Today we’re going to talk about what God expects from His people and more importantly what He deserves from us.

The more I study the Bible and look at the realities of the way some contemporary Christians are inclined to live their lives, the more I am convinced that many have allowed their worldview to influence their understanding of Scripture instead of allowing Scripture, revealed by the Holy Spirit, to radically transform the way they live.

As believers who are saved by grace, some display a tendency to be a bit smug, satisfied that they have a “backstage pass to heaven” as a good friend who has now passed away once called it. It appears that they believe that they are now able to go about their lives with the same hard-hearted and selfish attitudes that they had before they professed faith in Christ knowing that their eternal destination is assured.

But the more I study the life and teachings of Jesus, the more I am convinced that He is in the business of radically disrupting the patterns of how we conduct our daily lives, business and relationships.

As the Sovereign God of the universe, His is an upside-down kingdom, the ground rules of which are different from the ground rules by which humans are inclined to function in a “me and mine first” world.

There is also a tendency on the part of some Christians to separate Old Testament law and New Testament Grace in a way that says New Testament Grace for me and Old Testament judgment for you.

What the Holy Spirit has put on my heart to share with you today is that the entire Bible from “In the beginning” in the Old Testament all the way through to “Amen” at the end of Revelation is about Jesus Christ and His Upside-Down Kingdom.

Jesus came to create a new kind of human being, to have dominion over the earth because of the fallen nature of Mankind. He did this by being obedient to His Father and paying the ultimate price with His life.

You may remember that satan actually used scripture from the Old Testament to tempt Jesus in the desert. satan’s goal was to get Jesus to abandon His mission; it’s not much different today. He’s still up to the same old tricks.

Throughout our history both before and after Jesus’ finished work on the Cross, people have used and abused the Word of God to manipulate others in order to further their own interests.

We see this in big ways and small ways. It is true with nations and religious institutions, and it is true with individuals. It was true in Jesus’ time, and it is true today. People desire power. God desires humility.

In first chronicles we see what God really desires from His Chosen people.

Hear the Word of the Lord.

if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
          – 1 Chronicles 7:14

Considering the current state of our nation and the world that seems like a really good place to start… So today let’s talk about us. What does God desire from us?

Because we trust God for His grace and mercy, and in most cases, His generosity towards us, it may become easy for us to take Him for granted. Our prayer life may consist of asking Him for things that we want rather than inquiring of Him what he wants from us.

This is not a quid pro quo as it were, which means an exchange of “I’ll do this for you if you do that for me” because that’s not who God is. That is just not His nature.

But God makes it very clear from the beginning and throughout the Bible that if we do things His way instead of trying to get Him to do things our way, life will be better for us, and He will be glorified.

In the very first Psalm we get a picture of a person that the Lord delights to bless…

Blessed is the person who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.
          – Psalm 1:1-2

I like the way the psalmist references that loving and meditating upon, and actually ACTING upon the law of the Lord is the antidote to three things that God apparently DOESN’T care for that are all referenced in these two verses…

1. Listening to bad worldly advice,
2. Hanging out with bad company and
3. Being snarky and backbiting…

But what exactly is the law of the Lord and didn’t Jesus replace the Law?

No. As the only righteous remnant of One He fulfilled the Law of Moses and all the promises to Abraham.

Last week in his study of James, pastor Paul referenced what the Apostle James calls the “Royal Law”. By the Royal Law, James refers to the whole of the law of God, revealed to Moses and then fulfilled in Christ.

Jesus revealed what he wants from us when he told the Pharisee who asked Him “what is the great commandment of the Law?”

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
          – Matthew 22:37-40

While keeping the Royal Law is not a quid pro quo, as we just said, and God’s grace is freely given, it is a Kingdom law akin to the natural law that we call cause and effect. The cause and effect of the Royal Law of the Upside-Down Kingdom is that if you truly love God you will show it by loving the people he puts in your life.

John the Beloved puts a fine point on it when he says this…

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
          – 1 John 4:20-21

The cause and effect of the royal law is this, that if you love God, you will absolutely love your brother. God from the beginning has made it very clear that He really desires for His people to love one another. And this means not just other believers but all those whose paths you cross.

For example… God did not tell the people of Israel to only love other Israelites…

And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
          – Leviticus 19:33-35

I think we can safely expand the word of the Lord to His people Israel, to the word of God to His people in Christ Jesus…

When Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan to the Pharisees, what he was telling them was that any true follower of His Way would take care of those who are not one of their brethren simply because of Mercy. Mercy is something else that God wants from his people.

We see this in the words of the prophets to God’s chosen people…

Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Execute true justice, Show mercy and   compassion everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart Against his brother.’
          – Zechariah 7:9-10

Another of the prophets put it very simply …

          He has shown you, O man, what is good;
          And what does the Lord require of you
          But to do justly, to love mercy,
          And to walk humbly with your God?
          – Micah 6:8

So, we see that God truly does want us to be humble, to be merciful, to do justly, and by doing justly, He means being an active defender of the weak. What else does God desire from those who would truly follow him, especially those who are new creations in Christ Jesus?

Here’s a somewhat exhaustive list…

• To pray without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
• To rejoice in persecution from others. (Matthew 5:11-17)
• To seek God and His Kingdom first. (Matthew 6:33)
• To submit to God and resist the devil. (James 4:7)
• To treat others as you would have them treat you. (Matthew 7:12)
• To love your enemies. (Matthew 5:43-44)
• To forgive those who spitefully use and abuse you. (Matthew 5:39)
• To take care of the widows and orphans in your midst. (James 1:27)
• To take active sin seriously and repent. (Matthew 5:29, 4:17)
• To let your light shine before everyone. (Matthew 5:16)
• To be anxious for nothing and grateful for everything. (Philippians 4:6-7)
• To not worry about tomorrow at the expense of today. (Matthew 6:34)
• To be led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14)
• To keep your word. (Matthew 5:37)

It’s a long list but trust me when I tell you it’s not even complete… it’s just all I could think of at the moment.

Obviously one of the other things that God wants his people to do is to not sin. In Christ we have many ways to avoid sin, but there is one sin that is pretty easy to miss, and we must be careful to remember to avoid it…

Again, it is James who reminds us…

Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
          – James 4:17

Let me ask you a very personal question. Have you allowed Jesus Christ to transform your life? Is He your Savior? Is He your Lord? I know you’ve referred to Jesus many times as your “Lord and Savior.” I am not asking if you have ever said those words.

It is easy to say them to the sweet, comforting, caring Jesus, who is going to solve all your problems in this life and in the life to come. I am asking you if you have come to a point in life where you are willing to follow Him in that radical aspect of who He is, as the One who is in the process of turning your life upside-down.

Jesus is enlisting you to live in that economy that doesn’t function the way this world functions. His kingdom is not of this world, it is the kingdom of God in which the stranglehold of sin is broken by His death and resurrection.

Once you repent of sin and put your trust in Him, He enlists you to be His agent of reconciliation, to live in daily relationship with the Father, through the power of His Spirit and to be a participant with Him in His awesome Kingdom-building work.

Hear His Word and Spirit as the Apostle Paul pleads with us…

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
          – Romans 12:1

So we see now that the question “what does God want from us” is an extensive one, and one that is not without cost, but when we consider the incredible sacrifice that not only our glorious heavenly Father made in sacrificing His beloved and only begotten Son, and we consider also that Jesus himself, the Son, Messiah, fully God but also fully a human like us, willingly made on a cross to deliver us from sin and death…

It only makes sense that if we are going to be citizens of heaven because of that sacrifice, that we would also be willing to be ambassadors of heaven and allow the Jesus in US to come out so that the world can see the goodness of God that was embodied in Christ Jesus shine forth in us in this place.

As the great 18th Century Revivalist John Wesley said…

          Do all the good you can,
          by all the means you can,
          in all the ways you can,
          in all the places you can,
          at all the times you can,
          to all the people you can,
          as long as ever you can.
          – John Wesley

And so, this is my prayer for you as it was the Apostle Paul’s prayer to the Colossian Church.

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
          – Colossians 1:9-12

Let’s Pray,
– John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi

As we continue our series on discipleship, I felt led today to share some of the tools that I have used on my journey with Jesus Christ.

There are three scriptures that specifically have shaped my understanding of God’s nature and my calling and have helped me to focus on being the best disciple I can be.

The number three appears often in the Bible. The number three is often said to represent divine completion, perfection and wholeness.

In God’s eternal form before the world began, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit coexisted, three-in-one, in perfect harmony and love with one another.

• These three were all present and participant in the Creation.
  
• There are three parts to a human being – body, soul and spirit.
  
• There are also three parts to the nature of our soul. – mind, emotions and will.
  
• Three Angels visited Abraham at Sodom and Gomorrah.
  
• Noah had three sons… Shem, Ham and Japheth representing all of mankind.
  
• There were three notable forefathers of God’s chosen people Israel. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
  
• Jesus was tempted three times in the desert by Satan right after He was baptized by John.
  
• Jesus ministry on Earth lasted 3 years.
  
• Jesus took three witnesses up with him to the Mount of transfiguration. John, James and Peter.
  
• …until the Father spoke on the Mount of transfiguration, there were three there. Moses, Elijah and Jesus.
  
• In the Garden of Gethsemene, Jesus prayed three times that the cup of God’s wrath might be taken from Him yet he took it in full measure.
  
• Peter denied Jesus three times just before he was crucified.
  
• Jesus restored Peter three times and each time reiterated to him his purpose to feed the flock.
  
• There were three on the Mount of crucifixion… two others crucified with Jesus; the one who said yes and was with Jesus in Paradise immediately, Jesus, and the one who scorned Jesus and said no to eternal life.
  
• Jesus resurrection happened 3 days after his death on the Cross.

Because His very nature is Triune, in many of the moments where He wants to communicate something about Himself, God works in threes.

Although not one of the three that I am going to present to you as primary tools I’ve always liked this scripture to describe the power of three…

          A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.
            – Ecclesiastes 4:12

The three scriptures that I’m going to present to you today work together as a three stranded cord in my faith walk. I believe if you meditate upon them and apply them in your life, you will find it easier to hear from the Holy Spirit and walk out your heavenly Father’s will.

Meditating on how these three scriptures work together has allowed the Holy Spirit…

• To strengthen me in time of trouble,
• To comfort me in times of stress,
• To help me to bring peace in love when those
  around me are spewing hatred,
• And to provide direction for the way ahead as I take up my cross daily and follow Jesus.

I share these with you as part of our discipleship series because I believe that they will do the same for you if you allow them to really sink deeply into your inner person.

The first is one that many people overlook and that is in Proverbs.

          Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established.
          – Proverbs 16:3

When I first came to know the Lord and began to swim in the river of his word daily, I had been given an Old King James version family Bible, which I read diligently from front to back two times a year for 10 years along with other focused Bible studies. If you’ve never read the Old King James or at least looked at your favorite scriptures in the old English vernacular you should try it

For me, whose only experience with God up to the point of my rebirth in Christ was sitting in synagogue when I was young in the rare times when there was a bar mitzvah or a wedding… or later in my life, after my mother had passed on when I would go say Kaddish (The Jewish prayer for the dead) on Yom Kippur.

Although I had not yet met my savior I did feel the presence of God in synagogue. So When I first came to know Jesus and study his word, there was something especially comforting about the old English that reminded me of the stained glass, the altar and strangely of the rabbi and cantor’s voices uttering the rich sounds of Hebrew.

When I received Christ I immediately knew that I was all in, and that all I wanted was for Him to be Lord of my life as I had made a shambles of my own life for 43 years. The idea of committing my works which I read to mean everything “unto” the Lord…

…and that He would then establish my thinking was not only attractive but seemed crucial to me if I was going to do what I told Jesus I was going to do and that was to follow Him.

There’s something about the word “unto” that has particular meaning to me and I’m not even sure why but every time I see it in this scripture it gives me peace. Many other translations say things like “commit your works to the Lord and your plans will succeed… somehow that doesn’t work for me.

I suspect that etymologically (and that means according to the most precise literal translation of Greek Hebrew and Aramaic), this may be accurate. But the Bible is a living word, sharper than any two-edged sword and it divides soul and spirit. Amen?

I am more interested in what the Holy Spirit wants to communicate to me through his word than I am with the accuracy of men’s linguistic interpretations. Suffice it to say that when I commit my works to the Lord or as Old King James puts it, unto the Lord, I truly want Him to establish my thoughts.

I have no doubt that when the Lord, who knows the way ahead, as well as being the One who gifted me with the talents and abilities that He gave me to accomplish any given task establishes my thoughts that my plans will succeed but that is only because (in my mind at least) they are His plans.

Therefore, if for no other reason than because the Bible is only cause and effect if it is God’s cause and God’s effect… I prefer from my limited perspective to commit my works unto Him so that he can indeed establish my thoughts.

          I don’t need to know the end game.

          I don’t need to know the final purposes…

          and i certainly don’t need to know that my plans are going to succeed.

There is something very “God is my co-pilot” about saying that if I commit my works to the Lord, my plans will succeed. It’s almost like “yeah if I tell him I’m doing it all for Him then He’s going to give me a big thumbs up and help me to do what I have already decided I want to do” (Buzzer sound).

He is not my copilot, doing my bidding like a genie in a bottle… I am His servant, here for one purpose, and that is to do the will of my Father who sent me, my Lord who saved me and my Counselor who leads me.

In keeping with our recent topic of discipleship and having said that we are able to access the mind of Christ only when we quiet the carnal mind that we all still have, it seems to me that committing my works unto the Lord is a pretty good place to start.

The next two scriptures that I’m going to show you will illuminate why having Jesus (the Lord) establish my thoughts is completely sufficient, but the bottom line is, boys and girls… I don’t want Him to underwrite my plans. I want Him to establish my thoughts so that I know how to think about absolutely everything in my life, my relationships, my work, my hobbies, my resources, money, and possessions… everything.

He has put people in my life that have blessed me and that I’ve been allowed to bless. I want to know how to think about them.

He’s given me talents and abilities that are unique and special to me, some of which I know, and some of which I have yet to discover, but they’re all meant for His Glory; the more I commit these gifts back to him, the more he can show me what their use is in real time.

My resources.

I’ve often said that God is gracious and merciful, but He is also generous to His servants… and by servants, I mean disciples. The apostles that traveled with Jesus when he was on Earth never went hungry while they were with him and although Donna and I have seen our bank account dwindle and increase at various times in our journey with Jesus, the well has never run dry, sometimes miraculously…

And so I commit my works unto the Lord and lo and behold through His Spirit, my thoughts are established and I know how to think. This sermon is probably a fair example…

The second scripture that impacted my life in an incredible way as many of you are aware is in Ephesians… When I discovered this scripture for its true impact, I was some years into my journey with Jesus and by then I was reading the New King James front to back twice a year for 10 years.

The new King James says …

          For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (NKJV)
          – Ephesians 2:10

It’s such a rich verse. I had heard pastors preach on it from various pulpits with other translations, that said instead of “we are His workmanship” it said “we are His masterpiece”. It takes on a very different connotation to me when it says that.

          For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. (NLT)
          – Ephesians 2:10

I can understand that connotation and it certainly makes sense that we would also be His masterpiece in Christ… His crown of creation. And I kind of like the way it says that we were created anew in Christ Jesus so that we can do the good works He planned for us long ago.

That resonates with my perspective that I’ve been sharing lately that the “law of the spirit of life” as the Apostle Paul puts it, gives us the ability to do the good works prepared beforehand.

The phrase ‘workmanship’ connotes that we are a work in progress even as born-again believers… ‘created in Christ Jesus’ has rich meaning to me because it indicates that sovereignty of God… that overall eternal understanding that only God possesses of who we were before we existed, who we are as we journey through this place, and who we are to become with Him in eternity.

It speaks of His knowledge that encompasses the entirety of our humanity and not just who we were once we said yes to Jesus. We were created in Christ Jesus!

Wow there’s something just so rich about that…

It’s a very different image to me, indicating that God who is the alpha and omega certainly knows what we’re going to do and the things that he’s prepared for us to do that we already did from his universal mind view… again, don’t try to get your mind around that when it’s a great mystery.

I also particularly like that the NKJV uses the phrase… ‘for good works that God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them…’ It’s the word ‘should‘ that I really like because it gives credence to the choice that we have in this present physical reality that we find ourselves in…

It acknowledges our free will, both to accept Jesus and then to allow Him to establish our thoughts unto action! Even though God knows the beginning from the end and knows us before we existed, knows us right now, and knows us in eternity at the end of our time on Earth simultaneously, we only know the now that we’re in currently… stuck in these bodies with that soul which has mind, emotions and will trying to gain control.

It is only when we choose to be led by His Spirit, that we can use our will to “walk out the good works prepared beforehand for us to do”.

Anyway, that’s why I like the word ‘should’ in there.

So that’s the second one of my life-changing scriptures… The third one is in Romans. The NKJV translation for this one is fine, but I particularly like the NLT…

          And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
          – Romans 8:28

Paul the apostle wrote this epistle to the Roman Church to encourage them that no matter what they were going through…

          …be it good, where numbers were being added to their church…

          …bad where some were falling away from the faith or believing lying teachers and hypocrites who were filtering into their fellowship…

          …or horrible where they were being persecuted for their faith…

God in his eternal wisdom was certainly working all things (and that means everything) together for the eternal good of those who love him and are the called according to His purpose (and as the NLT puts it, for them, meaning each one of His beloved children).

Again in this verse, we see the sovereignty, of the faithful, loving, trustworthy God who knew us before… is with us even right NOW… now I want you to think about these three scriptures and put them together…

          Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.
          – Proverbs 16:3

In your morning meditations, this verse will show you how to start your day. By making that commitment to God to access His mind in your relationships, your schedule, your business

          For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
          – Ephesians 2:10

This verse will focus you on what the Mind of Christ is showing you (since you have made that commitment). You will be sensitized to recognizing the good works throughout your day…

          And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
          – Romans 8:28

And this verse will give you blessed assurance throughout the day that everything you face, your challenges, failures, as well as victories, will bring Glory to God and grow the Kingdom where you walk and He is working all of it together for His Glory and your eternal joy.

I know I mixed up the translations today which is unusual for me as New King James is my preference… But whichever translation you prefer is fine.

Meditate on these three scriptures and how they work together to provide a Kingdom reality whereby you can walk in the light of the living God intentionally. When the enemy seeks to confuse you or lie to you about God’s nature or about who you are in Christ Jesus, you can fight back with these scriptures.

These 3 scriptures make a 3 stranded cord which is not easily broken.

Let’s Pray,
– John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi

We’ve all heard about God’s promises to those who believe in Him. The Bible is full of testimonies and examples of God’s faithfulness to the just and the unjust.

The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all He has made.
– Psalm 145:9

It is the ultimate demonstration of God’s faithfulness that He sacrificed His only begotten Son to any and all who would believe in Him as a propitiation for sin and a means of salvation.

The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.

• Nahum 1:7

Surely God is faithful in all that He does, and His ways are higher than ours. Even when we are falling short, He is always working, providing order in this chaotic world and we have scriptures that display His mercy and Grace.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
– Romans 8:28

Those of us who have surrendered our lives completely to Jesus know His voice because we have given Him our attention daily and intentionally and actively sought His Glory above our own.

This is how we have confidence in knowing His call upon our lives. As I have mentioned before, Donna and her mom Ruth and I have seen the goodness of God in abundance and have had our fervent and effectual prayers answered repeatedly because we have aligned our will with the Master’s.

This is why we can say with assurance that God is very, very good to His servants.

That said, I know that there are many who believe that Jesus is Lord and may have asked Him to be Lord of their life but have not surrendered to His lordship in reality.

I know that’s a hard thing for some of you to hear but as your Pastor, I must be truthful and give you what the Lord has given me.

Now, I have no doubt that God works all things together for good for those who love Him but who still may not be in daily obedience to Him as well.

However, the road may be hard for those who still want to do it their way even though they have agreed that Jesus is Lord.

Some of those things He allows in their lives may be uncomfortable, because the good these things are meant to do will drive His beloved children to a place of surrender where He can truly bless them in the ways of peace truth and joy because they have become truly the called according to HIS purpose.

When we surrender our lives to Jesus and give Him lordship over those lives that He created we are agreeing with His purpose and not our own desires for our lives.

I believe that this is what being “the called according to His purpose” truly means. God calls His servants and God blesses His servants as they serve others.

The God of Israel promised blessing to his people only if they obeyed his commands.

These are the blessings that God promised the nation of Israel if only they would obey Him.

[9] “The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. [10] Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. (note this is the Hebrew word for fear Yare which means in awe of, just like the fear of the Lord. It’s a good thing.)

[11] And the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. [12] The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. [13] And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.
– Deuteronomy 28:9-13

These are the promises that God made to His chosen people Israel corporately.

As we see in the Bible repeatedly, corporately they could not and would not obey and so they were cursed and not blessed by repeated captivities and ultimately dispersion.

But we all know the Good News!

Because God so loved the world He sent His only begotten Son, the one perfect remnant of Israel, whose sinless obedience unto death won salvation for ANY who would receive Him as Lord be they Jew or Gentile.

This transfers all of God’s contingent blessings upon Israel to any person who would follow Jesus in truth and in deed.

It is no different for us as followers of Christ than it was for the people of Israel.

God desires to be Lord in all we do, but because we have free will it becomes our choice to follow Him or continue to be Lord of our own lives.

Being Lord of our own lives has consequences. That is why Jesus tells us that we are to take up our crosses daily if we are going to follow Him.

God blesses His servants in all they do when they are individually obedient to His commands.

Whose commands?

Christ’s commands.

And what are Christ’s commands?

Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
– Matthew 22:37

The verb ‘love’ here is the same word ‘agape’ and it means an active love.

A love that blesses and causes us to actually do something for our neighbor with the love God has given each one of us.

And if we are obedient to love others as Jesus commanded us, then this is the blessing we will receive…

In the gospel of Luke Jesus says this…

Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.
– Luke 12:37-38

And how do we become His servants truly?

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
– Philippians 2:3-4

So being honest with ourselves… Does this describe you?

Do you esteem others more highly than yourself?

And if it does not describe you today, is it your desire to become a person who esteems others better than himself tomorrow?

The scriptures compel us to look at this concept with a clear mind and in fact with the mind of Christ…

It’s the natural man or person who seeks to place himself or herself above others and to get something from them rather than give something to them. It is the truly spiritual person, the servant of Christ, who desires to bring his Master glory by doing what Jesus Himself did.

And what did Jesus Himself do?

The scripture in Philippians continues… I like the Living Bible Translation for this one…

Your attitude should be the kind that was shown us by Jesus Christ, who, though he was God, did not demand and cling to his rights as God, but laid aside his mighty power and glory, taking the disguise of a slave and becoming like men.
– Philippians 2:5-7

The lesson here for us is that just because we are able to use the gifts God gave us to achieve great things for ourselves, that should and MUST not be our sole purpose if we are going to be servants of Christ.

If we are going to be servants of Christ, it must be our purpose to become servants, or slaves if you will, to those who have needs around us that we are able to fill.

I’m sorry if that bums you out, but the good news remains… if you are willing to truly follow Jesus and take up your cross daily, meaning fulfill your purpose to those around you, then God will take very, very good care of you.

Think about it, why would God not continue to bless you with every good thing that you need if you are going to be willing to pass those good things on to those around you.

I once heard a Pastor give a sermon about making your vessel larger to hold more blessings. My spirit was troubled by that sermon and in seeking the Lord and His wisdom I was given a picture. We are not supposed to hold blessings in large or small vessels but we are supposed to be conduits of those blessings as Christ’s servants.

Think of this… no matter how large a vessel is filled with water, eventually that water becomes stagnant if it is not poured out and replenished. When that vessel is filled to the brim it cannot hold any more.

The servant of God is more like a garden hose, plugged into the source of all blessings on the one end in Heaven and spraying the world around them to create around them a fertile Kingdom garden on earth.

That way, instead of being a vessel filled with stagnating water the useful servant is constantly filled with living, running water that has no possibility of growing stagnant but is endlessly a source of joy.

Here are some more of the promises that you as a servant of Christ can depend upon if you are doing your part to bring glory to your master…

And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
– 2 Corinthians 9:8

Here is a special promise from Psalms…

Blessed is he who considers the poor;
The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.

The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive,
And he will be blessed on the earth;
You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.

The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness;
You will sustain him on his sickbed.
– Psalm 41:1-3

Now I can tell you that in this fallen world, our bodies may experience illness. In fact, part of being a servant of Christ is providing a witness to unbelievers of peace and even joy as you go through the trials of life.

This is, in fact, why James the Just, the brother of Jesus tells us…

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
–

However, let’s go back to the end of the former scripture we just read,… when the psalmist says

The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness;
You will sustain him on his sickbed.
– Psalm 41:3

It is for this very reason that God strengthens his servants when they are physically ill or harmed. So that the world can see them counting it all joy and providing a witness to the greatness of God while also becoming more perfect and complete as a servant.

Does that make sense?

The servant of the Lord can say in complete confidence what Christ’s servant the apostle Paul said…

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
– Philippians 4:13

And Jesus says this in Matthew’s Gospel…

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
– Matthew 6:31-33

Seeking His Kingdom is looking for the opportunities that He has prepared for you to do. Which is illuminated in Ephesians…

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
– Ephesians 2:10

And this scripture tells us what it takes to be called righteous in the Kingdom by the King of Glory Himself…

Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
– Matthew 25:37-40

We’ve all experienced the weariness that comes from pursuing the things of the world whether it’s wealth, fame, being right in every argument or being the possessor of some secret knowledge that only you know because you’re so smart… Trying desperately to be validated and recognized as SOMEBODY…

But God says this…

But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
– Isaiah 40:31

We all realize that each of us has more than some and less than some others, be it money, brains or beauty.

So… we have all been given something to use as servants to our Gracious Master… In the parable of the Talents there are three servants, two profitable and one unprofitable.

Here is the goal for all of us as servants, whether we have been given much or little…

[20] “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ [21] His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
–

And finally… Paul prays for the Church at Corinth to strengthen them in their righteous servanthood. This is my prayer for us as well…

Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.

For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

Amen!
– 2 Corinthians 9:10-15

That said, I have often mentioned that it is our desire at Abundant Life church to give you opportunities as well as equipping you for the good works that the Lord has prepared you for.

Please feel free to come and speak to me after service or anytime about how you might be able to serve abundant life or any of those in need within our body.

The Lord is very generous to His servants. We are His Hands and Feet in this beautiful Valley. Let’s not take Him for granted but let us serve Him by serving each other with a heart of compassionate love.

Let’s pray,
– John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi

There is an interesting and important representation that runs through the Old Testament, concerning the process by which idols were removed from God’s people.

Israel’s history was marked with idolatry. From the moment they were redeemed out of Egypt, Israel worshiped other gods.

Standing at the foot of Mount Sinai, where they were waiting for Moses to return with God’s Law, because of their impatience, Israel made a Golden Calf to worship in the place of Yahweh.

If you recall when Moses did come down the mountain with the tablets of the law in his hand, written by the very finger of God, His people, Israel, were having a raucous celebration, worshiping these Golden Calf idols that they had made.

When Moses saw what they were doing he was enraged. With the Glory of the Lord still upon him, he burned the idol, crushed it into fine powder, and poured it into a nearby river.

In Deuteronomy, Moses recounts this event for Israel’s remembrance:

Then I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it and ground it very small, until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook that descended from the mountain.
– Deuteronomy 9:21

This act sets the stage for the methods of the few righteous Kings throughout Israel’s history in ridding the idols from their midst.

Both Israel and Judah went through cycles of sin and idolatry, followed by repentance, followed by the deliverance of the Lord and on and on, over and over again.

After David replaced Saul as King over the Twelve Tribes of Israel, and Solomon built the Temple at Jerusalem, the Tribes split into two nations when Rehoboam, the son of Solomon angered the other tribes…

The Northern Kingdom, continued to be known as Israel and consisted of the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Ephraim, Manasseh, Naphtali, Gad, Issachar, Zebulun, Asher and Dan.

The Southern Kingdom thereafter known as Judah, consisted of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

Solomon’s Temple, which was the original House of the Lord, remained at Jerusalem in Judah.

Then, because the Northern Kingdom of Israel no longer had access to the official Temple at Jerusalem, King Jeroboam, the first King of the newly split Israel in the North, built two religious sanctuaries in two cities on either side of the nation, one in Dan and one in Bethel.

In a foreshadowing of the idolatry that would plague both Israel and later Judah, Jeroboam put in each of these religious sanctuaries (I kid you not) a Golden Calf Idol for the people to worship.

It should then come as no surprise that these 10 tribes in the north, Israel, became the poster child for idolatrous sin and overall bad behavior.

If you haven’t read all of first and second kings and first and second chronicles which are the histories of the kings of Israel and Judah in the Bible you should read it.

As is the case with most Old Testament scripture if you really break it down you will see how both Israel and Judah disappointed God over and over again, and then you will see the trail of broken promises that eventually led to the one who never broke His promise the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ.

As the writers of the Bible, both Old and New Testament were really pens in the hand of the Almighty, there really is no part of the Bible that is not beneficial to your spiritual life to read, contemplate and meditate upon.

In scripture, no detail is irrelevant, and no relevant detail is omitted.

As the Apostle Paul told Timothy…

          All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for           reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God           may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
          – 2 Timothy 3:16

In the books of Kings and Chronicles, out of Twenty Kings of the Northern Kingdom Israel there were NO good Kings. They were all idolatrous and evil and as the Biblical account says repeatedly, they walked in the ways of their fathers and served the idols their fathers served, doing evil continually…

Out of the Nineteen Kings (and one Queen) of the Southern Kingdom of Judah only 8 did “what was right in the sight of the Lord”.

The Lord also raised up great Prophets during this time like Elijah and Elishah, who did signs and wonders to bring the people back to the Lord and to warn them of the cost of their idolatry.

The Prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel also were sent to apostate Israel to warn them of their idolatrous behavior and give them visions of hope concerning the Messianic King who would come and set the world right.

Before we talk about identifying and getting rid of the idols in OUR lives, let’s talk a bit about the source and nature of Idolatry.

All idolatry is by nature demonic.

Does that surprise you?

Simply put, an idol is anything or anyone other than God in which you put all your trust, to provide you…

• your peace,
• your security,
• your joy,
• your sense of self-worth,
• your sense of purpose,
• the list goes on…

After all, it was our enemy, or Sat-an (which means the adversary in Hebrew), who was originally the Archangel Lucifer the Angel of light and decided that serving God was not good enough for him and that he wanted to be God.

He was cast to earth for his rebellion along with a whole host of rebellious angels who became the demons who were the small G gods of the Old Testament. These were the “gods of Egypt” for example…

When the Bible speaks of idols it’s talking about these small G gods that were worshipped not only by the people who did not know the God of Israel but to the great shame of both Israel and Judah were worshipped by God’s people themselves.

That is why God’s First commandment is that “You shall have no other gods before Me”.

But the Second Commandment says this…

          You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that           is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water           under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.
          – Exodus 20:4-5A

Now before you go home and break those little figurines that are sitting on your mantle that your kids made when they were five or six, let me explain that what this commandment is referring to is not just making a carved image.

It refers to those Golden Calves in our lives. The key words here are “you shall not bow down to them or serve them”.

The idols of the land that God’s Chosen people worshipped caused them to be separated from God.

The Idols of metal, wood and stone that the people worshipped were powered by the demonic forces, the demon gods that ruled the people who desired them.

We are going to talk today about idolatry and how the Biblical Kings dealt with it and how WE can recognize the idolatry in our lives and deal with it (remove it from our lives) because of what Christ did for us.

So first let’s look at how the Righteous Kings of Judah dealt with idolatry.

Every time that the Lord raised up a righteous King to deliver His people from their evil practices and enemies, they would remove the idols from the land in a manner similar to that of Moses.

There were three notable kings of Judah who turned from their own father’s idolatrous ways and turned back to follow the God of Israel as their forefather David had done.

These were Asa, Hezekiah and Josiah.

Perhaps the greatest reformer King in Israel’s history (our Lord Jesus excepted) was Josiah, the 16th King of Judah. His grandfather Manasseh was one of the worst of the worst of the Kings of Judah and he had even instituted child sacrifice during his reign.

His father Amon walked in the evil ways of his father, but Josiah turned from the sins of his grandfather and “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord”.

His reforms were substantial and are recorded in great detail in 2 Kings 23.

And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the articles that were made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.

Then he removed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem, and those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.

          And he brought out the wooden image from the house of the LORD, to the           Brook Kidron outside Jerusalem, burned it at the Brook Kidron and ground it    to ashes, and threw its ashes on the graves of the common people…
          – 2 Kings 23:4-6

          The altars that were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two    courts of the house of the LORD, the king broke down and pulverized there,         and threw their dust into the Brook Kidron.
          – 2 Kings 23:12

Consider the way in which the Brook Kidron is at the center of Josiah’s removal of idols in the same way as Moses removed the residue of the Golden Calf he destroyed.

The pattern of crushing idols and idolatrous altars, and throwing them into the Brook Kidron, was symbolic. It represented how God would permanently remove idolatry from the lives of His people.

Note the process…

• First, the King recognized the sin of idolatry that was causing the trouble that the Lord had allowed to come upon the land.
• Second, he acknowledged his responsibility to turn the people back to God.
• Third, he removed the priests of the Idols from the land.
• Fourth, he began the process of removing the idols from the Temple.
• Fifth, he hauled the Idols down to the Brook Kidron, crushed them to powder and threw them in the Brook so that they would be removed far from the Temple.
• Finally, he reinstituted the practices of true worship among the people.

Now keeping those things in mind, we’re going to talk about how we can recognize and remove the idols that are causing trouble in our lives.

Remember that I said that all idolatry is by its nature demonic.

Idolatry is that demonic insistent voice in your mind that tells you that God is not trustworthy.

Remember, God wants you to enjoy your life. He gave you talents and abilities that are unique and special to you and that he wants you to treat as precious gifts that He can help you unwrap for your joy and for His glory.

However, there are other things about you that are challenging, and the Lord wants to help you to work through and with those things.

Some of those things are physical disabilities or weaknesses that you were born with.

But other things might be things that the world and the lies of the enemy have implanted in you from a very young age that have become obsessions AKA Idols.

• Maybe it’s your temper which evidences itself as impatience with others, making you argumentative or easy to anger.
• Maybe it’s an unhealthy obsession with sex, which can lead to toxic attitudes towards others and drive you into despair, or pornography addiction.
• Maybe it’s an uncontrollable urge to eat more than is healthy because it makes you feel good.
• maybe it’s a desire for control, driving you to want to be served rather than serve others.
• Or maybe it’s an obsession with getting high on drugs or alcohol that has become an addiction.

These are all things that are part of the natural man that are not who you ARE in Christ Jesus.

The good news is that just like the good Kings of Judah, you are able to overcome the dysfunction of your past because you now have the Mind of Christ, and the power to access it, which we talked about last week.

It is in the enemy’s best interest for you to be obsessed with the idols in your life. The things that are not good for you which keep you from in fact hearing God’s voice, doing His will and most of all enjoying His presence.

That idolatrous demonic voice in your head will tell you that that old killjoy God does not want you to enjoy your idol/obsession.

That the thing that you love to do or that thing you love to think about or that thing or person that you are obsessed with is too important and too all-consuming for you to give it to God to put in its rightful place which is under Him and not over Him.

See… not all idols are inherently bad things, or at least they weren’t until you made an obsession of them which edged God out…

Here’s one of the big ones that Jesus mentioned specifically to be careful about.

Money. Mammon.

Let’s camp out on that one for a moment. If it was important enough that it is the one that Jesus told us about specifically the most, then it is worthy of our close attention.

Remembering that idolatry is, at its core, worshiping the creation over the Creator, and anything that is given over the Giver. Anything we put our trust in other than God is an idol.

People often will base their security and peace on the money that they have in the bank, or in retirement funds, or in Crypto rather than in God their sustainer and Jesus their Savior.

Jesus tells us this…

          No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the           other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot           serve God and mammon.
            – Matthew 6:24

The active words here are hate and love. It is easy to understand how we can love God and despise money in the sense that we are passionate towards God and esteem money lightly.

But Jesus words are even stronger than that in that He says that if you love God you hate money and if you love money you hate God. What he really means is you are loyal to one or you are loyal to the other.

You either put your trust in the money you have been given or you trust the Giver, who is God.

It’s the love of money that makes Mammon an Idol which is why Paul tells Timothy this…

          For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have    strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through   with many sorrows.
          – 1 Timothy 6:10**

Maybe this will help you to understand better the way I believe I understand it.

It is God’s heart for us to love Him and love people and use money, rather than for us to love money and use God and people for our own benefit.

This is also a matter of trust. You either trust God, or you trust money. We should each examine ourselves on this particular point.

By the way, faithfully tithing is a particularly good way to stay away from the idolatry of money.

Giving God His Ten Percent back upfront every week shows a willingness to obey Him and to trust Him with the other 90%. I can only tell you that it has been a freeing practice in my life and God has been generous and faithful always.

I love the way the new living translation says the words of Malachi the prophet…

          Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my           Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the        windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have         enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!
          – Malachi 3:10

Okay, that’s enough about Mammon. Let’s talk about some other idols and then what we can do to rid our lives of them…

Some of our idols are obviously bad, like addictions… to drugs or pornography or cigarettes or alcohol or sex or food.

Even addictions to some things can be a slippery slope because healthy sex within the bonds of marriage is something that God gave us as a good thing and we all need to eat and even scripture says that wine was given to cheer both God and men.

But idolatrous obsession with any of these things destroys our lives and keeps us from a healthy relationship with God and with other people.

Here’s another really, really bad obsession that has absolutely no good application: unforgiveness. Jesus was very clear about the destructive power of unforgiveness. Unforgiveness is an obsession in that it is by its very nature an Idol.

I want to propose that when a Christian withholds forgiveness – most especially when it’s asked for – that person is behaving in an idolatrous manner. The idol they are serving is self.

They are refusing to forgive a sin against them which has already been forgiven by God, whom the sin is ultimately against thereby placing themselves above God! When you refuse to forgive someone, you are placing yourself over God’s command to have no other Gods before Him. That is the Idol of Pride.

But there are also things of the world that don’t seem of themselves to be anything bad, but we have allowed them to completely consume our thoughts and our attention thereby making them Idols.

• Things like sports, Sports figures and sports teams.
• Things like Popular Music, Musicians and famous culture heroes.
• Things like politics or political figures.
• Things like Social Media.
• Things like hobbies or pastimes like video games or watching movies or TV.
• Things like possessions… cars, houses, guns, guitars, entertainment systems,
• the list goes on…

Any pastime that we spend more time doing, thinking about, or talking about than we spend meditating upon God’s goodness has become an idol.

Remember last week we talked about building intimacy with God and how the best way to do it were with the 3T’s of Time, Talk and Trust.

Spending all of your time thinking and talking about things other than your relationship with God and how you can bring glory to Him brings you to trust in things other than God for your joy, your peace and even your freedom.

The enemy wants you in bondage and so he will continually make suggestions like…

• God is unreasonable…
• The idol is fun, and you deserve it.
• The idol is the ONLY bad thing you do and you NEED it to feel good.
• The idol is protecting you.
• The idol is too strong to break even for God.

These last two are particularly true of addictions and unforgiveness.

But as we know the enemy is a liar and the father of lies…

So… since we have the Mind of Christ, here’s how we can begin going about crushing idolatry in our lives…

Remember how we said the good Kings of Judah removed the Idolatry from the Temple? Now remember that you ARE the Temple of the Living God in Christ! With that in mind, let’s look at how the Kings did it again…

• First, the King recognized the sin of idolatry that was causing the trouble that the Lord had allowed to come upon the land.
• Second, he acknowledged his responsibility to turn the people back to God.
• Third, he removed the priests of the Idols from the land.
• Fourth, he began the process of removing the idols from the Temple.
• Fifth he hauled the Idols down to the Brook Kidron, crushed them to powder and threw them in the Brook so that they would be removed far from the Temple.
• Finally, he reinstituted the practices of true worship among the people.

So the analogy is this for you and me.

• First, we ask the Lord to help us recognize the Idolatry that is hurting us.
• Second, we agree with God that the Idol is not something we are or want any more in our lives.
• Third, we put people on notice who are enabling us in our addictions and obsessions that they are no longer welcome to be our priests of those things.
• Fourth, ask God for the strength to quit doing the idolatrous thing, believing that He is with you and then just DO IT. Quit, trusting His strength not your own.
• Fifth, get rid of anything and everything in your life that feeds these obsessions and addictions and obsessions.
• And finally realize that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit and begin to apply those 3T’s of Time, Talk and Trust to the things of the Lord.

When the kings of Judah cleared out the temple of the Idols and the people returned to practicing true worship of the God of Israel they experienced peace, security and prosperity that they had not had while they were worshiping idols.

That’s what it will look like for you as well.

Oh… and here’s one last thing that is really interesting about the Brook Kidron where Asa, Josiah and Hezekiah threw their crushed Idols…

The Brook Kidron comes up quite frequently in the Old Testament and one really interesting time in the New Testament.

Other than the kings destroying their idols there, the Brook Kidron comes up in 2 Samuel 15 when King David’s son Absalom usurps his throne and David has to flee Jerusalem for his life. Look at this…

          And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people crossed over.           The king himself also crossed over the Brook Kidron, and all the people    crossed over toward the way of the wilderness.
          – 2 Samuel 15:23

And the one time that the Brook Kidron is mentioned in the New Testament is when Jesus is approaching his final day and He and his disciples cross over the Brook Kidron to get to the Garden of Gethsemane where our Lord will make His final decision to take the Cross for us.

Right after Chapter 17 of John’s Gospel, when Jesus prays for all believers for all time, we see this verse…

          When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the           Brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered.
          – John 18:1

How ironic that the very Brook that David had to cross when fleeing from his enemies, Jesus had to cross a thousand years later to meet his.

Because all scripture is important, it is surely no accident that it was this very Brook Kidron that Jesus crossed when He entered the Garden where He was betrayed, that is symbolic of the place where we are now able to remove our idols far away from us because of what He did on The Cross of Calvary.

Let’s pray,
– John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi

Last week we spoke about the prayer of faith and how being a willing vessel of the Holy Spirit’s desire to move freely through you is a crucial part of God’s ability to use you for His Glory and to enable you to live the abundant life to the fullest.

We talked about how the Holy Spirit will speak directly to you but you will only hear from Him if you are open and in fact invitational to what the Lord wants to do with you and through you.

We read the scripture story of how Elijah brought the entire nation of Israel out to Mount Carmel to watch him in a throwdown with the 450 prophets of Baal and how when he chose to be faithful, the Lord gave him supernatural courage and strength to prepare the altar and call down the fire of God as a witness to bring the people back to faith in Him.

Today we are going to go back even further to the Old Testament Book of Judges and see how another hero of the Bible overcame his fears and chose to find his faith, believing what God told him he could do although he was afraid. Like Elijah, he was a man with a nature like ours…

Hopefully this message will give us some insight into how we can do what God tells us we can do even when we’re afraid.

The Book of Judges delineates the cycle of idolatry, repentance and deliverance that the children of Israel went through over a period of 400 years. We’re going to look today at the story and example of Gideon who was one of the judges of Israel.

If you recall a couple of months back, we talked about what a judge of Israel really was. The Hebrew word as translated “judge” in the Bible is shofet and it means deliverer. Now we know that Jesus is our ultimate deliverer from the power of sin and the fear of death but in order for us to walk in the power of that deliverance we need to have faith.

That’s why the story of Gideon is so interesting.

As the story of Gideon begins, the Israelites were in the middle of one of their cycles and had just experienced 40 years of relative peace. The bills are paid, the kids are behaving, and business is good; everything’s coming up roses. And as it tends to happen to us all in such times, Israel forgot God. They became self-sufficient. They didn’t need God. They began to worship idols again.

So, the Lord shook things up by rousing an enemy against them to show them how hard life can be without Him. If we’re honest, that is a cycle that many of us have experienced in our lives. How many times have hard circumstances come to us, and we never stop to ask what God is planning for us in those circumstances?

Instead, we hold out, thinking that we can handle it on our own. Learn this from Gideon: every experience in life is a test. Every trial in the lives of God’s people is tailored to draw us closer to God.

The purpose of this message is the importance of breaking the cycle and finding our faith and keeping our faith because God is faithful. Amen? So… for Israel the cycle started as it usually does for us… with idolatry.

Here’s the story of Gideon which begins like this…

Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains. So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey.

For they would come up with their livestock and their tents,    coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it. So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.
          – Judges 6:1-6

The children of Israel cried out to the Lord. If we are ever to get our faith back in the midst of a trial, it is when we realize that whatever we’re doing to get us out of the trouble we’re in is not working and we need to turn back to God. That is what the people of Israel did then they cried out to God and that is what we need to do when we come to the end of ourselves.

Here’s the point: When tough times come, instead of looking at them as if God is punishing you, try to see them as God’s gift of grace.

Do not despise the LORD’s instruction, my son, and do not loathe His discipline; for the LORD disciplines the one He loves, just as a father, the son he delights in.
          – Proverbs 3:11-12

God loves you too much to let you keep living the way you are when you have fallen away. He longs to be at the center of your life.

C.S. Lewis said it like this, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. It’s His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

Now because the people of Israel cried out to God He heard their cry, and so the story continues…

And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites, that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage; and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. Also I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” But you have not obeyed My voice.”
          – Judges 6:7-10

Now I don’t know about you but when I cry out to God because I realize that I need him desperately in my circumstances, the first thing He does is convict me through His Spirit and show me how I got myself into the mess I’m in. That’s what the Lord did through His unnamed prophet. And now God is going to move on Israel’s behalf through our unlikely hero…

Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”
          – Judges 6:11-12

Now I just want to stop for a moment and point out that here is this young man whose father is a local bigwig (and who is, by the way, a big-time idol worshipper as we will soon see), and he is hiding in a wine press dug underground threshing wheat so that the Midianites would not catch him and steal the wheat that he was threshing.

How scared do you have to be to thresh wheat in a wine press?

Now some of you know this, but city boys like me don’t. Normally, you would want to thresh wheat out in the open so that the wind could blow away the chaff. But Gideon has apparently been stung before, so he goes into hiding in an underground winepress, hoping to avert the attention of the Midianites. It’s a pitiful sight, full of frustration, discouragement, and fear.

So here is the Angel of the Lord, calling this frightened kid a mighty man of valor. Pretty ironic. I’m sure Gideon is looking around to the right and the left to try to figure out who it is that the Angel of the Lord is speaking to…

Do you ever feel like you’re being called to do something that you feel completely inadequate to do? Do you ever question God’s Word when it tells you who you are in Christ Jesus? That is kind of like how Gideon felt.

Let’s continue the story…

Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”
          – Judges 6:13

Apparently, Gideon is not sure yet who he is talking to… What he did know, however, was that previous generations of Israelites had apparently experienced the Exodus through the Red Sea and God’s mighty works but he himself only knew that God had forsaken them.

Do you sometimes feel like God has forsaken you?

Be encouraged beloved. This is what happens next.

Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”
          – Judges 6:14

Go in this might of yours: It is hard to see that Gideon had any might to go in. Yet the Angel of the LORD wasn’t mocking Gideon when he told him, “Go in this might of yours.” Gideon indeed had might, but not as we might normally think.

• Gideon had the might of the humble, threshing wheat on the winepress floor.
• Gideon had the might of the caring, because he cared about how low Israel had fallen.
• Gideon had the might of the knowledge of God, because he knew that the Lord had done great things in the past.
• Gideon had the might of the spiritually hungry, because he wanted to see God do great works again.
• Gideon had the might of faith, because he listened and believed what the Angel of the LORD said.
• Gideon had the might of the weak, because God’s strength is perfected in weakness.
• Gideon had might to go forth in, but he could not see himself as someone who could do great things for God.

He thought of himself as insignificant, from the smallest clan in his tribe, and that he was the least in his own family. At the same time, Gideon was correct: he could not save Israel. But a great God could use a small and weak Gideon to rescue Israel.

So here’s a question… do you feel like you are losing ground in your life? That you have no ability to make a difference in the place God put you? That the world is eating away at your ability to gain sustenance from your relationship with Jesus Christ?

Would you like to go in the faith and the MIGHT that God tells you that you have in Christ and make something amazing out of the life you were given?

The Lord’s word to Gideon was “Have I not sent you?” These are the same words Jesus spoke to His disciples for all time…

So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
          – John 20:21

Here is what God told Gideon…

And the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.”
          – Judges 6:16

God did use Gideon to deliver Israel from the Midianites but first he had to convince his own people to follow God again.

Gideon had to tear down the altar to Baal that belonged to his father and almost get killed by his own idolatrous countrymen before he was able to convince them that God really did want to deliver them and was going to use him to do it. Then he was able to rally 3000 men to go up against the Midianites who were more than 100,000 soldiers.

However, before they could go into battle, the Lord told Gideon that he needed far fewer than that, so that when they defeated the Midianite army that they would not believe that it was their own doing, but that they would KNOW that it was the deliverance of the Lord.

Therefore, the Lord winnowed down Gideon’s army to a mere 300 men and Gideon, by keeping the faith that he now had in what the Lord was telling him he could do, was able to defeat the vast army of the Midianites and gain back the land.

Before Gideon could do any of that, he had to choose to believe what God told him he could do and find the faith to walk it out. Before we can do any of the mighty things God tells us we can do in Christ Jesus, we too have to find the faith to walk it out.

I hope you will take the time to read the book of judges and especially the full story of Gideon on your own time, but here is another scripture…

Gideon begins the battle with the Midianites in an interesting way…

Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet into every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers. And he said to them, “Look at me and do likewise; watch, and when I come to the edge of the camp you shall do as I do: When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets on every side of the whole camp, and say, ‘The sword of the Lord and of  Gideon!’”
          – Judges 16-18

Suffice it to say that when they do this, it creates havoc in the Midianite camp and the Lord, in the confusion sets each of the enemy soldiers against each other.

I like to see the comparison of this small group of Gideon’s men with their trumpets and torches in clay jars like effective evangelists. We trumpet the Word of God for all to hear, and we allow the broken jars of clay that we are to pour God’s glorious light out into the world!

You may have heard of the Gideons, which is an organization that makes bibles available to people free of charge in hotels, hospitals, jails, military bases, etcetera. They also make presentations in schools and military bases to speak about Jesus. Their logo is a Jar with a light coming out of the top.

This is how the organization describes its connection to the story of Gideon in the book of judges…

“Gideon was a man who was willing to do exactly what God wanted him to do, regardless of his own judgment as to the plans or results. Humility, faith and obedience were his great elements of character. This is the standard that the Gideons International is trying to establish in all of its members, each man to be ready to do God’s will at any time at any place and in any way that the Holy Spirit leads.”

Personally, I like the way they sum that up. That’s kind of how I see Abundant Life Church… I would like to see us be ready to do God’s will at any time at any place and in any way that the Holy Spirit leads. In order for us to do that, I think we must exhibit, like Gideon, humility, faith and obedience.

As I have said before, here at Abundant Life, we want to provide significant opportunities for each of you to explore and enhance your gifts through Service to the Body of Christ and our Community.

A great opportunity to do this is to become a Gideon. Here in Simi Valley we have a thriving Gideon Chapter. Becoming a Gideon is a great way to become more deeply rooted in the local body of Christ.

As I mentioned earlier, with the Gideons, there are opportunities for local evangelical outreach to schools, hospitals and Community Events which is organized by the local Chapter.

For someone who wants to follow Jesus’ command to be an evangelist but who is perhaps not ready to talk scripture to everybody they meet, this is a great way to bring the love of God and your love of God’s word to the lost with others who have a similar desire.

There are both men’s and women’s Chapters and they meet on a regular basis. You can be as involved as you like but there is no obligation.

However, it is a great opportunity for fellowship and a way to get to know more of the local body of Christ that may attend other church fellowships and build friendships across denominational lines which I think is something that is close to the heart of Christ.

In fact, one of our brothers of the Abundant Life Church Men’s Bible study is one of the local Gideon officers. Although he attends another church on Sundays we consider him part of the Abundant Life family.

If you might be interested in learning more about the Simi Valley Gideons and how you may be able to get involved please let me know and I will get you information.

Going forward, we will continue to provide opportunities for fellowship and service in our community for your benefit and the glory of God. Although we are in our flesh, broken vessels made of clay, we have within us the Light of the world in Christ Jesus. When we allow His Light to shine through the cracks in us, the darkness has to flee, and the enemy with it.

One man of you shall chase a thousand, for the Lord your God is He who fights for you, as He promised you.
          – Joshua 23:10

Let’s Pray,
– John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi

Have you ever had so many problems, so many bills, so much pressure at work, friends who you knew were talking behind your back and it was breaking your heart… Maybe you did something that you realized later was terrible and you wish you could take it back and you just can’t because you can’t unring that bell and you just can’t stop thinking about it…

You can’t eat because you can’t stop thinking about it. You can’t sleep because you can’t stop thinking about it. Maybe it’s a bully at school or even at work and you know that person is gunning for your back all the time and you’re just afraid… because you just never know when the other shoe is going to drop and you’ll get fired or expelled or you’ll have to fight for your life, your wife, your kids, your job, your faith.

Like what if you have an alcohol problem or a drug problem or a gambling problem or some weird stupid addiction that you hate doing but you can’t stop doing and you just can’t stop thinking about it? Maybe you’re stressed out because your circumstances just seem bigger than God. Have you ever felt like that?

You want to pray about it… you want to pray for relief… you want to pray that God will remove that problem or that person from your life… you want to pray that He will miraculously make your debts disappear, or your addiction go away, or that he’ll open the door for another job because you just can’t stand where you are anymore, or that He will help you because you are tired of being homeless, or loveless, or lonely, or faithless… but now your anxiety is so high that you feel your prayers aren’t being heard… or worse, that God is deliberately withholding His mercy or even that your problem is your own fault so that God won’t do anything.

You are not alone.

Listen to what King David says in the 77th Psalm…

          I cried out to God with my voice—
          To God with my voice;
          And He gave ear to me.
          In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord;
          My hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing;
          My soul refused to be comforted.
          I remembered God, and was troubled;
          I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed.
          – Psalm 77:1-3

And then David names his fear…

          Will the Lord cast off forever?
          And will He be favorable no more?
          Has His mercy ceased forever?
          Has His promise failed forevermore?
          Has God forgotten to be gracious?
          Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies?
          – Psalm 77:7-9

But then David says this…

          And I said, “This is my anguish;
          But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.”
          I will remember the works of the Lord;
          Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
          I will also meditate on all Your work,
          And talk of Your deeds.
          Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary;
          Who is so great a God as our God?
          You are the God who does wonders;
          You have declared Your strength among the peoples.
          You have with Your arm redeemed Your people,
          The sons of Jacob and Joseph.
          – Psalm 77:10-15

WHO IS SO GREAT A GOD AS OUR GOD? Says David, and so say we all… AMEN?

And he says… YOU ARE THE GOD WHO DOES WONDERS.

And then David uses this… the greatest and most awe-inspiring act of deliverance in the history of Israel, the parting of the Red Sea… to describe his hope in powerful words that show us why he was known as the sweet Psalmist of Israel.

          The waters saw You, O God;
          The waters saw You, they were afraid;
          The depths also trembled.
          The clouds poured out water;
          The skies sent out a sound;
          Your arrows also flashed about.
          The voice of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;
          The lightnings lit up the world;
          The earth trembled and shook.
          Your way was in the sea,
          Your path in the great waters,
          And Your footsteps were not known.
          You led Your people like a flock
          By the hand of Moses and Aaron
          – Psalm 77:16-20

David remembers the Awesome God Yahweh, His Lord, who led His people through the waters on dry land. This is the same David, now King of Israel, who as a young man had the faith to defeat the giant because he knew who the God of Israel was.

The God of Israel was the God that parted the waters of the Red Sea. And Moses victory song after the Lord delivered the people on dry land through the Red Sea and destroyed the Egyptian army as the waters closed back over them can be our song of victory over our problems as well…

          The Lord is my strength and song,
          And He has become my salvation;
          He is my God, and I will praise Him;
          My father’s God, and I will exalt Him.
          The Lord is a man of war;
          The Lord is His name.
            – Exodus 15:2-3

When the first generation of Israelites passed through the Waters of the Red Sea, they immediately forgot the Lord their God, who had done that great and awesome miracle. First, they complained against Him, and then they made a golden calf idol to worship instead of Him.

When we study the Books of Chronicles and Kings, the histories of the Bible that show us the wickedness of the Kings of Israel and Judah that came after David, we see how they always walked in the ways of their fathers and worshiped idols.

Whenever the good Kings are described, the Bible says what made them good was that they walked in the ways that their father David had. They cast out the idols and remembered Yahweh, the God of Israel, the one true God that had parted the Red Sea and delivered Israel out of bondage.

It was David’s Faith in the God who parted the Red Sea that enabled him to have the courage to face the giant Goliath and defeat him. It is the faith that we have in the God of Israel who loved us so much that He gave his only begotten Son that we have the power to defeat the Giants in our lives.

Now I’ll tell you something about me, before I gave my life to Jesus. I was absolutely consumed by fear. I was terrified by everything that we mentioned earlier. I was consumed with worldly things and self-made problems that had absolutely no value.

I was a functional Fearaholic, however. Nobody knew what I was going through. I knew how to appear confident. Nevertheless, I spent many, many sleepless nights in doubt and fear about what would happen the next day.

I would try to think of all the things that could possibly go wrong in some pseudo religious hope that if I could think of them then the universe wouldn’t allow them to happen because I’d already brought them into being with my mind.

Yeah, I know crazy right?

Even though I had a well-paying job that I was good at… Even though I had friends that thought I had it all together and I was pretty well off by the world’s standards, I was really a seething ball of acidic fear all the time.

Now, once I gave my life to the Lord, He immediately removed all fear from me and I became basically fearless. I had always known how to act fearless, and I was good at it, but now I had been made truly fearless because of what Jesus did for me.

I knew with no question that he had truly conquered the power of sin and had swallowed up death itself. I knew that in Christ Jesus I had nothing to fear.

I quickly learned however, that not everybody who was a believer had that same deliverance from worry and fear. As I dived into the Bible like a duck into water and devoured scripture like a hungry hyena, I began to see why and how God is faithful and can be sovereign over all of our problems if we only will bring Him in.

As our Mama Ruth spoke last week, this scripture will bring you peace in times of trouble or doubt, or needless worry…

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
          – Philippians 4:6-7

The week before last, I talked about crushing our idols and how we could be like the good kings of Judah. One of those kings was Hezekiah. In his days he had some pretty bad problems.

There was an Assyrian warlord king named Sennacherib who had conquered many kingdoms all around him and had now set his sights on Judah and camped out around Jerusalem to siege it and destroy it.

Now I’m kind of a movie buff and I don’t know if any of you have seen movies about these kinds of warlord Kings like Genghis Khan or Attila the Hun or Alexander the Great… or even some of the marvel Avengers movies where there’s a big bad super villain named Thanos, who has conquered many planets and made their Kings his vassals to go and do his dirty work and conquer other Kingdoms for him.

Well, Sennacherib was like that. He had one of these under-chieftains named ‘The Rabshakeh’ who sent his messengers to threaten Hezekiah…

This is what he told them…

“Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”

Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered?

Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?’ ”
          – 2 Kings 19:10-13

So what does Hezekiah do? Does he run and hide?
Nope. Hezekiah seeks the Lord…

And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord.

Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said: “O Lord God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God.

Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore, they destroyed them.

Now therefore, O Lord our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord God, You alone.”
            – 2 Kings 19:14-19

So check this out guys… our problems… even the really bad ones, are just gods of wood and stone. They have no power against the One who holds our very lives in his hand.

And as Hezekiah well knew they have no power against the One who parted the Red Sea. Because this is what the Lord that parted the Red Sea did for King Hezekiah…

First He sent a word through the prophet Isaiah to Hezekiah and he said this…

          “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria:
          ‘He shall not come into this city,
          Nor shoot an arrow there,
          Nor come before it with shield,
          Nor build a siege mound against it.
          By the way that he came,
          By the same shall he return;
          And he shall not come into this city,’
          Says the Lord.
          ‘For I will defend this city, to save it
          For My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’”
          – 2 Kings 19:32-34

And then the Lord did this…

And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh.
          – 2 Kings 19:35-36

That is what the Lord who parted the Red Sea did for Hezekiah… Here is something that the Lord who parted the Red Sea did for me recently. The Lord that parted the Red Sea parted the red tape.

One of our brothers who is here today, struggles with a deadly hereditary disease. He only recently was able to reconnect with his Neurologist after a lapse of four years. It is only because he has Medicare and Medi-Cal that he is able to get the services he needs to survive and manage his day-to-day life.

Well… through a series of circumstances out of his control, he was terminated by his Health Plan last week. We found out that it was because a deadline had passed for him to file a change of address.

When I first started to make calls to try to get this straightened out with his Health Plan, they sent me back to Medi-Cal, and I could not get through to Medi-Cal by phone because our friend had lost his Medi-Cal card, and so we didn’t have the necessary credentials to get through to anyone.

I don’t know if you have ever had to deal with a government agency, but if you ever have, then you know that the red tape and hurdles that have to be jumped over and through can be incredibly difficult, and even if you’re able to do that, they usually have a waiting period before you can get reinstated.

I was pretty discouraged, and so I literally spread out all the paperwork that I had before the Lord and called my prayer warrior friends to pray that the Lord that parted the Red Sea would part the red tape.

The very next phone call that I made was to the Health Plan Member Services, where I had started to begin with. This time, I got a nice person who at least wanted to help, but was at a loss because our friend had by this time disappeared from the System.

After much head scratching and apologizing for not being able to help, this Representative said all of a sudden… you know I have another number for Medi-Cal, why don’t you try this one. When I called that number, I was shocked when I actually got a live person on the phone.

The Red Tape was starting to unravel…

As it happened, the person who answered the phone was supposed to have turned over the line to the automated system but for some reason had forgotten to do it.

As the Lord would have it, this person was way more helpful and knowledgeable than anyone I had been able to speak with to that point, and she told me about a local County office where I could take our friend and maybe talk to a live person. They didn’t hold out much hope for a quick resolution, but they said at least you’ll be able to get the process started.

You probably won’t be surprised to hear that when we went and sat down, and spoke to a real person at the County Office, that person took pity on our situation and reinstated our friend’s Medi-Cal coverage on the spot.

Hallelujah, right?

So here’s what I believe and I want you to believe it too…

• The Lord that parted the Red Sea can…
  Heal your marriage.
• The Lord that parted the Red Sea can…
  Break your addiction.
• The Lord that parted the Red Sea can…
  Lead your children to Christ.
• The Lord that parted the Red Sea can…
  Supply all of your needs.
• The Lord that parted the Red Sea can…
  Cure your depression.
• The Lord that parted the Red Sea can…
  Heal your diseases.
• The Lord that parted the Red Sea can…
  Send you a Godly partner.
• The Lord that parted the Red Sea can…
  Remove your obsessions.
• The Lord that parted the Red Sea can…
  Change your perspective from fear to hope.
• The Lord that parted the Red Sea can…
  Strengthen you in any trial.

Maybe you just need to spread that letter from the IRS, or that medical diagnosis, out before the Lord and trust Him with the outcome…

Let’s Pray,
– John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12.

What is the difference between soul and spirit?

Before we can understand this scripture, which speaks about the nature of the Bible, the Word of God itself, we need to understand what soul and spirit really are…

Here is a simple answer that will help us understand this scripture, and also, how we can utilize our relationship with God in Christ through the Holy Spirit to overcome our natural negative reactions to daily life by waiting on the supernatural insight that comes through the Holy Spirit when we “wait upon the Lord” and respond to what is happening instead of simply reacting to it.

Just as God (One God) is made up of Three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, man (one man or woman) is made up of three parts.  Body, soul and spirit.

What is the Body?

Our bodies are the vehicle which allow us to interact with the world.  They carry us around, and through the five senses, Sight, Hearing, Touch, Taste and Smell, the body allows us to experience the world around us.  Through it we experience pleasure, or pain.

What is the soul?

Simply, the soul of a person consists of the mind (or intellect), the emotions and the will.

The Soul is who we think of when we think of ourselves. It is the “inner man”.  The Soul is complete and with the body, is all we need to operate in the natural world. The Mind, Emotions and Will (which is the ability to make choices/decisions), are the way our physical bodies are able to operate and make sense of the world around us.  Our senses perceive the world around us and communicate to the soul and the soul operates our bodies so that we can function.

What is the spirit of a man?

The spirit of a person consists of conscience, intuition and communion.

The conscience is the part of a person that perceives right and wrong (their moral sense).

Intuition is the part of a person that understands those things that are not spoken or experienced directly by the senses.

Communion is the part of the spirit of a person that is able to communicate directly with God through the Holy Spirit. It is also the function of the spirit of a person to worship God.

_____________________________________________________________________________

In the Bible the name Adam is Hebrew for “from the ground” and is used in the rest of the Bible as the Hebrew name Ha’Adam for humanity.  Genesis 2:7 tells us that Adam was created from the dust of the earth and became a living soul.

Because of this, our senses, which are our body’s way of communicating to our souls, are attuned to the earth and all ”natural” things.

That is why our feelings shift and change according to what is happening around us. Science talks about natural selection and that the human being has survived because of the “fight or flight” response, as it is called.

The science of Psychology describes it like this:

The fight or flight response is an automatic physiological reaction to an event that is perceived as stressful or frightening. The perception of threat activates the sympathetic nervous system and triggers an acute stress response that prepares the body to fight or flee. These responses are evolutionary adaptations to increase chances of survival in threatening situations. Overly frequent, intense, or inappropriate activation of the fight or flight response is implicated in a range of clinical conditions including most anxiety disorders. A helpful part of treatment for anxiety is an improved understanding of the purpose and function of the fight or flight response.

Have you experienced this reaction in times of threat or stress?

Everything that is of the earth is unsteady and changeable, which is why a person who allows their soul to control their life is never at rest. Through the soul – through our senses and feelings – we are in contact with people. Someone who lives according to the soul is always in unrest with regard to what other people think and say about him.

Through my spirit I am meant to be in contact with God. However, before I said yes to Jesus, I lived according to my own understanding.  My senses and my body were used to serve my own earthly desires. My spirit was then polluted by those desires and filled with that which is of this world, with the result that I had little or no contact with God.  My spirit was suppressed by my soul.  I was a soulish person.

Let me explain further…

Before we receive the Holy Spirit by accepting Jesus Messiah as our Lord and Savior, our spirit is under the control of the soul.  Fight or flight is the only reaction we know to trouble or stress.  We also tend to idolize or worship the things of this world like money or power.  This is not what our spirit was intended to do.

Salvation in Christ is meant to change this relationship so that I become spiritual and heavenly instead of soulish and earthly. The result is a life of faith instead of a life according to my human understanding.  When I received Jesus as Lord, and I became “born again”, my spirit was AWAKENED by His Holy Spirit.  Instead of my soul, with it’s own desires, dominating my body and my spirit, now, my awakened spirit, in proper alignment with God’s Holy Spirit, has control, through my WILL aligned with God’s WILL, over my MIND and my EMOTIONS so that my body now is under obedience to God’s purpose for my life.  I am now as God created Adam to be.  I am now able to have dominion over the earth as a partner with God.

Ephesians 2:10 tells us “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

The intention is that our spirit is to be made alive so that God can speak to us; we should live for Him and for the heavenly things. Then we find rest for our souls. The heavenly things are eternal and unchangeable. When we live before God’s face, we are free from people and the unrest that comes from living before their face.

God’s Word: A two-edged sword

That said, even when we are “born again” and our spirit is awakened, we still struggle with the body of sin that is still a part of our flesh.  This is where God’s Word, the Bible, comes in.  It’s purpose is to do a deeper work in us. It is sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces and divides between soul and spirit and discerns the thoughts and counsels of the heart.  In this sense, the heart is the inner man which now includes both soul and spirit.

The scripture we started with, Hebrews 4:12, tells us that God’s Word discerns the thoughts of the heart and pierces and divides between soul and spirit – between that which is earthly (human) and that which is spiritual and heavenly, which I receive into my spirit through the spirit of God. For this to occur, first I must believe the Word and be obedient to it.  I do this by spending time reading the Word, studying the Word, meditating upon the Word and praying in accordance with the Word.

For example, the biblical concept to “Overcome evil with good” goes against our human feelings and our human reasoning; but if we believe the Word and are obedient to it we come to understand the truth of that statement. When we choose to believe God and ask for His strength to ACT as if we believe that good overcomes evil, only then can we EXPERIENCE that God’s wisdom is greater than our senses and see the deliverance of the Lord when trouble comes.

God’s Word also says to forgive the person who sins against you seven times seventy each day, in other words, as many times as it takes… If you are soulish, you will hold onto your grudge and your pride and fleshly sense of personal honor will cause you to make plans as to what you should do to the offender and you may also seek the opinions of family and friends who will validate that, rather than simply forgive.

The Apostle James, the brother of Jesus tells us…

James 3:16-18 – For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.  But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.  Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

It is far better to let God’s Word in to pierce and divide between what you are absorbing through your senses – especially through your emotional feelings of hurt and pride – and the wisdom that is from God, which you absorb through your spirit by His Word. Live by faith and not according to your human reasoning; only then will you enter into that rest, the true Sabbath, that only comes with a right relationship with God.

If you are struggling with all of this, just know that the disciples did too.  The Gospel of Matthew tells us how Peter struggled with confusion between soul and spirit…

Matthew 16:13-23  

13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”

14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

20 Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.

Matthew 16:21-23 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.

22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”

23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” 

Peter, ironically, was the one who had just been commended by Jesus for proclaiming Him as Messiah, and yet, when Jesus revealed to the 12 that He was going to be killed as the completion of His mission, Peter tried to talk Him out of it.  Peter, although he knew that Jesus was from God, thought that he was going to be the conqueror of Rome, not the victim of it.  That was a worldly view.

Peter cared for Jesus, but he only had a sense for the things of men, which is to spare yourself and those you care about from pain. Satan has access to this unregenerated soul, and the result is a terrible unrest.

Jesus told Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan!” because Jesus had a sense for the purpose of God, which was to lay His life down. Now He wants to make our spirit alive as well so we can carry our own cross, which is the purpose for which we were born and in fact, born again.

In his defense, Peter did not have the Holy Spirit as we do, even though he had the unique privilege of knowing Jesus personally and Calling Him friend.  On the Day of Pentecost, after Jesus went up His Throne, when the Holy Spirit was released upon him, Peter became fully the Rock upon which Christ built His Church.  We who are spiritual are that Rock today, who have received God’s Spirit and do His Will by allowing His Word to divide our soul and spirit.

Becoming spiritually minded

The result of having an awakened spirit, meditating on God’s Word and taking up your cross daily and following Jesus, is a life of faith in which we hold fast to the Word against our own human reasoning and present our body in the service of God. Then our soul, which is earthly and restless, is poured out, and we become spiritually minded and enter into rest in God.

“See that you do not refuse Him who speaks … from heaven. … Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.” Hebrews 12:25,29.

All unrest, complaining, struggling with other people and anxiety stems from giving in to the soulish desire to fight for earthly life. The spiritual man lives by faith in God’s Word. All things serve him for good.  (Romans 8:28) He has a mind for laying down his life, and he rests in God. What a glorious life and peace this is – a kingdom that cannot be moved.

With blessings from the Abundant Life,

John Henry

Today we are going to take one of the most compelling and well-known stories of the Torah and extend it’s lessons to our lives in a way, hopefully, that will give us a fresh perspective on the blind spots, or idols, if you will, which can hinder our obedience and thereby block the movement of God’s power in our lives. Our goal today is to address these issues and give them to God, surrendering our will to His.

The story of Abraham and Isaac, specifically the command that God gave Abraham to sacrifice his son in Chapter 22 of Genesis, contains one of the most important lessons in the Old Testament, which we can only fully understand in the light of the Gospel. It is often said that the New Testament is “concealed” in the Old Testament, and the Old Testament is “revealed” in the light of the New Testament.

In this story in Chapter 22 of Genesis we see one of the clearest examples of the Torah, written by Moses, pointing the way to the coming of Jesus Messiah, including a glimpse at God’s purpose and plan as to how He was going to ultimately deal with our sin issue, an issue that before Jesus, kept us from experiencing a full and beneficial relationship with God the Father.

The Pharisees, who supposedly were more learned of Torah than anyone living at the time of Jesus, and who were certainly aware of the nuances of this story, apparently missed it. Let’s make sure that we don’t make their mistake.

The passage we will study today begins with the words “After these things”. Therefore, we should start with a quick overview of what “these things” are, described in Chapter 21, the previous chapter. Let’s read the part of this chapter that precedes the story of Abraham and Isaac in Chapter 22…

And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him—whom Sarah bore to him—Isaac. Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. – Genesis 21:3-5

So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned. – Genesis 21:8

And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing. Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.” 11 And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son. – Genesis 21:9-11

But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called. Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed.” – Genesis 21:12-13

So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy (Ishmael) to Hagar, and sent her away. Then she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba. – Genesis 21:14

There is another part to this chapter that describes a covenant that Abimelech, King of the Philistines, had made and maintained with Abraham. This is interesting, but the phrase, “after these things” at the beginning of Chapter 22 most surely refers to the casting out of the “illegitimate” son Ishmael for “scoffing” or ridiculing Isaac, the child of promise, on the day of his weaning celebration.

Now it may seem that Ishmael was a baby or a child when Abraham ordered him and his mother Hagar out of his house, but in reality he (Ishmael) was about 17 years old and Isaac was about three years of age, which was the typical age of weaning in Biblical times. We know the timeline because Abraham was 86 when Ishmael was born according to Genesis 16:6, and Genesis 21:5 that we just read, tells us that Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born.

As we know, Ishmael, the illegitimate child, was also blessed by God to become a great nation, but that nation would ultimately become an enemy of the children of Israel even until the present day.
Let’s go on to the main story which we will read in it’s entirety and then break down…

Genesis 22
1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. 5 And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
6 So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. 7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”
And he said, “Here I am, my son.”
Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
8 And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.
9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”
So he said, “Here I am.”
12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
15 Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— 17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

We are going to go back and unpack these verses in the light of the Gospel, but the main points of the story are that God speaks to Abraham commanding him to sacrifice his son and he sets out to do so but God, through His Angel, stops the process.

Surprisingly, some of the Rabbis of the Middle Ages who wrote and commented on Torah in the Talmud, questioned God for “testing” righteous Abraham, and some of them questioned Abraham for his willingness to obey God’s “wicked” command. Clearly, they didn’t get it.

Let’s look at this story through the lens of the Gospel.

In the first chapter of Hebrews, we see God’s promise to Abraham that through Isaac many offspring would be born. As the writer of the Book of Hebrews tells us…

Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. – Hebrews 11:12

Before Abram, who became Abraham and Sarai, who became Sarah made the bad decision to use Sarai’s maidservant Hagar to “push” God’s promise, the Lord had promised a child would come from Abraham’s own body and his marriage to be his heir.

And behold, the word of the Lord came to Abraham, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” 5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. – Genesis 15:4-6

So we might ask… why did God test Abraham? Most biblical scholars place Isaac’s age at between 15 and 20 years old when the Lord gave his command. Perhaps Isaac, as the child of promise, had become the main focus of Abraham’s attention and he had begun, after a number of years of God’s silence between Genesis 21 and Genesis 22, to worship the gift, and not the Giver (Yahweh).

I know that we have all been guilty of this at some point. Perhaps we have a child who is the apple of our eye, who we feel can do no wrong, and we do not intervene with sound counsel when we know better. Or we remain too long in a job that was clearly a God-send at one time but that has now become unethical (I did this), or we maintain some pharisaical mindset because we think it is our duty as Christians, when in fact it is not our calling as followers of Christ at all.

The first verse of Gen. 22 gives us some insight into Abraham’s level of desire to please God and gives us some insight into the power of his faith…

Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”
And he said, “Here I am.” – Genesis 22:1

Abraham may not have heard from God (that we know of) for a long time since the end of Chapter 21, but he is quick to respond “Here I am”.

In the 2nd verse God gives His command to sacrifice Isaac (who since Ishmael’s departure is the “only son whom he loves”, and Abraham’s immediate response at the beginning of verse 3 is to “rise early in the morning and saddle up his donkey”.

Abe doesn’t argue, he doesn’t hesitate. He simply obeys. It is interesting that in Chapter 21, which we just read, when The Lord tells Abraham to cast out his other son Ishmael, he also “rose early in the morning” to do what God called him to do.

This is the first lesson for us. When God speaks, respond IMMEDIATELY. Don’t argue, don’t hesitate, just do it. How do we know when we hear from God? We will discuss that in a minute… But for now let’s talk about why we respond IMMEDIATELY in OBEDIENCE.

In Psalm 119 David shows that he understood this…

I made haste and did not delay to keep Your commandments. – Psalm 119:60

In 1 Samuel we see this scripture where Samuel the Prophet of the Lord tells Saul why the Lord is angry with him…

“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams. – 1 Samuel 15:22

This scripture also gives us some insight into the overarching narrative of this story. Abraham is between a rock and a hard place in that he would have known that God’s command to sacrifice his son seems contrary to everything Abraham knows of God’s character, yet he recognizes God’s voice and authority in his life and knows that obedience to God’s command is Job One.

This is Lesson two for us. Although it may be counter-intuitive to the lifestyles and choices we might make for ourselves, God’s Word and the commands He gives through His Holy Spirit and the Scriptures are to be our true guideposts and must be obeyed.

Through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord said this of Himself

…
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts. – Isaiah 55:8-9

The big picture here is that even if Abraham had begun trusting in his understanding of the promise that God had made concerning Isaac, he trusted in God Himself more.

The key to this is found in Verse 4 and 5.

Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. 5 And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.” – Genesis 22:4-5

This is where much confusion came in for the religious jews of the 10th Century and for their forefathers the Pharisees at the time of Jesus… Their limited understanding was this… Either their righteous Father Abraham was lying when he told the young men with him that he AND the boy would return, OR Abraham, who believed that God’s promise to use Isaac to bless the world, knew that this was a mere test of his faith. What they missed, apparently, is that Abraham had such unparalleled faith in his God that he knew in his spirit that test or not, even if God allowed Isaac to die, He would raise him to life again so that the promise would be fulfilled.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we generally presume the latter. Furthermore, we see Isaac as a type or foreshadowing of Jesus in that, as a nearly adult man of about 17, he allowed his 117 year old father to bind him to the altar when he clearly understood, just by the act of binding, that he was to BE the sacrifice. As a young man, surely, he could have overpowered his father and escaped this fate. Like Jesus, however, he laid down his life to the will of his father.

The story ends happily in that the Lord stops Abraham’s hand and Isaac is returned to his father. Abraham’s act of obedience has now apparently sealed the promise made in regards to Isaac as we see in verses 15-18.

Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, BECAUSE you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” – Genesis 22:15-18

Now I find myself asking only this question… Would God’s promise to Abraham that through Isaac would come a great nation, Israel, have come to fruition had Abraham NOT been obedient? That, I think, is only a mystery which we must accept as unknowable.

Now we come to the biggest question for US…

How do YOU hear from the Lord so clearly that you are compelled to action? If you don’t know the answer to that question you may be missing out on the power of God in your life. It is not a salvation issue perhaps, but it is a quality of spiritual life issue. How can you sensitize your inner person to “hear” from the Holy Spirit?
First, In Hebrews Chapter 11, which we call the Hall of Faith, we see a clue as to how Abraham was able to hear from God with certainty…

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. – Hebrews 11:6

Paul tells us, and we know that we have all been given a measure of faith. That faith should give us the earnest desire, like Abraham, to WANT to hear from God and to please Him with our obedience.
Secondly, remember what the Apostle James tells us…

2b. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3a. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss.– James 4:2b-3a

Surely walking out the will of God is His desire for our lives and thereby a prime example of asking rightly of God. This scripture indicates that we can ask to be made sensitive to God’s Will and His quiet voice in our spirit.

This scripture in Red, directly from Jesus, underscores this point…

“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. – Luke 11:9

Clearly if Jesus tells us this, then He will see it done by the power of His Spirit. My personal daily prayer is that the Lord would make me sensitive in my (small s) spirit to what His Holy Spirit IS DOING and align my (small w) will with His perfect Will.

I always quote this next scripture whenever I teach, because it is fundamental to our daily walk, in hearing from and being obedient to, His purpose for our daily lives.

“You are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which He has prepared beforehand, that you should walk in them.” – Ephesians 2:10

There is no doubt that when Abraham understood that the Lord was asking him to sacrifice Isaac, there could have been other ways for him to react. Fight or flight, the natural order of human reaction could have certainly kicked in. However, Abraham did not REACT to his fear, but rather RESPONDED, in his spirit, to what God was asking him to do. This only works if we have no other idols before God.

If we are wholly and completely surrendered to God, we will do what He asks of us as Abraham did. Sometimes He will accept our obedience from the heart in saying “yes Lord” to giving up something that has become an idol to us, and then He may allow us to keep that thing anyway, only because it is no longer a priority.

Other times He will demand the sacrifice. Either way, it is always for our own good and for His glory. In fact, I maintain, that anytime God is glorified, we are joyful.

James tells us this in regards to testing and trials…

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. – James 1:2-4

I asked our brother Kai if I could use him as an example of this today and he agreed. When I met Kai, he was a self-professed “lifetime smoker” and swore he not only couldn’t quit but had no desire to do so. After several years of friendship and discipleship, and much submission to the Word of God and seeking direction through the Holy Spirit with prayer, Kai heard from the Lord that it was time to quit, which he did, in obedience, and God made it not only possible, but easy for him to do so. God was glorified and Kai was and is still joyful because of the way he dealt with this idol in his life.

So… The biggest question to ask ourselves today is… “Do we want to hear from God and take on the idols in our lives. I hope that your answer today will be a resounding “Yes, Lord”.

Yesterday, just 5 days out of major neck surgery, adorned with a neck brace, I was able to play guitar and sing and lead worship with Donna and the worship team at Abundant Life. I believe that it was a great encouragement to our little church that just one week after they prayed over me I was back having never missed a beat. It was truly supernatural strengthening. This psalm is the only way that I can explain it….

Blessed is he who considers the poor;

The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.

The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive,

And he will be blessed on the earth;

You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.

The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness;

You will sustain him on his sickbed.

Psalm 41:1-3

In light of this miraculous healing, with all due gratitude and credit to the talented and dedicated Surgeon and Physician Assistant, both men of God with whom we prayed beforehand, I need to proclaim that God truly DOES strengthen and support His willing servants by providing every resource and protecting us from harm while giving us every good thing we need (physical, emotional and spiritual) to accomplish the good works that He has prepared beforehand to do. (Isaiah 54:17, psalm 91:11,12, James 1:17, Ephesians 2:10)

He will consistently bless those who will be willing to bless others with the blessing they have received.

During our brief sojourn in the hospital, Donna and I were able to pray for and encourage 8 Nurses and a Social Worker, many of whom had either lost their way or were struggling with faith.  All received the Good News and prophetic Touch from the Throne of Grace with joy and some tears.

One nurse slipped a note of gratitude into my backpack allowing me to glimpse how the Lord had pierced her armor with His love through this servant.  Be encouraged beloved!  If I, who consider myself, like the Apostle Paul to be “chief among sinners” can be used mightily by the Almighty God and Savior King of Glory, then all of us who profess and follow Jesus are more that capable of these acts of mercy and Grace.  Take up your cross today and see the deliverance of the Lord!  To Him be the Glory!

Blessings for the eternal Now,

John Henry

Here is the text of a sermon that I was privileged to give this morning at Abundant Life Church in Simi Valley…

In his last couple of sermons, Pastor George talked about the battle within us.  Although we become a “new creation” when we receive Jesus as Lord, and we have at that moment become “crucified with Him” and our body of sin is nailed to the Cross with Him, we often still struggle with the reality of ongoing sin in our lives.  As Pastor said, the answer to this problem is the renewing of our minds through the Holy Spirit.  Let’s talk a bit today about why we struggle, what the battlefield looks like and what we can do about it.

I’m going to start at the beginning….

2 Corinthians 5:17- Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

So… When we receive Jesus as Lord, our spirit is awakened from it’s dormancy.  At that moment we become a “new creation”.  As the Spirit of God hovered over the waters before the first creation, the Holy Spirit gently awakens our spirit to it’s new life as master and commander of our soul.

Our soul, which consists of our Mind, Emotions and Will often does not take this lightly.  After all, our soul, left to it’s own devices in the old person, had full reign over the Body, and our dormant spirit was suppressed by the raging desires of the flesh.  In this case the flesh I am referring to is that body of sin that is the soul’s nature without the influence, guidance and control of the Holy Spirit.

That is a lot to digest.  Let’s break it down a bit.

First, let’s talk a about the triune or Three-part Nature of God. We believe that there is One God in Three Persons.  I am often asked by seekers and unbelieving fellow Jews how it is possible that the One God of the Old Testament, referred to in the most Holy prayer of the Jews, the Sh’ma, which says, “hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One”, can be the Three Persons of the New Covenant as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and still be one God.   Here is a simple way to look at it…  Water is necessary to sustain life, just as the essence and underlying power of God is necessary to sustain life.  Now we all know that water is able to take three forms.  Liquid, Solid and Vapor.  So… water, ice or steam, they are all H2O which we all know as “water”.

This is an interesting analogy.  We refer to Jesus as the Living Water and He is the central Person of the Bible, the One who pre-existed Creation with the Father and the Holy Spirit and was the designer of the Universe.  It was Jesus who Himself became the Bridge between a Righteous, Holy God and depraved, sinful people so that the relationship between God and man could be restored.  Jesus is the one we come to when we are in need. He would be like water in it’s drinkable, consumable state.

The Father is the solid, rock-like Creator who gave all things life and under Whose authority Jesus put Himself in His time on earth and in Whom we trust.

The Holy Spirit is the One who hovered over the waters like vapor before the creation and is the One who is able to be in all places and all times drawing us to Jesus, strengthening us in our trials, and performing mighty miracles, all by the Will of God who is all three and yet One.  Amazing right?

Now let’s talk about the triune, three-part nature of people, you and me.  We are also three in one.  In the basic, a person consists of body, soul and spirit.  People often confuse the soul and spirit as the same but they are not.  Let’s break it down.

One. The Body. The body is the outside and inside physical working of the creature that is a man or woman.  It has five senses through which we perceive the world around us.  It is an amazing and incredibly complex engine that gives us the ability to experience physical sensations of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. It also allows us to think and speak and interact with other people and the world around us. The senses enable us to experience pleasure or pain.  The body does not like pain and generally craves pleasure.  That is One. The Body.

Two. The Soul.  The soul is the inner person, what the Bible calls the “heart” of a man.  The Lord told us through His Prophet Jeremiah about the unregenerated soul, “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” – Jeremiah 17:9.   In this scripture, Jeremiah refers to the human soul BEFORE the spirit is awakened by the Holy Spirit to make Jesus Lord.  The Soul interestingly, is also triune. Your soul has three parts.  It consists of, as we mentioned earlier, the Mind, the Emotions and the Will.  Except for the automatic functions that keep the body alive, the body does whatever the soul wants through the Will.

The reason that the soul without the spirit in control of it is so dangerous is that it is the abiding place of free will.  The soul without the spirit’s guidance is free will run riot.  I know that before Jesus took control of my spirit through the Holy Spirit, I was highly covetous, unstable and fear and desire ruled me.  It was particularly dangerous because the physical Body we have is always under the control of the soul.  Think of it.  Your mind, your emotions and your ability to make decisions (the will) are all you need to operate in the physical world.  Without the guidance of our spirit (which in my case was asleep in a back room), we can and will, do a lot of damage to ourselves and others.

Now as to number Three, the spirit of a person.  In the unregenerated person, that is, the person before the soul is awakened by the Holy Spirit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the spirit is like a baby.  It needs very little and does even less.  The sinful nature and all of the demanding of the soul of the Body’s time and attention keeps the spirit suppressed and the enemy’s constant lies and temptations make it even worse.  However, God has made available to us a great salvation from the power of Sin in the person of Jesus Christ!  So… Jesus did what only He could do so that our spirit can be restored into right relationship with God through the Power of the Holy Spirit!  Now can I get an amen Hallelujah?

So now that we are saved, and our soul is awakened, now what?

Paul tells us:

Romans 6:3-6  Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,  knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

So… Sin should no longer be a problem for us right?  And yet many of us are still in a battle.  Let’s look at how we can wage war in Christ Jesus against the sin that can trip us up.

This is what the spirit of a person looks like once it has been awakened and aligned properly with the Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus to the Glory of the Father…

A properly aligned new creation in Christ looks like this…  Instead of the person being a body run by a soul run riot carrying around a little baby spirit, the New Person is a healthy, vibrant spirit, in communion with the Holy Spirit, in the driver’s seat over the soul with the body as the engine that accomplishes good works.

So… once the spirit is awakened or regenerated in Christ, our mind, emotions and will are now also New Creations.  Our Mind is submitted to the Mind of Christ, our Emotions are now all Love and both our mind and emotions are receivers of the fruit of the spirit as the body now does good works through the power of our will that is aligned, receptive and obedient to God’s Will.  That is why Ephesians 2:10 tells us… we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

So…

If you are not living a life of power, grace, truth and love then you are losing that battle.  Let’s talk about how to win and finish well.

Paul describes the battle we are in and how to be prepared to win it.  Here is his description…

Ephesians 6:10-13 – Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

The problem, it seems, is also the solution.  We have access to the whole Armor of God in Christ but we have to put it on.  Our will is still free.  So if we want to win the battles we face we must be intentional about it.

As the Holy Spirit lives in us through communication with our spirit, like an Admiral to our Captain, we are also “hidden with Christ in God”.  Just as God sees His Beloved son when He looks at us in Christ Jesus, so when we are wearing the full Armor of God, the enemy sees Jesus. No contest there right?  He has to flee. Let’s see what the whole Armor of God looks like….

Ephesians 6:14-17 – Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

In order to be effective in the battle against our own sinful flesh, which remains to some degree even in the born-again person, we need to put on, EVERY day, the full Armor of God.  The enemy will attack wherever we are weak or unprotected.  The Belt, the Breastplate, the Shield and the Helmet are all defensive weapons.

The Belt is the Truth of the Gospel and we who believe are wearing it at all times. We hold the Truth of the Gospel at the very Center core of our lives.

The Breastplate is the Righteousness of God, not our own self-righteousness, and is attached to the Belt of Truth. When we have on God’s Truth and Righteousness, the powers and principalities cannot penetrate to our weaknesses because we are protected by God’s Kingdom Power.

The Shield of Faith is our most important defensive weapon. An unshakeable faith is the surest defense against the fiery arrows of the evil one.  Here’s what using your faith in God’s promises as a shield looks like… The devil tells me I am weak, confused, untrustworthy, foolish and unloved.  My faith tells me that I am strong (in Him), confident (in Him), trustworthy (in Him), wise (in Him) and beloved always.  Fiery darts? Quenched!

The armor for the feet and lower part of the body is the “Preparation of the Gospel of Peace”.  With this protection we move forward confidently, already prepared because we have done the work of studying His Gospel and as we advance, with the goal of freeing the captives of the enemy with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we are protected because as we advance, peace is established.

We “take up” the Helmet of Salvation.  Now the Helmet of Salvation is not our salvation itself, which is assured to us when we first receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  The Helmet is the HOPE of eternal life with which we are protected from the lies and doubt that the enemy uses to throw us off.  We take up this HOPE every time we are attacked with doubt and God strengthens us because we have chosen to Hope in His promise that we will live forever with Him.  The lies of the enemy therefore cannot stick in our mind.

Our offensive weapon is the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.  John the Beloved tells us that Jesus Christ was “The Word” from the beginning and was with God and He was God.  Having accomplished the work of the Cross, He sits on the right Hand of the Father, calling on the Holy Spirit to defend the brethren. HE Himself is our offensive weapon against the enemy of our souls. As was told the Kings of Judah whenever they would return to the Lord,

“The battle is not ours, but God’s! – Chronicles 20:15 

When we wield the Sword of the Spirit, all three, Father, Son and Holy Spirit move as one to attack the enemy and victory is assured.

The Lord has also provided us with the Bible, the inspired, written Word of God, which when we apply it, sends the enemy fleeing and also slays the demons that have been dispatched to waylay us on the battlefield.  God Himself strengthens our spiritual arms for the battle when we wield this Sword faithfully.

Hebrews 4:12 – For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Here is something to think about… The Word of God, also known as the Sword of the Spirit, helps us to divide what is soulish (our own desires) from what is truly spiritual (His will for us).  When we spend time meditating on His Word, His Holy Spirit guides us into understanding and the renewing of our mind which leads us into the newness of life.

Finally…

Ephesians 6:18 – praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints

Prayer is HOW we use the offensive weapons that belong to the Armor of God.  With our defensive Armor in place, and our Shield of Faith at the ready, using the Sword of the Holy Spirit, we can pray effectively for wisdom and strengthening in whatever trials we are in, for help in overcoming sin on the battlefield, and we can effectively bring God’s power into the lives of our families, our friends and our neighbors as well as all the saints worldwide!  How?

2 Corinthians 10:4 – For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds

So now we have seen how we passed from death into Life.  We have all been crucified with our Lord and raised up as soldiers who report to our Supreme Commanding Officer Jesus.  We have power and authority over all demonic powers and principalities in this world.  We only have to armor up and use the power of the Holy Spirit to see the victory.  To God be the Glory!

Here is something I have used to encourage the troops in my favorite role as Kingdom Field Lieutenant…

I am a soldier in the Army of my God. The Lord Jesus Christ is my Commanding Officer.

The Holy Bible is my Code of Conduct.

Faith, Prayer, and the Word are my weapons of warfare.

I have been taught by the Holy Spirit, trained by experience, tried by adversity and tested by fire.

I am a volunteer in this Army, and I am enlisted for eternity. I will either retire in this Army when the Lord returns, or die in this Army; but I will not get out, sell out, be talked out, or pushed out.

I am faithful, reliable, capable and  dependable.

If my God needs me, I am there.

If He needs me in Sunday school, to teach the children, or on the streets to work with the youth, feed the poor or preach to the lost, He can use me because I am there!

I am a soldier. I am not a baby.

I do not need to be pampered, petted, primed up, pumped up, picked up or pepped up. I am a soldier.

No one has to call me, remind me, write me, visit me, entice me, or lure me. I am a soldier.

I am not a wimp. I am in place, saluting my King, obeying His orders, praising His name, and building His Kingdom! No one has to send me flowers, gifts, food, cards, candy or give me handouts. I do not need to be cuddled, cradled, cared for, or catered to.

I am committed. I cannot have my feelings hurt bad enough to turn me around. I cannot be discouraged enough to turn me aside. I cannot lose enough to cause me to quit.

When Jesus called me into the Army, I had nothing. If I end up with nothing, I will still come out ahead. I will win. My God has and will continue to supply all my needs. I am more than a conqueror. I will always triumph.

I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me. Devils cannot defeat me. People cannot disillusion me. Weather cannot weary me. Sickness cannot stop me. Battles cannot beat me. Money cannot buy me. Governments cannot silence me and hell cannot handle me. I am a soldier.

Death cannot destroy me. For when my commander calls me from this battlefield, He will promote me to Captain and then allow me to rule with Him. I am a soldier in the Army, and I’m marching, claiming victory. I will not give up. I will not turn around. I am a soldier, marching heaven bound. Here I stand! Will you stand with me?

In His Grip Of Grace and Full Armor,

John Henry