Tag: Hope

Is the Deal Still On?

November 27th, 2021
Last Sunday’s message recording had a glitch and didn’t make it, so let me give you a condensed version

Photo by Snapwire on Pexels.com

Genesis 15:1-7

Do you ever wonder if maybe you heard God wrong? Or maybe you were slow in getting started, or unexpected obstacles arose, or uncontrollable circumstances arose. Maybe you’ve gone too far the wrong way. Now, you feel like perhaps you’ve lost your chance? Well Abram knew that feeling.

God gave him a clear call and a clear promise in Genesis 12: The Lord said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you 2 “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; … 7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land”…

But a lot had happened since then. Abram had been through famine, war, faced Pharaohs and Kings, he had lied and cheated to protect himself. He had worshipped the Lord, had displeased the Lord. 20 years had passed, and Abram wondered, “Is the Deal still on?” “Have I missed my chance”? “Have I Disqualified myself”?

READ Genesis 15:1-7

The Word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision… Do not be afraid, I am your shield, Your reward will be very great.

There are some important truths for us to consider, First:

1. Don’t Settle for Less than the Vision of God

Don’t Be Afraid
- Don’t Let Fear make You impatient
Don’t in impatience make your own way when the promise seems “slow” in coming to pass. God does not delay, he is not slow, that’s what 2 Peter 3:8-9 teaches. God’s clock runs differently from ours, and it also runs PERFECTLY. Fear is often the issue and is manifested in Lack of Trust

God says, “do not be afraid, I am your shield, and great reward“

We talked about fear a few weeks ago. Fear is based on lies we believe:

I’m alone – no one knows

I’m unable – I can’t

I’m uninformed – I don’t know how

I’m unloved – no one cares

Those are lies, but we think they are true… Yet God says: DO NOT BE AFRAID

God says here: “DON’T be Afraid.” How do we fight fear? With FAITH!
- Make Sure the Path Leads you to God’s Vision
God had promised him a “great nation” and “offspring”. Abram thinks that he must have “heard God wrong” or “missed his chance”, so he needed to find another way. I don’t think he was mad at God, but just resigned himself to doing things a different way.

You have given me no children… So a servant … will be my heir

He was going to make Eliezer his “son” and heir. Eliezer was a good man, Abram’s most trusted and faithful servant. This was a “good plan”, but Eliezer, good as he was, was no more than a SUBSTITUTE for God’s Best!!

In his book, “Good to Great“, Jim Collins says “Good is the enemy of great.”

“We don’t have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don’t have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life. The vast majority of companies never become great, precisely because the vast majority become quite good — and that is their main problem.” Collins writes, “That good is the enemy of great is not just a business problem. It is a human problem. If we have cracked the code on the question of good to great, good schools might become great schools. Good newspapers might become great newspapers. Good churches might become great churches.”

God’s path is always GREAT
- Be Honest About Your Reservations
Sometimes we get Stuck because we won’t be honest about where we are. We say the right thing. Make appearances of doing the right thing, but aren’t honest with God about our reservations, frustrations, fears, anger, with others and even with God.

V2 – Abram says, Lord God, what can you give me, since I am childless… Look, you have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir.

Abram doubts his ability not God’s ability. “Lord I’ve been willing, I left my hometown, I’ve come with you on this journey, but here we are, 20 years later, and we are past the opportunity. You didn’t give it and I can’t do it.”

If you’ve come to the end of your rope… if you’ve tapped out your resources… if you no longer have anything to offer… Then maybe God has your right where he needs you.

2. Take a Second Look at God’s Vision

I Am Your Shield

15:4 now the word of the Lord came to him… this one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.

When God gives us a word, it may seem impossible, but if it is God’s word, he’s not looking for our help, or a different plan. He’s not looking for our permission to change the process.

If it seems unbelievable, that’s what God does.
- Step Outside The Tent
Sometimes it’s hard to see from INSIDE. It’s hard to see past the “reality”.

Abram looked around the tent and all he could see was no children, no blessing, no fulfillment of the vision. Inside the tent, you can only see so far. Inside the tent our view is limited, our imagination is limited. Inside the tent you are blinded from seeing the beauty of the vision.
- God took him outside the Tent
- An Unimaginable vision of God.
V5 Look at the Sky.

Stop looking at what is NOT and look at what IS. Look at what God has already done, and imagine what he can do.

“Count the Stars“

– you can only get a glimpse, the gist, an idea, but you can’t even understand it. It’s imagined that IF he COULD count the stars visible they would number more than 4000, but in reality the stars in the field of vision would be more than 50,000.

If you are able to count them… your offspring will be that numerous

Abraham’s offspring included those who would be his by family birth. But they also included those spiritually who would follow his way. Those who would become “sons of Abraham”, Paul called them.

If you are able to count them…

You can count the apples in a tree. And you can count the seeds in an apple. But who can count the apples in a seed? Until the story of life is over, you never can count the apples in that one seed.

God’s ways truly are higher than ours

Isaiah 55:8–9 (CSB)

⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration. ⁹ “For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
- The Vision of God will be glorious and beautiful
- His Vision will inspire others who view it displayed in You
3. You Can Believe The Promise of God

Your Reward Will Be Great

The only thing that God required of Abram was
- Believe and Walk in the Promise
The “currency” that Heaven recognizes is FAITH

Hebrews 11:1 (CSB)

¹ Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.

Then Hebrews 11, lists the “Hall of Fame of Faith”. It tells the story of those Saints of Old who were faithful to follow God. None of them were perfect, but they were full of Faith. Not full of excellence, not full of strength, not full of talent, or so many things we might list. But they had FAITH.

And then Hebrews 12 continues

Hebrews 12:1–2 (CSB)

¹ Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, ² keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

How do we join the Hall of Fame of Faith? Were they “SUPER-SPIRITUAL”? No, they were real, they struggled, they waivered, they fell down.

“Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness”

believed – means confirm/trust

credited – parallel to a bookkeeping transfer, like an item is moved from one column to another. Abraham’s faith is moved into the column of Righteousness

Romans 4:17–21 (CSB)

¹⁷ As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations— in the presence of the God in whom he believed, the one who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist. ¹⁸ He believed, hoping against hope, so that he became the father of many nations according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be. ¹⁹ He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰ He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹ because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do.

He believed based on the Power and Faithfulness of the One making the promise
- See it as already completed
Paul speaks of us as believers in Romans 8 and says that those he “foreknew, he predestined, called, justified and glorified” All of those things are in the Past Tense, COMPLETED. Before we ever knew, it was already true in God’s mind.

So…
- Live in it until God brings it to fulfillment
Abraham so fully believed here; that years later when he was called to Sacrifice Isaac, he carried on without even a doubt because he believed God was going to fulfill his promise, and it wasn’t hinging on Isaac, but on God.

Before Faith flowered, Abraham saw God’s promise based on his own ability, but AFTER Faith was credited as Righteousness, he lived ACCORDING to it, then he knew That the promise wasn’t based on him, it wasn’t on Isaac, the Promise was Based ON GOD the Giver of the Promise.
- Faith is what pleases God.
Everything else is a byproduct of the fact that you believe him.

John 6:27–29 (CSB)

²⁷ Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.” ²⁸ “What can we do to perform the works of God?” they asked. ²⁹ Jesus replied, “This is the work of God—that you believe in the one he has sent.”

If you’re current situation doesn’t seem to fit the vision, trust the God of the vision in spite of the nature of the circumstance.
- Remember what he’s already done for you
Abram had to become a NOBODY before God could work through him.

“I brought you From…”

Oh my don’t forget where you have been, from wince you come

Ur was a place of false worshipers, idol worshipers, it was the area of Nimrods people.

I brought –

You didn’t get to God by anything you have done

I brought you

You didn’t leave because you thought of it

I brought – yatsa = to come, to go forth

I brought you FROM

– The heart of the message of the Gospel is “REPENT” – come FROM where you are …

I the Lord brought you from Ur… TO GIVE you this land to possess

Oh yes, Lord. The call of God is based on HIS Promise, on His Power, Based on his GRACE

To give you this land to POSSESS

Nehemiah 9:7–8 (CSB)

⁷ You, the Lord, are the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and changed his name to Abraham. ⁸ You found his heart faithful in your sight, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites…

God says, “I wanted to save you because I had a plan that included YOU

God says, “because of my power I delivered and continue to deliver you”

He didn’t have to do anything, but it was his GRACE, working in Abram’s life that gave him what he didn’t deserve. He brought him to a place of promise and blessed him over and over.

Will you go Outside the Tent with God?

Jeremiah 31:16–17 (CSB)

¹⁶ This is what the Lord says: Keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for the reward for your work will come— this is the Lord’s declaration— and your children will return from the enemy’s land. ¹⁷ There is hope for your future— this is the Lord’s declaration— and your children will return to their own territory.

Will You Believe?

Walk in Faith?

Don’t Be Afraid – BELIEVE

I Am Your Shield – Rest In Me

Your Reward Will Be Great –– I Have Your Reward – I Am Your Reward – Your Reward is GREAT

Yes Lord
God Remembered Noah

August 25th, 2021
I’m preaching through the first 12 chapters of Genesis right now. Today I’m doing some prep work for chapter 8.

So, let me allow you to peek in on my thought process preparing for preaching on chapter 8. This series is different than breaking down every verse, it is a single message of importance from each chapter. Well, as I turn the page I can’t get past verse 1, “God Remembered Noah”. Oh Somebody, I might just shout right here. I don’t know if you ever feel like God has forgotten, or worse yet doesn’t care. Oh it was 120 years from the call to the rain. Then 40 days of rain, and months of waiting for the water to recede. Remember they were floating in a casket shaped water vessel. They couldn’t steer it or control, they were in the hands of God, literally and figuratively.

So, this isn’t the sermon yet, just some observations I would share with you.
1. God Knows – God Remembered Noah
2. God Works – God Caused a Wind to pass – the same God that opened all the necessary sources of water in chapter 7 to bring the flood, now closes all those sources in chapter 8. God is working
3. God Finishes – The Ark Came To Rest – while we rest IN Christ, dead to self, alive to Christ, we can know that the Ark will come to rest where God intends.
So then there are some important Conclusions
1. God – it is God, First and God Last. Alpha / Omega, Beginning and End. He starts and he finishes
2. God Knows – Always – Before, During, and After – God knows
3. God Remembers – even when he is silent, he doesn’t forget
4. God Responds
5. God Knows My Name – God Remembered NOAH. And I am reminded right now that God remembers Jim Goforth
6. God Has a Timetable – As you read this story beginning in chapters 5 and 6, notice all the timetables. Why? a) these are TRUE accounts of Historic Events b) These are appointments on God’s Book
So, finally let me give you some Confidence Today
1. God is on the throne
2. God has perfect timing
3. God has not forgotten
4. God is not lazy, he is busy, he is patient for the right time
What do we do while we wait? There are plenty of passages you can read today.

Luke 23:42 – the thief on the cross said, “remember me Lord” and Jesus said “today you will be with me”

Judges 16:28 – Samson has failed the Lord but he asked “Lord remember me. Strengthen me just once more”

Jeremiah 15:15 – “You know Lord, remember me, take note… that I suffer… for your honor” – Oh Child, God knows, and takes note, and he has your tears in a bottle and a book about you written himself. (Psalm 56:8)

Job 14:13 – “if only you would appoint a time for me and remember me” don’t worry he has and he does

Finally go to the 106th Psalm and read verse 4, then back up and use the Psalm to Praise the Lord. ” remember me… come to me with salvation” so while you wait “Hallelujah! Give Thanks for he is good and his love endures forever”. The writer says “remember me so that…” a) I can enjoy being chosen b) I can rejoice c) I can boast about my heritage.

Well I could go on and on, but just know this today, whether in the height of success, the depths of failure, the dirge of death and suffering, God has NOT Forgotten you. Look up, Trust Him, Take his hand, he is leading to the House of the Lord. Surely, Goodness and mercy are following you. They may not always be with you right there, but they are following you, pursuing you, that is the truth you can trust!
Caught Up

June 26th, 2019

He is NOT a Thief, who steals away what he already owns;

He is but an owner, a warrior to rescue, taking his goods back home;

And So comes Christ , one day like a thief, when we do not know;

To restore his blood-bought saints who are not forgotten or alone;

He will take us to a place meticulously prepared,

So that forever and a day we may dwell with him there;

So be ready this day, this moment, to hear the blest Trumpet sound;

Then as we look Up, then look Down,

Caught Up in Him,

We are Found.
A Watch Man

April 18th, 2019

Now I’ll say upfront, that I could go a whole different direction with that title, and talk about a watchman on the wall etc. and perhaps I will another day. But I wanted to share with you a few thoughts from a homegoing celebration yesterday of a fine man that passed into eternity.

This man had a big smile for everyone he met, he was certainly a loving man

he had big hands, I mean in the shape of a tool handle, he was a working man

he definitely was a family man.

But when I went into his bedroom a month ago, he was not doing well, felt poorly, was in his PJ’s and a Tshirt … but what caught my eye was that he was wearing a WATCH! In bed, sick, difficult diagnosis but he was wearing a watch.

he was a WATCH MAN!

If you aren’t a watch person, you might not feel this but I AM, and I loved it.

I said “you’re a watch man!” and he laughed and said, “yeah I like watches”.

Let me tell you what that told THIS watchman about that watchman

A Watch Man …

Loves Tradition

Watches are tradition.

We can get our time in many places today, but watch men are traditional. They like the feel of the watch, the look, and carrying on tradition. And they do that in other areas of their lives. They carry on the things they’ve known and learned and pass it along to their family, kids, grandkids.

A watchman wants things that Have Lasted and WILL Last …

I’m wearing a Vintage Longines Mechanical Wind Watch. This watch was assembled in a small French Jewelry store on April 8, 1960. This watch is 4 ½ years OLDER than I AM. And with care, it will be passed down to my sons or grandsons. But I also want to pass down all that is traditional for the Goforth house to my family, Faith in Christ, Dedication to Family, Sharing the Gospel of Jesus, and Love for my fellow man.

But the second thing about a Watch man …

They Know What Time It Is

That seems to go without saying. But they don’t only know the time because they have a watch. They have a watch because they know and want to know the time. We used to say “he knows what time it is.” That phrase, “knows what time it is”, is a phrase about more than the hour and the minute, it is about knowing what’s going on and what needs to be done and the proper timing.

Romans 13:11–14 (CSB)

¹¹ Besides this, since you know the time, it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, because now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. ¹² The night is nearly over, and the day is near; so let us discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. ¹³ Let us walk with decency, as in the daytime: not in carousing and drunkenness; not in sexual impurity and promiscuity; not in quarreling and jealousy. ¹⁴ But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and don’t make plans to gratify the desires of the flesh.

It is time right now to grieve, but it’s also a time to believe the gospel, and celebrate the homegoing of a faithful saint redeemed by the Blood of Christ, receiving his reward by no merit of his own but that of his Lord Jesus.

It’s NOT time to be divided, but united.

It’s time to give consideration to the shortness of life and be sure that you know Jesus. It’s time to be ready to die, but also time to put on your armor, and live this life for all it’s worth.

It’s time to do things you MEANT to do Yesterday

It’s time to do things today that cannot be put off for tomorrow, because tomorrow may not come.

Watchmen are Traditional,

They know what time it is,

And so, they are wearing a watch because they have an appointment they don’t want to miss.

A Watchman Has Some Place to Be!

That Saturday we met, He knew his time here was short and he had some place else to be.

I said, “Bob, tell me about when you met Jesus.”

And his face lit up, and he looked up and to his left, my right … that’s the place where we store our memories. They say, If someone looks the other way … they are probably inventing something, a story, but when they look to Their Left, Your Right, they are remembering.

And he told me his story of Jesus …

If you know Jesus, you should have your story, I have my story. If you don’t … you can have one today, you can meet Jesus today by faith, in confession, receiving eternal life and your memory begins.

And so, for that watch man, then THIS watch man, is telling you the “time has come to wake up” … “salvation is nearer than you were yesterday”, as is the judgment for those who reject it. This watchman will tell you with Paul that, “the day is near, the night is almost over”, so it’s time to walk with Christ today, to put on the armor, clothe yourselves with the righteousness of Jesus Christ … And make plans to be prepared for the appointment that is coming.

We all have someplace to be, and I know where that watch man is and wants you to be. And you will only get there by faith in the Grace of Jesus. If you haven’t, won’t you?

His wife said, “it went so fast, and it’s like he knew it was coming fast, like he was in a hurry.” To which I replied, “he knew he had somewhere else to be.”

Last Saturday morning, with family gathered all around, the nurse said, “there isn’t much time now.” And the family gathered around, and kissed his cheek, and immediately he was keeping his appointment, he was gone from that room and into another room.

Why? Because it is appointed men once to die …

And because Jesus said, “in my Father house are many rooms … I go to prepare a place for you so that where I am, you can be also”

That Watch man has not Gone, he has ARRIVED.

Right On Time.

A Watch Man.
How Long? When God is Pleased

January 25th, 2018
Galatians 1:15 – But when God … was pleased

… who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace …

The Call of God …

The Plan of God …

The Timing of God …

The Provision of God …

… are all OF GOD

When we are facing uncertainty, adversity, persecution, dire circumstance, we often ask, ” How long, Lord?”

The insinuation is that we know what is best. It is a feeling that we are being wronged and we are calling God to account for the “injustice” of allowing this injustice in our lives to go unchecked. Well, here is a different angle on the question, “how long?”. Do we really want to open the floor for the “how long?” question? If you do a casual search of scripture for the phrase, “how long” you will find that God often asks his people the same question.
- “how long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?”
- “how long will you refuse to keep my commands and instructions?”
- “how long will these people despise me?”
- “how long will they not trust me?”
- “how long will you delay going out to take possession of the land that the Lord … gave you?”
- “how long … will my honor be insulted?”
- “how long will you love what is worthless and pursue a lie?”
Do we really want to get into a “how long?” contest with God? The difference between us and God is perspective, knowledge, and wisdom. God sees it all complete. We see it myopically through darkened and damaged lenses. God has full knowledge of every aspect. We have limited knowledge. God has the wisdom to know exactly what to do with the knowledge he has. We aren’t as wise as we think we are, as is evident when we keep doing what we have been doing, and wonder why we keep getting what we have been getting.

Listen, there is nothing wrong with asking God, “how long?”, or “is it time?”. But, we need to ask in trust and perspective, and with our hearts set on God, our lives given sacrificially to God, regardless of if God’s timetable matches ours.

I am mindful of a comparison of perspectives. The disciples, on multiple occasions, asked, “Lord, will you establish your kingdom now?”. What were they asking? “How long, Lord, do we have to put up with our circumstances, persecution, adversity, and uncertainty.” The problem was that they were asking selfishly, “will you do what we want?”, “will you give us seats of honor?”. What’s the comparison? In Revelation 6, in Heaven, the 5th seal was opened and we see souls under the altar crying out, “Lord … how long until you judge … and avenge our blood?” THIS is the ONLY way to ask this question. They don’t ask IF, but just, WHEN. So often our question is calling into account the goodness of God, or the justice of God, but not here.

First, notice the LOCATION, they are under the altar, IN Heaven. Then notice the POSTURE of the question, they have been slaughtered because of the word of God, and their testimony given. These petitions came from people who have sold all, and sacrificed all, for the Lord they serve. They are not asking for deliverance but for vengeance and justice. They have willingly given their all and been poured out on the altar of God. And then notice the UNDERSTANDING of their request, “Lord, the one who is Holy and True, how long …” The understanding is that before I ask … “I KNOW you are Right, Just, Faithful, and Good. So, if your timetable doesn’t match mine, I am OK with that, but just wondering, how long.” Then notice the EXPECTATION that God will judge, and avenge. It is not if, but when.

When? What difference does it make? What are we to do in the meantime? Back to Acts 1:6, post-resurrection, they still ask Jesus, “How long?” They ask, “Is it now that you are restoring the Kingdom of Israel.” Wait, what? The “Kingdom of ISRAEL”? That was their concern? No. Our concern should be for the Kingdom of God and of his Christ. That is what matters, not MY kingdom, my circumstances, my discomfort. And Jesus says, in Acts 1:7-8, “It is NOT for YOU to know times or periods that the Father has SET by his own AUTHORITY. But YOU will receive POWER … you will be my WITNESSES …” God hasn’t put us on the timing committee. God hasn’t guaranteed us earthly honor. But Christ, has promised and given us the Power of the Holy Spirit, the One who empowered the Resurrection, it is FOR US who believe. And Christ has given us the command to pour out ourselves as witnesses to the ends of the earth.

For Us … Power and Witness

For God … Authority to set the times and seasons. Why? Because he is Holy and True, Faithful and Just, Good and GREAT!

We need to take care of our stuff and let God do the God stuff.

So, When?

When God is “Pleased” (Gal 1:15) – eudokeo = take delight, well pleased, approve, consent to, choose.

My “when”, will be IF and When it pleases, delights God to choose to order the universe to bring about his will. So, in the meantime, I have to work to do what could result in my life poured out under the altar.

Final perspective … Galatians 1:10 am i trying to persuade people, or God? Am i striving to please people? (me included) If I am trying to please people I would not be a servant of Christ.”

But I AM of Christ and HIS pleasure is what I seek.
Rivers of Waters

September 6th, 2017

Rivers of waters … we have seen it this week, whether in person or on the media outlets

John 7:38 Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him (NIV84)

How do we survive the waters? How do we survive the toxic floods, the rivers and storms of life? It is not from being prepared, physically or even emotionally. It is not by building a wall around yourself. The way we survive is about what is within. In this life, how do we survive? Oh, we talk a lot about eating right, exercise, to elongate life and improve the quality of life. But ultimately, even the perfect specimens of health too will one day die. It has been appointed man once to die, and then the judgment. And that judgment will not rate the quality of our physical body. Their will be no after death assessment of body fat mass index or whatever. So, if we all are going to die, can I survive death? How do I survive death, because we ARE going to live on in eternity. So, how do we survive in life and in death?

Standing at the graveside of his friend, Lazarus, Jesus said, (John 11:25) “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies 26 whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believes this?”

Did you see the lynch pin? Did you see the key to unlock the door of life? If we are all appointed to die, and then the judgment, upon what is the judgment based? Jesus said, “He (she) who believes in me will live” Believes = pisteuo – to believe in, to have confidence in, to have faith in, to trust. Notice that it isn’t simply “be a person of faith”. No, my faith must be IN something that can do what I desire. I can believe that I can fly … but that won’t go very well. Or I can get IN a plane and actually fly. Jesus says “he who believes IN me will LIVE” = zao – to come back to life, to live again, to be resurrected. Praise the Lord … though we are dead, we can be resurrected. WHEN we die, we WILL be still living, if have have faith IN the only one who can guarantee us life … Jesus the Christ.

“But Pastor” Oh, I hear you out there, “But Pastor, sometimes I don’t get the pleasure, the relief of death to give me a passageway to real life. So, what do I do in the nasty now and now, while waiting for the sweet bye and bye?” Isaiah 43 (ESV) “But now, this is what the Lord says, he who created you … who formed you … FEAR NOT, for I have redeemed you …” (qal – to buy back) “… I have called you by name, you are mine…” Wow oh wow, have you ever felt like a forgotten dog at the pound? He HAS chosen US … called our name … and said “you are mine”. So, v2 “when (not if) you pass through the waters, I will be with you …” Oh, the waters will come in this life, but because we are chosen and have believed, we are NOT ALONE. “… and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you …” Sometimes we go through the rivers and sometimes they go through us, but we need not be overwhelmed = shataph – drown, overflow, gush out, flow out abundantly, to inundate. “… when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, and the flames shall not consume you.” v3 “FOR, I am the Lord your God … your Savior” = mosia – to be spacious, ample, broad, to set free, to give victory. Oh Dear Fellow Traveler … when the flood waters rise, and the rivers crest and change direction, and ends up in our front yard, when it seems that it is all closing in, how, where, can we find freedom, a spacious place, an ample space to be free? The freedom comes from within.

So, John 7:38, and Isaiah 43:2 teach us something. IF the waters come around us, rise over us, they don’t have to gush out from us. As a matter of fact they CANNOT, if we place our faith IN Christ. Why? It is because something else occupies that space. The ESV says “whoever believes IN me, as the scriptures have said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

The toxic waters flooding around can’t overflow or gush out because I have a river of life flowing out of me. And by the way, the river flowing from within isn’t just a metaphor, no the river is Somebody. V39 says he was referring to The Holy Spirit, given to all who believe. Hallelujah, when I believe, Jesus, gives me access (Isaiah 12:3) to drink from the well of salvation, and places his Spirit within me and streams of living water flow within me.

Spring Up Oh Well!
A Quick Word About Abundance

October 14th, 2016

I was chatting with someone about the idea in John 10:10 of abundance today

The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but I have come that you might have life to the full (abundantly)– John 10:10 (NIV84)

Abundance … what does that really mean? The NIV says “to the full” … the problem for us is that we have our definitions and experiential baggage for what these Biblical Words mean and it can be hard to get to what Christ is saying. It is like the Biblical idea of “hope”. Hope is not wishful thinking, it is a certainty based on the person, promises, and actions of Jesus Christ. So I have to see the word differently. So then this word perissos translated “abundant” or “to the full”. We think, prosperity or perfection, or freedom from troubles but of course that isn’t what is meant and it isn’t what we always experience. Put in context, Jesus is talking about sheep and predators. He says there are thieves and robbers, hired hands that don’t really care, and wolves who want to devour. And in all of that the thief STILL comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but he gives us zoe (life) and have it perissos (abundantly). When I look that definition up I find it to me extraordinary, exceptional, superfluous, unnecessary, special advantage. And I see that regardless of the fact that there are still thieves, robbers, wolves, unconcerned caregivers, in the midst of that we live something that is not necessary, not required, yet exceptional, extraordinary LIFE. The most extraordinary thing is that we LIVE through it, we live IN it, we live in spite of those attacks. When others are destroyed by the attacks, we LIVE and THAT is Extraordinary.

So I can be FULL of Hope, because I know that God is for me, with me, and has taken my place in the worst consequence of my sin, death. So this is why Jesus came. He came to those of us already sentenced to death, and gave us something unnecessary for him, exceptional, extraordinary, to our special advantage, LIFE, REAL Life. Why because we are sheep and he is a GOOD Shepherd.

Oh man, let me stop and shout a little …
Lift Your Eyes

February 12th, 2014

Walk with me through Isaiah 40:21-27

Isaiah 40:21 says “do you not know, have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded”

Stick with me for a minute, I’m getting somewhere … this isn’t a discussion on the creation … but I wonder if when Adam was, Oh say 50 or 60 in his “days on the earth” if when he told the creation story, did people say “wait a minute, you are 50? You look about 75 or 80”. Did they say, “if you were born on the 6th day of creation, the world has to be older than you are saying cause YOU LOOK older than that.

Well the easy answer is that Adam was created full grown, in his prime, perhaps 25 or 30 in appearance. Now, I don’t think Adam got that question, because they had been told from the beginning. They knew.

But you know we get “older and smarter” and we think we know better than what we have been told from the beginning. They say the “rocks” appear to be billions of years old that light from space is billions of years out there, or MAYBE, could it be that they were created full grown, just like Adam?

Doesn’t the Artist’s painting look like it has always been here? But it didn’t, it had a moment of creation, the act of painting when finished is full grown.

v22 “He (God) sits enthroned above the circle of the earth … people are like grasshoppers, He stretches out the heavens like a canopy”

God is STILL on the his throne, regardless if we get too smart to obey him or even believe in him. The artist still created the art even if we decide someone else did it or if we believe it was a miraculous self starting “evolved”piece of art.

v23 “he brings princes to naught … rulers … to nothing”

God is still ruler regardless of the occupant of the earthly kingdoms, regardless of the latest potentate, God is Prior and more Powerful and the Portent of all things.

v25 “to whom will you compare me or who is my equal?”

I know no other like our God … There is none like him

SO, Said all of that to say this:

v26 “Lift your eyes and look to the Heavens.”

Oh it is easy to be myopic. To look at my life or world affairs and think, “this is out of hand”. “Who created this?” “Is God really in charge?” Yet Romans 13 teaches that God ordains all authority and yet I look through my little lenses and wonder “How can this be?”
Lift your eyes, look up, look to the heavens. Don’t focus just on what is in front of you. The Sun “came up” this morning, we say, the moon “rose”. Yet even that is myopic because the greater truth is that they don’t “come up” nor “go down” but the Sun is a fixed object in the heavens and we move around it, spinning dizzily creating day and night. The moon’s gravity pulls on our oceans and waves rise and fall

Look up … “who created all this?” – If those are fixed objects, then outside of our universe is a God who is himself FIXED, He is on the throne of the universe and will not be moved. He is the Unmovable Mover, He is the Uncaused Caused, the Uncreated Creator of all things.
The One who brings out the stars and calls them by name, He is there, Look up. v26b “because of power, not one of them is missing”

Lift your eyes, look to the heavens. When you look at the heavens He created you will look to Heaven for your Creator and Sustainer.

v27 “Why do you complain … (saying) ‘my way is hidden from the Lord, my cause is disregarded by my God.’”

Oh child, you are not hidden from Him, He sees you, he knows how many hairs are on your head. He knows when one sparrow falls and you are worth far more than many sparrows (Luke 12:7)

Lift your eyes

He will not disregard you … Oh He has great regard for you. He so regarded you that he gave His son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16)

The flower fades, the grass withers, the mountains crumble, but we can have eternal life. YES He regards you. “this is how we know what love IS, Jesus laid down his life for us”(1 John 3:16)

Sometimes our “cause” may not be right or just, it may not follow God’s plans but He has not forgotten you nor forsaken you, because He said “I will NEVER leave you nor forsake you”(Hebrews 13:5) That verse is in a double and triple negative which in the original language doesn’t turn it into a positive it further strengthens as he is saying I will “not never”, “no not never” leave or forsake you.

Lift your eyes, Look to the heavens.

God is foxed on the throne, so don’t let your limited view, your incomplete understanding, your jaded knowledge cause you to doubt a fixed God who is Sovereign and Enthroned on High with no equal.

Lift your eyes and say “yes Lord I will continue to look up and trust you”