Listen Up!! God still speaks! And wants to be our friend!
Have you ever met a father who was no longer speaking to his son? Perhaps they were close while the son was growing up, but they had an argument, words were said, and they haven't spoken since. Maybe you know a woman who doesn't get along with her sister. Conversations between them are few and strained. Perhaps there is a couple in your social circle who, although they are married and still live together, don't communicate and don't enjoy each other's company.
Those individuals have a relationship, and they even have the legal documents - a birth certificate or a marriage license - to prove it. But do they have fellowship with each other? How can a relation-ship be significant if there isn't at least a sense of camaraderie or intimacy between the parties?
As Christians we have a relationship with God. He is our Father and we are his children. But just because we have a relationship doesn't mean that we necessarily have the kind of fellowship God planned for us.
The Importance of Fellowship
When we read the writings of some of the great Christian leaders from a hundred years ago or earlier, we see that there was a strong emphasis on two-way fellowship between the Lord and his people. They wrote about not just spending time praising and thanking God, or even petitioning him, but also about spending time just waiting in his presence and listening for his voice. Fellowship with God is more than just attending church on Sunday; it is about spending time alone with God.
We have no better model for this than Jesus, who "But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer." (Luke 5:16). Although the Son of God, Jesus found it necessary to spend time alone with God in prayer, to discern what God wanted him to do. How else would he know how long to stay in Capernaum or Jerusalem unless he heard it from God? Jesus certainly did not talk and petition God during all those hours he was away by himself. Instead, he listened to his Father for guid¬ance and for the very subject matter of his teaching: "…. my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me." (John 14:24).
It was while communing with the Father that Jesus was directed to pick twelve men to be his followers. "Afterward Jesus went up on a mountain and called out the ones he wanted to go with him. And they came to him. Then he appointed twelve of them and called them his apostles. They were to accompany him, and he would send them out to preach…." (Mark 3:13 - 15). It's interesting to note the first reason Mark gives for appointing the Twelve. “They were to accompany him” Some translations say “so they could be with him.” When Jesus called someone, fellowship came before ministry.
Unlike the apostles, however, we can't hang out with Jesus on the mountainside or get together to go fishing. For us, that fellowship can only happen through the person of the Holy Spirit.
In Ephesians, Paul says that through Jesus, "….all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit…." (Eph. 2:18). In other words, because of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, we now have the Spirit who brings us into God's presence. The active work of the Holy Spirit makes fellowship with God a real and rich experience that that gives us strength in this world..
Our worst days in life don’t happen because we lose our relation¬ship with God, but because we have no time for fellowship - fellowship through the Word, fellowship in prayer, in waiting on God, in talk¬ing to God, in listening to God. When we run around so much, we're weakened; we have less faith, we have less grace, and we have more stress. There is something about being with Jesus, being in God's presence that helps us have more peace and joy.
When we spend time with God, we should want to do more than just present a list of requests - we need to listen for his voice. Some¬one once said, "What's more important? Us telling God our requests, that he already knows before we tell him, or us listening for his voice, to hear what is on his heart?"
Some people don't believe we can still hear God's voice. "He has already said what he is going to say in the Bible." They would argue that hearing from God is religious fanaticism or a form of scary emotionalism. But the history of the Christian church totally negates that belief. How else would people like a former pastor at CHBC - who, while spending time with the Lord, felt God put a call on his heart to pack up his family and go to an area close to Russia? In fact, how would any missionary who has ever done some¬thing great for God have known to do it unless God had first com¬municated it to them? There is no verse in the Bible that says, "Go to Bangladesh!"
Although we all know that the Bible is complete and God does not speak to replace doctrine or communicate on the same level of Scripture, he does still speak. He might offer vital words of warning or convicting messages that have personal application. Sometimes it is a word of guidance - a direction we should move in. That kind of direction is heard only by a listening ear and a hearing heart.
Listen to these words from the great prophet, Isaiah. “The Sovereign LORD has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will. (Isaiah 50:4)
Isaiah was saying that it was the Lord who taught him what to say, especially words that would sustain the weary. But that only hap¬pened because in the morning his spiritual ears were awakened to listen. Although Isaiah describes his own experience, history has proven that housewives, school teachers, office works, anyone who belongs to the Lord, can enjoy the blessing of this kind of fellowship by simply having a listening ear.
The Old Testament is filled with people that “heard” from the Lord. Samuel, David, Solomon ---- to name just a few.
In the New Testament era a simple Believer named Ananias ¬received Christ's instructions to the recently converted Saul of Tarsus (Paul) and minister to him. He wasn’t a prophet, but he heard from God a message not of new “doctrine” but one of personal direction. So why wouldn't the Holy Spirit still want to guide a Believer today?
God speaks to those who listen.
As we spend time listening to God, we can be taught to say and be given words for a day. Sometimes we’re given a general feeling or section of Scripture that prepares out heart for the things that will soon confront us. At other times, God might give us a specific verse, a nugget of wisdom, or a word of encouragement that we can pass on to someone we meet during the day. But only comes from a right fellowship with the Lord. It comes while we are listening, not when we are talking.
We can come into His presence because God loves us and wants to spend time with his children.
In Romans 8, Paul says: “So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory.” (Romans 8:15 -17) What an important passage that is! Paul tells us that we are God's children and he is our Father and we are His heirs with Christ. How cool is this? Through the work of the Holy Spirit, we can absolutely know that God loves us. We don't have to be afraid. He is not merely the omnipotent creator and ruler of the universe. He is also Abba, Father, a tender and most loving Dad that anyone could have as a parent
The Spirit assures us that God is our loving Father. He feels no anger toward us though we have sinned and failed him so many times. Our well-deserved punishment was completely borne by Jesus on the cross. There is not one blot of transgression against us in his sight. As a loving Father, he will discipline his children, but not in a judging way. When He works to get us on the right track, it is done in love for our good that we may become like Christ in every area of our lives.
During quiet times of fellowship, the Holy Spirit makes God's love real, not just in our heads, but also in our hearts. When God's Spirit is moving, we have rest and peace. We know we don't have to strive for a personal righteousness of our own to gain acceptance before God. We are secure in what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross, and we can approach God boldly.
There are times, though, when we get out of sync with God - when we don't have the kind of fellowship that he longs for and we need. During those moments, remember the church in Laodicea. Jesus told them, "Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends." (Rev. 3:20). When Jesus requested to share a meal with them, he was speaking of his desire for fellowship, with the Laodicean church, but for some reason he was found standing outside the door seeking entrance. Imagine the tragedy of Christ locked out and separate from the believers for whom he died on the cross. What was the remedy for them and for us? Christ directed them to repent of everything that raised a wall between them and him. That would enable them to freely hearts to enjoy great fellowship with their Savior.
That's what God's heart wants for all of us today to “share a meal together as friends”. WOW! This is real fellowship. Imagine sitting down to dinner with our Lord - what an inti¬mate and glorious evening that would be! I highly recommend reading the book “Dinner With a Perfect Stranger”. It is a fictional account of a person having dinner with Jesus. A minister once said, ''A calm hour with God is worth a whole lifetime with man." We don't have to imagine what that meal might be like. That kind of fellowship is available to us at any moment of any day through the Spirit. We only need to ask. And then listen.
Lesson from book “Spirit Rising” by Jim Cymbala
Monday, October 14, 2013
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
What Has God Promised Us?
What Has God Promised Us?
Does God promise us good health? Fame and fortune? Some in this world would suggest that God does promise us these things. Others would suggest that God doesn't promise us anything and, rather, stands distantly from the circumstances of our lives. Faith is believing that God will do what he promised. If that's true, if faith is attached to a promise, if walking by faith is living as if God will do what he promised, then we need to ask the question, "What has God really promised us?"
Here are some things that God hasn’t promised us:
To find out how real life fits with the promises of God is to read the story of Jesus and read the story of His followers. Their stories can be kinda’ of a downer. The men who had the greatest faith in God and in Jesus, most of them were martyred or put on an island or persecuted or stoned or beaten. Isn’t this real encouraging? They had great faith and bad things happened to them. .
So from this we find that God has not promised to keep bad things from happening to people who believe in Him! So if something bad happens to you this doesn’t mean that God doesn’t love you. At least we haven’t been stoned or beaten within an inch of our life! So we are actually doing way better that some of His closest followers. And another thing, none of the people who were closest to Jesus became wealthy because of their faith. But having said this, most of us have a moment where God gave us what we hoped for, He gave us what we asked for, He answered our prayer. So this is hope – we can bring anything to God and we can ask for anything. And sometimes He answers our prayers and sometimes He doesn’t.
But the question today is, “What has He promised?” He hasn’t promised to make us rich. He hasn’t promised to keep bad things from happening to us. In fact there is a verse that most people don’t claim as their “life verse”. A life verse is like one or more verses that people like to memorize and “carry” around with them. (My personal verses are 1 Peter 5:6-7.) Okay, back to the verse most folks don’t claim - “In this world you will have trouble.” John 16:33. Jesus promised this. So here is one promise from God! By the way, if any of you have trouble believing the Bible, hang on to this verse, ‘cause you can believe it is true! :) Jesus said this to His closest followers. He is saying that I am not promising you a lifetime without troubles. So, any time a preacher, a speaker, a leader, a teacher, a book writer or whoever says that “if you do this, God will do this. You can say, “Well, that just not what Jesus neither modeled nor taught”.
But there is some great news! He did make an extraordinary promise.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses...... Hebrews 4:14-15a
The Message translates this scripture - “We don't have a priest who is out of touch with our reality.”
When we picture Jesus in Heaven. When we pray to God and Jesus is our “high priest”, He isn’t going to say “What? What do you mean? I don’t understand!” We are talking to our Savior, Who says, “I know! I know! I know, not just what is happening to you, I know what that is like! I know how that feels!”
“...but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are.....” Hebrews 4:14b. The Message says, “He's been through weakness and testing, experienced it all...”
The scriptures teach that Jesus has been through what we have been through or will go through, what we felt! Jesus spent a night dreading an event that was about to happen the following day. Anybody here every spent a night dreading an event? (Don’t count exams!) For some it might have been a court case. For some a trip to the hospital. BTW: Let me tell you about my recent knee surgery – just kidding! For some seeing a person you hadn’t seen in a long time and you knew they weren’t bringing good news. Most of us have or will experience such a night. Our savior spent a night knowing the next day He would be beaten, tortured, ridiculed and suffer a slow death! To us a crucifixion is something in a movie but Jesus had grown up seeing this happen. He knew what to expect.
He experienced the rejection and betrayal of His closest friends. Some of us know what that is like. You married him/her because you were best friends. And maybe you thought you were still best friends until someone sat you down and said “I don’t know how to tell you this but _____”! And now you don’t even know how to pray. But the author of scriptures says, “Heads up! Jesus has been there!”
He experienced the rejection of a close family member. He saw everything He had lived for and worked for, crumble around Him. He faced ‘crushing’ temptation. Anyone ever had a temptation that you tried and tried and tried to overcome but just couldn’t? You prayed and prayed but you still gave in! You wonder if God is even listening? But our Heavenly Father says “I know! Because My Son faced the most powerful temptations imaginable. I know!”
You don’t have to even explain your circumstances to God because your Savior, your High Priest, knows! Before we even begin to pray He knows. He’s been there!
Let’s look at how the verse ends: “...yet he did not sin.” Hebrews 4:15b NLT
So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. Hebrews 4:16a NLT
Notice it reads “boldly”. Other translations say “with confidence”, There is nothing here about formality. Formality went out the door when the veil was torn from top to bottom.
Boldly and with confidence. Why? Because He knows!
“..so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:16a NIV
When you come to God with sincerity, with all the emotion, with all the passion, with all the hope, with all the hurt, when we come to God boldly, with confidence, we can know that He is a God that understands! Because He allowed His Son to experience what we experience. So if we come boldly without the formality that some religions require, then every single time we will receive something from God!
What will we receive? First “mercy”. He is going to take our issues seriously not because they are serious issues but because they are our issues. And He knows how that feels! And He cares! Sometimes mercy is something we can “put our hands on”. We can’t take it any more and someone calls and invites you to lunch and you have someone to talk to. Sometimes nothing externally changes but you have the peace of God. You pour out your heart to God and nothing on the outside changes but you just have peace. Or maybe you have changed. Mercy is “I know and I am not angry that you feel the way you do”. Mercy is a promise from God that you can count on.
The second thing he promises is we will “find grace to help us in our time of need”. Grace in this context is the strength or the ability or the energy to endure. God has not promised to deliver us from our circumstances; he has promised to deliver us through them. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that “He (God) will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
Many of us can remember circumstances in our life where we didn’t think we could get through them, but somehow God just gave us the strength to endure. The memories are not pleasant but somehow we made it through the “fire”. And when we look back, we may not opt for easier circumstances because of what we learned from it and how we came out stronger because of the enduring grace of God.
Sometimes God will intervene in the circumstances and sometimes he may not. But this promise says “That your prodigal daughter may not come back, your spouse may not come back, you may not get that job, the deal you are working on may fall through, you may never have the financial situation that you would like, but you know what? I am going to give you the grace, the endurance “to help us in our time of need”. Sometimes I may deliver “from” your circumstances but I promise that every time I will deliver you “through” them!”
Jesus, himself, asked for the circumstances of his death to be changed, but ultimately yielded control to God's plan. A day will come when God will directly intervene to rid the world of sin, sorrow, and death. But in the meantime, how should we balance our prayers of, "God, please do this," and "God, I trust you"?
This week, ask God to change your circumstances, but trust him for the grace to endure in the meantime.
Lesson based on a sermon by Andy Stanley
If you see this lesson and would like to get on email list OR you have a prayer request, please email hdunkin@charter.net.
Current lesson and archive of prior lessons available on WhoSoEver Blog at: http://imawhosoeversslessons.blogspot.com/
Does God promise us good health? Fame and fortune? Some in this world would suggest that God does promise us these things. Others would suggest that God doesn't promise us anything and, rather, stands distantly from the circumstances of our lives. Faith is believing that God will do what he promised. If that's true, if faith is attached to a promise, if walking by faith is living as if God will do what he promised, then we need to ask the question, "What has God really promised us?"
Here are some things that God hasn’t promised us:
To find out how real life fits with the promises of God is to read the story of Jesus and read the story of His followers. Their stories can be kinda’ of a downer. The men who had the greatest faith in God and in Jesus, most of them were martyred or put on an island or persecuted or stoned or beaten. Isn’t this real encouraging? They had great faith and bad things happened to them. .
So from this we find that God has not promised to keep bad things from happening to people who believe in Him! So if something bad happens to you this doesn’t mean that God doesn’t love you. At least we haven’t been stoned or beaten within an inch of our life! So we are actually doing way better that some of His closest followers. And another thing, none of the people who were closest to Jesus became wealthy because of their faith. But having said this, most of us have a moment where God gave us what we hoped for, He gave us what we asked for, He answered our prayer. So this is hope – we can bring anything to God and we can ask for anything. And sometimes He answers our prayers and sometimes He doesn’t.
But the question today is, “What has He promised?” He hasn’t promised to make us rich. He hasn’t promised to keep bad things from happening to us. In fact there is a verse that most people don’t claim as their “life verse”. A life verse is like one or more verses that people like to memorize and “carry” around with them. (My personal verses are 1 Peter 5:6-7.) Okay, back to the verse most folks don’t claim - “In this world you will have trouble.” John 16:33. Jesus promised this. So here is one promise from God! By the way, if any of you have trouble believing the Bible, hang on to this verse, ‘cause you can believe it is true! :) Jesus said this to His closest followers. He is saying that I am not promising you a lifetime without troubles. So, any time a preacher, a speaker, a leader, a teacher, a book writer or whoever says that “if you do this, God will do this. You can say, “Well, that just not what Jesus neither modeled nor taught”.
But there is some great news! He did make an extraordinary promise.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses...... Hebrews 4:14-15a
The Message translates this scripture - “We don't have a priest who is out of touch with our reality.”
When we picture Jesus in Heaven. When we pray to God and Jesus is our “high priest”, He isn’t going to say “What? What do you mean? I don’t understand!” We are talking to our Savior, Who says, “I know! I know! I know, not just what is happening to you, I know what that is like! I know how that feels!”
“...but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are.....” Hebrews 4:14b. The Message says, “He's been through weakness and testing, experienced it all...”
The scriptures teach that Jesus has been through what we have been through or will go through, what we felt! Jesus spent a night dreading an event that was about to happen the following day. Anybody here every spent a night dreading an event? (Don’t count exams!) For some it might have been a court case. For some a trip to the hospital. BTW: Let me tell you about my recent knee surgery – just kidding! For some seeing a person you hadn’t seen in a long time and you knew they weren’t bringing good news. Most of us have or will experience such a night. Our savior spent a night knowing the next day He would be beaten, tortured, ridiculed and suffer a slow death! To us a crucifixion is something in a movie but Jesus had grown up seeing this happen. He knew what to expect.
He experienced the rejection and betrayal of His closest friends. Some of us know what that is like. You married him/her because you were best friends. And maybe you thought you were still best friends until someone sat you down and said “I don’t know how to tell you this but _____”! And now you don’t even know how to pray. But the author of scriptures says, “Heads up! Jesus has been there!”
He experienced the rejection of a close family member. He saw everything He had lived for and worked for, crumble around Him. He faced ‘crushing’ temptation. Anyone ever had a temptation that you tried and tried and tried to overcome but just couldn’t? You prayed and prayed but you still gave in! You wonder if God is even listening? But our Heavenly Father says “I know! Because My Son faced the most powerful temptations imaginable. I know!”
You don’t have to even explain your circumstances to God because your Savior, your High Priest, knows! Before we even begin to pray He knows. He’s been there!
Let’s look at how the verse ends: “...yet he did not sin.” Hebrews 4:15b NLT
So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. Hebrews 4:16a NLT
Notice it reads “boldly”. Other translations say “with confidence”, There is nothing here about formality. Formality went out the door when the veil was torn from top to bottom.
Boldly and with confidence. Why? Because He knows!
“..so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:16a NIV
When you come to God with sincerity, with all the emotion, with all the passion, with all the hope, with all the hurt, when we come to God boldly, with confidence, we can know that He is a God that understands! Because He allowed His Son to experience what we experience. So if we come boldly without the formality that some religions require, then every single time we will receive something from God!
What will we receive? First “mercy”. He is going to take our issues seriously not because they are serious issues but because they are our issues. And He knows how that feels! And He cares! Sometimes mercy is something we can “put our hands on”. We can’t take it any more and someone calls and invites you to lunch and you have someone to talk to. Sometimes nothing externally changes but you have the peace of God. You pour out your heart to God and nothing on the outside changes but you just have peace. Or maybe you have changed. Mercy is “I know and I am not angry that you feel the way you do”. Mercy is a promise from God that you can count on.
The second thing he promises is we will “find grace to help us in our time of need”. Grace in this context is the strength or the ability or the energy to endure. God has not promised to deliver us from our circumstances; he has promised to deliver us through them. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that “He (God) will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
Many of us can remember circumstances in our life where we didn’t think we could get through them, but somehow God just gave us the strength to endure. The memories are not pleasant but somehow we made it through the “fire”. And when we look back, we may not opt for easier circumstances because of what we learned from it and how we came out stronger because of the enduring grace of God.
Sometimes God will intervene in the circumstances and sometimes he may not. But this promise says “That your prodigal daughter may not come back, your spouse may not come back, you may not get that job, the deal you are working on may fall through, you may never have the financial situation that you would like, but you know what? I am going to give you the grace, the endurance “to help us in our time of need”. Sometimes I may deliver “from” your circumstances but I promise that every time I will deliver you “through” them!”
Jesus, himself, asked for the circumstances of his death to be changed, but ultimately yielded control to God's plan. A day will come when God will directly intervene to rid the world of sin, sorrow, and death. But in the meantime, how should we balance our prayers of, "God, please do this," and "God, I trust you"?
This week, ask God to change your circumstances, but trust him for the grace to endure in the meantime.
Lesson based on a sermon by Andy Stanley
If you see this lesson and would like to get on email list OR you have a prayer request, please email hdunkin@charter.net.
Current lesson and archive of prior lessons available on WhoSoEver Blog at: http://imawhosoeversslessons.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Do We Really Believe?
DO WE REALLY BELIEVE?
Take an empty cola bottle sometime and fill it half full of water. Then, take some vegetable oil and fill it the rest of the way. Then try to shake it with all your might so it will become all mixed up. What happens? The moment you stop shaking, it begins to separate from one another, doesn’t it? What is the moral? The moral is that, by their very nature, oil and water do not mix.
The same is true with Godliness and worldliness. Unfortunately, today there is too much world in the church. But if that is true, it is true because there is too much world in each of us. You might say that we live here and we need to be in the world. We might need to be in the world, but does the world have to be in us?
2 CORINTHIANS 5:20 tells us where we stand in relation to the world. “So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” In Ephesians 2:19, Paul writes “So now you Gentiles (This would be all people that are not Jews) are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.”
And since we belong to God; since we are citizens of heaven working as ambassadors here on earth; we need to focus more on God and less on the world, but to do so, we need to make sure that we really believe in God, and not just think we do.
A physics professor was teaching about the law of the pendulum. We all know what a pendulum is, right? It swings from side to side, and the distance it swings is always shorter each time it comes back. The professor had nailed a rope to the wall just above the blackboard. To this rope, he had attached a baseball. He asked how many in the class really believed in the law of the pendulum and all raised their hands..
With that, he pulled the rope to one side and marked where it was on the board. Then he let go of it and every time it swung back to his side, he put another mark where it stopped. The end result was he had many marks, all closer to the center than the one before, proving the law was true. He asked again how many really believed in the law, and all raised their hands again.
Then he took the class into an auditorium, where he had hung on a rope from the rafters just above the stage. Attached to this rope was a 100-pound weight. He asked for a volunteer. He had a chair sitting on the side of the stage and he had the student who volunteered sit in it. He then took the weight, which was hanging in the middle of the stage and carried it over to a few inches from the student’s face. He asked him if he believed in the law of the pendulum, and the boy, starting to get a little worried by now, said he did.
With that, the professor let go of the weight and it swung clear to the other side of the stage, and then began to come back. The young man came out of the chair in a hurry! Did he believe, or did he just think he believed?
The first thing we need is...
1. A BELIEVING HEART
In John 1:6-7, we read that “John the Baptist, (came) to tell about the light (Jesus) so that everyone might believe …..” This is how we believe; through Jesus Christ. Without Jesus there is no belief.
That is confirmed in John 20:31, “But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.”
In order to be a real Christian, and in order to receive eternal life, we must be real believers. We must have a burning in our hearts to be with Jesus; to know more about Him; and to know Him more.
Remember the story about the young man who sat on the chair waiting for the 100-pound weight to come back towards his face? There are many Christians who have the same type of faith in their belief in Jesus. They think they believe, and they say they believe, but when push comes to shove, they get out of the way as fast as they can.
Remember when Peter told Jesus that he would follow him into death if necessary? Just a few hours later Peter denied Jesus three times. Peter was like that young man on stage, too. He thought he believed, but when he was pushed, he collapsed like a house of cards. (See Matthew 26:69-75) We cannot have faith unless we really believe.
Everybody believes in something. What is it that you believe in? And how much do you really believe in it? It is very easy to think you believe when there is no risk involved. It is more difficult to truly believe when you risk losing something very important.
Just like the student, we need to know the basics of what is offered to us. He needed to know what the law of the pendulum was, and we need to know what the law of salvation is. It is eternal life in heaven, with God the creator.
2. WHAT IT IS WE REALLY BELIEVE IN
USA Today took a survey several years ago and asked Americans in the top 1% income bracket how much they would spend for three things: Great intellect, true love, and a place in heaven. Those wealthy people said they would be willing to spend an average of $407K for great intellect, $487K for true love, $640K for a place in heaven!
So, some people think they can buy their way into heaven. That falls right in line with people like that great theologian, Sophia Loren. She said, and I quote, “I should go to heaven; otherwise it’s not nice. I haven’t done anything wrong. My conscience is very clean. My soul is as white as orchids, and I should go straight, straight to heaven.”
George Barna conducted his own survey, and 51% of those surveyed said they believe that if a person is good, or does good things for other people, they will get their spot in heaven. So we see that Ms. Loren’s beliefs have been around as long as there have been people on the earth.
We see the fallacy of this in Romans 9:30-32 – “…. the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works.”
The Israelites had a believing heart, but what they believed in wasn’t helping them. They believed they had to follow all the laws of the Old Testament to get to heaven. They were just like the people today; good and earnest people who have it all wrong when thinking about their relationship to heaven.
Those who believe in works or some other way of getting to heaven besides believing in Jesus are not bad people. They are wonderful people who have the right heart, but their heart is misdirected.
The Bible is very clear in what we should believe in. It does not mince words. Pure and simple, we need to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, sent to be our ONLY way to heaven. He is our Redeemer and our Savior. He is THE path, not ONE OF THE paths.
So, we need a believing heart, and we need to realize just what we really believe in. Once we have these down pat, we are then ready to …
3. STOP RUNNING AWAY
The student sat in the chair, and when the weight started swinging back his way, he quickly jumped out of his chair and ran away. He believed, but he believed only until he had to risk losing something, like his head. Many Christians are the same way, too. They go to church and do all the things, and they will continue to do that until a serious challenge comes along.
In Mark 9, we read where Jesus healed a demon-possessed boy and then the boy’s father came up and said, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief.” We are much like that boy’s father. We all believe, but we also sometimes … don’t believe. In other words, we believe with our intellect, but we do not believe with our heart. We need to do like the boy’s father did and ask Jesus to help us have more belief.
The author of Hebrews says: “Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. …… And then says of the Israelites that were not allowed to enter the Promise Land: “…So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest.” (Hebrews 3:12-19)
We have a natural tendency to run away before we commit. We see that all the time with people who say they are Christians, but will not go to anybody and tell them about Jesus. I truly believe that being non-committal towards Jesus is a sin. If we don’t know Him here, He has promised to not know us there.
Many people freeze up when asked to state their relationship to Jesus. Many people would actually rather deny Him than take the risk of having somebody mock them by confessing Jesus. Isn’t that what Peter did on the night they arrested Jesus?
The young man who sat in the chair on the stage had a decision to make. He could trust the truth, or he could run when it got uncomfortable. We have that same choice to make today.
We can choose to have a believing heart; then ponder and study what it is we actually believe; and then stop running long enough to cement our relationship with Christ, or we can run away.
The problem with running, is that one day you will have no other place to run to, and you will find yourself in that long line, waiting to be judged one-on-one with the Lord. When you find yourself standing there, what are you going to feel like when He looks directly at you and says, “NEXT”?
Take an empty cola bottle sometime and fill it half full of water. Then, take some vegetable oil and fill it the rest of the way. Then try to shake it with all your might so it will become all mixed up. What happens? The moment you stop shaking, it begins to separate from one another, doesn’t it? What is the moral? The moral is that, by their very nature, oil and water do not mix.
The same is true with Godliness and worldliness. Unfortunately, today there is too much world in the church. But if that is true, it is true because there is too much world in each of us. You might say that we live here and we need to be in the world. We might need to be in the world, but does the world have to be in us?
2 CORINTHIANS 5:20 tells us where we stand in relation to the world. “So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” In Ephesians 2:19, Paul writes “So now you Gentiles (This would be all people that are not Jews) are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.”
And since we belong to God; since we are citizens of heaven working as ambassadors here on earth; we need to focus more on God and less on the world, but to do so, we need to make sure that we really believe in God, and not just think we do.
A physics professor was teaching about the law of the pendulum. We all know what a pendulum is, right? It swings from side to side, and the distance it swings is always shorter each time it comes back. The professor had nailed a rope to the wall just above the blackboard. To this rope, he had attached a baseball. He asked how many in the class really believed in the law of the pendulum and all raised their hands..
With that, he pulled the rope to one side and marked where it was on the board. Then he let go of it and every time it swung back to his side, he put another mark where it stopped. The end result was he had many marks, all closer to the center than the one before, proving the law was true. He asked again how many really believed in the law, and all raised their hands again.
Then he took the class into an auditorium, where he had hung on a rope from the rafters just above the stage. Attached to this rope was a 100-pound weight. He asked for a volunteer. He had a chair sitting on the side of the stage and he had the student who volunteered sit in it. He then took the weight, which was hanging in the middle of the stage and carried it over to a few inches from the student’s face. He asked him if he believed in the law of the pendulum, and the boy, starting to get a little worried by now, said he did.
With that, the professor let go of the weight and it swung clear to the other side of the stage, and then began to come back. The young man came out of the chair in a hurry! Did he believe, or did he just think he believed?
The first thing we need is...
1. A BELIEVING HEART
In John 1:6-7, we read that “John the Baptist, (came) to tell about the light (Jesus) so that everyone might believe …..” This is how we believe; through Jesus Christ. Without Jesus there is no belief.
That is confirmed in John 20:31, “But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.”
In order to be a real Christian, and in order to receive eternal life, we must be real believers. We must have a burning in our hearts to be with Jesus; to know more about Him; and to know Him more.
Remember the story about the young man who sat on the chair waiting for the 100-pound weight to come back towards his face? There are many Christians who have the same type of faith in their belief in Jesus. They think they believe, and they say they believe, but when push comes to shove, they get out of the way as fast as they can.
Remember when Peter told Jesus that he would follow him into death if necessary? Just a few hours later Peter denied Jesus three times. Peter was like that young man on stage, too. He thought he believed, but when he was pushed, he collapsed like a house of cards. (See Matthew 26:69-75) We cannot have faith unless we really believe.
Everybody believes in something. What is it that you believe in? And how much do you really believe in it? It is very easy to think you believe when there is no risk involved. It is more difficult to truly believe when you risk losing something very important.
Just like the student, we need to know the basics of what is offered to us. He needed to know what the law of the pendulum was, and we need to know what the law of salvation is. It is eternal life in heaven, with God the creator.
2. WHAT IT IS WE REALLY BELIEVE IN
USA Today took a survey several years ago and asked Americans in the top 1% income bracket how much they would spend for three things: Great intellect, true love, and a place in heaven. Those wealthy people said they would be willing to spend an average of $407K for great intellect, $487K for true love, $640K for a place in heaven!
So, some people think they can buy their way into heaven. That falls right in line with people like that great theologian, Sophia Loren. She said, and I quote, “I should go to heaven; otherwise it’s not nice. I haven’t done anything wrong. My conscience is very clean. My soul is as white as orchids, and I should go straight, straight to heaven.”
George Barna conducted his own survey, and 51% of those surveyed said they believe that if a person is good, or does good things for other people, they will get their spot in heaven. So we see that Ms. Loren’s beliefs have been around as long as there have been people on the earth.
We see the fallacy of this in Romans 9:30-32 – “…. the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works.”
The Israelites had a believing heart, but what they believed in wasn’t helping them. They believed they had to follow all the laws of the Old Testament to get to heaven. They were just like the people today; good and earnest people who have it all wrong when thinking about their relationship to heaven.
Those who believe in works or some other way of getting to heaven besides believing in Jesus are not bad people. They are wonderful people who have the right heart, but their heart is misdirected.
The Bible is very clear in what we should believe in. It does not mince words. Pure and simple, we need to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, sent to be our ONLY way to heaven. He is our Redeemer and our Savior. He is THE path, not ONE OF THE paths.
So, we need a believing heart, and we need to realize just what we really believe in. Once we have these down pat, we are then ready to …
3. STOP RUNNING AWAY
The student sat in the chair, and when the weight started swinging back his way, he quickly jumped out of his chair and ran away. He believed, but he believed only until he had to risk losing something, like his head. Many Christians are the same way, too. They go to church and do all the things, and they will continue to do that until a serious challenge comes along.
In Mark 9, we read where Jesus healed a demon-possessed boy and then the boy’s father came up and said, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief.” We are much like that boy’s father. We all believe, but we also sometimes … don’t believe. In other words, we believe with our intellect, but we do not believe with our heart. We need to do like the boy’s father did and ask Jesus to help us have more belief.
The author of Hebrews says: “Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. …… And then says of the Israelites that were not allowed to enter the Promise Land: “…So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest.” (Hebrews 3:12-19)
We have a natural tendency to run away before we commit. We see that all the time with people who say they are Christians, but will not go to anybody and tell them about Jesus. I truly believe that being non-committal towards Jesus is a sin. If we don’t know Him here, He has promised to not know us there.
Many people freeze up when asked to state their relationship to Jesus. Many people would actually rather deny Him than take the risk of having somebody mock them by confessing Jesus. Isn’t that what Peter did on the night they arrested Jesus?
The young man who sat in the chair on the stage had a decision to make. He could trust the truth, or he could run when it got uncomfortable. We have that same choice to make today.
We can choose to have a believing heart; then ponder and study what it is we actually believe; and then stop running long enough to cement our relationship with Christ, or we can run away.
The problem with running, is that one day you will have no other place to run to, and you will find yourself in that long line, waiting to be judged one-on-one with the Lord. When you find yourself standing there, what are you going to feel like when He looks directly at you and says, “NEXT”?
Monday, September 23, 2013
The Forgotten Word - Final Part
Ok, this Sunday we finished this lesson on/about repentance. Interesting that this lesson was done several years ago and was finished in one Sunday. Sometimes God doesn’t lead me to a lesson concept and when this occurs I go back to my archives and look over lessons to see if the Spirit leads me toward one. It is now obvious that this one turned out to be the right one. Each part generated much discussion, quite candid discussion, honest discussion.
More On The Meaning of Repentance
Repentance is not…
1. Just Being Sorry or Feeling Guilty
This situation with Judas is interesting. Matthew wrote, “When Judas, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse.” (Matthew 27:3b) Judas tried to give back the money he was paid for betraying Jesus and even said, “I have sinned,” (Matthew 27:4a) Now, many times this type of feeling of remorse can lead to true repentance, but for Judas it remained just a feeling of guilt and sorrow over wrongdoings. If Judas had been truly repentant he would have gone back to Jesus and would have asked forgiveness rather than committing suicide. He was sorry, but not sincerely repentant. Sorrow can be good but it is not the same as repentance.
There are people filled with guilt and sorrow, but then when they learn that some sort of change is expected in response, they don’t like it too much. Of course they may have been sincere in their sorrow, but there was absolutely no repentance. Often times they are not repentant and sorry that they did what they did, but they are sorry that they got caught. Now sometimes it does take our sin being exposed before we come to conviction over sin, but that doesn’t equal repentance.
2. Done to Escape Consequences
Sometimes we show remorse and offer change because we feel we have no other choice. Repentance is a choice we make, but we do it because we want to get right with God not because we don’t want to be in trouble or face consequences. Many times people say they are repentant over their sin because they hope that simply saying they are sorry will remove the earthly consequences for their sin, but that is not real repentance.
3. Admitting You Are Wrong
From time to time all of us have been known to be wrong on something. Often times that wrongdoing requires repentance. But admitting wrong, though noble, is not the same as repenting of the wrong. Just because you admit it does not mean any repentance took place. A “good old boy” (or girl) may say, “I said I was wrong, what more do you want?” Well…the answer is we want a sincere repentance.
B. Repentance is…
As mentioned earlier in the lesson, is a change of the mind, a change of the heart, and a change of the will that leads to a change in action.
1. A Change of the Mind
Repentance begins with a change of your mind or how you think. Along with repentance, your mind should change about God, who He is and what place He will have in your life. It should change how you view other people. It should change how we regard sin. Repentance should bring about a change to where you do not want to live a lifestyle of sin because you see the consequences of sin and no longer want to displease God.
2. A Change of the Will or what you “want” to do
Repentance should also involve a change of the will. What you want to do should change with real repentance. No longer do you want to please your sinful desires, but instead you want to submit to God’s will.
3. A Change of the Actions
The most important aspect of repentance for us to grasp is that true repentance involves a life change or a change of lifestyle. Remember the story of the “prodigal son” from last week’s lesson?
Throughout the Scriptures we read of people’s sins and mistakes, but along with that we also see many instances of a true and sincere repentance.
There is a VERY positive effect of sincere repentance of sin. There is joy in knowing our sins have been forgiven. “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!”(Psalm 32:1) “... if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness”. (1 John 1:9) And I really like this scripture, “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” (Psalm 103:12). And this is really big since this was written by David who had broken just about all of God’s commandments. Just a note here to mention that David still had to suffer some serious earthly consequences of his sins!
We need to understand that we, on our own, are not capable of the kind of repentance discussed in this lesson. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal to us how to achieve this! But when we allow the Spirit to lead us to repentance, He will begin to produce in us a new understanding of the glory of Christ. And he'll make it known to everyone around us!
If you see this lesson and would like to get on email list OR you have a prayer request, please email hdunkin@charter.net.
Current lesson and archive of prior lessons available on WhoSoEver Blog at: http://imawhosoeversslessons.blogspot.com/
More On The Meaning of Repentance
Repentance is not…
1. Just Being Sorry or Feeling Guilty
This situation with Judas is interesting. Matthew wrote, “When Judas, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse.” (Matthew 27:3b) Judas tried to give back the money he was paid for betraying Jesus and even said, “I have sinned,” (Matthew 27:4a) Now, many times this type of feeling of remorse can lead to true repentance, but for Judas it remained just a feeling of guilt and sorrow over wrongdoings. If Judas had been truly repentant he would have gone back to Jesus and would have asked forgiveness rather than committing suicide. He was sorry, but not sincerely repentant. Sorrow can be good but it is not the same as repentance.
There are people filled with guilt and sorrow, but then when they learn that some sort of change is expected in response, they don’t like it too much. Of course they may have been sincere in their sorrow, but there was absolutely no repentance. Often times they are not repentant and sorry that they did what they did, but they are sorry that they got caught. Now sometimes it does take our sin being exposed before we come to conviction over sin, but that doesn’t equal repentance.
2. Done to Escape Consequences
Sometimes we show remorse and offer change because we feel we have no other choice. Repentance is a choice we make, but we do it because we want to get right with God not because we don’t want to be in trouble or face consequences. Many times people say they are repentant over their sin because they hope that simply saying they are sorry will remove the earthly consequences for their sin, but that is not real repentance.
3. Admitting You Are Wrong
From time to time all of us have been known to be wrong on something. Often times that wrongdoing requires repentance. But admitting wrong, though noble, is not the same as repenting of the wrong. Just because you admit it does not mean any repentance took place. A “good old boy” (or girl) may say, “I said I was wrong, what more do you want?” Well…the answer is we want a sincere repentance.
B. Repentance is…
As mentioned earlier in the lesson, is a change of the mind, a change of the heart, and a change of the will that leads to a change in action.
1. A Change of the Mind
Repentance begins with a change of your mind or how you think. Along with repentance, your mind should change about God, who He is and what place He will have in your life. It should change how you view other people. It should change how we regard sin. Repentance should bring about a change to where you do not want to live a lifestyle of sin because you see the consequences of sin and no longer want to displease God.
2. A Change of the Will or what you “want” to do
Repentance should also involve a change of the will. What you want to do should change with real repentance. No longer do you want to please your sinful desires, but instead you want to submit to God’s will.
3. A Change of the Actions
The most important aspect of repentance for us to grasp is that true repentance involves a life change or a change of lifestyle. Remember the story of the “prodigal son” from last week’s lesson?
Throughout the Scriptures we read of people’s sins and mistakes, but along with that we also see many instances of a true and sincere repentance.
There is a VERY positive effect of sincere repentance of sin. There is joy in knowing our sins have been forgiven. “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!”(Psalm 32:1) “... if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness”. (1 John 1:9) And I really like this scripture, “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” (Psalm 103:12). And this is really big since this was written by David who had broken just about all of God’s commandments. Just a note here to mention that David still had to suffer some serious earthly consequences of his sins!
We need to understand that we, on our own, are not capable of the kind of repentance discussed in this lesson. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal to us how to achieve this! But when we allow the Spirit to lead us to repentance, He will begin to produce in us a new understanding of the glory of Christ. And he'll make it known to everyone around us!
If you see this lesson and would like to get on email list OR you have a prayer request, please email hdunkin@charter.net.
Current lesson and archive of prior lessons available on WhoSoEver Blog at: http://imawhosoeversslessons.blogspot.com/
Saturday, September 21, 2013
The Forgotten Word - Part 2
The Forgotten (or maybe just Ignored) Word
This is part 1 and part 2. Part 1 is in Italics.
The word repentance is not a popular word in today’s society. It is not popular because if we call people to repentance then we are admitting that people are doing something wrong. People don’t like to be told that they are wrong or have been living the wrong way. And you may be accused of “judging” and that is not the ‘political correct’ thing to do.
When you think of repentance, what do you think of?
Quite often repentance is one of those Bible words that we just throw around sometimes and we do not fully understand what it means to truly repent of sin. Bible repentance means more than just saying you are sorry. It is a change of mind, prompted by a change of heart, resulting in a change of life. There are some things or stumbling blocks that get in the way of sincere repentance.
Stumbling blocks to Repentance…
1) Pride or Arrogance
Most people do not like to admit that they are wrong. That is called, pride. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit that God said not to eat and ‘got caught”, they were not necessarily repentant over their sin. They knew they had sinned and even tried to hide from God. They both got into the ‘it’s not my fault” mode. Adam – She made me do it! “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” (Genesis 3:12) AND, he even blamed God – you gave me the women.
Eve – the serpent made me do it. “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.” (Genesis 3:13)
Not once was there a, “You know what, I messed up” moment with them. Their pride kept them from admitting their sin.
2) Hardened Hearts
Sometimes people are hindered from repenting because their hearts are hard. It can be easy for someone to shut themselves off from hearing or receiving God’s Word when they realize their own faults or mistakes. They just don’t want to “hear it”. There are many that are so hard hearted towards their actions that repentance does not come easy. Because of their constant sin, they have justified it in their minds, to the point where there are many who do not even see their sin as sin or as a big deal at all.
3) Enjoyment of Sin
Sometimes others will not repent of sin because they just like it to much. True repentance comes down to a choice between stopping sin or continuing sin. Many people will just flat out tell you that they cannot truly repent of their sin because they like and enjoy the practice of their sin too much. We cannot love both God and the sinful things of this world. The necessary outcome of repentance is to change and abandon those sinful desires, and some just don’t want to give them up! This keeps many folks from being saved!
4) Not yet
Many people don’t repent because they just keep putting it “on the back burner”. Maybe tomorrow! This is one area of life which we should not put off until tomorrow! Many people may be convicted of their sins and they assure you that one day they plan on changing. One day they plan on making it right, but they continue to say “Not yet”.
So why is it necessary to repent of our sins?
Repentance is so important that it is a major theme throughout the Bible. John the Baptist preached a message calling the people to repentance. Jesus began His ministry preaching “Repent of your sins and turn to God.” (Matthew 4:17) And He made clear to his disciples that “There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.”. (Luke 24:47) When Jesus addressed the seven churches is the book of Revelation eight times he challenged them to “repent”. The most important thing that we can learn is that there is an absolute necessity for repentance. And repentance is not just a one-time event that we do, but it is something we do on a regular basis. There is a need for repentance because we all have sinned and are in need of forgiveness. There is a need for repentance because there is an alternative to repentance that we want no part of.
Jesus had just received the news that some people from Galilee were murdered by Pilate. His disciples asked him, “Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?” (Luke 13:1-2) He answered “Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God.” (Luke 13:3) Peter told the people at Pentecost “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God......” (Acts 2:38) Sounds like repentance may be kinda’ important!
We are sinners in need of forgiveness, and that forgiveness can only be obtained through our willingness to come before God and repent of our sins. It is important for us to realize that repentance is an individual thing that is necessary for everyone. We could have the tendency to think that “repentance isn’t for me” or “my sin is not as bad as their sin”, but regardless as to what we perceive the level of our sin, repentance is necessary for every individual.
If you see this lesson and would like to get on email list OR you have a prayer request, please email hdunkin@charter.net.
Current lesson and archive of prior lessons available on WhoSoEver Blog at: http://imawhosoeversslessons.blogspot.com/
This is part 1 and part 2. Part 1 is in Italics.
The word repentance is not a popular word in today’s society. It is not popular because if we call people to repentance then we are admitting that people are doing something wrong. People don’t like to be told that they are wrong or have been living the wrong way. And you may be accused of “judging” and that is not the ‘political correct’ thing to do.
When you think of repentance, what do you think of?
Quite often repentance is one of those Bible words that we just throw around sometimes and we do not fully understand what it means to truly repent of sin. Bible repentance means more than just saying you are sorry. It is a change of mind, prompted by a change of heart, resulting in a change of life. There are some things or stumbling blocks that get in the way of sincere repentance.
Stumbling blocks to Repentance…
1) Pride or Arrogance
Most people do not like to admit that they are wrong. That is called, pride. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit that God said not to eat and ‘got caught”, they were not necessarily repentant over their sin. They knew they had sinned and even tried to hide from God. They both got into the ‘it’s not my fault” mode. Adam – She made me do it! “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” (Genesis 3:12) AND, he even blamed God – you gave me the women.
Eve – the serpent made me do it. “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.” (Genesis 3:13)
Not once was there a, “You know what, I messed up” moment with them. Their pride kept them from admitting their sin.
2) Hardened Hearts
Sometimes people are hindered from repenting because their hearts are hard. It can be easy for someone to shut themselves off from hearing or receiving God’s Word when they realize their own faults or mistakes. They just don’t want to “hear it”. There are many that are so hard hearted towards their actions that repentance does not come easy. Because of their constant sin, they have justified it in their minds, to the point where there are many who do not even see their sin as sin or as a big deal at all.
3) Enjoyment of Sin
Sometimes others will not repent of sin because they just like it to much. True repentance comes down to a choice between stopping sin or continuing sin. Many people will just flat out tell you that they cannot truly repent of their sin because they like and enjoy the practice of their sin too much. We cannot love both God and the sinful things of this world. The necessary outcome of repentance is to change and abandon those sinful desires, and some just don’t want to give them up! This keeps many folks from being saved!
4) Not yet
Many people don’t repent because they just keep putting it “on the back burner”. Maybe tomorrow! This is one area of life which we should not put off until tomorrow! Many people may be convicted of their sins and they assure you that one day they plan on changing. One day they plan on making it right, but they continue to say “Not yet”.
So why is it necessary to repent of our sins?
Repentance is so important that it is a major theme throughout the Bible. John the Baptist preached a message calling the people to repentance. Jesus began His ministry preaching “Repent of your sins and turn to God.” (Matthew 4:17) And He made clear to his disciples that “There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.”. (Luke 24:47) When Jesus addressed the seven churches is the book of Revelation eight times he challenged them to “repent”. The most important thing that we can learn is that there is an absolute necessity for repentance. And repentance is not just a one-time event that we do, but it is something we do on a regular basis. There is a need for repentance because we all have sinned and are in need of forgiveness. There is a need for repentance because there is an alternative to repentance that we want no part of.
Jesus had just received the news that some people from Galilee were murdered by Pilate. His disciples asked him, “Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?” (Luke 13:1-2) He answered “Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God.” (Luke 13:3) Peter told the people at Pentecost “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God......” (Acts 2:38) Sounds like repentance may be kinda’ important!
We are sinners in need of forgiveness, and that forgiveness can only be obtained through our willingness to come before God and repent of our sins. It is important for us to realize that repentance is an individual thing that is necessary for everyone. We could have the tendency to think that “repentance isn’t for me” or “my sin is not as bad as their sin”, but regardless as to what we perceive the level of our sin, repentance is necessary for every individual.
If you see this lesson and would like to get on email list OR you have a prayer request, please email hdunkin@charter.net.
Current lesson and archive of prior lessons available on WhoSoEver Blog at: http://imawhosoeversslessons.blogspot.com/
Monday, September 9, 2013
The Forgotten (or maybe just Ignored) Word (Part One)
This lesson generated a lot of discussion in class so we did not finish it. This is what we covered. Rest of lesson next week. Hayward
The Forgotten (or maybe just Ignored) Word
The word repentance is not a popular word in today’s society. It is not popular because if we call people to repentance then we are admitting that people are doing something wrong. People don’t like to be told that they are wrong or have been living the wrong way. And you may be accused of “judging” and that is not the ‘political correct’ thing to do.
When you think of repentance, what do you think of?
Quite often repentance is one of those Bible words that we just throw around sometimes and we do not fully understand what it means to truly repent of sin. Bible repentance means more than just saying you are sorry. It is a change of mind, prompted by a change of heart, resulting in a change of life. There are some things or stumbling blocks that get in the way of sincere repentance.
Stumbling blocks to Repentance…
1) Pride or Arrogance
Most people do not like to admit that they are wrong. That is called, pride. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit that God said not to eat and ‘got caught”, they were not necessarily repentant over their sin. They knew they had sinned and even tried to hide from God. They both got into the ‘it’s not my fault” mode. Adam – She made me do it! “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” (Genesis 3:12) AND, he even blamed God – you gave me the women.
Eve – the serpent made me do it. “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.” (Genesis 3:13)
Not once was there a, “You know what, I messed up” moment with them. Their pride kept them from admitting their sin.
2) Hardened Hearts
Sometimes people are hindered from repenting because their hearts are hard. It can be easy for someone to shut themselves off from hearing or receiving God’s Word when they realize their own faults or mistakes. They just don’t want to “hear it”. There are many that are so hard hearted towards their actions that repentance does not come easy. Because of their constant sin, they have justified it in their minds, to the point where there are many who do not even see their sin as sin or as a big deal at all.
3) Enjoyment of Sin
Sometimes others will not repent of sin because they just like it to much. True repentance comes down to a choice between stopping sin or continuing sin. Many people will just flat out tell you that they cannot truly repent of their sin because they like and enjoy the practice of their sin too much. We cannot love both God and the sinful things of this world. The necessary outcome of repentance is to change and abandon those sinful desires, and some just don’t want to give them up! This keeps many folks from being saved!
The Forgotten (or maybe just Ignored) Word
The word repentance is not a popular word in today’s society. It is not popular because if we call people to repentance then we are admitting that people are doing something wrong. People don’t like to be told that they are wrong or have been living the wrong way. And you may be accused of “judging” and that is not the ‘political correct’ thing to do.
When you think of repentance, what do you think of?
Quite often repentance is one of those Bible words that we just throw around sometimes and we do not fully understand what it means to truly repent of sin. Bible repentance means more than just saying you are sorry. It is a change of mind, prompted by a change of heart, resulting in a change of life. There are some things or stumbling blocks that get in the way of sincere repentance.
Stumbling blocks to Repentance…
1) Pride or Arrogance
Most people do not like to admit that they are wrong. That is called, pride. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit that God said not to eat and ‘got caught”, they were not necessarily repentant over their sin. They knew they had sinned and even tried to hide from God. They both got into the ‘it’s not my fault” mode. Adam – She made me do it! “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” (Genesis 3:12) AND, he even blamed God – you gave me the women.
Eve – the serpent made me do it. “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.” (Genesis 3:13)
Not once was there a, “You know what, I messed up” moment with them. Their pride kept them from admitting their sin.
2) Hardened Hearts
Sometimes people are hindered from repenting because their hearts are hard. It can be easy for someone to shut themselves off from hearing or receiving God’s Word when they realize their own faults or mistakes. They just don’t want to “hear it”. There are many that are so hard hearted towards their actions that repentance does not come easy. Because of their constant sin, they have justified it in their minds, to the point where there are many who do not even see their sin as sin or as a big deal at all.
3) Enjoyment of Sin
Sometimes others will not repent of sin because they just like it to much. True repentance comes down to a choice between stopping sin or continuing sin. Many people will just flat out tell you that they cannot truly repent of their sin because they like and enjoy the practice of their sin too much. We cannot love both God and the sinful things of this world. The necessary outcome of repentance is to change and abandon those sinful desires, and some just don’t want to give them up! This keeps many folks from being saved!
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
I Tell You The Truth
“I Tell You The Truth, Today You Will Be with Me In Paradise.” (Luke 23:43)
As we come to the second “words of the cross,” we find ourselves listening to a deathbed conversation between three dying men. It begins with one of the criminals mocking Jesus, it continues with the other criminal defending Jesus and recognizing His rule, and it concludes with Jesus pardoning the repentant man and giving him eternal life. Let’s lean in and listen to what was said:
“39 One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!” 40 But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? 41 We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” 43 And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:39-43)
Our goal today is to take to understand and take to heart what Jesus promised the man who was crucified with him. We will do that by working from the end of his statement to the beginning.
“In Paradise.”
Have you wondered what heaven is like? Certainly we have. Where it is, What we will do there, will it be fun or do we worry that it might be boring. What we will wear, what we will eat, what we will do, where we will live. Will we recognize people in their new bodies and I wonder what those new bodies will actually look like. What will the climate be like? Will the landscape be rural or urban? How will we get around? How high will we be able to jump and how fast will we be able to run? Will we hang out with angels and eat with Jesus? Will there be animals and, in particular, will beloved family pets who have died put their wet noses in the palms of our hands and beg us to take them for a daily walk. And if they do, where will that walk take us? Will there be seniors and babies and middle-aged people or will we all be the same age? Will we see God face to face and what will he look like? Will all our questions finally be answered?
Paradise, the word Jesus used on the cross to describe heaven, is very rare in the Bible. It is actually a Persian word meaning “enclosure” or “park” or “garden” and our text offers the first time this word appears in scripture.
The second occurrence is in II Corinthians where Paul, talking about an out of the body experience that transported him up to a place he called the third heaven, wrote: “3 Yes, only God knows whether I was in my body or outside my body. But I do know 4 that I was caught up[a] to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell. (II Corinthians 12:3-4)
The third and final occurrence of the word “paradise” is in the book of Revelation where John’s vision is described in awe-inspiring detail. Again, it is Jesus who used this word when he promised: “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7)
The reference to “the tree of life in the paradise of God” provides an important clue. Paradise is not just any kind of garden or enclosure. It is the sinless, weedless and painless Garden of Eden that is described in the first pages of the Bible: “8 Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. (Genesis 2:8)
So this is what Jesus promised the criminal after his death! So this is how we may picture heaven and eternal life. We are not destined for some misty, disembodied experience in some far away galaxy. Instead we are destined to live and work and play and find community with our Creator and our fellow creatures in a place of great beauty filled with color and sound and life and meaningful activity. What will heaven be like? It will be like the garden of Eden before the fall into sin.
A place called paradise is what Jesus promised the criminal on the cross. An experience that awaits us when you die in Christ, or when Christ returns, whichever comes first.
“You Will Be With Me”
One of the most excruciating experiences in life is to be left out, to be unwanted. The thief on the cross probably knew the pain of rejection. This is based that on the fact that he is called both a criminal and a “robber” (Mark) in the gospels. We also have his own admission that he deserved execution. So we would not be far off to imagine him as a misfit, a person abandoned and unloved, a person whose life of crime reflected a loveless, unloved life. My guess is that there was no one on Golgotha to mourn his death, to support him on his cruel deathbed. My guess is that he lived his life believing that no-one would want anything to do with him, especially someone who, unlike him, “had done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:41).
Imagine then his shocked reaction when Jesus looked him in the eye and said, “you will be with me.”
You and me? How could that possibly be? Like a kid always picked last, inexplicably chosen first for once, he must have looked at Jesus in disbelief. You and me? A king and a con man? A ruler and a robber? A saviour and a sinner? Together forever? You and me?
Jesus must have received that reaction time and again during his life, as despised tax collectors and prostitutes and lepers felt his love and acceptance. How many others before and how many others since have been shocked to hear that Jesus wanted to be with them? How many of us have not thought: You and me? In paradise?
And yet, that is precisely the heart of the good news: that there is a God who wants to be with us.
Like the criminal, we are shocked at the news that God is more than willing to stoop down to us. But we should never forget that in the original paradise, God created humans not just to tend the garden, but to enjoy fellowship with him. You get a strong sense of that in Genesis 3:8,9 where we read: “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’” (Genesis 3:8,9)
God created us for fellowship with him. God’s goal is to be “with us” again. And God’s agent of reconciliation is Jesus. The phrase “you will be with me” is what the Bible is all about, the reason Jesus came to live and die.
Looking at it from our point of view, like the criminal we should be totally shocked. Why would Jesus want to spend time with me! Looking at it from the Lord’s point of view, however, we should not be shocked at all. He wants nothing more than to walk with us in the garden in the cool of the day as he sought to do that fateful day when Adam and Eve hid in fear.
Here is the simple truth: Jesus loved the criminal on the cross and wanted to be with him. And Jesus loves us and wants to be with us.
Thankfully, the criminal experienced this love just before he died. Regrettably, he did not experience this love until then. How different his life would have been had he only lived it with Jesus walking by his side!
It doesn’t have to be that way for us. We don’t have to wait till the last minute of our life to be with the Lord. You can turn to him now, if you have not done so already, and ask him to remember you, to walk with you, to be there with you wherever life takes you. The grace that was there for a hardened criminal is there for you, too. All you have to do is ask and he will say, “You will be with me.”
“Today”
When the criminal died, he immediately joined Jesus in His Kingdom. That day. But how does this work, exactly?
The question is this: When a person dies, where does he go and when does he get there? Does he enter a state called “soul sleep” until Jesus returns? Does he go to a place called purgatory, an intermediate place until he is ready to move on? Does he go instantly to heaven? And how can that be since Jesus has not come back yet and the new earth and paradise has not yet been restored?
It helps to remember that Jesus’ concept of “today” is very different from ours. When Peter wrote about the Day of the Lord and tried to reassure Christians who were impatient to see Jesus come back, he said: “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” (II Peter 3:8) In other words, time is a human “invention” of seconds, minutes, hours, day, weeks, months and years. Eternity, on the other hand, is a divine experience, a constant living in the now that holds past, present and future in the same moment.
The Bible says, “According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.” (II Thessalonians 4:15) In other words, like people who sleep and are oblivious to the passing of time, waking up in what seems like a second later while others put in a full shift at work, those who die in the Lord wake up instantly at the moment of Christ’s second coming to join those who happen to be still alive when he returns.
It really is true that to God a thousand years is like a day. The comfort we have is that our loved ones are with the Lord today in eternity even though we are still waiting for that Day to arrive in human time. Isn’t it incredible that we may picture them in paradise right now!
“I Tell You the Truth”
Do you believe this? The criminal did. Here’s why.
This world is full of liars, and the robber knew some and was one. This world is also full of speculators, and most of us certainly recognize ourselves as a person who loves to speculate about the future and even what life after death will be like. On the other hand, there is one voice of truth that can be fully trusted. He is the one who began so many of his teachings with these words, “Verily, verily, I say unto you,” and “I tell you the truth.”
Everyone, including each of us, needs a place to stand, a starting place for developing a world and life view. Like a compass or a level, that place to stand must be trustworthy and true. And that true place to stand is Jesus who said, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). In fact, there was and is nothing false or dishonest in him, nothing unreliable or untrustworthy about him. People heard him preach, saw him do miracles, watched him carry the cross and were amazed at his authority. He has never lied to us or let us down or steered us wrong. That’s why we can base our view of life and death on every word He ever uttered, including these words spoken on the cross to the criminal crucified with him.
After a lifetime of lying and being lied to, the man crucified with Jesus shook himself free from the opinions of the other criminal and separated himself from the mob hostility that was aimed at Jesus and decided to take a step of faith. He turned to Jesus and put his trust in Him. When he did, Jesus looked at him with a heart full of compassion and eyes full of promise and said: “I tell you the truth.” And after a lifetime of rejection, deception and violence, the criminal died in peace and entered paradise with Jesus at His side.
Isn’t that the way we want to live? Isn’t that the way we want to die? Isn’t that the way we want to live again?
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