Saturday, July 28,
2012, 6:00 a.m. – The Lord put this song in my mind this morning upon
awakening: “Here is Your God.” Speak,
Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Romans 3 (NIV 1984):
What advantage, then,
is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every
way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.
What if some did not
have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? Not at all!
Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written:
“So that you may be
proved right when you speak
and prevail when you judge.”
But if our
unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say?
That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.)
Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? Someone might
argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory,
why am I still condemned as a sinner?” Why not say—as we are being slanderously
reported as saying and as some claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may
result”? Their condemnation is deserved.
Entrusted
The Jews were the first to be entrusted with the very words
of God, then the Gentiles. Now all believers in and followers of Jesus Christ
are entrusted with the words of God, including the gospel of Jesus Christ. The
Jews were the first to be called God’s chosen people. Now followers of Jesus
Christ are God’s chosen people, by God’s grace, through faith in him, whether
Jew or Gentile by birth. He made the two one in Christ, and destroyed the
barrier between Jew and Gentile with his death on the cross for our sins. The
Jews were the recipients of God’s first (Old Testament) covenant with his
people. Believers in Jesus Christ are now the recipients of God’s new covenant
(post-resurrection) with his people.
So, as followers of Jesus Christ, we have been entrusted
with the very words of God. What does that mean? It means “to give something to
another person to be responsible for;” delegate; assign; custody; care
(Encarta). Trust: “the position of somebody who is expected by others to behave
responsibly or honorably” (Encarta). Responsibility: accountability;
obligation; duty; charge; involving dependability, conscientiousness,
reliability and trustworthiness.
In other words, the Bible is not a book we keep on a book
shelf and dust off once a week to take with us to a church service or a Bible
study. We have been made responsible by God to study it, to drink from its
wisdom, to meditate on it day and night, and to not just merely read it or
listen to it, but to actually do what it says, and this is on a daily basis. We
are also responsible before God to give out his word to others, to share the
gospel, to be witnesses of God’s saving power and mercy, and to make disciples
(of Christ) of all nations… teaching them to obey all that Christ Jesus has
commanded us to do. That is an awesome responsibility we have been given! And, God
expects faithfulness and obedience.
Servant of the Lord
/ An Original Work / July 26, 2012
Based off Romans 1:1-17 NIV
Servant of the Lord;
For the gospel you’re
set apart.
Promised through the
prophets of old:
Jesus, Son of God.
Through Him, and for
His name alone,
We receive His grace
To call people, Him to
obey;
Coming from their
faith.
Servant of the Lord,
For the gospel you’re
set apart.
Promised through the
prophets of old:
Jesus, Son of God.
You belong to Christ;
Loved by God, and
called to be saints;
Serving God with whole
heart and mind;
Preaching Jesus
Christ;
Always praying for
others’ needs;
Helping hand to lend;
Giving courage to
others’ faith,
For the praise of God.
You belong to Christ;
Loved by God, and
called to be saints;
Serving God with whole
heart and mind;
Preaching Jesus
Christ.
Servant of the Lord;
Of the gospel, I’m not
ashamed;
For salvation, power
of God
To those who have
faith.
In the gospel find
righteousness:
Being right with God.
Turn from sin, and
trust Jesus Christ.
By faith, live in Him.
Servant of the Lord;
Of the gospel, I’m not
ashamed;
For salvation, power
of God
To those who have
faith.
No Faith
Paul presented us with two questions, which were really one
question: 1) “What if some did not have faith?” 2) “Will their lack of faith
nullify God’s faithfulness?” Paul’s response: “Not at all! Let God be true, and
every man a liar.” So, what does this mean? I asked God, and this is what I
believe he told me: Just because some people refuse to believe in God/Jesus
Christ does not mean God is not true, or that his word is not true, or that he
will not do what he says. The liars, then, are those who refuse to believe and
who think their refusal to believe somehow negates God’s word and his
faithfulness. Not at all! God will still be God even if no one believes in him
or does what he says. He will always be faithful to all his promises and to his
warnings of judgment. Ignoring any part of his truth does not negate it.
On a similar note, we cannot assume that God will not judge
persistent and unrepentant sin, rebellion and refusal to believe what God says
and to do what he says to do. It is a mockery of God and of what Jesus Christ
did for us in dying on the cross for our sins to take the price he paid for our
sins, or his grace, mercy and forgiveness (kindness) lightly by continuing in
willful rebellion. It is disrespectful and dishonoring to Almighty God to think
that our sin somehow enhances his righteousness, and that the more we sin, the
more opportunity for God to display his kindness, love and forgiveness. Yet,
many do this when they adhere to the belief that they don’t have to turn from
their sins and they don’t have to obey Christ’s commands for salvation, and
that God is still pleased with them no matter what they do. They make a mockery
of God’s grace, thinking nothing is required of them, but that God does it all.
It is the same as saying, “Let us do evil that good may result.” Never!
Seek the Lord /
An Original Work / July 20, 2012
Based off Isaiah 55
“Come to Me all you
who thirst; come to waters.
Listen to Me, and eat
what’s good today,
And your soul will
delight in richest of fare.
Give ear to Me, and
you will live.
I have made an eternal
covenant with you.
Wash in the blood of
the Lamb.”
Seek the Lord while He
may be found; call on Him.
Let the wicked forsake
his way, in truth.
Let him turn to the
Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely, God pardons
him.
“For My thoughts are
not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My
ways,”
declares the Lord, our
God.
“My word that goes out
of My mouth is truthful.
It will not return to
Me unfulfilled.
My word will
accomplish all that I desire,
And achieve the goal I
intend.
You will go in joy,
and be led forth in peace.
The mountains will burst
into song… before you,
And all of the trees
clap their hands.”
What shall we conclude
then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews
and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written:
“There is no one
righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
All have turned away…
But now a
righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law
and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in
Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a
sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate
his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed
beforehand unpunished — he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present
time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Where, then, is
boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No,
but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart
from observing the law. Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of
Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will
justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.
Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the
law.
No Better
Some of us, who have been blessed with the scriptures and
the gospel from birth, such as the Jews were taught about God from infancy,
might be tempted, as were the Jews, to look down on people less fortunate than
us, who have not been graced with so much knowledge and truth and easy access
to the word. Or, we might be tempted to think, since we are Christians, that somehow
we rank superior to all other people, or that, because of God’s grace, our sins
don’t matter, but others’ do, and so we eagerly apply Romans 1 only to those
who do not believe in Jesus Christ. Hogwash! And, still we might think that
because we have so much truth and knowledge from God, or because we are “Christians”
that we are spiritually superior, as though we are righteous in our own eyes
and by our own merit.
God dispels those notions, and others, for us when he
reminds us that none of us are righteous in our own merit. We can’t even come
to Christ unless God the Father draws us, and we can’t even believe in Jesus
apart from God’s grace to us. We have all turned away. We have all sinned and
have come up short of attaining God’s righteousness and his glory. It is only
by the grace of God, through our faith (repentance and obedience) that we are
able to be righteous, because it is Christ’s righteousness extended to and
applied to us that brings us into a right relationship with God, and not from
anything we have done in ourselves. So, none of us have the right to look down
on anyone else or to think we would not do something bad like so-and-so did, because
we are all capable of all sin given the right circumstances and opportunity, so
don’t fool yourselves into thinking otherwise.
Now, “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message
is heard through the word of Christ” (Ro. 10:17 NIV). For those of us who have heard
the message of the gospel, we are responsible for what we have heard and have
received from God. Yet, many who have been blessed with much truth continue in
disobedience and willful neglect of God’s word and adherence to the
commandments of Christ. And, God is still holding his hands out to a
disobedient and obstinate people, his church. Yet, we serve a faithful and
loving God who continues to speak to us, to counsel, encourage, exhort and
convict of sin, as well as to remind us of his great love and mercy, and to
call us to repentance and renewed faith in him.
Here is Your God!
/ An Original Work / July 18, 2012
Based off Isaiah 40:9-31 NIV
You who bring
good tidings to Zion,
Lift up your voice;
raise with a shout,
And do not be
afraid of the people.
Say, “Here is your
God!”
See how the Lord God
Comes now with power.
His arm rules for Him;
His reward with Him.
He tends His flock
Just like a shepherd,
His lambs in His arms.
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told
you
From beginning?
Our Lord sits
Enthroned above all
things.
None to Him compare.
Lift up your eyes
And look to the
heavens.
Who made all of these?
Who calls them by
name?
Because of His great
Power and strength,
All accounted for.
Why do you say,
“My way is hidden
From the Lord, and
My cause forgotten”?
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord, He is your
God.
He will not weary.
He gives us power.
Those who trust in Him
Will renew their
strength.
They will soar on
wings
Just like eagles;
Walk and do faint not.
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