Mar 3, 2024 "Crossing Jordan" (Joshua 3:5-8)

 

Crossing the Jordan

Joshua 3:5-8

 

In this passage the Israelites are getting ready to cross the Jordan River. Forty years before Moses led the Israelites across the Red Sea. God made a safe dry path for the Israelites to cross. This time verse 8 shows us how it is different this time.  

 

Joshua 3:8 ESV

[8] And as for you, command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’”  

 

Here we see that God does not make a safe path first before they cross the body of water. We see God wants them to take the first step before the miracle happened.

 

Joshua 3:15-16 ESV

[15] and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest), [16] the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho.  

 

We read the Jordan River is full of water and it would have been impossible to cross. God stops the flow of the River when the priests feet touch the river.  God wanted the Israelites to grow in faith and the dry ground would not appear until the first step was taken.

 

As Christians, we might not see the evidence that God has saved us or the benefits of following God, yet it is the act of faith. We often want to see the dry path first before we take another step. However, we only grow when we act in faith.

 

Before we step out in faith, we need to consecrate ourselves. That means to purify ourselves and that is to distance ourselves from all sins. We do this by living by God's commandments. Our mindset is to get away from sin.

 

The Ark of Covenant always went before the Israelites . All that was in the Ark was the ten commandments on the stone tablets. We need to read, hear and meditate on the word of God. It is His word that will purify us as we draw closer to it.

 

The Bible is like a mirror.

 

How He Loves

God You're So Good

How Great Is Our God

Feb 25, 2024 "As Lambs in the Midst of Wolves"(Luke 10:1-12)

As Lambs in the Midst of Wolves

Luke 10:1-12

Pastor Trevor Foley

 

Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) is a Christian non government organization (NGO) which operates in 70 countries. Many of those countries are former communist or communist countries. A Romanian priest Wormbrand started VOM.

 

Persecuted Christians suffer and do not have resources like Christians in free countries so they must rely solely on God. Therefore persecuted Christians often pray for Christians who have so much and are too reliant on themselves and do not rely on God.  

 

Jesus tells his disciples to bring the following items.

  

Luke 10:4 ESV

[4] Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road.

 

We understand that Jesus lived this way. He came to earth in weakness and not in power. He came as a baby and was dependent on sinners.

 

Luke 9:57-58 ESV

[57] As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” [58] And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”  

 

It is counter intuitive what Jesus says. We believe by worldly standards that we must do missions in strength, yet Jesus calls us to go in weakness. It does not make sense, but Paul tells us that the Gospel does not make sense.

 

1 Corinthians 1:21-25 ESV

[21] For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. [22] For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, [23] but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, [24] but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. [25] For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

 

The underground university put out a call to train missionaries and no young people came, only old ladies. At first it seemed like a failure, but then it was revealed that the old ladies would never be suspected of missionary work in China. God sends the people he needs and can use.

 

God has us on a Luke 10 mission every day in our lives. We are weak. We need God to get us through the day. We cannot overcome temptation by ourselves, and we do not have the wisdom to make the right choices. We are weak, so that God can show his greatness through our weakness.

 

1 Corinthians 1:28-30 ESV

[28] God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, [29] so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. [30] And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,  

 

In the Great Commission, Jesus tells us to go, but a better translation would be whatever you are doing or wherever you are going, spread the good news.  

 

Matthew 28:16 ESV

[16] Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.  

[18] And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

My Lighthouse

Nothing But The Blood (Plainfield)

O Praise The Name

Feb 18, 2024 "True Fasting" (Isaiah 58:1-12)

 

True Fasting

Isaiah 58:1-12

 

There are many types of fasting, but it is the way we fast whether it is truly for God or for ourselves that matters.

Isaiah 58 talks about what kind of fasting is pleasing to God and what is not pleasing to God.  

 

Sometimes we feel that if we suffer or experience pain that somehow this is true fasting. We might feel that because Jesus suffered we too should suffer. Is this to repay Jesus or because we feel guilty for what Jesus did? We should suffer because we love Jesus.

 

It is the same as early morning prayer services. We should go to those prayer sessions because we love God. We should not do this to show off or brag.

 

We need to empty ourselves and lay down our desires including religious desires. By fasting, we show that we are doing something religious but might ignore the other day to day actions.

 

Isaiah 58:3 ESV

[3] ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.

 

Our fasting is no good if we do not sacrifice all our desires.

 

Isaiah 58:4 ESV

[4] Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.

 

We quarrel when our desires are not met.

 

The true fasting is defined like this.

Isaiah 58:6 ESV

[6] “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke

 

True fasting is living for justice and helping our neighbors.

 

Isaiah 58:7 ESV

[7] Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

 

By helping those in need, we are doing true fasting. It is not going without food for set times. Biblical fasting is filling ourselves with Jesus and act like Jesus.

 

We often do fast when we want something. Yes, this fine to do, but we should fast for others.   

 

We do need to prepare ourselves for God by being more like Jesus.

 

• Every Giant Will Fall
• Nothing But The Blood (Plainfield)
• Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
• 
  

Feb 11, 2024 "What Does the Lord Require?" (Micah 6:6-8)

Micah 6:6-8

6 “With what shall I come before the Lord,

    and bow myself before God on high?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

    with calves a year old?

7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,

    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,

    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

8 He has told you, O man, what is good;

    and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

    and to walk humbly with your God?

Jeremiah 26:18 English Standard Version

18 “Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and said to all the people of Judah: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts,

   “‘Zion shall be plowed as a field;

 Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,

    and the mountain of the house a wooded height.’

Ephesians 2: 8-10 English Standard Version

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 

9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

• How He Loves
• How Deep The Father's Love For Us

How Deep The Father's Love For Us

How Deep The Father's Love For Us

CCLI Song # 1558110

Stuart Townend

Verse 1

How deep the Father's love for us

How vast beyond all measure

That He should give His only Son

To make a wretch His treasure

 

How great the pain of searing loss

The Father turns His face away

As wounds which mar the Chosen One

Bring many sons to glory

 

Verse 2

Behold the Man upon a cross

My sin upon His shoulders

Ashamed I hear my mocking voice

Call out among the scoffers

 

It was my sin that held Him there

Until it was accomplished

His dying breath has brought me life

I know that it is finished

 

Verse 3

I will not boast in anything

No gifts no pow’r no wisdom

But I will boast in Jesus Christ

His death and resurrection

 

Why should I gain from His reward

I cannot give an answer

But this I know with all my heart

His wounds have paid my ransom

Why should I gain from His reward

I cannot give an answer

But this I know with all my heart

His wounds have paid my ransom

(But this I know with all my heart)

His wounds have paid my ransom