New Creation!

Over the past 9 weeks we have looked at God's plan of redemption through the Old Testament. Since Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden (Genesis 3) We've seen our need for a redeemer (Exodus 12). We've seen the sin defeated by the suffering servant (Isaiah 53), the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34), and ultimately God's power over death (Ezekiel 37:1-14).

But what does all that lead to? What's in store? The prophets have a lot to say about this as well... 

In the first part of Isaiah 65 we see God's response to the prophet regarding salvation and judgment starting in (Is 65:17) we see the final stages of what God plans to do once judgment has been rendered. 

“For I will create a new heaven and a new earth; the past events will not be remembered or come to mind. Then be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I will create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people. The sound of weeping and crying will no longer be heard in her. In her, a nursing infant will no longer live only a few days, or an old man not live out his days. Indeed, the youth will die at a hundred years, and the one who misses a hundred years will be cursed. People will build houses and live in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They will not build and others live in them; they will not plant and others eat. For My people’s lives will be like the lifetime of a tree. My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands.  They will not labor without success or bear children destined for disaster, for they will be a people blessed by the Lord along with their descendants. Even before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but the serpent’s food will be dust! They will not do what is evil or destroy on My entire holy mountain,” says the Lord.

What a promise! What an image!  “The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but the serpent’s food will be dust!”

This is the fulfilment of the promise given to Adam and Eve in the garden when God told the serpent that the seed of the woman would crush his head!

Our journey isn’t over as we still have to trek through the New Testament but join us Sunday to look at the final chapter of our journey in the Old Testament!

Dry Bones

To this point in our journey we have have seen that God created a Kingdom, and he is the King. He made mankind to represent him in his kingdom but Adam and Eve rejected this call, which led to sin and death entering into the world. But God being a God of grace and mercy did not leave them without hope. He promised a redeemer, the seed of the woman, the promise of Abraham. A king would be raised up from the royal line of Judah, from the City of David, the covenant blessings would come to the world because all mankind was guilty and deserving death. The sacrifices of the Mosaic Law revealed more clearly their need for a substitute – the suffering servant…

So through the Suffering Servant we see that our sins have been atoned for - that still leaves the other side of the curse. Death. How does God intend to deal with that? We begin to see the answer to that question in Ezekiel 37. 

 The hand of the Lord was on me, and He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me all around them. There were a great many of them on the surface of the valley, and they were very dry. 3 Then He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I replied, “Lord God, only You know.”

4 He said to me, “Prophesy concerning these bones and say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Lord God says to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you will live. 6 I will put tendons on you, make flesh grow on you, and cover you with skin. I will put breath in you so that you come to life. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.”

7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 As I looked, tendons appeared on them, flesh grew, and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. 9 He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath,[a]prophesy, son of man. Say to it: This is what the Lord God says: Breath, come from the four winds and breathe into these slain so that may live!” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me; the breath[b] entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, a vast army.

11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.Look how they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore, prophesy and say to them: This is what the Lord God says: I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them, My people, and lead you into the land of Israel. 13 You will know that I am Yahweh, My people, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 

Look at what God tells our prophet in vs 12 -  "I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them..." 

God demonstrates in this passage his power over death and the grave. This is pretty important part of the story considering the way the story plays out in the New Testament. 

See ya Sunday! 

Just a little angry...

*If you are easily offended I suggest you skip reading my blog post this week… If you do read and you get offended take a deep breath and look in the mirror because I warned you…  I read a lot… I mean a lot a lot –  As I sat back after my weeks reading, I look at the tabs open on my browser articles dealing with eugenics, abortion, public justice issues, immigration issues, presidential primaries, and reformation theology; I just keep getting drawn back to a post made by a friend on Facebook – I don’t know if she was serious or just frustrated at the current political landscape but it doesn’t matter because the original post isn’t even what my mind keeps drawing back to… it was one of the comments… to be precise a comment on a comment…

The original post was a pondering as to if other countries would accept refugees from the USA if Trump were elected this fall – the comment on a comment was made by another friend – her son (adopted from Ethiopia I think he is around 6 or 7 now) was almost in tears explaining to her that if Trump were elected he wanted their family to move, to leave the country, because he was afraid they might all end up in an “internment camp since our kids are immigrants".

Now I don’t care what your politics are that just resonates – even a young child sees the danger in extremism… You might say well that would never happen… tell that to the folks about 100 miles south who lost all their rights when they followed a guy promising them that they would all own a piece of land, have free health care and free education… Anyone who opposed him once he had the power was either killed, imprisoned, or shipped off…

Why are we as adults so blinded by the left or right that we can’t see the hate and lack of maturity in both of our mainstream political parties? I have genuinely attempted on several occasions the past few months to watch both parties debates, earnestly praying and seeking God’s direction for our country but I will be honest it scares me… Neither the right nor the left seem to be willing to look past their own disdain for the other party and for the other members of their own party… The problem is always the other guy…

It makes me sick to think that in a few short weeks I (as the vast majority of you) will be headed to the local polling location to cast a ballot… This ballot, this primary election ballot is one of the most controversial yet the most important we have had in the last 100 years… We are deciding the fate of our country… My hope and prayer is that wisdom from God descends and people come to their senses and stop this madness…

As someone who has actually been to more than one dictator torn countries and seen firsthand the suffering of the socialist state there is much to be feared in handing over the keys of our country…  It’s not roses and daffodils, with free health care and everyone happy and at peace with one another… Nor is it a utopia where everyone is the same skin tone speaking the same language… What members on both sides are proposing is essentially that… Different verbiage but it’s to one extreme or the other… I am afraid that if we the people don’t stand up for our faith and stand up for our rights as people, if we just let the extremists battle it out hoping they fizzle out in the end we won’t have a country standing come November.  

Bottom line is this… our children should not fear internment camps or deportation… what happened to "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..." – I am all for the extreme – but where that extreme should be… an extreme faith in an extremely gracious and merciful God – 

God's Acorns

 This week we arrive at the story of David. In 2 Samuel 7 David is sitting on his throne in his cedar palace looking out, his enemies at his feet, he could do no wrong... He's looking out and sees the tent which contained the Ark of the Lord.  David thinks to himself, the God of the Universe deserves better than a tent... His pastor Nathan initially agrees with him... Assuming that David known for being a man after God's own heart would know better than anyone what God wants...

However that's where the story changes - David doesn't get to build a house for God to dwell in, instead God desires to build David a great house - A lasting house, one in which we see the promise of a Father-Son relationship and an unconditional covenant. 

I can only imagine that to Nathan and David, much as with Abraham and Jacob, God revealing this great promise to them would be akin to us holding a tiny little acorn trying to visualize the mighty oak tree that results from within it. They knew that God had a plan and they were blessed to be a part of it, their salvation was accounted to them because of their faith (Galatians 3:6-9).  

Has God revealed any acorns of promise to you recently? What did you do with them? Did you discard them because you couldn't imagine what they could possibly become or did you plant them and nurture them in faith and hope of what God was planning for you? 

Signal Jammed?

Much is made of prayer in the local church and for good reason, it is the direct line of communication we have with our creator. 

People often ask for prayers for sickness, grief, or troubles, they offer praises for all sorts of things such as new babies or for healing. But when we pray are we praying as effectively as we can? 

God is very much concerned about the condition of our hearts and when we come to him with often very pressing and valid requests we need to ensure that the lines of communication are clear and open. Meaning we need to be right before God.... 

Check it out -- 

I am sure that we could far more than this but for the sake of simplicity here are 7 conditions that hinder prayer as indicated in Scripture...

1. Known or un-confessed sin (Psalm 66:18; Isaiah 59:1-2) 

2. Rejecting the clearly revealed will of God (1 Sam. 8:18; Prov. 28:9)

3. Praying with the wrong motive (James 4:3)

4. Harboring idols (Ezekiel 14:3)

5. An unforgiving spirit (Mark 11:25-26)

6. Failure to respond to the needs of the poor (Prov. 21:13)

7. Domestic conflict (1 Peter 3:7)

When we pray it is important that we search our own hearts first - read these passages - God's not joking around with it... 

Let's change the world with prayer starting with our own hearts... 

Two feet of Silver Dollars...

Week 5 we are looking at Judah’s blessing (Genesis 49:8-12) which is the clearest picture of the Messiah we have so far, Messianic prophecies were given throughout the Old Testament so we would recognize the Messiah when he came. Some told what he would do, some described his birth, others revealed what would happen to him at the hands of others. Many are details that could in no way be manipulated by a counterfeit.

There are between 350-450 Messianic prophecies found in the Old Testament All of which were foretold between 400 and 1,000 years before Christ was born. That’s a pretty impressive number. Now the really cool part. Jesus fulfilled them all! That adds some veracity to the claims he made about Himself, doesn’t it?

What’s the probability that one person (Jesus) could fulfill multiple prophecies?

Peter Stoner, Professor Emeritus of Science at Westmont College, with the help of 600 students, worked out the probability that one man could fulfill only eight prophecies. His numbers were widely reviewed by scientists and skeptics alike and found to be sound. The chance he came up with? One in 10 to the 17th power. That’s a one with seventeen zeros.

1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000 – so One in One Hundred Quadrillion…that someone could fulfill 8 prophecies much less 300+

To help us wrap our brains around that figure, he provided this analogy:

Suppose that we take 10 to the 17th silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They’ll cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would’ve had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote them in their own wisdom.

Hope to see you on Sunday when we look at this particular prophecy in more detail!

The Promise of Abraham

The last three weeks what did we see? God created a kingdom, and is the King. He created mankind to uniquely represent him in that kingdom however Adam and Eve rejected that call. As a result of Adam and Eve’s rejection of God’s perfect plan sin and death entered the picture. However God did not leave them without hope as we saw last week, God provided a plan for a redeemer.

This week we are going to see how that plan continues to unfold in scriptures specifically in the life of Abraham.

Genesis 11 we have the story of the Tower of Babel – up to this chapter in Genesis we have been focused the human race as a whole – setting the table for the understanding of a universal history. It is here in chapter 11 that history is contracted and becomes national. It isn’t the design of Scripture to record the famous deeds of all men everywhere, to trace the rise and fall of the kingdoms of the world, rather to unfold the spiritual dealings of God with man. The author of Genesis therefore, after marking the downward tendency of mankind, now calls attention to a man on who, God’s light had shined, who was to be the only hope of a world which had nearly perished in the ruins of its corruption.

God chose Abraham that He might make him a worthy ancestor of the children of faith, and the founder of a nation by means of which he was to illustrate the ways of His providence and grace.

The knowledge of God had nearly disappeared from the world it had been over 400 years since the last recorded communication from heaven… The call of Abraham was a spiritual revival – a fresh starting place in the religious history of mankind. 

Genesis 12:1-4

1 The Lord said to Abram: Go out from your land, your relatives,
and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you,
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt,
and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him.
Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran.

Life as a screw up…

The last two weeks we’ve been looking at the picture of how God intended life to be. As he created it and declared it to be very good (Genesis 1:31). This week we are going to look at the result of mankind’s failure to adhere to God’s standard and God’s promise to defeat the Serpent through the seed of the woman… 

Adam and Eve were created with a purpose (Genesis 1:28) “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”

This really should not have been at this point in time a difficult task as creation was remember “very good”.  In fact In Genesis 2:15-16 when God placed him in the garden to care for it he was only given one warning, not to eat of one single tree… The rest of the creation was at his fingertips Genesis 1:29-30 says that every green plant was given for food…

But as we see in this week’s passage man wasn’t satisfied. We are good at screwing up a good thing aren’t we? Guess it comes natural… Adam and Eve rejected God’s perfect plan for themselves and brought pain and destruction down on the rest of mankind for what seemed like eternity. When they fell they hid… They ran from God because they were scared…

But God wasn’t going to leave them without hope… And in Genesis 3:15 we have a blueprint for hope being introduced.

“I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.
He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”

It the midst of what looks like a very dark providence, God’s smiling face shines through in the most amazing way. Humanity may be cursed as a result of sin but God doesn’t leave them without hope. It was as if God was commuting their sentence even while he pronounced it…

The consequences of sin were serious and still are some 6000 years later… Pain in childbirth, relational conflict, toil in work, expulsion from the garden, and the worst of it death and separation from God…

But what a great God not allowing sing to have the last word!

This hostility was not some simple rivalry that would fade away and be forgotten over time nor would it be resolved quickly. Rather it would continue for many generations to come until eventually in God’s perfect time the true Son would deliver the final crushing blow to the head of the Serpent when he was hung on the cross.

As the prophecy of Genesis 3:15 unfolds in the early chapters of the Bible, we can see the themes for the rest of the redemptive story in action.  We can see God’s sovereign hand in all of it. You see all of Genesis 4-11, and really the rest of Scripture, is an outworking of Genesis 3:15.

While the hostility between the seed of the woman and the seed of the Serpent was a real lasting battle, the promise found in this very first proclamation of the good news was never in doubt.

God created a kingdom, and he is the King, but he made man to represent him in that kingdom. Adam and Eve rejected that call, which led to sin and death. But God promised to defeat the Serpent through the seed of the woman.

Made in ???

Where a product is grown or manufactured has become an important aspect of many people's lives - we want to know that the food we put on the table for our families is grown and handled in safe ways. Cars, electronics, clothes, medicine, if you see a made in the USA stamp on it more people are apt to trust the quality. All because of where it's made... 

Last week as we began by laying the foundation for our faith we looked at Genesis 1:31, God’s declaration that his creation, his kingdom was complete, and it was “very good.” God created a kingdom, and he is the King is where we left off but God’s creation doesn’t end with that. He made human beings to represent him in that Kingdom – Look at Genesis chapter 1 again, this time let’s look at verse 27-28:

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Even though God had every right to rule his creation, God chose not to do it alone. Instead, he created Adam and Eve as the crowning achievement -- the pinnacle of His creation. Just as everything else in creation Adam and Eve were created for a specific role… to serve as his image bearers, or representatives, in creation.

When we stop for a moment to consider what it means to be made in the image of God, it doesn’t take long to get lost in a maze of theological discussion – this is a major point of contention and has been debated by scholars for centuries thus we don’t have time to unpack all the different arguments here but there are a couple of key options we need to consider this morning.

Some argue that the image of God is primarily related to our ability to use reason and intellect. Some argue it is tied to our ability to relate to God and our fellow man. Others say that the image of God is tied to the task and mission that God gave to Adam and Eve. In reality it is most likely a combination; our image is found in both the characteristics AND the relational aspects that we share with God.

In the ancient world, an image of one of the pagan gods would be placed in a temple in order to represent that god. While it’s not a perfect parallel between that pagan practice and the concept of the image of God, we could say that we too are God’s representatives here on earth. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:20a “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us...”

This doesn’t mean that we are to walk around worshiping each other – instead, it means that we are able to fulfill the commission that he has given to us found in Genesis 1:27-28…

By being created in the image of God Adam and Eve were able to do what God had called them (and us) to do…

But are we the image God made us to be? Can we fulfill our mission if we are living in rebellion against the Creator?

Hope to see you Sunday as we explore what it means to be created in the image of our Creator!

Creator God

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. - Genesis 1:31

As we begin this week with our new series following the narrative of Christ from the beginning to the end of the story we are going to start by laying a foundation -

The Bible starts with a very familiar story to most, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…

Our view of the world begins with our view of God. The way that we think about God shapes the way that we think about everything else, along with the way we act and respond to every circumstance.

Because of this, we need to get our understanding of God straight before we go any further in this series… 

In other words, as we set out to tell the story of the Bible, we have to begin with God. As the author of the Bible and the hero of every story found in it, we can’t even begin to think about telling the story without starting with him.

To do this, we are going to start as the last verse of the first chapter… Genesis 1:31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

At first glance, Genesis 1 doesn’t seem to give us much information about God. Instead, it seems as if we have just the story of creation, with the existence of God more or less assumed. But as we read through the account of the creation week, the authority of God is pretty astonishing.

God speaks, and things happen…

I don’t know about you but I am sure glad that this is the God that I serve – 

So how does Christ fit into this? Find out on Sunday @ 11!  

God's Goodness and Love

The past three weeks as we’ve been joyfully awaiting the glorious coming of Christ we’ve studying about the Hope, Peace, and Joy that surrounds the first and second comings of our Lord and Savior.

This Sunday we will relight the first three candles of the Advent Wreath — the candles of HOPE, PEACE and JOY. Then we reach the fourth candle of Advent. This is the candle of LOVE. Christ demonstrated self-giving love in his ministry as the Good Shepherd. Advent is a time for kindness, thinking of others, and sharing with others. It is a time to love as God loved us by giving us his most precious gift. As God is love, let us be love also.

Romans 5:6-11 is another example of a perfect Advent Gospel passage – “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

What a promise!

Even if the Lord never showed anyone mercy, His character would remain unblemished. However, in His rich goodness and love, He has decided to shower mercy on some so that we might better know how deep and how wide His goodness really is.

John 13:34-35 says:

 “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

This Advent season will you allow the love of God to change you from the inside out? Will you love one another as much as you love Christ?

Joy in?

This time of year there is always a lot of talk about joy… But really what is joy? 

Joy is more than being happy…Joy is the byproduct of obedience! 

If you struggle with joy, you aren’t struggling with happiness you are struggling with obedience.

The Greek word for joy is chara. Joy is the natural reaction to the work of God, whether promised or fulfilled. Joy expresses God's kingdom.

The Greek chara is closely related to charis, which means “grace” or “a gift.” Chara is the normal response to charis—we have joy because of God's grace. Now this is the key - possessing joy is a choice. We choose whether to value God's presence, promises, and work in our lives. When we rejoice in Him, when we yield to the Spirit, He opens our eyes to God's grace around us and fills us with joy (Romans 15:13). Joy is not to be found in a fallen world; it is only fellowship with God that can make our joy complete (1 John 1:4).

The next step in the progression is to allow our joy to become an action as we express it. During the season of Advent we are rejoicing in the Lord for his coming - Philippians 4:4-5 says “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.”

Rejoice is the Greek word it is chairó -- it is the expression of joy. The command to rejoice shares the same Greek root as joy – xar. When you start putting the pieces together you get an incredible message….

The root means literally, to experience God's grace, be conscious for His grace. To express joy, or to rejoice is to be glad for God’s grace.

We are to be glad for God’s grace – we are to let it be known to everyone, because the Lord is near! What a synopsis of Advent! 

A Voice in the Desert...

Christmas is coming! Decorations are going up, presents are being bought and wrapped, electricity is in the air, Christmas parties... TV specials... anticipation is building to the day... 

Though there are no stats to prove it I’d wager this time of year, leading to Christmas and New Year’s is one of the most popular times of the year to have parties…

How do you go about getting ready for guests? You clean the kitchen, the bathrooms, you run the vacuum, make the beds… maybe put out some candles, bake some cookies so the house smells nice and fresh right?

There is preparation work that has to get done before you feel ready… that’s the key…

Now imagine you are planning to have a party on Sunday but everyone shows up on Friday… Feel prepared?

Jesus is coming soon… How are you preparing for his arrival? 

Our text this week is from Luke 3:1-18.

John the Baptist was sent to prepare the people of Israel for the coming of the Messiah. He called people to repentance. He called the people to prepare themselves for the Messiah’s arrival.

Luke is quoting from Isaiah 40:4-5 here, in Isaiah’s day it was common practice for Kings and Rulers send heralds before them in a journey to clear away obstacles, make causeways over valleys, and level hills to provide a smooth journey and prepare the people for the Kings arrival… They wanted large crowds of excited people waiting in every town…  

So John's duty was to bring back the people to obedience to the law and to remove all self-confidence, pride in national privileges, hypocrisy, and irreligion, so that they should be ready for His coming…

How were the people to prepare themselves? – How are you preparing yourself?

Luke via John the Baptist’s example gives us four clear ways to prepare for Jesus’s arrival in the passage – if you want to hear the rest you will have to come Sunday @ 11!