Revealing the Cross of Christ

Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures,  explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ." (Acts 17:2-3 NKJV)

    I intended to begin writing about 1 Thessalonians today, but realized that to do so I needed to begin in Acts, Chapter 17, where the contentious planting of the church in Thessalonika is fully described. If you Google "missionary" you’ll find more resources, ideas and information than you can possibly sift through in a lifetime. What endless Google results make seem complicated is really very simple. I often describe myself to people as a missionary. They typically ask, Missionary to where? I usually just name the place where I am standing. Missionaries are missionaries wherever they are. Paul had three mission centric resources when he entered the capital city of Macedonia, and these resources remain available to all missionaries today. 

   Verse 1 says -- Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica… In any work we begin for God, it is critical to remain sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. God often pre-softens stony hearts to be receptive to the Gospel as He did for Paul’s work here. Paul’s discernment carried him through many places before he arrived at the specific place where God had a plan in place. It is easy to convince ourselves we can decide what God wants done and where He wants it done without ever asking Him for input, and  thereby miss the blessing He has planned. When we do this we end up with our ministry to which we attach His name. Paul wisely kept walking until the Lord revealed the spot where He wanted to establish a new church.  

   

   Paul reasoned with them from the scriptures. Paul’s scriptures weren’t  our scriptures. He had only what we call the Old Testament. For him it was the Only Testament. Could you sit and reason with someone, could you make reasonable representations that Jesus was the Messiah from the Old Testament alone? Many people we encounter have no idea that the Old Testament is about Jesus. From shadows and types like Boaz in the Book of Ruth who was Ruth’s kinsman redeemer as a type for Christ, our Kinsman redeemer, to the specific details of the birth, life, death and resurrection found in the Psalms and Isaiah, the Old Testament points to Jesus. We are equipped with the Old Testament scriptures Paul had, plus so much more. Have you equipped yourself to reason with others from the scriptures?

   In Philippians 4:16 we read -- For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities. Paul didn’t just go, He was sent - both by God and by the church in Philippi. The success of any missionary is greatly increased with sufficient funding and prayer support from sending believers. Many are called to Christ’s Gospel mission, but more are called to support with prayers and funding. Do you support missionaries with prayers and funding? Ask God to reveal a missionary for you to support and begin sending monthly financial help. Even small support can produce huge Gospel results in the distant reaches of the Earth. If you can’t be a go-er, become a sender.

  If you are following the leading of the Holy Spirit, you have been strategically placed by God in a Gospel opportunity. Paul got busy in Thessalonica -- explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ." Today, to whom are you explaining and demonstrating that Jesus is the Christ? Or, have you abandoned God’s mission for one more of your own design and liking? 

    

Copyright 2014 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission if a link is provided to  http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com 

It Takes Faith to Stop Hammering at the Rubble

"This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel:'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, 'Says the Lord of hosts. 'Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone With shouts of "Grace, grace to it!" ' " (Zechariah 4:6-7 NKJV)

   

   For many Christians, our personal foundation was built on human wisdom before we knew the Lord and studied His Word. As Americans our foundation stones often include self reliance, personal achievement, the value of accumulation, and freedom to accomplish whatever we want. Even for those raised in the church and steeped in the Word these secular notions and cultural influences have drifted quietly and corruptively into our hearts.

 

   In the biblical account reflected in the verses above, Zerubbabel faced the challenge of rebuilding the temple. In fact, the term the Lord spoke through His prophet Zechariah, "O Great Mountain" probably referred to the mountain of rubble that existed after the temple's destruction. Zerubbabel was what would today be called a community organizer. He had limited ability, resources and power to accomplish the daunting task before him, and he was hindered (as we often are) by self doubt and discouragement.

 

   The work of God often requires resources that exceed our abilities. When we reach the intersection of  the enormity of the task we face and the limitation of our abilities and feel our helplessness, we are faced with many options. We often choose to push on against insurmountable odds in our own power, producing frustration and exhaustion. In the work and way of the world we are taught to fight through these crossroads with sheer self will. But God's message is not one of human dominance, but rather utter dependence on Him. Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, 'Says the Lord of hosts...

 

   It is culturally counter intuitive to follow God's plan -- In order to win, you need to surrender -- but we can only win Kingdom victories when our hearts are fully reliant on the King. Great relief awaits us when we surrender the outcomes of our difficulties to the mighty hand of God, even in the face of critics and those who mock the Lord and His work.  Charles Spurgeon, an early mega church preacher, saw this clearly --

 

“O churches! take heed lest ye trust in yourselves; take heed lest ye say, ‘We are a respectable body,’ ‘We are a mighty number,’ ‘We are a potent people;’ take heed lest ye begin to glory in your own strength; for when that is done, ‘Ichabod’ shall be written on your walls and your glory shall depart from you. Remember, that he who was with us when we were but few, must be with us now we are many, or else we must fail; and he who strengthened us when we were but as ‘little in Israel,’ must be with us, now that we are like ‘the thousands of Manasseh,’ or else it is all over with us and our day is past.” (Spurgeon)

 

   Or consider David Guzik 's commentary on the  conclusion of this passage --  He shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”--

   This is God's assurance to Zerubbabel that not only will the work be finished, but Zerubbabel - he - shall finish it, setting the capstone and declaring that it was all a work of grace. When the work is done through human might or power we can take credit for it, but when the work is done by the continual supply of the Spirit, then it is all to the glory of God’s grace.(Guzik)

 

  Zerubbabel faced a literal mountain of rubble. We often face piles of relationship rubble, financial rubble, or the rubble that remains after sin is departed. Often we decide -- this is my mess, I have to clean it up. The Lord's plan is far simpler. Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit....

 

   So I'm thinking..... what rubble rocks am I am hammering by my own strength while the Lord looks on, thinking, My Spirit could move that entire mountain for you, Steve, if you'd only trust Me enough to let Me.

   It takes faith to stop hammering, and faith releases the awesome power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.  
 

Copyright 2013 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be quoted in whole or in part without prior written permission if a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com

 

 

Hebrew Roots, the iPad Mini, Lance Armstrong, and an "I will" God...

Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. (Ezekiel 36:26-28  NKJV)

 

Behind the Word – and cause – (Hebrew) – ‘asha (pronounced aw-saw’) – to produce, to make, to accomplish with effect, to ordain, to bring about. 

 

   I went back and read what God told Moses in Exodus as He dictated the ten commandments. God prefaced His commands with – if you… Mankind saw that if you... and said sure, I will. The statement was not a lie repeated with no intention of following through, but rather a hope with no ability to be carried out. Lance Armstrong didn't set out to win with an illegal advantage, but was so obsessed with winning that he was willing to cheat to win. Christians should not judge him. We have all tried to win with God but found ourselves unwilling to carry out our plan without sinning. Our attempts to live within God's rules always fail until we receive God's Spirit who begins to cause us to be sanctified.

 

   God sent these commands knowing the predicament in which I would find myself – willing to obey, wanting to obey yet unable to fully obey. Was this a flawed strategy on the part of a flawless God? Hardly! It was a strategy designed to get the precise effect God intended. Paul wrote to the Galatians -- Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (3:24) God knew He had to first prove beyond all doubt to me that I was incapable of willing myself to live a sinless life.

 

      Christ came and died and I found Him (really He found me) and so found relief from the weight of my sin. Then God sent His Holy Ghost to my heart that had received Him by faith in Jesus, and His language changed. The Old Covenant, The Law, The Commandments came with the – if you language, but through Ezekiel and Jeremiah, my loving Father changed His New Covenant mood and tense saying -

 

I will give you a new heart…

I will put a new Spirit within you…

I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh…

I will give you a heart of flesh…

I will put My Spirit within you…

I will cause you to walk in my statutes…

 

    When I became a Christian, I had a well tuned swearing tongue. I tried everything I could to quit swearing and failed. Abruptly one day the Holy Spirit confronted me. I confessed immediately that I had proven myself incapable to stop swearing. I had tried many times but I had failed. The Lord said to me, You are right. Now release all that effort and receive the power of My Spirit. Immediately and effortlessly, my thirty year career as a high level cursor was over. Unlike the iPad, I didn't receive help from a new improved Holy Spirit Mini. I received help from the original full sized Holy Spirit. He's not new and improved. He can't be improved. He's perfect. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Fully capable of causing sanctification where we have failed to cause it.

 

    The fullness of the New Covenant arrived with sufficient power to accomplish what God intended. The Holy Spirit resides in my inner being. He is continuously coaching, counseling, witnessing, and generously empowering.

 

I will put My Spirit within you…

I will cause you to walk in my statutes…

 

   God does not leave us as unarmed and unprotected warriors in our battle with sin. He will cause us to be sanctified once we are His children. Righteousness is an imputed blood bought gift.

But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.  (1 Corinthians 6:11 NKJV)
   I cannot commit the sanctification of my life, but I can submit to it as I submit each day to the work of the Holy Spirit in my heart.

   The spirit is willing.....

 

 

 

Copyright 2012 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be quoted in whole or in part without prior written permission if a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com

  

 

The Big Bang Theory, The Yankees vs the Tigers, and How can 3=1?

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! (Deut 6:4 NKJV)

    When I was first exposed to physics in the 1960’s, science ridiculed the idea of an initial point of creation by a Creator. Science now settles solidly on the “Big Bang Theory” which actually aligns itself with the biblical account (but still ridicules it). In an interesting choice of words, physicists had to define the "infinite energy source" they say had to exist to explode into all matter that exists in the universe at the moment of the Big Bang. They call this infinite source a singularity. I agree. I call the Infinite Source of Energy that created everything a singularity named God. Today’s verse reminds me –The Lord our God, the Lord is One.

  Is it possible for 3=1? Not in math, and not in last nights MLB playoff game where the Yankees learned that 2 is greater then 1 as they lost to the Tigers 2-1, but maybe in Hebrew. In Genesis 22:2, God instructed Abram to take his only son to the mountain and sacrifice him. The one son spoken of is described by the Hebrew word yacheed, meaning absolutely the only one (a singularity).  Abram had one son given by God, and the Hebrew is screaming, Isaac is the only son. From the singularity of Abram’s one son God has kept and continues to keep His promises that (the now renamed by God) Abraham would be the father of many nations and his progeny would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Of course his son Isaac was a type for Jesus, Gods (1=1) only son. Oops…. if Jesus(1) is God and the Father(1) is God and Holy Spirit(1)is God too, how can the scripture be true – the Lord is one?

   These verses appear alike in English, but they are not at all alike in Hebrew. Many Christians have struggled trying to understand the mystery of the Trinity. How can we avoid confusion with typical explanations telling us – one God in three persons….. What?....  Who really understands that explanation? Today’s verse, in its original Hebrew, brings perfect clarity. This verse does not say the Lord is yacheed, (an absolute singularity), but says the Lord is echad  In Hebrew this word describes a compound unity, one thing comprised of more than one thing that still results in one thing.  Trinity = a compound Unity - The Lord your God is One (3=1, echad). In Genesis 1:5 we read – God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the (echad) first day, a single day made up of multiple parts.

   The word used as God in today’s verse is Elohim. It always speaks to a singular God, yet it is written in Hebrew in a plural form and all adverbs and verbs which attend it are also plural.  One God, multiple parts.   

  God didn’t leave us searching the Old Testament alone for this explanation. It is clearly declared in 1 Corinthians 8 -- ⁴Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. ⁵For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), ⁶yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.

  The Lord our God (Elohim, plural), the Lord is One (echad - one compound God made of multiple parts –Father, Son and Holy Spirit).


Copywrite 2012 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc.  May be quoted in whole or in part as long as a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com .