A child is born. Nothing new right. It happens every day. And to those who are not in the family, it's not a big deal. Oh they will ooohhh and aaahhh over the baby when he is here, but quickly they will go back to their lives, and the parents will move on to parenting with love and logic.
But 2000 years ago something different happened. Luke 1 is a great version of the story. 1st John was born. The parents were very elderly and had no kids. They were not shunned in the community, but many people (including themselves I'm sure) thought they had done something wrong or something against God since He had not blessed them with children. Yet one day when Zechariah was performing his priestly duties, he was visited by the angel Gabriel who said he would have a son. A blessing, prophesy fulfilled.
Then 6 months later, another blessed miracle. A virgin is visited by the same angel and is told she will be pregnant and give birth to the savior of the world. The miracles never cease. The elderly woman gets pregnant and the virgin gets pregnant. What's more is the 2nd baby will be the savior to all mankind. He will be called the "Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of David and he will rule over Jacob's house forever. His kingdom will never end."
But why? Why would the Son of God (God himself) come to be part of creation? He could easily have wiped out the powers that be and set up shop. To understand, we have to go back to Genesis 1. You see, in Genesis 1, God made man and woman. We were his creation. We were (are) children of God. But the problem came when we listened to someone other than God. On that day so long ago, Adam and Eve listened to the snake who talked them into doing the ONE thing God said not to do. They had so much freedom. Being in the family and so close to God was freeing.
I'm not sure the snake talked them into eating the fruit, as much as he showed them the fruit and they talked themselves into eating it. However it happened, they ate. And punishment was swift. Childbirth is painful for the woman (I wonder what it would have been like without the Fall) and work is toilsome and painful for the man. The snake is cursed (I probably would have done the same to the snake without him being bad. I hate snakes).
So we are now cut off from paradise and alienated from God. Does any of this sound familiar. Painful childbirth; check. Toiling away at work; check. Hating snakes; double check. Feeling like there is something just outside your grasp that you catch glimpses of here and there but never see the full picture; big check.
So after the separation and alienation between God and man, something needs to happen to bring them back together. It's those friends you have that were a couple but broke up and you know they were meant for each other and you know they need to be together, so you will think of ways for them to do it. That's our way of doing it. Daniel 9 is kind of like that. A god-like person comes into the world and sets up shop. He takes over everything becoming a great ruler. He lets the Jews start to sacrifice in the temple again. If you want to get on someone's good side, let them do what they love. But just a few years later, this ruler is ready to go the next step. He sets up shop in the temple. He made himself God and king. Isn't that how we would save the world too? The rich and powerful rule over everything. We need to become one of them to change things. But that's not how God did it.
To reconcile his family and bring his lost children back to him, he invaded their world. Not as a mighty conqueror but as a little baby. Something that would never be expected, and for sure something none of us would think of. Because of this little baby, our family was reconciled. We as children can go back to the Father, and the Father will open his arms wide and accept us in.
Many times it's the same with our earthly families. Sometime in the past, the parent screwed up and turned his/her back on her children alienating them. And the children with all their emotional energy ran as fast as they could. Of course the child had help. Those around him/her helped push her along that road farther away from the parent.
But then a miracle happened. A baby was born. The once child has to grow up in 9 months and become an adult. She has a baby, and the muck and dirt and pain and suffering are cleaned off the hearts of the parent and grand-parent. The past is put in the past and the future is a bright almost paradise. The pictures of the beautiful glorious family we have gotten glimpses of in the past are coming to fruition. Although this earthly paradise is not perfection, it is a start.
That's how it happened for me. Our child was born. I wiped out the past regarding my dad and started fresh. There are some things I can tell you from my experience. One is your parent has changed. He is not the same dumb-ass he was before. She is not the same selfish mother you remember. Two is you have changed. Your not that bundle of emotions you were before. You are now mom (or dad) and you had to grow up.
Your experiences have made you who you are; your decisions will make you who you become.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Jesus and Jonah
A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales.The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though they were a very large mammal their throat was very small.The little girl stated Jonah was swallowed by a whale.The teacher reiterated a whale could notswallow a human; it was impossible.The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah."The teacher asked, "What if Jonah went to hell?"The little girl replied, "Then you ask him."
How do you know the story of Jonah was real? All I can say is Jesus referenced him specifically in regard to being in the belly of the whale for 3 days. It doesn’t seem to be written like a fanciful story. I’m going with truth.
There are many parallels between Jonah and Jesus. I want to document below not a parallel of their whole lives, but a parallel of their “death” and “resurrection”.
Jonah 1:4-16
4 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish."
7 Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
8 So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?"
9 He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."
10 This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.)
11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"
12 "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you."
13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried to the LORD, "O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased." 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.
In the beginning, God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach to them to turn from their self-destructive ways. The problem is Jonah’s people didn’t like the Ninevites. He would be all happy to let them be destroyed. He knew God’s power of changing minds and he knew that if he went there to preach, they would change. Jonah didn’t want that. So he goes to the port of Joppa and hops on a boat to Tarshish, which is the opposite way from Nineveh. He wasn’t running because he wanted to disrespect God. He was running because he didn’t want God to succeed in this task.
But then in vs. 4, a huge storm came and threatened to break the ship into pieces. Sailors that were used to storms were afraid of this one. Jonah on the other hand was in the bottom of the ship taking a nap.
This is where the 1st parallel comes in. Luke 8:22-25
22One day Jesus said to his disciples, "Let's go over to the other side of the lake." So they got into a boat and set out. 23As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.
24The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we're going to drown!"
He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. 25"Where is your faith?" he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him."
A storm comes along on the lake. The disciples are scared because their boat is not big and if the storm is a decent size, they will tip over. Sounds like the sailors in the boat with Jonah don't it? But Jesus is asleep in the boat just like Jonah. Not knowing what to do, they run to the one who is acting differently. Jesus is calm. Jesus says faith in God will save you and calm the sea. Jonah tells the sailors to throw him overboard because his God is controlling the storm. In both instances, God is in control.
In Jonah 1:12 the sailors wanted to save themselves by praying to their false gods and throwing stuff overboard to make the ship lighter. In another sea story where Peter walks on water out to Jesus, as long as he keeps his eyes on Jesus he does great, but when he takes his eyes off Jesus and looks at his feet to “do it his own way”, he starts to sink (see Matthew 14:29-30). In Jonah 1:16, after the sailors throw Jonah overboard and the storm calms, the sailors are in awe and worship the true God. In Luke 8 they were in fear and amazement (sounds like awe) of Jesus and his control of the storm.
We now turn to Jonah 2:1-9. This is his prayer to God. It could easily be called a prayer of lamentation. “In trouble, deep trouble, I prayed to God.” (The Message).
1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. 2 He said: "In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave [a] I called for help, and you listened to my cry.
3 You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.
4 I said, 'I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.'
5 The engulfing waters threatened me, [b] the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God.
7 "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.
8 "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD."
Jonah cries out to God. He is going down and feels death’s grip around him. Through 6a, Jonah says he is going down to the depths as deep as he can go, “to the root of the mountains”. Basically, he felt he was thrown into Sheol and the keys were thrown away never to be released. Total despair.
Jesus has similar concerns, but he is quicker to turn around. Before Jesus is taken into custody (knowing full well what is about to happen) he goes into the Garden of Gethsemene to pray. He takes the three disciples that have been closest to him, Peter, James and John, to pray for him in this time of struggle.
Matthew 26:36-44
36Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." 37He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."
39Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."
40Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. 41"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."
42He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done."
43When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
In despair and agony he asked God to “take this cup from me”. He knew what was coming. The pain. The rejection. The death. The end.
Just like Jonah though, Jesus knew this was his destiny. God’s plan, God’s world, God himself is bigger than us. We may think we know the end game, but God has other ideas. Read vs. 8 in the Jonah passage again.
vs8 "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. "
Jonah is specifically talking about Ninevah. Those who worship hollow gods, god-frauds, walk away from their only true love. They are so lost they cannot see the grace that is available to them, that has saved me in this sea. That whale was God’s grace, and Jonah accepted. Jesus also accepted with “…thy will be done.”
3 Days
Jonah 1:17 17 But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.
For three days Jonah was in the nasty muck of whatever the whale swallowed. I’m sure it felt like death. When you read the prayer again in Jonah 2, you see that Jonah was also stuck in the mire of his own disobedience. Jesus though was obedient (not happily of course) and went to his death and was dead 3 days.
Matthew 12:39-40 (as well as other passages such as John 2:19)
39He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The “heart of the earth” can be translated (maybe transliterated is better” as Sheol which is OT for the place between heaven and hell. Read the story about Abraham and Lazarus and the chasm between them when they die. It can also be translated as where the sin is (maybe hell). The heart of man is where sin resides according the bible. The heart of the earth would be where sin resides after death…Hell. Jesus could not resurrect himself. He had to rely on God 3 days later to bring him back from the dead.
He took on all the sins of the world and was dragged down to the depths. This makes me think of the movie The Mummy 2, where at the end the bad guy is pulled down by all the demons. I can’t find a video of that though.
Jesus and Jonah die. They are dead for 3 days. Then in Jonah 2:10 the fish spits him up on the beach. In John 21:4 Jesus is on the beach cooking some fish. I love being on the beach, especially in the morning when the sun is just coming up. It’s peaceful, like everything is new.
The whale for Jonah was grace that saved him. The fish Jesus was cooking was a gift (isn’t that what grace is) given to the disciples when they made it to shore. The result is the same. Both Jesus and Jonah are changed people and they are changing people. The disciples (and all the people for 40 days that see Jesus) change their lives to follow the risen Lord. The Ninevites believe this guy from Joppa who normally would not want anything good for them. He must be sent from God. Their hearts are turned and moved to repentance.
WHATS DIFFERENT??
OK….what’s different between Jesus and Jonah? That’s a good question and there is one HUGE answer.
Jesus willingly went to save those who were on the path to destruction. Jesus looked upon Jerusalem with a breaking heart with sorrow because of all the lost people he could see. Jonah went to Ninevah because he was told to go. Jesus came to this world because he wanted to. All of Nenevah (the text specifically mentioning the King) repented and asked God for forgiveness (see Jonah 3:6-7). Change at Nineveh was top down. Change for the people Jesus dealt with was bottom up. The poor, rejected, ugly, unreligious are the people accepting the free gift of seeing the Kingdom of God.
That’s where we are today I think. The “elite” class (not all of them of course) are so caught up in their high and mighty knowledge that they can’t accept the reality of God.
Isaiah 55:7 "Let the wicked forsake His way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord; and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith 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."
Something I heard the other day was “faith is doubting your doubts”. Our doubts (not believing what has been presented to us) holds us back from faith. The people who saw Jesus had doubts about him. They had heard all this before from different groups. But there was something different in this man. They doubted their doubts and came out on the other side much better.
That’s what I want you to do today. Doubt your doubt about a big fish swallowing a man and then spitting him up on land. Doubt your doubt that “those people” can change. Doubt your doubt that you can change. And doubt your doubt that this man Jesus is something different. He is. That faith will set you free.
How do you know the story of Jonah was real? All I can say is Jesus referenced him specifically in regard to being in the belly of the whale for 3 days. It doesn’t seem to be written like a fanciful story. I’m going with truth.
There are many parallels between Jonah and Jesus. I want to document below not a parallel of their whole lives, but a parallel of their “death” and “resurrection”.
Jonah 1:4-16
4 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish."
7 Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
8 So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?"
9 He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."
10 This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.)
11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"
12 "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you."
13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried to the LORD, "O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased." 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.
In the beginning, God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach to them to turn from their self-destructive ways. The problem is Jonah’s people didn’t like the Ninevites. He would be all happy to let them be destroyed. He knew God’s power of changing minds and he knew that if he went there to preach, they would change. Jonah didn’t want that. So he goes to the port of Joppa and hops on a boat to Tarshish, which is the opposite way from Nineveh. He wasn’t running because he wanted to disrespect God. He was running because he didn’t want God to succeed in this task.
But then in vs. 4, a huge storm came and threatened to break the ship into pieces. Sailors that were used to storms were afraid of this one. Jonah on the other hand was in the bottom of the ship taking a nap.
This is where the 1st parallel comes in. Luke 8:22-25
22One day Jesus said to his disciples, "Let's go over to the other side of the lake." So they got into a boat and set out. 23As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.
24The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we're going to drown!"
He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. 25"Where is your faith?" he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him."
A storm comes along on the lake. The disciples are scared because their boat is not big and if the storm is a decent size, they will tip over. Sounds like the sailors in the boat with Jonah don't it? But Jesus is asleep in the boat just like Jonah. Not knowing what to do, they run to the one who is acting differently. Jesus is calm. Jesus says faith in God will save you and calm the sea. Jonah tells the sailors to throw him overboard because his God is controlling the storm. In both instances, God is in control.
In Jonah 1:12 the sailors wanted to save themselves by praying to their false gods and throwing stuff overboard to make the ship lighter. In another sea story where Peter walks on water out to Jesus, as long as he keeps his eyes on Jesus he does great, but when he takes his eyes off Jesus and looks at his feet to “do it his own way”, he starts to sink (see Matthew 14:29-30). In Jonah 1:16, after the sailors throw Jonah overboard and the storm calms, the sailors are in awe and worship the true God. In Luke 8 they were in fear and amazement (sounds like awe) of Jesus and his control of the storm.
We now turn to Jonah 2:1-9. This is his prayer to God. It could easily be called a prayer of lamentation. “In trouble, deep trouble, I prayed to God.” (The Message).
1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. 2 He said: "In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave [a] I called for help, and you listened to my cry.
3 You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.
4 I said, 'I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.'
5 The engulfing waters threatened me, [b] the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God.
7 "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.
8 "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD."
Jonah cries out to God. He is going down and feels death’s grip around him. Through 6a, Jonah says he is going down to the depths as deep as he can go, “to the root of the mountains”. Basically, he felt he was thrown into Sheol and the keys were thrown away never to be released. Total despair.
Jesus has similar concerns, but he is quicker to turn around. Before Jesus is taken into custody (knowing full well what is about to happen) he goes into the Garden of Gethsemene to pray. He takes the three disciples that have been closest to him, Peter, James and John, to pray for him in this time of struggle.
Matthew 26:36-44
36Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." 37He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."
39Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."
40Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. 41"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."
42He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done."
43When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
In despair and agony he asked God to “take this cup from me”. He knew what was coming. The pain. The rejection. The death. The end.
Just like Jonah though, Jesus knew this was his destiny. God’s plan, God’s world, God himself is bigger than us. We may think we know the end game, but God has other ideas. Read vs. 8 in the Jonah passage again.
vs8 "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. "
Jonah is specifically talking about Ninevah. Those who worship hollow gods, god-frauds, walk away from their only true love. They are so lost they cannot see the grace that is available to them, that has saved me in this sea. That whale was God’s grace, and Jonah accepted. Jesus also accepted with “…thy will be done.”
3 Days
Jonah 1:17 17 But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.
For three days Jonah was in the nasty muck of whatever the whale swallowed. I’m sure it felt like death. When you read the prayer again in Jonah 2, you see that Jonah was also stuck in the mire of his own disobedience. Jesus though was obedient (not happily of course) and went to his death and was dead 3 days.
Matthew 12:39-40 (as well as other passages such as John 2:19)
39He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The “heart of the earth” can be translated (maybe transliterated is better” as Sheol which is OT for the place between heaven and hell. Read the story about Abraham and Lazarus and the chasm between them when they die. It can also be translated as where the sin is (maybe hell). The heart of man is where sin resides according the bible. The heart of the earth would be where sin resides after death…Hell. Jesus could not resurrect himself. He had to rely on God 3 days later to bring him back from the dead.
He took on all the sins of the world and was dragged down to the depths. This makes me think of the movie The Mummy 2, where at the end the bad guy is pulled down by all the demons. I can’t find a video of that though.
Jesus and Jonah die. They are dead for 3 days. Then in Jonah 2:10 the fish spits him up on the beach. In John 21:4 Jesus is on the beach cooking some fish. I love being on the beach, especially in the morning when the sun is just coming up. It’s peaceful, like everything is new.
The whale for Jonah was grace that saved him. The fish Jesus was cooking was a gift (isn’t that what grace is) given to the disciples when they made it to shore. The result is the same. Both Jesus and Jonah are changed people and they are changing people. The disciples (and all the people for 40 days that see Jesus) change their lives to follow the risen Lord. The Ninevites believe this guy from Joppa who normally would not want anything good for them. He must be sent from God. Their hearts are turned and moved to repentance.
WHATS DIFFERENT??
OK….what’s different between Jesus and Jonah? That’s a good question and there is one HUGE answer.
Jesus willingly went to save those who were on the path to destruction. Jesus looked upon Jerusalem with a breaking heart with sorrow because of all the lost people he could see. Jonah went to Ninevah because he was told to go. Jesus came to this world because he wanted to. All of Nenevah (the text specifically mentioning the King) repented and asked God for forgiveness (see Jonah 3:6-7). Change at Nineveh was top down. Change for the people Jesus dealt with was bottom up. The poor, rejected, ugly, unreligious are the people accepting the free gift of seeing the Kingdom of God.
That’s where we are today I think. The “elite” class (not all of them of course) are so caught up in their high and mighty knowledge that they can’t accept the reality of God.
Isaiah 55:7 "Let the wicked forsake His way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord; and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith 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."
Something I heard the other day was “faith is doubting your doubts”. Our doubts (not believing what has been presented to us) holds us back from faith. The people who saw Jesus had doubts about him. They had heard all this before from different groups. But there was something different in this man. They doubted their doubts and came out on the other side much better.
That’s what I want you to do today. Doubt your doubt about a big fish swallowing a man and then spitting him up on land. Doubt your doubt that “those people” can change. Doubt your doubt that you can change. And doubt your doubt that this man Jesus is something different. He is. That faith will set you free.
Monday, March 08, 2010
Wh I preach God and not Me
Back when I was a preacher in the church (about 3 years ago), one of my congregants came to me and said she didn’t really know me and where I came from and what I believed.
That struck me as odd. Had she not been listening to my sermons? You can pretty much understand what I believe by listening to my sermons. As for really knowing about me, I never really preach about my self in a deep way. My sermons are always to focus on God and Jesus Christ incarnation. If I wanted to center on this humble pastor, I would be saying my words, not God’s. (on another note she could have asked my any question at any time and I would have been happy to answer.)
But something else I have realized the last few years is if I get too personal and too deep in my public sharing (not one on one but in a group), I cannot keep it together. I’ve seen this happen with my pastor. He will get choked up about specific issues that are near to his heart. But he always could keep it together.
I’ve had a those Glenn Beck moments. And recovering from those is not a quick bounce back. I stood up at men’s group the other day and opened up completely to how Dave had brought us to this church and me to this group and I could not continue. When I was baptized it was the same way.
But when I am preaching and it’s the Word of God I am speaking, I am emboldened not broken, powered not empty. And the Word penetrating your soul to empower and embolden you. That’s why “Fear Not” is in the bible so many times. :o)
That struck me as odd. Had she not been listening to my sermons? You can pretty much understand what I believe by listening to my sermons. As for really knowing about me, I never really preach about my self in a deep way. My sermons are always to focus on God and Jesus Christ incarnation. If I wanted to center on this humble pastor, I would be saying my words, not God’s. (on another note she could have asked my any question at any time and I would have been happy to answer.)
But something else I have realized the last few years is if I get too personal and too deep in my public sharing (not one on one but in a group), I cannot keep it together. I’ve seen this happen with my pastor. He will get choked up about specific issues that are near to his heart. But he always could keep it together.
I’ve had a those Glenn Beck moments. And recovering from those is not a quick bounce back. I stood up at men’s group the other day and opened up completely to how Dave had brought us to this church and me to this group and I could not continue. When I was baptized it was the same way.
But when I am preaching and it’s the Word of God I am speaking, I am emboldened not broken, powered not empty. And the Word penetrating your soul to empower and embolden you. That’s why “Fear Not” is in the bible so many times. :o)
Friday, February 12, 2010
A study of Daniel
Daniel chapter 1
Jehoiakim king of Judah gets attacked and taken over by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. Articles such as goblets and plates were taken from the temple of God and put in the temple of the gods of Babylon (this is important to remember for later in the book). In addition, the good-looking and young men of Judah are taken to be fed the best food and have the best training so in 3 years the best of the best can serve in some respect in the king’s government. If you saw the men they picked, you would automatically think of One Tree Hill or another WB TV show. Four of these men were Daniel called Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Instead of coming in and wiping out a country, Nebuchadnezzar came in and integrated the defeated people with the Babylonians. Because of intermarriage and time, the old way of doing things (in this case Judah’s ways) would be swept in and meshed with Babylonian and you would not recognize a different people.
Daniel and his friends had no plans to defile their bodies and they had total faith that God would either show them favor and protect them, or show them favor and let them die with God on their side. Daniel convinced his coach (for lack of a better term) to let him and his friends only eat vegetables and water instead of the kings food and wine. You see, the king’s food was food that was sacrificed and offered up to idles. For Daniel and his friends to eat it would be going against God’s rules. So for 10 days they ate vegetables and water yet after that allotted time, they looked better than the other men in their company. For three years they did this, and then went before the king who saw how good they looked and brought the 4 into his service right then.
Because the four followed God’s rules, God saw favor in them so (vs 17) God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. What was more, the king saw they were “10 times” better than the other magicians and enchanters in the kingdom. (important again in future chapters).
Daniel was there until the 1st year of King Cyrus.
Daniel Chapter 2
In his 2nd year (which is before Daniel and his friends came to work in the king’s court) Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and wanted it interpreted. The king sent for his magicians and enchanters and said “what’s the dream and what is the interpretation”. They did their best to walk around the subject and not get specific so they asked the king to tell them his dream. He would hear nothing of it and said he wanted both the dream and interpretation to prove they are real. In Vs. 10, the astrologers and others rightly told the king, “there is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks. No king has ever asked such a thing. What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men.”
They tell the king that no man can tell him the dream and interpret the king. Only “the gods” can do this. The king feeling they were spitting in his face and basically to start all over again, he ordered for all the magicians, astrologers, etc to be killed. Daniel was in this group, even though he was just in training. When he asked his coach what was going on and was given an explanation, he told the coach that “he would be able to interpret the dream with a little time”.
Daniel told his friends what was happening and advised them to pray to God for the interpretation. Overnight in a dream, Daniel was given the information he sought.
Daniel went to his coach and said he can interpret the dream. His coach takes Daniel to the king and says “I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can tell the king what his dream means.” Arioch was covering his bases. If Daniel doesn’t interpret the dream correctly, he can say “oh well it’s one of those Judah guys who was trying to pull one over on the king.” If Daniel comes thru and interprets the dream correctly, he can say “I brought Daniel to you. Look what I did”.
Contrast that with Daniel. He does not take credit for being able to interpret the dream. He gives all glory and honor to God almighty. He reiterated what the magicians told the king before that “no man” can interpret this dream, but only God who reveals mysteries and has shown you what is to come”.
The dream:
The king came upon a huge statue.
The head was made of gold.
The chest and arms made of silver.
The belly and thighs made of bronze.
The legs of iron.
The feet of a mixture of iron and clay.
A rock, not cut from human hands, came out of nowhere and struck the feet of the statue. The feet shattered and the statue was disintegrated and saw of no more. However, the rock became huge and basically took it’s place. Now before king Nebuchadnezzar just the rock stands.
The interpretation: There are 5 Gentile kingdoms that will rule over Israel. The head of gold was the kingdom of king Nebuchadnezzar (609 bc-539 bc). He is powerful and strong.
The check and arms of silver are Medo-Persia (539-331 bc). Daniel 5:30 tells us that Darius, the Mede, captured the Babylonian kingdom.
The belly and thighs of bronze or brass are Greece (331-164 bc)
Legs of iron are Rome (164 bc – 450ad.) that is Western Rome and Eastern Rome
Feet of iron and clay are where Roman influence are still present
King Cyrus of Persia allowed the people of Judah to return to Jerusalem in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Daniel 3
Nebuchadnezzar builds a large gold statue to worship. You would think after having that dream years before about a large statue he would not do that, but most people don’t learn from history. Then the royal governors, astrologers, judges, etc went to the king and said Daniel’s friends were not worshiping the statue. They were jealous of these 3 because they were shown up so much.
The three gave Glory to God in 3:17-18. They said “God will save us, but even if he didn’t, we don’t worship your false idols.” So the 3 were thrown into the fire to be killed. But by God’s power, they were spared and another that looked like a “son of the gods” was in the fire with them. The three came out of the fire (without the 4th) and king Nebuchadnezzar gave praise to the true God.
Daniel 4
The Tree Dream
Nebuchadnezzar had another dream of a tree so large it touched the sky. It had great fruit and the animals were using it for shelter and food. The magicians, enchanters, astrologers, and diviners could not interpret the dream so he brought in Daniel.
Daniel interprets the dream as the tree is king Nebuchadnezzar. Because he is prideful and says his kingdom is his own creation, God will take it away for 7 years and make the king live like an animal. At the end of seven years, the king must pronounce the glory to God almighty. Since a stump and roots are left of the tree, the king will be able to retake his leadership position. 1 year later, the prophecy comes to fruition.
Daniel 5
King Belshazzar is the son of King Nebuchadnezzar. He throws a banquet and brings in goblets and plates from the tabernacle. As they drank the wine from the goblets of God and they praised their own gods. The 1st commandment: you don’t have any other god before me.
A hand appeared out of nowhere and started writing on the wall in a language the king could not understand. Now the language thing would be an issue, but a bodiless hand will really screw with your mind. The king brought in all the enchanters and astrologers (sound familiar) who could not interpret the message, no matter what the king promised.
The king’s wife tells him that Daniel can interpret the writing. The king brings him in and Daniel does as he did before. He doesn’t want the gifts the king offers, but he wants to give all the glory to God almighty. Daniel wags his finger at the king and tell him he saw everything God did to his father to humble him, yet the son is not humbled before God but still worships the god who cannot see, hear or speak.
Jehoiakim king of Judah gets attacked and taken over by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. Articles such as goblets and plates were taken from the temple of God and put in the temple of the gods of Babylon (this is important to remember for later in the book). In addition, the good-looking and young men of Judah are taken to be fed the best food and have the best training so in 3 years the best of the best can serve in some respect in the king’s government. If you saw the men they picked, you would automatically think of One Tree Hill or another WB TV show. Four of these men were Daniel called Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Instead of coming in and wiping out a country, Nebuchadnezzar came in and integrated the defeated people with the Babylonians. Because of intermarriage and time, the old way of doing things (in this case Judah’s ways) would be swept in and meshed with Babylonian and you would not recognize a different people.
Daniel and his friends had no plans to defile their bodies and they had total faith that God would either show them favor and protect them, or show them favor and let them die with God on their side. Daniel convinced his coach (for lack of a better term) to let him and his friends only eat vegetables and water instead of the kings food and wine. You see, the king’s food was food that was sacrificed and offered up to idles. For Daniel and his friends to eat it would be going against God’s rules. So for 10 days they ate vegetables and water yet after that allotted time, they looked better than the other men in their company. For three years they did this, and then went before the king who saw how good they looked and brought the 4 into his service right then.
Because the four followed God’s rules, God saw favor in them so (vs 17) God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. What was more, the king saw they were “10 times” better than the other magicians and enchanters in the kingdom. (important again in future chapters).
Daniel was there until the 1st year of King Cyrus.
Daniel Chapter 2
In his 2nd year (which is before Daniel and his friends came to work in the king’s court) Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and wanted it interpreted. The king sent for his magicians and enchanters and said “what’s the dream and what is the interpretation”. They did their best to walk around the subject and not get specific so they asked the king to tell them his dream. He would hear nothing of it and said he wanted both the dream and interpretation to prove they are real. In Vs. 10, the astrologers and others rightly told the king, “there is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks. No king has ever asked such a thing. What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men.”
They tell the king that no man can tell him the dream and interpret the king. Only “the gods” can do this. The king feeling they were spitting in his face and basically to start all over again, he ordered for all the magicians, astrologers, etc to be killed. Daniel was in this group, even though he was just in training. When he asked his coach what was going on and was given an explanation, he told the coach that “he would be able to interpret the dream with a little time”.
Daniel told his friends what was happening and advised them to pray to God for the interpretation. Overnight in a dream, Daniel was given the information he sought.
Daniel went to his coach and said he can interpret the dream. His coach takes Daniel to the king and says “I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can tell the king what his dream means.” Arioch was covering his bases. If Daniel doesn’t interpret the dream correctly, he can say “oh well it’s one of those Judah guys who was trying to pull one over on the king.” If Daniel comes thru and interprets the dream correctly, he can say “I brought Daniel to you. Look what I did”.
Contrast that with Daniel. He does not take credit for being able to interpret the dream. He gives all glory and honor to God almighty. He reiterated what the magicians told the king before that “no man” can interpret this dream, but only God who reveals mysteries and has shown you what is to come”.
The dream:
The king came upon a huge statue.
The head was made of gold.
The chest and arms made of silver.
The belly and thighs made of bronze.
The legs of iron.
The feet of a mixture of iron and clay.
A rock, not cut from human hands, came out of nowhere and struck the feet of the statue. The feet shattered and the statue was disintegrated and saw of no more. However, the rock became huge and basically took it’s place. Now before king Nebuchadnezzar just the rock stands.
The interpretation: There are 5 Gentile kingdoms that will rule over Israel. The head of gold was the kingdom of king Nebuchadnezzar (609 bc-539 bc). He is powerful and strong.
The check and arms of silver are Medo-Persia (539-331 bc). Daniel 5:30 tells us that Darius, the Mede, captured the Babylonian kingdom.
The belly and thighs of bronze or brass are Greece (331-164 bc)
Legs of iron are Rome (164 bc – 450ad.) that is Western Rome and Eastern Rome
Feet of iron and clay are where Roman influence are still present
King Cyrus of Persia allowed the people of Judah to return to Jerusalem in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Daniel 3
Nebuchadnezzar builds a large gold statue to worship. You would think after having that dream years before about a large statue he would not do that, but most people don’t learn from history. Then the royal governors, astrologers, judges, etc went to the king and said Daniel’s friends were not worshiping the statue. They were jealous of these 3 because they were shown up so much.
The three gave Glory to God in 3:17-18. They said “God will save us, but even if he didn’t, we don’t worship your false idols.” So the 3 were thrown into the fire to be killed. But by God’s power, they were spared and another that looked like a “son of the gods” was in the fire with them. The three came out of the fire (without the 4th) and king Nebuchadnezzar gave praise to the true God.
Daniel 4
The Tree Dream
Nebuchadnezzar had another dream of a tree so large it touched the sky. It had great fruit and the animals were using it for shelter and food. The magicians, enchanters, astrologers, and diviners could not interpret the dream so he brought in Daniel.
Daniel interprets the dream as the tree is king Nebuchadnezzar. Because he is prideful and says his kingdom is his own creation, God will take it away for 7 years and make the king live like an animal. At the end of seven years, the king must pronounce the glory to God almighty. Since a stump and roots are left of the tree, the king will be able to retake his leadership position. 1 year later, the prophecy comes to fruition.
Daniel 5
King Belshazzar is the son of King Nebuchadnezzar. He throws a banquet and brings in goblets and plates from the tabernacle. As they drank the wine from the goblets of God and they praised their own gods. The 1st commandment: you don’t have any other god before me.
A hand appeared out of nowhere and started writing on the wall in a language the king could not understand. Now the language thing would be an issue, but a bodiless hand will really screw with your mind. The king brought in all the enchanters and astrologers (sound familiar) who could not interpret the message, no matter what the king promised.
The king’s wife tells him that Daniel can interpret the writing. The king brings him in and Daniel does as he did before. He doesn’t want the gifts the king offers, but he wants to give all the glory to God almighty. Daniel wags his finger at the king and tell him he saw everything God did to his father to humble him, yet the son is not humbled before God but still worships the god who cannot see, hear or speak.
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