as hard as they can to the world and everything in it.  Do not love the world  1 John 2:15-16.

     One of the attributes here that may seem self explanatory, but really needs to be looked at more is the word "patience" or in greek makrothymia which means to be patient, endurance, constancy, steadfastness, perseverance.  This is similar to what is said in Romans 5:3-4.  Patience is the long suffering, the long mindedness to bear with the frailities and provocations of others, from the standpoint of understanding that God is patient with each of us when we don't deserve it.  As James says, we all stumble in many ways James 3:2 it helps to remember that we are all subject to a flesh that doesn't want to do God's will. Each believer is in a constant battle to submit themselves to the Spirit.  It is a patience that understands that we all fall short.

      I cannot overstate the importance of understanding these are qualities of the spirit and not qualities of the flesh.  The Spirit is clear that as a believer my objective is to stay close to God and abide in Him.  If I have a glory it is only a reflective glory and not one of my own making.  In Psalm 1:3 it says that the bless man is like a tree firmly planted by streams of water and it yields its fruit in its season.  There is a time for pruning John 15:1-5 and a time to bear fruit.  One happens and then the other.  If you resist the time of pruning you will not see the fruit you otherwise would have Hebrews 12:11.

The call and commission of Jeremiah Jeremiah 1:1-10

 

  In the study that we have been doing on Experiencing God, one of the things that is said is that God calls us to work with him and that calling leads to a crisis of belief which will lead us to make adjustments in our lives.  This is obvious in the life of Jeremiah and in his calling and commission here in Jeremiah 1:1-10.  It clearly indicates that God is the one who initiated the call and that God is the one whose words Jeremiah spoke.  This calling resulted in Jeremiah having to make major adjustments because his calling was not going to be an easy one.

   There is evidence that during Jeremiah's ministry he was never married (16:2), his family opposed him (12:6) people in his hometown threatened to kill him (11:19,21) and that he was flogged (20:2; 37:15).  More than once he was imprisoned (32:2; 37:15-16) and he was lowered into a muddy cistern to be left to die (38:6).  Not only this, but he was ridiculed daily and the people did not listen to his words.  It must have been a very discouraging position and I think this is why God himself tells Jeremiah that he is the one who appointed Jeremiah to this position.

    There is plenty of evidence in this passage to show that Jeremiah didn't think he was qualified to do the work that God had called him to do.  He said that he was only a youth alluding to his age.  Moses said similar things when God called him and complained that he was not eloquent of speech (Exodus 4:10).  Yet, God in this vision reaches out to Jeremiah and touches his mouth, symbolizing that he is putting the words that Jeremiah will say in his mouth.  He tells Jeremiah that he has "consecrated" (verse 5) Jeremiah to be a prophet before Jeremiah was even born.  The word "consecrated" means to set apart.

    While I admire Jeremiah and his staying power (his ministry lasted 40 years), I would not want to have been in his position.  By speaking the words of God to the people he put himself in opposition to many of the people he was speaking to.  Not only that, but when Jerusalem was under siege he had to experience all the hardships that everyone was experiencing including drought and famine, along with persecution.  It was a tough calling for Jeremiah and that just tells me that it will not always be easy to do what God calls you to do.  It doesn't guarantee that people will listen or that you will be popular or always have a positive word.  Jeremiah would ultimately be judged as faithful because he did what God told him even though not many responded to his words in Jeremiah's lifetime.  Yet, we have him as an example to us of what being faithful to God in hard times is all about.

  

13 Things that the Holy Spirit does

The Role of the Holy Spirit-

1.        To convict the world concerning sin  John 16:9  The Spirit convicts people of their need for Jesus.

2.        Conviction concerning righteousness John 16:10. The word convict is the word elencho which means to convict, refute, confute, to find fault with, correct

3.      . Convict concerning judgment John 16:11. 

4.      The Spirit has a regenerate wok John 3:5, Titus 3:5 Jesus said “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

5.        The Spirit indwells the Believer  1 Corinthians 6:19  “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?”

6.       . The Spirit seals the believer  Ephesians 1:13,14.  He is the pledge of our inheritance

7.        Baptize the Believer  1 Corinthians 12:13; Acts 1:5  The Acts reference specifically refers to the day of Pentecost  The word baptize is baptize in the Greek which means to immerse, to submerge, to cleanse by submerging or dipping.

8.       Infill the believer   Ephesians 5:18; John 7:38  The word “fill” in Ephesians 5:18 is pleroo which means to make full, to fill up, to render full

9.       Empower the believer  Acts 1:8  Jesus said, "but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth."

10.    Lead the believer  Galatian 5:16-18  An example would be when Paul was passing through the Galatian region and was forbidden to speak the word in Asia  Acts 16:6,

11.  Administer the spirits gifts of the believer  1 Corinthians 12:1-11 The Spirit distributes the gifts of his Spirit for the “common good” verse 7

12.   Teaches the believer  John 14:26, 16:13-14  The Spirits points to Christ and reminds the believer of what Jesus taught and said John 15:26. He glorifies Christ.

13.    The Spirit intercedes for us in prayer according to the will of God Romans 8:26  “And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words”

Hearing God's Voice

     I've been doing some zoom sessions with a group on Sunday mornings looking at the book "Experiencing God" by Henry Blackaby.  Henry talks a lot about how we can hear and know the voice of God.  He talks about how we can hear from God by the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, prayer, circumstances and through the church.  The key to the whole thing is that we work on building a strong, intimate relationship with God and stay near Him, so that we can hear Him.  There are no shortcuts to hearing from God.  I have to spend time with Him and in His Word and in prayer.

     In John 10:27 it says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me."  This passage also talks about how the sheep know the voice of the shepherd.  They know the voice of the shepherd because of their time spent with Him.  They know that the shepherd cares for them and protects them from harm.  The shepherd guides them in a loving way and goes before them.

    It is incredibly easy even as a believer to get your own will and God's confused.  Sometimes we want something so bad that we will convince ourselves that it is God speaking to us.  We have this amazing ability to deceive ourselves.  But, the first task of the believer in understanding God's will is to surrender your own will and make sure there is no selfish motives in what you are seeking.  God doesn't promise to bless your plans.  We are told in Matthew 6:33 

   "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you."

    There is a story that Jesus illustrates in Luke 22:24-27 where Jesus says,

 

   "And there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded as the greatest. And He said to them "the Kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called "Benefactors",  But no so with you, but let him who is the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as the servant.  For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table, or the one who serves?  Is it no the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as one who serves."

    Jesus told this to his disciples around the same time that he washed the disciples feet.  This was the act of the servant of the household.  None of the disciples volunteered to wash the other disciples feet, so Jesus did it himself.  He did this as an example that of the humble and servant like attitude we should have towards one another.  It is something that at the moment, the disciples were too proud to do themselves.  This to me is an illustration of what God has called us to do for each other.  God has called us to serve and we should be willing to make adjustments to our life to do so.  It may not be a position with a great title or lots of attention, but that is not the important thing.  The important thing is that we are faithful with whatever God has called us to do.

https://youtu.be/qAavZw5o20c

Living in the Newness of the Spirit

    Years ago, when I was involved in Campus Crusade for Christ, a book called "The Search for Significance" by Robert S. McGee was really popular.  The idea in that book that we are made to believe certain lies about ourselves.  These lies are something we need to be freed from.  One of those lies is that in order to feel good about myself I must meet certain standards.  One of the others that I identified with was "I am what I am: I cannot change; I am hopeless."
     Paul tells us in the book of Romans that the law with all its rules and regulations held us down in its grasp.  In other words, the more you try to live your life by the law the more you realize that it truly is impossible.  This leads to frustration and a feeling that your never going to measure up.  Look in Romans 7:6

    "But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter."  

     That word "bound" is the same word you would use if you were to say that someone was bound up in shackles or in prison.  Paul goes on to say that all the law really did was make me aware of my sin and my need for God.  That is why he calls the law "my tutor" that led me to Christ.  Because without the law we may never realize how much we fall short, but the more you try to live by the law the more you realize that you cannot ever please God through the law.  James went on in James 2:10 to elevate that further by saying,

   "For whoever keeps the whole Law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all."

    The good news of the Gospel is that through the death of Christ, I can get off this performance wheel and realize that though I don't deserve salvation.  God has saved me now on the basis of what he did on the cross.  I didn't earn it, but he did.  Look in Colossians 2:13-14

      "And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumsion of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross."

     You look there in particular in that passage in Colossians and you can see how God is the one who is doing all the work.  We are called "dead" in this verses and also in others (Romans 5:6,8).  It is God who makes us alive by canceling out the certificate of debt.  Romans 5:6 calls us helpless in our sins when Christ died for us.  Therefore, what we never earned we cannot undo by our works.  We are set free the passage in Romans 7:6 says to walk in the way of the Spirit or as the NASB version says, "in the newness of the Spirit."

    The good news of the gospel is that if you feel you don't deserve to be saved you are correct.  God didn't save us based on what we did or didn't do, but I am called to put my trust in Him to be able to save me based on what His son did on the cross.   This is what the Bible refers to as justification.  Through Christ we have peace with God (Romans 5:1).  It is a legal term which means that we now stand justified in God's presence based on what  Christ did.  That allows Paul to say in Romans 8:1

    "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."