December 2, 2017 Saturday

7   Your country lies in ruins, and your towns are burned.  Foreigners plunder your fields before your eyes and destroy everything they see. 8 Beautiful Jerusalem stands abandoned like a watchman’s shelter in a vineyard, like a lean-to in a cucumber field after the harvest, like a helpless city under siege. 9 If the LORD of Heaven’s Armies had not spared a few of us, we would have been wiped out like Sodom, destroyed like Gomorrah.  Isaiah 1:7-9 NLT

We sit in the ruins of our lives, families, communities and world proudly declaring that we are well and have no need for help, especially from God!            Our pride only makes things worse because we cannot see our need and so will not ask for help.  Indeed our pride goes before our fall!

            And we are under siege!  Is it from foreign powers?  Is it from our enemies?  NO, we are under siege by the “LORD of Heaven’s Armies” as He seeks to gain entry to our hearts and lives and to destroy the sin in our lives as He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah!

            But we keep God out and we bar Him out of our lives, our families and our world.  Indeed it is OUR life, OUR family and OUR world!  God has no right to tell us what to do and to take away our right to sit in our ash heap and gather our shattered dreams and hopes around us we shout! 

            And so we sit in our ruins, our burned out lives, our plundered dreams and see our destroyed communities as good and beautiful!  We turn from the Light that seems so bright and return to our safe and comfortable darkness.

            And hope is squandered, faith has no ground to grow and there is no fruit to help renew our family and our world.  WE ARE HELPLESS because we turned away from help!

            Is there any hope?

            This is the day that My Love has made and despite the pain, weariness and the loss I will rejoice and be glad in Him!  I will thank God for all that I go through even though today was so hard and so hard to hold onto My Love.  I wandered in pity but My Love rescued me from myself.  And after I reached up to My Love and cried out for help I got a call from Betzaida Shands and My Love rejoiced at my joy! 

December 1, 2017 Friday

5   Why do you continue to invite punishment?  Must you rebel forever?   Your head is injured, and your heart is sick. 6   You are battered from head to foot— covered with bruises, welts, and infected wounds— without any soothing ointments or bandages.  Isaiah 1:5-6 NLT

            Now God is getting personal!  We truly are our own worst enemies as well as of others and God.  The sin and destruction we see in our own lives, communities and world are not often some deep conspiracy of some outside force, but are the result of my and your sins!

            If we are not careful we look as haggard as everyone else we begin to think this is normal!  We look in the mirror and see what we want to see and do not see the sores, bruises, welts and infected wounds that cover our body!

            We are weak and sick and are drained by the guilt, memories and fear of the future which keeps us from living and loving as we should.

            Right now some of you are saying you are not like that!  And some may not be if they are living by faith in Jesus but many are deceiving themselves as they deceive others!

            But Advent is the time to be honest with ourselves and with God.  A time to face the darkness in our life so we can receive the Light of God’s grace found in the First Gift of Christmas, Jesus!

            This was a good day and I got caught up on the blog and some other things.  I am still tired because I woke in the middle of the night and then napped for a couple of hours. 

            Bonnie and Rebecca went to a Ken Medema concert in Morristown supporting Hidden Treasures helping adults with disabilities.  Bonnie and I went to a couple of his concerts and he is amazing.  They thoroughly enjoyed the concert and got to see some friends from Renovatus.

www.renovatusrc.org/

November 30, 2017 Thursday

A Message for Rebellious Judah 2 Listen, O heavens! Pay attention, earth!  This is what the LORD says: “The children I raised and cared for have rebelled against me. 3 Even an ox knows its owner, and a donkey recognizes its master’s care— but Israel doesn’t know its master.  My people don’t recognize my care for them.” 4 Oh, what a sinful nation they are—loaded down with a burden of guilt.   They are evil people, corrupt children who have rejected the LORD. They have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.  Isaiah 1:2-4 NLT

            Our Sunday school class is studying the book Christmas from the Backside by J. Ellsworth Kalas who tries to help us look at Christmas from a different view.  Kalas reminds us that one reason we don’t understand Christmas is that we start with the Light and totally miss what I call the bad news about the Good News.

            As people we can see Jesus coming as something we are due and miss the love and grace of God.  Isaiah begins his book showing how we must begin our preparation for the coming of Jesus which is so clearly told in the book of Isaiah.

            We like Judah were and are rebellious, didn’t know our Master, were blind to God’s concern and care, sinful, loaded down with guilt, evil, corrupt, rejected God, despised God and have turned our backs on God!

            WOW!  What a list of infamy and evil!  Read the verses over and you will see that even the list above is nicer than God’s full condemnation!  We are undeserving and unable to ever be worth the First Gift of Christmas – Jesus Christ!

            In Advent discover the wonder of Christmas as you discover the depth of the darkness the Light of this Little One overcame and opened our eyes to our sin and to the undeserved Love of God!!!

            Vance Woodward came by for a great visit and brought some books about the Civil War and some water which e hopes will help me.  As we talked I was struck by the thought that so many do not truly accept the power of prayer and of God’s activity in our world today.  It seems as though the Church in America tries to limit God into a comfortable being that we can control and not fear.  So sad.

            Bonnie took Mom to the doctor and they will run some more tests but she seems to be doing better.

December 3, 2017 Isaiah 64:1-9 Gift we need   

First Sunday of Advent

Like children we want but God gives us who we need.

Psalter Reading Psalm 80:1-7

“1 ¶ «To the Chief Musician. Set to "The Lillies." A Testimony of Asaph. A Psalm.» Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock; You who dwell between the cherubim, shine forth! 2 Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, Stir up Your strength, And come and save us! 3 Restore us, O God; Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be saved! 4 O LORD God of hosts, How long will You be angry Against the prayer of Your people? 5  You have fed them with the bread of tears, And given them tears to drink in great measure. 6  You have made us a strife to our neighbors, And our enemies laugh among themselves. 7  Restore us, O God of hosts; Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be saved!” (Psalm 80:1-7 NKJV)

 “1 ¶ Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence— 2 As fire burns brushwood, As fire causes water to boil—To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence! 3 When You did awesome things for which we did not look, You came down, The mountains shook at Your presence. 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 righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. 7 And there is no one who calls on Your name, Who stirs himself up to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us, And have consumed us because of our iniquities. 8  But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand. 9  Do not be furious, O LORD, Nor remember iniquity forever; Indeed, please look—we all are Your people!” (Isa 64:1-9 NKJV)

Preparing for Christmas usually means trying to get people the gift they want.  Many remember so fondly gifts they wanted so much and received on Christmas morning.  As kids we rejoiced to see toys and were disappointed when we saw clothes.

We often convince ourselves the First Gift of Christmas was a Gift we wanted but the Bible reminds us again and again in so many ways Jesus is the gift we need and not the gift we want.

In truth the Christ child is not the gift we wanted but the gift which we need!  We need the Christ child because we need to be freed from the sin in our lives. The sin that burns in our lives and destroys us, which keeps us from God and each other even in the season of Christmas and makes even our best deeds  like filthy rags in the eyes of God.

So in this season of Christmas receive the gift of the Christ child. Discover the Fingerprints of God's work in your life. And see how He is forming your lives like the Potter forms the clay.

As you opened and received the gift that you did not want but which you do need receive the fullness of the gift of Christmas as you receive the fullness of Jesus Christ into your life.  AMEN!

This is Lesson 13 of The Upside Down World of Theology Study.

Chapter Twelve

Theology is a friend getting to know their Best Friend.

            If you haven’t noticed by now I am not your usual theologian.  That is because I don’t see theology like most people do.  Let’s be honest and admit most people see theology as about as boring as pulling apart stamps that have stuck together! 

But that is because most people don’t understand what theology is.  Any word ending in ology is a word that means the study of. Theology is the study of Theos and that means it is the study of God.  Only jaded and sad human beings could believe studying God could be boring!

But that is not how I see Theology.  To me God is my Best Friend in the whole of creation.  This is not to diminish God to just another friend or to human status, but to I see God as the One who cares more about my well-being and Who desires my presence with Him!

One of the most amazing things about God is that He wants to be with me!  No one has paid me a higher honor!  God wanted to be with me so much that Jesus came to die for me so that I would be able to come back and be with God!

But God didn’t do that when I was nice or good!  Jesus died for me while I was yet a sinner!  Jesus died for me when I cared more for myself than I cared for Him or anything else!  To be blunt Jesus died for me when I was a sinful, selfish, bitter, evil young twit!

“Getting to know You”

            But how do we get to know God?  God makes it easy, because He has to!

“"This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. Now you, Belteshazzar, declare its interpretation, since all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation; but you are able, for the Spirit of the Holy God is in you."” (Daniel 4:18 NKJV)

“"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” (John 14:26 NKJV)

“11 "Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. 12 "For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."” (Luke 12:11-12 NKJV)

            There is a consistent theme in Scripture that the Holy Spirit of God will guide us to the Truth and help us to know God.  Only by and through the Holy Spirit can Scripture come alive to the reader and not only change the way you think but change the person you are!

            A great way to be open to receive guidance is what I call the Trinity prayer. 

Before you open the Bible pray God would guide you into all He wants you to learn and become. 

As you read ask God to open your heart and mind to all God has for you. 

And after you are done ask God to help you apply and live out what you have learned.

A basic truth:  You have not learned something until it has changed your life and you live it!

            So often our time in the Bible is trying to mine for gemstones and all we end up with is gravel!  But if we come to the Bible trusting that God will lead us to the full richness of Who God is than we will receive the riches of God which are far beyond this world!

            For indeed Bible study is not to discover who we are or how we should live but to KNOW the God who made us and knows what we are meant to become!  Learning who you are begins by discovering WHO GOD IS!  There is no short cut, this is the only way.

Revelation

            Look at the last book of the Bible.  Some call it revelations but that misses the point.  Listen to the title the book gives itself.

“1 ¶ The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw.” (Revelation 1:1-2 NKJV)

            God reveals Jesus Christ to us and from that we can see who God is, what God has done, what God is doing and what God will do!  You cannot know and understand the workings of God without Theology – without knowing as much as you can about God!  And even that is only what God “reveals” about Himself to you through Scripture with the tutoring of the Holy Spirit!

What does it mean to “know” God?  

(Hint – in the KJV it says Adam knew Eve and they begat.)

What part does the Bible play in your daily life? 

Why doesn’t God just reveal Himself to us totally when we become Christians?

On another sheet list some of the things you know about God.  Can you connect them to scripture?

November 29, 2017 Wednesday

16Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NKJV

            Prayer is often for us a last ditch effort.  We do our best and trust in the worlds methods and only pray when all else fails like prayer is a life vest to save us as a last resort!

             But prayer is important in some many ways and without it we are left cut off from God, from other Christians and from hope.  We become vulnerable to thinking God doesn’t care or that God isn’t real.

            Through prayer we can maintain and have a relationship with God. We can experience God's presence and we can not only share our burdens with God but we can actually rejoice in His blessings. If we have things against someone or hate them we can pray for them and that keeps us from being destroyed by our hatred for them and allows us to be part as God changes them with our prayers.

Prayer is also how we maintain a relationship with other Christians. I'm not talking about just a getting along or fellowship but by having a deeper relationship with them as we pray for one another and care for one another.

Through prayer our hope is developed as we trust in God as we see our prayers answered and as we grow in our face by this. We grow as in prayer we see God working in others and through others around world. This helps us to see how God works in so many ways and so many lives and in so many places.

            We also miss the joy of just being with God and the comfort and peace that come from that.  We run faster to get away from so many things in our lives but the faster we run the more behind we get!  Prayer is your time sit in God’s lap and receive the love and healing that prepares you to go and live life fully!

            Today I got some of my weekly chores done to help Bonnie and Rebecca and to keep me moving and from losing my mind.  It seems I do less and less but God keeps me moving!

This lesson 12 of the Study The Upside World of Theology.

Chapter Eleven

Hope is a four-letter word everyone can use.

“16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17 ¶ (as it is written, "I have made you a father of many nations") in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, "So shall your descendants be."” (Romans4:16-18 NKJV)

            I love the phrase “contrary to hope, in hope believed”  as Paul, who knew the sufferings of Jesus in his own body, tells us the story of Abraham who held on to God in what has to have been one of the longest waited for prayer requests!  Abraham would fail and much pain would come from his failure, but in the end a greater glory would grow from the seed of hope which brought hope to all of humanity!

            Over the years I have discovered the power of words like love and faith to change lives and to resurrect lives even here on earth.  The power of these words in our lives and families is so great that love and faith are talked about so much, preached about so much and even placed on cups and plates to celebrate their deep value to those of us who are in Jesus Christ.

            But over the years I have also seen the deep value of hope.  I believe it is almost impossible for someone to come to Jesus without the preparation of hope in their lives.  Hope is the rich soil that the seed of faith brings for the fruit of love in our lives!

            Despair, despondency and depression are like roots that grow and curl around our lives and choke out the good things that God has for us.  They shade us from the Light of God and leave us weak and wandering in the darkness.

            Many years ago I read an article in the newspaper that said a majority of fifth graders did not have a reason to live and no hope for the future!  I was stunned!  When I was in the fifth grade I had so many dreams of the future I had trouble settling on any one!

You can’t!

            God has created us with incredible gifts and graces so we can live a wondrous life, bless others and bring glory to God!    But the world tells us “you can’t” at an even more unrelenting pace and over much more media than we ever dreamed possible.  Young girls are told they are either too much or not enough and young boys are constantly given limitations so we can “be fair” to others.

            God given gifts and graces are quashed by a society of the can’t to the point even the Church believes it!  But God says something different!

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13 NKJV)

            Let that sink in for a moment!  If you can hear that and begin to believe than you will experience the fresh wind of the Holy Spirit blowing through your life!  All the weeds of doubt will be pulled out and cast away to make room for the seeds of hope to be planted into your life!

            We are not limited by our own abilities or talents for God can empower and gift us for every occasion and opportunity God sets before us.  If we are honest even our abilities and talents are gifts from God which we are given so we can glorify God, care for ourselves and bless others. But through God’s strength we are capable of not just doing more, or doing it better, but we can organize and fully use all the gifts and talents given to us by God.  God can give us the courage to go where we wouldn’t on our own and to do what we believe we are incapable of doing.

What do you believe God is calling you to do or to be?

What is your response to God’s call?

What are three things you have to offer God?

1.

2.

3.

How do they work together?

If you do not hear God’s will for you could it be because you doubt yourself or God?